We rose higher in the sky, and I began to feel more awake once I had the lovely wind on my face. I had never felt so free and… up in the air; normally Windris wouldn't dare to go as high as this! I stretched and eased into my gear for a little while, before we passed an outlying layer of clouds and that Egg-Whale thing came into view. It was a lot heckin' larger than I expected it to be, but hey; that just meant more fun. I looked over at Windris; I could see that she was pretty surprised too by the look in her eyes. "There it is, sailing around like everything's fine and dandy," I mumbled contently. Windris caught on to what I was saying.
"It doesn't even know we're here." she began, "And when we get to it-"
"We're bringing the thunder!" I cheered loudly. I couldn't help being excited, even if it was a bit childish.
Windris giggled in response, "Here you are amping yourself up to fight, when really you won't be fighting at all."
It wasn't going to hurt if I hype myself up a little. BESIDES, I would be the one doing the important stuff; everyone else would simply be setting up the scene for ME to be the hero! I started fantasising about the aftermath of my daring expedition; me receiving praise and cheers for single-handedly taking down the giant ship against impossible odds, and I pulled it off with enough ease and style, maybe then Windris might...
"We're getting close team," I was abruptly pulled out of my daydream. "Everyone, prepare to split into your groups." I do suppose I should've concentrated, I didn't want to count my chickens before they hatched.
"I guess we'll have to part for now, Dune" Windris said softly, "Good luck."
"Yeah, yeah you too…" I responded dreamily. I mentally slapped myself in the face. What was that?! Windris always sounds like she means it when she talks to me, and here I was being a lovestruck butthurt!
I didn't have any more time to think about that stuff, so I swerved right and diverted my attention to the giant airship. Up close it looked a lot more intimidating, the sides lined with spikes and the occasional turret, which wasn't a big deal. It definitely had that 'armoured' look Sally was talking about. Sonic, who I hadn't noticed until now, started trying to talk to me.
"Man this weather's a real bummer. I don't really see how the Egg Carrier could be so much of a threat now, being so slow." He yawned and put his hands behind his back. "What'd you think earsie; CAN we turn this thing into scrap metal before lunchtime?" He challenged.
Earsie? Really? I hoped that nickname wouldn't stick. Was Sonic taunting me? I looked back at the airship's hull; now that I thought about it, some friendly competition would make things a little interesting.
"You bet!" I dared, "So why don't we get ourselves a head start; whoever busts the most turrets wins!"
Sonic slammed his fists together and smirked, "Challenge accepted."
A grey, fervent blur flew by us. Missiles! The missile launchers must have sensed my overconfidence. I snapped forward to see a whole troupe of them blasting towards me, so I veered left to avoid them. Sonic, however, didn't break a sweat. He simply jumped off his gear and homing attacked all of them.
"That's five points for me!" he bragged as he landed back on his gear.
"Oh, I'm not even started yet," I retorted. I tilted upwards towards a set of artillery cannons and took them out at the stems using a sand blade. Sonic had joined me near the airship's roof. "We're even now!" I told him.
Sonic destroyed a few cannonballs that I hadn't seen coming. "And now the party's really started," he added.
We continued in this manner for some time, sometimes watching each other's back, and other times in fierce rivalry. It didn't really feel like a full competition to me, but it was a lot better this way, and I highly doubt the rest of the team wanted to see us fighting each other. When we neared the rear of the airship, I had racked up 52 points and Sonic had 54.
"There doesn't seem to be any more canons or turrets for miles," Sonic mused.
"I guess that means it's...over," I said, "Let's focus here; Sally mentioned a power source of some kind that we had to destroy."
No sooner had I said that, I spotted a strange battery-type thing attached to a giant bulb.
"Well speak of the devil," Sonic commented, "I'll take care of that if ya don't mind."
He swiftly spin-dashed into it. I heard a buzz go off in the entire ship, and when Sonic landed back on his gear, he smelled a little burnt.
"Should probably get down there," I said. Sonic gave me a thumbs up.
When I came to the underside of the ship, there was the deploy hatch with the door swinging open loosely. I had expected it to be sideways, not upside down, but it wasn't much to fret about.
"Good game" Sonic commended, "but the real mission starts now, so give it your all." Great encouragement, but I already had enough confidence to last me a week.
"You'll take care of my gear won't you?" I asked as I scrambled up the hatch.
"Yep, that one's on me earsie!" I heard him through the hatch.
"And one more thing." I stuck my head back out the hole, "Don't call me that." I sassed.