Disclaimer: Sonic and all related characters and settings are copyright Sega Corporation. None of it belongs to me, but all property is theft, man. Whatever that means.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter Eight - The Traitor
Tails and Eggor made their way down the rocks leading to the wreckage of the tiger. Tails just wanted to find out if there was any indication who made the robot, but Eggor needed to have a look for a different reason. Part of his electronics had been damaged when he was decapitated, and he needed to find some replacement parts.
"What exactly was damaged, Eggor?" Tails asked, hopping over to the destroyed tiger.
"I thimk it wuh-wuh-was my speech yuh-unit," Eggor replied, plunging his hand right into the corpse of the beast. Tails watched as he pulled out one component after another and placed them on the floor in a neat little pile.
"Er, can you actually put that lot back together? I mean… you could barely control your body before, how are you going to repair your own head?"
Eggor stood silently for a moment. "Actually, I was hoping you could perform the repairs, with my directions," he said, "Master told me you were quite proficient at building mechanical devices…"
"Really? Robotnik said that?" Tails exclaimed, "sure, I'll give it a try."
It seemed Eggor had managed to salvage all the parts he needed, as he then picked up the pile and began to clank back to the bridge. This gave Tails the chance to have a look inside the tiger's workings, hopefully to find some kind of markings that might help him learn more about it. Carefully removing a thin metal bar, he glanced at a large motherboard located in the centre of the tiger's motionless body. Printed in bold red letters on the large circuit, were a few words:
'TIGAR' -MK. 2.3
CREATED BY RESEARCHER No 63
That was it. Tails didn't know who this 'Researcher No 63' was, but he was sure it wasn't Robotnik. He wondered if he might still be here, on the island, living as a recluse. The tiger may have been here to guard him.
"It's getting late," Eggor had returned, having already dropped the replacement parts off at the bridge. "I think we should start the repairs."
"Right," Tails said.
Night-time arrived. Sonic lay on the floor of the former escape capsule, wide awake. Despite the loud pounding of the rain on the hollow metal pod, Dr Robotnik had fallen sound asleep and lay there on his small fold-out bed, mouth hanging open and breathing shallowly. Sonic took one last look at him to make certain he was still in a deep sleep, and then quietly slipped out of the tent. As he left, he saw that accursed parcel in the corner. He consulted it yesterday to have another look at the logo-- not that he needed confirmation that it was the same thing he saw yesterday, for he was already certain. Something about the package bothered him yet again, but he shrugged it off and departed silently.
Yesterday, he had found a small track of dirt that led down to the water where the machine had sank. Even though Sonic couldn't swim, he thought it might be possible to take the track down to the scene of the sinking to check the 'boat' out for a second time. He cursed the fact that he had fetched that treacherous, lying, two-faced scientist instead of having a good look at the vehicle himself. If he'd discovered it was Robotnik's ship earlier, he might've been able to force the madman to take them both home. Or even better, have the machine take Sonic home and leave himself to rot on this island, alone and miserable. Like he deserved.
Sonic clenched his fists as he approached the slope leading to the water. Briefly glancing up at the rock cliff face looming over him, Sonic entered the water. His sharp eyes scanned the surface as he tried to locate the shiny vehicle amongst the rocks scattered around the seabed. It was somewhat difficult to see through the water with the huge splatters of rain battering the surface, so he took a deep breath and lowered himself into the murky fluid. Bitter cold coursed up his body as he entered the icy depths. Glancing around in the water, he eventually spotted the vehicle. It was still gleaming, even in this dark water, but it was a long way away. Sonic ran as quickly as he could against the resistance, heading for the large metal object in the distance.
As he reached it, a sudden jolt of turbulence threw him forward. Managing to grab the gently swinging door of the 'boat', he pulled himself closer to the vehicle and tightly grasped onto the shiny surface, fighting against the strong current. Eventually the force died down, and Sonic was able to scan the metal for the logo. He glanced over the door, but it was to the left of that where he spotted what he needed to see.
And then, everything fell into place.
A crack of lightning lit up the underwater scene as Sonic turned to make his way back up the slope. He realised just how dumb he had been, so blinded with rage that he'd wandered into the sea alone on such a stormy night! He just wanted to leave this place. For once he would be thankful for the cold, uncomfortable capsule floor. He held his head down, floating towards the track of dirt that would lead him back onto land.
When Sonic lifted his head, he froze in shock. It turned out that the blast of turbulence had occurred when a large rock broke off the cliff and smashed into the slope, breaking it down. It was totally unusable. There was only one possible way for Sonic to exit the water, and that was up the cliff. Sonic tried to ignore his crippling headache as he gripped his hands on the rock, making the terrible mistake of actually looking up at the looming rock. Utilising the climbing skills he learned from Sally Acorn the squirrel back on South Island, he made his way up the cliff. A loud, desperate gasp was heard over the thunder and machine-gun fire of raindrops on rock as Sonic's head was pulled out of the water. The air was bitterly cold, especially with Sonic dripping wet, and he had to take a moment to regroup himself.
A voice inside Sonic's mind asked him why he was bothering. The cliff was huge and difficult to scale, and he was so cold he could barely move. He wished Tails were here. Heck, he wished Robotnik were here. At least then he wouldn't die alone.
The thought of Tails and, yes, Dr Robotnik allowed Sonic's determination to flood back into him for a moment. Exercising great strength in his upper arms, Sonic pulled himself up the rock and continued climbing with amazing speed. He wouldn't let himself die-- not like this. He had something to say to Robotnik first.
Gasping erratically, he reached the top of the precipice. Hands hooked over the edge, he tried to pull himself up, but he just ended up tugging a great mass of rock and soil off the end of the cliff. With his handhold broken, Sonic swung backwards, and his feet simply slipped over the wet rock. He had got so close to the top, but now he was falling, heading back down to the freezing water.