He stepped into the hallway, blinking in the bright light. The girl hedgehog looked at him nervously, and then led him down the hall, not taking her eyes away.
What did she suspect him of? Would he attack a girl?! She seemed to think so. Funny, though, he might've...in the caves. His cave. "There." she said, pointing out of the window.
He looked. Grassy hills, blue sky...aarg! Why was it so bright?! Why wasn't the sky darker? He hissed unconsciously, shielding his eyes. Wait...he remembered...was this...daytime? Then he looked again, blinking rapidly. Sure enough, metal monsters were marching in the distance, but getting closer all the time.
He flexed his fingers. A fight.
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Amy dashed into the room where Tails and Knuckles were. She leant against the wall, breathing heavily. "I...never ever...want to do that again..." Knuckles shrugged, intent on the robots closing in.
Tails nodded sympathetically. "Did he agree?" Amy nodded. "Yeah. He's in there." She jerked a thumb at the next room. The fox considered, "Hmm...do you think we can...go in and..."
Knuckles was already shaking his head. "Nuh-uh. I wouldn't try it." Then the robots were in plain view, marching steadily, trademark spiky grins plastered over their round faces, the eggman logo on their bodies.
Behind them, a mass of ominous dark clouds was building.
In Night Babylon, Rouge was looking for action. The Club was getting too similar for her, too routine. She wanted another adventure. The government hadn't called on her to do anything lately, and Shadow spent more and more time travelling on his own. Long story short; she was bored.
She flew up to the flat roof, and leant on the small wall that ran around the edge. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen Shadow since he had found Sonic in the caves and...hmm. Why did Sonic and his friends get all the fun? Stupid Eggman.
Then something caught her eye. In the distance. She frowned, and looked again. Metal? Glinting in the sun...it looked interesting. All she needed was an excuse. Aha! Government business. Suspicious activity.
She smiled to herself, and spread her wings. Time to fly.
Even further behind, lurking in the corridor, Sonic stood, watching. Excitement was rising inside him, giving him the strangest urge to laugh. But he didn't know how, so he remained silent. But his mouth stretched automatically, like he was going to growl....but he didn't. Puzzling.
Knuckles cast a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Sonic grinning like a lunatic, sharp teeth glinting. He shook his head. Moron.
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Outside, in the blistering heat of midday, Eggman stood in his walker, far at the back of the robots. The fox's workshop would fall soon. With the fox and echidna gone, it would be far easier to take over the world.He smirked as the door caved in and the furniture behind fell apart. The neat rows of machines marched forward, pouring towards the building, where the rows were smashed and scattered by the fighters beyond.
A dark shadow fell over them as the clouds moved overhead, blotting out the sun.
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Wonderful, beautiful! Duck, twirl, kick, punch, dodge. Sonic was enjoying every minute of it as the robots swarmed around him. Aah! Duck, duck, duck! He twirled gracefully round, snapping a lance from another robot, and then spun round in a wild dance, smashing robots to every direction.Beyond him, Knuckles and Tails were back-to-back, Knuckles punching and trying to ignore the pain in his middle, and Tails using a variety of his own inventions. He grabbed a small remote, and clicked it, making all the robots within five metres suddenly deactivate.
Rouge landed lightly on a skylight, peering down through the warm glass. Below her, robots swarmed. Finally, some action! With a grin, she raised a steel-tipped boot.
Amy was backed against the wall, bashing away with her hammer, when the skylight shattered. Not more robots?! Then Rouge dropped neatly into the room, cutting a circle in the robots with her kicks.
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Eggman was confused; It had been an hour, and the robots were still fighting. Why? Surely Tails and Knuckles would be defeated by now? Hmm...maybe others were involved. Like that scheming bat. Hadn't he seen something on the roof, a while ago?
Angrily, he powered his mech forward, through the remaining robots, to where the action was.
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Knuckles was tired. The cuts were aching, begging him to sit and rest. Behind him, Tails' tails were trailing on the ground. Both were panting.On the other side of the room, Sonic was losing his patience. The game wasn't fun anymore...why weren't the robots gone?! He no longer used fancy moves, just dispatched the robots quickly. He was panting.
Then he heard a clank by the door. He looked round quickly, and saw a red and black walker. And riding it...a human...a human that...
Suddenly he was filled with hate for that man. He didn't know why, but...he growled loudly, ignoring the other robots. That human would die! He didn't stop to worry about why he hated him. He just did.
He cut through the remaining robots, running towards the walker, growling the whole time.
Rouge finished another twirl, and looked around. There were fewer robots now...they must be nearly gone. But, in the doorway..."Eggman!" she gasped in surprise. Tails and Knuckles hadn't noticed yet...neither had Amy...but...Sonic had...was going to...
She kicked faster, diminishing the robots. "Sonic...you...idiot!" she spat between gasps. Eggman would see him...any minute now...what kind of idiot was the hedgehog? He would be shot before he got anywhere near.
But the robots were still around, and she was almost in a corridor on the other side of the room. There was no way...she would never reach him in time...
Eggman looked round, and saw a ghost. Or he thought he did...it was Sonic! Dead! No, not dead...he must have escaped. How? He had made sure...He stared in shock for a minute, before snapping into it and turning to fire. It was one minute too long.
Sonic threw himself at the human, so close...so close...
Tails looked round, and took in the scene. He froze. Then, in the loudest voice he could manage, "SONIC! STOP!!!" But he was too tired. It came out as a whisper...time was repeating itself.
Tails yelling for him to stop, Sonic too angry to notice, Knuckles hadn't seen, Eggman so close...
The mech turned as Eggman aimed at point-blank range. The mini-cannon swung round with surprising speed, a heavy lump of metal. Sonic leaped, and the cannon smashed into the side of his head, sending him flying across the room over the heads of the fighters.
Knuckles smashed the last robot, and was half-turning when the blue hedgehog flew into him, knocking them both into the wall with a sickening crack. Amy screamed.
Eggman took in the room. Robots gone...Rouge gaping, Amy screaming, Tails staring in disbelief, Sonic and Knuckles lying in a heap at the bottom of the cracked wall. Any minute they would notice him. Him without his robots. The door behind him was open.
Knuckles pulled himself up. Swaying dizzily, he turned...and Eggman was gone.
Then the sky exploded with thunder as the clouds burst.
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Flower: Erm...not sure about that, but the battle scene did NOT come out how I wanted it to...
Chaos: (shrug) at least it came out at all...