A/N: SEGA Heroes and all franchises and their respective characters both in the game and in this adaptation are property of SEGA/ATLUS.
SEGA HEROES
Episode 6:
Complications!
VS. LARGE BARBARIANS, BURGLAR MEN AND KNUCKLES CLONE (Theme: Boss Theme (from Golden Axe) (Remix by Luke Jansen))
Jacky intercepted the two large barbarians as he rushed at them with a swift kick to the side of the first barbarian, causing him to grunt slightly, while the other one stopped as they both glared at Jacky.
"You're not going anywhere near the Master Emerald! Come on!" Jacky taunted them.
The two large barbarians let out a battle cry as they swung their sledgehammers at Jacky, who swiftly dodged them and rushed up to the second barbarian and landed a ten-hit combo on him, knocking him back slightly with a kick to the chest. He then rushed over the first barbarian and landed another combo on him, knocking him back slightly.
The two barbarians recover and let out their battle cries as they rushed at Jacky with their sledgehammers. Jacky smirked as he did a backflip jump out of the way, leading the two barbarians into hitting each other on the head with their weapons, dealing massive damage to each other.
"Ha! I can't believe they fell for that! What morons!" Jacky laughed.
But while the two barbarians were stunned from hitting each other, the two burglar men snuck up behind Jacky and shot him with their stun guns, causing him to cry in pain as he got shocked and fell to the ground, stunned.
The two burglars laughed as they rushed over the Master Emerald. Jacky fought back against the stunning shock he had just received and tried to shout: "Knuckles! They are going for the Master Emerald!"
Knuckles, who was busy fighting his own clone, heard Jacky's shout and looked to the side and saw the two burglars picking up the Master Emerald and carrying it towards the portal.
"NO!" Knuckles cried as he pushed back against his clone and then rushed towards the Burglar men.
The Knuckles Clone rushed at his original with a corkscrew attack. Knuckles saw this and quickly dodged it, as the Knuckles Clone was determined to stop his original from saving the Master Emerald.
"Out of my way!" Knuckles roared in anger as he and his clone threw punches at each other, as the Guardian tried to chase after the two burglars, but his clone kept interfering.
Meanwhile, Jacky broke free from the stun and rushed in to help Knuckles. Unfortunately, the two Barbarians have also recovered and let out their battle cries as they chased after Jacky for revenge.
Jacky went straight for the burglars and kicked the tall one across the face, sending him flying and dropping the Master Emerald on one side, while the short one was struggling to carry it on his own.
Before Jacky could attack the other burglar, he dodged an attack from the two barbarians who swung their sledgehammers down where he once stood.
The short burglar tried shooting Jacky with his stun gun, but Jacky dodged it, but then first barbarian came in with a kick, knocking Jacky back as he fell on his back. The second one came in with a sledgehammer attack, but Jack rolled out of the way.
Meanwhile, Knuckles and his clone kept trading blows, but neither could best the other. At the same time, Knuckles kept an eye on the Master Emerald. While the tall burglar was knocked out from Jacky's kick, the short one kept shooting his stun gun at Jacky, who kept dodging while fighting the two barbarians.
"I need to get the Master Emerald away from these creeps, but how?" Knuckles wondered to himself.
Jacky landed a combo on the first barbarian, then dodged a sledgehammer swing from the second barbarian and countered with another combo. He dodged another shot from the short burglar's stun gun, who was joined by the tall burglar, who just recovered from Jacky's kick and started shooting as well.
"This is getting ridiculous!" Jacky shouted as he dodged more shots and sledgehammer swings from the barbarians.
"Get away from MY Emerald!" Knuckles roared in anger as he pushed his clone back.
A red vein stuck out of his forehead
Knuckles managed to push back his clone and slammed him against the blue burglar, knocking them both back. The red burglar was surprised by this as Knuckles proceeded to punch him across the face, sending him flying.
Knuckles turned to the Master Emerald and picked it up over his head, "Come on Jacky! Let's get the heck out of here!"
"About time!" Jacky said as he performed a tornado kick to both barbarians in the head, knocking them both out before rushing to Knuckles side.
Knuckles and Jacky rushed out of there while the Guardian carried the Master Emerald. The five clones recovered and gave chase, refusing to let down their queen.
"Watch out! Looks like they haven't given up yet!" Jacky said.
The Knuckles clone was leading the charge with the two barbarians at his side and the two burglars riding on each barbarians' shoulder. The burglars fired their stun guns at the two heroes, as they dodged while on the run.
Knuckles and Jacky ran away from the clones, while keeping the Master Emerald safe, as they ran through the cave's maze-like corridors. Things become chaotic as they kept running through one cave to another, while trying to lose their pursuers, but sadly, they were far more persistent than they thought, as the Knuckles Clone and the barbarian clones just started smashing everything in their path. This was a mistake however as their method of trying to catch the heroes and the Master Emerald caused a cave-in, as everything started falling apart around them.
After about half an hour, Knuckles and Jacky managed to get out of the cave with the Master Emerald in tow, as the cave-in blocked off the entrance that they came out of.
"Man, that was a close call!" Jacky panted as he took a moment to catch his breath.
Knuckles sighed in relief as he put the Master Emerald down, "At last, the Master Emerald's safe and sound. With this, Dremagen's days are numbered."
"So how exactly does it work?" Jacky asked.
Knuckles took a deep breath as he raised his arms and said, "The servers are the Seven Chaos. Chaos is Power. Power is enriched by the heart. The Controller is the one that unifies the Chaos."
The Master Emerald started glowing, as Knuckles continued, "Master Emerald, I ask of you, stop Dremagen from misusing the Cha-"
CRASH!
"What the!?" Knuckles and Jacky gasped in surprise when suddenly the Master Emerald shattered into pieces that were sent flying in every direction by the Knuckles Clone who just popped out of the ground under where the Master Emerald once stood.
Knuckles and Jacky stood there flabbergasted, as the Knuckles Clone stood before them, followed by the two barbarians and the two burglars.
"That's it…" Knuckles went from flabbergasted to royally peeved off, "You've just signed your own death warrant!"
(Theme: Fight For My Own Way (Boss: Event) (From Sonic Adventure 1))
Knuckles and his clone started throwing punches and parrying each other like no tomorrow, while Jacky deals with the two duos of both barbarians and burglars. The two echidnas lock hands with each other as they both gather energy as both had red auras emanating from their bodies as they unleash the Maximum Heat Knuckles Attack against each other, moving around so fast they both become red blurs, colliding against each other, creating shock waves up impact. Meanwhile, Jacky was having a hard time dodging both the barbarian's sledgehammers and the burglars' stun guns, as it was four against one. Hardly a fair fight for the "Blue Flash" himself.
"Man, if only Akira was here, or anyone that could help us…" Jacky thought to himself.
The four villainous clones were about unleash another attack when suddenly, as if Jacky's prayers were answered, a young man with tall spiky black hair and wearing a white headband around his head, a sleeveless white karate gi, a black belt around his waist, black wrist bands and black socks that expose his toes and the back of his feet, suddenly came out of nowhere and landed a flying kick across one of the barbarians' face, knocking him down to the ground, along with the blue burglar riding on his back.
Meanwhile, the second barbarian and the red burglar suddenly got shot with multiple energy blasts, knocking them both to the ground. These shots came from a tall, humanoid robot whose body parts were made up of mostly green orbs and blue orbs on his appendages. He had strawberry-colored eyes, a triangular chest piece and tree fingers on each hand.
"What the what!?" Jacky was flabbergasted at this sudden development, as he recognized the man in the karate gi, but was unfamiliar with the robot.
"Jacky, are you alright?" the man in the karate gi asked.
Jacky snapped out of it and said, "I am now that you're here Akira! But…who's "Orbs" over there?"
"The name's Vectorman, not "Orbs" pal." The "Orbot" known as "Vectorman" introduced himself, "Also, we're not done with these bozos yet."
Jacky, Akira and Vectorman turned to face the four clones recover from the surprise attack from these two new players. Jacky and Akira dided to take on the barbarian with the blue burglar, while Vectorman took on the other barbarian with the red burglar.
The barbarians let out their battle cries as they charged at them with their sledgehammers, while the burglars ride on their backs, firing their stun guns. The trio scatter and dodged the sledgehammers, as Jacky and Akira perform a double team attack on the barbarian with the blue burglar, performing a helicopter kick together, knocking him to the ground and knocking the blue burglar down. Meanwhile, Vectorman dodged the sledgehammer and shots from the red burglar and fired his own barrage of energy blasts from his hands, damaging them both as they both fell to the ground.
While they were down, Akira slammed his foot to the ground, causing the barbarian's sledgehammer to fly off the ground as the martial artist grabbed it and then proceeded to slam it down on the barbarian's head, smashing it into purple particles as his body vanished in even more particles. Jacky went and performed a combo on the blue burglar, finishing him off with a kick to his windpipe, smashing it to bits as the burglar vanished into purple particles.
Vectorman run up to the other barbarian and activated the hover boosters on his feet, burning his face off as it vanished into purple particles. The red burglar tried firing his stun gun at him, but the orbot dodged it swiftly before firing another barrage of energy blasts from his hands, reducing him into nothing as he vanished into purple particles as well.
"Chicken! Fight like a robot!" Vectorman taunted.
"Finally, got them." Jacky sighed in relief, "Thanks for the help Akira."
"You are welcome old friend." Akira said with a warm smile.
"What about me?" Vectorman asked.
"You did great too V-Man!" Jacky gave him a thumbs up.
"Thanks!" Vectorman said.
Their victory is interrupted by a shockwave, as they nearly lost balance. They looked to the side and saw Knuckles still fighting against his clone.
"Oh crud, I forgot Knucky-boy is still fighting his doppelgänger." Jacky said.
"A friend of yours?" Akira asked.
"Yup! We should go back him up!" Jacky said.
"Alrighty then!" Vectorman said, "Which one's the fake?"
"Uh…" Jacky hesitated as the two echidnas were moving around so much, trading blows, that it was difficult to tell.
"Maybe we should try asking them something only the real one would know?" Akira asked.
"That might work!" Jacky said and then he shouted, "Yo Knucks! When was the last time you wet your bed?"
"WHAT THE HECK!?" Knuckles snapped in anger.
A red vein stuck out of his forehead
Unfortunately, he got distracted and then punched across the face by his clone.
Jacky, Akira and Vectorman flinched at this, "Yeah, that could have gone better…" Jacky said.
"Agreed." Akira said.
"Yup." Vectorman said as well.
Sweat drops rolled down the side of their heads, one on each
"But the very least…" Vectorman fire an energy blast from his hand at Knuckles clone, hitting him in the back of his head and knocking him to the ground.
The real Knuckles got back up and saw the clone down for the count. He quickly rushed to land the final blow, but then a portal appeared under the clone which sucked him in before it vanished, and Knuckles' fist only ended up hitting the ground where he once stood.
"Darn! He got away!" Knuckles cursed.
"Yo Knucky-boy! You, okay?" Jacky asked him.
"Well, I almost got my head knocked off, no thanks to you distracting me with your stupid question!" Knuckles roared at him.
A red vein stuck out of his forehead
"S-Sorry! It just popped into my head when I suddenly couldn't tell you and your clone apart!" Jacky said, "It wasn't my intention to distract you, really!"
"Well don't let it happen again!" Knuckles snapped, "I mean, "when was the last time I wet my bed"!? What are you, my mom!? I'm not answering that!"
"Dude already told you, I'm sorry! Really!" Jacky said.
"Whatever." Knuckles grumbled in annoyance, but decided to drop the subject and turned his attention to Akira and Vectorman, "Who are you guys?"
"My name is Akira Yuki, a martial artist in search of strong opponents and a good friend of Jacky." Akira introduced himself.
"Vectorman, toxic waste disposal orbot and savior of Earth, don't wear it out." Vectorman introduced himself.
"Akira and…Vectorman?" Knuckles raised his eyebrow, "Yeah, that's not going to be confusing at all."
"What do you mean?" Vectorman asked.
"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that your name reminds me of someone I know." Knuckles responded.
"Is he as handsome as me?" Vectorman asked.
"Well, he's green like you at the very least." Knuckles said.
"Can't wait to meet him if that's possible." Vectorman said.
"Alright, so now that we have that out of the way…" Knuckles took a deep breath and yelled, "CURSE YOU FAKER ME!"
"Oh, right…" Jacky remembered that his clone just shattered the Master Emerald to pieces.
"What's his deal?" Vectorman asked.
"We've lost our probably only means of stopping Dremagen." Jacky answered.
"Dremagen?" Akira asked.
"The baddie responsible for our current situation." Jacky said, "That faker of Knucky-boy shattered to pieces and scattered them all over."
"Oh." Akira and Vectorman understood a little bit.
Knuckles took another deep breath, "Okay…no big deal…I'll just have to search for the lost pieces of the Master Emerald, just like before. As its Guardian, I can restore it back to normal, even in pieces."
"We'll help you out, uh, "Knucky-boy"?" Akira said.
"It's Knuckles the Echidna, or just Knuckles." Knuckles introduced himself, "And I think you guys have helped enough. The Master Emerald is MY responsibility, not yours."
"Hey now, if you're still upset about that dumb question from earlier…" Jacky said.
"Not another word!" Knuckles said, "I was doing just fine without you distracting me!"
"Looked to me like you were struggling to best your own clone." Akira told him.
"Yeah, your clone was matching you blow for blow." Vectorman said, "Sure, we could have used a different method, but if we hadn't done anything, your fight with your doppelgänger would have lasted an eternity."
Knuckles grunted as he didn't want to admit it, but deep down he knew they were right. He couldn't even slow his own clone down. It was as if he was fighting against his own mirror reflection.
"C'mon, just give me a chance to redeem myself. Plus, Akira will be a huge help, and V-Man too!" Jacky said.
"Fine, do as you please." Knuckles said as he went on ahead.
"Alright! Let's go team!" Jacky said.
Akira and Vectorman nodded as they and Jacky followed Knuckles.
"So, what's the plan Knuckles?" Akira asked.
"The plan is to gather the pieces of the Master Emerald and restore it and then use its power to stop Dremagen from misusing the Chaos Emeralds." Knuckles said, "There is also certain people I need to find, but honestly, that one is secondary."
"I only understood about three words of what you just said but lead the way." Vectorman said.
"If there are people in trouble, shouldn't we focus on them first?" Akira asked.
"If we do run into them, we help them, but right now, finding the pieces and restoring the Master Emerald is our top priority! Everything else is secondary! Got it?" Knuckles said.
"Aye aye Captain Knucky-boy." Jacky said.
"Very well." Akira said.
"Gotcha." Vectorman said.
"Good." Knuckles said.
Knuckles and his party ventured forward with the Guardian leading the way, as he used his special connection with the Master Emerald to sense where the pieces could be.
Meanwhile…
The Knuckles Clone barely managed to escape from his original's final blow thanks to Dremagen's portal magic. The clone looked up to see Dremagen glaring at him in disappointment.
"You have failed to retrieve the Master Emerald." Dremagen said, "You shattered it to stop them from using it against me, but that is only a minor set back for them. They will search for the pieces to restore it back to normal."
The Knuckles Clone looked down disappointment with himself.
"Still, this may work in our favor, whish is why I decided to "rescue" you." Dremagen said, "I have a new assignment for you: gather the shards before they do and send them to me. Even if you only bring back half of them, that should at least prevent them from restoring it right away."
The Knuckles Clone nodded and bowed, as he was ready to take on the assignment.
"And these ones will be joining you for the assignment as well." Dremagen said as she summoned three clones.
The first clone was a monkey in a ball, much like AiAi and MeeMee, but this one was a big strong looking ape wearing a pink tank top with a white letter "G" on the front, and short stubby tail.
The second clone is of a tall, powerfully built man with dark brown hair in a buzzcut haircut. His outfit consisted of a heavy olive-green jacket over a black t-shirt with camouflage cargo pants, a black leather double grommet belt with a silver double prong buckle, and black ankle length leather combat boots.
The third and last clone was a greasy and unkept looking middle-aged man, wearing a beige detective coat over a white shirt with a crumpled red tie. His pants were brown and was carrying an oversized revolver. His equally greasy and unkept hair resembled that of a typical Japanese delinquent, as ironic as that sounds.
"GonGon, Taiga Seijima and Captain Onishima. You three shall be assisting Knuckles ingathering the pieces of the Master Emerald and bring them to me." Dremagen ordered them.
The clones bowed before their queen as the four of them disappeared into a portal.
"I wonder how Dr. Eggman is doing." Dremagen said as she disappeared through the portal.
In the lab…
Dr. Eggman and his family were watching the clones they sent out battling the heroes. It was enjoyable at first but sadly, even after being equipped with his inventions, two of them failed to stop two of the first two groups, leaving only one remaining to deal with the last group.
"Looks like Sonic did end up in this world after all, huh Doctor?" Cubot asked.
"Oh please, it's not even a surprise anymore at this point. That blue rodent never fails to impress me with his stubbornness." Eggman said.
"Still, even with the upgrades, your inventions didn't really help the clones much in the end." Orbot said.
"Oh, shut up! This is only the beginning!" Eggman said, "Besides, we still have one more clone left."
"Doctor." Eggman and his family jumped in surprise as they turned around and saw Dremagen come out of the portal.
"Oh, Lady Dremagen, welcome." Eggman got up from his seat and bowed to her. Sage, Metal, Orbot and Cubot reluctantly followed his lead and bowed as well.
"How is your progress in eliminating those interlopers." Dremagen asked.
"Um, how to say this: these clones…aren't strong enough!" Eggman said, "I even equipped them with some of my best inventions and even that wasn't enough. Surely you couldn't make them stronger, since you have the Chaos Emeralds in your possession?"
"Sadly, while the Chaos Emeralds have restored most of my lost powers, I have yet to tap into their full potential. Perhaps because they are foreign artifacts from my original dimension." Dremagen said, "But not to worry. With enough time, I'll learn how to properly control the Emeralds and then my clone army will be invincible!"
"Of course, and with my inventions, they will be even more powerful!" Eggman said, "After all, we agreed to rule the dimension together, haven't we?"
"Indeed." Dremagen said, "However, that is not the reason I have come here. I am here because we have a problem that may put our plans in jeopardy."
"Let me guess: Knuckles found the Master Emerald?" Eggman asked.
"Yes, but his clone shattered the Master Emerald before he could use it to prevent me from using the Emeralds." Dremagen said, "Now the pieces of the Master Emerald have scattered all over the dimension and Knuckles and his new friends are now searching for them. I have already sent his clone and three more to retrieve them before they do, but…"
"I know, I know, you want me to search for them before that Knucklehead his and his playmates do, correct?" Eggman asked.
"In addition to disposing of the so-called heroes, yes." Dremagen said.
"Very well, I shall make it my second priority." Eggman said.
"Excellent." Dremagen said, "In the meantime…"
"Hey boss! Looks like Big's clone is about to ambush Tails and his friends!" Cubot said while pointing at the monitor.
"Hmm?" Eggman and Dremagen, and the others turned back to the monitor, showing the Big the Cat clone riding the Egg Walker as he followed Tails and his friends.
Meanwhile…
Tails followed Gum, while Billy, Rolly and Nanako rode on Cipher's back to where their shelter was located, unaware that another threat was following them.
"There shelter is just around the corner, here." Gum said, "Now, assuming we aren't being followed, we should be safe."
Tails looked around to see if no one was following. He could have sworn he saw something move just behind a building and that made him suspicious.
"What's wrong Tails-san?" Nanako asked.
"Guys, I think we might actually be being followed." Tails said.
The others looked around but saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"I don't see anyone." Rolly said.
Cipher sniffed something in the air and reacted as he turned to where Tails was looking.
"What's wrong Cipher?" Billy asked.
Cipher growled at where he was picking up the scent and it was in the same corner Tails was looking at. Gum looked back.
"Yo, you spot anyone following us?" Gum asked.
"Stay back, I'm going to investigate." Tails said as he brought out his Miles Electronic handheld and summoned his Arm Cannon.
Tails slowly approached the corner with the Arm Cannon at the ready. He took a deep breath and then he jumped around the corner and aimed his Arm Cannon, only to be greeted with the Big the Cat clone riding the Egg Walker, with its bottom part open, revealing an energy cannon aimed at him.
"YIKES!" Tails jumped out of the way before the Big clone fired a giant laser beam from the cannon, as it pierced through several buildings, leaving giant holes in them.
"Tails!" The others rushed to his side.
"Are you okay?" Nanako asked in concern.
"Yeah, just barely." Tails said as he looked back and saw the Big Clone walked out of the corner in his mech.
"So, we were being followed after all." Gum said.
"Be careful! Don't underestimate him or that mech he's piloting!" Tails said as he handed the Arm Cannon to Rolly and the then summoned the Bionic Arm for Nanako, as they got into fighting position.
VS. BIG THE CAT CLONE AND EGG WALKER (Theme: Suitable Opponent (From Sonic Adventure 2))
The Big Clone charged at them with his mech, shooting from the small Volkan Cannon, as the heroes jump out of the way. Tails attacks by swiping his tails against the side, Rolly fired the Arm Cannon, Nanako punched from a distance with the Bionic Arm, Gum charged at him with a swift kick and Billy ordered Cipher to attack with a fiery charge.
The Big Clone and his Egg Walker took damage from all the attack, before turning around and locked on to each of them and then fired homing lasers from the Missile Launcher on the left side of the rear.
"Everyone, RUN! Those lasers will chase you!" Tails shouted.
"KYAAA!" The heroes screamed as they barely manage to dodge the homing lasers, but Nanako tripped and the homing laser chasing her was about to hit her, until Billy and Cipher managed to catch, saving her life.
"Thank you." Nanako said as she rode behind Billy on Cipher's back.
"You're welcome!" Billy said, "Now let's get him!"
The Big clone kept firing more homing lasers and shots from the Volkan Cannon while running around on his mech, the heroes dodged his attacks and then landed their own attacks once they find an opening in his defenses.
Black smoke and sparks were coming out of the mech as it took damage from the heroes from all sides. Just as Gum was about to rush at him with a kick, the Froggy Clone jumped out from behind the Big Clone and landed on her face, causing her to yell in surprise and lose balance as she fell on her back.
"Gum!" The others cried in worry.
"Get off me you little creep!" Gum yelled as she tried to catch the Froggy Clone, but it kept jumping all over her and touch in the most inappropriate place, causing her to shriek, "EEEK! NOT THERE!"
"Gum! Look out!" Tails shouted as he pointed out The Big Clone charging up another Power Laser at Gum.
"I've got you Gum-chan!" Nanako shouted as she used her bionic arm to slap the Froggy Clone off of Gum.
"Thanks!" Gum shouted before she just barely managed to dodge, as Big fired another Power Laser, destroying everything in its path.
"You're gonna get it now!" Gum shouted as she rushed at Big again.
"Gum! NO!" Tails shouted in concern.
The Froggy Clone jumped at Gum again, but this time she was ready for it as she pulled out a spray can and sprayed graffiti all over the imposter frog, causing it to lose balance and fall to the ground.
Gum let out a battle cry as she stomped on the fake Froggy, turning it into a mess of purple particles until it vanished completely.
The Big Clone gasped in shock at this as he glared at Gum for killing his little buddy.
"Uh oh, maybe taking out the Froggy Clone first wasn't such a good idea." Tails said scared.
"Why?" Rolly asked.
"Because Big the Cat is overprotective of his best friend!" Tails shouted.
"Huh!?" The others asked.
The Big Clone suddenly jumped out of the Egg Walker and let out a battel cry as a dark aura came out of its body and then charged at Gum full tilt.
"YIKES!" Gum jumped out of the way on time, but then the huge cat clone did a one eighty degree turn and charged at her again, forcing her to skate for her life, "Yo! Chill! Get away!"
"Oh no! Gum-chan's in trouble!" Nanako cried.
"Tails, you seem to know that big guy. What do we do?" Rolly asked.
"That is a clone of Big the Cat, one of my friends, and Gum just destroyed his friend who is a clone of Forggy!" Tails said, "Big is very overprotective of Forggy so it's no surprise that the clone would share that trait too!"
"Would it hurt to have told me that SOONER!?" Gum shouted while being chased by the raging Big Clone.
"Sorry! But keep him distracted! I've got a plan!" Tails said as he flew towards the seemingly abandoned Egg Walker.
"Alright, everyone else! Distract the big guy! Buy Tails more time!" Billy ordered.
"Alright!" Rolly and Nanako shouted, while Cipher let out a cry.
Rolly jumped on Cipher's back, joining Billy and Nanako as they chase after the Big Clone. Rolly fired the Arm Cannon the clone in the back, followed by Nanako punching it with the Bionic Arm. It caused the fake Big to stop and turn around in anger and roared at them.
"KYAAAA!" Rolly and Nanako screamed in fear.
"Turn back! Turn back!" Billy ordered as Cipher turned around and flew away from the Big Clone who started chasing them instead.
"Oh great." Gum grumbled as she skated after them.
A sweat drop rolled down the side of her head
While the others were busy keeping the Big clone busy, Tails inspected the Egg Walker and with a single glance, he could tell that this was the real deal.
"A Big Clone, piloting one of Eggman's machines…yeah. This confirms that Eggman and Dremagen are working together." Tails murmured, "But this Egg Walker has similar functions to the Cyclone, so perhaps…yes!"
Tails jumped inside and took control of the Egg Walker. Despite the damage it took earlier, as evidenced by the black smoke and sparks, it still works fine. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that Gum ticked off the Big clone by destroying the Froggy clone. He'll have to do repairs later, but first, it was time to destroy this imposter.
Meanwhile, Gum sprayed graffiti all over Big's Clone then made a break for it as chased after her, then Cipher rams behind him with its horn, catching his attention. This back and forward went on for about a minute or so before the Big Clone decided to bring out his fishing rod and casted at the heroes, who tried to scatter around but the hook managed to catch Rolly's shirt.
"KYAAA!" Rolly cried as she got pulled off from Cipher by Big Clone's fishing rod.
"ROLLY!" Billy cried.
"I gotcha!" Gum rushed over and grabbed Rolly's hand and tried pulling her, but the Big Clone kept reeling them in, as Cipher grabbed Gum by the back of her shirt with its teeth.
"TAILS!" They all shouted.
"I've got your back guys! EAT THIS!" Tails shouted as he brought out the rocket launcher from the back of the cockpit and fired a barrage of homing rockets at the Big Clone, who was distracted trying to reel the others in.
BOOM! BAM! KA-BOOM! KA-BLAM! BAAOOM!
Thanks to his blind rage over his buddy's death, the Big Clone never saw the rockets coming and got blown to bits as purple particles fly out of his remains until he vanished, along with his fishing rod, causing the others to fall on their backs, Billy and Nanako falling off Cipher and Rolly landing on top of Gum who caught her in her arms.
"Whew…it worked." Tails said as he jumped out of the mech and rushed over to the others, "Are you guy alright?"
"Yeah, thanks everyone." Rolly said as Gum put her down.
"You're welcome." Gum said as she and the others got back up.
"That big kitty was so scary." Nanako said.
"Reminds me of the Big Doras from the Crows' army." Billy said.
"Yeah, but in the end, it was just a clone, right?" Rolly asked Tails.
"Yeah." Tails nodded, "The real Big the Cat is a sweet and loveable laid-back guy who loves fishing and his best friend Froggy. He would never harm anyone who isn't a villain or a bully."
"I wish I could meet the real one." Rolly said, "Assuming he's in this strange world too."
"I wouldn't doubt it." Tails said, "In any case, while that Big and that Froggy were clones, that Egg Walker sure isn't."
"Egg Walker? That's a strange name." Nanako said.
"It's one of Eggman's inventions." Tails told them as he walked up to the Egg Walker.
"Eggman, who's that?" Gum asked.
"A villain from Tails' world." Rolly answered her.
"Yup and if that clone was using one of Eggman's inventions, then it confirms that he and Dremagen are both working together."
"And Dremagen is the one responsible for creating this strange world and brought us all here." Nanako explained.
"Great, just great." Gum said, "And that goon of theirs was this close to…darn."
"What?" Tails asked.
"We're not safe here." Gum said, "Let's get into the shelter, quick!"
Gum went on ahead. The others shrugged at each other before following her. Tails however knew what Gum's concern was.
"If Dremagen has full control of this dimension, and Eggman is working with her, that can only mean they must have eyes and ears all over it. That means they must know about the shelter's location, yet they haven't attacked it yet, probably to toy with us." Tails thought, "This isn't good."
"Yo Tails, come on!" Billy shouted.
"Oh, coming! Just…give me a second." Tails said as he climbed back in the Egg Walker and piloted it after them.
Meanwhile…
Dremagen and Eggman frowned seeing how their clone and invention failed to defeat the heroes.
"Your invention didn't really help my clone in the end." Dremagen said.
"Shut up, your clones just aren't strong enough!" Eggman said.
"My clones should at the very least match the originals." Dremagen said, "I could make them stronger with the Chaos Emeralds, but I am still unable to decipher how they work."
"That is because you are messing with an energy source that is foreign to you." Eggman said, "Sure, you may have been able to merge every dimension into one singular world, but it seems you are still unable to make your clones strong enough to defeat even a single one of those pests."
"Do not test my patience, Doctor!" Dremagen said, "I could banish you into the void if I wanted to, but we are partners now, so I'll overlook it this time."
"Fine." Eggman said, "Back to our earlier conversation: I will accept your assignment and look for the Master Emerald's shards in addition to destroying those fools."
"Excellent." Dremagen said, "In the meantime, I will continue to study the Emeralds and figure out how to unlock their full potential."
With that, Dremagen disappeared through a portal.
Sage saw the opportunity and approached Eggman, "Father, I request that Big Brother Metal and I search for the pieces of the Master Emerald for you! Just like how we found the Chaos Emeralds for you, we will succeed!"
Metal Sonic made some mechanical noises as he vouched for Sage.
"Very well, I will leave it to you and Metal Sonic." Eggman said, "Just remember: if anyone gets in the way, eliminate them! And…" his expression softens, "If it gets too much for you, pull back at once and return here. Got it?"
"Yes Father!" Sage nodded as she and Metal Sonic disappeared through the portal.
"Good luck and be careful…my children." Eggman said softly.
"The boss certainly has developed a soft spot since Sage came to be." Orbot whispered to his cube-shaped counterpart.
"Yeah, he's like a real father!" Cubot whispered back, "Kind of wish he acted that way towards us too."
"I can hear you two, you know?" Eggman snapped as he glared at them.
A red vein stuck out of his forehead
"YIKES!" Orbot and Cubot yelled in fear at Eggman getting mad at them.
"Don't think for a second that I have softened up just because I have someone, I can call a family. I still intend on building the Eggman Empire and rule the world!" Eggman said, "Dremagen may have the upper hand right now because she has the Emeralds, but she'll be singing a different tune once I find a way to snatch them from her. But before that, Orbot! Bring me the cards!"
"Here you go boss!" Orbot handed the tray with a deck of cards on them.
Eggman took the deck and looked over the cards, "Hmm, they all look good but…" he inserts the whole deck inside the machine, the pulled the level, activating the slot machine on the monitor. Eggman and his two lackeys watch the slots spin until all three of them stopped, showing the picture of a large muscular man with short grey hair and beard, in a black jumpsuit, sleeves torn off, metal plated boots, a black fingerless leather glove on his left hand, a chain wrapped around his left wrist, a pair of goggles on his head, but his most outstanding feature was his crimson robotic right arm with TWO chainsaw blades coming out of both the top and bottom parts of the arm.
"Ooooh, this one looks promising!" Eggman said, "And I've got the perfect invention to aid him!"
We then cut to the chosen clone, riding on top of the right shoulder of a large robot with a humanoid shape and a dome-shaped head akin to an Egg Pawn's, although it possessed a large gray mace with yellow spikes in place of its right hand. It also featured a round red body, a tall gray collar around its head, two green eyes, a drill-like gray nose, a set of sharp white teeth, and gray limbs with yellow and blue armor covering its lower limbs. It also has a yellow and gray rectangular piece on the right side of its chest and a round yellow bit on the left side.
"I am entrusting the Egg Breaker to you for some extra carnage! Go get them, Jack Cayman!" Eggman said as he opened the portal.
The clone known as "Jack Cayman" and his Super Badnik known as the "Egg Breaker" vanished through the portal. Eggman, along with Orbot and Cubot looked back at the monitors.
TO BE CONTINUED…