Space Colony Ark 7:08 p.m. Eastern Time
If one might happen to be observing the stars via telescope, at the right angle and time, one could come across the utter magnificence that is Space Colony ARK, one of, if not the, greatest scientific achievement the world has ever known. Designed by the world's top minds, including Dr. Gerald Robotnik, the most brilliant man of his time,or any other time for that matter; ironically enough, the grandfather and inspiration to the infamous Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. In many ways, this display of raw genius is much like the source of ultimate power it was designed to harness- the Chaos Emeralds. In the right hands, like that of Earth's hero and undisputed "fastest thing alive", Sonic the Hedgehog, it can be used for good, bring about world peace, and change the earth for the better. But in the wrong hands, like that of the ancient alien warlord, the late Black Doom, it can just as easily be used to destroy the world, and bring about a great purge of intergalactic proportions; and now was no one were to come across the space colony at this very moment, one would be astounded to see the dozens of enormous spacecraft surrounding the great space station. For at this very moment, the aforementioned Dr. Eggman was taking this window of opportunity to execute his latest and greatest plan yet, and a certain aforementioned hedgehog was hot on his trail...
Explosions and laser fire were ringing throughout the halls, countless Eggman robots shooting in every direction, all releasing their firepower on one single target, and missing every shot.
"AAAAAAAWWW-YEAAAAAAHH!", cried a blue blur as it bolted straight through one of the robots. It then quickly ricocheted off of another one, knocking it into a wall and smashing it. The blur repeated the same trick with five more robots until finally screeched to a halt, revealing itself to be Sonic the Hedgehog. Two of the robots tried to flank Sonic by standing on either side of him and simultaneously firing two bazookas at merely ducked, and the two robots ended up blowing themselves up.
"Man, Eggman's toys just keep getting weaker and weaker", complained Sonic.
"I know what you mean", said a voice behind him.
Sonic turned around to see his best friend and former rival, Knuckles the Echidna, casually holding a robot in his left hand.
"Is it just me, or are these 'bots lighter than the last ones?", queried Knuckles, who then tossed the robot out of sight.
Just then, a large, round shadow appeared above Knuckles. Knuckles looked up just in time to see a gigantic mallet speeding down at him. The not-enough-sense-to-move echidna closed his eyes and prepared for a world of hurt when suddenly, the mallet stopped. Confused, Knuckles cautiously opened one eye to see the enormous mallet caught in the strong, metallic arms of E-123-Omega.
Despite Omega's great strength, he was clearly having great difficulty holding off the immense, hammer-wielding mech. He quickly activated his jet boosters, boosting his strength enough to start lifting up the huge, hunk of steal.
As the former-badnik was gaining the advantage, the mech was completely oblivious to a surprise attack from Rouge the Bat, backflip-kicking it off of Omega, and ascended just in time for a yellow sphere to zip passed her, and ricochet off of three floating robots, destroying them.
The sphere then revealed itself to be Shadow the Hedgehog, who still in mid-air launched a volley of Chaos Spears down onto the still-disoriented mech, finishing it off. Shadow touched down right next to Rouge and Omega just before the headless robot fell over with a loud thud.
Then, a mysterious clapping could be heard. The trio turned to see Sonic clapping at their "performance".
"Wow, great form, guys. You must've been workin' on that one for weeks", the blue hedgehog joked, "Is that your new Team Move? What do ya call it?
Shadow merely crossed his arms, turned around, closed his eyes, and said nothing.
"Shadow?" Sonic tried again.
Still nothing.
"Oh come on, Shadow, you're not still mad at me, are you?"
Shadow remained motionless. However, he did begin to speak.
" 'Cm'on, Shads, come down from your perch and take some r'n'r. nobody ever touches the Ark' ", the black and red hedgehog mumbled to himself with a goofy slur.
"Are... are you quoting me?" asked the confused blue hedgehog.
Shadow turned his attention to his large, robotic comrade. "Omega, send a message to Sonic saying that no one ever touches Space Colony Ark because I am always on my 'perch' protecting it", he ordered him.
Omega complied, and stomped over to Sonic. "SONIC, YOU HAVE RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM SHAD-"
"Omega, go send a reply to Shadow saying that a certain fake hedgehog might have a rather high opinion of himself" Sonic cut the robot off.
Omega stomped back over to Shadow. "SHADOW, SONIC HAS REPLIED TO YOUR-"
"Omega, send another message to Sonic depicting how my opinion of myself is very consistent, and how he'll just make things worse by bringing him and his little fan club along", Shadow reordered Omega.
Omega then stomped back over to Sonic. "SONIC, YOU HAVE RECEIVED ANOTHER MES-"
"Omega, kindly send another reply to that static-haired ingrate reminding him that if it wasn't for my 'fan club', he'd be long dead right now", Sonic commanded the robot.
Omega by now had a thorough perspective of the situation but obediently stomped back to Shadow. "SHADOW, SONIC HAS-"
"Omega, please send one more message to that chilly dog-addicted wannabe correcting his statement in the way that it was I who saved all of you, and, unlike me, he has only so long to live."
"Dude, I'm sixteen."
"Then maybe you should start acting your age!"
"Oh yeah? Well if you acted your age, you'd probably be in some trailer park throwing soda cans at some rotten kids!"
"You wanna throw down, blue hedgehog!?"
"Geez, old man, is your mind gone already!? I thought you'd at least pick that up sooner!"
"GUYS!"
The two bickering hedgehogs looked over to the source of the scream: for the entire duration of their argument, Silver the Hedgehog was using his telekinesis to hold off an enormous, green, steamroller-armed robot.
"Can't you two find a better time for this!?" Silver grunted, and thrust his hand forward, pushing the robot into a crowd of smaller robots, destroying them all.
"Sonic and Shadow never argued this much before", observed Knuckles.
"Sonic and Shadow never talked this much before, either", commented Rouge.
Rouge made an accurate statement; however, this was partially Sonic's fault. It was Sonic in the first place who attempted to convince Shadow to leave the ARK and take the weekend off. When that didn't work, Sonic taunted Shadow, claiming that he was afraid to come down due to fear of becoming soft. Shadow, instinctively defending his title as the "ultimate lifeform", declared that he feared nothing in a Gaston-like manner, and promptly descended to Earth using the ARK's artificial chaos emitter to fuel his Chaos Control, thus leaving the space station unattended. Once Dr. Eggman caught wind of the hedgehog's departure, he immediately rounded up his Egg-Fleet and headed for the Ark. The only mystery at the present moment was what the mad scientist planned to do with the gargantuan vessel.
The heroes did not have time to contemplate the matter, as a wave of armed robots had entered their sight.
As if on cue, Miles "Tails" Prower dropped right in their path in his patented Tornado Walker. Omega boosted to his side, and they both unleashed a volley of gunfire that gradually cut through the wave-like a hot chainsaw through butter. Though not gradually enough, as the number of robots in the hall (not including the dead ones) steadily increased.
Tails turned to Sonic, still shooting. "Sonic, hurry! We'll cover you!" he shouted.
"Ten-four! Alright, guys, that egg's not gonna crack itself! Let's go!" the azure hedgehog cried, gesturing for Shadow and Silver to follow. He jumped up over Tails and Omega and made his way down the hall, bouncing off of the heads of the distracted robots.
Silver flew after him, and after a brief "hmph", Shadow followed, dashing his way through the robots.
In an outer section of the ARK, a slightly different battle was playing out...
Vector the Crocodile was engaging in sword-play with one of the robots, making fake musketeer noises and poses as seen in the movies. "Hah-hah...ho-ho...hoo-hoo...hu-OW!" the crocodile yelped in pain after being thwacked on the head by his lance-wielding mechanical opponent. "Why, you little..." Vector punched the robot's face in, and kicked it away.
"Stupid robot. Almost broke my headphones..." the brawny croc mumbled to himself.
He turned to an identical robot, except this one had a gun. Before it could fire, however, it was horizontally sliced in thirds by an unseen force, although Vector automatically knew who it was.
A small portion of space seemed to be distorted as Espio the Chamelion- wielding a pair of kunai- un-camouflaged himself into visibility. Espio smirked at his handy work, until he noticed a large chunk of scrap to his right flying toward him. He quickly ducked at the last possible second. Vector tried to hold in a chuckle at his startled expression.
Embarrassed, Espio turned his head angrily toward the thrower. "Watch it, you stupid cat!" he shouted.
Big the Cat's ears lowered slightly. "Oh, gee, sorry, Espio, it's just been a while and..."
Meanwhile, a floating robot was cut open by a small, orange blur, and another was punctured by the same blur. Both units fell down and exploded simultaneously.
"Yeah! The skies belong to Charmy once more!" Charmy Bee cried in victory.
"We're in space, Charmy", Espio reminded him
At this, Charmy let his limbs dangle limply. "...oh yeah..." The bee's limbs shot back to life at a sudden realization:" Hey! Where'd Froggy go?"
"Froggy!?" Big exclaimed."FROOOGYYY!" the cat yelled, running all over the place while clutching his head, bashing robots aside by accident.
"Oh great, there he goes again..." Vector lamented, his fist punching another robot as if by itself.
In contrast, Espio seemed genuinely curious as well about the non-anthropomorphic frog's sudden disappearance...until he realized that there was only one place that frog would want to be under these conditions. Without saying a word, the skilled chameleon walked over to the confused Vector, and jabbed the croc in his stomach, causing him to regurgitate a saliva-covered Froggy.
"Ewww..." was Charmy's natural reaction.
"FROGGY!" the purple cat called, grabbing the little frog and cradling it in his thick fuzzy arms. He directed a scowl at Vector.
The croc held his hands up."I have no idea how he got in there - I swear."
Sonic and Shadow did a cross-homing attack, making an X in mid-air and smashing through two robots at the same time. Silver lifted a robot with his telekinesis and balled his hand into a fist, crushing it from all directions, eventually turning it into a basketball-sized sphere and launched the sphere through several other robots at one hundred-degree angle with bullet speed.
Sonic was about to dash through a big, blue robot when all of a sudden...
*splat*
The mecha was flattened like a pancake under a large, red hammer with a golden trim.
Oh no...
"Hiya', Sonic!" Amy Rose cheerfully greeted her quote-on-quote "boyfriend", lifting her signature Piko Piko Hammer over her shoulder
"Ugh...yeah...hiya', Amy", Sonic smacked himself mentally for not seeing this coming beforehand.
"You know, these dark, dusty halls can get pretty scary, but it's always good to have someone there to protect you", the pink hedgehog cooed, trespassing well into Sonic's comfort zone.
It's not that Sonic didn't find Amy attractive. In fact, he once considered taking her out for a movie. but the very sight of her effortlessly holding a hammer bigger than his own head (and Sonic's head was pretty big) always proved to be an effective hedgehog-repellent. And right now, that thing looked like it was staring him square in the eye.
"Uuuugh...good idea. Why don't you go protect Omega?" He quickly suggested before blasting off after Silver and Shadow.
Amy stared, shocked, but then narrowed her eyes, frustrated that Sonic turned her down once again. Then, without looking, crushed the head of a legless robot desperately clawing its way to safety.
After a little more "redecorating" to the halls, the three hedgehogs found themselves in one of Space Colony ARK's huge cafeterias; currently occupied by a large gathering of mechs, turtle-turrets, and enough heavily-armored infantry to level a city block.
The trio was temporarily stunned to see this many badniks in one place.
Sonic was the first to regain his composure and pointed out at the robots. " Alright guys: it's time to clean up the Kitchen!"
Silence...
"...Realy?" Shadow inquired, rubbing the peninsula between his eyes.
The three initiated their Team Blast: the Atomic Triple S Cyclone (or at least that's what Sonic liked to call it). Sonic and Shadow stood at either side of Silver and jumped into their ball forms. Silver caught the two balls with his telekinesis, and levitated between them. The balls began orbiting around Silver at alarming speeds like electrons around an atom (hence Sonic's silly name), covering Silver within a large sphere of blue and yellow streaks of energy. And then, it was off, flattening two robots unlucky enough to be in front. A mech tried to stop the orb with its body, but ended up losing its upper half in a flash. Another average-sized unit
stood in its path, shivering, until the sphere blasted upwards by ninety degrees, and soared for the flying robots, devouring them all in its power. The orb instantly descended, still evading the robot from before; it went for the turtle-turrets, knocking away like cans and grinding the fifth against the wall, skidding it to pieces. The ball passed by the same robot again, once more completely missing it. It repeated this pattern several more times until every other Eggman-originated machine in the room was torn to nothing.
The remaining robot looked in all directions, realizing it was now all alone. The unit then calculated that a divine presence of sorts must need it to survive for it to have lasted this long, so it turned to leave until the orb came out of nowhere and ran the robot over as it made its own way out of the room.
Knuckles socked a robot, uppercut-ted another, right-hooked a third, and kicked a fourth's head off, sending it bouncing off of other robots.
"Gooooooaaaaallll!" the red echidna laughed at his own reference to soccer."Man alive! This is more fun than I've had in months!" he cheered, pumping his fists in the air and punching another robot.
Rouge was about to agree in a flirtatious tone, until she realized something was wrong."We've gotta get out of here."
"What? Why?" Knuckles questioned while punching another robot, "These guys are easy!"
"Exactly", Rouge punted a robot.
Knuckles held off a robot with his right hand."I'm not following. How's that bad?" Knuckles was still holding off the robot.
"Why would Eggman make a bunch of cheap, lightweight models to storm the Ark when he knows we're just going to destroy them all and hand what's left back to him?" Rouge asked, spin-kicking another robot.
Knuckles was still holding off the robot "Um... maybe he's accepting his fate?"
"No, it's a distraction. He's thrown together a bunch of scraps for us to play with while he does whatever he came here to do", she explained while delivering a vicious barrage of kicks to a robot's head and ending the combo with a knee to its midsection.
Knuckles' arm was becoming somewhat strained." That... actually makes sense", the echidna agreed before grabbing the robot with both arms and slamming it against the floor.
"What makes sense?" Tails intervened, somehow hearing part of their conversation between the explosions.
"Rouge thinks all these robots are just decoys", Knuckles made it clear to the young fox.
"Decoys? Why would Eggman be willing to waste this many parts?" Tails emphasized his point by motioning to all the newly-added scrap in the hall.
The former jewel thief set the back of her hands on her hips."Shouldn't you be pondering that in your head?" she counter-asked Tails, correcting his point of view.
The three thought hard about what this could mean, their upbeat attitudes beginning to wane.
The orb dashed through the hall, eviscerating the mechs like they weren't even there. An E-2000 hovered far in front of it, converting into jet mode and firing its laser cannon.
The beam did little more than refracting off of the sphere, causing divisions of the beam to spiral around it and dice cut every robot the sphere passed by until it finally collided with the source, the accumulated energy igniting an immense explosion that fried any other robot nearby.
The smoke cleared, and the orb was all that remained. Its hunger quenched, the sphere dissipated and vanished, leaving only three exhausted hedgehogs.
"I hate doin' that", Silver groaned.
"Speak for yourself", a rather ill-looking Shadow retorted before hurling in one of the destroyed robot's heads.
The dizzy Sonic just now found his hands."Yeah, yeah, it may not be good if you wanna keep your lunch, but it works", the blue hedgehog dismissed his allies' complaints, "Now come on. We gotta get to the main computer terminal if we're gonna kick Eggman's butt for the billionth-and-first time", he joked as he trotted down the hall.
"You mean you have to", Shadow corrected him suddenly.
Sonic stopped."What?"
"You heard what I said", the black hedgehog replied, looking far less nauseated.
Sonic turned around fully, "You mean, you guys aren't coming?"
"It's like you said, Sonic", Silver explained, "You've faced Dr. Eggman a billion times, usually alone if I've been told correctly. What makes this time any different?" the silvery-white hedgehog shrugged as he spoke.
Sonic seemed taken back slightly by Silver's acute awareness of his own routine lifestyle. He then turned to the black hedgehog,"And what about you, Shads? This is your ARK."
Shadow blew the question away with his hand."Please. The doctor is your nemesis. The only thing I'm concerned with is the Ark's condition, and I fail to see why he would want to destroy it."
Sonic was touched."Realy? Wow, you guys are the best!"
The dark hedgehog crossed his arms."Of course, there is still the matter of helping me clean up the Ark afterward, as we agreed beforehand?"
Sonic paled. He instantly recalled the promise he made before the battle to Shadow that he would help him clean all the debris from the Ark for leaving the station vulnerable in the first place. Sonic honestly didn't expect his look-a-like to remember that promise after all that action, nor did he expect there'd be so many robot parts to clean up.
"Ugh, yeah...good luck with that", and just like that he was off.
Shadow looked confused."Sonic? Sonic!?"
The blue hedgehog wasn't turning around.
"YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO CLEAN ALL THIS JUNK UP ON MY OWN!" Shadow yelled for him, but it was futile.
Silver sighed."He's gone, Shadow", he said with more than a hint of pity.
The black hedgehog began to glow red, but he walk off. It didn't matter. He could just dupe the echidna into doing it for him.
Meanwhile, in Space Colony Ark's central computer terminal, a certain overweight scientist was typing franticly at the keyboard, setting his "mysterious" plan into motion.
He was mumbling nervously to himself, as usual..."Cm'on... gotta hurry up... That hedgehog could be here any minute now..."
"Actually, I'm already here."
The evil genius almost had a heart attack at the sound of said hedgehog's voice. He quickly spun around to see him."Sonic! Heh, you're too late! I already have full access to the Ark's-"
"Oh, be quiet, it's not like there was a forcefield around it", Sonic interrupted the scientist as he walked across the thin walkway connecting the terminal to the door that without which the room would be floorless,"Ya know, I know you put a lot of work into your evil monologues, but why don't we just skip to the Final Boss so I can go home and have dinner?"
"You...wait...' final boss'? You think all this is some sort of game!?" Eggman fumed.
"Well, I don't know what else you'd call. Lately, your plans are becoming more predictable than prime-time television", the heroic anthro replied honestly.
"'PREDICTABLE'!? YOU THINK I'M-"
Sonic raised his palm to Eggman's face, signaling to yield."Stop. Just stop. Apparently, you are the only one around here who doesn't where the wind blows at this point, so lemme' break it down for ya: first, you find information on some ancient mystical so-and-so; next, you formulate a quick, holey scheme while scrubbing yourself off in the shower, or "EggShower" as you probably like to call it; then, you head to the nearest hardware store and buy as many cheap appliances as counterfeit money can buy so you can assemble your 'army'. After I bust a few tin cans, you pop outta nowhere and tell me all about your 'latest and greatest plan' to take over the world, which you've failed to do so far. After a bit of weight-related insults, you hover away in your rocket-propelled sofa, and I go call Tails so he can fly me over to the ancient Aztec ruins or whatever, picking up some friends along the way. When we finally destroy your Final Boss, which I mentioned earlier, your newfound magical powers backfire into your face, and I have to go Super Sonic in order to stop the world from being sucked into a black hole or that kinda' jazz. Then you return to your not-so-secret base and relocate, whining all the way about how you never win and your plan would of worked if it wasn't for blah blah blah. Then no one hears from you for a little while- I may catch a glimpse of you in a supermarket once or twice- and then we're right back where we started. Thankfully though, I've managed to smuggle a little somethin-somethin behind all my friends backs to break this endless cycle for now..."
Having finished his rant, Sonic closed his eyes and clenched his fist, digging deep inside himself. Then, to Eggman's suprise, he produced all seven Chaos Emeralds, each jewel with its own designated color orbiting around the hedgehog, illuminating him."But to show that I'm still a sport, I'm gonna give you time to come up with a new speech before I power up and pull the plug on this month's evil plot. So, Eggman, tell me, what is it you now have full access to?"
Eggman was paralyzed, his mustache drooping, absorbing his nemeses' entire dialogue. However, oddly enough, his expression of astonishment quickly morphed into an expression of victory."Actually, my fine, furry friend, you took the words right out of my mouth!"
Out of nowhere, seven clawed tentacles lunged from all angles and simultaneously grabbed each of the emeralds, yanking them all out of Sonic's control. Sonic looked up to see the tentacles meet together at the joints of a gray hovering robot.
"Oh, and for the record, you thinking I'm predictable just shows how predictable you are!"
The robot flung each of the Chaos Emeralds into an emerald-imprinted outlet behind the holographic monitor, thus giving Eggman the power source he required.
"This isn't the first time I've tricked you in this exact same manner, you know!" the scientist announced, gesturing to the emeralds.
Now was Sonic's turn to be speechless."...well, at least you see my point. Although, I'm still seeing one major problem in your strategy, Doc: I'm still here."
Eggman folded his fingers."Which is why I've arranged a little tour of the earth's atmosphere, hosted by an old friend."
Sonic looked puzzled."'Tour of the...' old friend'? Whachoo' talkin' bout, Doc!?"
Just then, a large, familiar shadow loomed above the hedgehog's head. Manning up, Sonic slowly turned his head to the origin, and it was none other than his infamous mechanized doppelganger: Neo Metal Sonic.
"Hello, tiny", he hissed.
Sonic's pupils shrank."...oh, now I get it", it was official, Sonic had now been owned.
Metal Sonic rapped his huge, clawed hand around Sonic's head and threw him against the exit door. As quickly as Sonic recovered, the metallic monster rocketed after him, launching them both through the door that opened automatically at the last minute, leaving Eggman alone in the room.
The sinister doctor flashed his signature giddy grin."Heh heh heh...now...to put your chaotic attributes to not-so-good use", he chuckled as he turned to a large ascending jar-like cage containing an enraged but overtaken Chaos 0.
Metal Sonic zoomed through the halls, crisscrossing in multiple directions, carrying Sonic with him. Sonic punched and kicked but it did little more than make the upgraded mecha fly even faster, until they crashed straight out a window, and far away from the Ark.
Metal Sonic finally slowed down, leaving the two floating in Earth's orbit. Fortunately, the combined gravity from the earth and Space Colony Ark accumulated enough oxygen for Sonic to breathe.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, you little furball", Metal Sonic growled.
Sonic sighed."I take you didn't hear me and Egghead's discussion about the whole predictability thing?" he inquired, commenting on his opponent's redundant declaration.
"It doesn't matter what I heard", Metal Sonic dismissed him, "Without any ground to run on, your immobilized!"
Metal Sonic boosted for the supposed "immobilized" hedgehog, but Sonic curled into ball-form and dashed upwards behind him.
"Again with the overused lines! What is this, an old comic book!?"
Charmy dodged the lance-wielding robots with ease.
"Float like a butterfly; sting like a me! Ya can't catch me, I'm Charmy the-" the small bee was cut off as he was grabbed in mid-flight by a mech and thrown face-first against the window.
Right before Charmy could remove his smushed face from the window, he noticed a bizarre anomaly outside that perplexed the poor boy. At first, he assumed that the earth, moon, and stars behind it were somehow moving downward, but after a second or two, a more logical theory was drawn in his head: "This whole place is turning upside-down!" he said aloud.
"Oh relax, Charmy", Vector said, misinterpreting the bee, "We've been through crazier stuff than THIS", he reminded Charmy, delivering a swift haymaker to a robot.
"That's not what I meant!"
"Then, what did youoooowwwwwwoooooooooaaaaaaaahhhhooof!" was the noise Big made as he suffered the same predicament as Charmy, being swept up by a mech and hurled into the window right next to Charmy, although this one with a little more thunk. The cat then saw Charmy's point, the earth now sliding out of view."Hey! Charmy's right! This whole place is turnin' upside-down! What're we gonna do!?" he turned to Vector for comfort.
The crocodile crossed his arms."Well...big deal, we've still seen crazier."
Espio heard a noise behind him and turned around, opposite of Vector."Ever run from a carnivorous horde of cyborg water monsters?"
"Eh...no."
Espio pointed far in front of himself."Never too late to learn."
Confused once more, Vector turned to see a mob of Artificial Chaos and elite Space Colony Ark security droids barreling straight toward him.
"Nnnnnnnope, definitely never done that before...RRUUUUUUUUUNNN!" the croc screamed, fleeing for his life along the rest of the Chaotix (and Big), with now only one thought in his and all the other's minds: "gotta get back to the ship".
Sonic and his metal counterpart clashed with each other as they bounced off of the surrounding asteroids, creating a small shockwave and bouncing away. They did it again, with no less amount of force. The two looked as if they were miniature comets, bolting to
a certain point in nothingness and being knocked away by their own impact. They clashed again, and again, and again until Metal Sonic decided he had enough of the basics and fired a bolt of electricity at Sonic, who dashed out of its path, leaving him in an upside-down position. Metal Sonic chuckled at this.
"Hm hm hm, kind like your plans so far, isn't it Sonic?"
The azure hedgehog was about to make another comment concerning the mecha's unoriginal dialogue, until he saw Space Colony Ark.
"What's happening to the Ark?"
"You mean you've only noticed that just now? You'd think someone like you would have picked up a moon-sized space station flipping on its top a little sooner..."
Sonic readjusted himself."What's Eggman doing with the Ark?" he ask more aggressively.
Metal Sonic chuckled again."It's over, Sonic."
"What?"
"Your adventures, your victories, your very reason to live. It's all over."
"You didn't answer my question. Why is Eggman flipping the Ark upside-down?"
"Why, so he won't suck the whole planet in with him, of course."
Sonic let that sink in for a moment.'The whole planet with him'? What does that even mean, Sonic thought. Obviously, Metal Sonic was implying the Eggman was going somewhere, but the hedgehog couldn't find it in him to ask where Eggman was going.
"Do I have to engrave it on a rock?"
Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, and Omega turn at the sound of screaming and saw the Chaotics running from a group of water creatures and robots.
"Eggman must've reactivated the Ark's security systems", Tails said.
"It's exactly what you've been talking about."
The Chaotix ran right passed them, only to stop several feet in front of another ambush. The droids and Artificial Chaos began firing.
"Eggman is tired of all the failing, all the losing, all the humiliation...and all the bad jokes."
The group did their best to defend themselves, but there were so many, and they were so strong.
"You have always been the only thing standing between him and the world, so he's decided to move on to a different world. A world where you won't be there to foil him at every corner."
One of the Chaos nailed Omega in the shoulder with its thrusting claw, effectively disabling it.
With a roar, Knuckles, Vector, and Big rammed a path through the robots, the others following hastily with Tails' walker in cart-mode, Rouge helping Omega along.
Eggman laughed as he prepared the Eclipse Cannon."It's time, time to end this pointless frivolity now and forever! Eclipse Cannon...FIRE!" he slammed his finger on the button that would solve all his problems.
Suddenly, Chaos shrieked in pain, crackling with electricity, the very life being drained from his liquid body.
The Chaos Emeralds donned a similar reaction, glowing so bright that the grinning Eggman had to shield his eyes.
The group finally made it to the docking bay, their ship already facing outside and ready for a quick escape.
"Now do you see why I always park backward?" Tails said to Knuckles, smiling triumphantly.
The echidna looked in the other direction."It won't help at all if we're not inside of it!" he reminded the young fox angrily.
Another door on the far left exploded open. Shadow skidded to a halt while Silver blocked the doorway with a telekinetic forcefield.
"What did you do!?" Shadow yelled furiously, stomping toward Tails.
"I didn't do this", Tails explained, "Eggman reactivated the security systems somehow. We gotta leave now!"
"No way! I'm not leaving the Ark!"
"Guys, I'm really not up for doin' this twice!" Silver reminded, struggling to keep the robots in the halls.
"We don't have a choice!" Knuckles shouted at him and Vector grabbed the hedgehog by his arms and shoulders.
Shadow refused to move." No! I'm not leaving my home!" he screamed spontaneously, his eyes filled with rage and angst.
"Well, I guess ya just got evicted!" Vector replied.
Silver moaned as the Artificial Chaos began seeping through the opening in his dissipating forcefield. With a frustrated Gyah!, Silver pulsed a wave of energy at Shadow, knocking him, Mighty, and Knuckles next to the ship, where they heaved the distraught Shadow into the ship along with the rest of the group.
"Hang on to your hats!" Tails announced to the occupants as he started the engine.
"But I don't have a hat!" Big cried, frantically searching for a hat.
"Here ya go", said Knuckles as he handed the feline his stetson.
Big sighed with relief, trying the stetson on." It fits! Oh, thank goodness!" he then took the hat off, put Froggy in the hat, and put the hat back on.
Some of the more pessimistic members rolled their eyes.
As the ship ascended, Silver flew in before it took off into space.
Sonic watched as the Eclipse Cannon hummed to life, glowing a bright blue. Electrical currents ran down the magnificent weapon as it charged up to fire. And then...
*BWOOOOOMMM*
The cannon went off, unleashing an unspeakable amount of energy in the direction of seemingly nowhere. Then, to Sonic's surprise. the ray of energy began to slow down and condense, expanding as more and more energy assimilated into it until, to the hedgehog's horror, reformed into a massive vortex of pure Chaos energy big enough to devour the moon.
"You see now, Sonic?" Metal Sonic resumed, "Eggman isn't simply migrating to another planet or galaxy, but an entirely different universe! Thus leaving the two of us to finish what started long ago", he scratched his forehead, "Then again, when the space station itself gets pulled into the wormhole, there will be no atmosphere to keep a steady supply of oxygen for you to breath. I guess that means I'll win by default..." the mecha chuckled at the image of his organic rival popping like a bubble in the vacuum of space.
Sonic growled, but chuckled."Ya know, if you had a mouth, it'd be bigger than Eggman's!" he shouted, dashing right passed Metal Sonic, and straight for the Ark.
The hulking metal hedgehog turns around."If you had a brain, you would have remembered that I'm faster than you!"
"That's funny, I have a brain but I don't seem to remember that!"
Metal Sonic roared in anger and boosted off after Sonic.
"Now repolarizing the inter-dimensional elector-magnetizer to positive!" Eggman announced to no one in particular as he fiddled with the computer terminal.
Suddenly, the vortex attained a powerful gravitational pull, sucking in all of the enormous battleships, and, at a more gradual rate, Space Colony Ark.
"Ugh, I know this is always a jinx", Charmy started, "but why are we moving backwards?"
Curious as well, Tails turned on the rear-view monitor, revealing to them all the gigantic wormhole.
The Chaotix glared at the little bee who rubbed the back of his head."I had to know."
The gravity became stronger as the ship neared the portal.
"Looks like I'm gonna miss dinner tonight..." Rouge grimaced, for she still had some left-over cheese strata in the fridge.
The ship started shaking.
"...or every other night for that matter!" Knuckles finished.
Sonic neared the space station, with Metal Sonic in close pursuit, until suddenly, Sonic felt a mysterious force tugging him faster. The azure hedgehog realized that it wasn't the Ark's gravity that was pulling him, but the gravity of the colossal vortex right behind the Ark.
Sonic's heart skipped a beat; this just wasn't his day." Ooohhh milkshakes", the hedgehog squeaked before he, his friends, Metal Sonic, and even Space Colony Ark itself disappeared into the vortex, which vanished itself.
If one were to look at the stars at the right angle and time. one would see absolutely nothing.
They were all now in hyperspace, billions of colors streaking passed them like machine-gun fire.
"Okay! I admit it! This is crazy! This is reeeeaaaly crazy!" Vector shouted, trying his best to keep his balance in the rocking ship.
"THIISSS IIIISSS FUUUUUUNNNNNN!" Big whaled with glee.
"All be damned if I have to die seeing that fat man fly away with my Ark!" Shadow roared.
"I think that's the point, Shadow", Amy responded.
Suddenly, a strange knocking was heard on the roof of the ship, similar to how someone would knock on a door, Knuckles slid open the door of the ship and look up to see Sonic hanging for dear life on one of the vents. He waved casually.
"You just have to milk as much fun as possible outta this, don't you!?" the echidna inquiries, raising his voice to an audible level.
The hedgehog shrugged."I saved some for you, didn't I!?"
"Just shut up and take my hand!" Knuckles said, reaching a hand out for Sonic.
Omega's alarm went off."WARNING: ENEMY: NEO METAL SONIC APPROACHING."
Just before Sonic could take his friend's hand, a large metallic one gripped around Sonic's legs.
"Did you think I didn't know you would go for the ship! I know EVERYTHING you're going to do! STRAAAANGE, isn't it!?" Metal Sonic mocked before balling his free hand into a fist and bringing it down on the side of Sonic's head, smashing the hedgehog's face against the ship and causing him to let go.
"NOOO!" Knuckles cried as his best friend and worst enemy both faded out of sight.
The ship rocked sideways, causing Knuckles to fall back in.
"Where's Sonic!? What happened to Sonic!?" Amy screamed, her eyes filled with tears.
Another pulse, this time the Ark and all the battleships around it were gone.
"The same thing that's about to happen to us!" Tails shouted as the ship rattled violently.
They all screamed, feeling the strain of their very molecules endeavoring to keep themselves stable.
*FLASH*
It was a cold, dark evening. The stars were out, and a middle-aged man was looking at them out the window via telescope.
The middle-aged man's equally middle-aged wife walked in through the doorway." Are you still messing around with that thing?" she asked abruptly.
"Not now", the man said quickly.
"You've been looking into that old trinket for fifteen years, and you still haven't found anything the world doesn't already know about. Fifteen years! Think of all the home improvement you could've put into all those years! But no, you chose to waste it all looking up a metal tube. I tell you..."
The man tried to ignore his wife's endless nagging as best he could. He knew he was going to find something one day that would blow everybody's mind, including his wife's. And he was right, for tonight was his lucky night: he had just happened to be looking at the right angle at the right time...
"I found something!"
"...and another thing-what?"
"I said I found something. And no, it's not the Moon this time."
The woman zipped to her husband's side, pushing her face against his. Both eyes (attempted to) look through the telescope to see what appeared to be an enormous stone-like object faze into reality. The couple couldn't believe what they saw.
"Th-this is amazing!" the woman was too stunned to even speak correctly,"W-we have to tell someone! Tell the police! tell the scientist! Tell the astronomers!"
"No!" the man stopped her. They both looked at each other, "Tell the Fire Lord!"
The couple closed the window and prepared to take this news straight to the palace.