Chapter 10

Sunset.

Time to move.

Four figures walked out of Tails' house and into another building. They climbed into the Tornado and prepared for takeoff.

Tails checked over the controls one last time. Then, he made sure Knuckles and Shadow were in position on the wings, and Amy was strapped in the passenger seat. He started the engine and taxied out of the building.

"Ready guys?" the fox asked.

"All good!" Amy answered for the others.

Tails nodded. He sped up the plane and took off. They flew low in the sky, while keeping a sharp eye out for trouble. It wasn't long before the Egg Fortress was in sight. It looked like a modern version of a Medieval castle. Very sophisticated. So, of course, the defense system kicked in and launched a volley of missiles their way.

The Tornado barrel-rolled and dodged each one. They weren't heat-seeking, so Tails had no trouble avoiding them.

He landed the plane about fifty feet in front of the main door. Shadow would need time to pinpoint Sonic's location.

The midnight hedgehog jumped off the plane immediately. He faced the fortress, closed his eyes, and concentrated on one thing only: Sonic's chaos signature. It took about a minute, but soon he was rewarded. A blurry image filled his mind. It wasn't too hard to make sense of it. Sonic was standing in a glass tube surrounded by a control belt. To anyone else, he would appear to be bored. But Shadow knew him too well. He could tell that he was actually tired. That alone worried him. It took a lot to make the blue blur tired, and it took twice that to make him show it. He was staring at a fat figure dressed in red. Obviously Eggman.

Shadow forced himself to stop paying attention to the image and focused on Sonic's position. After confirming the location, Shadow opened his eyes. He knew where to go.

"Okay, I got it," he said. He took out his copy of the fortress map and a pen. He pointed and put an X on the room Sonic was in.

The other three came over. "That's good," Tails said. "Sonic's right in the middle. We should be able to meet up again before we break him out."

"Give me that pen, Shadow," Amy said. "I'll mark the rest of the maps." She put X's on the other schematics.

"X marks the spot," Knuckles stated. Shadow nodded. "Come on. I'll break the door down."

The black hedgehog raced to the door, while charging up a blast.

"CHAOS BLAST!" he shouted. The bolt traveled the short distance to the door and... fizzled out?

"What the heck?" he muttered angrily. "Fine. Old-fashioned it is."

This time, he went with a spin-dash. It can normally break through pretty much anything, but not this door. Now, Shadow was furious.

"Why can't I get through?!" he yelled as he banged his fists on the door.

Then Tails went up to it. He put his hand on the cold metal, and frowned. "Eggman's getting smarter. This door is made of Megatal, the strongest metal on Mobius. There's no way we'll get through it."

Knuckles smiled. "Then we'll just have to go under it. Stand back, everyone."

They complied, and just in time. Knuckles began to dig, and pretty soon dirt clumps were flying up from the still-growing hole. From the sound of it, the echidna was almost on the other side. There was a pause, and then Knuckles popped back up. "I'm through. Fortunately, the Megatal doesn't go underground. Come on."

He crawled into the hole again. Amy, Tails, and Shadow followed.

When they climbed up the other side, all they saw was white. White walls, white floor, white ceiling, and white doors that appeared down some of the hallways. And it was completely silent.

Tails shook his head. "Something's up. This place is too clean to be Eggman's."

"Just stick to the plan," Shadow ordered. He stood out like a raven in the snow. He paused, then headed down one of the four hallways. The middle-left one.

Knuckles shrugged, and chose the far left path. Amy went to the far right, and Tails walked down the middle-right hallway.

Jeez, Tails thought a couple minutes later. It's eerie in here.

He had just finished the thought when a robot appeared in his path. Literally, appeared out of nowhere. Guess the invisibility wears off. Tails got in a defense position. He blocked a punch to the stomach, and delivered an uppercut of his own. A few more hits, and the robot went down, sparking and twitching. And the defense isn't that good. Cool. More robots came down the hallway. The fox jumped at them. For Sonic!

Elsewhere in the facility, Knuckles was surprised by a hand swatting at his head. He ducked, punched what looked like empty air, and hit metal. The invisibility wore off, revealing a mech lying on the ground, apparently having been taken out by the echidna's hit. He kept going, leaving robot parts in his wake.

Amy was thinking about Sonic. She was in such deep thought that she didn't notice a door opening and closing in front of her. That is, until a robot tried to hit her, slipped, and fell with a loud thump. She immediately brought out her Piko Piko hammer and swung blindly. "Sorry. Reflexes," she said after crushing the robot's head. She stayed alert after that.

Shadow hoped the others were doing okay. He had heard the faint sound of something hitting metal, but then it was gone. He was surprised nothing had come after him yet. All of a sudden, he heard heavy footsteps coming from the hallway in front of him. Guess they aren't trying for stealth, he thought. The black hedgehog ran forward until he saw the small army of robots heading his way. Instead of waiting for them to arrive, Shadow kept running and spin-dashed through the first five mechs or so. I should've known this would get ugly, he thought as he went after the others.

XXXX

Sonic glumly watched the action from his prison. Eggman had set up surveillance cameras so he could watch the visitors and torture Sonic all at the same time. Oh, goodie.

The hedgehog didn't know what Eggman planned to do to him, but getting electrocuted had completely drained him. Maybe that was the plan. He didn't know.

Eggman came into the room. "Hello, rodent! How are you today?"

"Still bored. Still hungry. Wondering how long you'll last against the cavalry." He smiled at the monitors.

"Yes... your friends are making good progress. Unfortunately for you, nothing they can do will break you out of there. Sorry," he said in mock forgiveness.

"Anyway..." he continued. "What shall I do to you this time? Oh, I know!" His finger stabbed a button on the control belt.

Immediately, the tube began filling up with ice cold water. Now, say it with me: again.

"Not very original, Egghead!" Sonic yelled jokingly.

"Just you wait!"

Now the water rose above Sonic's head. He began to tread water, which even he could do. Even with his almost healed arm.

Anyways, now the deadly twist came with another button press. A big, stone column that almost touched the sides of the tube fell into the water, forcing Sonic under. The column continued until his feet touched the floor, and he was able to hold it up. But just barely. His legs shook with the strain.

The column was taking up to much of his energy. He had been tired to begin with, and now he was losing air.

No! the blue blur thought. It can't end like this! I need help! Wait, my friends...

He glanced over at the monitors. He was in luck. While he was watching, Shadow made it to one of the doors to the room Sonic was in.

Shadow, he thought to his friend. Open the door! I need you!

He wasn't sure how he heard him, but the midnight hedgehog looked around in surprise, and then at the door. He pushed it open...

XXXX

Cool. My first major cliffhanger! And just in case you thought the story was coming to a close, think again! I've got plans...

By the way, if your wondering what Megatal is, I read about in Sonic the Comic. And it really is the strongest metal on Mobius. There you go.

Well, unfortunately, my plans will have to wait. July 8 through July 13, I will be at Silver Birch Ranch up in White Lake, Wisconsin. I've been getting everything I need together, and that's why my updates have been more spread out lately. So, sorry, but it will be a while before I update again.

See ya. Wouldn't wanna be ya. jk ;)