Greetings! Well, I didn't get any reviews on my last chapter. I hope that means that people read and didn't review. I'm going to update anyway. Please read and review.

Chapter 8

All was quiet on the streets of Eggtopia, as a small floating camera made its way down the street. As soon as it rounded the corner and was out of sight, a red echidna wearing a hat and boots stuck his head out of an alleyway.

As soon as Knuckles saw that the coast was clear he exited his hiding place with the others close behind.

As they were running down the street, Cream asked, "Wouldn't it be faster to take The Sonic Storm, Mr. Knuckles?"

"We would be way too easy to spot! Eggman's forces would be on us in no time." Knuckles answered.

"Right," Tails added, while running alongside Cream, "There's less of a chance that we'll be spotted from the ground."

Rouge smiled, "Besides, I don't think it's that bad, Cream."

Knuckles turned back to look at Rouge, "That's because your flying!"

"Hey!" Amy interrupted, "Less talking, more running! We have to get to Sonic!"

Knuckles looked forward as he talked to Amy, "If you're worried that we won't get there in time, don't be. We're almost there, and I'm sure that Sonic can handle himself til we get there."

"I'll feel a lot better when I see Sonic and know that he's okay." Amy said

"Same here!" Tails added. The group picked up speed as they continued toward Eggman's fortress.

Meanwhile Sonic continued to run down the long hallway to face Eggman. Sonic reached the end as he entered another room. But unlike the last room, this one wasn't empty. He noticed a computer screen and control panels on the far side of the room, as well as the back of a chair.

The chair turned to reveal Doctor Eggman sitting in it. He chuckled, "It's been a long time since we've faced off hasn't it, Sonic? By the way, I never got to ask you, what do you think of my Eggman Empire?"

Sonic's fist tightened as his anger began rising, "I won't let you get away with what you've done!"

Eggman laughed, "And how do you plan on stopping me?" Eggman stood up and took a few steps toward Sonic, who immediately put up his fists.

"Why don't you just give me those emeralds? It's easier that way. Besides, don't you want me to get the complete set?" Eggman said, as he snapped his fingers. As soon as he did, a glass case rose up from the floor a few feet behind Eggman. Floating inside the case was five emeralds.

Sonic recognized them, "THE CHAOS EMERALDS! Hand over those emeralds, Eggman!"

"Now you're threatening me? Ha ha ha! What are you going to do, fight me for them? That wouldn't really be a wise decision. Especially if you don't want anything to happen to your little friends!"

Sonic was confused, "What kind of threat is that? You don't even know where they are!"

Eggman smiled, "Oh! You mean that secret hideout down in the sewers?"

Sonic was speechless. He didn't understand how Eggman found out. Eggman noticed this puzzled look and couldn't help but smile.

"I found out about their hideout a long time ago!"

Sonic was still shocked, "I don't get it! If you know where they are how come..?"

"..I haven't attacked them yet?" Eggman said, "Being emperor of this planet can get rather boring. Their pitiful attempts to overthrow me is my greatest source of entertainment! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Sonic couldn't believe this, "You creep! You think my friends trying to survive this nightmare is funny!?!"

Eggman smirked, "To each his own, I suppose. So what will it be, hedgehog! All I have to do is give the word and my troops will destroy every last one of your friends! Which one would you like them to start with? The fox boy? Maybe that annoying knucklehead? On the other hand, you know what they say about ladies first!"

Sonic couldn't control the anger raging inside himself anymore! He charged at Eggman with all of his speed. But before he even got halfway there, he was knocked to the ground by a sudden punch. Sonic looked up from the ground to see what hit him. He couldn't believe what he saw! Eggman had extended his own hand to catch Sonic by surprise.

"Didn't I mention?" Eggman smiled, "You see, Sonic, I wanted to make sure that my reign lasted forever. So I turned myself into the most powerful robot in the world! It looks like after all these years, we're finally going head to head!"

Quickly, Sonic was back on his feet and ready for action, "That's fine by me! I'm gonna enjoy kicking your egg!"

Sonic charged at Eggman once again, and Eggman extended his right arm. But Sonic was ready this time and dodged the doctor's attack by jumping up into the air. However, Eggman knew that's what Sonic would do. He made a robotic tentacle shoot out of his left palm, and it wrapped around Sonic's body, pinning his arms to his sides.

Sonic struggled to get free, "This won't hold me forever, Eggman!"

Eggman laughed, "But it will hold you long enough for me to do this!" Eggman began smashing Sonic into the floor repeatedly, laughing the entire time.

Eggman then held Sonic high above his head. It looked as though Sonic was out cold. Eggman chuckled, "That was almost too easy."

Suddenly, Sonic's eyes shot open and he stared directly at Eggman, causing him to take a step back from shock. Sonic began spinning at top speed, ripping through his bonds. Sonic landed on the ground and turned toward the door and started running toward it.

"Running away already?" Eggman said, "I'm disappointed in you, hedgehog."

Sonic laughed, "Who said I was running away?" Sonic reached the door and, using his speed, ran up the wall and onto the ceiling. As soon as he was directly over Eggman, he pushed off the ceiling and performed a homing attack.

Eggman was unable to react fast enough to Sonic's speedy attack, and Sonic connected. However Sonic bounced off Eggman and landed a few feet in front of him.

Eggman was laughing wildly, "You poor simple fool! You can't break through my metal armor. It's indestructible! Why don't you stop prolonging the inevitable, and give me those chaos emeralds?"

Sonic growled, "Never!"

"Have it your way!" Eggman shouted. He drew his hand into his arm and replaced it with a powerful looking machine gun! "Get a load of this!!"

Sonic began to run around the room as Eggman opened fire. Sonic started running along the walls of the round room, all the time with bullets being fired at his heels.

Meanwhile back in the streets of Eggtopia, Knuckles and the others rounded another corner and were now able to see the Eggman shaped building very clearly. And there was something that Tails saw very clearly.

"Look!" Tails shouted, "There's smoke coming from the sides of the building!"

Rouge looked at the building, "I wonder what caused that?"

Knuckles thought for a minute, "If I know Sonic, he probably ran up the side of the building, thinking it would help him get to Eggman faster! Those blasts in the side of the building are probably the results of Eggman attempting to stop Sonic!"

Amy gasped, "Oh no! What if he got Sonic with one of those?"

Cream walked up next to Amy and smiled, "I'm sure he's just fine, Amy."

Knuckles turned to the others, "That doesn't mean we shouldn't hurry!" The others nodded in agreement and continued to run toward the fortress, which was now only a few miles away.

Sonic attempted another homing attack, but it still had no effect on Eggman's robot shell. Suddenly Eggman opened up his chest compartment and several wires came shooting out. They wrapped themselves around Sonic's arms and legs. Sonic was filled with a shock of electricity.

Sonic let out a scream of pain and was on his knees within seconds. Eggman continued to send electricity through the wires and into Sonic's body. Eggman finally stopped and walked over to Sonic, who was still laying on the floor in pain.

Eggman smiled, "I might as well just take the emeralds now. No point in continuing this pathetic excuse for a fight."

As Eggman was about to bend down and take the emeralds, Sonic's body began twitching, and he slowly got up on his hands and knees. Sonic smiled, "It'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me, Eggman."

Eggman was somewhat amazed that Sonic was able to move, let alone speak. "So what are you going to do now, Sonic? You can barely move! Why don't you hand over those emeralds now, and maybe I'll spare you and your worthless friends?"

'The emeralds!?!' Sonic thought, 'That's it!'

Knuckles and the others stood at the front of the Eggman shaped building and looked up. Cream was the first to speak up, "Where are Eggman's robots?"

"Eggman's probably too busy with Sonic to remember to send them on patrol." Rouge answered.

Knuckles was still looking at the top of the building, "I think our best bet is to enter the base the same way Sonic did."

Tails groaned, "It's times like these I wish I could still fly."

Amy had a worried look on her face, "I hope we're not too late to help Sonic."

Sonic looked at the glass case containing the five chaos emeralds, then he looked at Eggman standing over him. He knew what he had to do.

With all the strength he had he quickly stood up and ran toward the container as fast as he could. However, Eggman wasn't going to let Sonic win that easily. Eggman's back opened up and fired two missiles at Sonic.

Sonic reached for the emeralds, and the missiles closed in on him, and...

There was an enormous explosion, as the entire head of the Eggman shaped building was blown to pieces. The fire wall that engulfed the head was huge.

Sonic's friends looked up in absolute horror, "SONIC!!!"

A/N: Whoa! Did Sonic survive the blast? Did Doctor Eggman? What about the chaos emeralds? These and more questions will be answered next time. So what do you guys think? Please send me a review to let me know. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.

Next time: Did he survive?