The air tasted like smoke and a mixture of chemicals as it flew over their bodies. The Chemical Plant Zone? The clouds they fell through left them sticky and coughing. We are going to die, was on both of their minds as they free fell to the blurry ground waiting below.
Sally tried to come up with a plan before they were both destroyed by whatever lay below, but most of her concentration was focused on not screaming and panicking. Shit! Shit! Shit! She couldn't face this with rational thought. It was impossible.
Amy screamed at the top of her lungs as they plunged through the poisoned air. Her mind was blank the moment she realized that this was it. This was not an opponent she could concur; this was staring death in the face.
The clouds broke and the ground came into complete view as it grew closer. Sally finally came to her senses, tucking her arms to her sides and pressing her legs together. Sally had a plan. She aimed toward Amy as she gained speed. They collided violently, throwing the two of them to the left sharply. Amy clung to Sally desperately as her screaming died away due to her voice failing. Sally shouted, "Hold your breath!" Before Amy could respond the thick air disappeared.
Both of their eyes stung before shutting at the intense burning of the thin chemical liquid surrounding them. Amy and Sally broke their desperate embrace and swam violently to the surface. They coughed for the bitter air as they tread the chemicals. They swam toward land after gaining their sight and semi-normal breathing again. Crawling onto shore they both collapsed into the gravel like sand. The chemicals burned their entire bodies, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Amy breathed heavily as she drifted into unconsciousness. I'm . . . still alive . . . It took all of her strength to turn to look at Sally. "Sally," She groaned out the name as her sight went black.
Sally rose from the ground despite her body arguing against it. She crawled to Amy and lightly nudged her shoulder. She's fainted. The fall, chemicals, and stress were too much for her. Sally whipped her head around at the area around them to try and guess where they were.
High walls made of concrete surrounded them. The way the walls started and ended varied. Some were higher than others; some were longer and thicker. They were almost completely covered with vines and smeared mud from age. What is this, a maze? That sick bastard, he's toying with us. The chemical lake was surrounded by these walls and by piles of rubble made of various metals. Sally noted that the piles were actually made from destroyed and broken badniks. Where are we? In some kind of Eggman land dump? . . . Shit.
Sally looked back at her unconscious friend. This is not a good place to rest. We are in the open and weak. She struggled to her feet on her trembling legs. Snap out of it Sally! People are depending on you! Amy's depending on you! Pull yourself together! Sally looked over her body for damage. There were no extreme injures besides bruising and the chemicals burning at her skin. We need to find some kind of water source to wash these chemicals off. She knelt in front of Amy and looked her over as well. She was fairly sure that Amy had only the same damage as herself. She took Amy in her arms bridal style to move on to a, hopefully, safer area and water source. Please wake up soon, Amy, because I stand correct, I need you with me.
Meanwhile with the remaining Freedom Fighters at HQ.
"What do ya mean ya couldn't follow them!?" Bunnie shouted at Tails because of his early return. "Yer in a bi-plane and the Death Egg is the damn size of a small moon!" Bunnie was frightened and frustrated. She was losing her best friend all over again and this time Amy as well. She looked just about ready to strangle Tails with her robot arm.
Antione broke in and came between his wife and Tails. "Bunnie, Tails is doing his best, calm down. Let ze boy explain himself." He put his hand on her shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze.
Tails gave Antione a grateful look. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't follow them. The Death Egg continued to release flying badniks on me. The Tornado took a lot of damage and the engine was failing because of it. I'm surprised I could even make it back." Tails hung his head. He had actually considered abandoning the Tornado and chase the Death Egg using his helicopter like flying tails.
Rotor rose from his chair and approached the small fox. "Tails, where's Sonic?"
The rest of the Freedom Fighters swung their heads around, but there was no sign of the speedy blue hedgehog. They had been too focused on Tails to notice that Sonic hadn't returned yet.
"He wouldn't follow me," Tails spoke softly. "I told him I had to go back through our watch communicators, but he said he was going to keep chasing the Death Egg from the ground. He can keep up with it, but Eggman kept releasing more badniks to slow him down."
"Even if he can stay with it, there's no way for him to attack it from the ground. What happens if Eggman goes over the ocean or something? We need an air vehicle before we can come up with a rescue plan." Nicole spoke from the computer monitor on the wall. "Tails, do you have anything other than the Tornado that can fly and is operational?"
Tails thought for a moment, considering the question. "I have the Hover-Cam in my workshop, but it hasn't been used since the Kingdom of Acorn used it to travel into hostile areas and record valuable information. They gave it to me since they believed it was no longer needed. It is still working, just needs to be dusted off, although, it can't go as high as the Tornado." Tails flattened his ears on his head in embarrassment that he didn't have any else that may have been more useful. I need to build another plane or something. Rotor shook his head in amusement at the young fox. "Well, it's all we've got so it will have to do." Rotor stopped for a moment then snapped his fingers as if a brilliant idea had come to him. "Wait! Tails, do you think you and I could fix the Hover-Cam up? Maybe we could alter it a bit so it'll be ready for a mission like this." Rotor after all was a pretty good engineer himself.
A wide smile appeared on Tail's muzzle. "Yeah, that's a great idea! It will be like old times, us working on inventions together again. Come on let's get started so Egghead doesn't get to big of a head start." Tails followed by Rotor ran out of the room toward the workshop.
"When I guess, Sonic, can tell us the location of the Death Egg when they finish. C'mon, Sugar, let's make ourselves useful and gather up supplies for the mission." Bunnie nudged her husband before heading to the weaponry with Antione at her heels.
Cream looked around at the now empty room then looked at her loyal chao, Cheese. "What are we going to do to help?" She spoke softly and sounded disappointed that they hadn't been given a job.
Nicole, who was still on the monitor, spoke making the small rabbit and chao flinch in surprise. "I know what you can do, Cream. You're a good cook. Why don't you make us all lunch? We're all so busy it seems everybody's forgotten they have to eat." Nicole smiled at the young girl, knowing that her passion was cooking and baking just like her mother.
Cream brightened up instantly and gave a squeal of joy. "I can do that! Cheese and I won't let you down, Miss Nicole!" She jumped up and down in excitement.
"I'm sure Big would be happy to have something helpful to do as well. Why don't you get him to be your helper with the cooking since your cooking for all of us?" Nicole wanted to make sure Cream didn't hurt herself cooking so it seemed like a good idea to have Big watching her.
Cream stopped jumping at darted out of the room toward the kitchen with Cheese. "Thank you, Miss Nicole!"
From the bunk rooms Nicole could hear, "Mister Big, we have work to do, you must wake up!" Nicole smiled at this. Now she had her own things to get to, but first she had to check on Sonic. She connected her communicator to his. "Sonic, its Nicole come in!"
Running through the Aquatic Ruin Zone, Sonic continued to chase the Death Egg. He hadn't been in this part of Mobius in years and he'd been running for four hours straight at around seventy miles per hour just to stay in the Death Egg's shadow.
He had almost drowned at least twice. It was much easier running through this the first time with Tails. His body was bruised and beaten up because of the countless battles and his stomach was growling at him. I can't remember the last time I ate something. Ugh. Damnit Eggman, can't you see that no matter what you do we will always win so stop fucking trying!
The watch on his wrist lit up and Nicole's face appeared on it. "Sonic, its Nicole come in!"
Sonic smirked. "Hey, Nicole, please tell he you guys have a plan! I'm still on the Death Egg, but it hasn't stopped once from what I can see. I lost it for about an hour when I got held up by a fleet of badniks that appeared out of nowhere." He speed dashed through a badnik in his path.
"We do have a plan," Nicole stated with a smile. "But it's going to take some time, though. As you know the Tornado is unable to fly at the moment so Rotor and Tails are fixing up the old Hover-Cam. We'll have to catch up to you and that may take a while as well . . . Wait, you lost the Death Egg for an hour?" Nicole's smile disappeared and sounded concerned.
Sonic glanced at his watch. "I did, but Eggman couldn't go anywhere and come back again in that little time. Right?" A wall broke in front of him and a Grounder badnik charged at him. He dodged it without dotting an eye then he destroyed it with his homing attack.
"Actually, it is possible that he could have considering the speeds the Death Egg has. Also Eggman has many escape pods and flying badniks. He could have taken Sally and Amy anywhere in an hour if he really wanted too." Nicole droned with a thoughtful look.
"Fuck," Sonic cursed in frustration. "Well, what are we going do now!? They could be anywhere!"
"Well, don't panic! We can't lose our heads. Sally and Amy are depending on us and I'm sure the two of them are probably already have a plan of escape. Just keep following the Death Egg and updating us. We'll be there soon to back you up, Sonic, just hang in there." Nicole was sympathetic for the blue hedgehog. She had never seen him this desperate before.
"Ok," Sonic panted out as he dodged a flying arrow that had come out of an ivy covered column. It was surprising that all the abandoned badniks and traps were still operational after all these years. "I'll keep at it, but you guys better move your butts cuz I'm hungry." As if on cue his stomach growled.
Nicole laughed. "Of course, we'll bring you something to munch on, Sonic. I must go and help finish with preparations, but I'll check on you in an hour. If you have any trouble call us right away."
"You got it Nicole and thanks," Sonic breathed out heavily with relief, feeling reinsured again.
Nicole's face disappeared with a "Goodbye" and he was alone again. He hated this to be honest. He was beyond tired, his stomach was eating itself, and . . . all of his friends were so many miles away. Please be alright . . . They have to be. For the first time in his life his legs were burning, urging him to stop. Sal and Ames are fine. They have to be. He glared at the sky station above him. You will pay for this. You won't get away this time. He smiled as his realized he was coming to the end of the Aquatic Ruin Zone. Finally, it should be easier to follow him now. He argued with his body and picked up speed. They're alright. They have to be.
All the while Eggman watched Sonic chasing his Death Egg's shadow from below. "Foolish rodent, you've already lost." He felt victorious as his plan finally came together.
"Shall I put him out of his misery, Sir," Metal Sonic's robotic voice filled the air.
"Yes, wear him down some more, Metal Sonic. Give him a good beating, but don't kill him. I want that blue rodent to suffer for all he's caused me. I want to destroy his hope a little at a time." Eggman didn't look at his right-hand robot, still staring at the blue spot below them.
"Yes, Sir," Metal Sonic said coldly before making his way to the hanger on the other side of the sky station.
"You're going beg for the lives of your pathetic friends by the time I'm done with you, foul hedgehog. This time there is no way I can lose." Eggman said lowly as he turned his attention to his monitors. He'd noticed the Princess was on the move with the pink hedgehog in her arms. "Oh, Princess, your courage is honorable, but this is a battle you will not survive.
Thanks for reading. I realize this story is kinda dark, but I think it's better that way. I hope ya'll enjoyed it and are finding it interesting. Also I'm grateful for comments.