TEAM ONE - Silver, Omega, Amy, Shadow, Oydax
"Yay!" Amy chimes as she hugs you around the neck tightly, "We'll be smashing the night away!"
You hear Tails sighing, and look over at him. "Figures you'd want to join the 'destruction' team, Sonic," he says.
"I'm sure we can manage without him for once, Tails," says Knuckles.
"All right, everybody," Silver announces, "We've got our teams, and our assignments. Let's move out!"
Silver and Tech lead the way out of the Resistance HQ and through more corridors. After many twists and turns, everybody reaches a break-off point, with three different tunnels.
"All right, this is where we break," says Silver, and points to the tunnel behind himself. "We'll head off towards the north and make our way through."
"And we'll head towards the east, making our way towards the lab," says Tech.
"Just remember to wait for our signal," Silver replies.
"What's the signal?" asks Tails.
Omega holds out his arm, morphing it into gun-mode. "The-Loud-Explosions."
Silver scratches his head. "More or less."
"We'll keep an ear out," says Tech, and heads into the right tunnel, "Let's go team." Knuckles, Shade, Rouge, Janae, and Tails follow him. The rest of you travel through the tunnel leading north.
After a mostly long walk, Silver finally stops at a ladder leading up to a closed manhole cover. "Wait here," he orders, "I'll check out the scene." He uses his powers to levitate up to the cover, carefully opens it, and peaks through. "Coast is clear," he calls down in as low a voice as possible, "Come on."
You all make your way up the ladder and above ground, finding yourself in a dark alley between two buildings. There's a little bit of light coming from the corner nearby.
"The lab is just down the street from here," says Silver, "And just like Tech said, there's more security than ever."
"Like that's going to be an issue," Shadow mutters sarcastically as he crosses his arms.
"Well, we still must play it safe," says Oydax, "We must lure them off in a way that Nega will not become suspicious of something else."
"I have an idea then," Shadow smirks while glancing over at you, "Let's do what Sonic would do."
You blink. "Uh… I'm flattered," you say, "But what do you mean."
"Simple," Shadow grins, "Act gung-ho and rush them."
You narrow your eyes, fairly sure that was meant to be an insult.
"That might work," says Silver.
You glare over. "C'mon, Silver, you don't think I'm all gung-ho too, do you?"
"Not now, Sonic," the silver-furred hedgehog sighs, "If we make it look half-baked, at least we'll throw them off guard."
You're seriously getting annoyed at their assumptions about your actions. "Okay, fine, if that's what you think," you say, "I'll go first then! I'll act all, 'Hey, look at me, I'm super cool, I'm gonna beat you all up!' and try to take out one or two… But then when more show up, you all take them out at once!"
Silver nods. "Perfect!"
"But for the record," you continue, "I'm NOT a half-baked, gung-ho person… Not ALL the time, anyway."
"Sure, whatever you say, Sonic," Silver motions out the alleyway, "Go do your thing. The other team should be in place by now."
You make a mental note to continue this argument later and rush out of the alleyway, down the road, and screech to a halt just in front of the laboratory, where yes, several Heavy Hammers were in place. "Hey uglies!" you shout, "Remember me? Two-hundred years ago? Well, I'm back! And I'm gonna wipe the floor with you like I did with the original Eggman's bots!"
The two Heavy Hammers simultaneously reared back and slammed their steel hammers at you, but you jump up high in time. You take the opportunity to try and kick one of them in the head, but just like the last time, it didn't have much effect other than a slight push-back. There's more pain in your foot than likely in the robot's head.
You use the momentum of the failed kick to land further back, but that didn't stop the second Heavy Hammer from coming after you and reaching out to punch. You evade, only to nearly get struck by the sword of a blue-colored Egg Pawn. You jump back from that as well, and notice backup has been called. More and more pawns and stronger looking Badniks flood the area…
"Chaos Spear!"
You take that as your cue to duck, while several streaks of yellow light streak past above your head, hitting many enemies. Those that weren't struck were instead gunned down by the incoming Omega and Oydax. Behind them, Silver and Amy come rushing in as well.
You look back over at the destruction, noticing the doors to the lab entrance were still shut, but damaged. One good hit should open them up… You rev up into a super spin, and shoot yourself at the door, managing to break it down…
… and allowing an army of Badniks to come charging out towards you. "Ooops…"
"Scatter!" Silver shouts as he levitates and shoots down one of the streets. Oydax quickly rushes after him. Shadow and Omega take off down the opposite street. You grab Amy's hand and dash off down the third road.
As you run, you glance over your shoulder to see several groups of Badniks behind you. Even though you're still faster, you're surprised how much they're still able to trail you…
"Sonic, how do we get rid of them?" Amy cries.
You look ahead of you once more, and quickly dig your feet into the ground, screeching to a halt as you nearly run into a barbed-wire fence. It looked like a dead end…
Except when you look around, you see you can either go left or right. The left looks as if it leads to a row of weapons, probably a testing field… The right looks like it goes towards a scrap yard.
"Which way should we go?" Amy asks you.
"This way!" you shout as you grab Amy once more and race towards the scrap yard.
It's like any other junk yard you've seen… Piles of scrap metals and old, run down machinery are at every corner. Tails would be like a kid in a candy store if he saw all this.
But you don't have time to observe the scenery that much, given all the killer robots giving chase.
You zigzag every turn you can to avoid the blasts shooting from behind. In front of you is a tower of dead robots. You leap up, give it a swift kick, and knock the tower down on the pursuing Badniks. Some of them are knocked over, but many others either evade or recover quickly and come after you once more. You dash off again, Amy in tow.
"Sonic, over there!" Amy points to the side. You look over to see a giant industrial shredder and make a bee line over to it. The Badniks, of course, follow your trail.
You already have an idea of what Amy is planning. Once you reach the shredder, you immediately hoist her up so she can climb to the platform, and then you leap up after her. You look back to see the Badniks charging in.
"Get to the control panel!" you order, pointing up above to a higher platform where the controls were. "Hurry!"
Amy nods, and quickly rushes over to the nearest ladder and makes her way up. You turn back to the oncoming Badniks, and whistle for their attention. "Hey bot brains!" you shout and wave, "Over here!"
You duck as they shoot their guns at you. Well, they know where you are, you just got to find a way to lure them over… You look back up, and see them approaching the shredder, and making their way up towards you.
You turn and leap over the gap in the platform. Looking down it, you see the sharp spikes and claws underneath that would surely tenderize the hardest of hides. Perfect!
"Come and get me!" you jump up and down, trying to grab their attention again. Instead, they fire their guns at you, and you're forced to take cover behind the control tower. You peak over, but have to pull back as more shots ring out. Great… They're content with just standing there instead of trying to come closer…
You suddenly hear gears grinding and the platform on the other side moving… You look over once more to see the platform the Badniks are standing on is tilting upwards on an angle, and the remaining Badniks go tumbling into the shredder below.
"Bye bye!" you hear Amy call out, as you hear the spikes and claws turn on, and then are replaced with the crunching of metal as sparks and random bolts fly up from the gap. What a lovely sight.
The platform lowers back down, and the shredders slow to a stop, and you look up to see Amy sliding down the ladder. Once she's back with you, you hold up your palm. "Way to go, Amy!"
She happily high-fives you, then sneak-attacks you with a glomp. "We make such a great team!" she squeals.
You sigh. "Yeah. Couldn't think of a better date…"
Amy pulls back. "Only YOU would see this as a date," she mutters.
You shrug. "And you wouldn't?"
The pink hedgehog turns and crosses her arms. "Hmph! When we get home, we're going on a PROPER date!"
You would love to squabble some more with her, but you suddenly hear commotions coming from far off, where the lab is. "Okay, we'll pick this up later," you tell Amy, swinging her around and letting her hold you around your shoulders from behind, "Let's go check on the others."
Amy doesn't have the chance to even reply before you're blasting off top speed towards the lab as she holds onto you for dear life.
Once you make it back, you find heaps of destroyed Badniks and broken parts littered all over the place. And surrounding those parts, thankfully safe and unharmed, are Silver, Shadow, Oydax, and Omega. "How's that for a distraction?" says Oydax, leaning his cricket bat over his shoulder.
"Any word on Team Two?" Shadow asks Silver.
"I'll do a quick scope of the area and see if I can find them," Silver replies, "You all better head back, before-"
BOOM!
You all snap your head up as a loud explosion breaks out above you. A gaping hole appears from the side of the lab, all the way at the top floor. You can barely make out the figure of a bat woman, carrying a large green emerald by a long rope.
"Rouge!" Shadow shouts, waving her down, "Over here!"
The bat swings down and soars towards you, but flies past overhead, Master Emerald in tow. "Hey!" you shout, "What do you think you're-"
"The others need your help!" Rouge shouts back, "Don't just stand there! Go save them!"
"I'll see to it that she and the emerald get back safely," says Shadow, "You all go on ahead!"
You're about to protest, but Shadow is gone just as fast as you would be.
Nevermind now. You're worried about your friends, so you turn back to the lab. "Stay here, Amy!" you order, "If anyone else comes out, you lead them back to the tunnel."
Amy nods. Silver takes you in his psychokinetic powers as he levitates you both to the sky where the hole is. Omega and Oydax are close behind, using their own jets to fly up.
However, once you reach the hole, you're met with rapid gunfire from various sorts of Badniks. Fortunately, Oydax is quick to put up blue cubed shields around you, protecting you from the gunfire. The moment there was an opening, Omega zips around the cubes and massively blasts every Badnik in his way. Oydax drops the cubes and rushes in, cricket bat in hand. Silver floats inside and releases you, and you take the chance to speed off down the hall and around the corner.
Right in front of you looks like Eggman Nega's main laboratory. The doors had been burst open, so you let yourself inside and do a quick survey of the area. The lab looks obliterated. There are damaged robots and parts scattered all over the place.
No Badniks guarding… They're too busy facing off against Knuckles and Shade, who fight hard against them. Where are the others?
You don't see Eggman Nega anywhere, but you do finally notice the Egg Pawns running around, some coming your way. You spin into them but only manage to knock them backwards without any real damage.
"Sonic! Over here! Help!"
You whip your head in the direction of Tech's voice. He's trapped in the corner of the lab, blasting away any and every Badnik that comes near him. You rush over, evading every attack that comes close to you, and stop nearby. "What's up?" you ask.
"I can't get by and carry these two with me at the same time," Tech replies, shooting his Blast Gun at an array of oncoming Pawns, "Can you take one of them?"
Tech motions behind himself, and you look over… and your heart drops.
Janae is unconscious, with a clear-cut bump on her head. But that's not what shocked you…
Tails is nearby her, also unconscious… with his head laying in a pool of blood.
"What happened?!" you cry out.
"I'll explain later!" Tech shouts, "Just take one of them! Please!"
You don't need to be told twice. You go straight for Tails and scoop him up. He makes a low moaning sound, and you're relieved he's at least alive… But right now you just want to get him out of here!
Tech continues blasting ahead as he hoists Janae over his shoulder. You're both able to move forward, until a massive looking Badnik steps in your way…
BAM!
"Get going, Sonic!" Knuckles shouts to you, after knocking the Badnik away.
You nod your thanks and continue on. Tech continues to fire ahead as Knuckles and Shade work together to try and clear a path for you…
"Chaos Spear!"
Several streaks of golden energy blast out, striking many more Badniks in your way, and making the escape route much easier to get through. "Thanks, Shadow!" you call as you go ahead and race through, back to the hole.
Silver is there waiting, and looks genuinely concerned after seeing Tails' condition. "What happened?" he cries.
"That's what I'd like to know," you growl as you look behind yourself to check on the others. The rest of your group doesn't look like they're in any clear-cut danger, so you turn back to Silver. "Can you get us back down to the tunnels? Tails needs help, ASAP!"
"You got it!" Silver takes you in his powers and rushes you out the damaged building, downwards and to the alley, where the manhole cover is. "You remember the way back?" he asks as he releases you from his hold.
"Straight, right turn, straight some more. I got it," you reply quickly.
Silver lifts the cover up with his psychokinesis and you quickly drop down and dash through the tunnels back to HQ.
Almost immediately as you run down, the tunnels begin to shake, like an earthquake. You stop for a brief moment and kneel down to protect Tails. What was that? A quake? An attack..?
You're worried about your friends… But just as worried about Tails. You trust the others will be okay for now and hurry back towards HQ.
The moment you arrive, you scream for medics. Once another resistance member sees the condition Tails is in, they rush you down to the Medic Wing. Doctors are quick to take him from your arms and hurry him into another room on a stretcher.
All you can do now is wait…
I'll be back, Tails… I've got to check on the others. I've no doubt you're in good hands…
You turn and head out the Medic Wing and back to the tunnels. Thankfully, it isn't long before you meet back up with the others, coming from the other direction. Amy is the first to greet you, wrapping her arms around your neck. "Sonic!" she cries out, "Are you okay? What about Tails?"
"Tails is being taken care of right now…" you sigh, then glare back at the rest of the group, "Somebody better explain to me what happened up there, and it better be a damn good explanation!"
Knuckles glances downward in guilt. Tech closes his eyes and gives a disappointed groan. Shade simply glares over at the still unconscious Janae, now being carried by Oydax.
"They told me everything, Sonic," Silver replies, "Come on. I'll explain on the way back…"
Continue to Part 3A, Chapter 18