Amy and Cream huddled close together, shivering. It was cold in Eggman's dark cells, not to mention smelly.
Amy wrinkled up her nose in disgust while Cream politely had a hand over hers.
"What IS that smell, Amy?" Cream asked.
The pink hedgehog shook her head.
"I don't know," she replied.
"It smells kind of like a skunk…" Cream added.
Amy nodded. "And there's only one REALLY STINKY SKUNK I know!"
As if on cue, the fat scientist himself walked up to their cell.
"Well…enjoying the aroma, are we?" Eggman smiled.
"More like despising it, you overweight jerk!" Amy retorted.
Eggman furrowed his eyebrows. "Got some new insults up your sleeves, do you?" he asked calmly.
"There's plenty more where that came from!" the pink hedgehog said.
"I suppose so…" an evil grin spread across his smug face.
Cream huddled closer to Amy. That smile always gave her the creeps, and the way he talked as he had it scared her even more. Every time he smiled that way, it meant that he had a disastrous plan in his head that he was about to carry out.
The two prisoners kept quiet, waiting for any information the mad man might spill.
Eggman's smile grew. "Don't think I'm going to tell you anything, you fools. I've gotten smarter since we last encountered, and have learned well enough that it is wiser to keep my schemes to myself."
Eggman turned heel, and started to walk away, but then he froze, as if he had remembered something.
"Oh, and one more thing:" the scientist's smile grew, sending shivers up and down Amy and Cream's spines. "I hope you two spend your time wisely in there. Soon you won't be in the same cell!"
Amy and Cream exchanged confused glances. How was that supposed to be a threat?
Eggman was about to continue, but stopped again, thinking.
"Hmm…."
The scientist turned around, examining his cells.
"What are you looking for, Dr. Eggman?" Cream finally asked.
"Nothing. I was just struck with an odd thought," he replied.
"Oh? And what's that?" Amy inquired sarcastically.
"I don't think a have room for all your friends in my cells," Eggman shrugged. "Guess that means I'm going to have to get rid of some of them."
Amy and Cream exchanged glances again, this time worried ones. Eggman smiled, and made his way out of the jail room, his evil laughter echoing down the halls.
…….
"Are we there yet?" Shadow asked sarcastically, after doing a homing-attack to one of Eggman's robots.
"We'll get there when we get there!" Knuckles retorted, throwing a punch at another.
"You got that from The Incredibles, didn't you?" Rouge asked. She shook her head, kicking down a robot. "I say, you watch that movie way too much."
Knuckles gave her a glare, and then continued punching other robots.
Once those were down, they continued their way into the base.
"Brilliant! A locked door!" Sonic put his hands on his hips, tapping his foot.
Shadow looked at the idle treasure hunters. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go find that key!"
"Oh, right!" Rouge and Knuckles said simultaneously, and flew off.
A moment of silence fell over the three that were waiting. Sonic leaned against the locked door, his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced over at Shadow, and saw the black hedgehog in deep thought.
"Hey, Shadow. You okay?" the blue hedgehog asked.
No answer.
Tails and Sonic exchanged glances. Sonic walked over, and waved his hand in front of the hedgehog's face.
"Shadow….you in there?" teasingly, Sonic tapped his knuckles on the hedgehog's head.
Bad idea. Like a reflex, Shadow grabbed Sonic's wrist and twisted it.
"OW! SHADOW!" Sonic whined.
"No touch," was the reply.
"Okay, okay. I got it. No touch," Sonic answered.
Finally, Shadow let go, and Sonic rubbed his wrist for circulation.
Tails furrowed his eyebrows. "Shadow, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," was the answer.
"Well, you seem to be doing a double-heavy-duty of thinking. What's on your mind?" Sonic asked.
"Nothing," Shadow replied.
"It doesn't seem like nothing. You seem pretty tense. What's up?" Tails inquired.
Shadow sighed, looking at Sonic, and then Tails. "Do I HAVE to tell?"
"Well, I'd like you to!" Sonic nodded.
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Since when have I ever done what you'd like me to do?"
Sonic held up a finger, opened his mouth to say something, but then froze, saying instead, "Good point."
"C'mon, Shadow. It's not like it's a gigantic secret!" Tails said.
Shadow rolled his eyes, but before he could reply, Rouge and Knuckles came running back with the key.
"Well THAT didn't take long!" Sonic announced happily.
"Thanks to Knuxie's clumsiness, we found it," Rouge informed, inserting the key.
"Stop calling me Knuxie!" Knuckles exclaimed.
Rouge shrugged. "Whatever."
Finally, the door opened. The crew froze at the sight. There in front of them were a billion of robots, maybe even more. They filled the whole room, and to the far back was an even larger robot, but it had an opening at the top. No one was surprised to see who the person in control was.
"Dr. Eggman!" Sonic growled.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here: my two favorite rodents, a stinky echidna, an ugly bat, and a freak of nature!" Eggman mocked.
"Oh yeah? You're not so stinky yourself, you lazy cow!" Knuckles spat back.
"A cow? You've got a lot of nerve to call me a cow!" Eggman exclaimed.
"You bet he does! In fact, we all do!" Sonic announced.
"Hmm? Do you? Well then, do you have enough nerve to defeat my entire army?" the mad scientist laughed.
In unison, the whole robot army stepped forward.
"Face it, Sonic! You and your friends will never get out of here alive!" Eggman informed.
"That's what YOU think! But I'm sorry to say, we've got a different plan!" Shadow retorted.
"Oh do you? Well then, let's just see what it is! Robot army, attack!" Eggman commanded.
The fight began.