Sonic: Atonement
Chapter 11: Life And Death
After hearing about what happened on Angel Island from Knuckles, Sonic and the others realized that Zero was looking to get his hands on the chaos emeralds in order to carry out his goals of killing Sonic and killing Eggman. So they resolved to try and get them first.
There's few things that Sonic enjoys more than a race.
With Tails' help, they were able to determine the location of one chaos emerald. It was at the top of a mountain further north. Sonic, Silver, and Tails all flew up that way on his place. While Tails stayed in town at the base of the mountain to gather supplies, Sonic and Silver opted to make the trek up to the summit to retrieve the emerald.
"The winds are rough today. It's gonna make it tough to get up there." Silver commented.
"Nothing a little brute force can't fix. I'll try to pace myself so you can keep up." Sonic nudged Silver's arm with his fist and winked at him.
"I guess I'll follow your lead then." Silver said. Sonic chuckled to himself and took off running. Silver sighed and shook his head before following after him.
The snow-covered cliffs around the mountain were too steep and jagged for a clean run to the top, so Sonic took it upon himself to run around and through it to get to the top. As they started to climb, they ran into a few Eggman robots that Sonic quickly boosted through.
"Looks like we're not the only ones who know about the emerald!" Silver said.
"No time to waste then!" Sonic said with a sly grin.
Sonic slid and changed directions in a drift-like motion across the snow, his feet kicking up light flurries behind him. He boosted into a nearby cave with Silver just behind him.
Inside the cave, the ground was less slippery but was also covered all over in jagged stalagmites. The pathways were narrow but Sonic found a way to weave through them. Silver flew up higher and found a small opening in the cave a little higher up.
"Sonic! This way!" He called down to him.
"Huh? Hey, nice work! Here I come!" Sonic shouted back when he saw the opening himself.
Sonic ran around until he could reach a slanted wall inside of the cave. With as much momentum as he could muster up, he ran up the side of the wall and jumped towards Silver. He curled up into a ball as he flew towards him like a baseball.
Silver used his psychic powers to catch him and set him down outside of the cave opening. He was barely able to squeeze out himself before Sonic took off running again to get to the summit of the mountain.
"Hey! Wait up, Sonic!" Silver called ahead as he started flying after him.
"I know you're faster than that, buddy!" Sonic laughed.
"It's these winds! It's getting harder to control my flight!" Silver explained, bracing his arms inwards as the cutting cold wind slapped against his body.
"Heh yeah, my heart's racing from the altitude! This is a real workout!" Sonic laughed again.
More Eggman robots popped out from higher up the mountain and started shooting down at Sonic and Silver. Silver twisted in the air to dodge the blaster fire. Sonic boosted up the steep hill, jumping towards Silver again.
"Batter up!" He called to Silver as he curled into a ball again.
Silver caught him in the air with a strained grunt. He took a moment to aim before shooting Sonic towards one of the robots. Sonic spun right into it, bounced into the air then took out the rest with a series of homing attacks.
"That's a strike!" Sonic said, slapping his hands together as if brushing off dust.
"A strike? Why? Did I do something wrong?" Silver asked as he flew to Sonic's side.
"No, I meant like a bowling strike not a baseball strike."
"Oh...is there a difference?" Silver asked next.
"Uh well y-yeah...we can talk about it later." Sonic brushed it off before hurrying up to the top of the mountain finally. Silver flew up right behind him.
At the top, they found a giant robot with drills attached to its arms standing over the chaos emerald. It was in the process of scooping it up and taking it. Sonic and Silver immediately went on guard as they realized that Eggman had beaten them to the top of the mountain.
"Well well well! Look who finally decided to show up! Slow today, eh, Sonic?" Eggman taunted.
"I'm never too slow to take you down, Eggman!" Sonic said confidently.
"Surrender the emerald, Eggman," Silver shouted afterwards. "It's a matter of life and death!"
"Heheh you're absolutely right. My life. Your death!" Eggman said with a grin as the robot's drills began to whir to life and spin at rapid speed.
"That's not what I meant!" Silver groaned.
Sonic and Silver both dodged in opposite directions as Eggman's robot attempted to pierce them with one of its drills. Sonic quickly ran around the robot and started hitting its chassis with homing attacks.
"You don't get it, egghead! We're trying to help you!" Sonic said.
"I've had more than my fair share of your help over the years!" Eggman said, swinging wildly at Sonic, who had to jump up high to avoid getting hit.
"Listen! A hedgehog named Zero wants to use the chaos emeralds to kill you! Your best chance is to let us get them first!" Silver shouted as he tried to fly up to where Eggman was piloting the robot.
"Let the guy try! I've got plenty of tricks up my sleeve!" Eggman shouted in reply, using his other arm to try and pierce Silver directly.
Silver grunted in surprise as he caught the robot's arm with his telekinesis. He flew back slightly as he struggled to hold it back while Eggman continued to try to push it into him. In the midst of the struggle, Sonic quickly stepped in and broke the robot arm off with a quick homing attack.
"Trust me, Eggman, you're better off rotting in a cell than going through whatever this guy's got planned for you." Sonic said with more seriousness.
"So that's what you meant by life or death, eh? I choose C; that's the option where I get to all of you first!" Eggman declared. Rockets sprouted out and began to fire out from the body of the robot.
"Whoa!" Sonic jumped and quickly rushed out of the way.
Silver flew into the air. The rockets mainly locked onto him and began to follow him through the air. Silver growled and grit his teeth through the pain of the icy wind hitting him as he looped around in circles to avoid the rockets.
"Do what you want but we're taking that emerald!" Silver yelled as he flew down and past the robot. The missiles chasing after him all crashed into the body of the robot, causing it to explode and malfunction.
"Grr! I'll get that emerald one way or another! Don't think this is over!" Eggman yelled angrily. A flying pod popped out of the top of the robot and Eggman quickly flew away.
"Should we go after him?" Silver asked.
"Can you keep up with him in all that wind?" Sonic asked in response.
"I can try." He offered.
"Nah don't worry about it. We got what we came for. We're better off chasing after the emeralds than the egghead."
"You sure? He's after the emeralds now too." Silver pointed out.
"When is he ever not?" Sonic shrugged, "He's just another contender in the race we're gonna win."
"I wish I had your confidence." Silver admitted.
Sonic took a moment to run to the remains of the robot. After a little bit of digging, he was able to recover the chaos emerald from the compartment that Eggman had sealed it into. He held it up with one hand to show Silver that they got it.
"That's one down! Only 6 more to go." Sonic said with a smile.
"I guess so..." Silver nodded.
"Well don't get so excited about it." Sonic said to comment on Silver's serious countenance.
"Sorry. It's good I just...I gotta ask; how're you so calm about this? You're not at all worried about things turning out bad?" Silver asked, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Well I mean a little. I'm not exactly jumping up and down over there being a future where I bite the curb, but if it happens then I know my friends will be alright." Sonic said with a faint smile.
"You sure about that?"
"Well I know they'll be sad about it but they'll still be alright. Like Tails – you have any idea how much potential that guy has? He's way smarter than I am and he's coming up with stuff I didn't even know was possible. He's come a long way from the little guy who used to fly my plane.
"Between him and the guys; Shadow, Knuckles, you...? Everything's gonna be fine." Sonic said, giving Silver a thumbs up.
Silver took a moment to consider this. Seeing that Sonic's nonchalant attitude was coming from a place of confidence rather than carelessness was putting his ever-anxious mind at ease again.
"Heh, thanks." Silver said, smiling and giving him a thumbs up in return...