If you all have been reading (and I know you have), then you all know that in the last chapter, Armand got trapped in the ancient temple below the desert when the solar eclipse ended.

Basil has a plan to get him out, but what does he have in mind?

You'll have to read to find out.

Disclaimer: OCs belong to their respective owners. Sega owns Sonic and co.

Chapter 20: Rescuing Armand

It had been a few minutes since everyone had received the bad news. In the middle of the last Survival Race, the solar eclipse ended. Galeon, Armand, Raine, Knuckles, and Jet had agreed to let Galeon win, so they could end the race and get out of there. Galeon, Knuckles, Jet, and Raine managed to escape, but before Armand could get into the warp chamber, the door closed and Armand was knocked out. His board, the Crimson Laser, managed to get through, and Raine grabbed it before she was shot out of the warp chamber. Now they were at the start line, wondering what they could do.

"With Armand out of the tournament, I'm afraid we have to cancel it." Damien said.

"NO! We're not canceling this tournament! We're getting Armand out!" Basil said.

"What are you talking about? We can't get him out of there. There won't be another solar eclipse for another 5 years." Rampage said.

"That's where we come in. We're going to create our own solar eclipse."

Everyone looked at Basil as if he were crazy.

"Basil, are you out of your mind? How are we going to create our own solar eclipse? We don't have anything large enough to block out the sun." Rector complained.

"We don't, but Eggman does."

Eggman's underground base, some time later…

Eggman was overlooking some of his robots doing their weekly cleaning of the Egg-Battle Cruiser. Sonic and his friends had disabled it when Metal Sonic had manipulated Eggman and the heroes so he could initiate his own plan for robotic world domination. By this time, it had been repaired, and Eggman kept it in this base for when he would need it again. Little did he know, the battle cruiser would fly sooner than he would have liked.

Outside the entrance, Basil and Emily were waiting for the signal to infiltrate. They had some help getting underground from Rector, Domino (the fox from Team Triple Threat), and Hurricane. On the surface, the others were ready to create the distraction.

"Ready, everyone?" Jet asked.

"Remember, all we have to do is lure the robots out here so Basil and Emily can get inside without any real trouble. Yeah, we're ready." Domino said. By this time Rector, Domino, and Hurricane had gotten out.

"Then let's get it on!" Jet called out. He then tripped the alarm on purpose.

In the base, Eggman heard the alarm being tripped.

"Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! All robots report to surface for defense!" The computerized voiceover said.

"What!? Who's causing a racket, and why?" Eggman questioned. "No matter. All robots, defend the base!"

The robots filed out to protect the base. Outside the entrance, Basil and Emily saw the robots come out and head toward the surface. It wasn't long before the last one had passed them.

"Now's our chance, Emily!" Basil said.

"Let's go." Emily replied.

Basil and Emily then entered the base. They saw the first room, and it was massive. There was a robot repair station, weapon shelves, spare robot parts, and prototype metal robots. There was a blue robot that looked like Sonic inspecting the prototypes. It was none other than Metal Sonic. He turned around and saw the fox and cheetah that had just entered.

"Halt! Who are you to just barge in here?" Metal Sonic asked.

"That's none of your business. Who are you?" Basil asked.

"I'm Metal Sonic, one of Dr. Eggman's greatest robots ever created. And you two are about to meet a friend of mine. I'd like you to meet Mr. METAL SURGE!"

With that, Metal charged up his signature move. He gathered electric energy around his claws and let loose a blast of energy. Basil and Emily barely dodged it, but Metal was counting on that. He rushed toward Emily, but she ducked his attack. Metal was unable to stop himself and crashed into the wall hard, shutting him down.

"Well, that was too easy." Basil said.

"Let's move on." Emily suggested.

They found an elevator that led up to the second floor. The elevators only went up or down by one level, and in each level during an alert there was a robot of some kind waiting. Once they had reached the second level, they found a robotic doll that looked like Tails.

"You shall not pass. I will stop you." The robotic doll said in an emotionless voice.

"And who are you to stop us?" Emily asked.

"I am the Tails Doll, created by Metal Sonic himself. I am to destroy any intruders that enter this area." Tails Doll said.

Tails Doll then attacked Basil, who just charged up a water cannon blast and shot the robot doll with it. The Tails Doll shook it off as if it were nothing.

"What!? That water blast should have short-circuited you."

"I am not a robot. I am a doll. I am immune to robot weaknesses." The Tails Doll said.

"How about a standard weakness?" Basil said as he formed his Aqua Blade. He slashed Tails Doll with it, and it started to break apart.

"Impossible. Does not compute. Functions ceasing. Backup systems down. Repair mode offline…"

The Tails Doll then fell apart completely.

"That was still too easy." Emily said.

"Well, let's move on. Maybe we can find out where Eggman is." Basil told her.

They headed to the elevator. While they were taking it up, Basil noticed Emily had a worried expression.

"Emily, don't worry. We'll get Armand out. I promise. Remember, he's my best friend." Basil said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "One way or another, we'll get him out."

"I know. It's just that…with no way to contact him, I don't know if he's okay." Emily replied.

"Come on. Let's continue. The sooner we get what we came here for, the sooner we can break Armand out."

They reached the next floor. Inside they found…

"Eggman!" Basil and Emily said at the same time.

"Who's there? Well, if it isn't Basil and Emily. What brings you here?" Eggman asked. Basil grabbed him by the jacket.

"Shut up, Eggman. Give us the Egg-Battle Cruiser now!" Basil demanded.

"Why should I do that?" Eggman asked.

"Armand's trapped in a temple, and the only thing that can cause a solar eclipse big enough to open the desert is that battle cruiser!"

"Well, you didn't have to come barging in like that. You should have just asked."

"What? So the Metal Sonic and Tails Doll we fought were…"

"Exactly. They weren't the real ones. The real ones aren't that dumb. Plus, they would have gotten back up and fought until they were dead, so to speak."

Eggman freed himself from Basil's grasp. He then activated the controls to release the Egg-Battle Cruiser.

"Launch the Egg-Battle Cruiser now! Target is the Desert City Coliseum." Eggman announced. He then opened the way for Basil and Emily to board.

"Just go through here, and you can enter the cruiser."

"Right. Whatever. Let's go, Emily."

Basil and Emily quickly went through the doorway and boarded the cruiser. Outside, the heroes were fending off the robots until they saw the Egg-Battle Cruiser appear.

"We're done here. Let's move!" Jet called.

The heroes quickly withdrew, leaving the robots to return to their duties inside the base. It wasn't long before they reached the coliseum. The cruiser blocked the sun out, and since it was dark, the way to the ancient ruins opened up.

"EMILY, NOW!" Basil called.

Emily took her board, the Blue Striker, and sped down to the ruins. She carried Armand's board, the Crimson Laser, down with her. Down near the warp chamber, Armand had been awake for a long while, waiting for the gate to open up.

"I hope I get out of here soon. Emily is probably worried about me." Armand said to himself. He was as worried about Emily as much as Emily was worried about him.

Emily had just learned that the gate to the warp chamber would not open this time. She also learned that the ship hadn't been refueled. The ship would only block the sun for a few minutes. She had just reached the corridor with the ancient text. Up ahead, she saw Armand.

"ARMAND!" Emily called.

Armand looked behind him and saw Emily almost at his position.

"Emily!" Armand said, surprised.

Emily hopped off of her board. She ran towards Armand, who had his arms open. Emily just fell into them.

"Armand, I'm so glad you're okay." Emily said, nearly in tears.

"Emily, I know you were worried about me. How did you manage to get down here?" Armand asked.

"We took Eggman's Egg-Battle Cruiser and used it to block the sun. That caused the solar eclipse and opened this area up."

"Then why didn't the warp chamber open?"

"I just learned that it doesn't open for one week. We can't go out that way."

"Well then, I say we get out of here. But first…"

Armand pulled Emily to him and kissed her.

"Thank you for coming to help me." Armand said after they had parted.

An earthquake shook the whole room.

"What's happening, Basil?" Emily asked through a communicator she had gotten from him.

"The Egg-Battle Cruiser's out of fuel. We had to get it back to the base. You two had better get out of there." Basil said.

The two didn't waste any time. They hopped on their boards and started to backtrack their way out. Once they had reached the opening, it was almost closed. Emily started to lose hope.

"Armand, it's over for us!" Emily said.

"Emily, if there's one thing I learned from my father, it's to never give up, no matter how hopeless things may be. Just watch this!"

Armand grabbed Emily and their boards, then shot his grapple hook and locked it onto the edge of the fissure, which was almost completely shut. It was pitch black.

"Armand, I can't see!" Emily said.

At the track, the others watched as the fissure closed. They couldn't believe it. Emily had failed to save Armand.

"No. Emily. She failed. It's over." Sonic said.

"I can't believe it. She didn't make it." Raine sadly said.

Basil looked like he was about to give up when he noticed something.

"Wait a minute everyone. Look!"

Everyone looked at the fissure to see something pierce the ground. It created a small hole big enough for someone to fit in it. They then saw two figures come out of it. One was holding the other. It was Armand, and he was holding Emily as they came out.

"IT'S ARMAND!!" Basil called out.

Everyone couldn't believe it. Emily had succeeded after all. They landed just outside the coliseum, then went through one of the entrances to enter it. As they entered, the crowd started cheering. Armand and Emily had made it.

The other racers ran up to them.

"I can't believe you made it, Armand." Basil said.

"I couldn't have done it without Emily." Armand replied, making Emily blush a little.

"Aw, it was nothing." Emily said.

Gerald turned to the crowd.

"Attention, everyone. Armand has survived. This tournament will continue as planned!" Gerald announced. Everyone cheered at that. "Well, tomorrow we return to Babylon Garden for the next few races. See you all there."

Gerald and Damien packed up and left. The racers boarded Jet's airship to head to Babylon Garden.

End of Chapter 20.

Well, thanks to Emily, Armand managed to escape. Everyone is now happy, but the tournament must continue.

I realize that a lot of the chapter was focused on Armand, Basil, and Emily, but that was the main point of this chapter. SO DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT FLAMING ME ON THIS!!

Well, read and review.