HEBM - PART II DECEPTION

The immense powerful Supremor had unleashed its power and by doing so, wore  away the dirt and soil that concealed the Master Emerald. Things didn't look good at all. Dr Lighthead yet another plan to eradicate the Freedom Fighters and that was to beam up the emerald and have unlimited power instead of his finite power. A blue beam then descended from the Supremor. 

"This does not look good. Knuckles said worriedly. He plans to harness all of the MCE's power instead of only a portion of it. Once he's done that, we're really in trouble."

"So you mean he doesn't have infinite power now?" asked Sonic.

"No and he won't have infinite power after he's done either."

On the Supremor

            "Yes Gore, now we've finally done it. The best power source will soon be on this ship. And with it, many, many things can be done to ensure those pesky Freedom Fighters will no longer be a problem."

            "Sounds great! But when do we start?"

            "As soon as the MCE is-

There suddenly is a rumble onboard the Supremor and Dr Lighthead checks to see what the jolt was about. To his surprise, instead of the Supremor beaming up the emerald, the emerald apparently began attracted the Supremor. The emerald had not budged and the jellyfish ship was going to crash.

            "Sonic, Knuckles, make sure everyone is in a safe place before impact."

            As they did that, the Supremor was six miles above from crashing. As it fell more, it gained speed as if throwing a penny off the Empire State Building. Dr Lighthead couldn't understand what had gone wrong and realized his plan had backfired.

            Once it was two miles above, Dr Lighthead gave up yelling at Gore and it was certain where it would land. Nicole was able to calculate and she read, "SUPREMOR WILL LAND ON WESTERN SIDE OF ISLAND." The area was cleared but that wasn't good enough.

            Not only did the Supremor hit the Floating Island with tremendous force, it also took part of the island with it. As the Supremor plunged into the water, much of the land could be seen between the laser ports that generated the thunder laser. About ¼ of the island was taken into the ocean. In result, many residents, many residents were not prepared and went down with it.

            Sally, Knuckles, Sonic and the others didn't know whether to cheer or feel sorrowful. Instead they had mixed feelings. Many were gone but they managed to overthrow the Supremor, so they think, but in which they did.

            It took awhile but everything was restored to normal. The Freedom Fighters were still on the Floating Island making sure Knuckles would have support and comfort. The island still floated, but with a big chunk of it missing. The MCE was secured once again

            But there was still uncertainty. No one was confident that they were once again safe. They didn't know whether to expect more which is the natural feeling or just go on.

That night

            "Thank you for your help. You've done quite enough and if you want, you may leave."

            "Actually Knuckles, we were thinking of sticking around just for safety issues. I need to know of the status of that thing before any final conclusions can be made. I want a scuba party organized so we can confirm it's gone for good."

            "Actually Sally, it's much to dangerous to send a team down there."

            "What did have in mind then, Rotor?"

            "The X-1 Veaguer I brought with us can reach depths upto a 5000 feet. We could send it down there and have it recon what it sees."

            "Good idea, Rotor. Let's give it a shot!" And with that said the X-1 Veaguer was releases and dropped into the water. Rotor held up a monitor which displayed the whereabouts of it. Once it reached the Supremor, everything appeared sullen but that was a different story from the inside….

            "ACTIVATE GORE! IT'S TIME TO GET OUT OF HERE!"

            "I.. I can't reach it!"

            "Just do it!" Gore throws one of his stars to initiate the main thrusters.

            Beneath the surface underneath the Floating Island, a huge dust cloud was created as the Supremor began to rise up from the water. X-1 Veaguer slided off from the jellyfish ship and crashed back upon the Floating Island. The shocked Freedom Fighters did nothing but stare at the Supremor as they awaited for what would happen next. From the top, a small spherical pod similar to what Snively saw emerged and made it's way to the ground of the Floating Island. Dust then cluttered the air as it landed about 40 ft from where they were. Sonic, Knuckles, Sally, Tails, Rotor, Bunnie, Dulcy and Antoine just stood in awe as it opened up and out came the same two figures Snively saw.

            "Alright! That's it! You've done WAY too much damage to my island. No warnings whatsoever for you! NOW GET OFF MY ISLAND!!!"

            "You seem to misunderstand and underestimate the power that I have achieved. From now on, this is no longer your island. It is now property to both me and Gore."

            "Oh, we'll see about that!!" Knuckles then charged to the person with the light ontop but to no avail. His comrades could only just watch as he was given a   somewhat large dose of electricity from the yellow glowing lightbulb and was left unconscious.

            "Anyone else want to try to regain this island?"

            "ME!"

            Sonic then revs up and runs in circles around the doc. Multiple strings of electricity and solar energy emit but miss the target. Gore, who is very well trained, assists by accurately throwing his axe resulting in Sonic hitting his head against the flat-faced side of the axe. Gore then raised his hand and retrieved it similar to what a jedi but Gore wasn't a jedi. No, he was Lighgretronian and so was his boss, Dr Lighthead.

            Sonic and Knux finally awoke and found themselves in a room shaped like a dome. It wasn't that big but was roomy enough. Fortunately, they weren't strapped down or contained in a force field. They were free to roam about the cabin. Knuckles noticed the what-seemed-far-distant-technology onboard. Light seemed to dance around inside the room.

            "Oy, I could really go for a chili dog right about now."

            "I still don't get why you eat those things and why do you care about them now? I think we're onboard that ship. Now how're we going to get outta here?"

            "No idea. I wonder though. Why aren't we contained in anything? We can go anywhere we want! Well in this room that is."

            "Oh no. Don't you get it?! I bet they're going to experiment on us!"

            "What do you mean??"

            "In other words…THAT!" A cannon shaped object lowered itself from the top of the room. Sonic and Knuckles expected something abhorrent to come out but to their surprise, it was only water but it was quickly pouring in and accumulating. Knux spotted a containment door and began trying to open it. Sonic came to his aid with a sonic spin and sliced his way through. They then dashed out in search for a way off.

            "Blast! I should've known they'd escape!"

            "What was the water for?

            "Neutralize their DNA with the water molecules and transform them wuth my latest invention.

            "How so?"

            "I have built a new device Gore and I wanted to test it on them. I call it, the lighgrecizer. It can instantly transform them, body and mind, into beings of energy. They will make an excellent defense crew. They are heading to it right now and this gives me a plan."

Sonic and Knux find themselves running down a long corridor…

            "I had no idea that something like that was going to happen. We should be safe soon." Sonic said.

            "Are you kidding? There's no such thing as safe anymore as long as we are on this ship of hell. It's huge."

            "Then what do we do now?"

            "GET OUT OF HERE!"

Sonic and Knux then proceed down the long corridor and then come across another big room similar to where they first started that has a mirror as a platform and above there was what looked like that opposite image as the platform was coming down from the ceiling. It appeared to be a form of device but with many complications as how it worked. A thin beam of light connected the two and emited a low toned hum. Sonic and Knux could only guess what it was. Actually guessing might even be difficult.

"Whoa… what do you think all this junk is?"

But Suddenly, I think not! You're certainly not leaving here that easily! You will be subjects for the lighghrecizer! For I am Robotar!!" Sonic and Knuckles turn around them to see a largely built robot with big shoulder pads, stern legs with many different functions and overall purely complicated. It had a dark mud, brown head with an indentation on the left side of his forehead and basically overall ugly.

"And just who do you think you are, bub? You're probably some stupid robot Robotnik created years ago like the rest. We're not afraid of you!"

Robotar then spoke again his deep, heavy voice, "You think so?!"

"Uhh… no?" Sonic and Knuckles maneuvered their way around Robotar's blasts and found out indeed that he had immediate reflexes and was well advanced.

"Sonic! Look out for that beam behind you!" Sonic took note of Knux's words, but it was too late. Sonic's left hand went through the beam.

"We've got to get out of here!" and so they head off out of the room in search for another way.

 "Forget capturing. It is too difficult. Instead we kill them!" Dr Lighthead said. Gore noted and grabbed his big, sharp axe, a gun and knife. "They'll get it. I'm sure of it."

*  *  *

            It was night on the Floating Isle and everyone was in mixed emotions of what was going on. It was impossible to sleep as Sally kept a watch and waiting for a sign for Sonic and Knuckles to return. Julie Su did the same. It was along night but of course no one returned.

            "Why? Why did this have to happen?" Julie Su questioned.

            "It's ok. Things usually get better after being worse."

            "I hope so."

Meanwhile…   

"Gore, status report."

            "No luck. They're not around here. I'm going to call Robotar and ask him to rescan to make sure though."

            "Very well then. DrL out."

            Just after Gore leaves

"That was close." Knuckles said while he and Sonic were hiding just around the corner. "What on Mobius happened to your hand?"

            "It's.. it's TRANSPARENT! THE BEAM! It must've done this!" Sonic experiments with his transparent hand and realizes that he can place it through walls and other inanimate objects.

            "We better not stick around. I don't want to be here when that robot guy gets back."

            "Good thinking, Knux." And with that said, they head back into the unknown.

            "Scan complete. No life forms found."

            "DAMN! Boss! They've gotten away again!

            "Don't worry, Robotar won't have to find them. My newly created Standard Mini Defense Crafts will do that and act as a liquidation (SMDC)" Six SMDCs were then launched and began searching for Sonic and Knuckles. (The SMDCS were the crafts that trashed Knothole in HEBM1)

            "We need to find a way out of here and fast. But before we can do that, we also need to find a way to get your normal hand back.."

            "But how do we do that? I can't just go up to that crazy guy and say 'Hey, I need my hand back you sleezy nut.'"

            "Actually, that gives me an idea. It may be risky but it's an idea."

"Well, what is it?"

"Ok.. You know that if we just go out looking for a way, we'll just get in deeper trouble since we haven't the darkest clue what we're doing. So if you actually go up to that guy with the light and say what you said, he might offer you a way to get it back but it most likely be in a form of a challenge. Then-"

"Did you hear that?"

            "No. Hear what?"

            "That! There on to us!" Sonic and Knux see one SMDC on both sides of the corridor racing toward them and firing.

            "Duck!!" The two SMDCs crash in impact leaving a wreck of debris.

            "We need some sort of protection against these things… They're much more agile than the hover bots not to mention they look deadlier." Knuckles implied. One SMDC then came from behind them as they were running and took them by surprise. Unfortunately, Knuckles wasn't quick enough to get out of the way if it's laser blast and took a hit in the back of his right leg.

            "UNGGH!! One of them hit me!"

"OH CRAP!!! KNUX!!!!! Is it serious?"

"No, just a laser wound. I'll be fine… soon…"

"Alright, just stay there while I handle the rest."

Sonic zooms out in search of the SMDCs and then notices that there are still four left down the corridor. "Not good." They then progress down the corridor in a 'X' like formation with one completely different in the center. It was much more complex and carried twice the power of the SMDC. It was known as the Advanced Mini Defense Craft (AMDC) and fired an intense yellow photon instead of the standard light blue. They were all closing in. He ran.

It seemed like it would be impossible to escape them. Sonic could feel the wind of the beams zipping by him and then deforming what it hit, especially the yellow beam. Fortunately, the hallway was cylindrical and he was able to spin around like a screw. This caused the SMDCs to malfunction and crash. However, the AMDC was still easily keeping up and had a better targeting system.

"Alright… So it wants to play huh? Well then… I've got an idea." He then poured on the speed and ran as fast as he could as far as he could. Then in spin mode, he came back the opposite direction. The AMDC was not expecting this and he sliced it in two!

"Now I better get back to Knux."

"Uhh boss, the six SMDCs were destroyed."

"**Sigh** What about the AMDC?"

"Destroyed…"

"ARGHH!!!…… That's it! Robotar, you WILL kill them. NO EXCUSES!! NOW GO!!!!"

"So, you ok?"

"I'm fine. I'll be ok. Don't worry about it. What we do need to worry about is getting out of here!"

"Ok. Let's go this way then…"

"Robotar better complete his job or I WILL throw him overboard!"

"Yes, boss. I do believe Robotar will fulfill his mission under those circumstances. And if he doesn't, I WILL!"

Back on the Floating Island, (you probably forgot about them, didn't you?) Rotor had formulated a plan to rescue Sonic and Knux.

"So Rotuh, y'all have a plan tuh rescue Sugar-hog and Knux?

"Yes." Rotor holds up Nicole that is showing a holographic image of everything. "This pod I have made, I call the SOS will fly up to the Supremor, attach itself allowing both Sonic and Knux to board it. Once they aboard, they will have the ability to detach and descend back down with a parachute. Where they land, nobody knows."

Sally then asks, "How will they know it's there?"

"Once it has attached, it will send a signal all throughout the Supremor on screens and whatnot showing that it's there. The problem is, they have to get to it first before Dr Lighthead kicks it off. I know it's risky but it's the only way."

"Alright then. Let's do it."

"Ugh. Robotar has probably failed now. He will soon get it!" But while Robotar was looking, "Hey there Dr Dimbulb! We want to leave this piece of crap and get home!"

"Oh is that so? Well then I believe that your trip home has been cut a tad short. Gore, kill them."

"What?!? You're sending your assistant to do your job? We want you!"

"Very well then. Instead, you have to deal with both of us!"

First, it was Gore.

With that being said, within the room Gore makes an astonishing jump landing right in front of Sonic. Gore's eyes narrow and so it begins. Gore swipes underneath as Sonic jumps over to avoid the axe. Gore, with his superior skill is able to actually match Sonic's speed blocking and attacking. Sonic had his way with Gore as well. Knuckles then joined to help Sonic with a gliding attack but was rejected swift blasts of a razor sharp stun gun which Knux was able to narrowly avoid. Gore threw his axe at Sonic who ran up the wall dodging it. The axe returned to Gore's hand before as if he were summoning it. "This is my magical axe y'know." "Whatever." They continued to exchange attacks with Gore managing take both Sonic and Knuckles. Dr Lighthead noticed how they weren't going anywhere and stepped in.

"This is my light bomb, Freedom Fighters." He lifted a spherical mirror about the size of a soccer ball and placed it above the lightbulb. It made a perfect fit. Sonic and Knux just watched as the the sphere seemed to do nothing but were unaware of what was actually going on. After about 10 seconds of the spherical mirrir being ontop his lightbulb, DrL took it off and the hole where it had been, sealed off completely. As DrL threw into the air, Sonic and Knux dived out of the way and took cover. In mid air, it blew apart and a temporary small black hole appeared for only a second sucking in matter. The entire Supremor from the outside looked like it was sucking in itself briefly and then returning back to normal. DrL and Gore already knew this would happen and were in a safe place. Sonic took Knux's hand and ran as far as he could and then grabbed hold of what looked like a bolted seat which broke apart sending them to the blackhole. Fortunately, it had closed up the billionth of a second before they got there. Everything was normal again.

"Ugh. Almost getting sucked into a black hole. I guess I can add that. Right Knux?" Sonic turned to see Knux was in worse shape then he was by not responding. "Oh damn." Dr Lighthead approached the weakened the Sonic and Knuckles.

"That's right and now for your fate, hedgehog! I sincerely doubt your echidna friend will gain the strength to overcome me and neither will you."

 "Wha? You're still alive?" queried Sonic.

"Fool! You think I would kill myself with my own invention? After I'm through with you, I will defeat your echidna friend and fulfill my mission of getting the Master Emerald.

"Farewell!"

Sonic, having not the slightest clue what to do, holds up his right hand and waits…

At that moment, time itself seems to be reduced to a sluggish craw as the entire Supremor can be seen brightly lightened and is then back to normal in less than a second.

Sonic then opens his eyes and notices that Dr Lighthead and Gore and Robotar had vanished. It seemed that he had been out for an hour but it was only a few seconds. A weird feeling. Knux got up and noticed too.

"Ugh.. What on Mobius? I'm still alive again! And my hand is back to normal!"

"Well, that's good. No sign of lightbulb man, axe dude or robot guy."

"Lighthead's energy that he tried to use on me must've restored my hand and had some counter effect on him."

"All we need now is a ticket home which has been the same thing ever since we got here. Though it would be good to take this thing out before they go after the emerald again.

"What in the world?!"

Knux refers to Gore's axe which was beginning to move. As they saw the axe move, it went to the hands of Gore on other side of the room.

            "Its one thing I like, it's formidable opponents. If it's one thing I hate then it's when they don't die and nearly kill DRL!"

 But before Gore could say more an alert was displayed on the computer screen. It read:

WARNING! WARNING!

POWER LEVEL IS LESS THAN 10%

NEED FOR SOLAR ENERGY: EXTREME

WITH IN THE ATMOSPHERE, REMAINS DENSE

MIST WHICH IS BLOCKING MAIN AND ONLY POWER SOURCE.

ESTIMATED TIME LEFT BEFORE SUPREMOR DESCENDS: 5 MINUTES

"If you think you killed Dr Lighthead, you're mistaken. We don't go out that easily."

"Sorry Gore the bore… We have other important matters than fighting you… like getting out of here before the Supremor crashes." Gore followed after with his axe in hand and ran to do battle one last time. He then took out a dagger and prepared to throw it.

4 MINUTES – POWER LEVEL: 8..3%

The battle with Gore and Robotar against S&K made it to the solar processing (SPC) center where the solar energy is converted to power for the Supremor. The area was spherical and a thick beam of energy was in the middle. The way around was with the bridge that stook out and went around the beam. This circular bridge also lead to different areas of the Supremor.

With great force, Gore hurls a dagger in attempt to slow them down. The dagger comes in contact with Sonic's sock, tripping him. Sonic finds himself about to roll off the edge. Fortunately he grabbed hold of the edge to keep himself from falling off. Gore came up and prepared to make sure Sonic would fall into the processor below but that wasn't going to happen as a determined echidna gave a wallop of punch to Gore.

"So you want to die first, echidna?" Gore grabbed the dagger. This was Sonic's chance. He maneuvered himself back up and grabbed Gore's axe he dropped from Knux.

"Hey look what I got!"

3 MINUTES – POWER LEVEL: 6.1%

"My magical axe! Alright then." Gore takes out a little cube that was only about ¼ an inch high and two inches by two inches. He pressed a button and four blades instantaneously came out in the formation of a twirling star. It appeared that if he had held it differently when pressing the button, it could mangle up his hand. Gore then threw it at a speed only Sonic would be able to comprehend which helps him as Sonic is able to block effortlessly.

"That's it! Come to papa!"

Meanwhile in the main control room

Dr Lighthead couldn't find a way to get power to the Supremor from Lighgretron as the dense mist also known as clouds were blocking. But Dr Lighthead tried. "I must somehow get out of the atmosphere to get more power."

MAIN THRUSTERS ACTIVATING…

The Supremor's rockets flared downward as it ascended the littlest bit

20 seconds later

INSUFFICIENT AMOUNT OF SOLAR ENERGY FUEL TO

CONTINUE. AMOUNT MUST BE ABOVE 5%

"Damn! I should've known better to come within the atmosphere."

Back to Gore, Sonic and Knuckles.

            Gore had decided to summon his axe to get it back to him, however, Sonic didn't let go and instead of the axe coming out of his hand or not having any effect, Sonic, who had a firm grip was drawn in to and this wasn't good.

            "Thank you."

            "Oh shoot."

            "I hope you lived a good life because first I'm going to gut you and then chop off your head and your friend will watch me."

            "I see where you got your name."

Just then:

            "Gore, stop what you are doing and meet me at the escape pod."

            "I'm about to sever the hedgehog…"
            "If you want to live, you will come now. They'll die from the crash." Gore stared at Sonic with a very grim expression. "Too bad for you I never back down from an opportunity." Gore slashed Sonic's right leg, drawing blood.

            "Sorry, I'd love to stick around and watch you suffer and kill your echidna friend but I gotta run!"

2 MINUTES – POWER LEVEL: 3.4%

"Oh and Dr Lighthead will appreciate the sample of blood for DNA purposes. TA TA!"

            "Oh man! We have to get out of here… and fast!" Knux said in a panic.

            "There's no way in the world I can run…"

            "You have to. It's the only way! It's the only way we can escape!"

            "Not on this leg! Just go!" Sonic painfully said.

            "Hell no! You've got to! Would you rather die here then die trying? AndSally loves you. Don't leave her hanging like that. She believes in us! If not for me, then for Sally!"

1 MINUTE TO IMPACT – POWER LEVEL: 1.6%

"You're right! For Sally! Grab hold." Sonic exerts a strong amount of force in running to see if he can get Knux and himself off the Supremor before it crashes into Mobius.

45 SECONDS – POWER LEVEL: 1.0%

After a few seconds, the pain in his right leg is just overbearing from running, especially with a passenger.

            "ARG! I just can't do this anymore. It's too much." Sonic becomes off balance and ends up dropping Knuckles and tumbles along the floor. Knux gets up and realizes Sonic isn't going to try again.

            "This is not good. Now what do I do?"

DOCK 3.1 HAS AN UNKOWN CRAFT. AS DR LIGHTHEAD, IS IT YOUR INTENTION TO BE RID OF IT?

YES      NO

Knux pressed  "NO."

"Whoa this is just our luck!"

30 SECONDS – POWER LEVEL: 0.6%

Knux opened the hatch release and went back to carry Sonic in the craft on dock 3.1

            "Alright Sonic, that's our cue to get out… less than 30 seconds now…" Once Knux got into the craft…

22 SECONDS – POWER LEVEL: 0.0%

Knux was then suddenly overwhelmed of the controls.

"Awww CRAP! How does this thing work?!?" The Supremor was descending.

12 SECONDS – POWER LEVEL: 0.0%

"C'MON! ONE OF THESE….!"

VOOOOSH

"There we go!"

The craft rocks back and forth a bit and finally jerks out of place and away. The controls were fairly easy to use, like your standard joystick. Knux managed to steer the craft easily and away from the Supremor which was losing altitude dramatically.

Just then the Supremor hit the surface of Mobius below causing a tremendous explosion that shook the ground everywhere.

Knux spotted the freedom fighters which were celebrating of their heroic accomplishment.

"Yes! It worked!" Knuckles landed the SOS and opened the hatch.

            "It's good to see you're ok! What happened to your leg?"

            "Laser wound. I'm afraid the story is worse for Sonic. He was slashed by Gore. We were lucky to've made it. If it weren't for him, we'd both be dead for sure."

            "I've got a plexiproteinic bandage on the ship. It should control the bleeding." Rotor went to the ship the Freedom Fighters used to fly to the Floating Island and got the bandage and returned quickly.

            "Here we are. Let's just hope it isn't too late."

After 20 long minutes, Sonic finally came to…

            "Oh man. I'm STILL alive?"

            "Oh, Sonic! I'm so glad you're alive! You had me so worried!"

            "I.. I…. Don't get it… I lived through a black hole, Lighthead's solar power and now this… I just don't see how I could've-"

            "You talk to much." Sally kissed Sonic. It was a very memorable moment.

Meanwhile on a ship heading towards the sun……..

"Soon Gore… once we get back to Lighgretron, we'll be ready and the RSupremor will takeover!"

"Yes… soon….."