Ho-hum. Another chapter.

Ya know, I might stop after this fic. Maybe start again in the New Year.

Any way. Chapter 6 up!

Chapter 6 .

D-DAY..... ( Badlands.)

The air around the giant tower was thick with smog, it was too thick to walk through, let alone fly, but at this moment, seated in the pilots' seat of The Hyper Tornado, Sir Charles Hedgehog was following other hover-crafts making their way to service the Doomsday Machine.

Now the reason that he was safe and not being fired at, was that one of the features of The Hyper Tornadowas it Camouflage Mode. With a flick of a switch,Chuck transformed the silver plane into a dirty hover unit and was deep behind enemy lines.

" OK..Here goes.." He broke formation and headed upwards, using the stolen blue-prints, he quickly located the main sensor array. He brought the craft to a stop and pushed another button. " Carla, you're up."

" Primary sensor located." A thin rod shot out for the crafts' underbelly and attached itself to the thick cable at the base of the dish. " Sending scrambler programme in 3..2..1..." The rod glowed pink as the file was transferred, the dish whined before dropping off. " File up-loading complete, Unc. All set for stage two."

Chuck breathed a sigh of relief. " OK, good job, Carla. Sending you to Sonic's com-link, help him as much as you can."

" You can count on me."

He looked out the window and saw the fence fizz and sparkle as it shorted out, he nodded, put on his headset and tapped the mic. " This is Hawk. Primary defences are down, you have a green for ground base attack."

In the distance, Chuck could make out a large black shape hurrying over the gritty landscape. Shadow, Rouge and what ever G.U.N troops could be spared were racing forward to provide cover for the second group. Chuck gripped the planes' controls and journeyed back down to re-join the others hover-crafts. Once they were clear of the main gates and a fair amount away from the tower itself, he switched the plane back to its silver form, engaged the warp engines and hurried to wait at the secret rendezvous. ( In case the plan went pear-shaped, which he hoped it would not.)

Good luck every one..

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While the commotion was happening by the front door, the other mobile units belonging to Eggman made their way through the gates and round the back of the tower. The three tanker trucks pulled up to the loading bays and stopped , waiting to deliver the latest batch of toxic ooze.

Under the belly of the third, a small figure unhooked himself and jumped gracefully to the floor. Sonic ducked out of sight as Swat-bots marched along nearby, once the coast was clear, he gave a quick signal and three other figures dropped, quickly taking cover behind the many cables that littered the ground.

Tails, Amy and Knuckles hurried to Sonic's side and, using the cover of shadows ( plus Carla's help.) located the weakest point on the towers' base. Knuckles reached into his backpack, pulled out his yellow fighting gloves and strapped them in place. With a grunt, the mighty guardian struck and left a gaping hole, just big enough for them to squeeze through. Once inside, the foursome found themselves in the very heart of The Doomsday Machine.Standing on an over-head walk-way, they watched in horror as Pod after Pod was assembled, loaded with ooze and put on a conveyor belt leading to the pipe area, where they would be unleashed and free to terrorize the whole planet.

Sonic shook his head, " This has to stop. Now!" His wrist device came on-line. " Caz, you have a plan?"

Carla bleeped." Yes,Uncle Sonic. I believe if we shut down the main control room, we can stop this."

The hedgehog grinned at his wrist, " Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

" Now's not the time." said Amy, checking Tails' backpack for the explosives they brought with them. " OK, we have 16 bombs between us. That should be enough, right?"

" Should be. I mean, Eggman's smart, don't get me wrong, but he always has the crappiest of defences." Knuckles flexed his arms and nodded," Well, where's the control room, then?"

Carla booted up the map of the base. "Level 6. It's jelly and jam time,right,Unc?"

Sonic chuckled," It's juice and jam, Caz. You were close."

Holding his wrist at eye level, Sonic led the way into the belly of the metal beast, with Amy not too far behind,she was closely followed by Knuckles. Tails was last and kept looking at the Pods as they were launched, he didn't like this place and as the group made their way to the control room, with out bumping into any guards, his uneasiness grew.

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Outside......

Shadow grunted and fell to his knees, he was saved by gun fire from one of the few soldiers still able to fight. The robots attacking weren't anything they'd encounter before, they were big and black ,with the small red visors. Already G.U.N had lost many to the never-ending forces of Eggman. The black hedgehog swiped his nose free from blood, nodded his thanks to the officer who saved him and geared himself up to fight again.

To his left , Rouge suddenly let out a scream as a Swat-bot caught her in mid- Screw Kick. The bat was thrown towards the base of the tower at devastating force, Shadow pulled out the Red Emerald from his quills in an attempt to use Chaos Control but lost the gem to a Swat-bot. The robot kicked at his bloodied hand, hard, causing the gem to skittle into the jungle of wires. Shadow looked around, the other Swat-bots were already hauling their new prisoners to their feet. Rogue was held lifelessly by the back of her bodysuit, a thin trail of blood trickled from the back of her head. The robots parted and a navy Swat-bot appeared, it marched up to the fallen Shadow, raised its arm and a small cannon shot out. Shadow gingerly got to his feet, ready for a fight, only to get caught in a blast of dizzy making sound waves. The hedgehog staggered around for a second before his eyes lost focus and he fell face-first.

As the mist died down , Eggman calmly made his way to the front, the Swat-bots bowed and parted. The Doctor surveyed the damage and clicked his fingers. The group of robots marched back into the tower carrying new subjects for his new toy. Eggman lifted a small triquater and grinned at the readings.

Time to change out of these clothes and into something more.....appropriate. He turned, entered the tower and got ready. This time he had Sonic right in the palm of his hand, his very sharp and metallic hand, that is.

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Doomsday Machine---Main Control Room.

Tails, Amy, Sonic and Knuckles planted the small bombs on the protective casing over the brain of the machine. It was so thick that even Knuckles couldn't smash it with his mighty punches, Sonic had tried and failed to saw through it and Amy's hammer attacks didn't leave a dent.

The little fox quickly set the timer for two minutes, he gave a signal and the rest fell back and ducked down behind any desks that were available. Knuckles screwed up his face and Sonic got ready to guard Amy from flying debris. With shaky fingers, Tails listened to his little girl as she counted down.

"... Seven, six, five, four..."

"It's gonna be big," warned Sonic, holding more tightly to Amy's shoulders, " Brace yourselves !"

"....Three, two ,one...."

"Here goes!" Tails hit the button.

Carla beeped once, " Heat's on! "

The resulting explosion rocked the level from its foundations, the friends were knocked off their feet. The computer terminals lining the walls shattered and flew over them, showering them with hot metal shards. Knuckles bit down on his lower lip as the noise hurt his ears, Amy whimpered and clung to Sonic for all she was worth. Sonic looked over at his foxy buddy when the dust died down, Tails looked back with uncertainess and poked his head above the desk top.

"Uh, guys?"

Once he'd helped Amy to her feet, Sonic held her hand, and together, they hurried to join Tails and Knuckles. The hedgehog stared ahead and his mouth dropped opened.

"No friggin' way... This can't be..."

The dome was untouched. It looked as pristine as ever. A buzzing filled the small space and soon after, a fuzzy holographic projection of Eggman floated in front of them. With a grin, he gave them a mocking bow.

" Ah, my friends !"

"We're no friends of yours Egg-face."

Eggman giggled, " Such mighty words for such a little rodent. But I've won this time, Sonic. Behold!" Another image flickered to life, it showed the prison cells , one by one were full of G.U.N end one just had two inside-- Shadow was sitting, his wrist and ankles shackled by glowing blue bands. Beside him, was Rouge. The bat was lying on the stone floor, facing away from them and giving them a clear view of the nasty-looking cut on the back of her head covered with dried blood. " Don't think about pulling any rescues, rodent. Otherwise... KA--BOOM!! I propose, a trade....."

A very tense discussion later saw Tails, Amy and Knuckles board a Pod. Tails used his big brain to re-programme the Pods flight controls so that it came out near the rendezvous point.A few minutes later, Sonic made his way to the lower levels , he came to a large door that opened as he approached, stepping through, the doors shut firmly with a click. He was on his own, making his way to the middle of the room, Sonic came to a stop and folded his arms.

"Yo, Doc? You in-- UGHH! " A large something came out of the shadows and caught him in the chest, sending him flying through the air, smacking into the pillars. Sonic slid to a stop and groaning, got onto his knees. " Uh, cheap shot." He mumbled, wiping his chest free of dust.

A thin blue visor appeared at the other end of the room. "Now, rodent. Our last game ends here! "

Sonic got to his feet slowly, using the remains of the pillar for support. He squinted in the dim light and could just make out the lumbering shape as it travelled across the floor.

He smirked, " So you fixed it ,then? Doesn't matter,Doc, I'll still beat you." Ducking behind the broken pillars, he edged his way forward, careful not to get caught in the Battle-Suits' spotlights.

" Come out and face me, boy ! " Eggman lifted his hands, fireballs shot from his palms and lit up the area that Sonic had just vacated. "You'll run out of pillars soon .You can't hide forever. I'll find you, and when I do--ARGH!! " He staggered backwards from Sonic's haste homing attack.

The hedgehog made a dodgy landing and grabbed his hurting foot, " Bloody hell !" He screamed, hopping all over the place." What the heck is that thing made from? Bricks !?"

" My nose ! You've dented my perfect nose! Ooh, now I'm ticked off ! " A round of rockets fired from the Suits' shoulder pads, primed to take out the hedgehog.

Sonic spin-dashed out the way to avoid getting burned. He ran up the wall, using the rockets as stepping stones before they smashed the wall apart, readying himself for another attack, but Eggman was ready. The Doctor pulled back his arm and SMACK! Sonic found himself, yet again, soaring across the room, hitting the wall opposite, making a nice hedgehog shape hole.

" You cannot win , rodent. This armor has been improved to out- match you in every way possible. The only reason you can take so much punishment is because of all the magic rings, you've gathered over the years, have given you that little bit a protection. " He bent over the fallen hedgehog, his smirking face clearly visible through the visor. " It's over, Sonic. You cannot beat me this time. We've reached your limit." He raised his hands once more.

Sonic stood, coughing and spluttering, Limit? LIMIT !? As Eggman fired, Sonic vanished from view in a smoke cloud.

" Nobody can move that fast! Where are you, boy!? " Eggman bellowed.

" LIMIT !? " Cried Sonic from the far side of the chamber. He got down into a starting position and revved up, hitting his top-most speed, his legs turned into a perfect figure of eight beneath him. " I got your effing limit right here!" There came a squeal of tires and Sonic shot off at high velocity, he came screaming towards Eggman in a brilliant blue blur.

The Doctor planted his feet firmly into the stone floor to steady himself. " Oh, my...."

Sonic hit The Egg Beater square in the chest plate. The Doctor and hedgehog were thrown apart from the impact. Sonic rolled onto his side to survey the damage and grinned weakly as he spotted the hunk of metal sparking at the joints.

" H-How's that for my limit, Robotnik?" He managed, before finally collapsing.

The dust settled and Eggman stood in his suit, still in one piece. Sonic's attack had only dented the breast section. He looked down at the unconscious mammal, he bent and scooped Sonic up with one hand. Holding the blue hero by one foot, Eggman stumbled out of the chamber.

He smirked. " Not bad, Sonic. Now it's my turn. "

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It seemed like an age had past when Sonic woke up. With aching limbs, Sonic struggled to his feet, he got to his knees and pressed his bloodied hands against smooth surface of.. glass? He blinked, running his fingers down and then thumped hard. The hollow bong echoed in the room, the hedgehog paled and frantically looked for a way out.

This can not be good, He thought, rubbing his sore head. I remember.... There was a big fight, and Eggman ... The door creaked opened and pale light came through. Sonic frowned slightly, Speak of the devil.

" Ah, you're still alive." Eggman tapped the glass tube," How's that thick head of yours, rodent?"

He grinned," Why don't ya let me out and I can show you, fatty." Sonic pressed his palms harder on the glass. "Where am I?"

The mad man giggled," Oh, Sonic....I'm afraid that our little game has come to an end. There's no way you can escape this time, for you see, that glass tube has been impregnated with Diamondius,making it the hardest substance to man-kind." He walked over to the console and powered up the machine.

" You haven't won anything, Doc. I'll get out and I'll stop you!"

" Correction. No you won't. Do you why? In this long-winded game that we've played for years now, there are winners and there are losers. Most of the time it has been me in the loser corner, but not today, for you see, hedgehog, this is my new Robotizier and losers in this game...." He chuckled softly, hand hovering above the main switch and looked Sonic square in the eyes." Get Robotizied!"

As he slammed the switch home, Sonic's eyes widened. With a gasp, the hedgehog looked up and spied the tell-tale sign of yellow light. He hammered on the tubes' surface.

"Nnnooo!"

Eggman giggled with glee.

Oh no!

Next soon, promise....Oh, wait...It's nearly Christmas!

See you when I see you. Mazz84 xx