And we're back for the next chapter of Sonic Forces. While I would've preferred to keep this chapter long, I figured that I'd split it since you guys have been waiting so long. But now, I'm here for the next one which is actually the last one and lol. Let's just go. But first, review replies:
Infinite's Ruby: Thank you!
Bajy: And crazier they're about to get.
SpiderDom321: Haha. I'm so glad you liked it.
The characterisation is a key element to this story for both heroes and villains. I wanna make sure that we see into the Eggman Empire and because of that you'll be seeing quite a bit of Eggman and crew.
Yeah, I don't know how obvious it was. But it was clear I was fumbling with trying to write them in chapter two so I nerfed them.
Haha, thank you. First, let's save the world. Then we can see what we can do about that album.
I'm glad I'm pulling it off well. The key is to go for that grey area with this story. It's gonna have its serious moments where you're gonna need to buckle up but it's also gonna have a lot of lighthearted fun.
Oh yes, The Chaos Emeralds.
ExMarkSpot: So glad you like it!
DANGIT-Man: Can confirm all the generals of the empire will have boss fights in this story. There's one coming up in a few chapters that I am so unbelievably hype for.
Alexandria Prime: Haha, thank you!
MrMrMANGOMILK: Idk, man. Do you think they're the real ones? I do have a plan is all I'll say.
Haha, good point. Thanks for the advice.
Mr. Meme: Thanks so much!
Milky-Wayne: First of all, love the username. Haha. I don't think he did. And ah yes, Zavok. He'll be having fun in this chapter.
Sonic Forces
Chapter 5:
Jailbreak Part 2
The resistance was making quick work of the robots and the room was almost cleared out as parts continued to go flying.
"Let's wrap this up, team! We need to move forward and get to the prison now!" Knuckles shouted.
"You heard the boss!" Fierro agreed as she pulled out her wispon. "Silver, can you give me a little help?"
"On it!"
The hedgehog said. With that he glowed with his green aura as it surged all over the room, pulling all of the bots in the room together into a ball.
Fierro then pulled out her charged Void Wispon and fired a ball of energy at the robots.
The effect was almost instantaneous, all of the robots got sucked into the void until there was absolutely nothing left. The power on those things was ridiculous and Celeste couldn't help but want one for herself.
But still, all the robots were gone and the resistance were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
Knuckles turned to them and smiled. "Okay, now that that's done, we've gotta head to the prison."
"They're bound to be on high alert now, so we better hurry." Rouge added.
"Where to then?" Silver asked Amy.
"Not important right now. Incoming hostile at the four o'clock corridor."
Before they could even react, a loud whoosh could be heard at that moment.
Everybody's blood went cold at that, especially Knuckles' and Rouge's. With all the adventures they'd been on there had been some pretty great sights, sure. But there was also some pretty great danger.
So when they heard that noise, they only had to give one fearful glance at one another before Knuckles reacted.
"EVERYONE DOWN, NOW!"
They didn't really have time to argue when they dove at his command. And it was a good thing too because at that very moment, in came the original Metallic Madman: Metal Sonic.
"Captain Rose, confirmed sighting of Metal Sonic on the Death Egg!" One of the random soldiers shouted into their com.
From the other end, Amy let out a sharp shriek. The once calm and collected tactical operator of the resistance was now left in a frenzied mess at the very mention of the robot's name. "Metal Sonic?! You all need to abort mission now!"
She knew the full extent of what that thing could do. She'd been in its clutches herself. Before the war, Metal had been branded one of the most dangerous beings on the planet, and it was a machine! But now, being one of the generals of Eggman's army and having taken so many lives, there was no question in her mind.
Metal didn't take prisoners. Zavok did. Shadow did. Chaos did when he was told. Even that creep that was fighting the Chaotix did. But Metal Sonic? They were goners.
But Knuckles didn't feel the same way. "Do not abort!" Knuckles shouted.
"Knuckles no!"
"Metal isn't doing anything. We've got like 20 of us here, we can take him!"
And he was right. Metal Sonic was just floating in the sky and staring at them. He didn't do anything.
"Come on guys, it's nothing. With our strength we can end Metal once and for all!"
"No, Knuckles! If Metal isn't doing anything then that means… it's a trap."
Suddenly another blip appeared on the map and was approaching fast. "ANOTHER HOSTILE INCOMING! YOU GUYS NEED TO GET OUT OF THERE!"
But it was too late. This time, it was Chaos who appeared before them.
In a single moment, the monster flooded the room, dividing the resistance and sending them down different hallways before shutting the doors and leaving them to fend for themselves.
~Sonic Forces~
Celeste wasn't sure where exactly she had ended up but she knew that she was alone. The other resistance members had been pushed by the waves and were separated from each other. She didn't see anybody. On the one hand she was thankful because anybody included both Metal Sonic and Chaos. But on the other hand, none of her friends in the resistance. No Knuckles, no Rouge, no Betas…
But she did have her com and at least with Amy's guidance she could at least rendezvous with the others.
So she turned it on.
Immediately, she was met with the loud chatter of the resistance on the other end. And it was loud.
Most of them were scared and she could pick out Gadget's frantic voice, Knuckles was trying his best to give out commands and that ended up warranting a lot of yelling from the echidna and Amy was the one trying her best to keep everything down.
So much was going on and Celeste was kinda taken aback by it all, with all the shouting.
Finally, it was Amy who had had enough.
"BE QUIET!" She shouted.
And with that everybody shut up.
"Good! Now. It's clear that things have been going south here so that means we're going to have to make our exit in a calm and orderly manner, do we understand?"
"Amy, the prisoners!" Knuckles retorted.
"We'll come back for them."
Knuckles growled on the other end, while Amy took charge. "Now seeing as Celeste was one of the few to be calm about it, I'll guide her out of here first. Honey, can you hear me?"
"L-loud and clear, Amy."
"Good. From where I see you located on the map, it looks like you're gonna have to take quite a long run. There's a path that'll take you on a downward spiral. You're gonna have to go there. It looks like you're actually the only one who passes by the prison. But don't do anything unless I tell you to."
"R-right."
And with that, she took off down the hall and sure enough she did find the downward spiral entirely made of a glass like material that she had sprinted down. It was long, and kind of ridiculous, but she continued on. But at the very least on her way down, she didn't encounter any enemies.
It wasn't long before she made her way into another room, this one much larger than the last that had an actual stairwell leading down the facility.
It didn't creep her out that this room was much darker than the one before or the fact there were these metallic machines mounted on the walls that seemed to follow her, she just followed Amy's directions. Escape was her biggest concern right now, so she ignored the creepy stuff.
Amy's com chimed to life. "It looks like you're in the main prison now, Celeste."
She looked around, confusedly. "Really, this place? It's so empty?"
"Empty?!" Everyone shouted back at her.
"Rouge, what the heck?!" Knuckles shouted.
"I don't understand either, the prison is clearly meant to be at that part of the Death Egg. Amy, are you sure that she's in the right place?"
"Where I read her, it shows that she's right where the schematics label the prison."
"So what then?" Knuckles asked.
Fierro was the one to chim in this time. "Captain, I think the prisoners were moved then. If they really aren't where they're supposed to be then that'll mean that Eggman took them somewhere else."
"Of all the dirty tricks!" Knuckles growled.
"Still believe we should save them, Knuckles? We don't even know where they are now."
He sighed. "We need to get out. Find a new way to save the prisoners and figure out where they are soon."
"Looks like I'll have my work cut out for me." Rouge mused.
Celeste had been walking down the halls jumping onto platforms and making her way out of the prison. To see things so empty was people could be anywhere. Who knows what Eggman did with them? They had all come so far and the fact that her first mission turned out to be a bust saddened her more.
Of course, Prison Hall wouldn't be empty for long. She heard the metal thud behind her.
She gulped and hoped to Gaia that it was just her imagination, since Chaos wasn't really doing wonders for her or the world lately. So slowly and shakily she turned around to see five Egg Pawns approaching her. Just her luck.
Still, she took out her wispon and got to work.
With a flick of a wrist, the wispon flickered to life and she took out the head of the pack.
The others the pointed their blaster arms and fired on her and she let out a yelp as she dove under the fire, her wispon falling to the floor.
She sloppily crawled on all fours and scooped up her weapon before finally rising to her feet, clumsily scampering about. She whipped out again, this time taking out two of the robots and leaving two remaining.
She jumped up over another blast and swung down on another one of them.
She then landed in a crouch and let the whip fly again and destroying the last of them.
She smiled. She defeated the robots no problem. All by herself.
And then the alarm went off. She frowned and threw her hands over her ears. But continued onward. She couldn't stay in one place, she had to keep moving.
"Looks like they're on high alert now." Rouge mused.
Corvin's voice came out next. "You mean, Chaos and Metal wasn't them being on high alert?"
As she rounded a corner and entered a new hallway, she couldn't help but think how the bird took the words right out of her mouth.
The new path was long and had pitfalls every so often. These odd robots flew after here, firing lasers at her. She dodged and weaved and quickly made her way down the corridor.
"You're almost there!" Amy announced. "You're doing great, Celeste!"
"Thanks!" She grinned as she continued down.
But then, something unthinkable happened.
One of the robots appeared behind her and fired a laser blast that struck her back, knocking her to the floor.
She groaned and tried to reach for her wispon only for the robot to fire at it and knock it so far away that she couldn't possibly reach it.
She turned around and leaned against the guard rail so that she could see her attackers. There stood four sleek and silver Egg Pawns that stared her down, prepared to end her.
Celeste should've known that she was going to die in a place with the word death in the title. Still? Being surrounded by a bunch of robots was not the way she had planned to go.
But with the robots having their blasters trained on her, she prayed that this would be quick.
~Sonic Forces~
The prisoners of the Eggman Empire spent day in and day out sitting in their cells and doing a lot of nothing. They'd usually sit and talk between the walls for the most part except for when Emperor or his generals stopped for a visit.
The prison was a long towering cylinder that had rows upon rows of cells going up and up and up farther than the eyes could see, each with a bright blue force field to keep anyone from escaping.
Near, the top of the prison, where the lucky few could see the Mobius and the half moon above, a human named Joseph leaned against the metal and looked to the planet that he had called home. Being a prisoner of the Eggman Empire had been the worst experience of his life. But he was proud to have fought for both GUN and later the resistance before ending up in here.
He looked back home and wondered how things were going. The very little information they had at least told them that the resistance was still around at the very least. But the question was how well they were doing. No one knew for sure and it was awful.
He sighed. He'd spent enough time thinking about it and just needed some rest. Nothing better to do than to think, talk and sleep around here anyway. So he lie on the metal bench and closed his eyes.
TWISH
The sound of an electronic door opening caused his eyes to snap open and look outside his cell.
Passing into his field of vision was Zavok. Judging by how fast he was going, he was on a mission.
But of course, he didn't let his presence go unknown.
"Big Z!" He shouted out.
The Zeti stopped and glared at him for a moment. Piercing yellow eyes met calm blue ones. The human simply shrugged at him as more prisoners began to echo him. "Big Z! Big Z! Big Z!"
They would shout.
Zavok scowled at him and gave an I'm watching you gesture with his fingers before he continued along with his hurried pace.
He arrived at the prison cell he was looking for.
There sat a blue hedgehog, cuffed at the hands and feet despite being behind the forcefield of the cell. Of course, it was Sonic.
And with everything ready to fall down out here on the Death Egg, Zavok knew he was needed to do what the others were too foolish to do. He had to before it was too late.
So, with a click of a button on the control panel, the field on the cell dropped and in stepped the Zeti.
"This is the end, Sonic."
Sonic looked up from the floor and raised an eyeridge at the Zeti. "So you and your pals are finally gonna finish what you started?"
"I alone will be the one to do what the others are too weak to accomplish. They are blinded by their fixation on you, but I know the truth."
With a click of a button, the glowing cuffs on Sonic's wrists and ankles vanished.
Sonic widened his eyes in shock, but still took the opportunity to stretch his arms and legs. "Got a pretty funny way of doing it. Don't you just wanna beat me up like you did back in Sunset?"
"While beating you merciless would be amusing, I would take much more satisfaction in defeating you personally in front of your fellow inmates."
With a dash, he whisked past Zavok. "The only beating coming from anyone here is the one I'm about to deliver to you. I've got six months of payback that I'm just dying to pay off."
Like a rampaging bull, the Zeti tried to charge Sonic only for the hedgehog to dodge to the side.
"Too slow, buddy!"
He then went chasing after him.
They landed on a platform in the center of the prison. All eyes were on them as they were shocked to see Sonic out of his cell.
"Looks like you've got the audience you asked for. Too bad this won't end how you think it will."
"We will see about that. Death Queen to me!" [1]
With that, the Zeti jumped high into the sky and seemingly vanished.
Sonic looked confusedly for a moment, only for a massive sound to bombard the room. It was extremely loud, like the sound of a gigantic fan thrumming against his ears.
But he was quick to find out when a massive Buzzer Bomber three times Zavok's size came fluttering down to him. Atop it was the Zeti in question, which slammed his fists together and let out a mighty, monster roar that scared some of the prisoners.
But not Sonic. He stared down the Zeti. The one that had told him of his victories across the globe, the lives he'd taken and the fact that thanks to his failure he wasn't able to save them. But Sonic wasn't going to fail today. He was going to fight Zavok and he was going to win.
"I can't wait to see how long you last against this." Zavok snarled.
"All that talk of taking me down up close and personal and you choose a mech? Heh, what a hypocrite."
"Impudent runt! I'm going to savor watching you suffer!"
With that, the Zeti summoned a hoard of smaller Buzzer Bombers that swarmed the blue blur.
He took them head on, homing into each and every one of them and making it quick. It was just like old times, weaving in between blasts and turning badniks to scrap. It was fun.
When he was done, he landed back on the platform to which the Zeti growled and fired a fiery red laser at him. But it was nothing for the fastest thing alive. He zipped around the platform, not letting it touch him at all until Zavok finally got fed up with firing lasers and went for a new approach.
He ushered the Death Queen to rise high above the arena.
He looked up too only to see them come down hard, with their stinger aimed right at him.
Sonic was quick to dive as the massive Badnik came down onto the platform.
When he got up he saw Zavok grunting as he tried to will the Buzzer Bomber off the platform but it was stuck.
He took that as his chance and jumped up into the air, homing into the Zeti.
Once, twice and again!
The prisoners cheered each time he hit, while Zavok only got angrier and angrier.
Finally, the Death Queen was free and flew back up into the air.
He growled. "You're not making this easy, are you?"
Sonic just shook his head. "After all this time, I'm surprised you'd think less of me!"
"No matter, crushing you will be all the more satisfying."
"KICK HIS BUTT SONIC!" Joseph shouted to which the other prisoners agreed, shouting their own encouragements to the hedgehog.
"SILENCE ALL OF YOU!" Zavok shouted. "You'll see what happens to pests like you when I'm through with him!"
"We'll see about that!" Sonic announced.
With that, more of the Buzzer Bombers were summoned to try and to get at him again, but he was ready. He homed into each and every one of them without a problem.
When he landed back on the ground he smirked only to go wide eyed to see Zavok on the massive bee on the edge of the platform. Like a rampaging bull, the Death Queen came charging towards the hedgehog, stinger first.
For a brief moment, he was like a deer in the headlights, but was brought back to reality by the shouting of the prisoners. He dove out of the way, just narrowly avoiding being pierced by the great stinger.
Sonic then looked to Zavok as he came charging again, and dove away again.
But the third time he came on, he tried something crazy. He decided to home in on him again. Once, twice, three times all over again.
The Bee was still moving while he did so making it harder for Zavok to keep balance and with the Hedgehog homing in on him, he fell off.
The Death Queen was left to crash into the wall and shatter into a million pieces.
The prisoner's hooted and hollered at that to which the Zeti steamed. He then glared at Sonic and roared once again, before charging at him once again.
"Torro! Torro!" Sonic beamed at the Zeti.
Zavok was upon him, only for Sonic to jump over him, going as far as to use his head as a spring board and land on the other side of the arena. "Ole!"
There was a lot more cheering at that move.
Zavok veered around at that, facing the hedgehog and charging him again.
They did the same dance a few more times, with Sonic dodging the Zeti's charges and the prisoners cheering every time he did so.
Soon, Zavok began to tire and got slower with more charges. And Sonic could spot slow from a mile away.
He stopped to catch his breath for a moment. Putting his hands on his knees and panting. And that was all Sonic needed.
He zipped up to him and jumped up into the air, homing in on him and sending him reeling backwards.
When he landed, Zavok attempted a swipe at him, but he missed. Sonic was far too fast for him when jumped up into the air and sent a homing attack into him again.
As soon as he touched down, Sonic took out all his pent up anger over the situation and wailed on him. Right hook, left hook, right hook again. Over and over and even with a few roundhouses added into the mix. The prisoners went nuts at that, wishing they too could do the same to Zavok or really any of the other generals of the empire.
Zavok clutched his chest in pain. With a pant he glowered at the hedgehog. "No! How could I lose to the likes of you again!?"
Sonic responded by putting the power of the boost to his right leg and delivering a powerful roundhouse to the Zeti's chest that sent him flying into the force fields of one of the cells.
The prisoners inside cried out in fear as Zavok slammed into the forcefield. As soon as he struck it he was electrified by it. He screamed as he writhed against the field before he finally peeled off of it, falling in the deep chasm of the death prison below.
"Because you forgot who you were dealing with." He grinned, putting his hands on his hips.
Everyone cheered at that, applauding Sonic at his victory.
"Woo-hoo!"
"You did it!"
"Nice one Sonic!"
Sonic took a bow for them and then looked to the cellmates that were still covering their heads from having the 300 pound Zeti slam against their cell just a few moments ago. "Hey, are you guys okay?"
A green monkey with wave designs all over his fur looked up at him and put a hand to his heaving chest. "Chaos, Sonic! Wasn't that a little overkill?"
"Hehe, sorry about that. The important thing is, I'm sure that we won't be hearing from him anytime soon."
They all agreed on that at least.
"Now, that that's done, it's time to set you all free!"
They cheered again and with that, he jumped off of the platform and made his way to one of the cells.
Just as he was about to open it, the alarm started blaring and the door that Zavok entered the prison from slid open.
Joseph immediately turned to his side and his eyes widened in surprise at who he saw.
"You're not going anywhere!"
Sonic turned to the direction of the voice to see none other than Shadow the Hedgehog.
Sonic laughed. "Well if it isn't Mr. tall, dark and gruesome? Eggman send you in to finish me off too?"
"I'm here to put an end to this nonsense. You're not going anywhere, Sonic. So just get back into your cell and nobody gets hurt."
"And that would only make your life easier. I'm freeing every single one of my friends here and you're not gonna stop me."
Shadow glared at him, to which Sonic stood his ground, responding with a smirk. Everyone watched with baited breath waiting to see what would happen between the two hedgehogs.
In one fluid motion, Shadow pulled out a Chaos Emerald, shocking Sonic and the rest of the people there. "Chaos Control!"
In a flash he disappeared and reappeared in front of Sonic to which he promptly delivered a roundhouse to his lookalike.
"Sonic!" A few cried out.
Sonic groaned and looked up at hm. Shadow just huffed and declared, "That's a final warning, Sonic. Get back into your cell."
Quick to his feet, he launched himself at Shadow, delivering a punch to his face that he was quick to block. He then launched another kick at him that knocked Shadow away. He skidded to a halt and glared at him again.
Sonic dashed at him again, but he disappeared in a flash of light again. This time appearing at his side, to which the hedgehog quickly backpedaled, narrowly avoiding a punch from Shadow. He jumped up into the air and homed into the black hedgehog.
Shadow stumbled and fell but was quick to teleport again. This time, he was on the arena and took to firing off Chaos Spears at the hedgehog.
"Woah!" Sonic shouted. He ran alongside the cells, dashing ahead, jumping over and sliding under blasts from Shadow.
The prisoners looked on with shock at the display, covering their heads as the blast struck their cell's force fields only to harmlessly dissolve against them. Nowhere near as bad as when Zavok was catapulted against the field, but still terrifying all the same.
Sonic took his chance and jumped up into the air, ready to home in on Shadow only to take a Chaos Spear to the gut. He fell to the ground in a heap at that.
"Had enough, Sonic?"
Sonic staggered to his feet and looked him dead in the eyes. "Is that all you got?"
Shadow just shook his head. "Look, I don't wanna have to bring any further harm to you. If you know what's good for you, you'll get back in your cell now."
"And I'll fight you until every last one of them is free."
Joseph looked at the fight. Sonic was finally free and he saw him take on Zavok and he wasn't holding up too well against Shadow. If he continued like this then... it wouldn't be good.
So that's why he shouted. "RUN SONIC!"
"What!?"
"You're not going to win this fight!" He insisted. "Leave the prison, join the resistance!"
"Don't be absurd!" Shadow shouted.
"I'm not leaving any of you behind!" Sonic added.
"Then come back for us! Live to fight another day!" He insisted. "Come on, everyone look at him!"
The prisoners did look and saw the same. A hedgehog while still strong, would not be able to manage a second fight against a primed and ready Ultimate Life Form.
"Run Sonic!"
"Get out of here!"
"Leave!"
"Come back for us!"
"Please stay safe!"
Sonic looked between Shadow and the prisoners. His mind was racing a billion different ways about what he could possibly do. There was so much that could be done, he had to free them. But they were right, after the fight with Zavok, there was no way he could take Shadow right here and right now.
So with one last longing look at them, he announced. "I promise I'll come back for you!"
And with that, he dashed off. He raced out of the door and a surprised Shadow was quick to follow.
"Good luck, Sonic."
~Sonic Forces~
The Chaotix continued to prove more and more of pain than the masked one had thought. But at this rate, they just kept coming and coming at him even more determined than ever before.
Espio would charge at him and he'd teleport just a few feet away only for him to have to vault himself over Charmy's stinger and fire a laser at Vector to keep the Crocodile from landing a punch in the gut.
It was almost as if they were everywhere and were coming at him from all directions.
The masked one flew up into the air so that they were out of reach. Espio and Vector called out after him and fired their own attacks up into the sky where he just continued to dodge them. It was time to even the playing field again.
The sound of distortion rang out around them and with that, two clones of the being appeared before them.
"Are you kidding me?!" All three of them asked.
The masked clones simply chuckled before racing towards the Chaotix to engage all three of them.
The first clone took off for Charmy who decided not to take it on one on one and instead took off to the skies where the clone quickly chased after him.
As for the other clone, Vector didn't back down at all. In fact, he ran out at it, rearing his fist back and prepared to deliver a punch to the being. But it teleported behind him and tried to fire a laser at his back. But Vector was quick to spin around and have his tail sweep the masked one's feet right out from under him.
"You tried that trick before but it's not gonna work this time."
The clone grunted in response.
With a yell, he fired off a music note that the clone threw up an electrical field around himself to block the shot and smack into the crocodile's face.
He stumbled backwards and the clone took the chance to tackle him.
He pushed him back a few steps only for Vector to find his footing and leave marks in the snow as the two grappled each other looking one another eye to eye -literally in the case of the masked one.
And as for Espio, he met the original head on as well and they began to trade blows.
Punches, kicks and the like were expertly matched and neither were letting up. It was awfully intense.
With flight, tackling and straight out brawls going all out, the heat was on between the four… or well, six of them.
And then it happened…
WHEN EVERYTHING YOU KNOW HAS COME AND GOOOOOOOOOOOOONE
(You are at your lowest, I am rising higher.)
AND ONLY SCARS REMAIN OF WHO I WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS
(We'll fight in the ashes, you're losing the fire!)
WHEN-
He groaned and froze the battlefield again.
"What do you want?!"
"You need to come up here right away."
"After I am finished."
"No, you take orders from me and this requires all of your attention!"
"What could have possibly happened that requires my presence on the Death Egg now?"
"Sonic has escaped."
The masked one paused and looked up to the sky and then looked back to the Chaotix.
"I'm on my way."
With that, he unfroze them and kicked Espio in the face, knocking him away and sending him into yet another pile of snow.
Without a word, the clones disappeared and Infinite shot up into the sky leaving them behind.
With nothing to hold onto anymore, Vector too fell into the snow.
They all looked around confusedly only to help Espio out.
"Are you ok?" Charmy asked him.
"I'm fine." He then looked around. "Where is the masked one?"
Vector just shook his head and pointed up at the sky.
Espio could only glare at the figure getting smaller and smaller as it flew up into the air.
~Sonic Forces~
Alarms blared the moment Sonic stepped foot outside of the prison. He went down a long hall, jumping over random pits and death traps as well as getting out of reach so that the ceiling that kept trying to come down on him wouldn't crush him. It was kinda ridiculous how heavily the defenses were but he continued to run and run.
Leaving everyone behind was bad enough. But he was not going to let them down by getting caught or worse.
Speaking of getting caught, Shadow was right on his coattails, shouting out orders for him to get back into his cell that he only half listened to at this point. It was the same spiel he gave when they were actually in the prison so why bother listening to it now?
He catapulted off of a spring and was outside.
For the very first ime in six months, Sonic was free of containment. He was met with immediate cold and darkness. Well it would've been pitch black if it weren't for the great planet he could see at his side, with the sun's glow just barely peeking over the side. But if that weren't enough of a light show then the glow coming from the massive buildings atop asteroids definitely did it. Along with all of that massive warships were peppered the sky around him, flying in tight formations.
Sonic knew he was off planet, since he could actually catch little glimpses of Mobius from his cell. Heck, he even thought Eggman made sure of that to mess with him. But still, to be out here was truly a sight he'd never get tired of.
But it was back to reality when he landed on a grind rail that took him down to another building atop another asteroid.
"CHAOS SPEAR!"
Sonic knew what that meant and instantly jumped off of the grind rail without much thought. Luckily for him, a few Buzzer Bombers were present for him to home into. Soon, he found himself going into an asteroid that broke apart to reveal a spring that catapulted him up onto a solid metal platform.
When he landed he stopped to see where Shadow was only to find him on a smaller much lower platform. "Ha! Not gonna catch me now."
"Tch! Idiot." Shadow snarked, before holding up his Chaos Emerald.
Sonic swore and was already beginning to boost away before he even uttered the words and disappeared in a flash of light.
Shadow did not appear on the platform though and Sonic decided to jump to the entrance of the next building rather than taking the rail that conveniently waited for him.
That's where Shadow was waiting for him, but he didn't expect was for Sonic to boost past him without a problem at all.
Shadow growled but continued to chase after him, following him when he was off of springs that lead him to the exit, which lead to another set of springs.
Sonic had already crashed through asteroids and landed on a set of grind rails with a group of chasers. He was far too occupied dodging their shots. He probably thought that he was far ahead of Shadow. But he would show him.
Not even finishing bouncing off of the springs, he called upon the power of the Chaos Emerald and appeared next to him in a flash, shocking the blue blur and nearly causing him to fall of the rail.
"CHAOS SPEAR!" He shouted again.
Bright arrows of light appeared around him and fired at the hedgehog. But each every one of them missed him.
The fact that not a single one of them landed on him when he was only on a grind rail was shocking. There was very little room to dodge. But still, he continued on.
The rail lead them into another building and this one was different than the last.
They entered from the bottom and this one simply had a spiral stairway up to the top where it lead out into more space.
Sonic didn't waste time boosting up the stairs to which Shadow did the same, just a little ways behind him.
When they finally reached out in space and on the rails again, that's when Sonic finally saw it. The gigantic ball of metal that depicted his oldest enemy's face. It was the Death Egg again.
"The Death Egg! Are you kidding me?!" Sonic shouted.
Shadow couldn't help but look confusedly at him. "Got a problem, Sonic?"
"You wouldn't know." Sonic shrugged. "Eggman's built this thing more times than I can count but I thought he got over it years ago."
Shadow huffed and began to shout, "Chaos-"
"Now you just wait a minute!" Sonic snapped. "What the heck are you doing here, fighting on Eggman's side? Do you have amnesia again or something?"
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Oh please, I'm perfectly fine."
"Then what is your deal?"
Shadow just couldn't help but give him a smirk. "Don't ask questions you couldn't begin to understand the answers to, Sonic. CHAOS SPEAR!"
Sonic gasped as more of the light arrows came for him and at that, Sonic jumped right off of the rail. Shadow gaped at him as he saw him go plummeting down only to see him to land on a ship. It was one of the smaller fighters. But it was fast and Sonic was able to hold on.
"Smell 'ya later, Shadow!" Sonic gave him a two finger salute as it rocketed off.
Shadow grit his teeth in frustration. "You're not getting away that easily! Chaos Spear!"
Shadow fired off several Chaos Spears at the blue one and his ship. But seemed like for once, the doctor coded something well as it weaved in between every one of his shots.
With a groan he watched Sonic fly away as the rail lead into another portion of the Death Egg. Nothing he could do now.
Sonic had escaped him.
Sonic was glad that he finally lost Shadow and the small fleet of ships he was on flew closer and closer to the Death Egg. He was gonna be fine. All he needed to do was to find a ship and get home.
But first, he needed to live as the Death Egg finally took notice of him and began to fire on its own ships.
He jumped between the different ones as they continued to be picked off one by one. But with enough concentrated fire, he was finally knocked out of the sky and fell deep in a hole in the Death Egg.
Knowing he would hit solid ground, he got into position and dived down to see where it would take him.
~Sonic Forces~
Celeste should've known that she was going to die in a place with the word death in the title. Still? Being surrounded by a bunch of robots was not the way she had planned to go.
But with the robots having their blasters trained on her, she prayed that this would be quick.
Her eyes screwed shut as the robots advanced on her. It was over, this was it.
And then she heard the sound of metal falling apart.
What the heck?
She looked to see a streak of blue ramming into the robots all around her and turning them to scrap metal. Needless to say, it was quick.
Now that was something she had seen so often on television throughout her life, but seeing it before her very eyes was truly something. Still, the fact that she was seeing it was insane.
She figured she was already dead and she was having some hallucination, that this couldn't possibly be what she was seeing considering the only person in the world this could be was dead.
But they uncurled from their ball form and landed in front of her in a crouch.
And there he was. Quills as dark as blue as Mobius' oceans, shoes as red as the bricks back home and when he rose to his feet and opened his eyes, they were as green as the luminous chaos emerald.
He reached out a hand to her and smiled. "Is everything okay?"
The voice… it really was him.
Sonic the Hedgehog.
But he had been dead for months. Which meant if she was seeing him, it was an angel. Needless to say as she took his hand and rose to her feet, that lead her to the dumbest question she had ever asked in her entire life. "Am I dead?"
Sonic raised an eyeridge at her and laughed. "I hope not. After all the craziness I've just been through, meeting a dead girl would be pretty wild. Though not the weirdest thing to ever happen to me."
"I- I- I don't understand?"
"You'd have to have been there." Sonic shrugged.
But Celeste shook her head. "No, I mean… I don't understand. If I'm not dead and you're here that would mean that you're alive."
"Well, yeah." Sonic said. "I was alive last I checked. Why is this such a big deal?"
"You're dead!" Celeste shouted at him.
Sonic's heart sank at that. "I'm what?!"
"You died six months ago!" Celeste continued. "After you weren't able to beat Eggman, he aired the whole thing on TV and showed us what happened. He told the whole world that you died that day."
Sonic frowned and was about to respond only for her com to flicker to life.
"Celeste, is everything okay?" Amy's voice came. "Everybody's waiting for you back at the hangar. We're getting out of here."
Calm and relief washed over Sonic's face at the sound of her voice. Celeste figured that was why he decided to focus on that instead of Celeste's statement. In fact, that's why before Celeste could answer, he did. "Out of here? That's a relief. Where's the first way out, Amy?"
And then they were only met with silence.
Sonic looked confusedly at the girl who he now knew was Celeste. And she just gave him the same confused look.
"SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!"
Celeste nearly busted an eardrum at that, it was so loud.
They could hear sobbing on the other end of the line after that. Once again, Amy had lost her cool in the middle of a mission. Only this time, no one could really blame her for it. She was now a blubbering mess from the other end and it left Celeste confused.
But Sonic didn't seem phased at all by this. "Hey, Amy. Good to hear your voice after all this time."
A million words a minute came out at that. All in some sort of sobbing gibberish mess that Celeste didn't quite understand.
But Sonic responded right away. "I'm fine. Right now, we to move. You said there was a hangar somewhere nearby, could you tell us where it is so that Celeste?"
She nodded.
"And I can get out of here."
Amy cleared her throat. "Ju-just down the hall. It's long but you'll get into the hangar."
"No problem." Sonic smiled.
He then turned to Celeste and scooped her up in his arms. She let out a yelp at that.
"Hold tight, Celeste. We're out of here."
She didn't know what exactly she expected but in a second she was standing before everyone in Sonic's arms.
All of them gave flabbergasted looks at them and she honestly couldn't tell who was the most shocked of the group.
Sonic on the other hand just smiled and waved at them, "Hey everyone. Guess who's back?"
Because she still felt all eyes on her she gave a sheepish smile and added, "Mission accomplished?"
Knuckles was the first to drop the dumbfounded look and smile. "You son of a gun! Old Eggman told us you kicked the bucket."
Sonic was nonchalant about it, unlike when she told him. "Psh… please. You really think that he could lay a finger on me?"
"Well… this definitely wasn't in any of the data I got about this place." Rouge said. "But I'm happy to see you Sonic."
Silver just shook his head and grinned. "We may have failed the mission, but with you here… just… I'm so happy to see you Sonic."
Rhythm was the one to speak up. "And looks like we owe all of that to Celeste.
"She found Sonic!" Gadget cheered.
"Well… I didn't…"
But Sonic shook his head. "Don't be so modest. Without you, I'd have probably ran in the opposite direction and then I'd have never gotten out of here. Thank you, Celeste."
"Yeah… the reunion is great." Fierro cut in. "But may I remind you that we're still on the Death Egg. We need to get out of here now."
And with that, the sound of distortion rang out around them, making everyone's blood run cold.
"Oh but you are not going anywhere…"
They turned and came face to face with the masked one. Floating in the Death Egg before all of them.
"I see that you all have managed to rendezvous with your fallen comrade. Such a happy reunion, I am sure. But this is as far as you go."
Without a word, the sound rang out again and the ship that they were all about to board disappeared.
"Leave us alone, you masked clown!" Sonic shouted. "You're not laying a hand on any of them."
He was crouched and ready, prepared to home in on him at a moment's notice. None of them wanted him to have to go through with that. Not after what they saw happen all those months ago.
"Masked clown, really?" He shook his head. "No. I will not go by such juvenile names. You may call me Infinite. At least in the brief moments that remain to you. Now prepare to oblivion.
He began to fly towards them, ready to destroy them all.
And at that very moment, a space ship flew into the base and slamed into Infinite knocking him into a wall.
The ship opened up and revealed Espio and Vector.
Vector covered his mouth, looking a little greener than usual. "That's the last time we ever let Charmy drive."
"Agreed." Espio added. He then waved everyone forward. "Get in quickly!"
Without much argument everyone got into the shuttle and after a quick switch of drivers, they were off leaving the Death Egg as quickly as possible.
~Sonic Forces~
Sonic let out a sigh as they approached land. "Now that was close…"
"Too close if you ask me." Gadget added.
They all agreed. Happy to have gotten away from what could've been the end.
"So it's back to Sunset then, right?" Sonic asked.
Knuckles shook his head. "That base was destroyed we're headed somewhere… a little closer to my heart."
"Oh and where's that?"
Knuckles smiled and said, "Take a look for yourself."
Sonic took a look out the window and his eyes widened in surprise as the clouds cleared.
Floating proud above the ocean was none other than Angel Island, but it wasn't quite the same. Large ancient temple like structures stood all around them and several Echidna mingled about. It was Pachacamac's village?!
"We've got a lot to tell you, Sonic."
EPISODE KNUCKLES UNLOCKED!
[1] The robot that Zavok uses is apparetly called the Death Queen, at least according to the Sonic Forces OST.
Staying up to almost 3AM to finish a chapter of your fanfic? Well… that's one way to spend your Valentine's Day. Other weird things while writing this chapter include writing Zavok's bossfight to Metal Sonic's boss music (my music is on shuffle and it popped up) and also writing a lot of this chapter to Mario Odyssey music. You know how weird it is to write Sonic and Shadow duking it out to "Jump Up! Super Star?" Ahahahaha. No, but for real. We are done here and this is officially the longest chapter of the story so far. Even longer if you count part 1. I hope you liked it because wew! That was a blast to write. Next chapter is going to be EPISODE & KNUCKLES which I'm excited to write. So until next time, my wonderful readers.
R&R!
