(It's taking me a long time to update anything these days…)
(I do not own Sonic, Sonic X, Sonic Heroes or anything related.)
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Shadow slid to the side, dodging around a barrage of missile air, rolling over the floor before firing a chaos spear attack directly towards it. The Egg pawn drew it's shield back, defending itself from the attack, before drawing it's lance and charging after him. Shadow leapt up a second before the lance was upon him, went into a spin in mid air and smashed an attack straight onto it's head, shattering the large curved horn.
The Egg pawn shoot around, trying to catch Shadow as he came down with a slash of it's lance, it missed, leaving another opportunity for Shadow to attack.
The black hedgehog, as soon he reached the floor, rebounded and leapt up with a flying kick straight to the Egg pawns chest, knocking it over and onto the floor. While it was sprawling there, Shadow drew his arm back and then threw it forward, unleashing another chaos spear. He was luckier with his attack this time, as it managed to rip through the Egg pawn's shoulder, tearing off the arm with the shield, which fell to the ground with a heavy thud, wires and cables hanging out of the large hole.
"Damaged received, back up systems activated." It announced in a monotone voice, before it's jets around the back turned themselves on and several rockets mounted to the underside righted the heavy robot. "Destroy target!
"Wonder if this thing actually realises it's chances of winning are zero?" Shadow asked himself, sounding bored, before skating forward and slamming a kick directly into the Egg pawns front. It floated back a few feet, before driving forward lance slicing through the air. Shadow dived to the side, rolled along the ground and launched another chaos spear directly into the Egg pawns soft underside. The robot disappeared in a cloud of smoke, then reappeared instantly out the other side, a large gapping hole in it's side. This was the opening Shadow really needed, he skated in close, then tore through the robot with his own version of the super spin, one than inflicts far more damage then the ordinary technique.
The robotic solider swayed in the air for a moment, struggling to keep itself stable, before swinging around and jabbing it's lance forward. Shadow narrowly managed to avoid the swing by sliding to the side. It's movements were far slower now, Shadow knew that he had all but won.
Finally, it stopped just to conserve it's power, and that's when Shadow dealt the final blow. Arching his right arm behind him, his cupped his hand and began to focus his own energy. Another small ball of yellow energy began burning between his fingers, growing in size. "Chaos Spear!"
His arm came forward and the ball separated and reformed into several large bolts, which hovered in the air only momentarily before screeching through the air, tearing into the robots metal skin. A huge explosion tore through it's body, throwing metal limbs apart. Whatever was left of the robot exploded into pieces, scattering around in a fire storm.
It was in moments like this that Shadow felt a connection to the past. What he had lost, perhaps he could relive briefly in battle. But still, after it was all over he was left hollow again. It was a maddening experience.
Slipping between the blades of one of the large fans effortlessly, Shadow continued his progress, the metal pipes beyond slowly tilting upward. It was happeneing, something he couldn't explain or tried to fight. Every so often, a picture would appear in his mind. The picture would be different each and every time, but each one would involved a teenager girl with pale blond hair and sea blue eyes. He shook his head angrily, bearing his teeth.
"Eggman what did you do to me!?"
Three of the larger Eggpawn models stood blocking the large lock down doors to the very centre of the Flag ship. Their sensors locked onto the two objects moving at high speed down the corridor toward them. Targets had been identified long ago as intruders. The large hammer they held balanced on their shoulders they swung around, preparing themselves for the collision. Estimated ten seconds till impact. Those ten seconds flew by and before they could so much as lit their hammers, Knuckles and Tails ploughed into them, ripping their metallic frames apart.
With the guards now down in several pieces, they turned their attention to the door. One solid punch from Knuckles was all it needed, the dented metal door at each five feet thick went flying inward.
"We're here." Tails exclaimed, rushing in. The chamber beyond was obviously the control room for the flag ship. Machinery, computer panels and terminals ran along the outside of the room. A large computer screen at the far side was displaying the battle from the Flag ships point of view.
Incased in a large pillar of metal, wires and pipes feeding off it was the object to which Knuckles entire life was bound.
"About time." He said to himself, walking up to the emerald as Tails looked over the controls. He laid his hand upon the jewel and it glowed in response. "Don't worry I'll get you home and I'll make sure no one take you away again." He raised his other hand, ready to tear away at it's constraints.
"Wait!" Tails said sharply, darting in front of the Echidna.
"What? Why?" Knuckles asked, looking slightly angry. Tails didn't reply for a moment, he looked up to the Emerald. He studied it for a moment before looking over the machinery it was encased in.
"The Master Emerald powering all this." He replied, gesturing to the room around them. "Like Angel Island, without it's sustaining energy it'll plummet." He paused to look back, giving Knuckles a sly look over his shoulder. "You want to be here when that happens?" Knuckles hesitated. "No, didn't think so."
"Well if I can't simply remove it then what do we do?"
"Try to land this giant of course." the fox replied. Knuckles looked at him dumfounded.
"Can you do that?" He asked. Tails looked over the controls, the thousands of levers, buttons and screens.
"I don't know." He replied.
"S-Team this is Speed king." Sam yelled into his radio. "We have multiple targets on the felt hand side." Two of the S-Team planes came on Sam's left flank, two missiles already on their targets.
The entire flagship shock violently for a moment as if ensnared in some giant net. Two of the smaller battleships collided with it's wings, both falling downward the ocean in flames. Slowly the large manta like construction began to descended, steering it's enormous bulk away from the city, separating itself from the fleet which was heading in the other direction.
"Look's like Doctor Eggman's making a run for it." One of the S-Team stated, giving the flag ship a glance out of the window of his plane.
"Forget about him." Sam put in, his own place side slipping to avoid a barrage of missile fire. "Let's just take out his robot stooges first."
Groaning loudly, the ship plunged head first directly into the water below, casting a giant tidal across the bay toward the Mystic Ruins. It's tail end in the tail, the flag ship remained still for a moment, before it's end came crashing down, parts of it's wing tearing off. The sea around it frothed and bubbled as it ship struggled to remain afloat for a few moments, before gently sinking into the relatively shallow water, most of it's bulk now submerged.
The shockwave in the water tipped those ships that already been shot top over, sinking them all even further into the ocean. Large waves breaking over the Mystic Ruins shoreline, pushing a great deal of water into the thick forest.
The whale shark flagship, now resting directly in the centre of the large stretch of water between the Mystic Ruins and Station square itself, was now ruined aspect of it's former self, smoke and steam rising from parts of it which were covered with black scorch marks. With it down, the other ships began dropping like flies, crashing down in sheets of flame toward the ocean, sizzling as they impacted and disappearing. As soon as the crowds that had gathered at the docks saw that victory had been achieved a great cheer went chorusing up.
The president, who was watching the live news broadcast with his collar undone and tie loosened relaxed into his chair, breathing a sigh of relief. He poured himself one last tall glass of whisky to steady his nerves and downed the entire thing in one go.
"Did we do it?" Knuckles asked, opening an eye. Tails looked up as well. The entire chamber was near ruined. Metal support beams had collapsed inward, pipes and wires spilling out onto the floor. The lighting had gone out, now the only thing that lit the chamber was the glow of the Master Emerald.
"Are we alive?" The fox asked. Knuckles was silent for a moment.
"Think so." He replied, forcing the sheet of metal that had protected them off their backs.
"Then we did it."
They stared at each other, remaining silent, before a smile broke over their faces. That smile changing into a chuckle, which in turn evolved into a laugh and finally they were left despite themselves with joy.
They were both too preoccupied to notice the sludgy, silvery substance ooze up from between the holes in the grated floor, slowly converging on itself, spiralling upwards before spreading out arms and legs, then long quills before finally solidifying. A pair of red eyes opened, their glow highlighting a metallic face.
A heavy metal foot clamped down on the floor, the loud foot step resonating throughout the chamber, Tails and Knuckles stopped laughing and whipped around but then, everything went dark……
"What the hell was that?" Vector asked looking around. One moment they'd been walking down one of the large corridors in the ship, the next all hell broke loose. The electronic lighting was out, but luckily Espio had come prepared with a flash light.
"Guess the military just won." The Chameleon replied. Vector grumbled loudly, looking around for Charmee, then found him cowering behind Espio.
"Good for them, come on, we've got a job top do."
It took some navigating, with half of the corridors now completely collapsed, impeding their progress. But eventually they found their way into the storage depo, hidden behind a large set of steal locked doors.
"He should be in here." Espio stated, pointing to a large set of iron doors in front of them. Vector flexed his arms.
"Ok then boys, leave this to me." He approached the doors, drew back a fist and began punching it over and over again, leaving large dents in the framework. The groudn beneath them shuddered with each punch, the door sliding back a few centimetres.
"Alright, we get to actually meet our client!" Charmy exclaimed wildly, buzzing overhead. The corridor they were was deserted, apart from the shells of a few Egg pawns that had been standing guards. Apparently, those army guys hadn't gotten to this level yet as it was devoid of bullet ridden robotic corpses.
"Well, he won't hold any surprises for me." Vector announced as he gained a superior smirk. With one last punch, the doors flew inward, crashing onto the floor of the chamber inside. "Doctor Eggman I presume?" Vector asked. Espio and Charmee stared each other, peering inside. Sitting next to the shattered, burnt out remains of the communications device was the would be dictator himself, the beginnings of a beard on his chin.
"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" The two robots cried, bowing to the three of them on their knees, Eggman however retained some dignity.
"You knew it was me all long didn't you?" Eggman asked, raising eyebrow, an angry frown on his face. Vector crossed his arms, a large smug smile spreading over his scaly lips.
"It's all part of being a good detective."
"Then this has all been a trap from the beginning!" Espio stated, reaching for a concealed shuriken. Eggman quickly put his arms out in front of himself defensively.
"Wait, this is no trick! I do plan on paying you!" Vector put his arm out to stop the chameleon from doing anything stupid.
"I deduced that Eggman must have been dethroned from the seat of power, probably because someone under your command didn't like being pushed around…correct?" Vector asked, Eggman's frown deepened.
"Correct." Vector stood forward, arms outstretched toward Eggman, helping him to pull him to his feet. "And mark my words that traitor will pay for it! At first I just hired you to spy on the military, but after I was betrayed you became my only chance of a rescue." He looked down toward his two robotic lackeys. "More bowing!" He stated with a strong lining of authority in his voice.
"Well, then...there's still the little matter of our fee." Vector rubbed his thumb and fore fingers together in the famous guesture. Eggman hesitated for a few moments.
"Well, sorry but at the moment I'm skint…but as soon as I conquer the world, I will pay you everything I owe." Vector lowered his arm, and stood almost to attention, fists beginning to tightly clench.
"Oh dear!" Becoe said in horror, backing up as he noticed Espio looking toward them with the same murderous rage Vector and Charmy were starting to accumulate.
"Some nerve promising what ain't got!" Vector snarled, cracking the knuckles on each hand, bearing his teeth.
"We've been had!" Espio exclaimed, assuming a ninja style fighting stance. Eggman and his robots began to back up toward the opposite wall as the Chaotix members began to approach them slowly. Highlighted in darkness by the storm.
"Now…let's not be hasty…we're all civilised people here!" Eggman stuttered, sweat running down the sides of his head.
"Oh dear…pain!" Decoe muttered, cowering behind his master as the shadows of Chaotix began to fall on them.
(In Chris's voice)
Doctor Eggman's not the real threat… then who is? Find out, next time on Sonic X, Metal Sonic's ascension