Chapter 46: Deception
"Hey, Tails!" Sonic shouted as the Tornado 2 landed on a butte that overlooked Rail Canyon. "How much time do we have to destroy the Ultimate Weapon?"
"Till sunset!" Tails responded, shutting down the plane's battery which was powered by the Cyan Chaos Emerald they found at Ocean Palace. "If my calculations are correct, we should find Dr. Eggman at Bullet Station which is down this canyon."
"So how do we get there?" Knuckles asked as he stepped out of the plane.
"The rails!" Tails exclaimed, pointing to a set of three rails that began at the edge of the butte and continued along the cliff-sides of the canyon walls. "It'll be a lot faster that way since the canyon's too narrow for the Tornado 2."
"All right, then let's go!" Sonic said, and hopped onto the nearest rail.
Knuckles followed his example while Tails took the Cyan Emerald from the engine and caught up to Sonic afterwards.
###
"Shouldn't I let my mom know that we're here?" Cream asked as she flew Amy and Big up to the butte where the Tornado 2 was parked.
"Not until I catch up to Sonic," Amy responded.
"But he said he didn't kidnap our friends," Big said.
"I know, but I'm now starting to think that maybe Eggman took Froggy and Chocola instead of Sonic," replied Amy.
"That would make sense," Cream agreed. "But what would he need a frog and a Chao for?"
"How should I know? I'm not an evil genius," Amy said dismissively. "If we can beat Eggman, we'll not only get our friends back but also Sonic will adore me for sure!"
###
"This has to be the place," Rouge the Bat said, running her hand along the Tornado 2's side. "Sonic and his friends have clearly been through here already."
"Then we'll follow their trail," Shawn said and slid onto the middle rail. "If they're after Eggman as well, we need to hurry if we want to kidnap him. I need to know how I ended up in that pod and who Shadow is."
"After we capture Eggman, can I destroy him afterwards?" Omega asked, following Shawn's lead.
"Yes, you may do what you like to him," Shawn answered as his voice got lower.
Rouge saw the same black aura that nearly enveloped Shawn back in Grand Metropolis envelop him again as he glided along the rails with expert ease and occasionally warped ahead to take care of enemy robots.
###
"I can see why our client told us to come here," Espio wondered looking around the canyon as he, Vector, and Charmy were riding one of Eggman's armored trains a ways down after defeating most of the robots onboard. "This place is crawling with Badniks."
"You said it," Charmy said as he sighed from exhaustion.
"We're not done yet, Charmy," Vector said. "We've still got several miles to go before we reach Bullet Station. That's where I client said Dr. Eggman should be."
Charmy groaned in response. "My wings are tired, Vector, and my stinger feels weak."
"Quit complaining," Espio said taking some more shuriken blades out of his pockets. "The sooner we nab Dr. Eggman, the quicker we get paid."
That comment made Vector stretch his arms and crack his knuckles before he stepped off the train onto the rails while Charmy and Espio followed him.
###
Eventually, Sonic and the boys found themselves at Bullet Station where Eggman came flying in the Egg Albatross which was the Egg Hawk attached to a blimp.
"You must be running out of ideas if you're attaching your old ships to blimps," Sonic said in Eggman's direction.
"It's called being resourceful, Sonic!" Eggman shouted back. "And this thing packs more of a punch than the old model."
"We'll see about that," Knuckles said curling his fists as he ran.
Dr. Eggman just laughed in response and started firing the Egg Albatross' cannons.
###
At an identical Egg Albatross further back, Shawn was confronted by a version of himself with slanted red pupils, white gloved hands, black hedgehog ears and a matching tail. Before he could question it, the other Shawn warped and kicked him the gut. This in turn forced Shawn to fight the imposter, while Rouge carried Omega up to the top of the blimp where he proceeded to punch through it. The blimp immediately deflated, and a gaping hole was left in the Egg Hawk. Eggman tried to escape in the Egg Mobile but Omega caught up to him and removed Eggman's head from his body, revealing it to be dummy head attached to a spring.
As the dummy head of Eggman laughed in response, Shawn had twisted the neck of the imposter and sparks flew as it fell to the ground. For a brief second, the black aura returned and hedgehog ears appeared on Shawn's head. Rouge noticed and immediately flew down.
"Are you okay, Shawn?" Rouge asked.
The black aura subsided, and Shawn sighed. "I'm fine. Let's catch up to Eggman before he gets too far."
"Shawn, wait!" Rouge said, but Shawn was already down the rails toward the canyon's end.
"Why have you not told him the truth?" Omega asked, appearing behind Rouge.
"Because I don't know if he can handle it," Rouge answered. "Having been asleep for fifty years has hit him pretty hard, though he doesn't want to admit it, and so if I told him about what happened while he was possessed by Shadow he would be devastated."
"If that black aura indicates Shadow's awakening as you claim, then it won't be long before Shawn finds out."
"Then we'd better hurry," Rouge said and flew down along the rails to catch up to Shawn while Omega did the same.
###
"Wait a second," Sonic said raising an eyebrow. "The Eggman we fought was a dummy?"
"You thought you had me cornered this time, didn't you?" the fake Eggman said as its spring-loaded head popped out. "Well you were wrong! I brought you to this place to stall for time as my Egg Fleet launched with the Ultimate Weapon and there's nothing you can do to stop it!"
"Sonic, look!" Tails said, pointing to a wave of black shadows that temporarily blotted out the setting sun as they made their way eastward.
"We're too late!" Knuckles exclaimed in anger. "Now Eggman will be able to conquer the world with that Ultimate Weapon of his."
Sonic watched the Egg Fleet fly overhead and curled his fists. "Not if we can help it!"
"Yeah, we shouldn't give up just because we missed the deadline," Tails agreed. "We've come too far to back down now!"
"If we hurry, we'll catch up to the Egg Fleet in no time!" Sonic said and ran toward the rails at the end of Bullet Station. "So let's go!"
"But Sonic, what about the Tornado 2?" Tails asked.
"Leave it!" Knuckles said as he followed Sonic. "Going back for it would only delay our progress."
Tails was about to speak, but in the end he decided to say nothing and flew into the air.
###
"Curses!" Amy shouted, kicking the fake Eggman in the Egg Albatross' wreckage over and over again. "This Eggman was just a phony!"
"Poor Cheese," Cream said as she tried to comfort the sad Chao. "I hope Chocola's okay."
"And Froggy," Big said.
Amy looked up at the sky as the Egg Fleet flew over and said, "Those have got to be Eggman's ships, and I bet that's where our friends are."
"You really think so?" Cream said, following Amy's gaze.
"Course I'm sure, now let's get moving!" Amy said and took off with her friends following her lead.
###
"Aw, come on," Charmy whined as the Eggman in the wrecked Egg Mobile popped its spring-loaded head and laughed maniacally. "We were so close!"
"This seems a little too elaborate for Eggman to me," Espio said.
"Should I call our client to let him know?" Vector said, reluctantly holding up the walkie-talkie.
"What's going on? Did you find Dr. Eggman and destroy the weapons onboard the Egg Albatross?" the voice on the walkie-talkie said, surprising Vector.
"We found Eggman and destroyed the Albatross, but the Eggman we fought turned out to be fake," Vector said hesitantly.
"As I expected him to be," the voice replied.
"So you knew the Eggman we've been following was fake the whole time?" Espio said irritably, taking the walkie-talkie away from Vector. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I had to be sure, now listen carefully," the voice said. "There's a large jungle east of here. Go through it, and then you'll find Hang Castle which will teleport you to Mystic Mansion and from there you'll be able to get up to the Egg Fleet where the real Dr. Eggman will be waiting."
"Got it!" Vector said, and pressed the off-button on the walkie-talkie.
"So we're going to a jungle next?" Charmy asked. "Can't we go around it?"
"It's the only way we get to Hang Castle," Vector replied. "And I'm not letting that paycheck get away from me."
"Paycheck?" Charmy wondered as Vector headed off in the direction of the Egg Fleet.
"He's referring to Dr. Eggman," Espio answered.
###
Up and down along Bullet Station, the four fake Eggman dummies melted into puddles of gray liquid that came together into a single form that resembled Sonny except with metal spikes and skin.
"Life-form data copied," the Sonny lookalike said. "Now to proceed to Phase Three of my plan to destroy Sonic the Hedgehog once and for all."
To be continued…