(A/N: If you like this fic and SSB, check out my SSB 7-fic series via my profile. While they're not as well written as this might be, I'm always happy to see comments about them.
Also, whoops, html doesn't register white space. I'll make some kind of division between scenes this time, sorry.)
Chapter 3 – Fierce Competition
Espio shook his head as he watched Vector and Charmy prepare for attack. This was wrong, all wrong, and he had no drive to fight like he usually did. He couldn't attack his friends who he had been with for so long. Looking around, he saw that Shadow and Omega had no such inhibitions. Understandable, since Espio and his friends had already grappled with the hedgehog and robot.
"I'll ask you one more time, Mr. Vector. Please leave!"
"Give up, Cream. Politeness isn't going to win you any battles," Espio advised.
"Or friends," Vector sneered, spitting a bubble of gum at the heroes.
Espio easily popped the bubble with his dagger, and the battle was joined. Cream sent Cheese charging at Charmy, but the nimble bee backflipped quickly and dodged the powerful chao. Omega fired a volley of rockets, and Shadow focused his Chaos Control power. Vector stepped forward, biting the air menacingly, and invited Charmy to spin around near his mouth. Espio recognized the attack, of course, but the detectives moved far faster than Espio was used to. Vector fired Charmy at Espio with a yell, and Espio heard only "What? They hit him?" before blacking out.
----------
Big swung his fishing pole around, eliminating a good number of robots, but he recovered too slowly. Amy swung her hammer desperately, but there were far too many robots to beat. Tails hovered overhead chuckling, occasionally dropping a few decoy rings to hit the heroes.
"This isn't working, Big. We've got to get out of here!" Amy shouted desperately, pivoting and starting to run the other way.
"OK," the cat agreed, but he was far too slow to escape the army of robots emerging from Eggman's base.
"Big? Are you OK?"
"Don't worry about me-" he grunted, fighting off the robots. "Just get out of here!"
"Big…" she tried to voice her thanks, but was drowned out by the hum of flying robots above her. Tails was flanked by a dozen of the airborne threats, and as Amy started to run, they started to fire.
----------
Rouge's round two with Sonic ended fairly quickly. Soon after the hedgehog disappeared, she summoned her messenger to complete the important message she had partially sent before. She knew it would take some time before the message was received, but it was too important to ignore. She only hoped the others could survive long enough.
----------
Espio awoke to the sound of evil laughter. As his eyes reluctantly opened, he realized he was being carried. Instinctively, he pulled out a dagger and stabbed the arm that held him. Vector roared in anger.
"You little-"
Espio threw a dagger at Vector, trying to disable the device, but Vector and Charmy teleported away immediately, carrying Shadow and Cream. Omega lay deactivated nearby.
If only I knew anything about robotics, Espio thought, I'm going to need some help here.
He wished he had been conscious to see the fight to the end, but he was glad he woke up just in time. A familiar sound interrupted his reflection.
Bullet fire, he realized, and became invisible. It's coming from over here.
Following the sound to a nearby forest, he leapt into the treetops and prepared to help out. He was slightly disheartened to see possibly his only ally.
----------
Amy ran as fast as she could, but the robots were gaining fast. Suddenly, one of the robots exploded. Amy whirled around to see another two robots detonate apparently on their own. Tails glared and flew forward, but he fell unconscious. After all of the robots were gone, Amy stared suspiciously into the air.
"Sonic?" she asked hopefully.
Espio appeared in midair. "No," he said quietly, landing in front of Amy. "Let's go."
He grabbed her wrist and dashed forward, in the general direction of Eggman's trap door. Amy struggled and shouted, "No! Big-"
"Lost cause," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "We're likely the only ones left."
Amy stopped struggling and looked at him sadly. "Cream…"
"She put up a good fight," Espio said to make her feel better; of course he had no idea.
"OK, let go of me, I can run by myself. I'm not just the damsel in distress anymore, buddy."
"Glad to hear it. But I'm not holding on to you to protect you," he replied, stopping to turn around. "I'm faster than you are, and-"
"Now wait just a minute. I don't think you-"
Espio stopped her comeback with his hand, reaching slowly behind him to pull out a shuriken. In a fluid motion he whirled around and stopped his wrist just before tossing the weapon at the intruder.
"No, don't!" Amy shouted, looking up in the air. "That's Chocola."
"I'm sorry?"
"It's Cheese's brother. We saved him from Metal Sonic."
"Oh, of course," Espio replied, not understanding at all. "Why would he want to-wait, he's carrying something."
"It's a package," Amy realized, taking it from the chao. "Thanks, Chuck!"
Espio rolled his eyes as Chocola flew away. Amy opened the box to see a collection of very bizarre devices and a short note.
To whom it may concern:
These MCPE caps will help you against Eggman.
3, Rouge
"Rouge?!" Amy gasped, dropping the paper. "Why would she-"
"You've known her for longer than I have," Espio interrupted, gazing at the strange "caps" in the box. "Can we trust her?"
"Well," Amy said thoughtfully, "if the MC part stands for Mind Control, we probably have no choice."
Espio was impressed; he had not made that connection. As a ninja, though, he had no trouble hiding his surprise. "Yes, good point. We'd better put them on."
----------
Eggman laughed as Vector and Charmy appeared with their hostages. "Excellent work. Without Tails, they won't be able to reactivate Omega, and there are only two left."
"Aren't you forgetting about Rouge, boss?" Sonic leered, grinning widely at the captives.
Eggman grinned as well. "She's harmless. All we have to worry about is Espio and Amy, and personally, I'm not worried. Now take them to the machine!"
Vector, Charmy, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles escorted Shadow, Cream, and Big to a large machine in the middle of the base. Shadow struggled a bit, but there was clearly nothing he could do to escape the powerful slaves.
"Soon no one will stand in my way!" Eggman shouted, laughing maniacally as usual.
----------
"Where are we going, Espio?" Amy asked after following the chameleon for a while.
"To Eggman's base, of course," he replied somewhat disdainfully.
"What? What do you think two of us can do against them?!"
"Well, if you're right about these caps, we might have a chance," he responded in the same tone. "Even if you're not, we really don't have any choice, do we?"
Amy started to say something, but could not form a complete thought. She shook her head nervously.
"We can do this," Espio assured her, realizing she wasn't as optimistic as he was. "Only we can save Sonic and the others."
Nodding, Amy clenched her fist. "Eggman, you're mine!"
(A/N: No, there won't be any romance in this fic. This pair happened purely out of circumstance, and both parties involved know this. Anyway, imagine going on a date with a ninja…
Anyway, will Espio and Amy alone be able to stop Eggman? Is Rouge really harmless? Will anyone escape Eggman's machine? Why was Rouge's messenger Chocola? Why do I ask more questions than I answer every chapter? Find out (all except the last one, of course) next time!)