Chapter 17: To the Reunion

With a bit of effort, Blaze was able to pull her jewel free from the indentation in Metal Sonic's forehead.

"Seriously," said Silver, "that's the weirdest glitch ever."

It was a miracle that the teleporter had survived all the damage to the pyramid. It was such a great miracle...that it really wasn't the case at all. Precious time had been lost while Nega repaired the circuits and replaced the broken hardware.

"What time is it, Metal Sonic?" said Silver to the robot after they'd gotten their bearings and confirmed that nothing else was mismatched.

"Define timezone," the robot answered.

"Er...Central City time?"

"The time is 23:26:17...now."

"That means we've been down there for about an hour. I hope Shadow is still holding up."

The duo, now a trio, started a second race through the collosal space station, this time in search of a shuttle or something that could carry them across space to the Ultimate Overlord. Far as they could tell from looking at it through the windows of the Ark, the malevolent spaceship had changed its trajectory. Intead of continuing towards the Ark at a snail's pace, it was now pointing towards Earth, with the former United Federation continent in plain view. It was no mystery what had caused that sudden explosion down there.

-

The GUE Elite Troop Carrier was Conquest's choice of vessel for two reasons. The first was that it was large enough to carry the Angel Echidnas, the two dozen soldiers who volunteered for the mission, and the demolition agents who were going to put the finishing touches once the grunts had cleared a path. The second reason was that it was manouverable enough to get out of the danger zone in case the Ultimate Overlord decided to play a round of fly swatter.

"You boys strapped in?" she asked over the communications line.

"Nice and tight," Terkal's voice came back.

"Then cross you fing- I mean, hope this works."

Easiest way to insult an echidna was to make fun of its mittens. "Suicide" was the appropriate term for such an action.

-

"Great. Another obsolete piece of junk to risk our lives in," said Silver.

This was the shuttle that Sonic, Tails, Amy and Knuckles had used to transport them onboard the Ark when they fought Dr. Eggman for control of the station 200 years ago. This was the shuttle that Sonic crashed after he and Knuckles fought for the controls. This was the shuttle that was knocked from wall to wall when the Ark plummeted towards Earth's atmosphere at lethal speeds. This was the shuttle that'd been left here to collect dust for two centuries after the heroes wisely decided to use Eggman's teleporter to return to Earth.

"It's all we've got," said Blaze. "As long as it's still got working engines, it'll do."

-

Station Square had grown to become a grand city of millions, rivalling Central City in size and economy. Metal Mastermind made sure the screen zoomed in close, so Shadow could get a good look at the populace.

"Look at all those vehicles, on the ground and in the air above. A multi-level traffic jam. Truly an example of human progress at it's best," said the evil villain. "Looks like that little demonstration in the desert really stirred things up down on Earth. How unfortunate that the people of Station Square won't have time to escape the deadly tidal wave crushing down on their fair city. Remember, Shadow? Oh, excuse me, that was before your time. Sonic the Hedgehog saved that city from a vengeful god embodied as a cataclysmic flood. I use the term 'saved' loosely, of course."

As before, the screen shifted to a view from space. This time the eye of the Ultimate Overlord was pointed just off the coast of Station Square.

"One chance to save all those people, Shadow. Give me the Chaos Emeralds."

Shadow the Hedgehog said nothing.

-

Silver grabbed the arms of his cockpit chair so hard that the ancient polyester cracked up under his hands. "A-a-are you s-s-ure yo-o-u kno-ow what you'r-r-re do-o-o-oing?" he stuttered over the noisy vibrations of the shuttle.

"Just...g-g-give me a s-s-sec-cond!"

The shaking kept getting worse. Silver kept expecting the whole thing to tear apart of explode any second. At least they were moving. They'd cleared the airlock, after accidentally scraping the paint off the entire left side of the shuttle, and managed to manouvre the ship in the direction they wanted to go, despite an incredibly stubborn control system that refused to relent its efforts to steer them off course. Blaze wasn't about to reveal how many button presses were pure guesswork until they were safely back on Earth, preferably standing in a field somewhere far from civilisation and hazardous machinery.

Blaze was getting exhausted from having to keep the wheel from being taken over by the mysterious and very strong forces of the disobedient machine. She eventually realised that there was no reason not to leave that matter up to the individual with near-infinite stamina.

"S-silver, c-c-can you ask Metal S-s-sonic to keep the wheel pressed to the right like this for m-m-me?"

"Er, s-s-sure. M-m-m-metal c-c-can you...DO what she just s-s-s-said?"

"Yes, master," answered the robot, stepping forward from where it had been standing perfectly balanced against the violent pressure and vibration.

It worked. For a moment, Metal Sonic actually got the ship straightened out, which in turn made the shaking lessen considerably.

"Urgh..." went Silver. "Thank goodness I haven't eaten anything all day. Uaaah! Urgh! It's okay, I'm just dry-heaving... Buuarghh!"

Blaze grimaced, but didn't say anything. She could taste that crappy hospital food in her throat right now, and therefore wasn't in any position to comment. Then she looked up, and saw a sight that filled her stomach with frozen lead.

-

Conquest watched the Ultimate Overlord charge up energy as it prepared to fire at Earth a second time. Even if she pushed the troop carrier to top speed right now, they'd never make it in time to stop that ship from firing. Because she was so wrapped up in the horror before her, Conquest didn't notice the second blip that suddenly appeared on her tactical screen, approaching the Ultimate Overlord from the opposite direction.

-

The beam struck the ocean, instantly evaporating tons of sea water and carving an unnatural trench of open air hundreds of miles down towards the ocean bottom, laid bare for just a fraction of a second before the water flowed back to fill the sudden void. As the hole filled, the level of sea water rose far above its normal level at that point, then flowed outwards in every direction, particularly towards the nearby coastline.

The smart drivers, who were rich enough to afford hover-vehicles, immediatelly broke every traffic law known and pumped the accellerator straight up to get away. The smart drivers who had vehicle skills to match, managed that feat without crashing into a tall building or another flying car. The pedestrians and the people in plain old cars didn't stand a chance... When the sky scrapers started to topple over, the death tolls ran out of control.

-

"Okay, that's close enough. Now slow down so we can land," said Silver.

"..."

"Blaze?"

"What do you think those red blinking lights there mean?"

"Oh s-!"

In the next chapter:
- The Chaos Emeralds released.
- Metal Mastermind triumphant.
- Friends and enemies face-to-face.