Episode 5: We Burn

As he traversed through the sewer, Sonic is seen speeding down and grinding on a long rail, going through the channel as fast as he can, while he heard what sounded like a rumble from a series of machines in the distance.

"Ack, they don't wanna make my job easy!" Sonic groaned, as he saw a series of Buzzers, a category of airborne Badniks, rise up in front of the blue hedgehog as he rapidly approached the very end of the rail. In retaliation, he jumped in mid air and used his homing attack on the first one, before taking down another four before jumping onto a platform below the end of the rail. He looked around and saw that he was in the centre of the abandoned Space Port.

"That's that way I like it!" said Sonic, before stumbling as a huge rumble affected the area.

He managed to maintain his footing and saw a giant piece of machinery arrive at his level. He quickly came to realize that it's a death machine, possibly created by Robotnik. He simply tapped the tip of his shoe on the ground twice and smirked as he looked up.

"Hey, Ro-butt-nik! Decided to go for the big guns?!" said Sonic as he maintained his smirk, which quickly faded as he got no response and the Death Machine's arm swings down on him, to which Sonic responded by jumping straight out of the way. He looked down as the debris of the platform came crashing down.

"Weeew. Not up for talkin', huh? Alright, I'll let the clobberin' do all the talkin'!" said Sonic as he took up a cocky battle stance. He then quickly noticed a huge hole in the wall of the facility, and decided to make a bolt for it. Noticing this, the Death Machine takes a swing at the wall, causing much debris to fly. Seizing an opportunity, Sonic used a long and flat piece of the wall as a snowboard and made his way down the ever-growing slopes of snow and ice that came as a result of the Space Port being abandoned for so long.

"S...Sonic, what's happening?! I'm getting readings of seismic activity in that region! What's going on?!" Nicole said through Sonic's earpiece, demanding to know what's happening as of right now.

"Well, let's just say that Robotnik's...not feelin' very social today." said Sonic as he rides on his snowboard, pulling off various tricks as he goes through large holes in the walls and grinding on any rail he lands on, all while the Death Machine pursues him, which crashes through the wall Sonic just went through.

"He's actually there?! Then it was a trap! He planned for us to go there!" Nicole pointed out.

"Nicole, Nicole, you worry too much! I got this under control!" said Sonic as he continued to ride through the abandoned Port.

"Oh, that's reassuring.." Nicole mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" Sonic asked.

"Nothing! Over and out.." said Nicole, just before she ended the transmission.

Sonic continued to ride through the abandoned base, all while the Death Machine continues to chase him. To his frustration, he discovers that it's closing on him. In just a short span of time, a squad of Buzzers show up on both of Sonic's sides. He responds by smirking, jumping and kicking one straight into the other, causing both Buzzers to explode.

"Hah! Too slow!" he exclaimed as he carried this out, before jumping back on the flat piece of debris, just before he jumped onto another rail. After this, he decided to contact Sally, who then answers the call pretty much immediately.

"Sonic, what's going on?! I'm hearing a LOT of rumbling!" Sally asked through his earpiece, demanding to know what's happening.

"Sal, turns out it was a trap layed out by Robotnik! Before you explode, do you have the power ring?" Sonic asked as he rides towards the exit, as the Space Port starts come crashing down.

"Yes. Why?" asked Sally, curious of Sonic's motive.

"Let's just say it's gonna be a BLAST." Sonic simply explained. To which, Sally sighed.

"Alright.. Where are you?" asked Sally.

"Get on top of the biggest tree in the area, so I can see you." Sonic explained.

"Alright, I see it. I'll throw you the ring?" Sally said, with a tinge of sass in the last sentence.

"Y'know it, Sal. Let's do it to it!" said Sonic as he smirked, just before he ended the transmission, went through a large jump and out of the crumbling Space Port, which the Death Machine bursts out of and continues to pursue Sonic.

Meanwhile, Sally starts to make her way through a series of rogue Badniks, slashing through them and dashing towards the biggest tree in the region. She puts on a backpack with the Power Ring inside, before jumping straight onto the bark and makes use of her Ring Blades to climb up the tall tree.

"Nicole, I'm heading up." Sally said.

"Understood. Please hurry, Sonic is making his way down." Nicole responded.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Sonic..." she thinks to herself as she's about to reach the top of the tree. All of a sudden, another Rogue Badnik lands a kick to the Chipmunk's face and she starts to fall down.

"UNGH!" she exclaims, just before she regains her senses and stabs her Ring Blades straight back into the bark. She pulls the blades out, jumps up a bit and stabs the Ring Blades into the bark again before attempting to climb once more. As soon as she gets to a good distance, she takes the Power Ring out of her backpack.

"Sally?!" Nicole calls out.

"I'm fine, Nicole. Let's just hope this gets to-" said Sally, before being cut off.

She looks out and sees Sonic in the distance, riding on a long and flat piece of debris and doing tricks in the air, all while the Death Machine chases down the blue hedgehog.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me..." she muttered to herself.

As he heads down the long slope of snow, Sonic sees Sally in the distance as she gets to the top of the tree, all while fighting off rogue Badniks. He slides down the slope to make a run up to a high slop, which will allow him to make a big jump to get enough distance for Sally to throw the Ring to him.

As soon as he makes the run up and goes airborne, Sonic jumps off the piece of Debris and soars into the air.

"SAL!" he called out, just before Sally, who is being pulled down by Badniks, throws Sonic the Power Ring in her hand. He catches it and turns around to face the oncoming Death Machine, just before he goes into a spin dash and charges it up.

"Pull over!" Sonic shouts out, before bolting at the Death Machine and going straight through it's core and out of the other side, before making a spectacular landing by skidding along the snow and looking up at the Death Machine just before it explodes.

"Now that, was an grand finale!" said Sonic, before he gave a smirk. However, it would soon fade when he noticed something off about the Death Machine. He ran over to check it out, before discovering that Robotnik was nowhere to be seen.

"Sonic!" Sally called out as she arrived.

"Shoot...Sal, It was a set-up.." Sonic told her as she came closer.

"So he wasn't in there the whole time.." Sally muttered.

"Hmhmhm...I guess you're wondering where I am, Freedom Fighters? Well, you'll be happy to know that I'm very near by. I'm sure we'll be very happy to see each other again. Until then, I bid you farewell..." said a heavily-modulated transmission from what sounds like Robotnik, right before he bursts into a fit of menacing laughter.

"So, we need to look for him, huh?" Sonic asked rhetorically.

"Let's get moving. I'm sure the others will find us." Sally said.

"...Where are they, anyway?" Sonic asked.

"We had company and we got seperated.." Sally explained.

The last shot focuses on Sonic and Sally looking on at the debris of the Death Machine. A Robotnik symbol is seen on a focal point of the destroyed machine, just before the screen fades to black.

-To Be Continued-