//------------------------------// // The Final Battle part 3 // Story: Sonic and EQG Forces // by SonicAKG //------------------------------// "Is that so? Then we shouldn't let our guard down." Shadow responded to Tails informing everyone that the Phantom Ruby was moving down. "Tails, are you able to see where he headed exactly?" Twilight asked. "Not really. Like from before, the Ruby messes with my Miles Electric. I can barely make out these readings. All I know is that we have to find an entrance to the tower to stop him." Tails said. "But with no way to track it, that could take ages." Fluttershy brought up. "I know." Tails replied. "If only there was a better way." After this, Amy spoke up. "I think I can be of help." She said. Amy put her hands in the motion as if she was about to play the flute. When she did, an energy version of the instrument appeared. This allowed her to play a soothing and harmonious melody. "What a wonderful song." Fluttershy remarked, feeling at ease after hearing that. "That is so cool! It's like the time when that NiGHTS guy played the flute without the flute!" Pinkie commented. "I have got to learn how to do that! Then I can do welcome songs anytime!" "Just what is that?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "It's the Mystic Melody. It's a magical technique that lets me tap into the mystic forces." Amy explained. "Ok, but how does that help with the Phantom Ruby?" Manic asked. "Like, I said, I can tap into the mystic forces. It means I can sense where mystical objects are. The Phantom Ruby seems to fall under that definition, so I should be able to track it." The rosy heroine elaborated. "Ok, that's pretty cool." Rainbow Dash said with amazement. "Just when did you learn to do that?" Manic said in a quizzical tone. "It's a trick I learned on a mission a while back. I knew it would come in handy one of these days." Amy replied. "Amy, you're full of surprises. Ok then, go for it then." Sonic encouraged over the comms. The blue hero's praise made her beam while blushing. "Wait, I think I can help too." Rarity offered with her hands out. "With my power, I've been able to locate and track gems. That should include the Phantom Ruby." "Great. Any help is good. Seeing what the ruby is like, it could be hard to find on my own." The resistance's coordinator agreed. "So, AppleJack, what doesn't seem like a useful power again?" Rarity said out loud. "*sigh*, I was wrong, ok?" AppleJack begrudgingly admitted. "Just get to searchin' with Amy." The team of two went on ahead and reached another section of Eggman's fortress shortly. Here, it consisted of floating metallic platforms. Upon further inspection, one could see that the platforms had gears equipped to them. Between the foreground and the background were also floating layers. Each of these layers consisted respectively of hexagonal-based frameworks and metal barriers. In addition, the layers were equipped with surveillance orbs and metal barriers. "I'm feeling a faint presence around here." Amy said as small yellow energy surrounded her body. "Do you feel anything?" "Yes, I'm also picking up something." The fashionista agreed as her hands began to glow. "It's strongest..this way." Rarity pointed to a path on the right, which two resistance members began to travel on. They moved along the path until it came to an end. In front of the duo were two large platforms, which they moved towards as Rarity flew while Amy jumped towards it. However, on the second one, a red box opened and fired a red missile. Luckily, the magical heroine sent out a diamond shard to slice it in two before it could do any harm. "Thanks for the save." Amy said. " "Of course, let's keep moving." Rarity told her. Amy and Rarity made it to another platform, which had two silver colored Egg Pawns guarding it. In no time, Amy used her hammer and smashed them to the side, allowing her and her partner to go forward. When they saw a longer path ahead, two red boxes opened up to fire two rockets. Rarity sent out two large diamonds as shields to take the brunt of the blasts. "Glad you came with me. Those diamonds are pretty handy." Amy praised. "Thank you darling. But watching our backs while finding the entrance doesn't make this any easier." The lavender haired girl replied. "It's a good thing when Eggman hit's back, we hit harder!" The pink fighter said with determination as she gripped her weapon. As they moved on to a platform ahead, another red rocket attempted to hit them, which Rarity intercepted with a diamond. This allowed the two of them to go down along a longer path, which then brought them upward. In the section above them, the floor started to crackle with electricity. "Allow me." Rarity offered, making a diamond path for her and Amy to walk past. Once the gem seeking pair, came to the new road, they were suddenly greeted by a barrage of missiles heading their way, much to their fright, indicated by their worried expressions. "I don't think I can defend against that many attacks at once!" Rarity admitted. "It's ok then! I think I can solve this!" Amy reassured. Amy took out her hammer and began to swing as fast as she could. The resulting slipstream from her swing began to create a tornado effect that formed a cyclonic vortex of air filled with pink hearts. As soon as the reached her and Rarity, they began to be trapped in Amy's cyclone. Rarity looked on in amazement. The Rosy Rascal continued to swing for a while until she released the vortex, which made the missiles disperse around the area, making flares erupt. When this was over, Rarity ran over to Amy, who caught her breath. "My word, that was amazing." The bearer of generosity praised. "Are you feeling all right, though?" "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just a little diziness that should go away soon." Her ally replied. "Also, I hope I won't have to do that again soon." Amy and Rarity were free to go on ahead and at the end of their path, they moved upwards. Rarity did this by flying while Amy used her hammer to proper herself higher. As she did, she landed on a giant rotating wheel. Amy suddenly became to move around it uncontrollably, taking her around in a circle. "Oh no...not after I just spun like crazy......" She declared as she felt her dizziness increasing, with nausea approaching. Luckily for her, Rarity flew and grabbed her once she came right side up and took her to a nearby small platform on the left. "I think that's enough spinning for you." Rarity said with a smile. "Tell me about it. Thought I might actually hurl there." Amy weakly responded. The two girls continue to look for the entrance as the mystic melody and Rarity's hand gave off another glow. They moved further in the way they were headed with Rarity floating. Amy, on the other hand, saw that the only she should go was by using those spinning gears, much to her dismay. She sighed and jumped to one in front. This time, Amy moved slowly as she went around, which prevented her from getting dizzy. She was then able to move to a second wheel and did the same thing. Amy and Rarity then landed on a long path ahead. Once they finished traversing across it, they reached an elevator, which transported them to a higher region. Here, the two heroine made their way across scattered platforms to keep moving. On two of them, red missiles were launched. Rarity intercepted one by throwing a diamond boomerang into it. Amy launched her hammer towards the one, making it explode on contact. The force of the blast sent her mallet back towards her. Afterward, their journey continued. When they reached another section, rockets fired from above them as they stood on a platform. Amy took action and smashed her hammer with great force, releasing a pink shockwave that dispersed the rockets away. "Along with my diamonds, I'd say that hammer is quite handy as well." The diamond user said. "I don't know what I'd be without it."The hammer wielder replied as she clutched her weapon After going past more platforms, Amy and Rarity found another elevator, which took them below. Ahead of them was a large spiral staircase they started going downwards instantly.d "I can feel a presence getting stronger." Amy said. "We must be getting closer." "You're right. I sense the same thing. This is the right direction." Rarity agreed. Once they reached the end of the staircase, the magical pair took the rightward path. Here, four missiles from carts were launched at them once they moved ahead. The elegant Rainboom made a large barrier in front as all the missiles hit at once, making a small burst which cracked the diamonds a bit. She then brought it down for her teammate and herself to move along. After moving for a bit, they encountered two silver Egg pawns armed with turrets. Before they fired, Amy and Rarity smashed them into the ground using the piko piko and a diamond respectively. They then came across an electric floor, which they safely moved pass due to Rarity's diamond flooring. Now, they started to climb up to get higher using large steps. At the top, a long road took them towards a smaller selection with more spinning wheels, which the pink coordinator used to get by. "Oh my, the signal is so strong now." Rarity noticed as her hand gave off a more feverish glow. "It's nearby. We just have to find out where." Amy deduced as the melody swirled around her. Amy and Rarity reached a long bridge. As they moved along it, the signal reached it's peak. This leads them towards the entrance of a metallic door with green lights around it, located halfway on the bridge. It was surrounded by large metallic cylinders on the side. "This must be it! We found it!" Rarity announced. "Great work. Now let's tell the others." Amy said as she reached her comm. "Rarity and I found the entrance to Eggman's base. We're sending the coordinates now." "Amy, you rock! I'm heading there now." Sonic said. Sonic's praise made Amy blush with excitement, which Rarity noticed with a smile. "Adorable." She said, while Amy gave off a somewhat embarrassed smile. "I'm coming too!" Rainbow Dash said over the comm." I'm not sitting this one out!" In a short time, Sonic, Shadow, Sunset and Rainbow Dash came in front of the entrance to the door. "The doctor took quite care to hide this." Shadow observed. "Yeah, shame it's going down." Sonic said. "Let's do this." "Amy, Rarity, thanks for this. We'll stop Eggman for sure." Sunset promised. "Of course you will, darling." Rarity said. "We know you can." "We should head back to the others." Amy suggested."They got this under control." Amy and Rarity headed back to join their allies while Sonic and Shadow prepared to break down the door. Using a mini-boost, it burst open easily. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rainbow Dash declared as she flew right in, with the others tailing her. The four of them were moving inside a high-tech metallic shaft. Running down through the entirety of the shaft was a vertical pillar that the 4 heroes moved down along. While they headed for the reactor, 3 Egg flyers flew past them and blocked their paths. They started to fire energy beams towards them. Sonic and Shadow easily dodged thanks to their speed. Sunset, on the other hand, wasn't as quick and it seemed like she would get hit. Lucky for her, Rainbow Dash came to her aid and took her arm, pulling her out of harm's way. Sonic and Shadow then became streaks and tore through the robots mid air before they resumed moving on the ground. "Thanks a lot, Rainbow." Sunset said, which made Rainbow grin. "Don't sweat it. Just try and keep up from now on." She replied. As they got deeper in the fortress, giant walls attempted to crush them from above. The group moved before each of the structures reached the floor. Once this was done, large spiky wheels were launched towards them. "Wow, Eggman's not pulling his punches here." The Rainboom's leader said in a mixture of surprise and fright. "Welcome to a final Eggman base." The Blue Blur responded. "I wouldn't have it any other way!" The Rainbow flyer declared. "The doctor is a fool to think this can stop me." The Black Blur smugly boasted. The speed types, with Rainbow assisting Sunset, maneuvered through the wheels, not even touching them. After this, they moved through more crushing blocks easily. Now, they were faced with a squadron of five Egg flyers trying to blast them once more. This time, Shadow teleported and came in front of two. He launched a Chaos Spear to take one out before he kicked through the other one. Sonic jumped mid-air and used stomp to hold one to the ground before he leaped from it to axe kick another down. Rainbow took a hold of Sunset, who fired a large fire blast from her Wispon to defeat the last one. Taking care of these enemies coincided with them entering a new section, characterized by a large pillar. On this pillar was a road with tall rails on the sides. The shaft itself was lit up by lights on the walls, which included hexagonal-shaped lights, green power lines, and green power conduits. Sonic and Shadow used the rails, with Sunset and Rainbow Dash above them. Every few seconds, the rails would give off red electric shocks, forcing Sonic and Shadow to switch to others to avoid getting zapped. "This is where Infinite must have gained his power." Sonic deduced. "It's kind of sad he didn't have any more options available for him instead of becoming that masked monster..." Sunset sympathetically said. "Don't start feeling sorry for him." Shadow firmly responded. "His path was his own doing." "I'm with Shadow. That creep doesn't deserve it. Huh, never thought that would happen." Rainbow Dash spoke up, surprised she agreed with Shadow. The four-man team emerged off the rails and moved down a long corridor once more. Again, a squadron of Egg Flyers tried to intercept them, along with spinning wheels blocking the path. The lasers fired were evaded by the group. Sonic and Shadow split apart as they jumped mid-air. They came towards the Egg Flyers on the furthest side and kicked them into each other, causing the whole squad to fall apart. They rejoined Sunset and Rainbow as they made it through the deadly wheel. At the end of the section, the resistance squad jumped on downwards. This took them into a purple and green room which held the reactor. The reactor itself was incorporated into the base of the shaft's pillar, which narrows in around the reactor. In the center of the reactor lied a structure resembling a nucleic acid double helix, which was covered by metal plates. This structure was surrounded by a circular platform, which had three tubes, each one containing Phantom Ruby prototypes, on it. The reactor also had a ring around it with laser drones attached to it. "We made it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Now to blow this place to pieces." Before Rainbow could finish, about a dozen Egg Pawns emerged, bent on stopping the intruders. "Whew, I wouldn't mind a breather but our work is never done." Sonic lamented. Sunset fired a blast of fire, taking out a few robots while Rainbow Dash rammed them away from her. Sonic ran ahead and formed a small vortex around a few Egg Pawns, which sent them crashing around the area. Shadow teleported and rapidly unleashed his Chaos Spear to finish off the remaining enemies. With the enemies gone, the team turned their focus to the reactor. "All these Phantom Ruby's are dangerous, we should take them out first." Sunset suggested. Before anyone could take action, laser beams suddenly emerged from the reactor, causing everyone to duck. "Perfect." The fastest Rainboom complained complained. "This does not impress." The Ultimate Lifeform simply simply said as he rose from the ground and teleported in spades to avoid the beams. His arch rival then followed his lead, with Rainbow Dash not too far behind, avoiding contact with their quickness. Sunset laid low. Sonic and Shadow turned into streaks as they hit through one capsule each, causing cracks to emerge. Rainbow Dash flew through one using her body many times. On the ground, Sunset noticed a gap between the laser and flew as quickly as she could through it. She rose in the air near a capsule and unleashed a stream of flames on it. As the 4 of them continued their attacks, the capsules gave out and burst. In doing so, the reactor fell apart as a loud explosion was heard. The center then gave off a purple glow. "Let's get out of here!" Sonic yelled. The team then began to flee, with Shadow grabbing hold of Sunset's arm to allow her to keep up with them. A large purple explosion emerged from behind them. They then found themselves dashing through a small tunnel while flames emerged everywhere. "Come on guys, let's kick things up a notch!" Sonic declared. Rainbow Dash built up her speed while flying, eventually reaching a point where she performed her Sonic Rainboom. Sonic and Shadow both activated their boost at the same, which propelled everyone at a high burst of speed. Sunset was feeling overwhelmed by going this fast. The whole sensation was insane as the wind was blasting her face and she felt weightless with the the sound of wind blowing in her ears. She then squinted her eyes, but enough to see light at the end of the tunnel. A huge eruption of flames occurred, seen from the outside. Coming just before it was the team of 4. They then landed on the floor. Sunset wobbled for a bit before she shook her head. Coming to greet them was Tails and Twilight. "We did it! Eggman's army is officially done! We've won!" Sonic happily announced. "Oh yeah! It's about time!" Rainbow Dash agreed. "We should get back to the others. This calls for a celebration. After all this fighting, things are finally back to normal." The empathetic Rainboom expressed with relief, while Shadow had his arms folded. Sonic and Tails were going to fist bump. However, the ground then began to shake, putting everyone off balance. "You can't be serious!" Twilight complained."Now what?!" "Everyone look!" Tails said. The young genuis was pointing towards a rising mecha. It was a massive grey robot with some red here and there. It had a small dome-shaped head that could open up like an eye. It also had three spike-like appendages on top of it similar to a crown, a rounded body with a red energy core in the middle, four tentacles with three-clawed hands at the end of each one on its back, large shoulder pads with silver on its upper and lower arms and large fist with four fingers on both arms, and a very serpent-like lower body. The resistance members looked on at their new foe with tense looks. "You fell for it!" Eggman boasted from the mech's center. "The fortress reactor was a decoy!" Suddenly, the comms were activated. "Sonic! What's happening?! I thought you destroyed the reactor!" Vector's voice said. "The enemies aren't gone! In fact, their's even more of em!" AppleJack announced. "It looks like there are hundreds, thousands!" Amy exclaimed. "How can there be so many?!" Fluttershy wondered with worry. "The sightings are Shadow, Chaos, Zavok, Metal Sonic, Infinite!" Rouge listed. "We can't fight this many!" Silver stated. "We're totally surrounded!" Hearing this caused Sonic's group to turn to Eggman. Sonic shot an intense at his longtime nemesis. "What have you done?!" He demanded. "I incorporated the Phantom Ruby into this Death Egg robot!" Eggman explained. "Then that means..The Phantom Ruby doesn't have a vulnerable power source anymore!" Tails realized with horror. "With no weakness, it's now invulnerable!" Twilight shouted, dreading the idea. "Exactly! Now, this-no, I am now the ultimate form! Not Infinite! Not Shadow! Me!" Eggman maniacally declared as he began to laugh. "Now, I'm going to finish you once and for all!" The robot unleashed a red energy wave, briefly distorting the team before the regained their focus. "That's not going to happen! We're not going down without a fight!" Rainbow Dash declared. "As long as we're here, we'll never let you win!" Sunset added. "Eggman, looks you need to learn the hard way again. Your plan is just going to end with a bunch of busted robot parts, same as usual!" Sonic announced.