Chapter 12: Road to Space Colony ARK

The Sonic Team flew to Egypt as fast as they could. They needed to find a hidden base as soon as possible before Eggman could activate the Ark. They needed to find a way to travel to the Ark before it became too late.

In this desert area, Rouge stood there using binoculars. She was searching carefully for any sign of life, hoping to find someone who could point him in the right direction towards the place where Sonic had said he knew a safe landing spot. But there were no life forms around that seemed like it belonged here. Not even animals. There was nothing but sand and rocks everywhere.

Then a blue biplane approached across the sky coming from the north direction. Its outline was unmistakable: a young fox carrying Sonic crew members on board. Rouge spoke to the walkie-talkie.

"Shadow! They're in that blue plane, spotted at 11 o'clock!" said Rouge.

"Copy that. I'm in pursuit," said Shadow through the walkie-talkie.

Then he headed off in the direction where the plane was leading, there was a pyramid at the distance that looked like it would lead them to the destination. He stopped there and watched the plane go down into the desert area. He spoke to Dr. Eggman through the walkie-talkie.

"Doctor, they're heading directly towards us. What should we do?" asked Shadow.

"Just sit tight. I've got them on my radar. There's no way they can get away. I don't know what they're planning, but I'll be sure to give them a warm welcome," said Eggman, smirking evilly.

*Meanwhile*

The Sonic team arrived at the desert area where the plane landed. The sun beat against their bodies, making it harder to breathe. They dismounted the plane and looked around at the surroundings. It appeared to be completely deserted.

"Here we are at Egypy. Boy, it is hot out here!" said Tails as he looked up at the hot sun.

"Yeah, that doesn't look promising. We'd better start looking quickly for something that might hide us in a cave nearby," said Sonic.

He shielded his hand over his eyes scanning around the area. Suddenly his vision was interrupted by a triangular building, it was a pyramid from the distance.

"Inside that pyramid?" asked Sonic.

"I saw Eggman go inside that pyramid and more importantly, I saw that bat girl go inside with him. as well. You saw them, too, right?" asked Knuckles.

Amy nodded, "Yes, I did. That's where we have to head. Let's try to find an entrance to the secret base."

"She's right. We should be able to get into outer space from there. I have no idea what this space colony is all about, but I'll find and destroy that cannon, and then kick their asses!" said Sonic.

"Alright!" said Knuckles.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles led the way while Amy was left behind.

"Wait for me, guys!" Amy shouted as unpacked her bag to pick out her big, pink water jug. She drank water that she had to stay hydrated before running in the hot sun.

"Ah, good thing I bring water with me," she said as she ran after them.

After that, they were inside that pyramid building, finding stairs going underground, and following the voices echoing through the pyramid walls, until they reached an intersection, which led to a large room. At the opposite end of the room was another pyramid with another corridor leading up. It was dark, the torches lit only by orange light.

"Whoa, this place is huge. Maybe we found something important?" asked Amy. She looked around cautiously, waiting for some sort of danger or trap to pop out at her. Then she looked at the walls, trying to read the symbols engraved along them.

"What are these?" she asked.

"They look Egyptian," answered Sonic. He studied them for a little bit and then turned to his friends. "These are hieroglyphics, from ancient Egypt.''

"Ancient Egypt? Is this an old tomb or something?" asked Tails.

"I learned them from school. Apparently, there used to be an ancient race called Egyptians, but now they disappeared, so we probably aren't talking about them anymore. Now, come on. Let's look further," said Sonic as he led the way deeper into the maze of tunnels. They walked and walked and still didn't find anything useful. Finally, Sonic stopped abruptly at the door, there was the Eggman logo engraved on it.

"Looks like we're heading toward the center of the base," said Tails.

"That egghead sure loves mechanical things, doesn't he? I bet he has one or two spaceships lying around here somewhere," said Sonic.

"The door is locked. We need a key to get in there," said Tails.

"Not a problem, we can find it, right, Knuckles?" asked Sonic.

"Huh? Me? Why do I have to find a key?" asked Knuckles, clearly confused.

"Because we're counting on you, buddy! The world's greatest treasure hunter!" exclaimed Sonic. He smiled and gave Knuckles a thumbs up.

"Well, alright! I'm going to find it," said Knuckles.

*15 minutes later*

Knuckles came back to his friends and he had found the key underground. After unlocking the door, Knuckles opened it wide enough for them to pass in front of him. "All right! Come on, let's see if there's anything valuable here," said Knuckles as they all went deeper into the room. There was a rocket in the hidden base, they were astounded at its size, and the power of its energy system. Amy and Tails smiled and laughed in excitement.

"This is it! We found the rocket!" exclaimed Amy happily.

"Amy, we did it!" exclaimed Tails.

Amy and Tails hugged each other and jumped up and down with joy. "We're going to Space Colony!" screamed Amy as she hugged Tails tighter. Sonic chuckled and Knuckles crossed his arms with a smile.

"You little thieves! Do you really think you can get out of here alive?" They turned around where the voice came from. It was Eggman.

"EGGMAN!" they all yelled in unison.

"This time, I'll take your lives as well as Chaos Emerald. I call on you to destroy these pests. Come out, my servant!" Eggman ordered. A ground rumbled underneath their feet, making the Sonic team stumbled. A rocky giant hand came out of the hole.

Sonic gasped in horror. Then the rock body came out of the hole entirely. He stared at a monster as big as a mountain, it opened its eyes glow red in anger, as if ready to attack.

"What the hell is that?!" screamed Knuckles.

"Oh, crap! This is not good! You guys ahead go to the spaceship! I'll take care of that rock guy!" yelled Sonic.

"No! You will no take care of that thing by yourself!" shouted Amy.

"Amy, you've gotta trust me! You have to leave! You won't make it out alive!" replied Sonic.

"Are you sure?" asked Tails, who was frightened by what he was seeing.

"I'll be okay. Don't worry about me. Just go!" yelled Sonic as he charged at the golem.

"SONIC!" screamed Amy, her hand reaching out.

"C'mon! We gotta go!" yelled Knuckles, grabbing Amy's arm and pulling her away. As Amy was leaving, she glanced over her shoulder at Sonic who was facing the rock monster alone.

"Hey, rock guy! If you wanna fight, then fight! But let me warn ya, I am the greatest hero the universe has ever known!" Sonic bellowed with a loud battle cry.

The golem raised its fist and slammed on the center, but Sonic dodged it in the nick of time by leaping away to the side. As he moved forward, he was trying to find a weak spot on the golem's body when he saw something shining on the top of its head. With lightning speed, he ran up to the creature and grabbed ahold of the red pearl with both hands. In his grip, the creature lifted upward and threw him backward into the floor where it crashed hard. Once again he was sent flying in the air and landed heavily on the floor on his stomach. His breath was knocked out of his lungs.

"Son of a... Bitch!" groaned painfully Sonic.

Sonic weakly stood up holding his broken ribs. He took a deep breath in and breathed out loudly. Slowly, he regained his composer and began to concentrate his power. He slowly closed his eyes as his body glowed blue, the sound of buzzing and crackling, and the electricity surged through his body. His eyes widened open, and his irises glowed blue.

The golem slammed the azure hedgehog, but with lightning speed, Sonic dodged easily out of the way and ran in the direction the golem had just been thrown. Once he got there, Sonic launched himself at the beast and landed hard on its head breaking the red pearl. The golem staggered backward and fell on its face, unmoving, and completely immobilized.

Sonic rose to his feet. He panted, breathing deeply, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His whole body ached, and he collapsed to the ground all four, exhausted. His blue aura glowed down to his normal state.

He cracked one eye open and glared hatefully at the unconscious giant golem.

"Now that wasn't so difficult…" he whispered.

Inside the rocket, Tails began to activate the rocket's engines while Amy sat next to him, her face filled with worry that Sonic was going to come back.

"Is Sonic going to be okay?" asked Amy, anxiously.

"He'll be fine. He said he will catch up to us soon," said Tails.

"I hope he hurries up and defeats that monster," said Amy.

Tails started the engine, the fire began to ablaze from the nozzles preparing to liftoff. Knuckles fastened his seatbelt and looked over at Amy.

"Don't worry. Sonic will be here," said Knuckles.

Amy was about to say something, she turned her head to the window that the blue figure coming to the rocket. It was Sonic!

"You guys, it's Sonic! Sonic is here!" exclaimed Amy, happily.

"So he is!" exclaimed Tails.

The computer's male voice began the countdown.

"Prepare to liftoff. 10... 9... 8..."

Sonic hurried through the rocket door, ignoring the pain in his body. He had to go Tails quickly before the rocket departed.

"7... 6... 5..."

Sonic made it to the rocket and quickly sat down in his seat and fastened his seatbelt.

"4... 3... 2... 1... 0."

Suddenly, the rocket ignited and lifted off the ground, soaring into the sky above the Eggman base, high above the city, and then disappearing into the blackness of space. Sonic gazed upon the moon that shone brightly in the night sky. He felt content and happy. He closed his eyes for a brief moment until his eyes slowly opened.

"You okay, Sonic? Did you beat that rock guy?" asked Tails.

"Yeah, totally," answered Sonic.

"Well, that's good. Now, we don't have to worry about Eggman anymore," said Tails.

"Yeah, I guess that's true," replied Sonic. He sighed quietly. "Look, I know this sounds cheesy, but thank you for waiting for me. Without you guys, I would've missed the rocket launch and wouldn't have gotten back here in time to stop the ship from taking off," said Sonic, giving Tails a warm smile.

"It's nothing," answered Tails.

"You're awfully hurt, Sonic. Are you okay?" asked Amy.

"Yeah, just got thrown against a wall," lied Sonic, trying to convince them.

"I can mend your wound if you want," offered Amy.

"Uhh, sure," answered Sonic. "But don't do anything crazy."