HEBM - PART V
ENTER : C.H.A.O.S
Chaos. Incomprehension, Resistance, Anger and Acceptance - If all of these are experienced, CHAOS was reached and they were. Chaos swept down below through out the planet as every major city in the northern hemisphere witnessed a sight they never before imagined of. More than half the sky was darkened or obscured from view by the vastness of the RSupremor. No one knew what was going on at all. Most thought it was the end of the world. Mobian troops over the world geared up and manned fighters. Thousands of fighters took off into space to see what they could do to knock out the RSupremor. They were convinced that this thing meant harm on everyone on the planet.
In the deep, dark sky loomed peril and within that peril of the RSupremor stood four figures hunched over at the stunning appearance of the Master Chaos Emerald. The bright green light revealed Dr Lighthead, Gore, Robotar and Orlo as it cut through the dimness of the RSupremor. The Master Emerald rules over the chaos emeralds and can control them but Dr Lighthead wasn't after them. They were scattered all across the planet. He knew they contained power but not like the Master Emerald and only Mobius had the emerald he wanted. Each and every terrestrial planet has one. Mercury's and Venus's were too weak and so they were destroyed. The planet of Mars's was too unstable and was at the core of the planet. It would be far too much work to get it and the unstable power of it could be too unpredictable and disastrous once manifested. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune's were gaseeric, meaning that the gas of the planet consumed it's power and there was nothing but an average emerald. It was once believed that these 'Master Emeralds' generate the gravity of the planet but now that theory has been disproved. Since the Master Emerald of Earth or Mobius was removed, gravity still remains in effect. Orlo was first to speak.
"Now that we have the emerald, shall we head back to Lighgretron?"
"Yes, but first we need to make sure of something." Dr Lighthead had Robotar carry the Master Emerald to a large orange/reddish hollow sphere within a great room of immense proportions. The sphere opened up and Robotar placed it within.
"C.H.A.O.S, analyze if this is the correct emerald or not." Lighthead spoke aloud.
"Scanning…. ……….. ………… YES, Correct Emerald. It is the Master Chaos Emerald essential for full compatibility of the RSupremor. Full efficiency is now in effect."
"Excellent. Now we should be heading back to be in place for when the Star X Conquerors return." But suddenly…
"WARNING! Incoming hostile crafts!"
"WHAT? Bah. They are no match for this magnificent structure. C.H.A.O.S, initiate the disruptor fields."
"Affirmative."
"This is Wing Leader Zeta, all men hold positions and await further orders." Wing Leader Zeta was a tan, maroonish wolf with the kind of fighting spirit one would appreciate. His name was Carlok.
"Wing Leader Zeta, report on the target."
"Goodnews and badnews, commander. Good news is that we'll have no problem hitting it. Bad news, it might not create a dent considering it's monstrous size. It's far bigger then predicted. It's at least 50x bigger than originally calculated."
"Deploy all firepower. I want it out of the sky."
"I'd have to seriously disagree with you, commander. I think we should regroup and gain new strategies for more drastic measures."
"As far as I know from what you've just said, now is not the time for drastic
measures. We initate those when we know it's the only way. Blast that thing now out of the sky before it does anything, AND THAT'S AN ORDER!"
"No Sir! IT'S SUICIDE! I REFUSE to go through with any operation that will result in obvious suicide!"
"Wing Leader… You are a disgrace to the Mobian Defense Corps. Your hindrance of this operation has resulted your transfer to a different unit. Effective immediately!"
"This is Wing 009. I'm experiencing some odd fluctuations from above. They're… they're starting to move me, downwards……. I'M LOSING CONTROL!"
"WING LEADER! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Wing Leader Zeta now in a prespirous frenzy from both the commander and his squad, try to avoid the magnetic repelling field but it was too strong. Since they were already close to the RSupremor once the disruptor field activated, the force was multiplied 100s of fold. This sent all the pilots back down to Mobius at great speeds of 24,800 meters per second and no living being can stand such acceleration within such a small duration of time.
Except one. He was currently on the upper wing of Tail's biplane. They did not depart yet.
"So Rotor, how do you know? You say you were told by someone?" Sonic repeated what he asked from before.
"Yes. I do not know of his name but I do know of this. He told me of Lighthead's plans. His new ship is what's covering half the sky up. He went to get the Master Emerald to prepare for some invasion that claims to have capability to destroy stars. That's all. I don't know the rest. He told me to come to the Floating Island and warn you guys and so I did. Problem being, I'm beginning to wonder now if it was a GOOD thing they got the emerald."
"GOOD THING?! Them taking MY emerald a good thing? Thousands may be killed!"
"I really can't say, but he told me that there could be other unforeseen consequences with the emerald. It could have gone both ways. It's very puzzling."
"I don't care what it is! We're getting it back!"
"Oh, that's simple. How are we supposed to get up there? It's not like we can just fly the biplane up out of the atmosphere."
"That's why we should head back to Knothole and strategize what to do next."
"I'm coming with you. It is my emerald and mainly my responsibility. I must also go." Sonic and Tails nodded. Tails readied the biplane and soon enough it was ready to take off. There was only room for one other passenger Rotor took the spot. Sonic and Knuckles were both on the wing. The tornado then took off enroute to Knothole.
"All targets have been removed."
"Ahh.. That's good to hear. We should now prepare to head back to Lighgretron."
"But boss…"
"What is it Gore?"
"Is it ABSOLUTELY essential to head back now?"
"Not really. We have many years until the Star X Conquerors head back."
"That's good because there is something that I must acquire that those Freedom Fighters possess."
"The Freedom Fighters? BAAAH! I will have nothing to do with it."
"You won't have to. This is strictly my business anyway."
"What is it they have that you want?"
"The Sword of Acorns." Dr Lighthead's eyes widened at the name.
"How do you know they have that?"
"Being a master of all weapons medieval, I keep track of these things. A friend of the hedgehog is the chipmunk/squirrel breed. Her father is King Acorn. That is how they possess it. It was welded with the chaos energy of King Acorn himself and contains mystical abilities that I may be able to utilize."
"I see Gore. You may do as you wish to obtain it."
"Thank you, boss. I'm now strategizing."
Tails, still wounded from the previous attacks of Lighgresonic, spotted the landing strip just a couple miles away from Knothole. A crowd was gathered as they saw their heroes once again. Sally was both puzzled and in enlightened. Enlightened at the sight of Sonic, Tails and how Rotor was back but confused at the sight of Knuckles. Why did he decide to come back with them? Did it have to do with the sky? She thought they had some answers.
As the plane landed and came to a stop, the crowd of freedom fighters cheered. Sally ran up and gave them all a hug as she had been worried.
"So, what brings you here, Knuckles?"
"Sally, we have a great problem…."
"Yeah? That's why I sent Sonic and Tails to the Floating Island."
"It hasn't been resolved. Dr Lighthead has came back and successfully took the Master Chaos Emerald from the Floating Island."
"Oh noo! Then that means that-"
Rotor interrupted, "Yup. It's his ship."
"How is the Floating Island fairing?"
"For now, it'll be fine. Reverse thrusters were installed in case such a scenario were to occur. We echidnas always prepared for the absolute worse, however, we don't have unlimited fuel. In about a week, it'll be used up. That's why its essential to go up there and get that emerald."
"But how are we going to do that? Rotor, do you have any ideas?"
"I personally think, it's a suicide mission. By my calculations, that ship is more than twice the diameter of Mobius big. There may be some crafts in Robotropolis designed for space travel but we would easily be detected and eliminated in flash once we got near the colossal ship."
"Couldn't you just install some sort of cloaking device?"
"Problem with that is that you can't remain cloaked forever. Sooner or later, you would be detected and eradicated. I think the whole operation is to risky."
"Then what else do you have in mind, Rotor?"
"Concentrate on a way to keep the Floating Island up without the emerald because as of now, your odds of getting it back are virtually zero." Knuckles was furious with this strategy. He didn't want to give up the emerald that easily. All the times he had narrowly escaped with it still in working order from Robotnik and now it was gone. In the back of his mind, he also knew that all of the inhabitants on the Floating Island would be killed if he didn't get it back in time.
"I'm sorry Knux…." Sally comforted Knux. "We'll think of a way. If we don't, we'll have to get them off in time." Sally's words just did nothing but anger the red echidna further.
"You don't understand. That emerald… now that its gone, I have no more purpose so I am getting that emerald whether you like it or not and that's FINAL!"
"Oh, and how do you plan to do that?" Sonic looked up.
"I'll transform. I'll go super, or better yet, hyper."
"That may get you there but you expect to manage to overthrow that thing and get the Master Emerald back?"
"Well, my dad always said I was lucky."
"Well, if you're going then so am I!"
"And me!" Tails exclaimed. Sally, obviously uneasy about this new plan, stepped in. "No way! It's way to risky for you all up there."
"Sal, it would work. They wouldn't be expecting us, especially without any ships. Plus, when in our super forms, we're nearly invincible and we'll have no problems getting there. We'll just need some transportation back home, that's all. Rotor could get that SOS pod up there."
"Well…"
"Come on Sal.. You know we'll be back. You already know."
"Do I really?"
"Yes, you do."
"Well… before you get too excited, many bugs need to be worked out. I don't know how long it will be until I can modify the SOS in order for it to escape Mobius's gravity. It may be a week or two."
"We can't wait that long! Two days tops!" Knuckles reinforced. "I have the necessary super emeralds for to undergo the transformation which will only be good until we get there. They're capable of transforming all of us to our super form simultaneously. All we need now is a ticket home, which is what we wait for Rotor to work out."
"Ah, but like I said, there are other bugs we need to work out. Like what if you're not successful in getting the emerald back? Then what? Wouldn't we need a back up plan?"
Matters were discussed on through the night. It was finally decided that they would need to resolve this the next day. Rotor kept bring up the scenario of if they weren't successful while Knuckles was attempted to reassure him that they would get it back.
The next morning was another day of discrepancy. Tails was now being downsized in the mission to recover the MCE not because of his age or skill, but because of his condition. He was still a bit weak from the punch from Lighgresonic that sent him sprawling. Fortunately, in the end he was able to convince Princess Sally to go. The transformation to Super Tails itself would help was the key point in the argument. Sally still did have doubts about the mission and continued to forebode. She knew what would happen if they succeeded but what if they were to fail miserably? The thoughts and scenarios ran through her head over and over. At some points she couldn't stand it and almost had the thought of what it would be like if Sonic and Tails weren't around anymore let alone Knuckles.
"Guys, I still have severe doubts of this mission. Run diagnostic of chances of survival with the current parameters set, Nicole."
ACCESSING… SALLY
CURRENT PARAMTERS….
MISSION – TAKES PLACE IN OUTERSPACE
LOCATION OF MASTER EMERALD IN OUTERSPACE
WITHIN A SHIP 13920 MILES IN LENGTH, 83 MILES ABOVE
THE SHIP IS ARMED WITH C.H.A.O.S – OR CYBER HOLISTIC ADVANCEMENT ONBOARD SUPREMOR. IT'S A SUPERCOMPUTER MADE FROM THE SAME PARTS AS ME AND IN ROBOTROPOLIS EXCEPT AT A MUCH BIGGER SCALE.
GIVEN THAT YOU 3 SHOULD EASILY MAKE IT ONBOARD THE RSUPREMOR, CHANCE OF SURVIVAL IS 0.854083 % CHANCE OF SURVIVAL WITH THE MASTER CHAOS EMERALD IS 0.0000000044207931%
Everyone gasped. "See? There's no way in Mobius I'm allowing any of you to go AND THAT IS FINAL!" Knuckles with his head down, still didn't accept. Perhaps there was another way but he still had this feeling for the MCE. He still felt he had to get it back but how? He spent hours pondering this.
Meanwhile, King Acorn who also disproved of the mission was preparing to take a nap amongst all the stress that he too was suffering but suddenly, in amidst, there was a knock at the door.
"Whose there?"
No response. The then door busted open mutilated with splinters and shrapnel of wood all over.
"Who are you?! How dare you!"
"I am Gore. I come to seek the sword you bear." King Acorn took the sword by hand and took a fighting pose, ready for anything.
"You're not getting it."
"So I see I'll have to do this the hard way." And so it began. Gore tried to land his magical axe but to no avail as King Acorn was able to block each attack.
"I've heard of you and by the sound of it, your kind isn't wanted here."
"Baah.. I could care less about this planet now. That sword is the last thing on this planet that I want. After I get it, I may ask Dr Lighthead to annihilate this planet." King Max ignored the comment and kept up with every attack. Both combatants were well skilled. Every attack was easily checked and matched. The battle went on for some time without anyone noticing.
Except Sonic, who happened to be looking for Knuckles for their strategy ideas. He immediately knew something was wrong within the King's hut, revving up, he burst through the door to see what was going on. As a consequence, this threw the King off guard, "Sonic?!" Sonic was perplexed as well when he saw Gore once again. Millions of questions rushed through his head at that one moment. Gore used that opportunity to strike the King with all that he had.
In that instant, everything was silent. Sonic couldn't believe his eyes. Gore's magical axe was now slain with King Acorn's blood. The King, mortally wounded, fell back to the side of the wall gasping for air desperately. Gore just stood with a grin on his face. Sonic maliciously looked at Gore then switched back to King Acorn.
"Sonic, please promise me this one thing…"
"What is it, King Max…?"
"Take… great care… of… my daughter…" With the King's last ounce of strength used, he felt limp.
"I will." Sonic knew how difficult this would be for Sally to go through. She already had to go through losing him from the zone of silence but now it was for good. Yet, Sonic would have to worry about that later. Gore, still in the room, was ready for anything. Sonic grabbed the sword of acorns. It then crossed his mind that it had to be what he was after. Not King Acorn. Still, he had just killed him and Sonic knew he wouldn't easily get away with it. At first he thought of calling out for help just in case but dismissed the thought.
"You…"
"So I see you're not fond of my new rearrangements with your king? I could care less. If you wish to avoid the same fate as him, you will hand over the sword of acorns to me at once."
"No way you're getting this!" Sonic exclaimed. Gore could only laugh. "The same thing your king just said after I asked for the same. Or should I say, FORMER king?" Sonic's grip with the sword tightened immensely. He held it tight and prepared himself for anything. He may not be the top swordsmen but he wasn't going to let Gore waltz on in and kill Sally's father and steal something just for his own collection.
Gore was the first to start. He charged and drove the axe in a vertical manner but with Sonic's quick reflexes, he was able to avoid the attack. Sonic then started trying to formulate a plan. How could he lure him in the open? It was much to difficult to fight the guy in the cramped hut. Sonic then got an idea and used his patented triple spin to drill in the floor.
"You want this? You gotta get it!" Gore was baffled at what his adversary was trying to pull off but stood ready. Within seconds, Sonic was able to drill out of the ground and to the surface outside the hut. There was still no one in sight except Knuckles but he didn't seem to notice what was going on until Sonic signaled him. Once Knuckles saw that Gore was here, anger and rage boiled within him as he remembered how they had stolen the Master Emerald. He glided unnoticed to Gore and gave him a uppercut from behind. The result was a near flip onto the ground but he got up immediately. Sonic still held the Sword of Acorns with care and determination to not let Gore get it.
"What is going on?!" Knuckles asked during the small break they had.
"Bad news is whats going on. He killed Sally's father!
"WHAT?!! You mean King Acorn?!"
"YES! Just now!"
"YOU! YOU TOOK MY MASTER CHAOS EMERALD!! AND NOW YOU KILLED SALLY'S FATHER??!!!"
"Ah, yes. That. I don't care about that though at the moment. I'm merely eager to get the Sword of Acorns that he once bore."
"Why, to add to your collection?"
"It contains elements that I should be able to possess."
"Well, we're not going to let you, buddy! THIS ENDS TODAY!"
"I didn't know you were in such a hurry to die… Just merely hand over the sword and I'll go."
"After what you just did and what you've done? FORGET IT!" They both leapt forward in full rage of what just become. Sonic used his spin attack with the Sword of Acorns which appeared to be a whirring blue saw with a hint of silver on the edges. It was, however, counterattacked by Gore's magical axe. Sonic then dropped the sword after sent flying off from the counterblow. Knuckles, already frustrated from the previous happenings, was even more frustrated as he did not want to see Gore obtain the sword just for a mere collectible. The Sword of Acorn's power was still undetermined for the most part and it would be chaotic if Gore got to it and was able to exploit its powers.
With a surge of energy flowing through him, Knuckles made a mad dash to get the Sword of Acorns before Gore who was also trying to get it. Knuckles knew he was determined in getting it but was he as determined as much as they were trying to prevent him from getting it? Apparently, he was. Gore in efforts of stopping Knuckles before he could get it before, threw his axe. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Even to Sonic who looked up to see who would get to it. Gore's magical axe whirred in motion soaring through the air. To Sonic's ecstatic hope, Knuckles got to it and in the nick of time was able to evade Gore's axe from striking him. Yet to Sonic's dismay, the axe as able to turn around. They had forgotten of Gore's ability to manipulate the axe. Sonic's was unable to warn Knuckles in time even though the event still seemed to be slow motion. Only sound escaped Sonic's mouth. The axe came back and struck Knuckles' right side, making him drop the sword. Now it was Sonic's turn to get it once again but there was another problem. If Sonic were to try and regain the sword, Gore could finish Knuckles off with a lethal blow with his axe and he didn't want to have two casualties in one day. So he went to help Knuckles instead. Gore, as predicted, went after the sword.
"Forget me! Just get the sword back!" Gore then went off towards his mini ship he used to get to Knothole from the RSupremor. As Sonic went off to try and stop Gore from escaping, Knuckles looked upon his wound from Gore's axe. It was somewhat large scrape that barely punctured the skin, fortunately. Gore was able to safely get in his ship without Sonic stopping him. Once Sonic got to the ship, it was too late. Gore flipped the shield generators on preventing Sonic to penetrate through. In a flash of light Gore, Lighthead's assistant, was gone.
Sonic's anger shifted to remorse. Sally had yet to find out. It was amazing all this took place and yet no one besides Knux seemed to notice. How would he tell Sally? Would he be court martialed for not being able to stop him and doing a poor job? Or worse, banned from Knothole Village? These thoughts invaded his mind. Knuckles had the same feelings as well.
"What are we going to do?! This is mondo uncool." said a frustrated Sonic.
"We're going to get revenge, that's what! We need to go super, goto their battleship and stop them once and for all!"
"I know that. How are we going to tell Sally what's happen though?" Knuckles' facial expression turned cold. Sonic knew he didn't know either. They'd just have to play it by ear.
"Where is Sally, anyway?"
"She's with Tails, I think."
"Are you going to tell her?" Sonic walked away towards where they were and nodded grimly.
"For the last time, Tails, no!! This mission is too dangerous for you three. You heard Nicole." Tails sighed, also eager to go on the mission.
"But Sally…"
"Tails…"
"Hey big guy!"
"Sonic! Sally won't let us go up there."
"You heard Nicole. The chances of you coming back here are slim to none."
"Actually Sal, there have been…" Sonic gulped, "New developments."
Sally lifted one eyebrow. "And what do you mean by that?"
"Sal… this isn't for me but…" Sonic said diffidently
"But what, Sonic?"
Tails looked up
"King Acorn… your dad… is…
"Is what?!"
"Dead."
Knuckles forced himself not to get in a fighting stance once Sally screamed in shock of what had just happened and he knew it wouldn't be pretty at all. In lieu, he was preparing for the upcoming mission even though Sally had disproved of it. He was planning to go despite Sally's orders and Nicole's calculations. He had a hold of the super emeralds which had the ability to transform all three of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to their super forms in which they would use to get to the RSupremor. Then, they would do two things: Recover the Sword Of Acorns and the Master Chaos Emerald.
"And so he took the sword of acorns and there was nothing left we could do!"
"That's horrible!"
As Sonic figured, this wouldn't be easy but he had managed.
"Are you going to be ok, Sal?"
"I… wish could say yes but I can't."
"Oh. He did tell me one thing right before he died. He told me to be sure to take great care of you and I promised him I would."
"Oh Sonic…!" Sally hugged Sonic.
"Sonic…"
"Yes?"
"I want you to go." Sonic was shocked. "I want you to recover that sword. It's the only thing that's left of daddy and promise me you will come back."
"I promise Sal."
The next 5 minutes was spent hugging and wishing Sonic, Tails and Knux good luck in their mission. Then, with a wave goodbye, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles transformed into their super forms using the super emeralds and went into the direction of the RSupremor in hopes of salvaging what was rightfully theirs.
"This is Gore approaching the RSupremor…"
"Excellent Gore. I take it you succeeded?"
"Indeed, boss. I was able to get the Sword Of Acorns. Within time I should be able to utilize its powers."
"How were you able to get it, might I ask?"
"It wasn't easy to get. I ran into problems with the hedgehog."
"He shouldn't have been too much of a problem."
"However I was able to kill King Acorn, Sally's accursed father. That way it'll give them a weakness." Dr Lighthead gave Gore a sinister look on the monitor as if he had just uttered the worse thing imaginable.
"Gore… No! That was a bad strategy!"
"Huh? Why's that?"
"That doesn't give them a weakness. It gives them a strong point. They will want revenge and now I'm 100% sure they will try to impede us. I told you not to go after it but since you had to mess it up…"
"I HAD TOO! I had to fight him in order to get it."
"You shouldn't have gone after it. The Freedom Fighters will do everything in their power to stop us."
"But this is the RSupremor, capable of almost anything. They can't possibly stop us."
"And that's your weakness, Gore. You should not estimate the Freedom Fighters. They were able to decimate the original Supremor."
"That was by shear luck!" Gore shouted. Lighthead sighed.
"Ok, Gore. That's just too bad for them anyway. As soon as you get here, we're out of here. I don't want to waste any time. We must head back to Lighgretron for the Star X Conquerors will return. The Master Emerald holds key to our survival."
"Right."
"That thing is huge!" Tails exclaimed as he sees the RSupremor in which holds Dr Lighthead and Gore with the Master Emerald and the Sword of Acorns. "I hope we know what we're getting into."
"I'm not worried about it. I just want to get back the emerald. Nothing else matters to me."
"I need to recover the sword. It's the only thing that holds dear to Sally now that the king is gone." Both Sonic and Knuckles were determined in their statements. Tails was there for reinforcement. None of the three had any idea what lied in store for them which would be their main weakness.
The plan to come back is similar of getting back was very much like before with the Supremor. Rotor was working on modifying the SOS pod to make its way into outerspace. Since neither Sonic, Tails or Knuckles need to worry about breathing while in outerspace in their super forms, the SOS pod wasn't needed. Plus they were hard to stop and they wouldn't have to worry about technical problems.
As they neared the RSupremor, they quickly realized just how big this new threat was. It was 13920 miles in diameter…. twice the size of Mobius. It didn't take long to finally be within a few miles of the colossal structure. Once they were, they decided to not be friendly with getting in and just smash their way in. They probably knew they were coming.
With little time left in their super forms, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails used their temporary immense strength to break their way through the RSupremor's disruptor fields and enter through the bottom which seemed to be a piece of cake. Once inside, they decided to take a short rest and then get on their way.
"How are we going to find the emerald and the sword? This place is HUGE!"
"I know, Tails. We'll find a way. No matter the size, we'll find a way. We came all this way and we're certainly not turning back. Even if we could… I hope Rotor will be ready when we are."
"That's IF we're ever ready."
"That pessimistic talk isn't going to help, Knux."
"So… which way, Knuckles?"
"I… I can't get a sense of where it is. I have no clue."
"I thought you had a mental bond of where this thing was and can tell when we're getting closer?"
"I do. It must be pretty far away then."
"Great.." The three, now back in their normal forms, decide to head in a random direction but unexpectedly an omnipresent voice spoke, "Where do you think you're going? You think you can stop me? You think you can fool me?! I am most powerful computer ever created. I… AM…. C.H.A.O.S!
Everyone was speechless. At first nothing happened but then along the walkway from both sides on the walls about a foot off the ground a hole opened up every three feet. From the hole protruded a foot long cylinder with a semi-sphere flashing transparent red tip. This entire setup seemed to extend for miles both behind and in front through the very long, straight corridor.
"Whats that noise?"
In the distance in front of them they could then see a red beam connect the pair of cylinders from each side and race towards them at an incredible speed.
"Running may be a good idea, Sonic…"
Sonic grabbed Knux and Tails' hand and sped off in the opposite direction of the incoming connecting laser beams that were quickly coming towards them.
"Sonic, you need to run faster!" Knuckles succinctly said.
"I'm going… as fast… as I can!"
"What if we just stop in between these things?!" Tails queried.
"Way too risky! Plus we'd be stuck."
Sonic was slowed down tremendously with two passengers. The speed of each beam clashing down the line narrowed closer and closer. No one was eager to find out what happens if it were to strike them but it appeared little choice was in the making.
Once it was about only a few feet behind and still no end in sight, Tails broke from Sonic's grasp and started flying while Knuckles started gliding over. Tails was barely able to keep up with Sonic now that his speed had increased. The paring beams were only inches now from Sonic. Knuckles' ability was the best fit. Tails now had second best ability fit for the scenario. He could only fly so far before he'd have to rest and once he did he'd have to be careful to not land on the beam for he was now the farthest behind. Knuckles and Sonic were almost going the same speed. Sonic seemed to be running the same speed each beam came up from behind.
"Tails, how are you doing?"
"I'm going to need to rest soon. I can't keep this up much longer!"
"Just be careful!"
Tails landed in between two of the what appeared to be millions of paired cylindrical laser binders and took a rest. He was careful to not let his two tails touch the red humming beam emancipating from the cylinder like structures in the wall. Panting, Tails looked up and watched Sonic and Knuckles continue down the seemingly endless corridor. Sonic new he had a problem. He couldn't run forever and yet it was still gaining on him inch by inch.
"Sonic, try running on the walls!"
"Good idea!"
Sonic sped to the right and started to use the angular momentum to his advantage to run along the walls rather the main path. Shortly, the speed of the beams surpassed Sonic underneath and continued forth. The corridor still appeared to go on forever. The lines that made up the corridor's corners formed to one singular point in the center, thus showing no end in sight. They all knew they couldn't keep this up forever. Sonic had the worse problem since he couldn't stop. Knuckles could simply dig his knuckles into the wall.
Finally, Sonic spotted something he had wanted to see for long while. About ½ a mile ahead was a way up through the ceiling near the left side of the corridor. It appeared big enough for them all to get through.
"Knux! See that ahead?!"
"Yeah. I got ya."
Sonic ran along the ceiling and towards the left in order to be able to get through. Knuckles started to angle upwards. They both made it with Sonic going up first followed by Knuckles. It was a large tube that conjoined with the long corridor they were originally on that led to another level above. Once finally above, Sonic and Knux took a much-deserved rest and waited for Tails while gazing back down the tube. About 3 minutes later, Tails saw where his comrades had went and flew up with the greatest of ease. They were now back together but knew that was merely the beginning of the challenges they'll face onboard the RSupremor.
