"How does it look?" Sonic stood next to a huge hole in the floor. The two hedgehogs had gone to The Eclipse Cannon's main energy core. Shadow had peeled off the armored floor and had crawled into the cannon.

"I'm going to kill him." Shadow crawled out of the hole, "The focusing crystals have been removed and the targeting computer is gone as well."

"Robotnik must have removed them. Guess he actually thought ahead on this one." Sonic helped Shadow replace the floor, "Are they replaceable?"

"It would only take me a few hours to program a computer, but those crystals will take several months to make."

"And The Death Egg will be here in less than nine days."

Shadow slammed his fist into his palm, "Then we will just have to meet the doctor halfway."

"Sounds good to me!"

"Hey guys!" Tails's voice sounded over the intercom.

"Yeah!"

"The GUN Commander is calling us."

Shadow walked over to a small computer, "Go ahead!" The screen sparked to life and an image of the commander appeared, "What can we do for you?"

"I have prepared the space fleet and we are ready to intercept Robotnik."

"You guys have a space fleet?"

"It was started just after The Black Arms Incident. We have been using the resources of Venus and have managed to amass a decent size fleet. One large battleship, four support cursers, and at least thirty assault frigates. I am sending a shuttle to pick you and your friends up. I have a feeling you are the only ones who can truly take down that monstrosity."

"We'll be ready."

"Not bad!" Tails had his face pressed against a view port as the GUN shuttle flew towards The GUN Space Fleet. All the ships were painted red and green with the GUN symbol. The shuttle landed in the main hanger bay of the flagship. A small company of GUN troops had taken over The Ark to watch the prisoner and The Master Emerald. Sonic and crew followed a small robot on wheels through the large corridors. It stopped in front of a large metal door which slid open. They stepped onto the bridge. A large room painted in a dull steel color.

The GUN Commander turned around, "Good! We will intercept The Death Egg in three days. Rooms have been made available on the lower deck. We will have a mission briefing in five hours."

"Can I stay and watch?"

The commander almost smiled as the small fox looked at all the controls, "Of course." The rest left the bridge.

"He sure loves technology."

Shadow nodded, "You little brother has an IQ that rivals even my creator. I'm sure that he will eventually become a great scientist."

"I'll make sure to tell Tails you think so highly of him." Sonic looked around as they walked down the corridor, "Where did Amy disappears to?"

"Miss her?" Knuckles slapped Sonic on the shoulder, "I think your finally starting to like her."

Sonic shook his head, "I just wanted to check where I needed to avoid."

"She and Rouge both took off for their rooms. Mumbled something about a shower." Shadow stopped in front of a door, "Sonic! I would like to talk to you in private."

Knuckles sighed, "I'll see you guys at the briefing."

Sonic watched the echidna walk down the hall and enter his room, "What is eating him?"

"He feels left out." Both hedgehogs entered Shadow's room.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I hope your not planning to attack The Death Egg with your usual lack of focus."

Sonic laughed and sat down on a small sofa, "Hey! It always worked before."

"We cannot afford for you to play around. We need to end Robotnik here and now."

"We'll take him down no worries."

Shadow crossed his arms, "No Sonic! One way or the other, we will finish this fight for good."

The GUN Commander stood over a large table as Sonic and Shadow stood next to it, "Robotnik has no ships protecting The Death Egg, so we must assume that it has some form of defense. While our ships distract him, we will launch troops is special drill vehicles."

"What?"

"We have developed a special ship that will actually tunnel through the hull of an enemy ship. We will use them to get you and our assault troops aboard The Death Egg and take it down. Any questions?" There was nothing but silence. The commander nodded, "Prepare yourselves! This will be the deciding battle."

Three Days Later

Alarms sounded through the GUN flagship as the fleet approached The Death Egg. Perfectly rounded and roughly a quarter the size of the moon, it loomed over the group of ships. The hull of the sphere was covered with small blisters that housed weapon platforms. As the ships approached, The Death Egg roared to life and a borage of laser and missile was launched at the fleet. Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Knuckles enter one of the drill ships. The GUN fleet launch waves of space fighters as they launched over a hundred drill ships. Almost ignored by The Death Egg, most reach the hull of the sphere and begin digging. The ship penetrated the hull and the four mammals stepped into a large metal corridor. Around The Death Egg, GUN troops had also penetrated the sphere and were engaging Robotnik's troops. Shadow tossed Tails a radio, "You and Knuckles find the power plant and shut it down. Me and Sonic will find eggman."

"Got it!" The fox and echidna took off.

"So this is it?" Sonic and Shadow ran down the corridor.

"This is where Robotnik's evil ends." Several hedgebots appeared around a turn and opened fire with their laser rifles. Both hedgehogs curled into a ball and crashed into the group. Three were knocked out and the last two were taken down by fists.

"Any idea which way we are suppose to go?"

"I'm not sure. We will have to find a computer. I should be able to find a blueprint."

Sonic nodded, "And if that fails, I'm sure Robotnik won't be able to resist trying to kill us himself."

Knuckles rammed his fist into a hedgebot and sent it flying. The pair had been taking every corridor that Tails said would lead them to the center of The Death Egg. "Please tell me again why were are moving to the center of this thing? The number of troops are increasing with every step." Knuckles ducked a blaster shot and lunged at another bot.

Tails flew up with his tails and flew over the group of hedgebots. The bots tried to follow him, but it took their attention away from the echidna and he clobbered them. "It makes the most sense to have the power core at the center. This ship's design makes it almost imposable to have it anywhere else."

Knuckles shrugged, "Your the tech wiz. So lead the way!"

"Could this guy have a bigger ego?" Sonic and Shadow walked into a large arena shaped room. It had a fifty foot stone statue of Robotnik in the center. Sonic chuckled, "I'm going to enjoy this." He curled into a ball and revved up. He shot into the air and was aimed right at the head of the statue. He hit hard and landed at the base of the statue. The head started the crack. The cracks grew and covered the whole statue. Sonic walked over to Shadow and watched the statue, "Its the small things in life that matter."

Shadow slowly nodded his head as the statue began to crumble. "And that is the big thing in life." The stone fell away and a large black and red robot was revealed. It was shaped like a thin human with large hands. It reached out to grab them, but the hedgehogs were quick to avoid it. The bot's huge eyes flashed red and shot out beams of energy. Sonic ran up the curved wall and launched himself at the bot's head. At the same time, Shadow ran behind the bot and attacked the back of the bot's knee. The two hit at the same time and the bot crashed into the wall. Sonic grabbed Shadow's arm and started to spin around. As he reached maximum speed, he released Shadow and the hedgehog shot at the bot like a missile. Shadow curled into a ball and crashed into the bot's neck joint. He slid into the bot and began to rip out what ever wire he could. The bot sparked and collapsed onto the metal floor. Sonic revved up and cut into the bot's metal skin. Shadow climbed out of the hole Sonic had made, "No more smashing statues."

Sonic smiled, "Sorry!" The two continued their search for Robotnik.