CHAPTER 7

Shadow dropped his weapon.

The others gathered in the room simply stared in amazement, the soldiers included. One of them motioned for the door. "This way."

As he drew closer to the soldiers, Shadow leapt into the air and roundhouse-kicked them both in the face, knocking them unconscious. He turned to his comrades and shouted, "Hurry! We need to get out of here…NOW!"

Knuckles grabbed one of the bags of supplies and hurried after the others, diving into the thick forest to try to lose any pursuers.

"What do we do?" Tails asked, his eyes wide.

"Just keep moving. We'll come to the harbor eventually…there's got to be a boat or something we can steal for a while." Rouge said.

"But what about-"

A branch broke above them and Ginny came crashing down, landing hard on Silver and knocking him to the ground. "Oh, hey, guys."

"Ow! Get off of me!" Silver shouted.

"Relax! Anyway, I don't know what the hell you did, but you've got the whole island after you. The harbor's that way, but the rate we're going at…we'll never make it. They're sending in these weird things that remind me of battle droids from something like Star Wars." Ginny sprang up and ran. "Come on! Move your lazy butts!"

From their right came a crashing noise and then a security robot twice the height of them came after them, flying over the undergrowth; gun aimed at them. Rouge dived out of the way and kicked it hard, sending it crashing into a tree. Three more robots came at them from all directions.

"RUN!" Tails screamed, running after Ginny with a terrified expression on his face. The others were close behind; Silver slowed by helping Shadow.

"I can run!" he growled. "Get out of here!"

"Are you kidding me?" Silver protested. "Don't think I don't see you limping like you're walking on broken glass!"

"That was not funny."

"Sorry,"

A good-sized group of the robots had ganged up behind them, shooting but only succeeding in striking the ground at the moment. But soon their weapons would find their marks.

Silver used his telekinesis to turn a robot around and slam it into the others. A small pileup began, but was quickly sorted out. Shots were still fired, missing but coming closer and closer.

XxXxXxXx

"I hate it when this happens," Sonic grumbled, struggling to keep his head above the slowly rising water. Eggman had left, leaving the cage to plunge into the water, slowly but surely; supported by the table.

He estimated he had about five minuets at the most left before he would drown.

"Why does it have to end like this?" He shouted to no one in particular. "Why water? Why? What did I do to deserve this terrible fate?"

"Oh, relax, you drama queen."

Sonic, taken by surprise by the sudden, almost unfamiliar voice, submerged himself for a total of ten seconds before surfacing again, choking and sputtering. The cage began to lift itself until he was out of the tank completely.

"Haven't seen you in a while. Had you been here the entire time?"

Sonic wiped water from his eyes and glanced towards the source of the voice to see the all-too familiar purple feline who was unnaturally good at war games.

"Blaze?"

"Who else?" Blaze shrugged.

"How'd you get here?"

"I know this base inside and out," Blaze pressed another button on a small remote, making one side of the cage door open. "Who do you think was stopping Eggman this whole time? No one gives me credit anymore…"

She trailed off for a few seconds. "So…if you're still alive…"

"Then everyone else is? Yes. Now we need to find a Chaos Emerald and get out of here so we can get back to the others. We're sort of in a bad situation over where we're hiding out, and I think Eggman knows where they are, so this can complicate things to the extreme." Sonic pointed further into the base, putting most of his weight on his one good leg. "We should get moving."

"Wrong way."

"Ok, fine, you're the expert." Sonic growled. "Just help me find the Emerald. I'll explain everything as we look."

XxXxXxXx

"There's the harbor!"

"And there's a boat! We're gonna make it!"

No sooner had Tails said that then a huge group of the robots blocked their path, guns aimed at their faces. Silver, Shadow, Rouge, Ginny and Tails skid to a stop, trying to decide what to do.

"Surrender," One of them commanded. "You have one chance. Failure to comply will result in severe injury or death."

"Move it, scrap heap." Ginny growled, walking confidently forward. "Or the same could be said to you."

"Destroy," The robot said, the barrel of its gun beginning to glow with power.

Gunny knocked it to the right as it shot, hitting one of the other robots. But that seemed to be an invitation to mass chaos. All the robots took aim.

Tails jumped into the air and flew off, darting towards the harbor. Rouge tried to follow, but Silver grabbed her ankles and slowed her ascent. "Shadow!"

Shadow grabbed his hand and they managed to get off the ground and away from the robots before Rouge's wings gave out and they plummeted hard to the ground. Ginny was still fighting, holding up surprisingly well and destroying most of the threats.

"Are you ok?" Silver asked. "I mean..it's kinda rocky here, and I landed on one…"

"Never been better," Rouge growled. "Warn me before you do that again."

"I'll manage." Shadow struggled to his feet. "Hurry. Knuckles and Tails are already at the boat."

"What about the doctors that came with us?"

"We can't wait any longer." Silver ran along the pier, jumping into a sleek GUN speedboat. "HEY! COME ON!"

"I'll fly back and get her!" Tails volunteered. "You start this thing and get out of here!"

The keys were under in a small storage bin, hidden under a life vest. Rouge started the motor and the boat sputtered to life, backing out sharply from the dock.

Something hit the water nearby them, and then something else hit the side of the boat, rocking it dangerously. From on shore, some of the robots had realized what was taken place and were determined to stop their escape. Tails was hovering out of range, trying to find the right time to duck into the battle and drag Ginny out. Time was something they didn't have at the moment.

"GET HER AND LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Knuckles shouted.

"She won't come!" Tails' answer was almost too quiet to hear. "She wants us to leave her!"

That was about when the large battleship appeared in the sky not too far off.

XxXxXxXx

It didn't take long to find the Chaos Emerald. It was practically unguarded and in the middle of a large circular room. Blaze broke the glass surrounding it and pointed to the door. "Come on, there's bound to be traps now that we've stolen the Emerald."

She barely finished her sentence before a door opened off to the right and large robots holding guns entered, firing wildly. Sonic tried to Spin-Dash into them, forgetting that his foot was injured. His ankle gave out and he fell heavily to the ground, a bullet narrowly missing him.

Blaze grabbed his other foot and dragged him out of the room, countering bullets with fire. As soon as they were out of the room she thrust the Emerald at him. "Well, you know how to use it, right? Use it!"

"Chaos Control!"

They appeared in what seemed to be the bridge of a large aircraft, judging by the astonishing view through the main windows. A small island wasn't too far off…

"Are we where I think we are?" Blaze sighed, casting a nervous glance around the ship's control center.

"Probably. How many other ships have Eggman's face painted on the side?" Sonic pointed out the window at another battleship nearby. "We might as well destroy this one."

He tossed the Emerald into the air, catching it again and ramming it into one of the main control boards. It began to smoke and spark as an alarm blared harshly, bathing the bridge in a harsh red glow. The ship began to tilt forward, gaining speed towards the island.

"Oh, shit," Sonic muttered.

"We need to get out of here! Now!" Blaze shouted, trying to keep her balance as a chair began rolling towards her, smashing into the window instead but not breaking it. "There's no way we can direct this thing and-"

She was cut off as the viewing screen was suddenly filled with the hull of another ship. A split second later a defining crash nearly sent them flying through the window too. The ship they were in unleashed another siren, and gravity seemed to decrease.

"Come on!" Blaze grabbed Sonic's arm and dragged him off the bridge, trying not to fall backwards as harsh rumblings shook the floor. As soon as they cleared the door into the hallway, most of the bridge was destroyed by the other ship. Fire nearly singed the escapees but they kept on going.

"Any way out of this thing?" Blaze demanded.

"Over there! An emergency hatch!" Sonic pointed, tearing himself out of her grip and painfully climbing a ladder. He twisted the cover off and stepped up on top of the aircraft, holding on to a small ledge so he wouldn't be blown off. "Come on!"

Blaze climbed up after him, squinting in the wind as it blew her fur back. "What do we do now?"

The ship gave another shudder, part of the front breaking off in an earthquake of sound and motion. Sonic lost his grip and would have tumbled over the side had Blaze not grabbed him.

"Thanks. You know I can't swim, right?"

"You might have to learn to very quickly." Blaze growled over the noise, searching over the island. "I think I see them!"

"Where?"

"They're in a boat…heading this way! The ship's sunk so low in the sky we can make it if we jump…and then get their attention!"

"Are you crazy?"

"Probably," Blaze shrugged.

They were both suddenly covered in red light that could only mean one thing. Blaze looked up, squinting, to see a missile heading directly towards them. "I guess we don't have a choice now."

"Blaze! Don't let go! What are you…AAAAGH!" Sonic started tumbling down towards the waves, Blaze jumping after him as the missile hit the ship with a loud explosion. The ship began sinking faster in the sky…

They hit the ground with a hard splash, Sonic flailing around, choking as water forced itself down his throat. Blaze tried her hardest to keep his head over the surface, but despite her efforts he was pushing her away and breathing in saltwater instead.

A huge splash sounded behind them, followed by a massive wave that swept them forward a good distance. Blaze couldn't tell which way was up…which way was down…she was spinning under the surface, light blending in with the darkness and trying to force her to take a deep breath.

Something grabbed her arm and pulled her up…at least, she thought it was up. Then sunlight burned her eyes and she spewed out the lungful of water she nearly took in.

"Blaze! Thank God you're alive!" Silver cried, throwing his arms around her. "We saw you jump…then the battleship crashed…"

"G….get Sonic!" Blaze coughed. "He jumped too!"

"I've got him!" Tails shouted, flying out of the boat and searching the water, screaming, "Sonic!"

Blaze looked over the wreckage of the battleship, another hovering in the sky damaged from where the first ship had rammed it. Knuckles gunned the motorboat and followed Tails around the destruction, looking for any sign of Sonic.

"There!" Shadow shouted, catching everyone by surprise. "He's pinned under!"

They followed his gaze to see Sonic's left leg crushed between a sheet of metal and a pipe, his ankle twisted at a terrible angle. He wasn't moving.

Before Blaze could do anything, a splash caught her attention. Shadow had jumped off the boat and was now diving after Sonic.

XxXxXxXx

OOOH MORE SUSPENCE! Next chapter coming soon! I've actually had every chapter typed up for a while now…I'm beginning to run out of chapters to upload and I'm going to have to write something else for this Fic.

Just so you know, I'm also working on The CrackFic That Went Terribly Wrong and The Detective Agency II. I know a couple of you are excited for the DA II, so I'll try to get that out on the Internet real soon after this Fic is completed.

Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28