Chapter #27: The Final Battle

The Tornado soared over the castle to meet its metal foe. Tails was in the cockpit, of course, and Sonic stood behind him on the back of the plane, close by the tail. As they drew close to the mech, the fox unleashed its primary machine gun weapon. (A/N: I think I saw it in Sonic Adventure.) Bullets sliced through the air, and many found their mark. The Evil Alliance's mech turned around in surprise to meet the tiny plane, which banked away from them out of their range, preparing for another charge.

Dr. Nefarious wasn't impressed. "What a pesky little fly."

But Eggman had seen Tails and his biplane in action too many times to underestimate it. "That's no fly; that's a hornet! Shoot them out of the sky, now!"

As the Tornado came by for another shot, Plankton activated the machine gun in the mech's right arm and sent a hail of bullets after it. Tails dodged the fire like the pro ace he was and sent his own into the chest and head—the weak spots, he hoped. But they only scarred the surface.

"Fools!" Plankton said. "We are invincible!"

Specter began pressing buttons on his control panel. "I'll send out the seeker missiles."

Four seeker missiles shot out from a compartment in the mech's chest. Tails had a harder time dodging them. He barrel-rolled to force two of the projectiles to collide (A/N: saw it in Star Wars Episode III; it was awesome), but the other ones were gaining.

Sonic watched the missiles as they chased the Tornado, and started to sweat; they were a little too close for comfort. "Got any more moves on ya, Tails?" he asked. "We need 'em bad!"

But his best friend also sweated. "Err…"

Bang! Kaboom!

The missiles had been destroyed! The pair looked down to the ground to see Ratchet with a sniper rifle, waving at them. Over the radio he called, "My Flux Rifle took care of them! Get the mech!"

Nodding, Tails turned the plane around and fired again at the Alliance. But once again, there seemed to be hardly any damage. He said into the radio, "Guys, I'm making nothing but big dents!"

Clank said, "Its armor is thicker than we first supposed. I am afraid that your machine gun will not inflict serious damage. Do you have any other weapons available?"

"I did have missiles once, but I didn't bring them here." But then he smiled and looked behind him at Sonic. "But I have one weapon that should do the trick."

The blue hedgehog caught on and grinned. "Me!"

"I beg your pardon?" Clank asked, very confused.

The fox veered off from the mech so he could explain in detail without getting shot down. "I have something called the Power Ring. If Sonic uses it, he can go super fast! And if he curls into a ball with the energy of a Power Ring, he can smash through almost anything!"

Ratchet broke in, "Let's give it a shot! How many Rings do ya have?"

"Three! So we've only got three shots at blowing the mech! But I need to know its main weakness!"

"I have done my most detailed scan of the mech," Clank said. "Its major weakness is the main generator, located in the chest. The metal covering it, however, is very thick."

Sonic jumped up onto the top set of wings of the blue biplane and thrust a fist into the air, declaring, "Bring it on!"

Tails pressed a button, and a panel on the back of the plane opened, revealing a cannon-like device. Then he steered the plane closer to the mech. Sonic shouted "Now!" and leaped off of the wings. The fox pushed another button, and the device shot out a shining, gold Power Ring. Sonic caught it in one hand, and he glowed for a few seconds as the Ring's energy was transferred to him. The next moment he was a rapidly spinning, spiky blue ball. He propelled himself forward and rammed into the mech with unbelievable strength; the villains fell out of their seats upon impact. The blue hedgehog managed to bore a hole right through the mech, but when he was finished, it was still standing.

Spike, who was standing near Ratchet, asked into the radio, "Tails, what happened?"

"I dunno," was the reply. "He must've missed the generator."

Amy grabbed the radio from Ratchet and asked, "Tails, where's Sonic? Is he all right?!"

Right on cue, said hedgehog screeched to a stop in front of them; he had gone quite a distance after breaking through the mech. "Yeah, I'm okay. Let's try it again! I saw the generator when I went through. I think I can hit it this time!"

The Tornado swooped down to pick him up, and Sonic jumped back onto the wings. Tails launched another Ring, and he spun at the mech again. But this time the Evil Alliance saw it coming.

"It's that blasted Power Ring attack!" Eggman growled. "Nefarious, dodge it!"

The blue robot played with his controls, and the mech swerved to miss the deadly spinning ball. Instead of tearing through steel and robot parts, Sonic found himself ripping through a few dead trees in a small grove close by. He came back to the others covered in leaves, wood chips, and even sawdust, rubbing his head.

"I think I hit a rock," he groaned. "I've got one bad headache."

Spike inspected the area. "And a nasty bump on your head."

Copper (yes, he's still here) scratched his head. "What happened this time?"

"I believe the Evil Alliance has caught on to our plan," stated Clank.

As if to confirm this Dr. Eggman laughed into the microphone. "Hahahaa! You can't fool me anymore with that move, Sonic!"

"The mech can run even with a hundred of your little holes in it!" Dr. Nefarious boasted.

"Like I said before," Plankton cut in, "we are invincible!"

Specter said, "Is that the best you can do? How pathetic."

That mock was too much for Sonic. With a determined glare, he shook off the leaves, chips, and sawdust. "We're trying it again!"

"But Sonic," Jimmy protested, "Eggman said…"

"But nuthin'! We're gonna go one more time!"

He signaled Tails to fly in and pick him up. The Tornado came down again, and once he was back on, it turned to face the mech a third time. The launcher fired its last Ring, and the blue hedgehog took off again. But he found the villains prepared for him; the mech reached out with its right arm, which had a large plasma cannon. He rocketed inside the hole, hoping for a faster way in, but the mech suddenly pointed its arm at the ground and fired. Sonic was shot out and blasted into the ground. Immediately the others rushed over to the impact site.

Spike got there first, and saw their friend lying face down in the crater. He leaped in and turned him over. "Sonic! Are you okay, man?! Wake up!"

Jimmy ran up beside him. "Say something! Say anything!"

Next was Amy. Already she was crying. "Don't die, Sonic!" she sobbed. "I'm too young for you to die!" Everyone else turned to her and cocked their eyebrows.

"Guys, what's going on?! Is Sonic okay?!" Tails yelled frantically over the radio.

Ratchet came over and took one of Sonic's hands, feeling along his wrist. He breathed a sigh of relief and told everyone, "He's got a pulse. He's only unconscious."

Clank said, "That Ring probably cushioned his fall. But it dissipated right before impact, so he has not come out of it without some wounds."

They all noticed how badly bruised the hedgehog was, and Knuckles winced and said, "That's gotta hurt."

Suddenly Sonic groaned and mumbled, "You're tellin' me." He cracked open his eyes and blinked at everyone surrounding him. "Would you guys stand still? You're givin' me a migraine."

"We are still, Sonic," the Lombax said.

"You sure? The whole place is spinning…"

"Lie still," Clank told him. "Your vision should clear in a moment."

Sonic blinked some more, and then slowly sat up with help from Spike and Jimmy. Amy hugged him again, nearly suffocating him, and making the world spin again. Copper made her let go, and he got his bearings again.

"Note to self," the blue hedgehog said, getting back his sense of humor, "never go into the barrel of a cannon. I'll get shot back out." Some of the others chuckled. Then he asked, "Where's Tails? Is he okay?"

"He's holding off the mech for us," Copper replied. "Let's get to some cover."

The group got Sonic to his feet, and they raced for a large pile of boulders that offered some cover. Once there, Sonic said, "Could someone get Tails down here? I'm going back up."

Immediately Ratchet and Copper grabbed his arms and forced him to sit. "Oh, no you don't," the dog said. "There is no way we're letting you go back up there."

He flattened his ears and frowned. "Why not?"

"Sonic," Clank said from his position on Ratchet's back, "you have taken heavy physical damage all throughout today. You are in no condition to continue fighting."

"They'd finish you off easily," Copper added. "Up there, you have worse chances than snow coming in July."

Sonic couldn't deny these facts, and with a sigh he lowered his head and relaxed. "Fine. I'll stay." Amy sat by him and hugged him again, much to his discomfort. But he was too tired to bother with getting her off.

"Don't worry, Sonic," Jimmy said, pointing at the Tornado moving through the sky, "those two will take care of the mech."

Everyone gave him a very puzzled stare.

"What?"

"You said two, Jimmy," his older cousin said.

The boy's eyes widened as he realized it also. "Oh gosh, yeah! There's somebody else in the plane with Tails! Look!"

They all raised their heads and watched the blue biplane. Indeed, a shadowy figure was sitting behind the Ring launcher.

"Tails," Ratchet said into the radio, "there's someone else on the plane with you!"

"Huh?! Wh-what?!" sputtered the fox.

Suddenly a second, familiar voice yelled, "Peanut butter tacos!"

"Patrick!?" the heroes and Copper cried in shock.

"How in the name of Bogon did he get up there?!" Ratchet said.

"He must've followed us when we went for the Tornado," Sonic said. "And we never saw him."

That was precisely what had happened. For some reason, the pink starfish had followed Sonic and Tails as they had gone for the plane, and none of the others had noticed his absence, not even SpongeBob. When they had taken off, Patrick had wedged himself between the wheels and the belly of the plane and clung on during the entire battle. But while everyone had been preoccupied with Sonic, he had somehow climbed onto the back of the plane, using loose plates on the bottom of the plane as footholds.

Unfortunately, while Tails' attention was on Patrick, he failed to notice that he was coming too close to the villains' mech. Like something out of a King Kong movie, it grabbed the Tornado and held it firmly in its grip, nearly crushing the passengers.

"Aah! We're stuck!" the fox cried, desperately trying to free them with his controls. But it was no use.

"Wheeeee! This ride is fun!" Patrick declared, clapping his hands. He just barely escaped being crushed by the mech's fingers by moving up to the spot behind Tails.

"Just try getting out of this grip, foxboy!" Eggman sneered.

"No escape for you!" Plankton agreed.

Specter asked, "What should we do with the little pest now?"

"Crush them!" Dr. Nefarious shouted gleefully, and proceeded to do so.

As the mech's fingers began crushing the plane, Tails worked even harder to escape. But Patrick did the impossible.

He walked right onto the arm and climbed up to the cockpit!

Down on the ground, the others saw everything, thanks in part to Ratchet's Flux Rifle, which had a scope. He told them everything as it happened, and they hung onto every word.

"What's that idiot doin' now?!" he muttered, adjusting the scope to try and see the starfish.

In the mech's cockpit, the villains were enjoying the imminent defeat of their enemies, and failed to notice the starfish's presence. Suddenly he ran up to their control stations with wide eyes. "A video arcade! Can I play?! Can I play?!"

Dr. Eggman swiveled around in his chair to see the intruder. "What the…?!"

"How did that idiot squishie get in here?!" Nefarious fumed.

At that moment, Patrick found the one button that appealed to him the most: abig, shiny, red, button, with four words on it.

"Self-destruct. Do not push!"

"Oooooh…I like this one! I wanna push it!"

"Nooo!! Don't push it!!" the Evil Alliance screamed in unison.

Patrick pushed the button. Red alarms blared, and all the computer screens showed the timer counting down. Then a female, emotionless computer voice droned, "Thank you for pushing the self-destruct button. Please evacuate the mech before detonation. Detonation in T-minus 1 minute."

"Do something, Nefarious!" Eggman shouted, pounding on his controls.

The blue robot fought with his buttons and levers, but to no avail. "Everything's out! There are only the escape pods!"

"To the pods! To the pods!" Plankton screamed, and he leaped off of his chair to run. But the other three villains, in their hurry to escape, stomped on him. He managed to get back up and run after them, though with difficulty.

Of course, Patrick had enough sense to go back to the Tornado, where Tails was desperately trying to get free of the mech's hand. The hand let the plane go, and he flew out of the estimated blast radius. The others on the ground also moved out of the way.

The villains, however, weren't so lucky. As they were scrambling for the escape pods in the chest, the mech began to go out of control, and, using jet thrusters in its feet, it rocketed into the sky a few feet and then collapsed in the middle of the castle. They were delayed by this, but got into the four escape pods. But they ran into another problem.

"The thrusters for the pods are offline!" Plankton wailed.

"The only way out now is to let the force of the blast propel us out!" Nefarious told them. "I designed them to do that!"

"But it'll blow us to smithereens!"

"Nonsense! It will work!"

"How can you be so sure?!" Specter snapped. "You never even tested it, you bucket of bolts!"

"Err…" Specter had him there.

The computer voice interrupted, "Detonation in T-minus five, four, three, two, one…"

The four villains in their pods crossed their fingers and shut their eyes…

"…Have a nice day!"

Plankton opened his eye and began, "Thank y—"

Kabooom!!

The four pods were sent flying through the air into the horizon, with their occupants screaming in terror. The mech exploded into billions of pieces, taking out the castle with it. Whatever blocks of the ancient structure that weren't destroyed by the detonation were blown outwards. All that remained of the evil castle and the mech were those blocks, scattered, twisted metal parts, and a gigantic black crater. A nearby robot factory received heavy debris and also exploded, completing the destruction of the Evil Alliance's headquarters.

The heroes had taken cover at a great distance, and had watched with amazement as the buildings around them were decimated. When debris stopped falling, they carefully stepped out of the bunker they had used and made their way through the rubble to a clear spot. Tails landed the Tornado there, and he and Patrick climbed out. For a while, no one said anything, and then, with his trademark grin cracking his face, Sonic broke the silence.

"Well guys…we did it."

There were a few more seconds of silence, and then the group erupted into loud cheers and laughs. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles exchanged high-fives, and then Amy hugged Sonic. Spike and Jimmy thrust their Stun Clubs up in victory, and Ratchet and Clank did something similar, with the Lombax's N90 Hurricane and the robot's fist. SpongeBob brought out his rock guitar and started singing the Goofy Goober song; Patrick also sang and bounced up and down in a circle around the sponge. Overwhelmed, Copper sat down on a rock and watched them, fighting with the joyful tears coming into his eyes.

As they had promised, the eight heroes from foreign lands had defeated the Evil Alliance and had saved Animal Crossing!