"This is great... I'm stuck here by this tree, and no matter where I searched in this place, I hadn't gotten anywhere." Berry let out a sigh as she sat down beside a tree and held her hammer on her lap. She had taken a stick and carved some tally marks on the branch. "It's been about forty-five minutes, and I still hadn't found anything... I just hope the others are safe..."
She looked down at her hammer and had remembered the time when it was first given to her, and how she ended up changing it into this. She had also remembered the time when Chopper and his friends had returned it to her and considered her friends. Berry closed her eyes and smiled as she clutched her hammer.
"I'm really glad I got to meet these people, especially Chopper... He was the first true friend I ever had. Not to mention he's just so adorable..."
She was interrupted by the sound of rustling coming from the bushes. Berry immediately opened her eyes and stood up with her hammer ready, ready to deliver a blow to whoever was watching her.
"Hey! You can come out! There's no point in hiding!" Berry exclaimed.
Indeed a figure had come out, but not who she was expecting. The shape of the figure... Those thin, curved back antennae... And even those short arms and feet! Berry gasped for a moment, followed by her swooning.
"Oh, Choppy... I can't believe you've found me!" Hearts appeared over her head as she began to rush toward the figure. "And there's no way you're going to escape my lo-"
She came to a sudden halt when she noticed blue, glowing eyes. Though she couldn't get a full glimpse of the figure, something wasn't right.
"Wait a second... This is fishy." Berry's swooning had stopped and she was now holding her hammer near her again. "There's no way you're Chopper! You don't even look like that Tipral guy, since he doesn't have blue eyes. Who are you?"
"I'm glad you asked," the robotic voice replied, walking out of the tree's shadows to reveal himself as a robot painted lime on the upper and lower portion of his head and black on the middle part. He also had silver, robotic hands, and green feet. He also had blue thrusters on his back to boot. "My name's Robo Chopper!"
"Robo Chopper?" the girl gawked for a moment before looking at him with an unimpressed stare. "That's it? Wow... That's got to be pretty unoriginal. I thought you'd be something like 'Robot Chopper' or 'Mechanical Chopper'."
Robo Chopper glared at Berry and clenched a fist. "So... Wanna know how you and your friends got to this place? Well... That was my doing?"
"What? How?!"
"Well, it's pretty simple... Thanks to a certain green star, I was granted the power to teleport anyone to any place at my own free will! I don't have the star with me at the moment, but I can assure you that I know where it is."
"Oh, really?" Berry readied her hammer. "Well, thank you for doing that! Now I get to pummel your robotic butt down into the dirt with my hammer! I'll even make it worse if you try to hurt my Choppy! Got that?!"
Robo Chopper stared at the hammer and then burst out in laughter. "Oh, please! THAT will stop me?! Ha ha ha ha! You're such a funny girl! ...Actually, I think I have a good use for you. Surely Chopper will come for me when he finds out one of his friends will be taken hostage!"
"Not when I'm ready to stop you!" Berry exclaimed, whacking Robo Chopper in the head with her hammer and making his face land on the dirt. She proudly put her hands on her hips and smirked. "Well... So how does it feel to be in the dirt? Or are you getting ready to play dirty?"
"Oh, believe me..." Robo Chopper groaned, getting up and healing off the dent on his head. "I think it'll be you in the dirt once I'm done with Chopper!"
His hands had transformed into a laser gun and a missile launcher, causing Berry to shrink in her spot.
"Oh, crud..."
"Take this!" Robo Chopper fired a barrage of missiles at the girl, who scrambled around to avoid them, much like the laser shots. However, she did managed to throw her hammer at Robo Chopper and interrupt his attack. "All right... Taking you like this won't be easy... I think I know my solution."
He swiftly flew behind Berry, and, using his elbow, managed to knock her out cold. Robo Chopper grinned in satisfaction as he picked the girl up.
"That was a lot easier than I thought... I thought she'd be a bit hard-headed. Oh well... Time to get to business!"
With that, he flew off elsewhere in the Illusion Forest.
By the trees with fruit-
"I thought I heard people here. Did they suddenly disappear?" Grounder asked as soon as they made it to the tree. Scratch smacked him across the face, and as usual, his head spun around.
"You idiot! Use your noggin! They didn't leave! They're probably hiding somewhere around here!" Scratch answered, only to feel his stomach growling. He poked it twice before looking back at Grounder. "Is it food time already? Well… What do we eat?"
"Uhhhh... Do we even eat?"
"Of course! I'm going to go get one of those apples!" Scratch declared, walking up to a tree Chopper was hiding in. Gulping, he took a black apple off the tree and handed it to Scratch. "Thank you."
Chopper sighed in relief as Scratch walked away from the tree and took a taste from the apple, only for his eyes to widen in disgust before spitting out the fruit. "BLAH! What the heck is THIS garbage?! It tastes worst than Dr. Robotnik's boots!"
"Really? Let me taste it!" Grounder suggested, snatching the apple from Scratch and taking a bite from it. He spat it out in disgust at Scratch, who glared at him.
"Hey! Watch where you spit your food, Big-nose!" Scratch yelled.
"Well sorry, Featherhead!"
"Screwdriver!"
"Chicken-brain!"
"Tin brain!"
Their insults were interrupted by a sneeze, making the two stop arguing and look around.
"Hey... Did you hear that?" Scratch asked.
"Uhhhhh... I think so." Grounder answered.
"It was probably nothing, Walking-treadmill."
Unfortunately for the heroes, they were not safe for any longer when the tree branches they stood on snapped, causing them all to fall and hit the ground. The two dumbots heard the sounds of the thuds and turned to them. Seeing a certain blue hedgehog made them both grin.
"Bah HA ha HAAAA! It's about time we got to you, Sonic! Now hand over that star and map!" Scratch demanded.
"Yeah! Give it to us or else we'll drill your faces upside down!" Grounder added. "…Then we'll put you in a soft drink and drink ya! …Or maybe we'll just get a table and put food there, which we'll eat!"
"What the heck are they saying?" Chopper whispered.
"They sound pretty dumb to me," Scrub muttered.
Sonic stepped up and smirked at the two dumbots. "Well... We'd like to hand you that map, but we're a little busy at the moment. Maybe if you come back another time, we'll give it to you!"
"Oh, all right! That sounds like- Hey, wait a minute!" Scratch paused, glaring at the hedgehog. "No way! Dr. Robotnik wants that map, and I'm gonna get it for him so he'll reward me!"
"Yeah!" Grounder agreed, only to pause and look up at Scratch angrily. "Wait, did you just say 'me'?"
"Yes, 'me', you sawed-off pencil sharpener! I'm going to get the glory for beating Sonic AND claiming that map!"
"Izzat so? And how do you plan to do that, Hen-house-breath?"
"Like this!" Scratch answered, extending his neck and attempting to peck at Sonic. Unfortunately, he missed his target and ended up pecking at the grass instead. Pulling his neck, he got his beak out and decided to charge at Sonic, but as usual, he missed and fell. "Stop running, you hedgehog!"
"Make me!" Sonic taunted.
This time, Grounder charged at him and held his drill hands in front of him. Scratch chased after him as well, not knowing that Sonic was actually in between both of them. When the two got close, Sonic jumped in the air and watched them crash into each other.
"Hey, watch it, dummy!" Scratch growled, pushing Grounder off him. "I had him!"
"I had him first!"
"Hey, guys! I'm over here!" Sonic exclaimed, standing by the others with his tongue sticking out.
"That hedgehog's goin' to experience a whole new level of drilling pain!" Grounder growled, charging straight at Sonic. However, he felt someone pull him back. "Hey! I almost had him, Scratch!"
"You idiot! Don't you see it now? He's trying to mess with us! Plus, that antennae freak has that map, so why bother with him!"
Grounder looked over at Chopper and noticed the map. "Hey... You're right, Scratch! Let's get him!"
"Uh oh..." Chopper got in a fighting stance and prepared for battle as the two charged directly at him and his friends.
"Ba HA ha HAAAA! Get ready to experience some beak pain!" Scratch laughed.
"Yeah! My drills will show you what I'm made of! Huh huh huh huh!" Grounder laughed as well.
Tattle: That's Scratch. He's one of Dr. Eggman's henchmen of the…"Super Special Sonic Search & Smash Squad." What a weird squad… Max HP is 90, Attack is 8, and Defense is 0. He usually attacks with his own beak and sometimes likes to fire egg bombs at you. It's not really anything bad, but they can surely deal some damage to you. It says he's the smarter of the two, but even then he's done some really idiotic things.
Tattle: That's Grounder. He's the younger of the two henchmen…but it seems like he has more gadgets. Max HP is 80, Attack is 9, and Defense is 0. Watch out for his drills, because they can definitely cause some damage to you! I think I would recommend taking him out first because he's truly the stronger of the two. Say… I wonder how it feels to have a drill for a nose anyway? …No! I don't want to actually HAVE one! I was just a little curious!
"So they're a little close when it comes to HP… Interesting. Let's see… What should I do? Hmmm…" Chopper pondered until an idea struck him. "Oh! I haven't tested my Blizzard ability on anything yet. Maybe now is the time I tried that out?"
"Blizzard? What do you mean?" Sonic asked.
"Just watch!" Chopper took out the Winter Star, which created a icy aura that floated above Chopper's hand. The only way to make it bigger and stronger was to make sure the word "OK" was where the red was in the middle.
"What is that supposed to be?" Scratch wondered.
"I don't know, but it sure looks pretty!" Grounder commented.
When the icy aura had finally grown big enough, it began to create a blizzard around Scratch and Grounder, leaving them frozen for three turns.
"Well that did something! Now to strike 'em with a Bob-omb Blast!" Bombette smirked, lighting up her fuse and charging straight into them. She blew up and delivered 8 damage to the dumbots.
"Huh... With them being frozen, we have a free attack!" Sonic smirked, getting in a ball and striking both Scratch and Grounder to deal 6 damage. Chopper followed up with his Ultra Glove and dealt 8 damage to them both.
"Wow... That Blizzard attack was a lot more useful than I thought." Chopper realized as Vivian struck the two with her Fiery Jinx. Unfortunately, this ended up thawing them out and freeing them from their icy prison.
"Oh... Sorry about that..." Vivian apologized.
"Well, they were going to break out next turn, so that's not stopping us," Chopper explained, attacking Grounder with a Jump.
"Ugh... Why do I feel so cold?" Scratch wondered while shivering.
"I feel the same way..." Grounder mentioned before looking back up at the heroes. "Hey! Aren't we supposed to get them?"
"Yeah! So why don't you go first?" the Clucker kicked Grounder from behind with all his might, sending him flying toward Chopper and Sonic. Grounder grinned and began to spin his drill arms around as he struck the two and dealt 9 damage. "Bah HA ha HAAAA! How do you like that?!"
"Yeah! Huh huh huh huuuh!"
"That was a bit painful..." Sonic winced. "Gee, these two are a lot tougher than I thought..."
"That's 'cause we've been training!" Scratch explained. "And now I'm going to take you down!"
Scratch ran toward Chopper, but he did not notice Grounder in front of him, causing him to trip. The two ended up tumbling toward Chopper and sent him flying into one of the trees.
"Oof!" Chopper grunted, feeling dazed from the blast.
"Nice going, you idiot! You made me fall over!" Scratch yelled as he stood up and glared at Grounder.
"Well you should've warned me first, Chicken-wing!" Grounder retorted while crossing his arms. He got smacked across the face by Scratch again, causing his head to spin around, but then he retaliated by smacking the chicken across the face, making his head spin too.
"Poyo? (Are they just going to fight?)" Kirby asked.
"Looks like it! Go ahead and attack, Kirby." Chopper suggested.
"Poyo! (Yay!)" the pink puffball ran toward Scratch and Grounder and sent them flying into a tree by charging at them with his Fireball attack. The impact was heavy, and Scratch's head got stuck in the tree.
"Ack! My beautiful head!" Scratch screeched. "Help me outta here, Pinocchio!"
"Oh, fine, Liver-spots!" Grounder pouted, attempting to pull Scratch out of the tree. What he wasn't expecting, however, was Chopper attacking him with a Spring Jump.
When Grounder freed the robot chicken, Scratch pecked Sonic in the head, who guarded the attack, only to get hit by Grounder's drill arm.
"Oof! Man, these guys are playing hard now!" Sonic grunted, quickly jumping back up and attacking them with a Spin Dash. Afterward, Chopper decided to put his Ruby Star to use and began to draw circles around the two dumbots. They both looked at the circle in confusion, only to feel pain when the circle was complete.
"Yeow! How's this thing hurtin' us?!" Grounder gaped.
After five circles, Scratch and Grounder had taken 15 damage as a result, leaving Grounder with 13 HP and Scratch with 33.
"Oh, man... I'm not feelin' so good..."
"Then make yourself useful!" Scratch yelled, kicking him in the air. This time, Grounder began to fire drill projectiles at Chopper. He managed to guard all twelve of them and took no damage as a result, leaving Grounder gaping before landing. Scratch decided to lay a robot egg and throw it at Sonic, only for him to guard it.
"I didn't know you could lay eggs," Grounder realized.
"Well Dr. Robotnik let me have this ability! At least I got something good!"
"But... I thought females only laid eggs... Does that make you...?"
"No! Not a chance! Does the sound of my voice SOUND female to you?!"
"Errrr... No?"
"Exactly!"
While they were busy arguing, Chopper used his Ultra Glove attack and fired multiple ice balls at the dumbots. Bombette then finished off Grounder with her Bob-omb Blast.
"Ooooog… I don't feel so good…" Grounder moaned as he toppled over onto the ground. Scratch looked down at him in shock, only to smirk afterward.
"Bah HA ha HAAAA! Guess who's goin' to get the credit now, Oil-driller!" Scratch gloated. "Now to make Dr. Robotnik proud!"
"Well, with 17 HP left, you're hardly a challenge," Chopper taunted.
"What?! Well... Take this!" Scratch laid another egg and threw it at Chopper like a bomb. It exploded in his face, leaving him covered in some soot. In retaliation, Chopper brought his hammer down on the chicken, and then Mario followed up with his jump
"Take THAT, chicken!" Chopper shouted. Mario shrugged and he brought his hammer down on Scratch.
"Man, these guys a total jokes!" Scrub exclaimed. "It must be because they STINK!"
"HEY!" Scratch growled at Scrub and extended his neck in order to peck at him. However, the scrappy Yoshi saw it coming and Superguarded the attack, dealing 1 damage to Scratch and leaving him with 4 HP.
"Might as well finish it," Chopper shrugged, leaping in the air and delivering the final stomp on the chicken.
"Bah HA ha-urrghh…" Scratch moaned, collapsing by Grounder. They ended up dropping 43 Star Points that Chopper claimed, gaining him a level and allowing his HP to be upgraded to 65.
"Huh huh huh huuuuuurrghhhhh..." Grounder moaned in a dazed state.
"Oooog… Cocka-doodle…bluuuuurg…" Scratch moaned as well in the same state.
"Huff… Huff… Well that was interesting..." Chopper panted. "Those guys were idiots, but the fight was kinda fun, right?"
"Yeah... I always liked a challenge from them." Sonic agreed. "I think this is the first time I ever received one."
"So... Shall we forge onward?" Shadower asked.
"Of course!" Chopper nodded, making a couple of steps forward. Unfortunately, that was short-lived when he saw a missile firing his way. He gasped, but Sonic took action and pulled him out of the way in time before it exploded. "Whoa... What the heck was that?!"
"Looks like someone's still wants a piece of us," Sonic answered.
"Yes, that's right," Robo Chopper replied, slowly descending in front of the eight. Chopper instantly recognized the robot's face and got in a fighting stance.
"Robo Chopper!"
"Robo Chopper? He...looks just like you!" Vivian gaped.
"Weird..." Bombette trailed.
"Yeah... It's...kind of a long story."
"A long story it indeed was!" Robo Chopper agreed. "I must say, Chopper... I thank you for getting rid of that demon knight Maquano! Now that he's out of the way, it is much easier to destroy you!"
"Fight you? Look, we're a little busy..." Chopper trailed.
"Oh, I know you won't back out of this fight when I show you what I've got!" Robo Chopper showed the figure he was holding. She appeared to be unconscious, making everyone gasp.
"Berry!" the antennae hero's hands started to glow red. "What did you do to her?!"
"Nothing much... Just knocked her out because she wouldn't follow my directions. I also carry a green star that you are supposedly looking for! Seeing that you need this girl and that star, I don't think you can refuse a battle against me!"
"Well this piece of scrap metal doesn't look like he's holdin' any star," Scrub noted. "So what makes you think we should listen to you?"
"Oh, I have it, but not with me. You'll certainly see it when you guys find me. If you refuse my offer, I might just exterminate your friend!"
"Well you're not going to be hurting any innocent people today, metalhead," Sonic retorted. "You're nothing like the rest of the robots I've faced before! I'd say you're easy pickings."
Robo Chopper gave him an irritated look. "Seriously, those insults are old. Come up with something better," he said before turning to Chopper. "So... Do we have a deal?"
"I...guess there's not much of a choice." Chopper sighed. "But I want you to make sure Berry AND the star is safe! Got that?"
"Oh, sure! In fact, I'll give her back when you finally show up! She's only useful for luring you. The star, on the other hand... I have better plans with that!" Robo Chopper began to ascend from the ground while staring down at the heroes. "You better be ready, Chopper! No chickening out, because if you don't find me, I will find you!"
Before they knew it, he was gone, and Chopper had finally realized something.
"He was the one who sent us here!" Chopper exclaimed.
"What? You sure?" Shadower asked.
"Yeah! His voice sounded pretty familiar. That was obviously him. He probably sent us here so he could fight us!"
"And now he's trying to lure us to him with it and a girl," Sonic added. "Man... What's his problem?"
"We've went back ever since my first adventure, actually," Chopper smiled, a sense of nostalgia in his mind. "I don't think he's ever succeeded in beating me."
"Really? That's just like with me and Eggy! Speaking of Eggy, maybe those two dumbots might be able to tell us some stuff." the blue hedgehog whirled around to the two dumbots, only to see them missing. "Wait... They're gone?"
Mario: Uh oh...
"Ehhhh... It ain't the end of the world. They didn't get what they want anyway, so we can let them go back to their base!"
"Right now, we have something more important to worry about. Let's go guys!" Chopper proclaimed, dashing off toward the pathway ahead. Sonic followed behind, leaving the rest of the group coughing from the smoke.
"Yeesh! We better make sure we catch up to them!" Bombette coughed, following the two ahead, with the others following her as well.
Eggman's base-
"Nincombots! Metal morons! Idiots! Robotic rejects! Seditious slabs of salubrious circuitry!" Eggman exclaimed, walking back and forth in front of the beaten Scratch and Grounder. The two's heads were hung low in disappointment. "You… You…! You nincombots!"
"Uh… Excuse me, Your Viciousness, you already said that." Scratch noted, only for Eggman to shove his face in his.
"Then allow me to repeat myself, YET AGAIN… YOU ARE NINCOMBOTS!"
Scratch's beak was curved up and so was Grounder's drill thanks to Eggman's incredible lungs. When he was finished, he sat back on his throne while the dumbots fixed their beak and drill.
"Great… Now those two dumbots are completely useless…" Eggman mumbled. "My whole plan is falling apart! If I didn't have to use animals for my Badniks, then I could probably make them stronger and fiercer than these two! But what to do?"
"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me, Dr. Robotnik! I'll get that map from that kid and I'll give it to you! I swear!" Coconuts cried out, stopping his mopping to get Eggman's attention. Unfortunately, it wasn't the attention he was expecting.
"Coconuts… What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be mopping up the dungeon?"
"But… I want to capture that hedgehog and get that promotion I've been dying to get!" Coconuts ran up to the doctor, only for his foot to push him away. "Oh, please Dr. Robotnik! Let me capture him! You KNOW I want that promotion! PLEASE, sir!"
Seeing Coconuts standing under the trapdoor, Eggman pulled the lever, making Coconuts fall through again. "No… Not this time." Eggman stood up, a light bulb now appearing over his head. "Perhaps now is the time I tested out my new invention! The Egg Trooper! I've been saving it just for that rodent! With it, I'll finally be rid of him once and for all, and I'll be able to snatch that map! I'll have to give myself a prrrrrrrromotion! And speaking of that…"
Eggman took out a gold medal and placed it on his chest, promoting himself.
Deeper in the Illusion Forest-
Entering the next area, they were met with a couple of trees that were standing in their way. They were confused for a moment, realizing that there was no way to proceed.
"Aw... We're being blocked already? This stinks!" Scrub pouted. "And we were actually getting somewhere..."
"Poyo! (That robot freak probably did this!)" Kirby deduced.
"Uhhhh... I don't know..." Chopper trailed, walking up to the tree. "Robo Chopper would probably want us to find him. He wants to fight me... There's no way he'd put this here."
When Chopper had put his hand on the tree to the left, he noticed his hand phased through it. He gawked and pulled his hand away for a brief moment before putting his hand back on the tree. To his surprise, he couldn't even feel the tree. "What the... This tree's fake!"
"Wait, really?" Shadower gawked. However, he blinked for a moment and noticed something strange. "It's...an illusion."
"Well that makes sense, considering that this place is called 'Illusion Forest'," Bombette noted.
"I was just about to mention that," Sonic said as the group walked through the fake tree. There were a couple of rocks around that didn't even look real either, which surprised them as they phased through them. Unfortunately, they weren't expecting a Motobug to come charging their way. Thankfully, Sonic took care of it.
They walked to the next area and found a pit down below with electric water. What a surprise... However, there did not appear to be any platforms to support them. It was all empty.
Well, not to a certain shadow being.
"There's something here. I can see it." Shadower informed. "There are platforms here for us to jump. Just shoot a fireball or something and you'll get a glimpse of it."
Chopper obeyed and shot a fireball at the pit. He spotted a brief flash of a platform. It appeared to be a yellowish color. "I see it!"
"Maybe you could just shoot more fire to reveal the platforms..." Vivian suggested.
"Of course," Chopper nodded, shooting fireballs at the pit. Everyone stayed behind and followed him, with Shadower guiding them as well. It didn't take them too long to get to the next pathway, which left everyone sighing in relief.
"OK, that was way too dangerous," Scrub commented. "But... It was also pretty cool."
"Well, that's the experience of danger," Sonic smirked.
They entered the next area and came across three different pathways to go. In the center was a small tree with a crooked branch. It didn't appear to look that old.
Mario: I wonder what this tree is doing here?
"Poyo... (Too bad there's no food on it...)" Kirby sighed.
"Is that all you think about, Kirby?" Chopper asked in an irritated voice.
"Poyo. (But you think of food a lot too.)"
"...Good point."
"Hey, guys... Look at this branch." Bombette announced, her fuse pointing at the branch. It appeared to be pointing over at the northern pathway. "You think this solves our little problem?"
"Well I guess that makes sense," Sonic pondered. "These puzzles are pretty obvious..."
"We should just follow the branch then," Vivian suggested.
"Then that we shall do!" Chopper declared, taking the northern way. Everyone followed him to another similar area, only this time they walked out of the southern pathway. They saw the tree again, only this time it looked a bit bigger. Everyone was intrigued by this, but there was no time for looking at the tree. They saw the branch pointing over to the left, so they took that path into another area with a bigger trees. Some leaves appeared to be on it now.
Mario: It grows each time we take the right way!
"Cool!" Scrub exclaimed, astonished by this. "I wish I could grow like that!"
The branch had been pointing left again, so they took that pathway. The fourth area had a branch pointing down, and in the fifth, a branch was pointing back up where they cane from. The final area had a fully grown tree with pink and white leaves. A fruit was hanging from a branch and fell down in front of them. When Chopper got a taste of it, he had fully recovered his HP, FP and SP.
"Wow! That was good!"
After finishing the delicious apple, the heroes took the right pathway into a small area with a Save Block. Nearby was a small tree that appeared to be metallic rather than normal. This surprised the eight, not seeing a tree like that in the area. Not only that, but some music could be heard echoing through that forest.
"Is that music playing?" Chopper wondered. "It sure is loud..."
"But it sounds pretty cool," Sonic smirked, hearing the sound of the rock music. "But I don't think it sounds right in a peaceful forest like this."
"I bet Robo Chopper's playing it. Only one way to find out..." Chopper ran on ahead to a short pathway leading to a metallic base, while there was a path nearby leading elsewhere. Getting a glimpse of the pathway, there appeared to be a shining light coming from it. "That way leads out of the forest... Weird..."
"Well, well, well! If it isn't my good friend Sonic the Hedgehog!" Looking up, everyone caught a glimpse of Eggman slowly descending to the heroes on his Egg Mobile.
"Is that a talking egg?" Chopper gawked.
"Yeah, he's a talking egg all right," Sonic grinned. "I like to call him Eggman!"
Obviously Eggman was not amused. "Grrrrr! See, this is why I hate you, Sonic! That annoying attitude of yours really gets on my nerves! ...However, I will not let that get in my way. Ahem!" Eggman cleared his throat. "You see, Sonic… Since those two dumbots failed to defeat you and claim that map, it appears I have to take care of this myself."
"Oh, really? Why don't you kindly?"
"Gladly," Eggman grinned as he pressed a button on a remote in his hand. A large, orange robot with some red armor plating and two blasters appeared before them. He flew into the robot and gained control of it, causing the cockpit to glow. "Nyah ha ha ha ha ha! Now you're in for something, Sonic! First I'll destroy you and then that map will be all MINE!"
"Does he not know that you don't carry that map?" Bombette whispered.
"He probably doesn't," Chopper snickered, not realizing that everyone could hear him. "He doesn't even know that I have the map!"
"Is that so?" Eggman smirked, the Egg Trooper aiming a blaster down at Chopper. "Well then... You will hand it over immediately!"
"Not a chance! You don't scare me!"
"I thought you'd say that! How about I force it out of you then! You will get to experience the true power of the Egg Troo-"
"Yeah yeah yeah! Let's just get on with the fight already!" Chopper groaned. "You're probably the sixtieth person who says that kind of line!"
"Very well, then... Egg Trooper! Go!"
Tattle: That's Dr. Eggman…but this book says he's named Dr. Robotnik... Max HP is 110, Attack is 10, and Defense is 1. This robot will attack with its blasters and missiles and that's it. This thing is kinda…meh. Nothing really special about it. To be honest, Eggman DOES remind me of an egg for some reason. It's actually pretty funny how he gets annoyed with it!
"We need to lower this robot's defense if we're going to deal some heavy damage against it," Shadower informed. "Let me lower the Egg Trooper's defense and then you guys just chip it down until its defense comes back up."
"Sounds like a good idea! Go for it, Shadower!" Sonic smirked. Shadower gave him a nod and delivered a Shadow Punch to the Egg Trooper, dealing 5 damage and reducing its defense to 0. Eggman noticed this and was not pleased.
With that, Chopper ran up to the Egg Trooper and jumped on the cockpit, angering Eggman even more.
"Grrrrr! Get a load of THIS!" Eggman pressed a button and the Egg Trooper fired a laser at Sonic to deal 10 damage. Thankfully, he managed to stand up to the attack just fine and shook off the hit.
"You honestly think a simple laser's gonna hurt me? Ha! You're too overconfident, Eggman!" Sonic smirked as he jumped in a ball and used his Homing Attack on Eggman, knocking the robot back.
"Ow! You little…" Eggman grumbled before he got hit by Chopper's Spin Jump. The Egg Trooper grabbed Chopper and threw him back at Sonic. Afterward, the Egg Trooper created a pole that contained a green button on each end. A green barrier was created around the robot.
"Ha HA ha! See if you can make it through here, Sonic!" Eggman cackled. "You better act quickly or you'll be blasted!"
"Oh, Eggman… Sometimes you just pull off some of the stupidest things! It just makes this more enjoyable!" Sonic grinned, attacking both buttons with a Homing Attack, shattering the barrier. He managed to pull off a Stylish while breaking the shield and even attacked Eggman's cockpit while at it. "So much for an I.Q. of 300!"
Eggman's face was now starting to redden. It only got worse when Chopper became Bomb Chopper and tossed a bomb at the Egg Trooper, making Eggman see a couple of explosions coming from outside the robot.
Mario: Some invention he's got!
"GRRRR! I'm not done yet!" Eggman growled, pressing another button and making a laser beam that fired at everyone. It was pretty deadly, dealing 12 damage to all of them. "Oh ho ho ho! How did you like that?!"
Though Chopper was slightly panting, he was not giving up. He took out the Queen's Star and held it up above him. "OK, Queen's Star! Do your thing!"
"What is that? So those are the Crystal Stars? Interesting... I can use those to-" Eggman was cut off when he saw some purple, demonic hands rise from the ground and grab a hold of the robot. He tried pressing buttons to fight off them, but it didn't appear to be doing anything. The Egg Trooper ended up losing 17 HP in the end, and Chopper gained that amount.
"Whoa... What was that?" Sonic gawked.
"Rampage," Chopper answered. "It's useful, but it's kinda creepy..."
"Argh... You may have done some serious damage to my robot, but the fight is far from over! Take this!" Pressing another button, Eggman made the Egg Trooper shoot two lasers. They fired directly at Chopper and Sonic, but they both guarded it and took 9 damage instead.
"Wow, Eggy! You're actually putting up more of a fight! Took you long enough!" Sonic taunted. "I thought this fight would be boring the whole way through!"
"And THIS is how I'm going to make it interesting!" Chopper smirked, pulling out a Big Bomb and throwing it at Eggman. He gaped before the Egg Trooper was caught in the explosion and had lost 7 HP. Meanwhile, Sonic shot himself at the Egg Trooper and brought it down to 45 HP.
"That's it! Time for the machine guns!" Eggman growled, allowing the Egg Trooper to fire repeated shots at the heroes. They all guarded each shot and took a minimal of 5 damage. "Drat! ...Oh well. It's not my most useful attack."
Chopper ran up to Eggman once again and dropped a bomb right by the Egg Trooper's feet. It had suffered some serious damage from the explosion, and adding Bombette's Bomb to it brought the Egg Trooper to 35 HP.
"Very well! If you insist, I shall make this more frustrating for you all! Go, missiles!" Eggman pressed an orange button and summoned four missiles. Two of them fired at Sonic and deal 14 damage.
"Oof! Not bad, Eggman..." Sonic panted.
"Excellent! Just keep at it like that so I can finish you! My other missiles can do the rest..."
"Art Attack!" Chopper cried.
"Art Attack?" Eggman gawked before noticing a circle being drawn around him and his missiles. They took 3 damage each time, and after six circles, Eggman's mech had taken 18 damage. "Argh! You little! I'll get you for destroying my missiles!"
While Eggman was getting angry, Kirby floated above the Egg Trooper and dropped onto it as a stone, doing 7 damage and bringing him down to 10 HP.
"Gah! Low HP already?!" Eggman gaped. "This is not over yet!"
"Oh, I think so," Sonic smirked, guarding a laser blast Eggman fired. "Go ahead and make your move, Chopper! I'll finish this Egghead afterward!"
"You've got it!" Chopper smirked, taking out a bomb and hurling it at the Egg Trooper's cockpit. Once it was down to 5 HP, Sonic ran up to the robot, leaped in the air, and struck it with a Homing Attack to create sparks that came out from the Egg Trooper. He performed a Stylish move while at it.
"No… NO! I can't lose…" Eggman yelled.
Unfortunately for him, his robot exploded, resulting in Chopper getting 37 Star Points. The result of the explosion had caused him to crash onto the floor, covered in soot. Sonic decided to walk up to him and add more insult to injury.
"Looks like we just scrambled the egg!" Sonic smirked.
"Hey! I was going to say that!" Chopper frowned.
"Urgh… You'll regret this, Sonic..." Eggman groaned, facing the floor. "You may have won, but I'll still be back. This isn't the end…"
Before he could say anything else, he fell unconscious, which was a first for Sonic. Chopper, however, was curious and poked Eggman with a stick, receiving a groan.
"Whoa now, Chop! Let's not do that." Sonic suggested, taking the stick from him. "I think Eggman's learned his lesson for now. We've got a bigger problem on our hand!"
"Yeah, I guess so," Chopper agreed. "C'mon! Let's go stop Robo Chopper, get that Crystal Star and get Berry back!"
With that, they took off, leaving the unconscious Eggman behind. Little did they know that he was slowly getting up and leaving the forest in his Egg Mobile, however.
"Oh, I'll get them next time..." Eggman muttered. "I'll build something even greater and crush Sonic and his friends! They will finally bow down to-"
CRASH!
The last thing Eggman saw before becoming unconscious was a tree in his way.
That Scratch and Grounder battle was certainly an entertaining one to write! :D