Adventures of the Orange Flash
Chapter 66: A Push too far
Sonic was currently sleeping peacefully inside of his sleeping bag when he heard something tapping against the forcefield that was protecting them from any possible attacks from Eggman's forces. He raised his head and was surprised to see Shadow the hedgehog tapping against the forcefield.
"Wake up, blue hedgehog. We need to talk," said Shadow.
Sonic got up with a yawn and walked over to talk to his fellow speedster "Evening faker, come to join the invasion?"
Shadow shook his head in response "Actually, it's the other way around. Rouge and I are on a support mission, I thought you'd want in,"
"Sounds like fun, let me wake the others and we'll get going,"
The black hedgehog was quick to refute "No, it's a small surgical strike. I'd prefer that you come along with that fox as well,"
"Oh, exclusive invites eh? I'm down with that. Let me wake him up and we'll be off," said Sonic.
"No need, I'm already up," a voice spoke up, getting them to turn and see Naruto standing behind them whilst yawning a bit "I sensed Shadow's energy approaching which woke me up and I heard what you're talking about,"
"Seeing that everyone's good to go, hang on a sec and we'll be right over," Sonic performed a spin dash to burrow underground and emerging on the other side of the forcefield with Naruto following after him "So, where's the party at?"
"Rouge is at the rendezvous, three clicks to the northeast. It is a converted observatory," Shadow replied.
"Cool, race ya both!" Sonic took off at highspeed before Naruto and Shadow could say a word.
"*Sigh* always the impatient one, didn't even give a signal for a start," Naruto rubbed the side of his head and Shadow simply shook his head in amusement before they ran after him.
Soon enough, Sonic arrived at the outskirts of the observatory where he saw Rouge leaning against a large piece of debris with the female Mobian bat smiling upon seeing him arrive.
"Hey there, Big Blue. Long time no see," said Rouge.
"Right back at ya," Sonic turned to look at the observatory "Leave it to Eggman to turn giant telescope into a killer ray shooter thing,"
"And a high grade one at that," Rouge added "As far as I can tell, that thing can vaporize your forcefield, camp and half of the Egg Dome itself,"
Sonic quirked an eyebrow at that "Ya sure? It sounds rather over the top even for the doc,"
Shadow skidded to a stop next to them with Naruto behind him "Not anymore…,"
"What do you mean by that?"
"We believe that the doctor is losing his hold on reality, this is but one more piece of evidence,"
"Well, I think you're far off on that. Eggman's always been a shy chips shy of a motherboard, but he's not that far gone," said Sonic skeptically.
"Shadow might be on to something, I've noticed that his negative emotions have been getting rather intense during our fight with him yesterday," Naruto pointed out.
"Even so, with all those times we've beaten him, I can't imagine seeing Robotnik actually snap,"
Shadow walked past him "Believe what you want, just don't underestimate him when the time comes,"
"Anyways, our objective is to either disable the cannon or destroy it, right?" Naruto inquired, adjusting his ECG-X gloves and making sure that they're working.
"While I take care of the controls, could you boys keep any unpleasantries away from me?" asked Rouge.
Naruto playfully bowed in response "As our lady wishes," Sonic grinned while Shadow simply hmphed in amusement.
Rouge chuckled "What a gentleman,"
Sonic jogged in place excitedly "Let's have some fun!"
They smashed the steel doors open as Rouge flew towards the control panel, the laser turrets came online in the room and began firing laser beams at them, causing the group to scatter and proceeded to destroy them one after another.
Naruto ignited his hands and feet with foxfire then activated his Swift Release to dash all over the place with the trailing afterimages depicting his action as he punched and kicked the laser turrets whilst avoiding the laser beams being fired at him. Sonic was using his trademark Spin Dash to slice through the turrets as well and at times tricking the turrets to fire at each other. At Shadow's side, he was also doing his own thing using his Chaos Powers to destroy the laser turrets as well as using the Spin Dash to shred them into pieces while he was at it.
He looked over his shoulder and noticed that something was going on with the cannon "The cannon's moving into position, Rouge,"
Said person was typing as fast as she could "I'm working on it, just keep the lasers off me,"
Sonic was busy darting around and stopped barely inches before a spot where a laser hit "Yikes, that cannon's moving along pretty quick right now!"
"Gah!" Rouge was forced to step back as the control panel suddenly sparked and started burning up from the inside "I must have triggered some sort of self-destruct on the console, I can't stop the cannon!"
"Then we'll just have to take it down manually, Fox Fireball!" Naruto conjured orbs of blue flames from his palms and launches them to attack the cannon, but it didn't seem to have much effect "What the?"
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow flung a spear of Chaos energy only for it to be deflected upon impact much to his annoyance "Tch, it didn't even scratch it!"
Sonic attacked with a Spin Dash but merely bounced off it "What's this thing made of?!"
"Uh hello? Awesome, right here…," said Kurama, using one of his tails to hold an arrow sign with the words AWESOME FOX above his head.
"Not yet, Kurama! Only when I have to,"
"This situation practically screams that,"
"I have an idea; we might have a chance if we break the coupling locks!" Rouge pointed at the couplings that were holding up the cannon "If you break where it all joins together, we can maybe throw off the angle of the shot,"
"In that case, you two should jump onto my tails for a double fastball special!" said Naruto, extending his tails.
"Alright then, I've got the left lock thingie!" said Sonic.
Shadow nodded in response "Then I'll take the right!"
They went into their spinball forms as they got onto Naruto's tails, then he leapt into the air and flung them towards the couplings and destroying them. However, the results weren't what they desired when the cannon fell.
"No! We just put it at the angle to fire!" Shadow exclaimed in shock.
"Oh geez," Sonic could only rub his head at the mistake that they had just made.
Then they heard a humming sound which caused them to pale with Rouge being vocal about it "Oh no, the cannon is getting ready to fire!"
"Now are you going to let me help?" asked Kurama.
Naruto was about to respond when he recalled something "Hang on, I just remembered something! Time to take another page from dad's playbook!" he started running towards the end of the cannon much to everyone's surprise.
"Naruto, what are you doing?!" asked Sonic.
"Something crazy as usual!" Naruto responded as he jumped into the air and hovered in front of the cannon by expelling foxfire from his feet, then he reached into his ninja pouch and took out a pair of Hiraishin Kunai "I hope this works or I'm toast,"
"You mean we!"
"…sure,"
Naruto saw the cannon preparing to fire then flung one of the Hiraishin kunai high into the air with a chakra enhanced throw then pointed the other towards the cannon right as it fired "Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder!" the energy beam was seemingly sucked into the kunai then there was a booming sound in the sky which continued for a while until the cannon stopped firing. Naruto landed on the side of the observatory and made his way back up to where the others were waiting for him.
"What was that you just did?" asked Sonic curiously.
"That was variation of my dad's Hiraishin called the Flying Thunder God: Guiding Thunder, it uses the core function of the Hiraishin to warp away powerful attacks to wherever I've marked. It's mostly defensive in nature and perfect for counterattacks," Naruto explained.
Shadow hummed in understanding "A useful technique to have in your arsenal, otherwise I would have been forced to remove my inhibitor rings to release my power in order to use Chaos Control on the cannon,"
"In the end, we were able to accomplish what we came here to do," Rouge gestured at the now irreparable cannon "That cannon won't be firing anymore,"
"The both of you should return to get some rest, especially you; blue hedgehog. You have a big battle tomorrow," said Shadow.
Sonic then inquired curiously "You're not gonna steal the spotlight?"
Shadow shook his head in response "No, I owe you that much. The last I can do is stand aside and let you finish things with the doctor. This is your fight,"
"Heh, I appreciate that Shadow," Sonic went to shake hands with Shadow.
"Good luck, Sonic,"
"Guess we'll catch you guys later then," said Naruto with a smile, seeing them get along quite well "I'll warp us back to the camp site so we can catch some zs before the big day," he placed a hand on Sonic's shoulders and locked on to the Hiraishin mark then teleported them away in a yellow flash.
Shadow turned to walk away when he noticed that Rouge was smiling at him "What?"
"Look at how far your relationship has come, it certainly has changed since you two used to be enemies at first," said Rouge.
Shadow waved her off with a small smile "Hmph, he simply has my respect, that's all,"
"Of course, far too scandalous for you two to be friends,"
The sun gradually rose into the sky, rousing everyone from their sleep. Sonic got up with a loud yawn before noticing that Rotor was already up and seems to be working on something since Nico was helping him with it.
"Morning Rotor, sleep well?" asked Sonic.
Rotor shook his head and continued to work "Not really, couldn't get much sleep so I set up a link back to New Mobotropolis instead,"
Sonic quirked an eyebrow at that before turning to Sally who was nearby, communicating with Nicole on her handheld computer "Uh Sally, I think one of us needs some more sleep cause that made no sense,"
"What Rotor means is that we're setting up a live data stream back to the city," Sally explained.
"Okay, but why?"
"To keep everyone back home informed, one way or another about our upcoming fight with Robotnik,"
"The whole thing will be monitored? This isn't one of Hamlin's ideas, is it?" Sonic narrowed his eyes with suspicion.
Sally shook her head at that "Not at all, I was the one to propose the notion that our people have the right to know,"
Nicole then spoke up from the handheld [The monitors are online and I've just connected with Rotor. Can I get a level check please?]
"Sounds like we're going to do something like a live action movie eh? I went through something like that before," Naruto smiled in nostalgia, recalling the mission the original Team 7 took at the Land of Snow. The movie was still a smash hit as the years went by and the director was still producing great movies since then.
"Any last checks, Julie?" asked Sally.
Julie-Su gave her a thumbs up "I've synced with Nicole and will be the contact for Chaotix,"
"Since we're going all in, guess it's time to break out the new toys," said Naruto with a grin, the others were happy to do so, seeing as Tails strapped an SAC to his waist and Amy donned her Shock Gauntlets quite eagerly.
"We're all rearing to go, Sal," said Sonic with a smirk.
Sally nodded in affirmation before standing in front of everyone "Alright then; Freedom Fighters! Chaotix! Let's take down the Eggman Empire!" everyone began the final assault against their common enemy.
Meanwhile inside of the Egg dome, Lien-Da was having the Dark Egg Legion carrying around various materials in a hurry "The enemy has begun their assault, step it up! Follow the blueprint exactly how the doctor showed us. Follow the plan…one that makes no blasted sense but it's all we've got,"
"The plan does make sense, Lien-Da," a voice spoke up from behind her, revealing to be Grandmaster Dimitri.
Lien-Da let out a retort "A barricade with a hole just big enough for Sonic to get through makes sense?"
Dimitri shook his head "No, not the doctor's plan which is obviously full of madness. I meant the real plan,"
"Are you sure that you can trust Snively? He hasn't revealed much besides what he already told us, this is a risky gambit,"
"Maybe so, granddaughter. But until then, follow doctor's orders. Our people should emerge largely unscathed and the 'heroes' will be his problem," Dimitri went away with a smirk on his mechanical face whilst Lien-Da remained mostly skeptical about all this.
Outside of the Egg Dome, the group were working out a way to get inside of the Hi-Tech fortress.
"Mighty and I should be able to open up a hole through this here wall of theirs," said Bunnie as she and Mighty stepped forward to do so.
"Actually, I should be able to quicken the process with this," Naruto activated his lightning aspect as blue bolts of electricity arcs through his body with a majority emitting from his hands. He channelled a mass amount of electricity to his left hand with his right hand gripping it to hold it steady and was producing the sound of many birds chirping "Raikiri!" he pierced through the wall and dragged it down to create a tear before jumping back "Okay you guys, go for it!"
Mighty and Bunnie reached through the gap and pulled to make the tear much larger as Sonic took a running stance with Amy standing behind with her Piko Piko Hammer reared back.
"Ready for launch, Sonic?" Amy inquired.
"All set for a croquet special!" Sonic began performing a Spin Dash while in place as Amy swung her Piko Piko Hammer to launch him forward through the gap before bouncing off the wall and landing on the ground to look around "The cast is clear guys, seems like they're lying in wait!"
"In that case, Freedom Fighters will take the west hall with Sonic taking point and Chaotix shall take the east hall with Julie keeping in contact!" Sally commanded.
"Roger that!" Julie-Su responded with a thumbs-up as they all went through their chosen routes.
The Freedom Fighters came upon their first group of the Dark Egg Legion who prepared to open fire on them but Sonic was all too quick to launch a counterattack as he instantly closed the gap between them to knock several of them down with a sliding low sweep kick before jumping into the air to attack with a nonlethal variation of the Homing Attack "You guys may not be badniks for me to smash up, but it doesn't make it any less fun to beat up!"
Amy squared off against another group of enemies then she activated her Shock Gauntlets with the current traveling through her hammer as she proceeded to hit them, easily paralyzing them with singular hits "This is so much, in the midst of battle with the love of my life ~ !"
Tails flew overhead, reaching to his SAC and bringing out a couple of grenades, clicking the triggers a few times to set them to EMP before pulling the pins and throwing them at the Legion to disable their weaponry. He followed up by unholstering his hi-tech boomerang and blaster, throwing the former to smack several in the heads in one throw then rapidly fired with the latter to knock them out with nonlethal blasts of energy "I feel so much stronger now, must be thanks to Naruto helping us train!"
Bunnie and Antoine were currently fighting closely backtoback with each other, Antoine was skillfully deflecting the shots fired at them and would sometimes reflect them right back at the enemies, Bunnie would also provide cover fire and often grapples enemies with her extendable cybernetic arm then toss them aside as they advanced.
"Watch your back, Sugah-Twan!" said Bunnie, having quickly deployed an energy shield with her cyber arm to deflect a shot fired at Antoine's left side.
"Merci beaucoup, mon amor!" said Antoine gratefully as he sliced an enemy's rifle in half before knocking him away with a kick to the torso.
"Yah know, this is the first time we're fighting together and I'm actually liking a lot,"
"Oui, this iz quite exhilarating if I do say so myself!"
"Now you two, there's little time to be all lovey dovey," said Sally playfully, her newly equipped bracelets to create energy constructs of a sword and shield to face the enemies.
"Digital Reflexor!" Nicole constantly fired pixelated bullets which repetitively ricocheted off the floors, walls and ceiling whilst hitting the enemies repeatedly. This caught their attention and were about to attack but she was quick to react accordingly "Shroud of Invisibility!" she immediately turned invisible much to the shock of the legion who began looking around frantically. They began to be pummelled with strong hits from different directions and tried to strike back only to miss completely.
Kou and Yoru were also taking part in the assault as the Hero Chao flew forward at high-speed whilst radiating a white aura to resemble a comet and barrelled through several enemies, the Dark Chao also radiated a black aura and shaped it into a beast's head with large jaws which chomped on their weapons and easily destroyed them. Yoru giggled mischievously, seeing them run away in fright.
Naruto was dashing in and out of the attacks from the legion, easily confusing them with use of his afterimages and making it almost impossible for them to keep a beat on him. Now taking to the offensive, Naruto activated his Air Aspect with a strong gust of wind swirling around him "Wild Tempest Kick!" he formed small tornadoes to formed around his legs then unleashed a combo of speedy kicks with stylish somersaults before sharply darting back "Great Breakthrough!" he took in a deep breath before expelling a powerful blast of air from his mouth, sending them crashing into the walls and getting knocked out
"There's something off about all this," Naruto muttered with a small frown on his face.
"What do you mean?" Nico became visible in Faerie Form next to him while the Chao settled back on his shoulders.
"It feels like the legion aren't putting that much effort in fighting us, even retreating when they can,"
"Now that you bring it up, I notice that they weren't using heavier weaponry to attack us," said Nico thoughtfully.
"Kind of boring to be honest," Kurama in a boring tone.
Meanwhile, both the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix were being observed from a room where Snively along with Lien-Da and Dimitri had been watching their battles through the monitors but were being uncomfortable about certain things.
"What the heck is with that nine-tailed fox? How can he be so strong and why haven't we heard of him until now?!" Lien-Da demanded, watching Naruto fight the legion with growing fear and dread especially when she saw him utilize elements so casually without any issues.
"This shouldn't be surprising considering that he was the very person to face Enerjak head-on before Sonic used the Master Emerald to transform and join in," said Dimitri thoughtfully "And it appears that he might also be the reason for their improvement,"
"Apparently so, but still things are going according to plan," Snively kept as calm as he could but couldn't exactly keep that nervous sweat drop from his forehead, seeing as how much stronger the Freedom Fighters have become compared to before "We'll need to start making preparations soon enough,"
"As you wish," said Dimitri, he may not trust Snively just like he doesn't trust Eggman, but he would choose the lesser of two evils to protect his people.
Back with the Freedom Fighters, they had met up with Chaotix at the end of the two hallways before a barricade which appears to be made of random junk save for a small hole at the bottom.
"I trust everyone went okay with you guys?" asked Sally.
"Yeah, a bit too easy if you ask me," Julie-Su answered.
"You're right with that one, it kinda feels like they're not really putting up that much of a fight," said Sonic with a small frown.
"Maybe because they were preparing for a siege?" Tails gestured at the barricade "This barricade may be made out of junk, but it's still solidly built,"
"But what about this hole right here?" asked Ray, pointing at the aforementioned hole in curiosity.
Then Espio became visible as he emerged from the hole, surprising Ray a bit "It's a bottleneck and an invitation,"
"What do you mean?" asked Sally.
"Most of us can squeeze through just like they had but that would make it easy for them to take us out one by one hence the bottleneck," Espio explained.
Naruto continued "But someone like Sonic and I can get through quickly enough, meaning that this barricade was specifically built with Sonic in mind which is the invitation from Eggman himself,"
Espio nodded in affirmation "That is indeed correct,"
Sonic smirked at he stepped forward "Heh, he sure knows how to make a guy feel welcome. Might as well accept the invite,"
But Sally stood in his way "Sonic wait! You can't go in there alone!"
"Then what Sal? We spend our time and energy tearing down the barricade? Wait for their counterattack? Eggman gets away while we're at it? Or I could go in there to get the party started and you guys come to back me up," Sonic pointed up.
"Then at least have Naruto come along with you!" Sally pressed, turning to Naruto who only shook his head at that much to her confusion "You won't go with him?"
"No, this is your fight. We came along and even helped train you guys to become strong enough to handle things on your own once we leave for our own dimension. Plus you guys sacrificed sweat and blood to reach up to this very moment, this is your time not ours,"
"When you put it that way, I see your point," said Sonic, turning to the others "This is our moment,"
Sally went to hug Sonic "You be careful in there!"
Knuckles was next to bump fists with him "Try to save some fun for us, True Blue,"
"Be sure to show up earlier, Rad Red," Sonic smirked in response.
Amy went to kiss his cheek "Oh, my brave Sonic! Good luck and I love you!"
"Amy…thanks,"
"We'll work on taking down this barricade as fast as we can!" said Tails determinedly.
Sonic ruffled his hair playfully "I know you will," he turned towards the hole and crouched slightly "Time to juice!"
He performed a Spin Dash and launched himself through the hole, easily reaching the other side and prepared for any attack only to find himself standing on a long red carpet with the Dark Egg Legion standing on either side in a uniformed salute.
"Salutes and a red carpet? Minutes ago, it was laser blasts. Something feels off about this despite the Egghead wanting a showdown with me. Might as well ask after I'm done overthrowing his global empire," he took off down the hallway towards where the doctor would obviously be waiting for him.
"And there he goes, just like clockwork. The anticipation is killing me!" said Snively excitedly as he watched Sonic through the monitors then spoke to Lien-Da "Kommissar, ensure that the Dark Egg Legion hold Sonic's friends at bay for as long as you can until he's sealed in with my uncle,"
"Yes sir," said Lien-Da albeit reluctantly.
"Grandmaster, you may wait for me at the landing bay on top of the Egg Dome,"
"As you wish," said Dimitri in affirmation.
"I'll join you shortly, I need to oversee the last moments of the Eggman Empire," Snively proceeded to leave the room with the others followed in suit to do as he commanded.
"Massive armored doors, little enclosed space, nowhere to go but 'in' and nowhere to go but 'back'," Sonic muttered whilst looking at what he was describing with a quirked eyebrow "Why didn't he simply put up a blinking neon sign saying 'This way to the trap'?"
"So much for presentation, ready to party Eggman?" he casually walked through the doors for them to slam shut behind him before looking up to see the doctor in his latest invention "Aww, no repeat of your armor from last time?"
The mech was designed to resemble a giant robotic spider with an Egg Mobile-like-base located on its head while sporting the usual Eggman color scheme on it.
"This is the end of it, rodent! You won't leave this room alive!" said Eggman angrily.
Sonic simply smirked in response and stood at the ready "Big words big man! Let's go!"
"Fifteen years…for fifteen years, you've been nothing more than a thorn in my side. Well, NO MORE!" Eggman ranted.
"Yeah, I know...," Sonic examined at one of his gloves in a casual manner.
"Don't you dare sass me, you little brat! I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the most brilliant mind in the history of the world! Do you know why? BECAUSE I CONQUERED THE WHOLE BLASTED PLANET, THAT'S WHY! Do you not remember how Old Mobotropolis fell to me in a matter of minutes?!"
"Of course I do, I was five when that happened," Sonic replied calmly.
"That's right, do you not remember how I grinded your face in the ashes of Knothole? I beat you once, you little rodent and I'll do it again!" Eggman brought one of the legs down to crush Sonic who took a quick step back to avoid it with a smile.
"All true, but I believe you've left out certain points…," Sonic started weaving in and out of the legs being swung to attack him as he continued to speak "Like how a group of kids with no training whatsoever took back the city and you technically croaked if one wants to look at the details…,"
"I came back and took it back from you brats!"
"For how long…close to a month? Then you goofed up and got it nuked by missiles with the slag being what powers New Mobotropolis which I have to thank you for by the way,"
"Shut up!"
"And about that claim of conquering the whole planet; what about the places you don't control?"
"Trifles! Mere specks in the wind!"
"Oh please, the United Federation practically has half a dozen city states in it! Then there's the many factions of Freedom Fighters all over the world fighting you every single day, plus you're not exactly liked at the places you do outright control. So that claim of yours has no weight since you've been trying to fight for 'control' in every waking hour," Sonic weaved past the legs to run up a wall and kicked off it with a backflip "Sure, I'm not ashamed to admit that you beat me fair and square, but here another thing…,"
He somersaulted into the air to avoid a couple of spider legs which were attempting to grab him and proceeded to bounced off the walls in his spinball form to pound the mech from different directions "How many badniks have I destroyed…how many times have I sent you packing…?" Sonic landed on top of the windscreen to sneer at the angry doctor "I've beaten you too many times to let that one loss get me down, and I'm about to do it again,"
Eggman gritted his teeth hard to the point that one could hearing grinding sounds from it, his anger nearly reaching boiling point "Y-y-y-y-you…! Just a boy! Stupid rodent!" he pushed a button to make a grapple hook shoot out from the spider mech's abdomen towards the wall and lift him into the air whilst forcefully dislodging Sonic "N-No more games! Game over! End it all! End him!" he made the mech spin round with its spider legs out to attack the hedgehog "You can only beat the averages for so long before they beat you!"
"Whoa!" Sonic leapt back to avoid getting hit by the legs.
Back with the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix, they dealing with the barricade when the Dark Egg Legion suddenly showed up and started to attack and being rather serious about it unlike before.
"Looks like they were waiting for Sonic to leave just so they could attack us, likely to prevent us from providing backup for him," said Sally, blocking with her energy shield before countering with a slash from her energy blade.
Amy was whacking at the enemies with her electrified Piko Piko Hammer in annoyance at being attacked "If they think that they can stop me from supporting the love of my life, they've got another thing coming!"
"Let's see how they like this…," Tails brought out the Disruptor and took aim before pulling the trigger to unleash a burst of energy which shorted out their weapons. He followed up by tossing a Freeze Grenade to encase several of the Legion in ice for the others to take down much easier.
Naruto glanced amongst the enemies and saw newer ones show up with rocket launchers in hand which made him frown a bit then called out to the Hololynx "Nico, time for a combo!"
Nico nodded in understanding "Okay Naruto, let's do it!"
Naruto triggered his Lightning Aspect with blue bolts of electricity arcing through his body with a majority from his hands and he stood back-to-back with Nico who crouched slightly to the ground before calling out "Running Executable!" she called forth several streams of data code around her hands and a Holoscreen appeared with numerical data streaming through it, Naruto raised his hands above his head to unleash a blast of electricity to knock the approaching enemies back and both were soon floating on a large energy disc. Naruto called out "Cluster Code!" both he and Nico twisted in mid-air to launch a wave of data to attack several Legion members, some of them fired some rockets when Nico called out "Burst Pulse!" they spun round whilst generating a field of rotating geometrically shaped data around them, deflecting the rockets. The duo continues to alternate between Cluster Code and Burst Pulse whenever they want to attack at a range or were surrounded by the enemies. Suddenly a mass number of geometrically shaped digital cubes materialized around them and Nicole spoke up "Access approved!" the Holoscreen disappeared and a circle of data appeared in front of Naruto who raised a hand above his head "Initiating!" he slammed it on the circle, deploying the digital cubes to rapidly fly around in the air and attack the targeted legionnaires to defeat them till there were none left and dissipating afterwards, and the digital energy disc they were floating on dissipated for them to land back on the ground.
Tails was in awe at what they just did "Whoa, I didn't know you two could do that,"
Nico blushed a bit shyly "It was something, Naruto and I had been working on back in our dimension, designed to take down machinery and enemies efficiently,"
"Maybe our Nicole could learn a few things from you…," Sally noticed that Naruto was looking away from them with a frown on his face "What's the matter?"
"It's Eggman, his emotions are becoming unstable…," Naruto replied.
"Unstable? What in tarnation could be going on there?" asked Bunnie confusedly.
"Now zhat iz a good question," said Antoine.
"Then we'd better finish things up here quickly and head on over," said Knuckles.
Sonic darted about and took to using the spider legs as platforms to make his way towards the grapple rope and cut it with a spin dash, making the mech crash to the ground on its back.
"Why if that isn't the crucial joint, don't mind if I do!" Sonic swooped down with a spin dash to attack, but Eggman quickly uprighted the mech and deflected Sonic's attack with a spider leg.
"No, I won't let you!" Eggman yelled in rage.
Sonic rolled his eyes "You want to do this the hard way? Fine!" He built up speed then took off, running up the wall "Try catching me first!"
"Blasted manic perpetually moving animal!" Eggman climbed up the wall in pursuit to get him when Sonic kicked off the wall and went into a freefall "What!?" the hedgehog bounced off the wall to slam into the mech and making it fall towards the ground.
"Here's some more!" Sonic went on to slice off the spider legs as the mech fell much to Eggman's already high aggravation.
"Stop it! I forbid you! I command you to stop!" Sonic ignored the doctor's demands and shredded off most of the mech's legs before it crashed to the ground.
Sonic landed nearby and wiped a sweat off his brow "Whew, ready to give up Eggman?"
Eggman forced the mech to rise to its feet "Can't…won't let…not this time…!" he rapidly fired a laser cannon from the mech's abdomen, forcing Sonic to evade them.
"Ugh, should have known better," Sonic muttered as he dodged the laser shots and circled round to charge at Eggman.
"N-N-No! Stay back! Lose…! Die!" Eggman at this point was hardly making any sense with his words.
With his Spin Dash, Sonic shredded off what's left of the mech's legs.
"I…,"
Pierced through its abdomen.
"HATE…"
Bisected the cockpit from the abdomen.
"THAT…,"
And shredded the cockpit into pieces.
"…HEDGEHOG!"
Sonic landed softly on the ground while Eggman crashed hard onto the what's left of the mech with his glasses clattered close to the hedgehog.
"Whew, that was cathartic!" Sonic picked up the glasses and strode towards Eggman who was shaking all over and his voice was muffled "But ending a lifelong duel would do that, wouldn't it? You hear me Eggman? You're done,"
"…,"
Not threatened in any way, Sonic knelt down and with a smug look on his face "I'll leave the speeches about 'Winning the day' and 'Conquering evil' to Sally. I'll be content with 'Nyah nyah' and 'I win',"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Eggman let out a yell of insanity, surprising Sonic and making him stumble back.
"Um…Eggman?" Sonic called out nervously.
Then Eggman actually ripped off his own moustache "HEDGEHOG! HATE! NO!"
"H-Hey doc? Doc Robotnik! Yo Ivo!" Sonic was utterly confused as to why Eggman was acting this way, even jumping back when the crazed doctor swung a fist at him.
"Sonic!" he turned to see Sally along with Naruto and Nico approaching him "We've pushed back the legion and came as soon as we…," she trailed off upon seeing the current state of the doctor.
"Man…," Naruto himself couldn't hide his surprise at the sight of this and the Chao even hid away, not wanting to see any more.
"Sonic, what did you do to him?" Sally asked confusedly.
"I beat him like always, nothing else," said Sonic.
"You did more than that," a voice spoke up, revealing to be Snively walking up to them with a solemn expression "You didn't just beat him this time…you broke him,"
"What do you mean?" asked Nico.
"Eccentrics aside, he really is a genius. He can build the most amazing things and plot a hundred steps ahead. The world fell to his brilliance in a few short years," Snively turned to face Sonic "And then there's you. All that building, calculating and planning in the world couldn't beat you except that one moment. It's been gnawing at his mind for almost a decade now,"
"…," Sonic didn't say anything, or rather nobody could at the moment.
"His defeat at New Mobotropolis shook him the hardest. He's been losing his grip on reality for days now. He simply could not take one more defeat at your hands,"
"…Shadow was right all along and yet I chose to ignore him," thought Sonic glumly.
"So…what happens now?" asked Sally, glancing at the doctor was curled up on the ground and openly drooling from the mouth.
"Now? Now you leave me to take care of my poor uncle, now you can go home celebrate. You've won," Snively responded with his back facing towards them.
Soon enough, the other members of the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix caught up with them and heard what Snively said along with Eggman laying on the ground.
"Did I hear it right, we won?" asked Mighty, wanting to make sure.
"Y-Yeah, it's done. We won," said Sonic rather unsurely.
Knuckles roughly patted Sonic in the back with a bright smile "You jerk I thought I told you to save some of the action for us!"
"Hooray, I knew you could do it!" Amy cheered joyfully.
"Party's on, guys! It's all over!" Vector called out.
"Did you get all that, Nicole? Sally inquired anxiously.
[Yes Sally, as did everyone back home, they're all dancing on the streets!] said Nicole excitedly.
As everyone was celebrating their hard-fought victory after so long, Naruto for some odd reason wasn't one of them. The blonde kitsune was glancing at Snively with a frown on his face. For someone who was supposed to be sad about the current state his uncle was in, he wasn't really feeling that sorrowful about it. It's almost as if…
"You're not the only who finds this odd, I sense it as well," said Kurama.
"He knew full well that Sonic fighting Eggman would cause him to snap, I'm getting the feeling that he wanted it to happen,"
"Upon dealing with one problem, it's likely that we have an even greater one to face. Looks like your return trip might have to be postponed yet again,"
"Yeah…," Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts by Sally calling out to him.
"Hey Naruto, why are you standing there? We're about to head back home!" said Sally.
"Oh sorry, just a bit absentminded. I'm coming!" said Naruto "I'll talk to them later on about this…,"
Later on, the group had departed from the Egg Dome with several of them riding on the Mobo-Cruiser with Rotor at the wheel, Sonic was running next to the vehicle while Tails and a few others flew overhead. Feeling a bit lazy, Naruto hitched a ride on his Dragoon with his Chao and Nico riding on his head as always.
Meanwhile, Snively had placed the crazed uncle inside a padded room and restrained with a strait jacket with the nephew sneering through the window of the triple locked door.
"There there, dearest uncle. The bad Mobians are gone now," said Snively in a faux kind voice.
"No hedgehog…can't…where…why?" Eggman mumbled out.
"And don't worry about your little empire, I've foind just the person to handle things and we will be very happy ruling it together," Snively smirked greedily "So you just stay there cozy and crazy, you bloated idiot. It's my turn now,"
A Dark Egg Legionnaire approached with a salute "Sir, the dirigible approaches,"
"She's here, at long last!" Snively began making his way towards the landing bay at the top of the Egg Dome where a chinese-style dirigible was gradually descending towards with Dimitri guiding the legionnaires in having it land properly.
"Secure the mooring lines, let us welcome our new benefactor with precision!" Dimitri noticed Snively finally arriving before glancing back at the aircraft which was carrying someone whom Snively had been speaking to without Eggman's knowledge "I have risked much in siding with you, Snively. If she does not provide for my people…,"
Snively waved away Dimitri's doubts "Save your idle threats, Dimitri. Your choice in loyalty shall be rewarded," then he declared loudly "Dark Egg Legion, allow me to introduce to you our new masters!"
As he spoke, an overlander woman with green hair which is kept in a high ponytail whilst wearing a large golden headdress and a red dress with a pattern of pointed black stripes and a golden scepter in hand stepped out from the dirigible, she was being accompanied a large Mobian ox in metal armor and multiple Mobian bat ninjas with one being a female lynx.
"Bride of the Four Houses, Ruler of the Iron Dominion and now the Eggman Empire! The Iron Queen!" Snively announced.
The woman smiled as she stepped forward "It is quite a pleasure to be here,"
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto and Sonic were woken in the middle of the night by Shadow who invited them on a mission to demolish a cannon which had been set up by Eggman to attack their camp, the duo joined in and narrowly succeeded the mission thanks to a crazed idea from Naruto at the last minute. The next day, the Freedom Fighters and Chaotix launched their final assault on the Egg Dome, the former proving to be quite formidable with their new gear and training until reaching a barricade which clearly reveal Eggman's intention to face Sonic alone at which the Blue Speedster didn't hesitate to comply and went on ahead. The duel between Sonic and Eggman took place between them but the results weren't exactly what one would expect; Sonic was the victor but Eggman's mental psyche was shattered due to years of frustration built up in him and he couldn't take anymore. Snively stepped forward and declared them to be the victors but Naruto couldn't help but find the reaction of the doctor's nephew to be rather suspicious. The blonde kitsune couldn't be any more accurate as Snively all too eagerly locked Eggman away and made his intentions to rule known alongside someone who could be just as bad as Eggman.
We're about to enter the final arc of the Comicverse before Naruto and Nico return to their home dimension and resume their adventures from there. Like always, I'll try to tackle these comic arcs the best I can, so be sure to look forward to it whilst reading and reviewing like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.