Wind whipped up all around him. Ashura struggled to get his footing as the Sky Fortress moved. "What on Mobious is this doing here?" Ashura wondered. The Sky fortress was one of Eggman's inventions. Another strong gust of wind nearly blew him off his feet. Ashura looked around quickly, and then he saw the cause of his problem, one of the massive propellers was right behind him.

The wind blew harder, and harder. Ashura was slowly loosing his grip grip on the grating he had grabbed. Ashura thought fast. There was nothing he could do to stop from being blown away. One hand slipped off and his other one wasn't doing much better. Ashura tried frantically to get a grip with his other hand, but to no avail. Panic set in his mind as his other hand slipped and the wind blew him away.

Ashura was swept right over the edge of the Sky Fortress, and he began to fall down and down. He fell into the storm clouds below, as thunder and lightning flared he saw a dark object approaching from below. It grew bigger as it approached, from a tiny spot to a recognizable shape. Ahura recognized the shape as a hedgehog seen from above. But there was something wrong, the figure continued to grow in size. It grew bigger and bigger, and then it no longer was black. The color turned red as the figure continuedn to grow in size. Soon it was evident it was not falling like Ashura, but rather it was heading up towards the Sky Fortress.

"No time to be picky," Ashura said to himself. As Ashura fell next to the figure it he grabbed hold of its leg. His gloved hands met cold metal, this was a robot! Ashura hung on in terror, hoping this giant machine didn't notice him. Ahura looked up and saw the collasal head start to turn, towards him. The giant's glowing, red eyes met his own. Ashura felt movement and the leg went backwards. Ashura slid down to the foot as the leg began moving forward quickly. When the leg made a sudden stop Ashura was sent flying. Ashura flew up out of the clouds and fully expected to die. Ashura closed his eyes and waited for the end.

There was a thud of flesh hitting metal. Then there was a boom, followed by another, and yet another. Ashura slowly opened his eyes. He realized the booming was his heart. Ashura sat up and looked around. He had landed back on the Sky Fortress, and was in an area shielded by the wind. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Boy, I'm glad that's ove…" He looked out over the clouds, and saw a giant hand appearing. That robot was following him. Ashura looked about quickly, there was no cover.

The top of the head began to emerge. "Nothing for it," Ashura thought, "Its my only hope." Ashura made a fist with both hands. Then his hands vanished, along with the rest of him. Ashura had turned invisible.

Now unseen Ahura made his way to the hatch, and jumped inside, while the robot was still looking. Ashura looked back to try to see it better, but it had vanished. Staying invisable, Ahsura started running through the Sky Fortress. Then he found some small guard robots, tall and armored sentries. Ashura stopped and kept silent. The robots had just turned the corner and faced him. Even though he was invisable, he could still be seen on infra-red. The robots raised their guns and fired. Ashura dodged, and went visable, no point in remaining invisable. He charged down a passageway, the guards close in pursuit. Ashura picked up a wrentch that was lying on the floor and threw it at some controls as he ran through a doorway. The door slammed shut, and there was a gratifiying thud as the guard robots smashed into it. "Heh, hard heads," Ahsura muttered, "hope that hurt."

Ashura entered a large chamber. The Chaos Emerald was in glass chamber on the far end. Ashura ran foreward only to be blocked suddenly by a forcefield. The forcefield glowed yellow, and another one formed behind him. Ashura was trapped, and there was no way out. Ashura looked around, but his prision was secure. His metal self stepped from around the corner. Metal Ashura looked at him and pushed a button, saying "You have had it. You won't foil the master plan."

The fields started closing in on Ashura. The field was about six feet across now. With nothing better to do Ashura jumped up into the air ("I hope this work" he said). He span into a ball and went straight for the forcefield. There was a red flare on the field where he hit, but the field held firm. However he was having an effect. The stress he was causing was overloading the relays in the floor. The consol next to Metal Ashura exploded, taking him with it. The emerald was knocked onto the floor, where the electric lightshow was taking place.

Ashura stopped and stared at the emerald, the fields now three feet apart. Some of the electricity hit the emerald, and it shot the power back out in all directions. The whole floor collapsed and Ashura went tumbling down, towards the ground far below. Debris and the emerald accompanied him. Ashura looked up and saw the damaged sky fortress coming apart. As it collpassed he saw the giant form emerging from it. Then Ashura saw the emerald, and he tried to grab it.

MORE TO COME

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