- Chapter 35 -

Up, Up and Away

Sky Sanctuary

As the pillar of light faded, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Kat found themselves standing on ancient airborne ruins within the clouds, composed mostly of pillars and towers which appeared to bear some type of Roman or Gothic-style architecture, with sparse bridges and beams connecting them.

"The Sky Sanctuary is holy ground," Knuckles explained. "Under normal circumstances, nobody but me would be allowed to enter. But in this case, we'll make an exception."

"Considering what's at stake, I doubt your ancestors will mind," Sonic said as he set both Knuckles and Kat down, the latter quickly helping the Echidna stand.

"It's beautiful up here," Kat said softly.

Before they could react, something charged in, narrowly missing them. A spiky buzzsaw figure uncurled, revealing Mecha Sonic, who turned to face Sonic himself.

"Knuckles, get Tails and Kat to safety," Sonic ordered. "I'll deal with my mechanical doppelganger."

Knuckles nodded before departing with the pair, leaving the two Sonics to face off.

"Well, I'll give Eggman this," Sonic began. "At least you have the proper paint job. Still, no bucket of bolts is gonna outmatch the real deal."

Mecha Sonic said nothing, only extending his right hand. With the sound of a shotgun cocking, the hand retracted to reveal a machine gun barrel, which the robot began rapidly firing with.

"Whoa!" Sonic shouted before taking off in a flash, barely outrunning the gunfire. "Okay, you have a few more tricks than your predecessor. Good to know."

The barrel of the machine gun suddenly split open, allowing a green-barreled device to emerge from inside, from which a missile protruded.

"Oh, come on!" Sonic let out.

The missile fired and Sonic bolted, watching the missile trail behind him. In desperation, Sonic jumped behind one of the columns, the missile destroying it. From their hiding place behind a rather robust column, Knuckles popped out, shaking his fist.

"Hey! What part of sacred ground do you not understand?!"

"Tell him that!" Sonic retorted as another missile was fired, forcing him to run.

Sonic ran around for a bit, eventually jumping and springing off the missile, sending it flying off past the sanctuary to explode harmlessly. As he launched himself at Mecha Sonic, he spun rapidly in mid-air before coming down at the robot with a powerful axe kick. Mecha Sonic raised an arm to defend, but Sonic's kick nonetheless bashed a dent in its forearm. Mecha Sonic looked at the arm, then at Sonic, his eyebar glowing angrily. He then grabbed Sonic by the throat, rocketing towards a crumbling wall. Just before they slammed into it, Sonic managed to break free, jumping off Mecha Sonic's head as it plowed through the wall itself. Knuckles facepalmed at that.

"You are ruining the ruins!" he shouted.

"You realize that makes no sense, right?" Tails asked.

Knuckles didn't seem to hear him, still seething about the entire situation.

"Alright, that's it. We need to take this robot down before the Sky Sanctuary's nothing but rubble."

With that, he charged into the fray, Sonic and Knuckles teaming up against Metal Sonic. Sonic charged forward, landing a sliding kick, while Knuckles ran forward at that, landing a powerful punch that actually unleashed an explosion on impact. As the robot was dazed, Knuckles rapidly spun around until the air friction actually ignited his fist, allowing him to land a fiery spinning uppercut that launched Mecha Sonic into the air. They watched the bot go flying almost out of sight, then come crashing down hard about a minute later.

"Think that did it?" Tails asked.

The robot's eyes lit up, and it suddenly sprang to its feet before darting into the distance. They quickly followed him to see the Master Emerald on a Warp Point... and Mecha Sonic standing on top of it, absorbing chaos energy from the Emerald directly into its power core. Before they could stop him, Mecha Sonic took to the air, turning a golden-orange color.

"The robot can go Super too?" Sonic exclaimed. "Oh, come on! How is that fair?!"

"What do you mean 'go Super?'" Knuckles questioned.

"I can absorb chaos energy and go Super Sonic," Sonic explained. "And apparently, SO CAN HE!"

"How'd Robotnik program him to do that?!" Tails demanded.

"Worry about it later!" Sonic shouted.

The robot charged at them directly, with Sonic and Knuckles doing what they could to fend him off. Knuckles landed another punch, then several more, but Mecha Sonic was completely unfazed. Mecha Sonic then kicked Knuckles hard in the stomach, causing him to go flying through two columns.

"Knuckles!" Kat screamed.

Mecha Sonic turned his attention to Sonic, easily keeping pace with him and forcing him to dodge massive bursts of plasma. It threw Sonic aside, just as its power faded and it reverted to normal. Mecha Sonic immediately turned back to the Master Emerald, only to find his organic counterpart already there, hand on the gem.

"Two can play at that game, metal head!" he mocked.

He closed his eyes, drawing in the power. In a blinding flash, he stood atop the Master Emerald as Super Sonic.

"Ready when you are!" he declared.

Knuckles emerged from the rubble, his eyes widening in shock,

"No way…" he managed. "That connection to the Chaos Force... it's on par with a Guardian."

Mecha Sonic aimed its gun arm at Sonic, firing on him rapidly, but the bullets merely bounced off his invulnerable body as he charged in, landing a mighty punch that knocked Mecha Sonic's head clean off its shoulders. Not taking any chances, Sonic got to work tearing its body apart as the head rolled over to Kat. Kat snorted, grabbing the head and walking over to the edge of the sanctuary.

"Good riddance," she said flatly before drop-kicking the head away.

Death Egg

Robotnik crushed his can of Chao Cola in his fist as he saw Mecha Sonic's signal go out.

"One Badnik that can kill the hedgehog!" he ranted. "That's all I ask! ONE!"

However, he checked closer, realizing the chaos energy signature was much closer than before.

"Hmmm…" he grinned. "Well, at least he placed it on the Warp Point before he went out."

Sky Sanctuary

Sonic's Chaos power faded, returning him to normal. He looked at his hands, then sighed.

"Well, that little experience was pretty short lived."

Before they could react, the Master Emerald was suddenly warped away. A great thunderous noise was suddenly heard in the distance: it was big, and coming straight for them. The blood drained from Kat's face as they saw the Death Egg emerge through the clouds, numerous Egg Robos flying out alongside it.

"No, no, no, no, no…" She whimpered.

She started backing away in horror, nearly stepping off the edge of the sanctuary. Knuckles quickly caught her and pulled her back, holding her as she clung to him, her finger's digging into his fur.

"That's not good," Sonic let out.

As the Death Egg continued to ascend, Robotnik's voice sounded through a loudspeaker

"Watch and weep, Sonic!" he gloated. "Through the Death Egg's power, Mobius will be reborn in metal, just as I will be reborn as the supreme ruler of the planet! THIS IS MY MOMENT OF GLORY!"

He laughed as Sonic turned to Knuckles.

"Hey, Red," he began, "how's your throwing arm?"

Knuckles looked at Sonic, then at the Death Egg. Gently freeing himself from Kat's grip, he walked over to the hedgehog.

"Let's find out," he offered.

He grabbed Sonic by the legs, spinning in place for a few moments before sending him flying through the air right for the Death Egg. As he reached the approaching Egg Robos, Sonic launched into a Homing Attack, ricocheting between dozens of them until he reached the Death Egg and smashed through one of the portholes.

"He made it!" Tails cheered.

"Thank Aurora," Knuckles managed. "He's our only hope now."

"Please…" Kat clasped her hands in prayer, bowing her head. "Please stop him…"

Author's Note:

Next chapter concludes the Angel Island arc. The big showdown between Sonic and Robotnik, and the swan song of the Death Egg.

Please R&R. Until next time!