(Yes, I admit it. I HATE BOKKUN! I hold the little guy personally responsible for the decaying animation and plots after episode 39. I mean, compared ep 1 to ep 42. Definite decay in animation. I probably should have put a, If you like Bokkun, skip chapter, warning.
Flip card 2: Egg Albatross
Sonic darted forward, slipping in between the streams of bullets that streaked past him. Eggman was not getting away this time. The Egg hawk soured backwards as the blue hedgehog ran after it, firing streams of bullets as it went. The two turrets sitting on either side of the head, manned by an Eggpawn were trying desperately to barrage the blue target, but missed every time.
The blue hedgehog slipped under a car for momentary protection, before shooting out again with a super spin, aimed directly at the Egg Hawk's left wing. Eggman couldn't steer the large, clumsy ship away in time and the attack ripped through his left rotor. Shards of metal flew in all directions, followed quickly by a cloud of smoke. The Egg hawk rocked side to side unsteady, nearly throwing the large scientist out of his cockpit.
"Insolent little blue bastard!" The Egg hawk swung about, despite it's near crippling injury and began chasing him. Sonic dodged past police blockades, over trucks and parked cars, all the time evading streams of rippling bullets. Everywhere swat police darted out of the way, trying to get a cheep shot at the Egg Hawk as it passed overhead, but it was going far too fast.
Racing toward Main street, the X tornado screamed through the air. Tails, as usual, at the controls. Amy sitting in the seat behind him. In the second pod, further along, Knuckles and Chris watched the city below. Knuckles had only just regain consciousness and although he still stank of sea weed he seemed more than capable of handling himself once again. He was like that, he hating showing so much as a moments weakness, although Chris could plainly see that he was nearly too tired to stay awake.
"Wait, there he is!" Amy yelled, pointing over Tail's shoulder toward a blue streak racing down the main street, following closely behind by another of Eggman's large robots.
"Ok, hold on, I'm taking her down!" Tails proclaimed, before pushing down on the controls, directing the X Tornado down toward the ground, pulling up just above the roofs of the buildings. Gaining an advantageous birds eye view.
Sonic whipped around so he was running backwards.
"Come on, you can go faster than that!" He said, taunting the fat madman. Eggman simply fumed at him, grabbing the missile launch controls of the Egg Hawk. Almost at once a barrage of missiles leapt from a hidden compartment. Sonic simply dodged around each blast, crossing his arms as he did so, as if to silently say…too easy. A gesture made purposely to infuriate Eggman even more.
Then, he shot backwards, tearing through the second rotor, knocking an Eggpawn out of it's gun turret in the process. The robot fell to the ground with a large thud, straining to get back up as it's round body didn't allow it to push itself up.
Big, Cream and Vanilla were trying to shop, but that all came to a halt when Sonic came tearing down the street, the after shook of his super fast speed knocking over a few cars. Eggman's near crippled machine following quickly behind, Eggman's determination apparently the only thing keeping it up in the air.
"Sonic!" Tails called as the X tornado raced alongside him. The blue hedgehog cast him his attention.
"Can you get his attention for a second while I try something?" He asked, ducking under rippling bullets. Tails had to pull the plane upwards to avoid some missiles and so couldn't reply, but he still soured backwards to meet the Egg Hawk head on anyway.
Cream and Vanilla ducked behind an overturned car as the Egg hawk flew directly overhead. Big stood out in the open, looking confused as normal, Froggy burying himself inside his thick fur with a frightened croak.
"Oh, I can't believe this robot beat me so easily." Knuckles groaned, his head tilted down. "So fast, and so strong." Chris looked back with as much a compassionate looked as he could manage.
"Hey, it's ok. Sonic didn't do so well against it either."
"Tails, I hope your not going to do what I think your going to do." Amy asked him nervously as she noticed that their flying on a direct collision coarse with the Egg hawk. Eggman looked up, blinking in surprise.
"He's bluffing." He said to himself as the plane flew ever closer, but he quickly changed his mind. "Oh f$%king hell!" He cursed, pushing the EggHawk into a dive, nearly smashing the underside on the road. In the confusion, Sonic doubled back and before Eggman could defend himself, he tore through the second rudder.
"Your mine Eggman!" Sonic said with his typical hero type grin, sliding to a stop as the robotic bird slammed to the ground, it's movement capabilities nearly completely disabled.
"Sonic?" Cream said, poking her head out from behind her car. It was only then that Big noticed the destruction all around. The holes in the buildings were the stray missiles had impacted. Over turned cars and trucks, some with bullets holes riddled in them, and everywhere shards of metal lay scattered.
"Uh…"
"Hey Cream…" Sonic yelled to them, standing upward the wrecked war machine, his hands on his hips.
"Chao chao chao chao chao!" Cheese sang, orbiting around the blue hedgehog's head.
"I'm not finished yet!" Eggman exclaimed from the battered ruins of his robotic bird as it slowly kicked back into life, the back up motion system kicking in. He slammed down on a button on the console hard with his index finger and instantly two large robotic arms shot out from underneath the Egg Hawk, shooting toward them. Sonic tensed, ready to defend himself, but instead they shot past him and latched onto Froggy and Cheese, seizing them in a tight grip and tearing them upward with a reluctant scream.
"FROGGY!" Big exclaimed, out stretched arms trying vainly to grasp at the metallic arms as they hoisted upwards. Using whatever strength were in his stubby legs, he leapt upward, wrapping his large muscular arms around it. The arm however was stronger and quickly pushed him off.
"Cheese NO!" Cream cried, trying to rush forward by her mother stopped her.
"You sadistic piece of trash!" Sonic growled. Eggman wasn't paying attention to the insult.
"You want your friends back, see if you can catch me." Eggman laughed at them all as the Egg hawk began to ascend, slowly at first since it's main rotors had been disabled, but eventually gaining enough momentum to pulled backwards, giving itself plenty over cover fire as it retreated.
"Oh no you don't!" Sonic exclaimed, racing after him and vanishing through a pillar of smoke from sight.
It took a few moments for the reality of the whole situation to hit Big as he sat there, peering up a the Egg hawk as it got smaller and smaller, a blue blur racing up a building after it. Sudden however it all came rushing in.
"Froggy…" He began, his normal blank expression on his face. Suddenly however he gained a very uncharacteristic dramatic flare. "I'LL SAVE YOU BUDDY!" He took hold of his fishing rod, holding it tightly in both hands and with one super human effort, cast the line up into the air toward the fleeing robotic machine. Eggman was too busy trying to keep ahead of Sonic with two rotors gone when the hook wrapped underneath one of the wings securing a firm hold. Big tensed himself and suddenly he was pulled up into the air.
"Resourceful if nothing else." Chris remarked, looking out the window of the X tornado as it began pursuing the Egg Hawk. Big was presently in the process of reeling himself in.
Cream was left standing there, staring up toward the sky. Slowly tears began filling her eyes.
"CHEESE!!!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers. Shadow wanted answers. Was he the ultimate life form created by Prof. Gerald Robotnik over fifty years ago or nothing more an a very good look alike? He couldn't live without knowing. Eggman, he must hold the answers, he must do. If Shadow could get to him before G.U.N and their robotic soldiers hunted him down then he could learn the truth from the only mouth that could tell it.
He watched the others around him prepare for war, running around, carrying orders too and thro, finding himself detached from them in some way. Even the emotionless Omega, who simply reloaded in ammo and considered himself ready for action. Shadow couldn't relate with any of them.
He knew he was different, the question was how different. That was one of the questions he needed answering. He knew Rouge was watching him, from a safe distance she believed. She had maintained a visual over him since their heating conversation earlier. Shadow began to think that perhaps he had been a littler harsh on her, taking out frustrations on one who really did not deserve it.
Rouge didn't know what she was feeling. Shadow's life was tragic, always had been from the moment a single bullet was fired over fifty years ago. Ever since then he had known nothing more than conflict, grief and angst. How could someone even exist with all that turmoil in their lives? Rouge hadn't the faintest idea, but, however small a donation it was, part of her heart went out to him. She hated seeing him, because it only reminded her of his pain. She felt ashamed that she'd even considered using him. She should have got him outside Eggman's base and told him to run, find a new life somewhere, start fresh. There was no option of that now, the Government would never allow it. She laughed to herself, finding how uncharacteristic her concern for him was for her. She was a thief, a master thief at that. In her profession you didn't get attached to anyone. However, despite the conflicting emotions she had, she would help Shadow find the answers he sought.
Before his imprisonment, the notion of betraying his creator would have come from a faulty program, which would have been instantly deleted . Now, that command was ridden into his systems, his one goal above all, to seek retribution. The E100 series line had been the most loyal troops in his army, and he'd cast them aside one by one. Until only Omega and a prototype robot called Gamma remained. Omega wondered briefly what had become of Gamma. Had he remained in Eggman's service, or broken his programming like he had? A notion suddenly occurred to him. If Gamma did leave the Eggman Empire, then perhaps the E100 line had been scrapped…not because of their failures…but because they possessed the potential to surpass their original programming parameters, possibly even develop sentience. It was a logical deduction, after all, revenge was not the requirement of a machine.
"Satellite surveillance just brought this in." Topaz told Rouge as he walked up behind her, startling the bat so she almost fell from her perch on top of a filing cabinet. Topaz handed her a piece of paper. It was a satellite scan of the Red Mountain Region, far to the west of Station Square. A region that had originally come from the other world. It showed a large dark section, partially obscured from the scan. Only Eggman's technology had the ability to block out scans like this. "Our orders are to ship out in half an hour." Shadow's ears twitched and he looked back over his shoulder toward the conversation. Listening to every word without them realizing it.
So, activity had been detected in the Red Mountain region. And they'd just confirmed an Eggman Empire base. Apparently, Omega had picked this up to as the large machine was standing right next to him, looking toward the bat at the human with similar interest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Black Jack Casino was a large building in downtown Station Square, and somewhere hidden inside it was an Eggman Empire base, or so their client had said. Espio, as ever, maintained a high level of scepticism. Vector on the other hand…
"Let's go earn that pay check!" The crocodile cried, thrusting a fist into the air as they stood outside the entrance to the Casino distinct. A large neon sign marked the entrance, arched in big bright letters high above the large settle of glass doors. Two large body guards, both dressed in black stood on either side of the entrance.
"Hold it." A large one told them as they approached the doorway. The sign above highlighted in neon lights. "Are you a member?"
"Er.." Vector hesitated, looking slightly taken aback.
"Access denied!" The both said before any of Chaotix could argue and pushed them away forcibly, knowing Vector off his feet with a loud thud.
"Well that worked well." Espio said sarcastically. Vector pushed himself to his feet, growling angrily.
"Right, that does it!" He marched over, fists held at his sides and proceeded to get into a nasty looking fight with the two of them. Espio buried his face in his hands, groaning loudly.
"Definitely a dentist." He said to himself. Charmee cringed as they grabbed Vector by the tail, tossed him into the air and then swung him down inside a nearby dumpster, the lid slamming shut.
"And stay out!" They snapped at it, before returning to their posts. Espio hoped up on top of a few cardboard boxes that were stacked on the left hand side of the dumpster and pushed the lid open. All of Vector they could see was the tip of his tail sticking out from underneath a cereal box.
"Are you quite finished humiliating us?" Vector poked his head up, a banana peel sitting on the end of his snout.
"I'm not finished yet!" He said defiantly. Espio banged his head against the side of the dumpster repeatedly.
"Whatever I did to deserve this, I'm sorry!" The crocodile heaved himself out of the trash, covered a smelly slime he'd collected from just under the top layers.
"Boy Vector, you really could use a bath!" Charmee stated, hovering around him. But he was quickly silenced as Vector smacked him on the back of the head.
"Ok, so how do you plan on getting in there?" Espio asked, his head throbbing. Vector gained a large, superior smirk.
"Just leave it all to me boys!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This is your plan?!" Espio asked Vector as the three o them scurried quickly toward the entrance of the Casino district, hidden under the cardboard boxes they'd found near the dumpster. Stopping still whenever the two large goons looked their way. Eventually they edged their way along the wall and through the entrance, curving around the other side and into the shadow where they couldn't be seen. "I don't know what scares me more." Espio stated as the three of them looked around from their hidden vantage point. "Your stupid ideas, or the fact that it actually worked!"
"Shh!" Vector told him as they looked around, before sliding through the shadows, unnoticed by the security personnel. The inside of the building was a great hall, filled with hundreds of table, each one supporting a different game.
A lot of people were here, trying to wash away their money by spending as much money as they possibly could on the slot machines, Bingo tables and Roulette games. A glass chandelier hung from the ceiling. Their client hadn't been able to tell them much, only that they were looking for a hidden door underneath one of the tables. Only probably was, there were thousands of them.
"Ok. Espio, you take the tables over there." Vector said, pointing to all those on the left. "I'll take the ones over here, and Charmee… Charmee?" He stopped dead, noticing that his friend was missing.
"Show me a four!"
"CHARMEE!" Vector screamed, snatching the bee away from one of the tables before he placed his bet.
"Young bee we are here on a mission! Not to play BINGO!" Espio snapped at him, wagging a finger in his face.
"Come on guys, the odds were with me." The bee told them, weakly defending himself.
"Never mind." Vector said sharply. "Let's get back to work." They began to mingle amongst the crowd, watching for anything that might indicate that the personnel of possibly even the Eggman Empire was onto them. Everything seemed normal enough though, and Vector hadn't wound any hidden doors yet and he'd been up and down several rows of tables. Perhaps their client had given them the name of the wrong casino. Vector stopped to survey the area again next to a roulette table and Espio reappeared beside him. "Find anything?" The chameleon shook his head.
"Nah, and I checked them all several times."
"I know I'm going to regret asking, but what about you?" The crocodile asked the bee as he flew overhead. Chamee saluted down to him.
"I found it, I found it, I found it!" He began chanting, dancing around in the air. Espio and Vector just stared at him, stunned by both the fact that their scatterbrained imbecile had succeeded and the bizarre moves he was in the midst of.
"Well where?" Espio asked. Charmee stopped dancing long enough to point over to a large table at the far right hand side of the hall, almost indistinguishable compared to the others. It wasn't vacant as they'd hoped, several people were presently using it for a game and to make it worse, one of the large security personnel was standing nearly directly beside it. "Ah crap…."
"I have an idea." Vector muttered, surveying their target and the surrounding tables.
"Oh sweet mother of god!" Espio said under his breath.
"Ok, Espio and I will sneak through while you do what you do best." Vector announced, giving Charmee a side glance. The bee looked puzzled.
"And what's that?"
"Distract people."
Just like Charmee had said, hidden under the table was a metallic trapdoor, partially observed by a carpet. Espio had no trouble getting inside unnoticed, he was a Ninja, it was his part of his job description. Vector however found it much more difficult, his large size and bright colours made him easy to spot, but Charmee turned out to be a bigger distraction then they thought, buzzing around those at the table, trying to get their attention like some neglected child.
A drop of a few feet lead the two of them directly into a large room, lit by electric lights. The chamber was oval in shape, filled with robots parts that littered the floor. Several large shutter doors blocked entrances to other corridors. Luckily it seemed, their presence had gone un-noticed, but how long it would stay that why was debatable.
"Sure this place in an Eggman Empire depot?" Vector asked. Espio gestured over to the wall on the left, spread upon which was Eggman's glaring face in the shape of the Empire's logo. "Well, that answers that."
The room apparently was some sort of computer terminal station, a large screen spread upon on the wall. A large panel with a long row of pads upon the top of the terminal itself. The floor was made from segmented sheets of metal, each riveted together. Wires and pipes snaking their way along the ceiling in a swirl like pattern.
"Come on, who knows how long that scatterbrained idiot can keep them all busy."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm a little tea pot, short and stout!" Charmee sang as the security personnel tried to grab him, climbing over each other in a vain attempt to take the bee by force. Charmee simply flew high over their heads, reciting one nursery rhyme after the other. He left like he could keep this all up for hours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"This Vector to Client, come in, over."
"This is client, what's your status?" Esio had already begun typing to try and gain access to the mainframe here but was met by a problem. A password was required to gain entry, and if he typed in the wrong one the alarms would go off.
"We need a password…any ideas?" He asked himself, speaking up as he stood in front of the large terminal, scratching his chin.
"The password is Egg Nog." Their mysterious client announced sharply. "Now hurry, you are beginning to run short of time." With that the two way radio fizzled out. The two lizards looked at each other sceptically, before Espio typed it in, half expecting blaring alarms to go off. Instantly the program opened up and access was admitted to the main systems.
"Ok, just give me one minute to find the codes." Vector however was aware of movement. One of the doors on his left hand side was beginning to silently slid open.
"Work faster!" He whispered dryly to his comrade.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charmee was having the time of his life, flying rings around the started men in black, tripping them up as he passed by. What's more, he was entertaining the Casino gamblers, they though the whole exhibition a show put on for their entertainment. That however came toa startled end when Vector and Espio came charging out of the trap door, knocking over the table as they went.
"We got the codes…RUN!" Vector yelled over his shoulder as both he and Espio made a bee line for the front door. Charmee scratched his head, hovering in uncertainty, before a hoard of Egg Pawns came tearing out of the trap door after them, knocking down tables and people as they charged after them. Charmee cried out load, dodging a laser blast, before flying off to join his friend. Chaos ensured, people running and screaming away as more of Eggman's infamous robots ripped up through the floor.
"Our client sure seems to know a lot about this Doctor Eggman guy." Charmee commented as the agency ran as fast as they could with the codes in hand out of the Casino doors amongst the crowd of gamblers, chased by at least a dozen of the round roots
"A Government agent?" Espio queried, dodging a laser blast from an Eggpawn armed with a laser rifle. "Or a close relative?"