By Life Comes Sacrifice

Episode 3

Storming the Fortress

Sonic took a step back. "Robotnik has her?"

Shadow nodded his head. "I promised her I would take care of her. I swam all the way back here, just off Angel Island carrying her. As soon as we got back on land, Robotnik came and took her away from me… He said that he would heal her and give her back as long as I got the Chaos Emeralds for him…"

Sonic put his arm on Shadow's shoulder. "Listen, man, we can go…storm the fortress, and save this Maria of yours. Then, we can go and have a couple of Chilly Dogs together…"

Shadow smiled. "I like your attitude Sonic the Hedgehog!"

Knuckles was taken back to the headquarters and healed to full health. Sonic, Tails, Shadow, and Knuckles quickly made their way to the Egg Carrier. Sonic and Shadow went ahead and checked for robots. When none were there they began to get suspicious. "Something's not right," Sonic said. "There is always a guard in front of the doors to get into the egg carrier when it is parked…"

Sonic got a cold shiver down his back when he heard a cold, robotic voice behind him. "And that tradition continues…"

Sonic turned to see a robotic Sonic looking at him with red eyes that were glowing red. The Sonic had a shiny coat of black painted over his metal body. He had a gun up to Sonic's face before Sonic could move, however, Shadow was still there. Shadow smacked into the robot and the robot's arms threw off. The gun went with it. The robot punched at Shadow, but Sonic stepped in. He used Spin Dash and the robot threw into a tree. Its eyes went out and Sonic knew it was off-line.

Knuckles and Tails caught up with them to see the robot Sonic smacked to pieces. Knuckles snapped his fingers. "Man, I missed the fight…I didn't even get to see Robo-Sonic2000 get smashed!"

Sonic put his finer to him mouth because Knuckles was yelling unintentionally. Suddenly there was a flash of light and they all disappeared.

Sonic landed on a cold stone floor. He knew right away that he wasn't the only one that landed hard. Everyone was moaning and complaining about how they smacked her head, or how their butt hurt.

Sonic heard the clanking of someone walking through the dungeon. He knew the sound only too well. Robotnik had come to see them…