(Mainland, early evening)
Unlike most Animal-dominant settlements, Echo City was truly massive. Just the urban area alone went several kilometers in each direction from the center point, while the total metropolitan region extended more than half again beyond. Aside from the hills and fields in the latter parts, the home of millions was much closer to a human city than was typical of Animal ones. While there was some greenery to break up the monotony of the concrete jungle and beltways, it was fairly meager. There were also the more "unusual" features of some Animal cities, namely loops and dips as well as colorful springs and routes that went many meters high. Still, many were glad to call it home, with one in particular feeling a mix of emotions after returning.
"Welp, we're back again," Red remarked as he flew beside his quokka friend, "kind of a shame that job didn't pan out."
Barry let out a pitiful groan while he walked towards his apartment on the northern side of the city. "Yeah, I was having fun working there, too. I thought I could keep it going for at least a while longer..."
"What're you gonna tell your parents?" the crimson Flicky asked.
"Exactly what happened," the marsupial said plainly, "there's no way this doesn't end up in the news. They'll be happy enough that I managed to get out unsca–"
VOOM!
Smack dab in the center of Echo City where there was some open ground between the roads and the greater skyscrapers, a truly colossal two-tailed fox mecha appeared in a flash of black-blue light. Every Animal and their Critter companions that had been out and about stopped dead in their tracks, gawking in a mixture of awe, confusion, and fear. While he felt all of those things, Barry was also experiencing a level of frustration unlike anything he knew.
"Why!?" he shouted angrily in the direction of the giant, "I'm just trying to live my life and then this sort of stuff happens!"
"Life's telling you that you need more excitement," Red quipped.
"Not this kind! Leave that to folks like Miles Prower and Ace!"
Practically on queue, another spatial warp opened behind them, depositing around 20 or so individuals onto the sidewalk and nearby grass patches. The Flicky and quokka thought that it might be trouble at first, but when they caught sight of a particular pair of agents, they were relieved.
"Ace! Rouge!" Barry called to them as he ran over, "what're you guys doing here? What was that just now?"
The bat brushed herself off and smirked. "It's a long story, hun, but it's good to see you again."
"Were circumstances better, I'd be inclined to agree," Speedy stated, glancing towards the monstrous automaton, "but we quite have a crisis on hand."
"That's putting it lightly," Miles weighed in, "the sheer mass of that construct alone could level the city if it's allowed to run rampant." He folded his arms and sighed irritably. "I can make an educated guess about its weapon capabilities, but it's still just a guess until we see for ourselves. And personally, I'd rather not allow it the chance to fully flex its firepower."
Barry blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on him. Once he saw that the two-tailed teen in front of him was not some figment of his imagination, he felt a bit of his inner fanboy coming out.
"You...you're Miles Prower!" he exclaimed after the realization hit him full force.
The fox allowed himself a smile as he held out a hand. "Yep. You must be Barry." He tipped his head to the Flicky. "And you must be Red. Speedy's told me about you guys, and despite everything that's going on right now, it's nice to meet you."
Barry eagerly shook the fox's hand while mentally telling himself to keep it together. Sure, it wasn't every day you got to meet someone you idolized, but now wasn't the time to gush and marvel. The urge was difficult to resist, however, as he spotted more and more familiar faces that were associated with Miles in one way or another. Then there was that hybrid lady that resembled the red wolf. Barry didn't recognize her, but something about her felt familiar other than her resemblance to the lupine twins, and he could see in Red's eyes that the Critter was experiencing the same thing.
"I did say we'd meet again, Mr. Barry," she said with a wink as she walked up to him.
Although it was a tiny bit different without a filter, the quokka still recognized her voice and brightened up. "Gunner Green!" He noticed the warmth in his muzzle and hastily covered the obvious blush. "So that's what you look like without your armor, huh?"
"You seem to like what you see," she replied, giggling when he turned his face away, "relax, I'm just messing with you." Her face became a bit more serious. "Teasing aside, you, Red, and the rest of the civilians need to get as far away from here as you can."
"Don't have to tell us twice, lady," Red remarked.
Just before Barry and the little bird left, however, he chuckled nervously. "Uh, feel free to say no, but I know a good place to celebrate once you guys take care of whatever that is. They have pretty good chili dogs, among other–"
"We gotta go there after we beat Mecha, big guy!" Sonic insisted, now looking more determined after hearing about the potential promise of his favorite food.
Miles rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same. "Sure thing, partner." His expression shifted to a frown after a few seconds, eyes on the Mecha Kaiser. "We need to find a way to get into there first, though. The innocents and cyborgs take priority, otherwise I'd use the Emeralds to transform and dismantle it in a snap."
"We have Zero to worry about, too," Gizmo reminded them, "that big spatial shift was definitely the work of the Sapphire, which means he's either close to that massive Mecha or inside of it."
There was certainly a lot to consider, but not a lot of time to mull it over. Thunderous groans of metal echoed throughout the aptly named city as the jaws of the Mecha Kaiser opened, a veritable cloud of flying Badniks and other aerial robots pouring from its muzzle. Slits opened in its gargantuan boots to allow ground forces to move out, which immediately went after anyone in their path. And then the optics of the grand machine itself lit up with a green light reminiscent of stereotypical radioactive waste. It folded its arms and tilted its head down to scornfully regard the people and structures that were lesser than ants and toys to it.
"All living things, gaze upon the visage of this planet's new master!" Mecha's voice boomed across the entire metro area and beyond, "this city shall be the first to go as I bring an end to the reign of organic beings! Those of you 'fortunate' enough to survive shall be reborn as part of the next generation of my world's denizens!" The smaller spikes on its shoulders stuck out a bit more after saying that. "And where I stand now shall become the seat of my empire!"
The hundreds of "tiny" spines launched themselves from their posts, revealing themselves to be formidably big missiles. They screamed up into the sky and then rained down in an expanding, destructive circle around the Mecha Kaiser. Many skyscrapers and larger buildings collapsed entirely, with some of the rest standing with more than a few chips taken away. Just as quickly as pretty much everything within a few kilometers was reduced to rubble, robots gathered up the debris and began reshaping the terrain around them. Some even went so far as to "cannibalize" stray Badniks and Robo Kukkus in order to hasten the construction. Intermittent flashes of magenta showed the Ruby's power at work, both altering bits of the landscape and duplicating the enemy forces.
"No time to devise anything intricate; we'll just have to wing it," Speedy decided as he rose into the air, "we should split up between aerial and ground squads."
Although some still had yet to warm up to the bird, everyone agreed that was a good first step. Among the former group, there was the ace, Rouge, Miles, Ray, Charmy, Cream, Cheese, Remi in its Flight form, and Blue riding atop Nanatsu no Chikara. That left the Wolf twins, Amy, Sonic, Knuckles, Mighty, Vector, Espio, J, Lavender, and Garnet to make up the latter forces.
"Okay, we'll focus on the enemies that're higher up and try to discover a way into the giant Mecha from there," the two-tailed teen declared, then turned to Gadget, "you guys handle the ground forces and look for an opening down below."
"Got it, little bro," the red wolf acknowledged, giving his adoptive sibling a peace sign, "we'll let you know right away if we find anything!"
With that, the two parties went their separate ways for the time being. Gadget took charge as the leader of those on land, running down the street to engage a trio of Crabmeats flanked by several Motobugs and commanded by a Mecha Trooper. He closed in and pulled the first crustacean bot off its feet with his grappler, then smashed it open with a spinning kick to free the Critter trapped inside. The second prepared to fire a pair of energy orbs at him, only to get stopped short as Gizmo came in and knocked it into the air, breaking it apart with her red escrima shortly after. Sonic nailed the third with a Spin Dash, then picked off a few of the Motobugs as Knuckles, Vector, and Mighty went to town. Lavender and Garnet harried the Mecha Trooper down with their respective firearms while Espio closed the distance and caught it in one side with an Axle Spin. Given that he never got a chance to show off against Tao, J seized his opportunity here to unleash the new power the white Emerald granted him.
"Crystal Hold!" he shouted as he aimed his free hand at the copy of his cousin.
A translucent white orb of what appeared to be gel flew from his palm and splattered across the Trooper's chest. It spread out like a thin film over the whole of the robot and then hardened practically in an instant, rendering it a metallic and crystalline statue. With another gesture, J used the asphalt to fling it into the air, and Amy capitalized on this by Jumping and shattering it into thousands of pieces with her Piko Piko Hammer.
"Nice one!" Lavender complimented the cross fox, "where'd you get the idea for that? Looked like something out of a certain blue robot's games."
The scholar chuckled and gave him a knowing smirk. "I was inspired after seeing some different abilities from a couple branches of the franchise."
"Who knew that the illustrious Dr. Cross was a bit of a gaming geek?" Gizmo remarked teasingly, "jabs aside, it was pretty cool."
"Save the back-patting for later," Garnet said as she pulled the slide on her blaster, "we've got to move."
The hybrid sprang to the top of a pedestrian overpass, then ran through as she extended her weapon's Bolt Blade and grabbed several Rings for her group. A few Orbinauts zipped forward to try and tackle a few fleeing Animals, only for Garnet to breach their revolving spiny defenses with a single, surgical slash. A pair of Slicers had thrown their blades in the wake of the other Badniks, but she cut them down and finished the mantids off with a sweeping strike. After guiding the civilians to safety, the rest of the group followed as she bounced off a red spring to give her a running start up the side of a broad and tall pillar. From there, she leapt up onto a building and down the other side, rushing through a dip and then dropping down to the streets once again. A squad of blue armadillo and green chameleon Badniks came in from behind, though the team was ready for them. Vector caught one of the former in his jaws and spat it right back at one of the others, breaking them both. Espio showed the latter how proper camouflage was done, disappearing and then picking them off with his tanto and shuriken. Sonic whipped the remainder up with a Blue Tornado, then Knuckles dealt the final blow along with Mighty using a Fire Dunk.
The gang continued into a street tunnel, encountering more civilians being harassed by Mecha's legions. RhinoBots were chasing and corralling folks towards Grabbers that were ready to drop down and snatch them up. Lavender popped off a couple of the ceiling Badniks with his pistol, then bashed one on the ground with a Rolling Jump, landing back on his board just as it did an 180-degree spin. J temporarily erected a Stone Wall to cause the other RhinoBots to crash, while the Wolf twins yanked down Grabbers with their grapplers. A few Crawls attempted to block the heroes' passage and cut off escape for a small family, but Amy's hammer busted both their shields and them. Lastly, a pod of scorpion-like bots used their tail turrets to lay down suppressive fire on the group. While those with Elemental Shield Projectors covered everyone else, Garnet answered the Badniks in kind by switching her sidearm's indicator to coral pink, launching an Explosive Burst that scrapped the lot of them. This cleared their path and allowed them to exit onto a road that was bound for the now smoldering section of the city.
Meanwhile, the fliers came to one of the highways suspended many meters above ground. All the other Animals except Blue and Charmy landed, with Cheese keeping afloat near Cream and Remi remaining in its Flight form for the time being. While the bee joined his friends and other allies, the future warrior pulled to the front of the group and glanced back.
"I'm gonna scout ahead a bit," he informed them, "see if I can't find a good place to scan for openings in that thing without drawing much attention."
"Good luck, Mr. Blue!" Cream said encouragingly, and Cheese chirping likewise.
The armored Animal gave them a two-finger salute and sped off more directly in the Mecha Kaiser's direction, dipping low to better hide behind and between intact buildings. As he went to tackle his objective, Miles and Speedy took point guiding the rest of their group along the suspended route. A squadron of Buzz Bombers and Balkiries met them at the top of a hill overlooking a loop, the latter charging while the former provided cover fire. The avian ace blitzed through the center of them with a Mid-Air Spin Dash, then threw out a double Shocking Blast at the wasp robots around him. Remi gave them a taste of long-range artillery with a cluster of missiles, knocking out most of the Buzz Bombers. Miles swooped and flipped over the oncoming Balkiries, flinging a Tornado Spin into a few of them while Charmy stung those that dodged the whirlwind and Ray picked off any that the bee missed. Cream tossed Cheese at the remainder, who broke several of them as it bounced like a pinball, and Rouge mopped up the last few with a well-aimed Screw Kick.
The amber fox wasted no time in Rolling down the hill, collecting Rings as he went through two consecutive loops at the bottom before whipping into the air from a quarter-pipe turn. As the others caught up with him, several Bombs hopped down from a ledge to run at them, followed by a few Gohlas. The fiery Badniks unleashed the fireballs around them in a wide circle, aiming to set the explosive ones off prematurely. Speedy didn't intend to give them the chance as he clasped the red Emerald.
"Charged Bullet!"
The former prince zipped over to the Gohlas as fast as lightning, bouncing from one to the next like an arcing bolt of energy. Each hit struck down a Badnik, which instantly extinguished their flames and prevented them from pulling off their underhanded plan. This gave Miles enough time to throw up a Flame Shield and bolster it further with the cyan Emerald, fending off the Bombs' combined explosion. When the smoke cleared, the fox dusted himself off and shot a glance at his rival.
"To think I'd be watching your back like I did just now," Speedy commented with a wry smile, "when barely half a year ago, we were still at each other's throats."
"I guess that beating I gave you during the West Side Incident cleared something in that head of yours," Miles jabbed, actually managing to get a brief snicker out of the bird.
Rouge couldn't help but titter to herself. "Aww, you two look like you're getting on well."
"Stop making more of it than what's there," her partner said stiffly.
The fox folded his arms and huffed indignantly. "Yeah, as we've stated before, we're not friends."
"Couldn't you be if you tried, though?" Cream suggested innocently, Cheese backing her up with an inquisitive babble.
Both Miles and Speedy were about to protest, and yet simultaneously held their tongues. The ace didn't want to dignify her query with a response, while the hero wasn't sure how to answer. The two of them had certainly been through a lot, yet couldn't deny the evolution of their relationship. From enemies to conditional allies, to those who shared some secrets even G.U.N. didn't want to get out, and now to where they fought by each other's side against common foes. It was enough to make Speedy shake his head.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter right now," Speedy reasoned as he started walking again, "we need to keep up the pace. The longer we stand here, the more enemies we'll have to face and the more time Mecha will have to tap into the Ruby's power."
There was no argument there. Miles went up to where the Bombs had dropped and bounced off a yellow spring to the next part of the highway. After a handful of hills and dips, the group dropped back down to a lower road, though the path in front of them was suddenly demolished by another few Bombs. A number of bat-like Badniks with blades for wings rose through the gap their comrades made and dove at Miles and the rest. With his ESP still active, the fox tore through several of them with a Fireball Spin Dash, then switched to his Lightning Shield to guard against a few that were discharging electric bolts. Ray and Charmy handled most of the rest, while Speedy cut down the ones harassing Miles with a couple of Energy Blade projectiles.
Meanwhile, as they resumed their dash towards the Mecha Kaiser, Blue had dropped to ground level at the edge of the district the colossus had devastated.
"Alright, Nana-chi," he told the platform as he got down from it, "you wait here until I signal you to come."
"Acknowledged, Master Blue," the machine's voice played through his helmet, "please exercise adequate caution."
The warrior nodded solemnly and took off down the ruined street in a blur, jumping over rubble here and there before launching himself from a makeshift ramp. He landed on a yellow spring and bounced up just as a trio of Redzs tried charring him with the flamethrowers in their snouts. Blue Stomped the first one, Rolled into the second, and finally bashed the third with the barrel of his launcher, freeing the three Flickies that had been powering them. He continued through a corkscrew made of twisted concrete, then traversed a series of rubble platforms to skip over a couple of loops while shooting down a couple of Robo Kukkus headed his way. Another similar stretch followed that, ending with him taking a red spring up to the top of a building, hopping across what rooftops were still decently intact.
Blue managed to reach the outskirts of the new base Mecha was building when the Kaiser's right boot completely opened up the front. A positively enormous amber and gunmetal gray tank rolled out on two sets of cutting treads, tearing up the ground beneath it. It sported a pair of 125mm cannons and some other manner of gun between them, a "meat grinder" of chain threads on the front of the vehicle, a heat ray projector on each side, and dual anti-aircraft missile ports towards the back. It appeared rather slow, but Blue could tell from its mighty weapons and dense armor plating that it was "war in a can," if ever such a thing existed. And if the Mecha Kaiser could produce one, there was no reason to believe that it couldn't make more than that, especially with the Ruby.
"Nana-chi, haul ass!" Blue ordered the machine through his helmet.
"Behold, the Death Buster!" the giant fox boomed as it turned its optics down at the war machine, "and with the power of the Phantom Ruby, I can pop more right into existence. Armageddon has arrived, you–"
Without warning, the Mecha Kaiser's eyes went dark and it stood there like a statue. The Badniks and other robots hadn't stopped their project, though, and they had already made some startling progress. At the same time, while the boot had closed behind the Death Buster, more of the other robots were still pouring out of the opening in the jaw. This provided a golden opportunity for the heroes, if they could get there quickly enough. Thus, it was no surprise for Blue to see everyone else catch up to his position posthaste.
"What's happening over here, partner?" Garnet inquired.
"Well, I assume you all heard what's going on," the other future warrior reported. Upon hearing several noises of affirmation, he went on. "I dunno what made Mecha shut down all of a sudden, but there's a way inside now. That Death Buster is definitely something we can't leave alone, though, and it looks like it'll take more than a few of us to bring it down."
"We should hurry before we miss our chance!" Knuckles urged them.
"We got people inside that thing to save too, ya know!" Sonic agreed.
That was true, the others considered. But at the same time, there were many more on the outside that needed help, especially against that hellish tank.
"Alright, then everyone aside from a small team of us should stay out here," Miles quickly decided, "Sonic, Knuckles, Ray, Mighty, come with me. You too, Remi; we're going for it!"
"Wait!" J stopped them and tossed the white Emerald to his cousin, "I have a feeling you'll be needing them all in the end."
Speedy nodded in agreement as he flew over to join his rival and the others headed for the Mecha Kaiser. "I'll be joining as well. Alexei is still somewhere in there and could be up to anything, even if Mecha Miles is the one in control."
"Count me in, too," Rouge said with a smile, "after all, Ace, we're partners."
Speedy rolled his eyes, but had no objections. With that, the Power Trio, their two friends, Remi in its pack form, and the two G.U.N. agents crossed the line between the blasted parts of Echo City and the new base that Mecha's minions were very rapidly erecting. Metallic blue roads with amber banners depicting a menacing likeness of Mecha's face ran all through the place, myriad other mechanical contraptions set up along the way. A huge collection of power plants supplied the new infrastructure with the needed energy, and many more buildings with an unknown purpose filled the space. Perhaps most convenient for them was that there was a path, albeit a winding and somewhat convoluted one, that would get them close enough to enter the Mecha Kaiser without too much trouble.
'It's insane how fast this is being put together even without the Sapphire to help,' Miles thought grimly, 'at this rate, it'll only be a matter of weeks before Mecha completely overruns the world.'
The fox Rolled down a slope and Jumped off a Turbo Turtle to continue down a second decline and rush beneath a Sentry Bug that Speedy destroyed before it could lock onto him with its drones. Miles came to the end of the path and used a magnetic sphere to fling himself upward, bouncing off of a red spring in the opposite direction and surging through a loop. Following the three-quarter curve up the nearby wall, he landed on the next level and kept going until he had to fly up a narrow shaft to progress. Another red spring awaited him on the other side of a passage at the top, launching him off a ramp towards a metal bar, which he used to swing safely to a nearby platform. A few hops carried him higher, letting out a couple yelps as he dodged some spike traps and Sentry Bug drones in succession. Miles barreled into another vertical well, its yellow bumpers sending him up to a ledge.
Using his built-up speed, he cleared the wide gap between that section and the next while giving Sonic a lift, the two smashing a Purplebot apart on the other side with a Double Rolling Attack. Speedy and Rouge soared past the pair through a tunnel of yellow bumpers, avoiding them and descending briefly before making his way into a second one. The path kept winding to the point they were momentarily forced to land, zipping through a trio of loops and launching themselves like rockets up yet another shaft. This carried them to the walkway high above while Miles and Ray assisted their flightless friends in catching up with them. A group of Ball Hogs released their bounding explosives at the septet, only for Mighty to tear up part of the road to shield them from the explosions. Knuckles glided in through the flames and slammed both fists into the ground between the porcine Badniks, knocking them up so that the three fliers could free the imprisoned Pickies.
The seven rushed down a hill and through a loop, hopping over some yellow bumpers to make their way up some steel beams. Miles lifted both Sonic and Knuckles while Ray carried Mighty, the five trailing behind Speedy as he maneuvered around more spikes and orbs. The hazards became quite numerous the further they rose, with even the floor itself trying to crush them against the ceiling in certain spots. However, even all of that and robots thrown in wasn't enough to significantly slow down the well-oiled machine that was the group. It wasn't long before they arrived at the tallest and closest point to the Mecha Kaiser, and from there, they flew into the gaping maw of the titanic beast.
But no sooner had they stepped inside when both Miles and Knuckles stopped in their tracks and whirled around. The others had almost gone ahead without them, though they soon came to a halt once they noticed the two weren't with them.
"Yo, Tails, Knux!" Sonic called out to them, frowning when they didn't acknowledge him, "hey! What's the holdup?"
Speedy glared back in their direction, but he made no hurry to move forward either. "There's something brewing back where the rest of our alliance is. I didn't notice it as quickly as they did, but now that I have, I pray it's in our favor."
"I do not know whose signature that is," Knuckles told his vulpine companion, "but it is very powerful."
"It's not malicious," Miles noted, "it's just...angry."
He shook his head while he tried to get back on track and resume their infiltration. It was difficult to ignore that strong presence, but the fox knew that they couldn't waste this chance to get into the Mecha Kaiser's inner workings and decisively bring it down. He would just have to hold out hope that the others could handle things, even if worse should come to worst.
(Some minutes ago...)
Back with the rest of the party, the future pair were the first to intercept the Death Buster. Garnet opened with an Explosive Burst, scoring a direct hit but doing little more than slightly singing the surface. She pounced to one side to avoid a blast from its heat ray projectors, swapping her "ammo" and firing an armor-piercing Lightning Ray. It managed to penetrate the tank, but given how large it was in comparison to her shot, it may as well have done nothing. It retaliated once more with its anti-personnel weapons and pushed her to dodge again, reducing the spot she'd been standing in to molten concrete and twisted metal. Just as the war machine prepared to let loose with its main guns, Blue came rushing in with Nana-chi.
"Mode Change: Sasori no Chikara!" he commanded the platform.
Nana-chi took the warrior into itself as it changed shape, growing in length more than width, especially towards the rear, and became blackish-red. Four pairs of legs sprouted from its now segmented body, while a set of two bulky pincers grew out near its head. The back end kept lengthening, forming into a proper metasoma that hung back over the body with a sharp curved stinger at the tip. And right after it transformed, it wasted no time in seizing the Death Buster's primary cannons in its pincers and forcing the turret to rotate away from Garnet. This caused it to aim at one of the nearby power plants instead, completely destroying the whole structure and much of the area around it with just that one twin-barreled shot.
Sasori took the brunt of a few heat rays and was subsequently thrown off, though the scorpion mech took the tumble in stride and uprighted itself quickly. It blocked more shots with its pincers and returned fire with its stinger beam, emitting a similar energy to the Lightning Ray. It sliced through one of the 125mm cannons like a hot knife through butter, causing the massive barrel to fall to the ground with a deafening thud. The Death Buster immediately returned fire with the remaining gun, but Sasori was faster, using its tail to help propel it into the air so that it could dodge. Anti-air missiles flew from the back of the tank towards the metal scorpion in response, though they were intercepted by numerous green homing projectiles courtesy of Garnet's blaster.
This left the massive vehicle vulnerable as Sasori came down, intending to impale it with its stinger. To the shock of the future warriors, however, the Death Buster ignited a thruster under one of its treads and rolled out of the way. As it returned to its normal position, its main weapon went off again, scoring a hit on the scorpion and sending it flying.
"Agh!" Blue shouted as he was rocked by the blast despite being fully covered by his mecha's armor, "damn you...hang in there, Nana-chi!"
Sasori crashed to the ground, some sections of it sparking and twitching. Its operator prepared to switch to a new mode, only for the machine to get struck by a golden light coming from the center gun of the other construct. Blue tried to get Sasori to move, but it was instead being drawn towards the middle grinding tread of the Death Buster, which started to rotate even faster as its prey drew near. Garnet did her best to get closer, yet was hampered both by the projectors and the almost constantly changing terrain due to the tank's destructive power. The sound of metal crunching against metal filled her ears as Sasori was forced against the grinder. The scorpion was resistant, but not impervious to the damage being done, and if it kept up...
"No, get out of there!" the hybrid cried out of fear.
"Gaea Rage!"
The pavement beneath the Death Buster fractured, fiery light shining from the cracks for but a moment before becoming a violent eruption of asphalt and earth. The Death Buster was knocked off balance and onto one side, breaking its magnetic harpoon connection to Sasori. Garnet wheeled around to see the rest of the gang jumping into the fray while J stood back holding out both hands and panting heavily.
"I'm not going to let you guys down," the cross fox swore as he collected himself, "we'll all get through this together!"
The Death Buster used the thrust in both its treads and the rear to flip upright, the harpoon gun retreating into the turret to be replaced by a 30mm cannon. Gizmo sidestepped the hail of bullets that came her way while deflecting any that got close, her twin brother approaching the tank from the opposite side. He lobbed a few energy balls towards the left projector, switching on his Flame Shield when it retaliated. Over on the right side, Lavender drew attention as he weaved through rays with his board while taking potshots with his laser pistol. The cloaked form of Espio moved in thanks to the distraction, planting a few explosive tags on the turret tracking the cat. Though they went off without a hitch, they didn't do much other than momentarily pause its attacks. However, it provided enough of a distraction for Charmy to fly in with Vector as Espio went towards the projector once more. With their combined strength and agility, the Chaotix trio managed to trash the weapon port, eliminating one source of grief for the group.
But just as quickly as they'd scored that small victory, the Death Buster fired up thrusters from other ports to perform a 720-degree spin at whip-cracking speed. The Animals on the tank were thrown clear while those that had been approaching it were blown back by the sheer air force of the rotation. Charmy caught his teammates while Cream and Cheese went to support Gizmo, and Garnet helped save her uncle Lavender. Gadget used his grappler to pull himself to safety, yanking Amy off her feet with his other arm as the Death Buster attempted to strike them both with its one heat projector. Not wanting its prey to get away so easily, the tank charged forward using its boosters, attempting to run down and possibly even over its targets. It gunned for the Chaotix trio, as they were the ones that had dealt the most damage aside from Nana-chi, but just before it could overtake them, J intervened once more.
"Tectonic Shift!" the cross fox called out as his hands glowed with white light.
Although it appeared meager compared to the Death Buster, the colossal tank found its trajectory dramatically shifted as a solid chunk of earth rose out of the ground into a quarter-pipe shape. It flipped over from the sudden jump, landing upside-down and leaving it out of sorts for a brief moment. That was when the Animals chose to counterattack. Gadget swung himself and Amy back around, using the momentum to throw her while she went into a Rolling Attack with the Piko Piko Hammer. At the same time, Gizmo activated both her escrima and curled up to let Cream kick her like a soccer ball towards the same spot that her younger friend was going for. On top of those two, Espio dropped Vector, the croc kid spreading his arms and legs as he went into a daring belly flop. All three of them struck the 30mm turret simultaneously, bending it beyond working capacity and disarming another of the Death Buster's weapons.
And just in time, too, as mere seconds later, the tank got back on its treads and swapped out its ruined gatling cannon for the magnetic harpoon. Gizmo swooped in to bring the hedgehog girl out of harm's way while Gadget nabbed his best feline friend with his wire and Espio moved like lightning to get to his young colleague. The Death Buster deliberated which of the fleeing foes to go for, ultimately turning its projector upon the two girls. The she-wolf and pink hedgehog both cried out in shock as it struck the area behind them, breaking up the pavement and sending them flying. The two went into a Roll to avoid getting too injured, though they still ended up in a heap once they stopped. The Death Buster readied its largest cannon to blow them to bits, only to be distracted by Cheese ramming into one of its anti-air missile racks. Cream followed it up with her own Drop Attack, managing to bounce off one of the explosives at just the right time and angle to make it and the rest go up in flames.
The war machine used its other mount to fire upon her, but Garnet's Point Storm shot once again came to the rescue. Charmy kept the remaining projector focused on him, his aerial speed allowing him to avoid its rays with relative ease. Their combined efforts allowed Gadget and Lavender to rush in, trying to get Gizmo and Amy out of the path of the main barrel. But they were seemingly too late as the main gun charged up and centered its focus on the girls while they were still a stone's throw away.
"No you don't!" J shouted as he Jumped up and thrust his hands in front of him, "Diamond Shield!"
The tank's beam made it about halfway before the cross fox created a crystalline barrier at the end of the tube. With the opening suddenly blocked, the imminent blast went off prematurely and forced the Death Buster to skid back on its treads. The others were also thrown back by the shock wave, but none worse than J, who was more directly caught in the explosion. As a result, he was hurled many meters towards a huge pile of rubble that was once a skyscraper. Once he finally tumbled to the ground, the other Animals were horrified to see that he wasn't moving.
"J!" Gadget yelled in dismay as he and the others rushed over to the vulpine's battered and bloodied body, leaning down to try and get him to sit up, "J, speak to me!"
The red wolf gently shook the other guy to try and rouse him, but nothing happened. He gingerly pried one of the fox's eyes open and let out a gasp when he saw that they had glazed over and lost their light. Immediately, J was laid back down so that Gadget could place an ear against his chest. His own started to ache as he picked up neither breathing nor a heartbeat from the other male. Noticing the distress in her brother's eyes, Gizmo got down on her knees and started performing CPR while Gadget hurriedly searched his items for anything that could help.
"Please, J," the she-wolf whimpered when her efforts produced no results, "don't do this." A few more chest compressions and breaths were fed into him, but to no avail. "Come on, you said that we'd all get through this together. How will we be able to face Miles if we lose you?"
Amy was starting to get watery eyes herself upon seeing her older friend show such emotion. "Giselle..."
"Garnet!" Lavender pleaded with his future niece, "bring us a Chaos Capsule, now!"
Garnet shook off her shock at seeing what happened and rushed over as quickly as she could. She took out the last of the powerful supplements in her supply and administered it to the cross fox, having to help him swallow it since he couldn't do so himself. There were a few tense moments where it appeared that he wouldn't wake up, but the group soon heard him coughing as though he was hacking up a lung.
'Thank the gods,' the hybrid thought with no small amount of relief.
"Gaia below," J moaned as he held his head and sat up, "those Capsules really do work miracles, don't they?"
Lavender nodded while he gave him a hand getting back up. "Thank goodness Garnet still had a few. Are you feeling alright Dr. Cross?"
"Surprisingly well, actually." The cross fox patted himself and gave his body a once over. "Aside from the state of my garb, it's like I've just woken up fresh from a good night's rest!"
"That's good to hear." Gadget frowned and got back into a fighting stance. "That said, we still have a superweapon to smash."
"I need to make sure Blue's okay," Garnet informed them, making her way over to where her partner was last.
As the Chaotix, Cream, and Cheese kept the Death Buster busy, Blue finally snapped out of his daze from the beating he took earlier. Sasori may have been significantly damaged, but it was hardly the only form that Nana-chi had in store. Even so, the future boy felt his fur rising from the way his mechanical companion had been marred and mangled. But it was when he saw what happened to J that his rage threatened to boil over.
"Nana-chi, let me out!" he ordered firmly. The mech opened the battered hatch without hesitation, and once Blue was free of it, he began walking towards the other massive machine. "Go to Garnet and the others right now!"
"Acknowledged, Master Blue," his companion answered faithfully, assuming its nigh-indestructible platform state and taking off in a blur.
Blue soon came to a halt, slowly putting his equipment in the hammerspace bag that Garnet had given him, and then reached up to press a button on the back of his helmet. His suit disappeared in a flash, and without another word, he tossed his headgear into the sack as well. Without his armor, Blue revealed himself to be a canid Animal that was part-vulpine of some kind, with light caramel brown eyes, a black nose, and mostly sky-blue fur. White fluff graced the bottom of his torso up to his neck, his muzzle except for the bridge, his eyebrows, the insides of his triangular ears, and the tip of his tail. He stood fairly tall for an Animal of his kind and had a wiry form with subtly visible musculature beneath his coat, which became more apparent when taut. Height-wise, Blue was only a few centimeters shorter than either of the twins, and just a tad trimmer in bulk, but overall larger than Garnet. He wore faded yellow gloves and all-terrain shoes, as well as a pair of brown goggles with transparent lenses resting on top of his head, not unlike a certain she-wolf the others knew well.
"Oi!" he heard Garnet address him, looking less than pleased with him as she arrived atop Nana-chi moments later, "what're you thinking, taking off your armor!? Don't tell me you're resorting to that now!"
Blue put his goggles in his tote bag and tossed it at her without glancing back. "Don't try to stop me, Garnet."
"Please don't do it," the hybrid tried to reason, almost failing to catch his stuff, "there's no need for you to go that far–"
"Look me in the eyes and tell me you wouldn't do the same if it was your parents that almost got blown to bloody gibs!" he interjected rather harshly as he glared at her. When she remained silent and avoided his gaze, the bigger canid clicked his tongue. "That's what I thought."
A low growl reverberated in his throat as he stood tall with his legs significantly spaced apart, his arms bent at his sides and flexing as hard as they could. His throat tightened, sounds of abject anger escaping through his teeth while the previously clear sky darkened, storm clouds brewing overhead. An even brighter blue aura emanated from him, bolts of Chaos Energy crackling around his form as his fur stood on end. As his ears lengthened and sharpened ever so slightly along with his fangs, Blue shut his eyes for a hot moment, crossing both arms over his chest.
"Haaa!"
Blue threw them wide as his aura flared like a wildfire, his eyes shooting open to reveal themselves a fierce, predatory yellow. His fur had darkened to a deeper shade of sky blue, while the white portions had shifted to a dull off-white. His body overall had also bulked up to the point where he was similar to, if not even bigger than either of the wolves, his gloves and boots hugging his hands and feet even tighter. Blue audibly clenched his fists and directed his gaze towards the gnarled, but still functional Death Buster.
"I'm off," he said, his voice having dropped about half an octave after his transformation, "you and everyone else stay out of my way."
Garnet braced herself on the platform as Blue took off with a boom, staring after him with a sad frown. "Gebhard..."
Back over with the main threat, it was more aggressively using its weapons and mobility to try and pick off the five that had been harrying it. Its remaining cannon and projector left them unable to sit still for long, while its whirling defense prevented a direct attack and would ward them away. Garnet's momentary lapse in support also left the flyers in a tight spot, having to deal with the anti-air missiles from the mount that was still intact. Frustrating as it was, they were at least thankful that they could keep the tank from targeting the others again after what had just happened.
However, neither they nor the Death Buster's systems were fast enough to react to the supersonic blue sphere that slammed into it from seemingly out of nowhere. Even more surprising was when the massive machine was sent bouncing a few times from the blow, though it managed to right itself in the end. No sooner had it done so when another couple of booms echoed throughout the area as Blue closed in again and propelled himself over 100 meters straight up. The anti-air battery sent all of its current load of missiles at him, but the canid wasn't phased in the slightest, thrusting his arms forward with his palms open and fingers spread.
"Right back at you, with interest!" he yelled as he concentrated part of his aura around his gloves, "Missile Swarm!"
Just as he declared, Blue countered with a greater number of missile-shaped projectiles that broke apart into even more tinier variants. Many screamed towards and quickly overwhelmed the volley meant for him, while the rest of the Chaos Energy blasts homed in on the rack itself, reducing it to scrap in short order. In retaliation, the Death Buster fired off heat rays at the future warrior, but Blue effortlessly dodged them. While he did so, one hand curled in and formed an orb out of his aura in the seat of his palm.
"Havoc Grenade!"
Upon avoiding the next shot, he threw the sphere in a short arc at the projector. It seemed too short until the ball skipped across the ground rather than dissipate, finding its mark after a few more erratic and seemingly random bounces. That too was destroyed in an explosive and spectacular fashion, leaving the Death Buster with only one of its 125mm cannons, the magnetic harpoon, and its numerous thrusters.
Garnet, the Chaotix, Cream, and Cheese reunited with the rest of the group before long, Vector letting out a whistle as he watched the show. "Dang, that's Blue? That tank was giving us all a hard time, and now he's whoopin' it like it's nothing!"
"Yeah," Lavender breathed out, doing all he could to prevent himself from falling onto his haunches while he watched the carnage, "where was he keeping all this power, and why didn't he use it before?"
"It's a transformation driven by negative emotion," Garnet explained while hopping off of Nana-chi, "so he's not really supposed to be using it, except as a last resort."
Gadget became concerned at that news. "So essentially, it's like Miles when he was in his 'Monster' form?"
"It's similar, but not quite the same." Garnet let out a sigh and folded her arms. "'Blaster Blue' is what we call him in this state. Since he's not using any of the Emeralds or even a Drive, it's very draining on his natural reserves of Chaos Energy. Not only that, but it gets harder for him to control that power the longer he maintains it."
"Is that why Mr. Blue removed all of his gear before he transformed?" Cream wondered.
"Yeah. The last time he tried using that form while wearing his suit, he ended up breaking it along with all his weapons."
"I see," J said with uncertainty, "so if he does use it, he has to eschew his usual arsenal. And given what you've told us, it's meant to finish the job quickly, otherwise things could go badly."
The hybrid nodded softly. "Exactly. But, given how much damage we've already inflicted on that thing, it shouldn't take Blue much longer...hopefully."
Seconds after saying that, Blue flipped the Death Buster into the air with a rising kick, then jetted up after it with a Havoc Grenade in both hands. The canid used them to juggle the tank even higher, and at the height of its launch, he grabbed it by the main gun. With a great shout, Blue chucked it back down towards the ground, making quite the crater from the weight and force of impact. The warrior went into something of a combination of a Stomp and a Drop Attack, hammering down into his foe like a sky-blue meteor. After heavily denting the top of the center turret, Blue Jumped back out of the depression he'd made in the ground while gritting his teeth.
"One or two more should be enough for you," he growled under his breath.
Blue awaited the Death Buster as it hovered out of the hole, its barrel gathering energy to blow him away. The canid raised one hand and aimed at the cannon with his palm facing it, concentrating his Energy into the seat of it. Right as the light within the tank's gun began to move, he thrust his own arm forward firmly.
"Piercing Rocket!"
Instantly, he reformed the compacted Energy into an RPG-like projectile that flew into the path of the oncoming beam from the Death Buster. It not only prevented the attack from reaching Blue, but forced its way through the middle of it. As a result, it traveled down the length of the tube until it hit the turret and blew the barrel off. Left with nothing but its thrusters and treads, the Death Buster sought to run Blue down however it could. However, this made it highly predictable, and the future fighter was able to lure the tank deeper into Mecha's territory.
Once he felt he was in a good spot, Blue focused his Energy into both hands and pressed them into the pavement. Hundreds of motes of light dotted the area around him in a wide radius like a sea of tiny stars. The Death Buster swiveled around to see its target taunting it with a "come get and me" gesture. When Blue followed it up with a flip of the bird, that prompted the machine to respond. Rather than try to charge him directly, the tank rocketed into the air and sought to squash him like a pancake beneath its many tons of mass. Seeing what was about to happen, Garnet hurriedly got back onto Nana-chi and beckoned the others to follow her.
"Get away as fast as you can!" she warned them, "it's gonna be a big one!"
Everyone else heeded the hybrid's words and headed for the hills post-haste just as the Death Buster was coming down. Blue eyed them for a split second before he kicked away from the spot he'd been standing in. The tip of one boot touched a bit of rubble free from the light he'd placed, whereupon the canid used a small Energy explosion to launch himself up until he was about eye level with the Mecha still in the throes of his anger, Blue couldn't help but smirk once that superweapon landed where he'd just been.
"Gotcha." The canid warrior snapped the fingers on both hands as he spread his arms. "Chaos Mines!"
All at once, the motes that Blue had put down became exponentially brighter and were connected by a spider web of Chaos Energy. And in the next instant, the city draped in early evening light became more illuminated than it would've been at high noon with a clear sky. A terrible, deafening series of roars came immediately after as the mines went off in rapid succession. Numerous buildings that had just been set up by Mecha's forces were either vaporized or made to collapse as the devastation spread through the ground as well. The Death Buster finally succumbed to the weight of its damage from the onslaught, capping things off with a colossal hemispherical explosion.
A hole as wide as several city blocks and quite a few meters deep was left after the smoke cleared, making for quite the eyesore on the seat of Mecha's "empire". With that, Blue touched down just past the edge of the crater, clenching his fists as he took on an A-pose. Within a few seconds, his muscles shrank back down and all of his other features returned to normal, ending it with a haggard breath. He just as quickly fell to his hands and knees, his head hung while he panted heavily. Fortunately, Garnet was the first one to arrive after the carnage, handing him his tote bag.
"Sheesh, this is why I discourage you from using that form," she told him pointedly, "you always wear yourself out and cause so much damage." Her harsh expression softened into a smile. "But, you did well keeping it together and not drawing the fight out too much longer than necessary."
"Had to make sure that I...ngh, got the job done," Blue answered tiredly while he rifled through his bag.
He located the case where he kept his own stash of Chaos Capsules, swearing under his breath when he noticed there was only one left. With a shrug, he swallowed it, and a few moments later, he was standing tall as though he hadn't just exhausted most of his stamina.
"That you did," Garnet affirmed, "although you went a bit overboard there at the end with the Chaos Mines. You're lucky there weren't any civvies around."
"Yeah, yeah." He glanced off to the rest of Echo City. "Speaking of, I guess helping them is all we can really do right now."
The half-feline nodded. "That thing might be gone, but there are plenty more Badniks and whatnot to take care of."
"Right, let's hop to it and hope for the best for Miles and the rest!"