Chapter 9
Sonic was discharged from hospital a week later, still intent on carrying out his threat to make Eggman pay for his actions.
"It could be dangerous," Tails warned him for the umpteenth time. However, his warnings had little effect on the blue hedgehog as they quietly left the hospital with Amy. Knuckles had already left to do his daily guarding of the Master Emerald.
"I'm not going to let him get away with what he has done," Sonic replied in a determined tone. Tails sighed in exasperation.
"Well then at least let us come with you," Tails suggested in a concerned manner. After all, his best friend had just recovered and almost died, he didn't want Sonic hurt again.
In response to Tails' suggestion, Sonic shrugged. The fox assumed this gesture had meant 'I don't care' and decided to tag along with his friend when the time came.
"We want to be there in case you get in to any trouble… after all you're probably still a bit weak," Amy announced. Sonic was touched by his friends' caring attitude.
"Well then… there's no time like the present!" he announced eagerly and sped down the street in a streak of blue light with Tails and Amy right behind him.
They shortly arrived at Eggman's fortress. Sonic skidded to a halt right in front of the large red door and stared at it thoughtfully. Tails and Amy appeared behind him gasping for breath.
"So what exactly are you planning to do?" Amy asked, breathing heavily.
"Don't know," Sonic confessed. He suddenly realised that while he wanted to get revenge on Eggman, he had no idea on how to do it. He decided to just go in and use whatever was there thus walked briskly towards the door. Tails quickly grabbed one of Sonic's undamaged quills and pulled him back.
"We can't just walk straight in there!" Tails squeaked loudly.
"Why not? What's the worst he could do?" Sonic asked with a cheeky grin.
"Let's see," said Tails in mock puzzlement, "He could use a giant robot to knock you out and make you lose your memory?"
"In his own fortress?" Sonic replied, raising an eyebrow. Tails sighed, reluctantly spun his tails and flew round the corner and peered through each of the square windows. He quickly came across Eggman.
"He's in a room at the back on the upper floor," he informed his friends as he landed neatly besides them.
Sonic thanked him and turned to Amy, who was now holding her large hammer.
"How do you make that thing appear from nowhere?" he asked, a little impressed.
"A girl never reveals her secrets," Amy replied, winking at him.
"How exactly do you plan on getting in?" Tails asked nervously, uncertain if they were doing the right thing. As he asked this, chatter came from inside and the door slowly opened.
"Quick!" Sonic whispered, taking Amy and Tails' arms, dashing to the corner and hid as Decoe and Bocoe emerged from the door.
"I'm telling you, if you we don't get the right stuff this time we'll be scrap metal!" Bocoe complained as they headed down a hill and out of sight.
"Hey they left the door open," Amy observed.
"I knew those robots would do something useful one day," Sonic grinned as they quickly made their way to the door and went inside.
They were standing in a small hall with metal walls, various doors and an elevator.
"Where exactly do we go?" Amy asked, looking at the various doors in confusion.
"Let's just look in here," Sonic suggested, pointing sharply at the silver door nearest to him. He gave it a slight push and it creaked loudly as it opened.
"Doesn't have much security here, does he?" Tails thought as the three of them entered the room.
It was a tall, fairly thin room with metal walls and various devices and consoles scattered around the room with various sounds and lights emitting from them. A window covered half of the right wall.
"Don't touch anything, we have no idea what any of these things do," Tails warned, looking suspiciously at the different contraptions.
The boys subsequently heard a small scream as Amy staggered backwards into them.
"What is it?" Sonic asked urgently. Amy didn't speak as she gestured to something behind them. Sonic and Tails turned around quickly; the blue hedgehog stepped back in alarm and gasped as he found himself in front of a familiar silver metal robot. It was twenty foot tall, had sharp silver claws, big blue eyes, razor-sharp teeth and a long ginger moustache.
"Isn't that…?" Sonic thought out loud, recognising it.
"It's that robot that caused all this!" said Amy angrily.
"Or a copy of it, it can't be the same one," Tails contemplated.
"Yeah, because Eggman blew that one up, taking Sonic with it," Amy added with a hint of fury.
"It's just like the original, it probably works the same way too," Tails deduced fearfully.
"Which means…this one could explode too," Sonic concluded with a smirk. He then began rummaging through some nearby filing cabinets.
"What are you doing?" Tails asked, concerned about what Sonic had in mind.
"Well Eggman clearly destroyed that robot by remote. Which means this one is likely set to explode by remote, and that's what I'm looking for," Sonic explained, closing the top cabinet and opening the one below it.
"Just be careful," said Tails in a concerned manner; he wanted Eggman to pay as much as Sonic did but didn't want anyone hurt in the process. He quickly began looking inside a pile of cardboard boxes lying in the corner for any remote. Amy also joined in the hunt, looking across a series of shelves on the other end of the room.
"Is this it?" she called after a few minutes, revealing a small grey remote with a single yellow button in the centre. She tossed it to Tails who examined it, his blue eyes shifting between the remote and the robot. He didn't have much time however as a loud buzzing sound suddenly rang and a huge red light flashed across the room.
INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!
"Guess I was wrong about the security!" Tails shouted over the noise.
"We'll just have to take that!" Amy screamed.
"Let's get out of here," Sonic bellowed as he took their arms and dashed out the room and as the main door began automatically closing, Sonic narrowly got through the gap and ran from the fortress as fast as he could. He didn't stop until it was out of sight. They sat behind a large tree.
"That was close…" Amy gasped.
"Do you think this is the right one?" Tails asked, gesturing to the remote in his hand.
"You tell me, you're the expert," Sonic replied, a little breathless.
"I didn't get a proper chance to check the robot out, all I know is that it definitely operates something in there," said Tails, gesturing to a label on the back of the remote that read 'Property of Dr Ivo Robotnik.'
"Well I guess there is only one way to find out," Sonic grinned; he took the remote from Tails and headed closer towards the fortress so that it was in view.
"He will likely be investigating the source of the disturbance," Tails informed him. He and Amy watched in anticipation as Sonic held a gloved finger over the remote.
"Which window is it?" he asked, not wanting to miss anything. Tails gestured to the third window from the door.
"What goes around comes around, Eggman," Sonic taunted and the three of them held their breath as Sonic pushed the button firmly.
For a few seconds nothing happened.
A loud bang suddenly sounded from the fortress as the window and part of the wall surrounding it collapsed. The three of them cheered as they watched smoke drift out of the hole.
"I'm not done yet," Sonic announced with a satisfied grin. He stood up and headed towards the fortress.
"Now what is he doing?" Amy asked. Tails shrugged as they followed him.
Sonic approached the hole where the room was. Everything inside was smouldering, broken and in pieces. Sonic spotted Eggman staring at the wreckage, his moustache slightly singed.
"My machines, my beautiful machines," he whimpered.
"Something wrong?" Sonic asked sarcastically.
"YOU! Do you realise what you've done? This will cost a fortune to repair!" said Eggman angrily. Sonic shrugged.
"Not nice the other way round is it?" Sonic taunted, taking great pleasure in Eggman's misery. He then dropped the remote on to the floor and stamped on it hard, smashing it.
"This belongs to you," he said as he picked up the damaged remote and tossed it to Eggman who stared mournfully at the mess.
"See you around," he announced with a grin as he left with his friends.
"Nice one Sonic!" Amy cheered, giving Sonic a high five.
"I don't think he'll be bothering us for a while," Tails remarked with a smile.
XXX
The next day Amy approached Sonic in the park, brandishing a red envelope.
"Hi Sonic, how are you?" she asked very quickly.
"I'm great," Sonic replied; he felt very satisfied with his revenge on Eggman.
"Do you know what the date is?" she queried, looking at him with wide expectant eyes. Sonic shrugged with clear lack of knowledge.
"It's February the fourteenth," she exclaimed excitedly.
"So?" Sonic shrugged, wondering what Amy was getting at.
"So… it's Valentines Day!" she squealed in a high pitched voice. Sonic smacked his head; how could he forget?
"So I've got you this," she announced bashfully as she handed him the red envelope.
"You didn't have to," Sonic replied with a smile as he took the envelope. He ripped open the envelope, took out a Valentine's card and looked briefly at the front picture of, typically, two hedgehogs surrounded by love hearts. He then opened the card and read the message inside aloud.
To Sonic,
I am so
glad that you survived. I love you very much and I don't know what I
would do without you. Although I now realise that the feeling isn't
mutual I know that you care and I hope that we can be friends for a
long time. Happy Valentine's Day!
Love from Amy.
"Thanks Amy," said Sonic; for the first time ever, he gave her a hug.
"You're welcome," Amy replied, hugging him back, "And don't worry, I've definitely learnt my lesson - never try and force someone in to doing something they don't want to do."
"Don't worry, it's forgotten," Sonic replied, though he was relieved nonetheless.
"I think Eggman has also learnt an important lesson too," Amy grinned as they walked across the soft grass.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Never mess with Sonic the Hedgehog."
THE END