Chapter Six:
The Eggman Clock Tower
Shadowy Dream Castle was beginning to feel like a treacherous maze.
With each corridor that Sonic took with Uncle Chuck, and Sonia, more and more Badniks were waiting to attack the hedgehogs. Saturday Morning Robotnik really had it out for Sonic, and so did the Phantom Turbo Master. Whenever Sonic saw the latter again, he knew that creep was hiding somewhere.
Right as the blue blur, and his companions entered a drab, decorative wing of the castle, Sonic spotted the brown-haired kid from earlier as a pair of Swatbots encircled him. How long had the poor guy been held captive by the Badniks?
A hero never deserted anyone in need. Sonic and Sonia ran in, with the former blasting the first few robots with paint, while the latter obliterated the rest with her piano blaster.
The Swatbots collapsed, and the kid looked at Sonic with blue eyes, then he made a break for it through the closest doorway, which was marked by a couple of potted plants. Uncle Chuck looked at the open door, and remarked, "That leads into the courtyard. We'll find a Warp Ring there that will get us out of this place."
"Who was the kid?" Sonic asked, "He looked... kinda familiar."
"Everyone knows who Alex Kidd is." Sonia told him, "He's been living with us in this land for a long time now, and after serving your role as SEGA's mascot, he's the King of The Land of Forgotten Dreams."
"And this was his castle?"
"In fairness, this place was more of a tourist attraction, then Robotnik and the Phantom Turbo Master took it over and it became a robot-infested nightmare." Chuck shrugged, "It's hard finding your way around without bumping into robots."
"Let's get out of here." Sonic flexed his shoulder, "The longer we stay, we'll be overrun by those Badniks or something worse."
The hedgehog trio stepped through the doorway, and warm air filled their lungs as they strolled through a large grandiose garden, which looked quite peaceful. Luckily for Sonic, there were no Badniks in sight. However, he couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching.
"We need to watch our step." Chuck said, "While there aren't any Badniks in this area, they may still show up, and then, there's the Eggman Clock Tower. It hates hedgehogs."
"Hold on!" Sonic raised a hand, "There's an Eggman Clock Tower?"
"That's right, baby!" A voice hollered.
"LOOK OUT!" Sonia shrieked.
She, Sonic and Chuck moved out of the way before a large mechanical fist reminding the blue blur of the Time Eater's arm came crashing down. Sonic looked up, and locked eyes with a massive clock that had the face of Doctor Eggman himself, but with the features of a clock; clock hands, and various numbers.
Three clock hands protruded from the bulbous pink nose, pointing to a 6, 12 and a 3 respectively, and Eggman's glasses were clocks too, with one set of clock hands pointing to 12 and 6 while the other pointed to 11 and 6.
Above the head of the Eggman Clock, a tower crackled with energy, and, below the face, Sonic could see closed boxes sporting the symbol of the Eggman Empire, but each variation showed a different facial expression. The orange-yellow showed sad, red-orange showed glee, and the yellow-red showed anger.
"Guess what time it is!" The Eggman Clock Tower crooned in Eggman's recognizable voice, "It's time to make mincemeat out of you, Sonic, along with your entire family of hedgehogs! I shall flatten you!"
Lightning exploded above, and Sonic noticed the Eggman Clock Tower's large hands emerging from slanted ports that resembled Eggman's goggles and Saturday Morning Robotnik's metal ears. The entity's eyes flashed red, and one of the arms came right at the blue speedster, with its hand clenched in a tight metal fist.
Sonic leaped to the side at the last second, and the metallic hand slammed into the ground. Insidious music began blaring from a jukebox somewhere within the Eggman Clock Tower, and the courtyard shook as an ominous voice sang out;
'I was crafted from thoughts of victory. Destined to be a glorious monument.
'And yet, there is you, the bringer of defeat, proven to be a detriment.
'The doctor's destiny is to rule, but not when thwarted by a fool.
'What am I now? I expect all to respect our genius, and see them bow.
'Now, it seems I am a monument of shame, what is the point of this game?'
Sonic leaped on top of the hand, and spun his legs madly as he ran up the arm. He curled into a ball, and threw his being at the face of the enemy, denting one of the clock hands, before kicking the Eggman Clock Tower in the nose. The mechanical time entity howled, reminding Sonic of the real Eggman even more.
'Hedgehog. Hedgehog. You are nothing but a clog in our spinning cog.
'The darkness of this world crafted me, as a monument to a genius.
'But it feels like I am insignificant, while you get to be momentous.
'Doctor. Doctor. You want glory, I can help shape our history...
'I may be a monument in the form of a clock, but I can accomplish anything upon this insignificant rock.'
The green-eyed speedster spun about, and landed safely on the ground, right before the angry-faced port rolled open. A glowing cannon emerged, and took aim at Sonic as the Eggman Clock Tower shrieked with vile laughter.
Both Sonic, Sonia, and Chuck's reflexes were in overdrive in moments. The cannon fired, and the hedgehogs evaded as fast as possible with Sonic and Sonia protecting their uncle as best they could from the blasts going off around them. Trees were uprooted in explosions, and blades of grass burst into flames.
Sonia tapped her medallion and grabbed her piano blaster again, took fast aim, and let loose on the Eggman Clock Tower with her sights on the face and the energy conductors above the head.
The mustached monstrosity's eyes flashed red again, and launched its other arm at the determined pink hedgehog princess. In those moments, time began to slow down for Sonic a little, and the blue blur grabbed his sister before moving her out of the way as the fist slammed down.
Right before the arm retracted, Sonic leaped upon the hand again, and the speedster ran up the shoulder before attacking the side of the enemy's face again.
He bashed in one of the eyes with a spin dash, then he flicked the magic brush, and a stream of green-blue paint energy slammed into the Eggman Clock Tower's face. Sonic jumped onto the entity's head, and lathered the energy generator in a stream of green paint before Sonia blasted the enemy's nose.
Streams of sparks burst from the Eggman Clock Tower, and its hands shook while the damaged hands on its face, and eyes spun in an unstable manner. The music stopped playing, and the hatches shuddered before exploding.
"My t-t-time i-i-is h-h-hatched." The clock tower remarked, "I h-h-h-hate that h-h-h-hedgehog! GAAAAAAAHHHHHH... *KZZT*"
Sonic, Chuck and Sonia stood back, watching as the Eggman Clock Tower crumbled to pieces. Moments later, Alex Kidd emerged from the middle hatch as the smoke cleared up. The Eggman Clock Tower must have been holding him captive shortly before the battle had started.
Alex rubbed his head, and stumbled out of the ruins, then he spotted Sonic and ran for it. The spikey trio looked to the left, watching as the former SEGA mascot ran towards a large glowing ring that hovered between two statues near the wall.
"Haven't seen a Warp Ring in a while." Sonic remarked.
"What are we waiting for?!" Sonia exclaimed as she ran towards the floating gold ring, "After him!"