- Chapter 31 -

Assault and Battery

Death Egg

On board the Death Egg, Robotnik was in the midst of engaging repairs, while a drone floated nearby.

"Damn that Sonic," he spat. "He interrupted the launch at a critical moment."

"With all due respect, Doctor, we warned you repairs weren't finished," the drone said matter-of-factly. "And your usage of excessive force with the Big Arm mech didn't help matters. Ergo, this is the repercussion of your hasty actions."

Robotnik stiffened before slowly turning to face the drone.

"I'm having a bad enough day as it is," he warned, deadly calm. "So I suggest you watch your tone around me if you don't want to be dismantled and turned into a toaster."

"Apologies, Doctor," the drone began beeping. "The Flying Battery has detected Sonic the Hedgehog. As well as an energy spike identical to the Chaos Emeralds."

"Hmmm…" Robotnik stroked his chin. "It seems he's found one of the Chaos Emeralds already. Excellent. Have the Badniks retrieve the Emerald from his charred remains."

"As you command, sir," the drone replied.

Master Emerald Shrine

By this time, Knuckles and Kat had made it back to the shrine, and were seated around a campfire. Knuckles carefully bandaged Kat's hands, tending to the bloody knuckles. She was still clutching Tails' jacket, curled in on herself.

"I just want to be sure before I do anything else," he began. "Sonic didn't hurt you in any way, did he?"

"No," Kat shook her head. "He... surrendered to me. He never laid a finger on me… and I…" Her hands started shaking, and her hands clutched the jacket tighter, as if using it as a tether to reality.

Knuckles blinked in surprise. "You mean... you did all that to him?"

Kat just nodded. "I was so angry… so… lost. And he just… stood there."

Knuckles looked at her, then at the way she was holding the jacket.

"Hey…" he said at last. "There's... a few houses still intact. Some of them may have some clothes that will fit you. You're... welcome to look."

Kat looked up, giving a small nod and taking the out he was offering. As she headed down the stairs, Knuckles turned to Chomps.

"Keep an eye on her," he told the dinosaur. "I need to go…"

Chomps nodded, and Knuckles departed, heading off into the jungle.

"From what I've seen of Sonic, he's not the murderous monster the doctor made him out to be," he mused to himself. "But I've got to make sure."

Flying Battery

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails were flying at breakneck speed after the Flying Battery. They managed to find a proper foothold on the ship, Tails looking over Sonic quickly.

"You good to fight?" the fox asked.

"Yeah," Sonic nodded. "I don't know what that gem did, but I feel better. Physically, at least. It even healed my rib. Now enough about that. We're taking this thing down."

He began looking around, finding a vent. "Tails, mind opening the door?"

Tails shook his head. "Not at all."

He pried the vent off, and the two rushed inside.

"So what's the plan?" Tails asked.

"Short and sweet, buddy," Sonic replied. "We just go in, tear this place apart, and abandon ship."

Tails shrugged. "Works for me."

Sonic promptly curled up and began bouncing around the place like a pinball. Tails began manually fiddling with pressure gauges and support beams. Any Badnik they came across was also destroyed. However, Tails spotted a glowing object that cut the mayhem short.

"Hang on…" he let out. "Sonic, I see something!"

"Kinda busy at the moment!" Sonic shot back.

Tails ran over, digging in the scrap to find the purple Chaos Emerald.

"A Chaos Emerald!" he shouted. "Sonic! One of the Emeralds is here!"

Sonic skidded to a stop, hurrying over. Tails held it up, smiling.

"Whoa, another one already?" he let out. "What are the odds?"

"I'm just surprised Eggman didn't snatch it up," Tails said.

Sonic scratched his head in thought. "Well, they do tend to scatter wherever. He probably had no clue it was here."

"Lucky for us," Tails decided.

He went to put it in his jacket pocket, then remembered it was gone. "Right. Forgot."

He held it out and Sonic took it, putting it with the green one. At that moment, they heard footsteps sounding like metal on metal, and turned to see a massive scorpion-esque robot stomping toward them. It towered over the pair, a massive red eye scanning the room before locking onto Sonic and Tails. Large, drill-like appendages dug into the metal as massive claws and an imposing tail were unsheathed.

"Relinquish the Chaos Emeralds, or be destroyed," it ordered.

"Hmmm…" Sonic scratched his chin in thought. "Let me think about it for a minute. Hell no!"

"Then I, the Egg Scorpion, will send you to your doom!"

The scorpion's claws opened wide to reveal twin Volkan Cannons, which fired on the duo.

"Whoa!" Tails screamed as the two barely dodged.

"So Eggman made a Badnik that's a legit threat," Sonic grinned. "Now we're talking."

"You will not be leaving this Battery alive," the Scorpion swore. "Surrender is your only option."

"Actually, there's another one," Sonic shot back.

He ran around the scorpion, landing dashes to its legs at every opportunity. The scorpion continually stabbed around with its tail, trying to hit him.

"This is illogical," the scorpion insisted. "You will fail, then you and your friend will die."

The tail opened up to reveal a laser, which began firing at Sonic. However, he was too fast for it, and all it really did was blast into the walls, ceiling, and floor. Seeing that, Sonic got an idea. He began running across key pieces of machinery, watching as the laser sliced through them like they're nothing. As the Flying Battery sparked and sputtered, Sonic wrapped it up by darting onto the Scorpion's face, pulling down his left eyelid and sticking out his tongue right in its eye. On instinct, the Egg Scorpion aimed at him. Sonic jumped out of the way, and the bot shot itself. It crumbled to the ground as Sonic snorted, wiping his nose with his thumb.

"Piece of cake," he scoffed.

An alarm went off as red lights began to flash, smoke and fire spewing forth from every corner of the room.

"And that's our cue to boogie!" Sonic declared.

Grabbing Tails' arm, he took off at full speed, plowing right through a door to the outside. Seeing they were above a desert, Sonic grinned, planting both feet on the door and surfing his way down on it.

"Sonic, are you out of your mind?!" Tails demanded.

"Probably," Sonic confessed. "But hey, if I wasn't, this would probably never work!"

Mushroom Hill

Knuckles returned to Mushroom Hill, standing atop one of the taller fungi. He looked around, searching for any sign of Sonic and Tails. He then caught sight of the Flying Battery going down, and two small figures jumping to safety.

"There you are," he noted. "Looks like they're gonna land somewhere in the Sandopolis Desert."

He slid off the mushroom, before being distracted by a yellow glow.

"What the…" he let out.

He walked over to the glow, finding the source to be another Chaos Emerald. He dusted it off, picking it up. "Another one…"

Unsure of what to do, he tucked it into a small sack on his loincloth. With that, he hurried in the direction of the desert, determined to get the truth out of Sonic once and for all.

Author's Note:

Another one bites the dust.

The Egg Scorpion was inspired by the Scorpius boss from Sonic Spinball, as well as the Guard Scorpion/Scorpion Sentinel from Final Fantasy VII. For its design, think like the Guard Scorpion, but with the color and head/eye of the Death Egg Robot sentinels from Sonic Forces.

Please R&R. Until next time!