-Chapter 67-
A Special Kind of Trouble
The Special Zone
The Freedom Fighters arrived in the Special Zone, seeing the Death Egg Mark II not far from their position. Seeing the massive ship had everyone on edge. Kat visibly tensed at the sight, Knuckles taking her hand. Sonic rubbed his rib, steeling himself before turning to the rest of the group.
"Alright, just leave this to me," he declared.
"No way, Sonic," Sally shot down, shaking her head. "We all came along, so we're all going to help."
Sonic looked surprised, but Sally ignored him, addressing the group.
"Kat, you know the Death Egg, what can you-?"
"NO!" Sonic suddenly snapped.
Everyone jumped, turning to see Sonic looking angry and scared, clenching his fists and shaking his head.
"She's not setting foot back on that death trap!"
"We're not gonna let you have all the fun, man," Knuckles insisted.
"You don't get it!" Sonic hissed through gritted teeth.
"Sonic, Kat spent months on the Death Egg," Sally rationalized, "and I doubt he would have made this one that much different from the first one. We need her to-"
"I said no, Sally!" Sonic interjected. "No freaking way!"
Sally let out a growl, growing annoyed.
"Sonic, why won't you just let us help you?!"
That seemed to set Sonic off.
"Help?! You mean like how you almost got Kat and the boys killed by Kodos trying to 'help' me?!"
A dead silence followed at that, everyone stunned by the exclamation. Sally attempted to find words in her defense, but Sonic cut her off, continuing his rant.
"I warned you, Sal! I WARNED YOU! But you didn't listen to me! You knew how psychotic Kodos was. How Robotnik would have to work twice as hard to be half as bad. I wanted them to stay out of it, but you overruled me and let them come anyway! And lo and behold, Kat would have died if Eggman hadn't shown up to do the dirty work! Well not this time, Sal! I'm going alone. No one else is getting on that Aurora-forsaken machine, and if you know what's good for you, you'll listen to me."
"Sonic-" Sally tried.
"No. First, Kat almost dies because you let her come to fight Kodos, and now you want to make her go back onto the space station where she endured months of a living hell and lost her parents and everyone she ever knew. I'm not losing anyone else. You guys are going to stay here, out of trouble, and I'm going onto the Death Egg by myself. End. Of. Discussion."
Before they could argue, he sped off, Sally calling out his name and reaching for him, but it was all for naught. The Freedom Fighters watched him vanish as Knuckles kicked a rock.
"That idiot…" the echidna snarled.
"I hate to be 'zat guy', but Sonic does have a point," Antoine admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
"What?!" The entire group exclaimed.
"Antoine," Bunnie let out, "he-."
"Just because he's slipping mentally doesn't mean he's not entirely wrong," Antoine interjected. "I did not want to say anything back then, but I do agree that sending children after a psychotic murderer was not the best idea."
"Nobody made us do anything, though!" Chris argued. "We wanted to come help! And you guys are all technically kids yourselves!"
"We chose to go," Kat added. "I chose to go against Kodos. That's on me, not Sally."
Sally looked at her hands, sighing in remorse.
"Sonic's right… I shouldn't have let you. We were wasting time arguing, and needed to act. I thought that since you proved your mettle during the Phantom Ruby mess, it'd be okay. But Kat almost lost her life either way."
"It's not the first time, Sal-" Kat tried to defend.
"There shouldn't even be a first time!" Sally insisted. "You're twelve!"
"And almost everyone here is the same age!" Chris pointed out.
"Yeah, maybe it was reckless, but everyone still turned out okay!" Keith declared. "And Sonic wouldn't have been able to take Kodos if Kat hadn't helped him!"
"Call it reckless, call it foolhardy, it doesn't matter," Hope told her, "All of us knew what we were getting into when we became Freedom Fighters."
"And let's not forget that Amy's the same age as us, and Tails is only ten," Chris reminded her. "If you wanna sideline us, then maybe you should sideline them as well."
Sally looked at them all, genuinely torn. Tails approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Sally, you made a choice," he told her. "We can debate whether it was right or wrong from now until the end of time, but it won't change anything. Besides, right now, we need to focus on the mission at hand. Sonic needs our help, whether he wants it or not."
"Yeah," Amy agreed. "I don't care what Sonic said. He needs us. He's in a bad place right now, and we're all that's standing between him and real darkness."
Sally took a deep breath, shaking her head and turning towards the Death Egg Mk II.
"Right, let's go."
Sonic stopped before the Death Egg Mk II, looking for an entryway. It was at that moment he heard footsteps approach, and turned to see the other Freedom Fighters approaching.
"I told you you weren't-" he began, annoyed.
"We know, and we don't care," Tails cut him off. "You can't do this alone, Sonic."
"I can't-" Sonic started.
"Sonic!" Kat snapped. "We're going. Face it, you need us. Our strength, our prowess, our knowledge."
"We started the Freedom Fighters Initiative for a reason, Sonic," Sally added. "You're a Mobian, not an island. And human or Mobian, a man's strength comes not from just muscle, brains, or speed... but from his allies. His friends."
Sonic looked ready to burst from anger, annoyance, and fear. Finally, he just let out a yell and turned away.
"Fine," he gave in. "What do you think we should do?"
"Our first step is finding out how the Little Planet is attached to the Death Egg," Rotor decided.
"If I had to wager a guess, I say there are probably a few anchor points inside," Tails mused. "Like how he tethered Little Planet to Mercia."
"So we snap the anchor points, and the Death Egg's toast," Sonic deduced.
"Good plan," said Chris. "But it's not gonna be easy."
"Indeed, mon ami," Antoine agreed. "Zat thing will be crawling with Egg-Robos, Badniks, and who knows what else."
"Not to mention Metal, no doubt juiced up on that sapphire thing," Bunnie added.
"No one said this was gonna be easy," Mina pointed out. "And we don't need 'easy'. We just need 'possible.'"
"How do we get in?" Knuckles asked.
Kat scratched her head in thought. "Well... if this is another Death Egg, he's probably got workers. Maybe we could sneak in with a batch being brought in."
At the mention of workers, Sonic immediately turned to them. "And we get them out before we do anything else."
"Absolutely," Sally assured.
-X-
They waited, hiding behind a rock. Before long, a ship containing prison capsules flew in. The capsules were opened, and numerous prisoners were led into the Death Egg.
"Now!" Porker yelled.
They all dashed into the ship mere seconds before the hatch closed. Once they were inside, the Egg Robos instantly turned on them. Tails lobbed a Dummy Egg Bomb, shocking all the troops and causing them to power down.
"Rotor, Tekno, Porker, help me wipe their memory banks," the fox insisted, already running to one bot. "Everyone else, get the prisoners out."
Tekno, Rotor, and Porker went to help him, leaving the others to hurry ahead. Before long, however, they heard pounding at a nearby door, before something came charging through it in a Spin Dash. It wasn't Metal Sonic, but it was a Sonic robot nonetheless. This one had large eyes that were a gradient from red to yellow with a grid-like pattern. His forearms and feet were incredibly bulky, the tips of his shoes being the same red as Sonic's, and he had a massive jet on his back.
"Let me guess," Sonic began, "Silver Sonic?"
"Silver Sonic v2.0," the robot corrected. "Dr. Robotnik has a score to settle with you, and I'm just the bot to do it."
"What happened to Metal?" Sonic questioned. "From what I heard, he was eager to fight me."
"He had other matters to attend to," Silver Sonic replied. "Besides, my duty is to guard the Death Egg."
Sonic stretched, ready to fight. He then pulled his ring pouch out of his pocket, tossing it to Tails.
"Get outta here, guys. Save the prisoners. I'll handle him."
Everyone nodded and scattered, leaving the two Sonics to fight.
"Y'know, I'm glad you showed up," Sonic mused. "You have no idea how badly I need to hit something."
Silver Sonic raised his right arm, launching twin missiles. Sonic immediately took off running, the missiles following him.
"Guided missiles again?" he asked.
Sonic rushed around, getting on top of Silver Sonic and banging on his head like a drum. He jumped off as the missiles closed in, only for Silver Sonic to shoot them down with a laser from his eyes.
"Close, but no cigar!" he taunted.
"Fine with me," Sonic retorted. "I don't smoke!"
He rolled into a Spin Dash, rushing at Silver Sonic. The two clashed back and forth for a while. Silver Sonic suddenly extended a grappling cable from his arm, ensnaring Sonic's ankle before slinging him around the room.
The others were hurrying along, hearing the clashing sounds from Sonic and Silver Sonic's fight. After a minute, Sally pulled out Nicole, her lynx form materializing.
"Nicole, is there anything you can tell us about Silver Sonic II?" she asked.
Nicole's eyes unfocused for several moments as she hacked into Robotnik's files.
"Dr. Robotnik's files indicate it's an upgraded version of the Silver Sonic model Sonic faced on the first Death Egg," she said at last. "Sleeker, faster... and its power supply is infinite."
"Great…" Sally sighed. "That's just great."
"Hey, Sonic can handle a tin can," Shortfuse insisted. "We have to get everyone off this ship and find those anchor points."
"Have faith, Sal," Johnny assured. "It always seems bad at first... but then Sonic finds a way."
"Kat, any idea where Eggman might be keeping the prisoners?" Keith asked.
"Follow me," Kat replied. "Hopefully the layout is still the same."
She led them along, soon finding an area marked "Prison Hall."
"Here it is…" she told them.
They went in, seeing the cells filled with people, human and Mobian alike.
"Time for a prison break," Knuckles declared.
He started bending the bars open with his bare hands. Everyone else began throwing Warp Rings, the prisoners running for them desperately.
"Check the engine room too!" Tails ordered. "There's probably a shift on duty!"
"And the area under construction!" Tekno added.
"Agreed," said Sally. "Sonic will never forgive us or himself if we leave even one person behind."
"Mina, Bunnie, Antoine, we'll check the construction site!" Shortfuse ordered.
"Knuckles, Chris, Keith, we should head for the engine," Kat declared.
The two groups split off to do so.
Unbeknownst to them, Robotnik was watching everything through the security footage.
"Well, this is quite the turn of events," he said with a grin.
Sonic and Silver Sonic were still fighting. By this point, Silver Sonic were flying around, a battered but determined Sonic hanging onto his legs.
"Give up, Hedgehog!" Silver Sonic snapped. "You can't win!"
"You better give up thinking I'm gonna give up!" Sonic snapped back.
"Then I'm gonna take you for a ride!"
Silver Sonic started flying around at high speed, plowing through quite a few walls. Through it all, Sonic refused to let go.
"Is that the best you got?!" he taunted.
"No," Silver Sonic replied, pointing his forearm at Sonic as a laser blaster revealed itself. "This is!"
Sonic let go just as he fired, resulting in Silver Sonic blowing his own foot off. The bot let out a roar of rage, his voice and eyes glitching somewhat. Sonic smirked, rolling on the ground and wiping his nose triumphantly.
"I've heard of shooting yourself in the foot, but I've never seen it literally happen."
Silver Sonic flew at him, and Sonic tucked into a ball before launching himself at the bot. His spines cut through the metal of the Badnik, beheading Silver Sonic with ease. The body crashed before going limp, while the head bounced along the ground.
"Bo... gus…" the head let out as its eyes glitched before turning off.
Sonic let out a breath, standing up and wincing in pain.
"Now, to catch up with the others."
He sped off, leaving his silvery doppelganger little more than scrap.
The last prisoner hopped through the Warp Ring as Shortfuse and Kat's groups met back up with the others.
"Ran out of Warp Rings, but everyone's out," Shortfuse informed them.
"Same with us," Knuckles said. "How many we got left?"
"Just one," Sally declared as she held it up. "We'll need it to get off this-"
Suddenly, it was shot out of her hand. The ring landed in Metal's outstretched hand as he emerged from the shadows.
"I'm afraid you won't be getting off this place anytime soon," he told them as he crushed the ring in his fist, dropping golden powder to the ground before them.
"Metal…" Sally gasped.
"You slimy…" Knuckles growled. "This was a trap!"
"Indeed it was."
Robotnik came flying in on the Egg Mobile, Eggatha with him.
"I knew the return of Metal and my Death Egg Mark II would lure you do-gooders here." he gloated.
"Eggman!" Hope exclaimed.
"That name is an insult, my dear niece!" Robotnik snapped. "You will address me as Dr. Robotnik!"
"I'll call you whatever I want!" Hope shot back.
"Silence!" Robotnik ordered. "You don't seem to realize what's going on. As of this moment, you are all my prisoners!"
He then broke down in maniacal laughter as Badniks and SWATbots poured into the room, surrounding the group. Amy scowled, drawing the Piko Piko Hammer.
"You think we're going down without a fight?!" she demanded.
"The question you should be asking is, what choice do you have?" Robotnik responded.
Sally looked down, realizing the odds were not in their favor.
"Guys… stand down," she ordered. "We can't win this."
"The princess is correct," Antoine conceded. "The outcome of this battle has been decided. A true warrior knows when to fold."
Everyone looked around, then they all dropped their respective weapons, raising their hands. Robotnik's cackles returned in full force…
Later, Sonic was zooming around, trying to find his friends.
"C'mon, guys. Where are you?" he demanded.
He then sped into a room, his foot connecting with something. He stopped, looking down as his blood ran cold. He picked up the Miles Electric, his hands shaking.
"SURPRISE!" came Robotnik's shout.
Before Sonic could react, he was encased in a glass capsule. He whirled around to see Robotnik approach.
"I figured I'd leave you a little souvenir from your friends," Robotnik boasted. "Don't worry, they're alive and still flesh and blood. In fact, they now have the honor of serving the Robotnik Empire in its assault on Mobius!"
"Let them go!" Sonic ordered, pounding on the glass. "When I get outta here, I'm gonna-!"
"You're gonna what?" Robotnik cut in. "Sorry, but this is the end for you. As much as I would love for you to have a front row seat, I say leaving you to rot in the Special Zone, knowing how badly you failed, will be punishment enough."
"Eggman!" Sonic screamed, pounding with all his might, but to no avail. "You WON'T get away with this!"
Robotnik just smirked before hitting a button. "Goodbye, Sonic the Hedgehog."
With that, Sonic's capsule was ejected from the Death Egg, Sonic screaming in impotent rage all the while. He watched as the Death Egg warped out of sight, taking all of his friends with him.
"EGGMAN!" he shouted.
Planet Meridian
Several of the freed prisoners were all gathered up, doing head counts and making sure everyone was accounted for. As they did, a shadow loomed overhead and one looked up.
"Incoming!" he screamed.
They all scattered as Sonic's pod smashed down, leaving a large crater in its wake. After a few moments, they slowly approached, seeing Sonic attacking the inside of the pod with everything he had, determined to escape.
"It's Sonic!" the first prisoner exclaimed.
"What's he doing in that thing?" a second one questioned.
"Someone get a crowbar!" shouted a third.
Someone ran forward with a crowbar, jamming it into one of the side panels. Together, three prisoners pull as about five more hold the capsule in place. The side came loose, and Sonic quickly squeezed out before the prisoners' strength failed them.
"Thanks," he said politely.
"Are you alright?" one prisoner asked.
Sonic shook his head. "No. My friends are still on that thing."
He began searching his pockets, the color draining from his face when he realized he didn't have any Warp Rings. He remembered he'd given it to Tails, which meant he was essentially stranded. Sonic began shaking, looking down at his hands as his situation sank in. His friends were imprisoned and enslaved on the Death Egg, and without Warp Rings, he was effectively powerless to go after them. The prisoners immediately gave him a wide berth as he began sparking, before whirling around and taking his rage and sorrow out on the capsule he'd just escaped from.
"Damn it!" he screamed. "DAMN IT!"
Black lightning rolled off him as he punched the capsule as hard as he could. "Sally! Tails! Knuckles!"
The capsule began to dent and crack under his assault. "You took everything from me, Eggman! EVERYTHING!"
The capsule exploded as Sonic just stood there, his breath ragged. He then fell to his knees, the black lightning falling away as tears filled his eyes. He punched the ground, his blows growing weaker. The prisoners just looked on sympathetically as Sonic sat there, sobbing silently. Slowly, however, the crying ceased, and Sonic slowly stood up, his face a cold, stony mask as he glared up at where the Death Egg used to be.
"I have to get back to Mobius," he insisted, clenching his fists in determination. "I don't care what you say or think, Eggman. I'm not just gonna roll over and die here. I'm getting my friends back... even if it kills me."
Author's Note:
Oh, no! The Freedom Fighters have all been captured, but Sonic isn't gonna take it lying down. How will he escape the Special Zone to save the day? Stay tuned to find out.
Silver Sonic v2.0 is from Archie, just FYI. A recurring trend will feature here; whenever there's a Death Egg, there will be a Silver Sonic model to face.
Please R&R. Until next time!