Chapter 5:
The awkward moment seemed to stretch forever until Chris broke to silence.
"Well, you always said I should have a pet."
"Excuse me?!" Sally said insulted, "We are not pets. Just give us a minute to explain; although there is a lot we don't know ourselves. We arrived here, wherever here is, when we infiltrated one of Robotnik's ships and…"
Both Sonic and Sally's eyes grew wide when she realized what danger they brought with them.
Else where, just off the coast, the huge Egg Charier lay crashed and partly submerged. All power was out throughout the ship.
"Snively," Snapped the Eggman, "turn on the emergency backup generators. They should be working now. And let's shed some light on our current location."
As he said this he stepped out of their protective room to inspect the damage. Flood lights started to light the bow of the Charier revealing an almost gruesome sight. The robots onboard had fused to the steel structure of the ship. Inactive robotic limbs reached from the paneling of the ship and other structures. And as before, Eggman was not surprised or enraged one bit, he was actually smiling. His sights were on the coast in the distance and the lights of the city within it. He took a deep breath and muttered, "It's good to be back."
Snively come over the intercom saying, "Doctor, we have incoming intruders."
"Cloak the ship." , was his response.
The faint sound of helicopters was faint in the distance.
"Sir, we have a problem… I can't cloak the ship with the power of the master emerald."
"WHAT!" snapped the doctor, "WHY NOT?!"
"...because there is not master emerald, sir. It's gone. There's also a massive hole in the engine room."
The Eggman let out a frustrated sigh. "Then well do this the hard way. Initiate a 'welcome party' and meet me back in the beige, we need to find that emerald!"
The center of the deck split apart and a large, bird like aircraft rose from the hanger and lifted off immediately towards the growing sound of the copters.
As he returned, Snively opened another hanger releasing more robots ordered to salvage the robots fused to the deck. Both hangers were protected from the incident in much the same way the brig was.
Meanwhile, under the streets of the city, Amy and Knuckles were moving onward.
"We've been walking for hours, Knuckles." pleaded Amy "Can't we take a rest?"
"You can take a rest, I'm moving on." said Knuckles.
"What! And leave me all alone down here! There could be bots down here!"
"Yea, you can fend for yourself."
"Sure, but…"
Just then a huge explosion from above shook the sewer. Amy slipped into the sludge.
"Eeew! And this was my good dress!"
Knuckles immediately climbed to the manhole to see what the commotion was about. They came out just behind a huge group of police officers and GUN team looking up at an air fight between two GUN helicopters and a huge robotic bird like jet. One chopper had crashed and was lying in the street. The choppers were returning to base after being ambushed. Knuckles recognized the robot as one of Eggman's designs.
"Amy!" he shouted below, "We got trouble. Grab your mallet."
Back at the Thorndyke's garage the attack was breaking news. The news anchor said "Miraculously, no-one was killed in the attacks yet. But two choppers are still unable to break free from the unknown jet attacks. And the origins of this strange, bird like jet are still unknown." In the backdrop behind the anchor, the air fight continued.
"Wait!" called Sally as Sonic started out the door, "We need a plan. We don't know exactly what were up against here."
"Well, didn't you hack Robutnick's schematics before the mission?"
"I did, but they are on Nicole."
"I got a laptop in my room," spoke the young boy "will that help."
"Sure," said Sally "but I don't think it'll be enough."
"I think it's all we got, Sal." said Sonic.
Chuck lifted the tarp off an old restored car at the other end of the garage, pulling two headsets from the dashboard.
"You may need these."
He handed them two headsets.
"So we can stay in contact." He continued to pull the tarp from the car. Chris came back in with a laptop under his arm.
"Toss it in the back Chris."
"Wait," said Sally, "you don't think your coming, do you? That thing is dangerous!"
"Dangerous or not, we need their help." said Sonic, "Besides, they know the area better than we do."
"I guess your right…" Sonic helped her into the car.
"Just follow the car, Sonic." said Grandpa Chuck, "We'll lead the way."
The good doctor sped out the garage with the blue blur close at hand.