Chapter 3 – It's a Trap!

With the help of Dark, Blaze, Klump and the rest of their group were able to reach the base's control room. They were certain that when they clear out all of the personnel, they can deactivate the shield protecting the Death Egg without any interference.

"Let Bowser and I go first," said Viper. "With my firearms and Bowser's large physique, we shall be able to intimidate Eggman's robots."

"Right then," said Dark. "Taking out the shield generator should be easy since we've cleared out most of the other robots residing in the base."

Viper took out his laser gun and opened fire at the metallic sliding doors, causing them to split apart. He and Bowser charged in, which seemingly caught the Egg Pawns inside the room by surprise.

"Freeze, robots!" shouted Viper. "This is a raid! Move out quickly if you don't want to be disintegrated!"

The robots obeyed without question and stepped aside. Some robots attempted to attack, but Bowser overwhelmed them without any effort. While Viper and Bowser kept the robots at bay, the rest of their group entered the room.

"Hurry up and deactivate the shield!" urged Blaze. "The Anthro League space fleet will be arriving at the Death Egg at any moment!"

Viper, Klump and Jeremy began searching for the machines that controlled the energy shield, but they had no luck, and the task proved to be even difficult with the robots impeding the process. The group was unaware they were about to be ambushed. Bowser sent an interfering Egg Knight falling into the abyss behind it, but then a slew of E-2000s, E-2000Rs, E-50000s and Egg Hammers emerged suddenly and without warning. Bowser tried to fend them off, but the opposition was too strong and numerous.

"Reinforcements have arrived in time," said one of the Egg Knights, and it pointed its blaster at the team. Some of the other robots joined in. "Now it's your turn to freeze!"

"There's too many of them!" cried Klump as he struggled against the robots.

"I'm afraid we're outnumbered!" panicked Jeremy.

"Let go of me!" growled Krusha as he tried to push away the robots surrounding him, but they held on tightly and soon he was incapacitated.

Dark and Viper tried to help out, but they were blocked off by the Egg Hammers, and the Egg Knights confiscated Viper's weapons before he could even use them. The team were completely overwhelmed by the great number and strength of the reinforcements.

"Now what are we going to do?" asked Amy.

"I have absolutely no idea," said Blaze. "Our operation has been halted, and this means trouble for the space fleet. Without Sonic and the others, we really are in a jam!"

"We can't give up just yet!" said Bowser. "There must be some way we can get out of this mess!"

Wish I could say the same… thought Blaze. Man, this is really bad, and until something comes along to help us out, the Anthro League Space Fleet will have no other choice but to hold on for the time being, though something tells me that even they are in grave danger…

After flying out of the Earth and into space, the Anthro League Space Fleet could see the Death Egg right before them. Jimmy and Hero were awed at how big the space station is as it orbited ominously over the Earth, and they could tell that the mission was not going to be easy. Aware that there was not time to worry about the possible danger, Jimmy turned on the transmission to communicate with the rest of the fighters. "All wings report in," he commanded.

"Felis leader standing by," reported Ignatius.

"Ursus leader standing by," reported Kodiak, a bear pilot.

"Equus leader standing by," reported Zander the zebra pilot.

"Canis leader standing by," reported Fang, a wolf pilot.

"Syncerus leader standing by," reported Buford, an African buffalo pilot.

"Varanus leader standing by," reported Lalo, a Komodo dragon pilot.

Jimmy nodded after all the wing leaders have reported. They were all ready for the attack. "Lock S-foils in attack positions," he said.

With that, the entire fleet spread out their wings as they approached the Death Egg. Jimmy was a little worried. His sensors could not indicate whether the shield was up or down.

"There's something not right here," said Hero. "The sensors seemed to be jammed. Surely Blaze would be aware about our arrival at this point."

"I know, Hero," said Jimmy. "They should be giving us the green light to attack, unless…" At that moment, Jimmy made a quick manoeuvre away from the Death Egg. He realised that the shield protecting it was still up. Instantly, he switched on the transmission to warn the other fighters. "Better postpone the attack and pull up!" the lion spoke. "The shield is still up!"

"Are you absolutely sure?" asked Ignatius. "I can't seem to get any reading on it."

"Yes, I am," said Jimmy. "All craft take evasive action immediately!"

Suddenly, there was an unexpected transmission from Empress Celeste. Jimmy switched it on to receive it.

"General, this is an urgent message!" shouted Empress Celeste. "There are enemy ships coming your way! Look out!"

"But there were no enemy ships when we arrived in space, how could…?" Jimmy paused for a moment and soon became horrified when he discovered what was happening. "…oh my God… IT'S A TRAP!"

And it was. As soon as the fighters turned around, there coming for them without warning was a massive fleet of Eggman's flying robots, consisting of Flapper Cannons, Flapper Guns, Flapper Lasers, Falcos, and many others.

"Yikes!" shrieked Hero. "Look at all of those robots out there!"

"Stay frosty, everyone!" shouted Jimmy. "Enemy robots are closing in on us!"

The robot armada charged towards the Anthro League Space Fleet, attacking immediately. The fighters evaded the attacks, but there was so much enemy fire that they barely avoided getting shot down.

"They're everywhere!" cried Zander.

"Time to accelerate to attack speed!" commanded Jimmy. "We're going to need to fend them off until we can finally be able to get into the Death Egg, though I don't know when…"

Doing as Jimmy has instructed, the space fleet pulled up and started their acceleration with the robot armada aggressively pursuing them. As they tried their best to evade the attacks, Jimmy grew more concerned about the situation. With the sensors jammed, preventing them from knowing the status of the Death Egg shield, and the uncertainty of whether Blaze and her team had succeeded taking out the shield generator, he felt that they were in a serious predicament, and the longer they stay in space without being able to attack the Death Egg, the more their chance of survival was dwindling.

Author's Note: Oh no, things are not looking good for our heroes in Brazil and the Anthro League Space Fleet as they find themselves in peril! What will they do now? Can they be able to change the tide and put a stop to Eggman's robots? Desperate times are at hand! And of course, we are treated with the famous quote from Star Wars. More homages are coming up!