Chapter 10: A Daring Escape

At Tails' workshop…

Knuckles winced and struggled to open his eyes. The light was dim, but his migraine made it seem almost blinding. Even the tiniest sound was near deafening to him.

Knuckles sat up, gripping his head and groaning. He felt as if his brain was swirling around in his skull like an egg yolk inside its shell. Fighting through the pain, he opened his eyes and looked around

"Tails' workshop? How did…?"

Knuckles trailed off and furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember what happened. He sifted through his memories, but they were fuzzy, like pictures out of focus. The last thing he remembered clearly was that giant robot slugging him across the face and blacking out.

"Wait, the Master Emerald shards!"

Knuckles hastily summoned the Emerald shards in his possession. To his relief, they were all still with him. While it was strange that the shards would disappear soon after he collected them, he couldn't deny that it was very convenient. They may not be seen, but he could sense their energy around him.

Though Knuckles didn't know why this happened, he didn't care enough to question it. The Emerald shards were safe, and that was good enough for him.

With a deep exhale, Knuckles dismissed them.

"Good. Now, I'm guessing Sonic and Tails brought me here. But where are they?"

As soon as he voiced the question, Knuckles saw a small slip of paper on the table. He got up off the couch, staggering for a moment as his sense of balance was unstable. When the feeling had passed, he walked over to the table and picked up the note.

Though the handwriting was sloppy, Knuckles was able to read the message.

"Knuckles,

We went after Eggman. Keep looking for the Master Emerald shards.

Sonic"

"I see," said Knuckles. "No jokes either. Things are definitely getting serious. I need to find the rest of the Master Emerald. I've lost too much time already."

On the Egg Carrier…

Tails crawled through the ventilation ducts of the Egg Carrier, looking through every grate he came across, and being mindful any possible alarm. He knew that ducts were the best secret passages because of how easily security in them gets overlooked.

He also knew that Eggman would probably be aware of that as well. He couldn't let his guard down. Not until he had found a safe way off the ship.

He had considered flying off, but the winds around the Carrier were too strong. Not to mention, all those turrets. He was already vulnerable to their attacks simply by being on the main deck. Without a plane to combat them, he'd be shot down in a second. The best thing he could do was sneak through the Carrier and find some kind of escape pod.

As Tails came upon another grate, a loud noise of fanfare blared, making him recoil and cover his ears. When it stopped, a voice cleared its throat.

"Ahem. Attention, E-Series robots!"

"Eggman!" Tails exclaimed under his breath.

He peered out of the grate and saw a large room. At the far end, in front of a big screen, stood a very proud Eggman. On the floor below him were four robots standing in a line. They all looked to be part of a matching set, but there each had different colors and numbers on their right sides.

From his viewpoint, Tails could see a purple robot with the number 105, a blue robot with the number 103, a red robot with the number 102, and a yellow robot with the number 104.

"I have a very important mission for all of you!" Eggman announced, catching Tails attention again. "Please turn your attention to the screen behind me!"

Tails looked at the display and silently gasped in alarm.

An image of a human girl with auburn hair and blue eyes appeared. Her outfit was a green sleeveless with blue trimmings that matched her skirt. On her arms were a matching pair of fingerless gloves that went up to just below her shoulders, leaving them bare. Under her sleeveless was a white shirt, and under her skirt were dark leggings that went down past her knees. Around her waist was a dark green bag, and on her feet were blue, white, and red shoes that went up past her ankles.

There was a silver choker with a teal gem around her neck, two silver bracelets with red gems around her wrists, a green ring on her index finger, a white gem on her shirt, and a blue gem on each of her shoes.

"This girl is a Mystic!" Eggman continued. "She is in possession of Chaos Emeralds, and her powers are crucial to my plans! Your mission is to find this Mystic and bring her back to me! I don't care what it takes! Bring me that Mystic! Go and do not fail me!"

The robots raised their gatling guns in unison for a salute and turned to leave. Just as the red one was about to exit the room, it suddenly stopped and turned.

"What are you doing, Gam—?"

The robot raised its gun and fired.

Tails screeched as the beam of energy headed straight for him. He fell back just as it shot through the air duct, the bullet barely missing his face.

"Who's there?" Eggman demanded.

The robot took aim at the air duct again and fired. Tails dodged the second attack and leaped out of his hiding place.

"You!" shouted Eggman.

The robot fired a third shot at Tails. He dodged the attack, but it hit the roof above him, and a piece fell, striking him in the back. He let out a sharp cry out and fall to the floor. He lifted himself up and shook his head. The sound of a laser charging made him look over shoulder.

The robot took aim at him again!

"Gamma, hold you fire!" Eggman ordered.

The laser in the robot's gun faded, and it and lowered its weapon. Tails breathed heavily, trying to calm himself from that terrifying moment.

"Well, what do you know?" Eggman said, straightening his mustache and walking down the steps towards Tails. "Seems like Gamma can also sense Chaos Inclined beings like you. I knew this robot was special."

Tails backed away as Eggman approached him, grimacing as small pains shot through his back.

"What's going on, Eggman?" demanded the Fox. "What's with this obsession with Chaos Inclined people all of a sudden?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Eggman replied blasély. "After losing to Sonic so many times, I finally realized what makes him so powerful: his ability to harness Chaos Energy."

Tails clenched his fists and glared at that reasoning.

"Of course," Eggman went on, "being unable to harness Chaos Energy myself, I found a way around that with technology."

Eggman pointed to Gamma, who remained still.

"Things only got better when I discovered Mystics and their way of harnessing Chaos Energy. You Mobians use your power internally, and Mystics use it externally, making it easier to harness."

"So, you are using Mystic power in your robots!" Tails yelled.

Eggman was now towering over Tails. "That's right. As for you, I don't know how you survived my laser cannon, but you're not getting off."

Tails quickly glanced at Eggman's feet before looking him in the eye.

"Let me correct you on two things," he said. "First, Sonic's power doesn't come from his ability to harness Chaos Energy. It's because he's a hero. Something you'll never understand."

"That so?" Eggman drawled. "And what's the second thing?"

"Next time you want to gloat, keep your distance."

In one swift motion, Tails whipped around, and using his two tails, knocked Eggman's feet out from under him, causing him to fall to the metal floor with a "BANG".

Tails jumped up and took flight towards the open door.

"GAMMA, GET HIM!" Eggman bellowed.

Tails looked back and saw the robot hot on his trail. He spun his tails faster and shot straight down the corridor. From behind, he could hear Gamma's gun charging up to fire. He dodged the income assault of lasers, anticipating their aim with his keen hearing.

Up ahead, he saw the hallway split in two. He reached out, grabbed the edge of the wall, and made a sharp turn to the right just as Gamma fired at him again. The robot, unable to make the turn, slide across the floor and hit the wall, becoming stunned.

Tails flew on. It was only a matter of time before Gamma caught up with him. Now that Eggman knew he was here, he had to find a way out, and find it fast.

He turned a corner and saw a door up ahead. As he approached, it slid open, and he flew right through. He landed and took a moment to catch his breath.

However, he couldn't relax entirely.

"Eggman said that robot can sense Chaos Energy," he muttered to himself. "It's only a matter of time before it finds me again."

Tails turned his attention to his surroundings, and a smile streaked across his face.

Right in front of him was a row of jet fighter planes. Each of them had a cartoon image of a shark face on the bow, and the larger ones had a missile on each wing. They were set and ready for launch. All they needed were pilots.

"Alright, I found it!" Tails exclaimed happily. "Time to get out of here!"

Without hesitation, Tails jumped into the nearest plane and closed the hatch. He took a moment to study the controls before turning it on. There was a slight jolt as the aircraft sparked to life before quickly settling to a steady hum from the engine.

As Tails put in the commands to open the hanger, the entrance to the room was blown open. Gamma marched in and turned to Tails' plane. Tails thrusted the control stick forward, and the plane shot out like a bullet.

Gamma fired his laser, and the beam struck one of the wings clean off! It flew back, hitting the side of the opening, and exploded.

The plane spiraled out of the Egg Carrier. Tails fought and struggled to regain whatever control he could. The world around him spun, making his destination unclear. Looking back, a maroon spot behind him grew farther and farther away. Looking ahead, colors of green and brown grew closer and closer.

"No choice!"

Bracing himself for the winds, Tails opened the hatch. The wind screeched around him, nearly flinging him out of his seat. He let go of the plane, tumbling through the air before spinning his tails. He regained stability and shook his head. He watched as the plane fell towards the jungle and disappeared into the trees. A second later, there was a crashing sound, and then all went silent.

"That was close," Tails panted. "Looks like I'm back at Mystic Ruins."

He turned back and saw the Egg Carrier high above him. From the opening in the side of the Carrier, he saw the robot looking down at him. It leapt off the Carrier, activated its hover booster, and headed straight for him.

With nowhere else to go, Tails swiftly descended to the jungle below, hoping to lose the robot in the trees.

As Gamma followed the Mobian Fox, a voice came over its intercom.

"Forget the Fox, Gamma!" said Robotnik's voice. "He's insignificant now! Get the Mystic!"

Gamma processed the command and immediately switched priorities. The image of the girl appeared before it, and it scanned the area for any more Chaos Energy.

The longer the robot focused on the picture, the stronger something inside it became, making it pause. Nothing in its system was malfunctioning, and no warning was alerting it, but it was like something in its motherboard was being corrupted.

It was illogical.

Gamma disregarded the error and focused on the command. Soon, it picked up a signal.

"Mystic. Locate Mystic and bring to Robotnik."