Espio, now at the controls of the stolen airship, looked frustrated, as he tried to figure out how to operate the weaponry. It was now late at night, and the skies were dark. The island was under an omnipresent shadow.
"Have you found anything?" asked Knuckles.
"I may have found part of the weapon system, but it doesn't even seem to have any power," replied Espio. "I don't know what to do!"
Espio continued to work on the weapons system, trying to find where they were connected to the controls.
"Espio!" shouted Knuckles, startling Espio, who quickly turned around. "Look!"
Espio turned back toward the controls, and saw two airships closing in on their position. Suddenly, the radio came to life again.
"OUR LORD HAS NOTIFIED US OF YOUR ALIGNMENT. SURRENDER AT ONCE OR WE WILL BE FORCED TO OVERTAKE YOUR SHIP."
"Damn!" shouted Vector.
"What are we supposed to do?" asked Mighty, worried.
"We can't let them get us," said Knuckles.
"Well, what are we supposed to do, then?" snapped Vector.
"YOUR WEAPONS SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN LOCKED DOWN. DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO ACTIVATE THEM."
"There goes that idea," said Espio.
"You rammed into the robots, didn't you?" asked Charmy. "Can we ram into the airships?"
"Won't we take as much damage as we give?" asked Espio.
"How can we run from them?" asked Mighty. "They're all over the Floating Island. If we take out a few, there's still nowhere for us to hide!"
"YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES TO SURRENDER."
"Crap," cried Knuckles. "We don't have much time!"
Knothole Village, midnight…
Sonic lay in his bed, thinking.
"What could it mean?" asked Sonic to himself. "Robotnik invading the Floating Island… is he after the Chaos? Possibly, but there must be more to it than that. The number of robots was insane. There must be more to it than meets the eye. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll see it for myself."
Sonic turned onto his side and dozed off. Sleep came and it was a refuge.
Floating Island Airspace…
"RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU HAVE LEFT US NO CHOICE BUT TO OVERTAKE YOUR SHIP."
"We don't have much of a choice," said Charmy. "Ram into them before they overtake us!" "But…"
"What else are we going to do? We don't have any time!"
Espio pushed the throttle forward, and flew at full-torque toward the first enemy airship. The airship shook violently upon impact with the enemy airship.
"Hold on, everybody!"
"PREPARE TO BE FIRED UPON."
Espio pushed the aircraft into reverse, and then rammed into the enemy airship again. The second airship opened fire upon Espio and company's airship.
"Hit the second airship!" cried Knuckles. "If nothing else, we might be able to knock out its weaponry."
Espio turned toward the second enemy airship and headed toward it, full throttle. Apparently, the impact on the first airship had disabled its weaponry, as it didn't fire; the second airship, however, did. Its blast hit the side of the ship, and the lights inside flashed as a result of the surge. Espio charged into the second enemy airship. His own ship shook violently.
"I don't think this ship can take much more of this bashing!" cried Espio.
"Let's get out of here!" cried Charmy.
"But they know who we are already," said Knuckles.
"This ship can't take any more of this," said Espio. "We don't have much of a choice."
Espio pushed the controls into vertical, and pulled the ship up and away from the enemy airships.
"Let's hope they can't shoot us," commented Mighty.
"They'll just get reinforcements to shoot us down anyway," said Vector.
"Maybe we should try an' hide somewhere," said Charmy.
"Damnit!" cried Knuckles. "These bastards have taken over our home!"
"I know," said Vector quietly, and then gradually raised his voice. "What the hell are we supposed to do now? Hide somewhere? They'll find us eventually!"
The ship had been cruising along, and now Espio slowed it, and lowered the aircraft.
"We might be safe here at least for a while," said Espio. "We won't be on the ground, and we'll be a pretty fair distance away from the original location of the robots."
"They'll find us eventually," said Vector.
"Yeah, they probably will," sighed Charmy. "But at least we'll be safe for a while."
The craft lowered onto a large wooden platform built into the trees of a large forest. Wooden walkways, bridges, and huts spawned from the platform. It was as if taken from the brush of a visionary artist.
Knuckles stepped out of the airship, and looked around him. "What is this place?"
"I don't know exactly," said Espio, stepping out of the airship, the engine stopped, "but it seems to be uninhabited. We should be able to at least spend the night here."
Vector and Mighty filed out of the airship following Espio, and they looked around to see the sights of the beautiful forest around them. Charmy flew out of the broken door and hovered alongside.
"This place is fascinating," said Knuckles. "Who created it? Why did they abandon it?"
"Maybe they didn't abandon it," said Charmy.
Said Mighty, "Yeah, maybe they were driven from it like we were driven from our homeland."
The sky stood still. Even the stars seemed to stop twinkling. Maybe they had died.
Where had they come from? The intruders – who were they? Why so many? All of this all at once. All of them and just a few of us. Will they find us here? What if they find us during the night? Maybe they'll be gone in the morning. Don't be silly. They don't sleep.