Author's note: Sorry it took so long. It takes me about a week to write a chapter, and I'm not sure why.
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Chapter 26: The Finale Begins
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Slowly, Alternate Leo and I both turned our heads to look at the open door. I was right; Tails had returned. "I came here as soon as I could," Tails explained. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know about this guy, but I'm okay," I responded. "Did you bring him?"
Tails nodded. "Right here."
At that moment, a familiar figure entered behind Tails. I knew who he was: Skyler the Wolf.
"What is the meaning of this?" Alternate Leo demanded to know. "Is this wolf one of your so-called friends?"
"Yes, he is," I shot back. "He's my way out of that body-switch trick of yours."
Alternate Leo growled. "There's nothing he can do to help you!"
"Well, I'd say you're the one who needs help now," I quipped, knocking Alternate Leo's head against the ground. The impact knocked him senseless, and I knew he wouldn't struggle any more until we were done with him.
Skyler walked up to us. "Tails told me everything I needed to know. He came to the right place, I can tell you that. Just follow my instructions, and our problem will be fixed in no time."
"That may be true," I explained, "but I have to tell Tails something important first. I managed to interrogate my twin here and find out where Sonic is being held. It's the Death Egg III."
"Death Egg who?" Skyler asked.
"Death Egg III," I repeated. "It orbits above Emerald Town. It won't be easy reaching it, unless Tails has a plan."
"Before we worry about my plans," Tails commented, "let's concentrate on Skyler's. We need you and your double fixed P.D.Q.!"
I saluted. "Right! What do we do first?"
Smirking, Skyler pointed his finger in a smooth motion, and a cloud formed instantly in front of the four of us. As he was doing that, he barked instructions to Tails and me.
I picked up Alternate Leo and fumbled with him until he was curled up into a ball. That finished, I passed Alternate Leo over to Tails, who held him as I jumped up, got some extra height from my wing-jets, and landed on top of Skyler's cloud.
Skyler clapped his hands. This was my signal. I jumped into the air, curling into a ball as I did. As Skyler clapped again, Tails threw Alternate Leo overhand. Both of me burst through the cloud at the same time.
"Glad that's all done," Tails commented. "Leo, you'd better get some rest. I'll join you just as soon as I'm done with my analysis of the Death Egg III."
I agreed, and made a move for the bed. As I did, Skyler turned to Tails and asked one more question: "Tails, what in the world is a P.D.Q.?"
"P.D.Q.," Tails explained. "Pretty Damn Quick. Sort of like ASAP."
That night, I had an interesting dream. There was a vision of the seven Chaos Emeralds, enlarged to the point that they could be stood on. Standing on each in turn were Tails, Nack, W.T., Skyler, Lightning, Kitty, and myself.
The Emeralds whirled around in a circle as the seven of us all said one thing together, and this was it: "Seven Emeralds, seven heroes. The moment of truth will come at the moment of despair."
I remember it distinctly. Kitty was on the gray Emerald, Lightning had the yellow one, Skyler's was blue, W.T.'s was cyan, Nack's was purple, Tails' was green, and the one I was standing on was red. It was all amazing.
Was the dream some kind of premonition? I don't know, but it did remind me of that faithful quote that Kitty had told me. It had come from Knuckles the Echidna himself, so there had to be some significance in it somewhere.
I don't remember what I dreamed for the remainder of that night, but when the morning came, Tails woke me. He looked like he had been abruptly woken himself; his fur looked messed up, and he had a little trouble keeping his eyes open.
As for Skyler, he was gone. Obviously he'd made a return to the skies, since he was no longer needed.
"I think I know how we can get you up to that Death Egg III place," Tails explained. "I've used some blueprints to prepare a warp transporter that will deposit you in the docking bay of the Death Egg III. I'm afraid I can't get you any closer to the inner sanctum."
"It's all right," I assured Tails. "I think I can make it from there."
"Well, okay. I'll get the transporter pad ready."
In a few minutes, everything was ready. The warp transporter, a large pedestal-like device, was set up in the center of the room. Lights were flashing on a control panel attached to the thing, and Tails was at the controls.
"All right, Leo, stand on the center of the pedestal and keep your wings closed," Tails instructed. I complied, and watched Tails press buttons in sequence.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a deactivated Metal Leo in the corner of the room. Tails must have removed his power supply. I smirked to myself as I looked at it.
Tails pulled a lever, and a circle of light surrounded me as the warp transporter hummed to life. Just to be stylish, I struck a pose with my fist in the air and one foot raised. Noticing this, Tails grabbed a camera and snapped a photo of me. (I didn't get a good look at the photo until later.)
As a finale, bright light suddenly filled the room, and I had to flinch. When I recovered, the area I was in was definitely not Tails' lab. It was much larger, and there were many spaceships scattered around. This was most definitely the spaceship hangar of the Death Egg III.
Looking at the spaceships, I observed that most of them seated only one person. There was one which could seat about six people my size, plus the driver. But that wasn't any of my concern right now.
What WAS my concern was finding Dr. Eggman. There had to be an exit, and there was: a metallic door on the far wall. I calmly approached it and attempted to get it open.
It wasn't that easy, though. The door was passcode-protected, and I would never be able to guess the code. Before I could think much about the situation, I heard something on the other side of the room.
As an experiment, I knocked on the door, making a loud noise, and immediately hid behind a spacecraft. Two security robots emerged from the door to investigate, saw nothing, and retreated. I slipped in behind them, making it just in time. Had I been a second slower, I would've been less half a wing.
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Okay, that's all for now.
Quote of the Chapter:
"At that moment, you-know-who did you-know-what. And you-know-who didn't notice Clover's handcuffs when he did you-know-what. And you know what happened."
-Narrator, Training, Ch. 1