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.
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Chapter Ten - Return to…Civilisation?
Robotnik pushed the large box of belongings into the submarine vehicle and clambered in quickly. They were leaving! Getting off this nasty island! Robotnik was so much looking forward to getting home and being surrounded by his lovely, beautiful, wonderful robots and machines. He sat down on the box behind the chair where Sonic was seated at the controls and clasped his hands together excitedly.
"We might get jolted about a bit," Sonic said hurriedly, grasping his hands over the control joystick, "so hold on tight, okay?"
"What? Jolted?"
Sonic pushed the joystick forward and Researcher 63's machine clanked into life. One leg reached forward, right over the edge of the cliff.
"You've got to be kidding!" Robotnik shouted, "you're just going to walk this thing right off the island?"
"Yep!" Sonic smirked, "I told you to hold on…"
Dr Robotnik gripped hold of a handle sticking out of the wall just as the device wandered right off the rock. Luckily for Sonic, he had been correct in assuming it was specially designed not to tip over easily, and it simply fell upright into the calm water below, sinking slowly beneath the surface. It landed on the seabed with a small thud.
"Right!" Sonic laughed, glancing round to see Eggman tightly grasping the wall, a terrified look on his face, "we're going to the other island first, okay?"
"Whatever," Robotnik replied coldly, wishing he'd brought some paper bags with him.
The machine steadied itself, and its large legs spread out into a rather creepy standing position over the soft ground. It was poised there for a moment, as if deciding something, before it finally burst into action. The limbs rolled forward in a sequence, scoring through the water with a powerful beauty. The movement of the submarine was a lot smoother than one would have expected, which came as a relief to Robotnik's queasy stomach.
The machine moved slowly at first, but the speed soon expedited and the crab-like vehicle hurried through the deepening water elegantly. It continued at a surprising but unremarkable speed, until they were about halfway to the other island.
"Do you see something floating on the water over there?" Sonic said, pointing through the little window on the top of the contrivance. Robotnik sat up straight and glanced through the darkened glass. Something did appear to be bobbing on the water, but it didn't look like it was just drifting there aimlessly, it looked as if it were moving towards them.
"Raise the ship to water level," Robotnik commanded, "I want to see what it is."
"I was just about to say the same thing," Sonic said, pressing the appropriate button.
The legs of the machine went limp, and a small blast of air propelled it upwards. It gradually floating to the top, its loose members making it look disturbingly like a drowned creature. When it reached the top, it floated on the surface with the base of the door just about level to the water. Sonic clicked open the door and leaned out of it slightly.
"I can't quite make it out, but… " Sonic gasped in delight as a figure clearly stood up straight on the floating object "it's, it's Tails!"
"Tails?" Robotnik exclaimed, "here? What's he floating on?"
Sonic craned his head out a little further and squinted his eyes against the powerful sunlight. Whatever is was, it was shiny.
Dr Robotnik pushed past Sonic rudely, and joined him by the door to see what Tails had been using as a boat. His dark glasses negated most of the glare from the bright reflections, so he managed to get a better idea of the shape than Sonic did.
"It could just be a bit of the Eggs-Box, but, well, it looks like, well," he started, Sonic turned around sharply, not used to seeing his nemesis so inarticulate.
"It looks like Eggor," Robotnik finished, still staring at the machine.
Tails stood on Eggor's hunchback, shielding his eyes from the sun to see what had just emerged from the water. Since he had no desire to bring anything from the island with him, he had left as soon as he'd realised that Eggor could float. Using a large flat plank of wood as a makeshift oar, he had managed to row Eggor all this way from the island. However, it was tiring work.
"What is that machine?" Tails asked Eggor, "do you suppose someone's come to rescue us?"
Eggor attempted to crane his head up and get a glimpse at what Tails was indicating. It was difficult, but he managed to see enough of the vehicle to be realise that it wasn't one of his Master's. His programming told him to feel rather anxious about this, as it was his first priority to make sure his Master was safe. He just didn't understand why none of Robotnik's rescue squads had come looking for them yet. They were usually only used to locate possibly damaged robots that could be repaired and used again, but if Dr Robotnik were to go missing it would be their mission to find him as soon as possible.
Unless, Eggor wondered, they had simply assumed Robotnik had perished in the destruction of the Eggs-Box. If that was he case, he dreaded to think what kind of chaotic state the base of operations was in, and whether Robotnik's industrial empire was suffering even with only a few days without its leader. He flinched slightly as water lapped up against his head when Tails leant forward to quietly whisper something to the buoyant robot.
"Whatever it is, I'm going to sail over and see if they'll help us."
Tails plunged the makeshift oar back into the water and began rowing them toward the silver submarine.
"Your idiot fox companion is using my state-of-the-art advanced robot as a raft!" Robotnik exclaimed angrily.
"Clever, huh?" Sonic commented, highly impressed with his sidekick's ingenuity. Using a hollowed-out robot shell as a floatation device!
"Clever? It's a complete JOKE! And why won't this stupid machine move when it's floating? That idiot designed this thing terribly!" Sonic leaned back over the chair and twisted around to look Robotnik in the eyes. Normally that remark would've angered him greatly, but he was too pleased to see Tails to let his mood worsen so easily.
"Don't talk about Kintobor that way," Sonic said icily, almost threateningly, "if it weren't for his machine, we might've died on that island. Besides, everything you know must've come from him, right?"
Robotnik ignored this, probably because he knew it was absolutely true. "Does that moronic fox realise how long Eggor took to design and develop? Now I'll have to build a new one! And that's a specialist robot, so I'll have to build it by hand…"
Just as Sonic was about to clout Robotnik with the unopened parcel, he heard a shout.
"Who is that?" Tails called, "could you help us please?"
His small body filled with an incredible excitement and happiness when he saw the familiar blue face poke out of the shiny door.
"I dunno," Sonic grinned, "we might be able to help you out, but only if you ask very nicely!"
"SONIC!" Tails shouted delightedly, his high-pitched voice reverberating over the gentle waves, "I'm so glad you're okay! Hold on, let me just sail over!"
Tails gripped the large plank of wood and gave one last thrust, pushing himself close enough to the vehicle to leap in. Throwing his hands out happily, he flew right into Sonic and wrapped his arms around him in ecstatic relief. He glanced over at Robotnik and shot him an awkward smile before falling back against the vehicle's wall. Sonic leant over to close the door, but Tails's hand shot out and held it open before he got the chance.
"Wait! What about Eggor?" Tails exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, can't leave all that metal floating around in the sea," Sonic whistled, leaning out of the door. He couldn't see the --for all he knew-- non-functioning robot in the water, and briefly thought it must've sank to the bottom. However, it turned out Eggor was just clinging to the bottom of the door, and he rose alarmingly out of the water like some hunch-backed leviathan.
"Master!" the robot barked loudly in a very peculiar voice, presumably the closest a robot got to expressing sheer relief. He knew he'd still have some delicate explaining to do later on when Eggman asked him why he let Tails live, but he had saved his beloved Master from being trapped alone with Sonic and Tails, and Robotnik would have to give him credit for that.
"ARGH!" Sonic yelled in shock and stumbled backwards, falling over the chair. Robotnik's eyes lit up like a light bulb that'd just had a really clever idea itself.
"Eggor! You're here! Hahaha!" Robotnik laughed hysterically for the first time in days, and it felt marvellous. Sonic and Tails looked at each other in silent despair as the madman giggled uncontrollably.
"I'm going to have to cut this delightful reunion short, I'm afraid, " Sonic muttered, "the ship's about to submerge." Eggor threw the door shut behind him and squeezed into the back of the submarine beside his Creator. It was rather claustrophobic in the small machine with the four of them inside, but they managed to get sat down comfortably before Sonic pressed the bottom to lower the ship yet again. It sank to the bottom, and crawled along the ground towards land.
***
Nearly forty minutes later, the slightly tarnished but still impressively lustrous ship approached another beach, this time stretching out in front of an agreeable-looking area of commerce. It provided the perfect scenery for Tails to see at the moment-- industrial, but not spoiled. Sonic and Robotnik were not so impressed, but from what Tails had gathered they'd probably been through more mental strain than he had, even including attack of the Tigar robot. The entire journey back to land had been spent exchanging accounts of what had possibly happened on those twin islands many years ago, and why the Tigar was still there when it should have been taken off the planet altogether. In the end they agreed that the researcher who came to seize the machine had foolishly reactivated it before it had been transported, ignoring Kintobor's warnings. Presumably he fled when he saw what a monster it really was, as neither Tails nor Eggor saw any remains of a living creature on the island. Robotnik quietly added that it would've been easy for the agent to lie and say that Kintobor had destroyed his robot himself if the scientist had already quit the organisation.
Shortly after the mystery had been wrapped up, the vehicle had came across some uneven ground, and the movement of the machine had become altogether more jarring. It was snug enough in the tiny ship with the four of them crammed inside, and now they were falling over onto each other as the clumsy crab-like contraption shuffled over the rocks with all the grace of a tap-dancing whale.
Finally the machine had given up the battle to stay upright, toppled over, rolled down the rocks and landed upside-down on the beach. Everything was silent for a moment. Sonic was the first to speak.
"Right, first thing's first. Whose elbow is this in my stomach?"
Eggor made a curious mechanical grunt, and removed his metal joint from Sonic's abdomen.
"Ah, that's better. Ow. Second, whose is this stomach that's wrapped around my elbow?"
"That'll be mine," Robotnik hissed.
After Sonic had removed his arm from its secure incarceration inside Robotnik's bulging belly, he hopped out of the door of the sub and looked around.
"Before we find a 'phone to call for transport back to our respective homes, there's something we need to do." He looked at Robotnik and beamed gently.
Ms. Madeline Creek of 8U2 Marine Way sat by a modest-looking desk, rifling through several sheets of paper. She tapped a ballpoint pen against her temple rapidly, wondering what the heck she was going to do. Madeline was a short and rather scruffy badger, but there was nevertheless a greatly official nature to her appearance. Maddy owned an aquatic research facility whose base of operations was in the Tranquil Harbour Zone, and just as her expert biologists were about to embark on an important mission to explore the seas, there had been a severe delay with several vital deliveries. All she had now was a group of highly trained scientists sitting around doing nothing. Changing position to rap her pen on the table instead, she fretted about how far Federal Eggspress's insurance policy would stretch. Would they just pay for the value of the lost goods, or would they compensate for the lost hours of labour too?
I knew I shouldn't have used Robotnik's delivery service, she thought grimly, but I heard it would get the goods here quickly…
Just as Madeline was running out of places to tap her writing instrument against, there was a knock at the door. Sighing, she went to answer it.
I bet those scientists are leaving, I don't blame them.
The door rang again as Ms Creek thundered down the stairs.
"Hold on!" she snapped irritably, "I'm coming as fast as I can!"
Flicking a sliding lock open, she pushed down on the handle and opened the door. "What do you wa--" Madeline's face froze as she encountered Sonic, the world famous hero of Mobius, standing next to a very bedraggled Dr Ivo Robotnik. Sonic was holding a large parcel, but Maddy was too eclipsed with shock to take any notice to that.
"We're delivering this to you," Sonic announced proudly, "thank you very much… I don't want to go into it, but this package saved our lives."
The badger took the box in her hands without saying anything. A squeaky, indistinct 'thank you' managed to leave her petrified lips, and she began to slip the package open.
Sonic turned away to walk towards Tails. "Actually," he said, "I think we should go and get something to eat before we phone for transport. I don't know about you, but I've been eating nothing but Robotnik's dratted egg sandwiches for two days; I'm starving! I imagine we'd get some funny looks in a restaurant though, especially if Robotnik's coming. Hey Eggman, do you want to--"
Oddly, the deranged human was still stood before the doorway of the badger's house. Sonic guessed that he must've wanted to find out what was in the delivery. Hopping twice, Sonic revved his legs and sprinted over to where Eggman was standing, rooted to the spot. When he approached his former friend, he was reminded of the scene on the Eggs-Box where Robotnik had first realised Sonic wasn't really dead: the expression on Ivo's face was the same now as it was then. Sheer, unrestrained horror. Maybe Sonic didn't want to see what had unnerved Robotnik this time, but he looked at Ms Creek anyway.
"Oh great!" she whistled happily, "my long-range distress flare and inflatable lifeboat kit arrived!"
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The End.
Phew! If you could actually be bothered to read that lot, please leave a review or email me your comments. Thanks!