Princess Sally paced nervously in the clearing as she waited for news of Sonic's return. She hadn't heard from him since he had left, and was uninformed of the status of his mission.
If Sonic had failed in getting the emerald, all Sally could hope for was that Uncle Chuck would succeed in obtaining schematics of the tower, that she might be able to contrive another plan. Now, of course, she was waiting on Sonic, hoping it would all be over when he returned.
Of course, Sally realized, that it would be impossible for it to all be over with Sonic's return. Even if Sonic did carry the emerald and a wide grin as he raced back to meet her, they would still have no home. The task of digging to the future site of the new Knothole had been put on hold as the uncertainty and fear filled the air with the discovery of Robotnik's looming tower. And even once they surfaced, the rebuilding of Knothole would be a long task indeed. Sally closed her eyes and shook her head violently, raising her index fingers to her temples. It would do no good to worry about that now, she decided. It will come later.
The wind gusted past Sally, fluttering her open vest in the air. As the breeze drifted by, Sally began to pace again. However, her anxious wait would be short-lived from this point, as Bunnie and Antoine quickly joined her in the clearing.
"Whatcha doin', Sally-girl?"
"Bonjour, my princess. What are you doing out here all alone?"
"Just waiting for Sonic…"
"Well, so are we, but we're not –" Bunnie was cut off as Sonic quickly arrived in a loud, whining blur.
"Well, Sonique? Did you do it?"
"Sorry, guys… I failed."
"What happened, sugah-hog?"
"I saw the emerald, but then Robotnik showed up, and headed me off with some glass bars. Diamond glass, I think he said they were. Whatever they were, I couldn't cut through 'em. I'd probably be dead if Caero didn't save me."
"Caero?! The traitor?!"
"He turned his gun on Robotnik, and opened the bars for me, so I could escape. But he was trapped in there with Robotnik. I don't know what happened to him. Damnit, I would have saved him, but he just opened the back bars. The bars between me and him were still there." Sonic paused for a moment, and then burst out, "Damnit, I should have done something!"
"There wasn't anything you could do," said Sally.
"I've gotta go back and save him."
"But, he is a traitor!" cried Antoine.
"He saved my life, Ant. He turned on Robotnik."
"I don't know… what if he turns on us again?" asked Sally tentatively.
"Don't worry, Sal. Trust me."
"He's prob'ly bein' taken back ta the 'tropolis," said Bunnie.
"I have to go there, then," said Sonic frankly.
After a few seconds of hesitation, Sally stuttered, "I'll… go with you, then."
Antoine stepped forward. "Then I must be going to protect my princess from zee traitor!"
"I'm not carrying you too, Ant," stated Sonic.
Antoine crossed his arms and frowned.
"Good luck, sugah!" said Bunnie with a half-smile.
"Let's do it to it," said Sonic, turning to Sally, as they locked hands, and were off.
Sonic arrived in Robotropolis, Sally in tow, to find the city near-deserted, as before. He slowed to a stop and brought Sally to her feet from his arms.
It was somewhat eerie, seeing Robotropolis so empty. It was almost alluring, tempting. As if it was inviting them in.
The dry wind gusted through the area as Sally took in the environs.
"We should find a place to interface Nicole. Maybe we can find out where Caero is being held."
"Alright, sounds like a plan." Sonic grabbed Sally by the wrist, and took off toward a nearby building.
As Sonic came to a stop and Sally felt his grip on her wrist release, she asked, half-smirking, "Could you at least warn me before doing that?"
Sonic caught the gesture upon her lips and smiled, emitting a slight chuckle, as he turned to the building and proceeded inside.
Again, the building was peculiarly empty.
Sally unclipped Nicole from her boot and found an interface on the wall.
"How long is this gonna take?" Sonic tapped his foot impatiently.
"Quick enough," Sally said, irritated.
Sonic yawned deliberately.
"Download complete, Sally."
"Alright, let's go," said Sally, disconnecting Nicole from the terminal.
"About time," said Sonic sarcastically.
Once outside, Sally spoke to Nicole: "Nicole, can you locate where Caero is being held?"
"A former member of Robotnik's army has recently had his IFF designation changed to hostile. He is being detained at in the detention chamber of the main command complex, pending roboticization."
"The command center, huh? Damn."
"Are you sure it's wise to break into Robotnik's command center just two strong?"
"I can't let him die for me, Sal. If I had just kept my mouth shut, it would have been me who died instead of him."
Sally nodded solemnly. "Alright, Sonic. Let's get this over with."
Sonic nodded, and lifted her in his arms, before dashing off toward Robotnik's ominous command building at the center of the city.
"It appears that our guests have arrived," boomed Robotnik from his chair. "I do believe this would be the perfect time for our little demonstration. Are the preparations ready for the show, Snively?"
"We have the target acquired and the halo charged, sir. The observatory is waiting to be raised."
"Good, good. I knew he would come."
Sonic stood at the base of the rotund, egg-shaped command construct. With its distinctive shape and tall figure, standing at the center of the city, it seemed to represent the city. It was a dark landmark that defined the city and caught the eye when looking at the place from afar.
The front entrance was closed, and Sonic didn't want to waste time trying to barge in. He knew other ways to get into the building.
"C'mon," he gestured to Sally as he turned to make his way to the right side of the building. She quickly followed him as he rounded the corner. When she caught up to him, he was already climbing his way up the piping and outcroppings on the metal wall. Without a word, she too started making her way up as she had done many times before. Sonic stopped to wait for her to catch up, and then pushed aside a metal grate that covered the way inside. Sonic ducked into the small crawl space and pawed his way forward; Sally crouched and came in behind him.
They went for not too far a ways before Sonic stopped, shoving out another grate, which clamored onto the floor of the lighted hallway. It hit the floor with a loud metallic ring. Sonic popped out of the cramped duct and onto the wide hall floor. He turned to help Sally out of the tunnel, but quickly turned around again when he heard clambering footsteps coming toward him.
A SWATbot must have heard the ruckus from the grate being knocked to the floor. Sonic scrambled to the opposite wall and waited silently for the SWATbot to round the corner. As it did, he quickly spun at its side before it could even turn to face him.
Sally quickly hopped out of the channel and pulled herself to her feet, before unstrapping Nicole from her boot.
"Which way is the detention chamber, Nicole?"
"It is at the rear of the complex." Nicole projected a map of the current floor of the command building. Sonic and Sally's position was illuminated, and on the other end, another room was lit up.
"Thanks, Nicole," said Sally, flipping Nicole shut and clipping her to her boot again. Turning to Sonic, she gestured, and called, "This way."
She and Sonic scuttled down the hall, ducking behind a metal crate when SWATbot footsteps were heard approaching, and continuing once they passed.
Eventually, they reached the other side of the building.
"That's the detention chamber," Sally pointed, scurrying over to her finger's target and opening up Nicole, setting her to work at cracking the code to unlock the door from the small terminal adjacent to the right of the doorframe.
Sonic waited, tapping his foot impatiently while Nicole worked. Sally looked over her shoulder to check for SWATbots, but there were none. Suddenly, Sally heard a hissing sound as the seal on the doorframe loosened and Nicole unlocked the door. Sonic stepped forward and flung the door open.
The room was empty.
"Shit! They must have already taken him to the roboticizer!"
"Calm down, Sonic! We shouldn't jump to conclusions so quickly."
"We can't just stand here! We have to go to the roboticizer right away!"
"He might not even be there!"
"But if he is, and you're wrong, then he's dead! I'm going!"
"I guess you're right. Let's go."
The main roboticization chamber was upstairs. Sonic grabbed Sally and took off up the stairs, sought the next stairwell, and swerved toward and up it, then sought the next stairwell, ascended it, up and up, until they reached the highest floor's large atrium. Sonic stopped here, to recall which door here led to the roboticizer.
He remembered now.
But it was too late. A cylindrical steel barrier dropped down about the circular – or perhaps oval – room's circumference, enclosing the room and closing off the doors and descending stairwell. Not more than a second later, the entire room suddenly started moving upwards. The room was ascending. Sonic, without thinking, ducked into a ball and spun at the steel fence that had encircled the room. Two spins tore a hole in it, but the room had already lifted above the doors now; there was no reaching them, and there was no clear escape. Sonic stepped backwards to the center of the room, and the room suddenly came to a jarring, disorienting stop.
Above, the ceiling came to a rounded end. The ceiling was close here, a claustrophobic's bane. The steel circle dropped into the floor, and on the far wall was a black, empty viewscreen. Sonic and Sally looked at each other uneasily.
The viewscreen lit up.
"Ah, hedgehog, I knew you would come." Sonic snapped his gaze back forward to see Robotnik's visage on the screen. "I knew you couldn't resist saving that pathetic, mutinous fool."
Sonic gritted his teeth.
"Ah, but the real reason I have brought you here is so that I might perform a little… demonstration."
"You're going to eat a whole pig in one bite, 'Buttnik?"
"Silence, fool! I will show you genius! Marvel!"
The ceiling above their heads opened up, and the gray sky showed through. The ceiling peeled open until the walls around were opened as well. The room was now completely open. The viewscreen was the only thing that still remained.
Off in the distance just to the left of the viewscreen, the grand tower's figure could be made out through the thin clouds of smog.
The viewscreen's display changed from Robotnik to an image of the same landscape as was behind the monitor, with the tower offcenter to the left.
"See that mountain?" came Robotnik's voice from the speaker. On the monitor, a red beacon lit up, highlighting the mountain Robotnik spoke of. It was at least as tall as the tower itself, and wide in breadth. Sonic peered to the left of the monitor, and located the same mountain in the actual landscape.
The view on the monitor changed again, and now showed the tower from much closer up, with the great mountain behind it.
"Bask in the glory of my power, you wretches!"
On the monitor, the tower's halo began to spin. It picked up speed and began to gyrate, faster and faster. The bulge in the tower itself began to glow with a green light. Asudden, the whole monitor seemed to turn green. Sonic saw the green flash in the real landscape where the tower was, to the left of the monitor. When it subsided, the gyrating halo was glowing.
Robotnik's booming laughter resoundingly blasted from the speakers.
The glow on the monitor ebbed, and then focused at one point. It then thrust outward and struck heavily the towering mountain. As the green light pounded the mountain on the monitor, a thin green ray appeared on the real horizon, and the mountain was torn asunder. Once on the monitor, and once in the reality which Sonic and Sally beheld in the distance.
The mountain was gone.
Before, it had stood majestically, a testament to the power of nature.
And now it was just gone.
Robotnik's laughter poured from the speaker and drowned them.
As they sputtered to the surface for air in the sea of disbelief, Robotnik spat venom: "Surrender to me, Freedom Fighters, or I'll do the same to the Great Forest, bit by bit, until it is wholly destroyed!"
When they said nothing, Robotnik continued: "You see it with your own wretched eyes! I have the power the destroy mountains! Think of what I can do with that power if I put it to use in the Great Forest. You have met the end of your rebellion! I can squelch it, crush it, annihilate it! You cannot hope to stand against such divine power! … You have ten hours to surrender. If you do not give up your insurrection against me within that time, I shall unleash my power upon the Great Forest!" Robotnik's words slurred perfectly into his laughter that pounded from the speakers.
The monitor turned black.
Robotnik turned around in his chair. "Snively, is the roboticizer charged?"
"It is ready, sir."
"Good. Then get the traitor. I said we'd do this before the next sunrise."
"As you wish, sir." Snively turned and strode to the door.
"Hey, wait! Robotnik!" Sonic was yelling at the empty monitor screen, but there was no response.
"He said we have… ten hours…"
"Damn. And then he just disappeared."
"We have to stop him before those ten hours are up, Sonic."
"I still can't believe the mountain is actually gone…"
"Neither can I, Sonic. We have to do something! We don't have much time! We should get back to Knothole right now and warn the others. We need a plan!"
The door to the roboticization chamber slid open, and Caero was brought in by two SWATbots. Snively entered the room behind them. Caero was surprisingly calm – at least externally; he was not writhing in his captors' grips. He was, however, alert, and his eyes carried a gaze of almost-stony contempt as he was carried into the room that was to be his enslaver.
Robotnik stood in the center of the room. The terrible roboticizer, recognizable by its large, clear tube suspended above the base which would lower from above its subject, was on the left side of the room from the door. The main controls were mounted on the right side of the chamber.
The SWATbots came to a stop several feet before Robotnik.
In the silence that followed, Caero said nothing, but his eyes said well enough with their cold stares of contempt they cast upon Robotnik's back.
Robotnik turned around. "Now that you've arrived," he said calmly, "I must thank you."
Caero did not open his mouth fully when forming his words, which were soft like whispers, but carrying the anger that was seen in his eyes: "For what?" he growled.
"For allowing me to address your friends. They came after you, quite predictably. The hedgehog can't seem to get enough of his own bravado. Thanks to you, I didn't have to wait for them to stop by in order to deliver my address and get on with my plans; you brought them right to me." Robotnik paused. "Don't expect them to come after you. With only ten hours left, I'm sure you're of little concern."
Caero said nothing, but in his mind, he asked himself: "What did Robotnik mean by 'ten hours left'? Why did Sonic try to save me? After all I've done? … Maybe he didn't," he considered. "Maybe he came to kill me?"
"Ah, but enough about that. What do you think of the roboticizer? It may not look like much, but I'm sure you'll appreciate it more once you're inside it."
Caero lowered his head while maintaining his cold gaze upon Robotnik; as he tilted his head down at the neck, his pupils rose to the top of his corneas.
"It's such a pity that it's come to this, but you gave me no choice. I gave you a future, and you spat in my face." Robotnik took a step forward and to the right, leaning in to Caero's ear. He spoke softly and menacingly, speaking slowly and carefully but a few inches from Caero's ear canal: "You spat in my face." Robotnik leaned back to stand straight again, and then turned face.
Robotnik paced for a few moments, and then, coming to a stop, turned to again face his captive. His voice, before, haunting in its menacing, threatening tone, now came louder: "You think you've blighted me, don't you? You think that by giving up your own wretched life, you've redeemed yourself! You really think that you've righted your wrongs against Sonic and everyone else!" Robotnik stopped his tirade, and, bringing his left hand to his chin, spoke in a hauntingly-heartless whisper: "You're wrong."
A smile crept across Robotnik's lips as he lowered his arm to his side once more. "You're wrong!" he barked again, now roaring and loud.
Caero, for the first time since he had been brought into this chamber of slavery, lowered his pupils to the floor.
"You're wrong," Robotnik spoke again, with a snarl upon his lips. "They'll never forgive you. You'll never be purged; you'll never be a hero! You single-handedly destroyed the home of those Freedom Fighters living in the snow. You murdered them! Do you really think that by changing your mind you can free your conscience?! Do you really think that by standing up to me that everything else you've done will just be forgotten?!
"There is no honor in that. Once you joined me, there was no turning back. It was foolish to try. It didn't matter whether you betrayed me or not; you would still never be the same to them as you were before. So why give up your life? You could have kept it. But you had to feel like you were heroic, saving that wretched hedgehog. Sadly for you, that hedgehog may be indebted to you, but he is the only one, and regardless of your grand show up in the tower, he is still in the palm of my hand. In ten hours, I will either wreak destruction upon his forest until it ceases to exist, or he will surrender, and either way, he will no longer be a threat to me. If you had just resisted the urge to throw yourself in the line of fire, you could have been there to see it, and you could have lived. But you gave into your foolish conscience and believed that you could redeem yourself, and achieve vindication. But you were wrong."
"I know I can never undo what I did when I worked for you, 'Botnik, but 'least I stopped when I did, an' didn't let ya get anymore use out of me fer yer foul work. An' there's honor in that."
Robotnik laughed. "You still haven't realized?" He stared Caero in the eyes. "I will get more use out of you! Whether you want to or not, you will do my bidding! Your show of audacity was in vain! It was in vain! You will carry out my bidding regardless; the only difference is that because of your treachery, you will do so without control of your body! You will do so but now you will also give up your free will! You still think that what you did has honor, but it was all in vain!"
Caero had no words.
"You worthless fool! You have sacrificed yourself to me! For all your nobleness, in the end you'll do exactly what it was you tried to stop! You will kill for me."
Robotnik paused for effect before continuing: "And you will witness it all from within a shell of which you have no control. You will be enslaved in your own body and you will never escape!"
Caero snarled his upper lip as he met Robotnik's gaze from the top of his corneas, baring his gritted teeth. "Someday, they will kill you."
"Who? The Freedom Fighters? I have already defeated them, miscreant! Resign yourself!"
Caero refused to meet Robotnik's cold gaze.
"You will kill for me. You have failed!" A smug look seeped onto Robotnik's fat face. "How does it feel?" he gloated. "How does it feel to have failed so miserably?"
"I despise you," spat Caero.
Robotnik smirked smugly. "Well, that's to be expected; you are, after all, about to forfeit your life to me."
Robotnik turned to Snively. "Throw him into the roboticizer."
"As you say, sir," mumbled Snively, who nodded to the SWATbots and muttered something under his breath. The SWATbots marched forward to the roboticizer.
Caero still didn't struggle. He felt completely torn and shattered by Robotnik's utter disparagement of him. He was shattered. He had failed. He could not be vindicated. And now he would be forced to watch as he killed more innocents on behalf of Robotnik.
He couldn't take it. He wouldn't have it. He couldn't let Robotnik win.
He lashed out, suddenly exploding with desire to escape just so that he could fight Robotnik for one day, just so that he wouldn't die so utterly vile. He succeeded in knocking one SWATbot to the ground which had held his left arm. The other SWATbot quickly raised its right arm and fired a stun shot upon Caero, subduing his struggle. It dragged the faint Caero to the roboticizer without further event, and Snively pressed a button on the panel which lowered the transparent tube upon and around Caero, enclosing him in his bane.
"Don't worry, scum. This is far from the end. It may perhaps be but the beginning of an eternity in my service!" bellowed Robotnik from the other side of the room.
"Damn! What about Caero?!"
The Freedom Fighters were gathered in the clearing of once-Knothole in the Great Forest.
"I know it's hard, but we have to deal with Robotnik first. We don't have much time."
"Fucking bastard! That bastard destroyed Ilus! And now you want to help him?"
"That's Robotnik's fault, not his."
"Like hell it is! People died because of him."
"Stop arguing!" cried Sally in an attempt to mediate. "We have to deal with the threat at hand right now, okay? And we can't do that if all you can do is argue! We have to figure out a way to stop Robotnik within ten hours. We can't take any chances. We've seen what that tower is capable of."
"Well, do you have any ideas?"
"I'm pretty sure that if we take away the emerald, the tower won't be able to to unleash its power. I'm sure that the power to destroy that mountain came from the emerald."
"The emerald is encased in that diamond glass stuff, and behind diamond glass bars. How are we supposed to get it?"
"Didn't you say that the room the emerald was in was like a control room?"
"It looked like it could have been; why?"
"Well, the emerald was put into the glass, right? If it was put in, there must be a way to get it out. And if there's one place I'd think would control it, it'd probably be that very room."
"But there's one problem there, Sal: there's still those bars that block the way into the room. And if I couldn't cut through them, I don't see how anyone else could."
"Charmy, you could get through the bars; couldn't you?" Espio asked.
Indeed, Charmy the bee was small enough to be able to fly clean through the bars.
They wouldn't have to break through them at all.
Of course, even if Charmy could get inside, they knew nothing of that room other than the fact that it contained the emerald.
Caero stood inside his sheer prison. Snively was tapping away at the roboticizer's control console, before looking up at his uncle, who had his back turned to Caero.
"Systems are a-go, sir. I await your charge order."
Robotnik turned back to face the roboticizer tube. "I'd say goodbye, but that would be far from the truth. Sir Charles is only freeing you of your flesh. I am but aligning your mind; ensuring your allegiance, that you would serve the greatest empire this planet has ever seen… And it is time, now. I shall see you again once you have been freed from your volition and your mortality." He turned back to face his nephew, who sat at the console. "Commence the roboticization!"
"As you command, sir." As Snively issued the final command, the roboticizer, which had been humming softly throughout the entire episode, now came to life, its humming amplified, its armatures going to work and creating the mechanical sounds of action, and its transmutation beam in the ceiling-mounted roboticizer module now whirring and glowing.
The arm, upon which the transmutation beam was mounted, twitched, and then, as the eye in the tower had, fixated itself upon Caero's leg.
Now pointed at its prey, the arm's eye discharged its sickening white light. As it seared Caero's skin, for an instant he felt pain.
The pain, however, was short-lived.
He could no longer feel his foot, which had just the instant before throbbed with pain. It was numb. He weakly pushed his gaze downward, to find his numb foot, to catch it in his gaze through the painful white light.
And when he saw it, he instantly retracted his gaze, so that he could stare through the glass, just so not to have to behold the horror he had witnessed.
His foot had been transmuted.
His flesh and organics had been transmuted into metal.
And he pleaded with all his heart just to feel the pain again. He wanted with every vein of his existence just to feel the pain again that he had felt when the white light had swathed the skin of his foot. For he would rather suffer the pain than bear the numbness he now felt.
It would be all over soon, he told himself.
The beam above moved quickly into action, moving up his body and steadily transmuting his flesh into metal. Within seconds, he had no more feeling in either of his legs. He could not bear to look down and see them. He thrashed his arm against the wall of his cylindrical prison, and then he felt the pain seep up his arms and torso, followed quickly by the numbness. He pulled his arm away from the wall – or he tried, but it would not move. He no longer held dominion over it.
The light swathed his neck, and finally his head.
As he felt his tongue go numb, he screamed.
Nobody could hear him except himself.
He was trapped within his own body.
He was a prisoner for eternity.
Several seconds passed, and then the roboticizer's tube slowly rose up toward the ceiling.
Caero tried with every ounce of his strength to run from there, to escape that he might kill himself and end this torment, or seek refuge if someone would take in a machine… but his strength had no vessel. His energy had no body to control. And he was frozen in place as Robotnik moved toward him.
"I am your lord," Robotnik said.
"I live to serve you, Lord Robotnik," Caero heard himself say.
Caero tried to raise his arms to his ears to silence the world, and to silence himself, but he could not control them.
He had heard himself say it.
"If you can hear me in there," said Robotnik broodingly and softly, "– whatever is left of your sentient existence – and I know you can, watch as you lead a front against the hedgehog. How will it feel to not even be able to stop yourself from striking the one you sacrificed your life to save?! Hahahaha!" Robotnik laughed maniacally. "You sacrificed your life to save him, but you won't even be able to stop yourself from exacting my wrath upon him!"
Robotnik took a step back, crossing his arms. "Go now," he ordered.
Caero felt his shell in motion. His roboticized will was moving into action in following Robotnik's orders, and he was but a spectator.
He had told himself it would all be over soon.
He had been wrong.
He was crushed under the weight of an eternity.
He wished so much to die.
Bunnie fired her pulse cannon at the congregation of SWATbots, hoping they would react and indulge her distraction. They took the bait.
"Get ready."
Brant grunted. Rohan nodded and braced himself.
Knuckles only half-heard the command, staring into nothing.
But when he heard the sounds of battle arrive with the SWATbots, he sprung into action, awakened.
On this battleground, many fighters stood together. Tarahassas, Ilus, Knothole – and even the Floating Island – all had representation on this battlefield. They were, as before, providing a distraction while Sonic and Charmy entered the tower.
Raiyon unsheathed his staff. Antoine drew his sword. Brant and Rohan and Arnost and Laine and Zoru and Rand and all the others stood ready.
And then the two sides clashed.
Laine and Rohan nodded to each other, and then charged as one.
On both sides, bodies fell.
Bunnie swung her arm, tearing a SWATbot's arm from its socket.
Those who had participated in the training session did as they had been taught.
More SWATbots from the tower took notice of the battle and moved to join it.
"Second form!" shouted Laine, and the ones who knew what it meant took heed, spacing out in pairs.
Knuckles ducked out of the way as a SWATbot fired upon him, quickly leaping into the air to repay his attacker.
The battlefield was a chaotic mess, with fists flying and lasers flashing.
Bunnie charged her pulse cannon, and opened fire on a group of three SWATbots. Just as the shot was discharged, however, Bunnie felt a surge run through her right leg. She reeled around to find a SWATbot behind her with its weapon aimed at her leg. Before she could react, it raised its other arm and clubbed her across the face. Bunnie fell to the ground, and the SWATbot raised its weapon to her chest and fired again. A sickening pain overwhelmed her senses and blurred out everything else. She didn't even see Antoine impaling her attacker. Unfortunately, before Antoine could get her to safety, another SWATbot was upon her, picking her up and throwing her as it clocked her in the gut with its other fist. She closed her eyes as she hit the ground and a nauseousness emerged in her stomach.
Sonic held Nicole firmly in his hand as he now stood within the tunnel from which he had witnessed Caero turning on Robotnik. It had been Sally who had encouraged him to bring Nicole with on this mission.
Without a word, Charmy buzzed between the bars and down the hall, through the final bars, and into the control room. "What do I press to lower the bars?" called Charmy.
"The levers on the left," called Sonic.
A few seconds passed, and Sonic began to tap his foot impatiently just as the far bars rose into the ceiling. A few seconds later, the near bars too rose, and Sonic made haste down the hall to join Charmy in the control room.
"Alright, so what's the plan? To get the emerald out of there?" Charmy asked.
"Yep." Sonic flipped open Nicole. "Yo, Nicole. Can ya tell me what ya know about this room? How do we get the emerald outta there?"
"Yo, my main hedgehog. The terminal here seems to be on the same circuit as the machinery that encircles the glass column. Most likely it is fitted to facilitate the removal of the emerald."
"Yo, Nicole; it's me. I didn't get a word of what you just said."
"She's saying you can use the terminal here to remove the emerald," Charmy said before Nicole had a chance to rephrase her assessment into 'Sonic-talk.' "At least she thinks you can."
"Alright, well, let's see what you can do." Sonic interfaced Nicole with the terminal on the right side of the room. "Get us the emerald."
"Processing…"
Sonic tapped his foot impatiently.
Suddenly, he heard something to his left.
"The door should be open."
"What?"
"The panel in front of the emerald should be open."
"Over here, Sonic," said Charmy. Sonic turned to see, to find that Charmy was inside of the glass tube.
"Ah, gotcha, Nicole," Sonic said, now grasping what she had been trying to say.
Sonic stepped over to the tube, and, reaching inside, felt the emerald touch the glove on his hand. "All right!" he exclaimed, pulling the emerald out from its glass resting place. "Let's get out of here," he said, turning to Charmy. He quickly disconnected Nicole from the terminal and started back for the tunnel, the power in hand.
Sonic made his way down the stairs as Charmy descended alongside him. The emerald's power in his hand gave him a faint tingling sensation; he held Nicole tight in his other hand.
He could see the dim light from the hole on the bottom floor; he was almost to the bottom.
He descended the final staircase.
"Charmy, you there?"
"Yeah, I'm here." The voice came out of the darkness.
"We did it! Well, let's go, then."
Sonic made haste toward the hole to the outside.
A shadow appeared in the imperfect frame of the breach.
Sonic squinted, unable to make out the figure that had blotted the light.
"Maybe it's Sally," he said to himself, continuing toward the light.
As Sonic passed from inside the tower to the outer world, the ambient light illuminated the figure he had seen.
And it was a machine.
Somehow, it looked chillingly familiar. Sonic stopped in his tracks.
The robot was but a few feet from him when he realized: it was Caero.
It was Caero, and he was a machine.
Sonic had to think fast to get himself unstuck from his fixated, horrified position. He had to get away from there, so as not to be forced to fight Caero again.
But once he had finally gathered his resolve, Caero had already dealt the first blow.
"No!" screamed Caero. But Caero's voice was mute. Screaming inside, but his voice trapped within his enslaving shell.
Caero had natural physical strength; all the robotic shell did was to harden his flesh and augment his defense. His blow knocked Sonic to the ground, and knocked the emerald from his hand.
Caero pleaded for forgiveness – to Sonic, and to the creator – for what he had done, for his failure. But he knew he could never escape to solicit it. And if his voice was trapped in his body with him, then he knew the creator couldn't hear him either.
Before Sonic could rise again, Caero had already lifted him in the air by his leg. In a painful instantaneous flash, Caero's free hand struck hard and fast at Sonic's exposed knee. Sonic winced with silent pain as he heard a terrible crack scream from his leg.
Sonic fell to the ground. He tried to run away, mustering all his speed and escape; he was the fastest being alive. He could escape from anything.
But his leg would not run; Caero had crippled him. Was his leg broken? It didn't matter: he couldn't escape. His speed had been stolen from him.
Caero was a reluctant tormenter.
His artificial volition prepared its next blow as it raised his arm to prepare to strike down at Sonic's weary head as he lay on the ground unable to use the speed upon which he depended so heavily.
"Yaaaaahhh!!!" The scream pierced the air as Caero's strong arm came down on Sonic. Sonic, exhausted, braced himself, but the arm was torn away as Caero slumped to the ground, and with him, Sonic. Caero's grip failed, and Sonic rolled onto his back, seizing the emerald that lay on the ground.
And then he looked up to see who it was that had saved him. At first he saw noone. And then, looking down, he saw Bunnie kneeling on the ground, bruised and panting from exhaustion.
Sonic managed to murmur, "Thanks, Bunnie."
She had come to his aid even with the beating she had taken at the fight outside.
"How… did you know to come?"
"I… saw him…" She nodded her head at Caero slumped on the ground. "…walk toward the tower…I had to save you…even though I hurt…"
Sonic heard a loud humming descend from above. He tried to stand up, but his left leg gave way and he stumbled back to the ground.
Already in pain, he felt another pain in his back, and felt himself being lifted off the ground.
Bunnie gasped.
It was the beast.
The beast pried the emerald from Sonic's hand, and then Sonic felt himself heaved into the air by the nape of his neck.
Bunnie tried weakly to put up a fight with the beast, but, unlike with Caero, she lacked the element of surprise, and failed miserably as he made off with the emerald.
The loudspeaker blared to life again.
"Hmph, it seems you have defied me, insolent fool. As you can see, I have the emerald once again in my possession, and it will be restored to its place shortly. For your impudence, you have now only 3 hours to surrender before I destroy the forest and whatever else it takes to drive you to the brink. Three hours. If you have not surrendered by then, you will wish you had."
Caero was gone.
Sonic tried to stand again, but again fell back to the ground as his left leg gave way. Bunnie, overcoming her great pain and throbbing body, lifted Sonic in her arms and together they retreated from the wretched place.