Chapter 13 Confrontations and Freedoms
"Something's not right. We got in too easily. I'll bet he has the whole place booby-trapped. Everyone watch your step!" Aaron warned. There was an electrical pulse in the air as if they were standing in some sort of giant computer.
"Where… how do we get to the top floor? There must be an elevator somewhere." Sonic observed. There was a clank below them and then Sonic, Sally, Sam, and Aaron found themselves on a platform that was taking them straight up. After going up for about a minute, the platform came to a bone-jarring stop. About ten seconds later, it started moving again, much slower this time. When it stopped, they found themselves in a room full of computers and various displays. On one display, there was a clock counting down.
"My… my. Who do we have here? It's so nice of you to join me on the eve of your destruction. It's really too bad that your friends can't join you. They've had the tables… or, rather the floors turned on them. Now, they have their own problems at the moment." A voice from above them said. As the voice, which Sally identified as Robotnik spoke, a section of the wall slid away revealing a vast sea of Roboticizers, each enclosing one Freedom Fighter or Mobian. Robotnik himself walked out of the room of Roboticizers.
"We're going to play a little game. First thing, choose one of you… the chosen will battle their robotic double to the death. If one of you wins, you will then have to battle me to the death once more. If you win, you will have saved both planets and all the inhabitants of them. If you lose, you will have lost everything... planet, inhabitants, and your lives. You will have sixty-five seconds to decide." Robotnik said as he walked over to one of the control panels. Aaron, Sally, Sonic, and Sam huddled together.
"I'll do it. I have nothing to lose." Sam spoke up.
"Nonsense. If anyone, it should be Sonic. He's the only one who can move as fast as Robotnik can think." Sally volunteered. Ivo Robotnik was busy calling up the robotic duplicates of the Freedom Fighters.
"Hey, chubs! I got you covered! Send your best at me!" Sonic jeered.
"You asked for it, now you're gonna get it! I give you… Metal Sonic!" Robotnik said as the robot jetted down to the floor. Ivo hit a few buttons and suddenly the ceiling and walls spread out and rose up until they reached coliseum proportions.
"Let's get this over with. I have other things to do." Sonic shouted as Ivo initiated the combat program for Metal Sonic. The robot came to life and immediately started fighting Sonic. At first, Sonic was caught off guard by the speed of the robot's attack. Metal Sonic was much faster and was able to counter every move of Sonic's with one of his own moves. Eventually, Sonic was able to confuse the robot enough through the use of his speed to gain sufficient pause to get his energy back. With neither side, Doctor Robotnik called the first fight off.
"I can see this is going nowhere fast. Hedgehog, you put up a good fight, but let's see how you do against me. Snively, start the launch timer at five minutes. I should be done by then." As Snively set the launch timer on the rocket that would transport the doctor and a select few of his robots off the planet, Rotor ran over to the real Annihilator and started the timer on the device.
"Sonic! We've gotta go! The device will go off in less than a hundred seconds!"
"You guys go! If I don't make it, take care of Sally! Go! Get out!" Sonic shouted. Robotnik had the hedgehog on the run with a series of lasers in the floor. Sonic ran over to the Roboticizers and opened them all from the main control panel. The Mobians that were trapped in them all ran over to the elevator and took it down. Once at the bottom, it headed back up to the top floor where the fight was going on. Snively, Sam, Sally, and Aaron scrambled to the lift, which took them to the bottom floor where they ran out of the tower. Snively ran off in the direction of a patrol craft he had hidden behind the tower. He started it up and flew away as fast as he could.
As the timer on the device neared zero, the room filled with a pulsating humming. Sonic knew he too would be consumed by the energy if he did not do something about his situation. Robotnik had a hold of his legs and was dragging him towards the source of the humming. Sonic still had his backpack with him; he had had it on throughout the entire fight. He remembered that he had packed it with power rings and the last emerald that Rotor had been able to find. Sonic grabbed a handful of the rings and slid those around his arms and took hold of the emerald and hoped that it would negate the energy of the device when it detonated. When the humming from the device seemed to reach the peak of the audible range, it began to emanate waves of energy. Robotnik had taken to his feet and scrambled desperately for his shuttle that was about to launch. Sonic leapt after the evil Doctor and managed to drag him away from the rocket as it launched.
"If I'm going down, you're coming with me!" Sonic shouted over the humming. The energy field emanating from the device had started to consume its surroundings. Robotnik screamed in terror as he realized that he had lost. As the field consumed him, Robotnik howled with rage as he saw all he had made was being lost to a device of his making.
"I'll get you someday! The war is far from over!" Robotnik said before he vanished. As Robotnik was consumed, the device detonated. The resulting explosion obliterated the city.
As Aaron, Sally, and Sam watched in amazement, the explosion was sucked back in and vanished from sight… leaving only the original Kingdom Of Acorns.
(End of Chapter 13)