Chapter 15: Brother Bonds
Chapter 15: Brother Bonds
She held her gaze for the longest time, magenta locking with green in an unending stalemate that she couldn't tear herself away from. It took a second for the words to enter her mind and the meaning behind them. But eventually, it all clicked together. In that moment, she didn't know what she was feeling. Was it disappointment? Confusion? Hurt? She didn't know about the last one, but one thing she was sure she felt…
"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping up from the floor and hovering in the face the hedgehog in front of her.
This sudden action caught Sonic off guard, seeing the now angry pegasus practically throwing herself at him. As a result, he was now the one on the ground. Pain shot through his backside as he impacted, prompting him to wince at the sharp feeling.
"Hey!" he yelled back. "What's the big idea?!"
"Big idea?!" Rainbow said incredulously. "What do you think the 'big idea' is?!"
"How am I supposed to know?" Sonic shot back, picking himself up and getting back in her face. "If you didn't want any help, all you had to do was say so!"
"Are you kidding me?!" she yelled. "Do you even know who I am?!"
Sonic took a second to back off, a confused expression plastered on his face. She noticed him blinking in mild wonder as if he was thinking long and hard as he studied her face. For a second, it looked as if it finally clicked in him. Until he just gave her a nonchalant shrug.
"Beats me girly," he said, oblivious to the contorted, but angered look Rainbow had on her face. "Should I?"
Rainbow almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. Things were rocky between them before, but now he was going too far with this. Was this some kind of joke? If it was, it was in poor taste.
Rainbow couldn't help but growl, the evident anger in her finally catching Sonic's attention. "You're just trying to pull my tail again, aren't you?! Even you can't be that dense!"
"Sonic," Tails spoke up, "do you really not remember?"
Again, Sonic looked as if he was searching his memories for anything regarding her, closing his eyes and crossing his arms as his face hardened around his brow.
"Sorry buddy, but it's just not ringing any bells," answered Sonic, now looked back to Rainbow. "You sure we've met before? Because I think I'd remember someone with that hair and a rainbow tattoo on their butt."
Rainbow's face contorted in a mix of anger and humiliation, not even knowing if the red on her face was from her rage or just embarrassment. "It's not a tattoo, it's a cutie mark!"
"Hey, call it what you want," Sonic said as he shrugged it off. "Still looks like a tattoo to me."
This irked her even further, but this wasn't the main point she was frustrated over. Rainbow felt more insulted than anything right now. It was one thing that he never used her real name before, but now he didn't even remember her well enough to use her nickname. Was he like this with everypony he met or was it somehow reserved specifically for her? Somehow, she felt it was just with her. Sure, he could have the excuse that he only ever worked with her twice over who knows how many years it's been for him, but even he should be a bit for considerate than that. It was like he never even bothered.
Rainbow couldn't help but turn her head away, not letting him see the sense of hurt she was feeling. She may not have thought highly of this guy, but after hearing what Tails had to say earlier, she couldn't help but think that all of that was a bunch of horse apples. She was actually considering giving him a chance, too. Well, that just flew out the window for all she cared.
"Just," Rainbow started, hurt evident as the words barely even escaped her mouth, "shut up…"
Sonic broke out of his thoughtful stare and twitch his ear at what she just said. "Huh? What was that?"
This time, Rainbow had enough. "Do you have quills in your ears, too?! I said, just shut up! Just for once I'd like to be here without hearing whatever featherbrained talk comes out of you!"
"Hey! Take it easy!" Sonic defended, backing off as the pegasus got in his face once more. "I don't even know what you're talking about! You're acting as if we've known each other for years or something!"
"After what we've gone through I'd think you'd at least have some idea!" Rainbow retorted.
"What we've been through?" Sonic questioned.
"Yeah, what we've been through!" Rainbow shot at him. "If you're so soaked up in your own persona that you can't even remember somepony who literally put her own life on the line to save a numbskull like you, then you really need to rethink your priorities pal!"
"Now you're just not making any sense," Sonic said, rubbing his nose in a cocky demeanor. "I remember all my friends. I'm starting to think that you've just gotten to the wrong hedgehog."
"You're not exactly subtle you know. Lucky for you, I remember everypony I meet, whether I like them or not. And I can easily tell which one you are."
"That's enough!" the two heard Tails yell as he made his way between them, extending his arms out in an attempt to block them off from one another.
Sonic and Rainbow backed off, but only just. Even with Tails in the middle, the two couldn't help but stare into the eyes of the other. In Sonic's eyes, there was only a sense of stubbornness that Rainbow had come to know the few times she's been with him, completely devoid of any indication that he knew who she was. Rainbow's, on the other hoof, were filled with nothing but a shaking anger. They were stern, unwavering, and most of all, deathly serious. If it weren't for Tails getting himself involved…
"This isn't the time for this you guys!" Tails sternly told them, obviously doing his best to take charge of the ever-deteriorating situation. "We can't afford to be turning on each other right now!"
"Rainbow, he's right," she heard Blaze call to her. By the tone of her voice, she wasn't too pleased either. "The situation is precarious at best. If you continue down this path, you'll only divide yourself from them even further than you already have."
Rainbow wanted to argue, but she knew better. She couldn't risk saying anything back to Blaze without either Sonic or Tails noticing. She just had to swallow the advice with a grain of salt.
It was at this time that Tails turned his attention to Sonic. "Do you really not remember her, Sonic? I thought you two were good friends."
"Not one-bit Tails," Sonic responded, looking over to Rainbow. "I'm telling you girly, I think you're just thinking of a different hedgehog. Although, not sure who you could find that's anywhere near as awesome as I am."
"I don't believe you!" yelled Rainbow. "I knew you were an idiot, but this is just taking it too far!"
"Me?!" Sonic responded. "An idiot?! I mean, I've been called worse, but it still hurts you know."
"I mean that you must have been hit in the head pretty hard earlier if you've forgotten me that easily."
"Alright then," Sonic challenged her with an ever-growing grin. "How about this then. Test me. You haven't even told me your name as of yet. It's only the polite thing to do you know. If you're right, maybe it'll jog my memory."
"Sonic," Tails tried to berate, but it was going too far south at this point. He was afraid if this went any further, these two may tear apart the entirety of the Egg Carrier just to be at each other's throats.
"Oh, now you want to know my name?! Good! Maybe you'll finally decide to use it! So, listen up! The name is—"
"SONIC THE HEDGEHOG."
Their argument was interrupted as the guttural, but synthetic voice entered their ears. More specifically, Rainbow heard it coming from right behind her. She completely forgot about what was going on and turned around, her wings flared as she tapped into some of the emerald's power. Sonic and Tails had similar looks on their faces, both of them looking past the pegasus to what had just addressed the blue blur.
In front of them, they noticed an Eggman robot that was blocking that end of the hallway. Normally, Rainbow wouldn't even bother worrying herself with one measly eggbot, with good reason. Most of them were nothing more than bumbling idiots that couldn't shoot straight to save their lives. This one, however, was already starting to send alarm bells in her head off.
Unlike all the other bots with round and orange bodies, this one's body as still fairly round, but its entire body was black in color, a white line décor going down the torso, right next to the white numbers '101'. It had what looked to be a bar that was connected to either side and come around the front. Its head looked to be nothing more than a single eyehole, giving it the look of a cyclops, and a visor hovering over it. Its arms were much longer than the normal bots, and if that wasn't enough, the hands were nothing more than two sharp spikes that protruded outward. If she didn't know any better, she could swear that there was a tail on its hindquarters that she could see plain as day. Finally, this one didn't even have legs. It was simply floating off the ground without any obvious indication of what was keeping it afloat.
"TARGET FOUND," the new bot said, verifying it was the voice they heard. It's single eye quickly darted away from the group and landed on the Chaos Emerald, still lodged in the nose of the Tornado. "CHAOS EMERALD, SECONDARY TARGET FOUND."
"Huh," Sonic spoke up. "Looks like Eggman is starting step up his game. Bout time he brought something new to the table."
"Careful you guys," warned Tails. "We haven't seen this class of badnik yet. We have no idea what it's capable of."
"That shouldn't be too hard," said Rainbow confidently, hoping to use this little distraction to get her mind off the previous conflict. "This bucket of bolts should be the one to be careful."
"Its best to listen to Tails on this one Rainbow," said Blaze. "Like he said, this one is different."
Rainbow contemplated that but was still not quite convinced. After what happened with Metal Sonic, it was hard to see anything else that the doctor made as threatening when compared to him. Sure, it was different, but how different could it really be compared to all the others?
"I think you'll find that to be quite the opposite," said a familiar, and unwanted voice.
They didn't have to search for this one, as its user appeared from where the bot had come from, all while floating in his comfortable, yet seemingly tight, eggmobile. He gave the group a snarky grin as he adjusted his glasses over his beady eyes.
"Eggman," Tails stated.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance friends," Eggman said sarcastically. "I have to say, you've all done quite the number on my beautiful Egg Carrier. I'll have to pay you back tenfold for every scratch and dent you put on her hull."
"Sorry Eggman," said Sonic. "But with that face decorating its side, it's pretty hard not to want to give it good beating."
"You know Sonic," Eggman started, "I may as well give you that one. Think of it as a reward for managing to elude Chaos as you did. I have to say, I was impressed. I mean very impressed. In fact, I was so impressed, I decided that it was too bad that all you had to accompany you for all this time was badniks, and not even good ones. This time, however, I can finally give you the company you deserve."
"Now my wayward heroes, behold! The E-100 series badnik MK II! E-101 Beta!"
In response, Beta saluted the group, although it was obviously for the doctor himself. "I AM PROUD TO SERVE YOU, GREAT DOCTOR EGGMAN."
"Yada yada yada," said Rainbow Dash. "Can you quit with monologue already? We've been through this like a million times already."
"I have to agree with her," said Sonic. "And you're gonna have to do a lot better than send one eggbot after us. I actually feel a bit insulted you'd underestimate me so much."
"You have nothing to worry about Sonic," Eggman said, all while smiling maliciously. "Beta here tends to work at his best when paired up with one of his E-100 series brothers. So, if you're so keen on giving me a hard time, allow me to introduce you to his plus one."
"What're you getting on at?" asked Rainbow.
"Umm, guys…" they heard Tails say cautiously. "We've got company."
Both Sonic and Rainbow turned to their younger companion, but their eyes feel on another target before him. There was now a lone figure standing on the opposite end of the hall, and it was a badnik as well. Like Beta, this one was very similar in design, with the claws and body shape to boot. The only glaring difference between this one and Beta was its color. Whereas Beta was white on black, this one was yellow and black on red, with a similar white stripe going down its body, with the numbers '102' on its chest.
"I AM READY TO SERVE, GREAT DOCTOR EGGMAN," the badnik said as it saluted to him, mimicking its counterpart opposite of him.
"Sonic heroes," Eggman started, standing from his eggmobile as he gestured extravagantly to the new visitor, "meet my latest and greatest creation since Beta here, E-102 Gamma MK II!"
The robot put its arm down at its name, its single eye glaring at the group with unwavering intent to serve its master's will. Rainbow didn't know why, but she was starting to get a bad feeling about this. She was already used to how Eggman would always build up how amazing his machines were, and usually, they fell pretty flat in the end. With these, however, she couldn't help but feel there was more to them than meets the eye. They definitely looked far more threatening than your average badnik. Plus, there were now two of them. Heck, just the fact that Eggman felt confident in only needing two was unsettling enough.
"Hah!" she heard Sonic laugh. "As if these junkers could even lay a finger on us."
"I don't know Sonic," Tails said cautiously. "I don't like the looks that they're giving us. They're giving me the creeps. That, and they've got us surrounded, and I don't want to find out what they can do in this tight of a space."
"You act as if there will be much a fight in the first place," Eggman spoke confidently. "Once Beta and Gamma are set upon their targets, they won't stop until they're pummeled to nothing but dust. You may have thwarted my other badniks, but with the modifications I made to these two, it'll be only a matter of time until I get what I want. Unless you'd be willing to give me the Chaos Emerald now? Just to speed things up and to skip all the nasty bits."
"Not a chance egg for brains," taunted Rainbow.
"You won't have that sort of tone with me once you're used for the next set of the E-Series, girly," Eggman responded, getting back into a comfortable position in his chair. "But we've prolonged this long enough. Beta! Gamma! Do what you will with them, but I want that Chaos Emerald intact!"
"AS YOU COMMAND DOCTOR," they both said in sync.
The group could only ready themselves as they saw the two bots slowly start to close in on them. The main problem right now was that they were being flanked from both sides, making an easy escape much more difficult than it needed to be. While Sonic and Rainbow both took a side respectively, Tails was much more indecisive. He wasn't much help as he was right now. He could try and jump back in the Tornado, but he felt that if he even tried, Beta and Gamma would just speed up their approach, and he knew that they needed every second they could afford right now.
The two bots approached ever closer with every passing second, a lingering sense of caution and anticipation flowing over the group in the middle. They could jump them at any time, and they needed to be ready for the moment it happened. Rainbow herself could already feel the beads of sweat on her brow from the tension in the air. She really wished that she had a bit more room to maneuver in here. Despite being big enough for the Tornado to fit in here, it still felt claustrophobic, as she was not used to being in these kinds of conditions yet.
She eyed the bot in front of her. Gamma, if she remembered. Like his brother, he made no indication of stopping. He just kept moving at the same slow pace, not giving her any idea of when he'd strike. She could only wait and see, using every second she had to study this guy up and down. Not like it'd probably make much of a difference. She had no clue on how these things even worked, let along how to spot a weak point. Nevertheless, she continued to scan him, hoping for something she could work with when the time came.
That's when her eyes drifted, and she saw it…
It was nothing on Gamma that she saw. She knew this wasn't a time to be ignoring what was in front of her right now, but what she saw just now…it immediately caught her attention. She was now looking down to the other end of the hallway, way past Gamma to where anypony could easily look past it. It was hard to make out, but she could see…a figure. It looked as if it was leaning against the corner of a junction, only the left half of its back showing itself to her. At first, she thought it may have been another badnik. That theory quickly flew out the window, however. Upon closer inspection, she began to make out its shape in more detail.
It was still bipedal, like everything else in this world, and its entire body was a deep, dark purple color. The only deviation from this color was its hands and feet, which were both clothed in gloves and boots, respectively. It wasn't much of a change, however, as even they looked dark in color. Its head was partially looking in their direction, its left eye looking directly at them, directly at her. It flashed her a sickening grin, and Rainbow couldn't help but feel the chills that the smile left her. Even so, she continued to get the best look in she could, finally noticing one glaring and key feature of the distant figure.
'A hedgehog?' she thought to herself.
Before she could probe any further, the hedgehog's body slowly began to glow with a menacing aura, and a familiar one, all before it flashed out of existence. Rainbow's eyes widened at that. The flash she saw, it looked a lot like what happened when Silver disappeared on them when they were in the forest. The moment when he held up the Sol Emerald. Was that…chaos control?
"Hey girly!" she heard Sonic call out, breaking her out of her stupor. "Watch it!"
She was thankful he said something, as she almost completely forgot about the situation at hoof. She focused back on Gamma just in time to avoid the strike from his steel-tipped arm, the strike partially piercing the hard floor. Her wings allowed her to fall back rather quickly, her body was barely even a blur to the others. She stopped herself just short of Sonic and Tails, watching as Gamma pried his arm free and continued his slow advance.
"You ok?!" Tails asked.
"Just fine," Rainbow answered. "Just felt a little wind is all."
"Hey, I gotta admit," she heard Sonic say behind her, "you're a lot faster than you look. Once this is all said and done, we should race sometime. My treat."
'Oh, you'd just love to gloat afterward, wouldn't you,' she thought, almost seething at his every word.
"Enough of this!" Eggman roared out. "Beta! Gamma! Stop wasting time! Do what you will! Destroy those little pests!"
"YES DOCTOR," they responded.
Both of them stopped moving but soon got into a position that hinted at them getting ready to pounce on them. Both Sonic and Rainbow crouched lower, getting ready for whatever came at them. Just from the slightest of movements, Rainbow could tell that they were just seconds away from being nearly tackled, and she just braced for what was about to happen. She dug her hooves as deep as one could into solid metal, hoping to at least have some kind of grounding once it started. Her back hooves must've been much stronger than she had realized, however. She could swear that they were pushing in a little more than her forehooves.
She tried to ignore it, but she just couldn't. For whatever reason, the pressure on her back hooves only grew stronger. At first, she had no idea what was causing it. Her confusion didn't last long, however. Slowly but surely, she could start to feel her whole body begin to move…backwards? She could now feel her firmly planted forehooves barely preventing her from moving, but only just, and it didn't last forever. It now felt as if all her weight pulling her back, no, pulling her down. It felt as if the whole hallway had just slanted and was turning into some kind of slide.
She no felt her backside hit that of Sonic's, his body seeming to have the same trouble as her, her newly added weight not helping in his struggle.
"You mind?" he said unamused. "I'm barely keeping myself up as it is here."
"It's not me you dolt," she spat back. "It feel's like the whole place is trying to turn upside down."
"What!" she heard Eggman yell.
It would make sense. He's in that hover chair so much that he must not have noticed the change in footing. Now that Gamma was aware of the sudden shift in weight, despite floating off the floor, seemed to be trying to get his bearings as the walls of the hallway dipped down around him, and she suspected Beta was in the same predicament. She looked over at Tails to see that he was now having to grip onto the leg of the Tornado.
"I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but for this sudden change in direction, the whole ship must be capsizing!" he concluded, obvious dread plastered on his face.
Sharp gasps from all the organics could be heard thoroughly, including Rainbow herself. If there was one thing that she's coming to realize, it's that whenever she came to this world, everything just seemed to start falling out of the sky. The Death Egg. Eggman's Little Planet base. Now, this?! She really hoped that whoever was watching this from a distance enjoyed the spectacle, because for her, it was a very poor experience, and she wasn't looking forward to what came ne—
A sudden incline in the floor threatened to push her even further down, forcing her to use her wings to stay afloat. The entire hall might as well have been an elevator at this point. Even when surrounded by thick plated walls, she could still begin to feel the slight churning in her stomach from the speeds they must be going at now.
Her thoughts were broken when a sharp pain entered her body through her tail, causing her to give off a pained yelp in response. She looked down to see…
Sonic…
With the hallway now turning into a pitfall, Sonic looked to have been forced to grab the nearest support he could think of. That support being her own tail. Already, she could feel his own weight putting a slight strain on her wings. Her only response to this was a clear buck to his thick head with a single hoof.
"OOOOWWWW!" Sonic yelled out, still keeping a firm grip on the rainbow tail. "You want me to fall or something Rainbutt?! Lend a guy a hand here!"
"You couldn't find something else to grab?" she scolded him. "This isn't the first time you've done that. And the names Rain—"
Her sentence was cut off as a shrill screeching noise entered her ears, prompting everyone in the room to turn toward its source, the Tornado. Tails had now flung himself into the cockpit, looking as if he was preparing it for something. However, it was the sheer mass of the Tornado that was making that sound, it's large feet dragging themselves across the metal floor as it slowly slid down.
Tails seemed ready for this, however, as when one more lurch of the ship came by, the entire plane finally began falling at a rapid pace. Both Beta and Eggman had to move out of the way as the plane soared past them, Tails seeming to extend the wings from their folded in position.
"Well, no use hanging around here," Sonic said, Rainbow finally feeling the pressure on her tail being let off. "Catch us if you can Egghead!"
Without her tail for support, Sonic planted his feet on the slope that was the hallway, letting his body slide down in order to catch up with Tails. Rainbow, not wanting to be left behind, followed suit, going through the opening Tails had made, all of them at Eggman in their wakes.
The doctor let out a livid growl as he watched his quarry slip out of his grasp. "Both of you, don't let them escape! I'm heading up to the bridge to see how those two nincombots messed this up this time."
"YES DOCTOR."
On cue, the two bots soared past him, giving chase to the three perpetrators, all while Eggman flew in the opposite direction, making his way to the bridge.
Rainbow had caught up with the others, Sonic continuing to slide while Tails seemed to have taken minor control in keeping the Tornado from hitting any of the walls. She was amazed at how skilled he was at controlling that thing, especially in such enclosed spaces. His age wouldn't show it, but he was a genius in every sense of the word in her book. He kind of reminded her of a young Twilight, in that geeky sort of way.
Focusing back on what was in front of her, she saw that the ship wasn't looking to be leveling out anytime soon. They passed several cross sections as they sped down the corridor, not having any time to even see where they went.
"What the hay is going on with the ship?!" she called out to the other two, hoping Tails was the one to answer.
Thankfully, she was given her request. "I don't know. The only thing I can think of is if someone made it to the bridge and did it themselves. I mean, in a way, I guess we should be thanking them."
"No kidding." Sonic agreed. "Thing is, now we have to find Amy three times as fast now. I'm not looking forward to seeing this ship once it finally land-hoes."
"For once, we can agree on that," said Rainbow, adjusting her wings to carry her away from the wall. "Amy's that little girl, right? The pink one? What's she doing here of all places?"
"Not out of choice, I'll tell you that," answered Sonic. "You know her too?"
Rainbow had to suppress her agitation as she felt her brow tighten, a thick vein threatening to show itself. "When we get out of here…" she threatened, leaving the last bit to his imagination.
He didn't think about it long. Sonic's left ear twitched as the sound of a whistling projectile entered them. Out of pure instinct, he leaned his body to the left, but not too much, as he couldn't afford to lose his balance right now. As the whistle drew closer, he lifted his left arm, letting a bright yellow energy beam shoot right under it, disappearing down the hallway.
Seeing the beam, the group looked back from where they came, Sonic having to look with her peripheral vision as he righted himself. To their dismay, both of Eggman's previous badniks were hot on their tails. The one in the lead, Beta, looked to have been the one to fire at them, as both of his cannons underneath the gauntlets were smoking.
"These bucket heads aren't going to give us a break!" Rainbow stated, glaring back at the two pursuers.
"Uh, that's not the only thing!" she heard Sonic say, nervousness evident in his voice. "Wall!"
"Wall?" Rainbow repeated, but looking back to their never-ending destination, there indeed was a wall at a T-junction, a smoldering black spot from what she figured was that blast earlier.
She audibly gulped at the realization. "Wall…"
"Oh man!" said Sonic. "First time I ever thought we may be going too fast! Whatever left of us once we hit that isn't going to be pretty!"
"Just hang on guys!" Tails said with quick reassurance. "Just keep on course!"
"Are you nuts Tails!" Rainbow yelled. "If you didn't notice already, that's a dead end we're headed straight for! A hard, solid, plane stopping dead end!"
In response, Tails turned to meet his eyes with hers. Rainbow noticed this and was a bit taken back by what she saw in them. It was a hard look, but one that insisted that she listened to what he said. "Trust me. Please. I'm not going to ask this of you if I didn't think either of you could make it out of this."
Despite his reassuring words, Rainbow was still uneasy about the whole thing. He was basically asking for her to trust him with her own life. She liked this kid, hay, he was probably one of the few people she liked here. But to trust him to make this kind of decision, and one that she didn't clearly see, she didn't think that—
"You got it, buddy," Sonic said, surprising Rainbow with what he said.
Looking at him, she could see that he was still focused on the wall, but his composure was different this time. Instead of looking worried like he should've been, he was as calm as could be. His body was angled in a way that looked as if he was surfing now, his arms keeping his balance and his head partially turned away from her. However, even with his gaze on the impending doom in front of them, she could still make out the genuine smile on his face, one filled with confidence, Tails' words obviously having an effect on him in some way.
"Do what you gotta do, Tails," he said. "We'll follow you all the way through."
Rainbow was shocked, to say the least, at his decision. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what he was thinking right now. To say this as a horrible idea was an understatement. She was this close to just telling off the blue devil right there and then.
But…she couldn't bring herself to do it. Looking at the both of them, seeing how much they trusted one another, it reminded her of her of what she felt when she was back home in Equestria; back with all of her friends. Her friends, who she had been through thick and thin with. It wasn't exact, but the hints were there. Despite being in a completely precarious position, she could suddenly see the connection between the two. She completely forgot. These two have been with each other for what she only assumed to be years, whereas she had only seen them together for what could only be hours. She may not have liked Sonic, but that didn't mean these two didn't have a bond of some kind.
Looking back to Tails, she didn't give any words, but a nod, giving him her warry approval. Smiling at her compliance, Tails brought his attention back to the wall, now only seconds from being their crash site. He had to make this work, in fact, if it didn't, there was no way they would be able to make it out of this, not without losing something. But he was confident, in both his own abilities as a pilot and the abilities of his comrades.
His friends.
With the wall rapidly approaching, his hands tightened around the controls, nearly shaking at this point. This needed to be perfect. If it was, he could kill two birds with one stone. But only if he succeeded. Rainbow was still sweating bullets as they sped over closer to their demise. She only hoped that whatever was going to happen, it would happen sooner rather than later. As or Sonic, he only looked on, almost not a care in the world at what was in front of them. Only sheer determination, and total confidence in his stance and smile.
With the end in clear view, it looked as if this was where they finally were to come to a stop, and not of there own doing. But now, it was the perfect time.
"Fire!" yelled Tails, smashing his thumbs down as hard as he could on the button of his joystick.
In response, the Tornado's missiles launched just as they did earlier against the badniks, only now, they were directed right at the wall. Sailing far ahead of them, they impacted, creating a plump of black smoke and flame. There was no stopping now, feeling the end coming, she threw her hooves up in a pitiful defense for the sudden impact of her body on metal. To her great confusion and fortune, it didn't come.
She felt as her body entered the smoke, the heat from the fire parting over her coat and smog threatening to enter her lungs. At the speed they were going, however, it was soon over. Already, she could feel cooler air blasting her hooves and face she the smell of smoke finally left her. Not quite to grasp with what just happened, she forced her eyes open, taking in her change in surroundings.
Along with Sonic and the Tornado, which were both followed by trace bits of smoke and small embers, they were all in a big and expansive room, filled with pipes, both big and small. It seemed to go on forever in every direction, even down, which looked to have been nothing but a bottomless pit. Behind her was the flames and the smoke, which were completely obscuring a gaping hole that they came through. Realization sudden washed over her as she understood what Tails was doing all along.
Not missing a beat, Tails suddenly took the Tornado and sped it ahead of the two speedsters. Drifting through the air, he came to face them, stopping in their path as he yelled, "now you guys!"
Angling the nose of the plane down, he presented them with the tops of his wings. Quickly repositioning their bodies, both Sonic and Rainbow Dash slammed feet and hooves first onto the top of the wings, the Tornado getting pushed back slightly by the force. Rainbow was confused at what was supposed to happen, but taking a quick glance at Sonic, she noticed that the grin he held before was still there. In fact, it was even more prominent than it was a second ago. He knew what was up, and in the next second, in the back of her head, she felt she knew too.
With a powerful lurch from the plane, coupled with wings acting as makeshift catapults, it launched them back in the direction of the smoke covered hole, both speedsters straightening their bodies to allow the air to pass right by them. It wasn't the greatest speed, but it was still adequate for what she figured was about to happen. Seeing two silhouettes forming through the smoke, she readied her hoof, her red aura flaring slightly with her fighting spirit. Out of her view, Sonic did the same with his fist, only for him, his white aura flared, his grin only getting wider at what he suddenly felt.
Just as they thought, both Beta and Gamma rushed through the smoke, both looking to fire at something with their hand cannons. However, they were both taken back by the two enemies that were suddenly in their faces without their knowing. They attempted to evade, but the mistake was already made, and they knew it. Before they could do anything, both Sonic and Rainbow slammed their fists into the bots, Rainbow striking with her right hoof, while Sonic struck with his left, right to the sides of their metal craniums. The strikes had sent both of them off course and caused them to slam right into one another. Without proper control, the two badniks fell into the dark abyss, their bodies disappearing from sight.
With that done, Rainbow steadied herself in the air while Sonic landed on one of the nearby pipes. Tails, after pulling himself back into a good position, hovered closer to the two as he leveled out.
"That was perfect you guys!" Tails cheered.
Sonic rubbed his nose in a cocky demeanor. "Well, we had a good strategist to go with it. That was some real quick thinking on your part pal."
Tails couldn't help but smile gleefully at that, although slightly embarrassed at the admiration.
"Hey kid," he heard Rainbow call to him.
He looked over to her and saw that she had floated a bit closer to him once he was still. Her hooves were crossed, and her face was set in a serious tone. However, slowly, her lips grew into a light, but sheepish smirk.
"Sorry about what happened earlier," she apologized. "You really pulled us through there, and…well, I guess I should really learn to put more trust in what you were saying."
"It's no trouble," Tails smiled. "To be honest, I would've been a little skeptical about it, too. So, no hard feelings."
Rainbow rubbed her head in slight embarrassment. Even she could admit she was a little too brash with him earlier. There were those rare times when she felt she needed to work on that, but that was for another day. "Oh yeah, how'd you know that we'd end up here if we came through there anyway?"
"Just a bit of preparation goes a long way," he said proudly. "The whole time I was outside I was scanning the Egg Carrier with my instruments. I was trying to find a way inside, but in this case, it was a really good thing I did it."
Rainbow looked at him with an impressed expression. "You know Tails, there's a lot more to you than meets the eye, you know."
"Like I said, it was nothing," he waved it off. "Oh, and despite what he said before, I bet you anything that Sonic was thinking along the same lines."
"Hey!" Sonic called out. "That's not fair! I'd think you'd have a bit more faith in me than that, Tails!"
Tails couldn't help but lightly chuckle, and while Rainbow was hiding her face from Sonic's view, she did her best to suppress a snicker that was quickly threatening to become laughter. With her hoof covering her mouth, Rainbow was ready to bring her head back up. She partially opened her eyes and saw the black abyss below her.
"Hey! Watch it, kid!" Rainbow suddenly shouted.
Tails didn't even know what hit him. Before he knew it, Rainbow had charged her energy into her rear hooves and bucked the side of the Tornado. The hit caused the plane to drift far to the left, its pilot not expecting the amount of force behind the strike. He had to wrestle with his controls, but he managed to steady it out as his eyes drifted to the beam of energy that was shooting up from the darkness, right where he used to be.
Rainbow was able to dodge the beam as well, her eyes focusing on the two badniks that were once again making their approach.
"Looks like they want some more," Sonic stated as he looked as if he was ready to jump down to meet them. "You ready for this girly?"
Rainbow gave him a huff. "Like I'd let you have all the fun."
Sonic smirked at that but took the time to look to Tails before anything took place. "Tails, we'll take these dorks. You keep that emerald safe, but feel free to take some potshots here and there."
"You can count on me," Tails responded.
"Alright then. Geronimo!" Sonic yelled as he dived off the pipe, going head first into the two badniks.
Rainbow was right behind him, not looking to miss out on the action one bit. Both Beta and Gamma seemed to zero in on them instantly. They extended out their spike-tipped arms, looking to skewer one at least one of them. In response, Rainbow simply dodged out of the way of Gamma's strike, the red robot sailing past her. Sonic spun into a homing attack and launched himself to meet the strike head-on. He collided with Beta's attack, both aggressors stopping in their tracks as sparks flew from the friction.
Meanwhile, Gamma had doubled back and began swiping away at the limber pegasus that was doing a good job so far of dodging the strikes. Gamma's posture and fighting style almost depicted that of a boxer, his punches moving in and out in quick strokes, always keeping at least one arm back for defense as the other went for the kill. While Rainbow had noticed for that Gamma was deceptively agile. His bulky exterior wouldn't show it, but he was fast when it needed to be, especially when it came to keeping up with her. She could barely even find a good opening to strike at that wouldn't result in leaving herself open.
Changing it up, Rainbow flipped over the next strike, almost taking on a rolling motion as she grazed Gamma's arm. Gamma brought up his other one in response, but she managed to plant her forehooves on it, allowing her to swing her body around it. With his face now open, she delivered to powerful bucks to it. This forced him back, but not before he brought back his arm backhand the pony. His arm hit her right across the chest, flinging her to the side as he continued his advance.
Rainbow's chest ached as she flew back, but soon that pain was overshadowed when her back impacted with something solid. Wincing in pain, she looked back to see the offender being a massive pipe, a low rumbling noise vibrating it as her back flattened against it. Seeing her sudden stop, Gamma changed up his attack as he lifted both of his arms above his head before bringing them down in a swiping motion. Seeing the incoming attack, and being unable to properly dodge either way, Rainbow just flapped her wings as hard as she could. The boost sent her straight up the side of the pipe. She could feel her back scraping against the metal, but it wasn't horrible, just something she'd have to check on once she got back home. Pulling up her rear hooves, she narrowly dodged the strikes, the two arms coming down in an X motion on the pipe.
The spikes cut through the metal exterior like butter, causing torrents of black liquid spraying out of the X-shaped opening. The liquid covered Gamma's body, coating his red and yellow body until his entire front area was a deep shade of jet black. This substance even covered his single green eye, blinding him to the world around him. Seeing her chance, Rainbow prepped herself to deliver a buck to the top of his head. Without being able to see her, this was a chance that she couldn't pass up. As she lined up her back hooves, however, a distinct clanking sound rung in her ears. Having a clear look at Gamma, she was easily able to spot what was making the noise, her eyes being drawn to his back and the small open hatches that lined it. Flashes sudden erupted from them, revealing tiny missiles that were being directed straight at her.
Meanwhile, Sonic was having a harder time avoiding Beta than his companion. With his only real footing in the fight being the expansive piping systems. He couldn't fly like the pony girl could, so his options were limited. That did nothing to dampen his spirits, however. Even as he ducked and weaved past the pipes, he still had on his signature cocky grin as Beta did his best to swipe at the hedgehog.
"Gonna have to do better than that tinman," he taunted as he jumped out of the way of another strike, right before performing a homing attack.
Beta didn't respond to his taunt, but as Sonic approached with his homing attack, Beta's right arm formed a transparent blue shield over its armor. Sonic made contact, but only as Beta used his protected arm to backhand the hedgehog away.
"Go for it Tails!" Sonic called out as he flew back through the air.
"I'm on it!" Tails responded.
On cue, the Tornado began descending from above, divebombing where Beta was currently situated. Opening up the forward hatches, Tails fired a volley of rockets on his target. In Beta's eyes, he noticed the barrage right away and was already scanning each individual rocket at a rapid pace. Once all were locked on, he released his own volley of tiny missiles from his back. Each one of them found their target, a series of explosions engulfing the space between them.
Tails jerked the Tornado into a barrel roll, avoiding the violent blasts as he made his way around. He had already drifted around as he set his sights on Beta once more, preparing to launch another volley.
Beta saw this and quickly threw both arms up, activating the shields on them as he waited for incoming attack. As he waited, he already began scanning for the projectiles, looking to catch on to them before they even left their pods. His targeting systems kicked in, and they rapidly began looking through each an every one of the ports that would house the missiles. But something was amiss. If his internal processor was correct, the two-tailed fox should've already fired what he had, but there was nothing coming his way. In fact, it didn't even seem that any missiles were loaded in the first place, his targeting not even seeing anything in the ports, empty spaces. He had already begun calculating any possibilities to this strange maneuver.
His answer came in the form of a rapidly spinning hedgehog slamming into his back.
Beta was hurled into the open space as Sonic pushed off him, letting him sail away. Tails saw his chance and extended one of the mechanical legs of the Tornado and struck out at the defenseless badnik. This time, Beta was hurled into a matrix of smaller pipes and wires, everything big and small being torn apart as sparks flew around his body, all before he disappeared into the mix.
With Rainbow, instead of dodging punches, she was now dodging missiles that didn't seem to have any intention of stopping. Thankfully, they were pretty easy to predict, so leading them into other obstacles wasn't that much of a challenge. She had to avoid becoming collateral damage. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to focus on Gamma in the slightest with her current situation. Last she saw of him he was making his way over towards the others, probably to help Beta, and that was something that she couldn't afford to let happen.
With only three missiles left to pursue her, she led them into a maze of thick wires, flying room almost coming to an absolute minimum. Normally she'd hate the very thought having to do something like this, but she knew it was the fastest way to deal with her current problem. Plus, judging by the sound of an explosion behind her, it must've been working. Looking back, she saw that there were only two missiles left now, a blast of smoke and fire a good distance behind them. With any flying room quickly vanishing, the simple programming of the missiles was of little use to them in this place. Looking back ahead, she saw what looked to be the end of the maze and blissful freedom from the claustrophobic prison that was closing in on her. Another explosion went off, and she was just nearing the end of the grouping of wires as the final one echoed through them. She dashed out in a flash, leaving only black smoke to flow out through the cracks.
She quickly made her way over to Tails and Sonic, who both looked to be peering into some kind of complex piping system, many of the smaller pipes in the mess being bent in almost violent ways as they made what almost resembled a pathway through the matrix. Where they lead, she didn't know, only that something must've crashed through it for it to end up like that.
"Hey!" she called out. "What happened? Where'd the dumbots get to?"
"Well, while you looked to have been having a dance-off," Sonic started, "me and Tails were having a nice chat with ol' B until he took a stroll through here. Looks like big red went in after him, too. Haven't seen em since."
"With all the piping in the way, neither of you would have a lot of room to move around, and I would be completely useless without taking the Tornado in with me," Tails explained. "Until they decide to come back out, we can't do much."
"Pony feathers," Rainbow swore as she went to hover by Tails. "I'm not big on the whole waiting game you know. How hard could it be?"
"Ah, don't worry about it," said Sonic. "I'm sure they're getting about as bored as we are. Just give 'em some time and they'll be back out."
Rows and rows of lime green grid lines combed the infrastructure, the hundreds upon hundreds of pipes being highlighted by his extensive sight. Thankfully for Gamma, it also worked well for locating objects that had no place being there. Including one E-101 Beta. His brother currently had many scratch marks littering his black body, his arms partially lodged in between some of the Egg Carrier's internal systems. It took some work to squeeze his bulky body into the confined space, but with a few bent pipes here and there, he managed to place himself at Beta's side.
"BETA," his monotone voice echoed.
As if hearing the low voice, Beta pardoned himself from trying to free himself and looked to his counterpart.
"GAMMA," he said in a similar tone. "ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED."
Complying, Gamma activated one of his blasters, only powering it up to a small percentage as to melt away the pipes. Before long, he managed to free Beta from his confines, the black robot now floating beside him. The two exchanged glances, but little was spoken between the two. In their internal processors, they each were formulating an attack strategy for once they left the enclosed space, as they were sure to meet opposition on their way out. Beta looked into many possibilities for what could potentially happen, his green eye blinking rapidly in thought.
Gamma was doing something similar, but he wasn't putting as much processing power into it as his brother. In fact, a lot of it was elsewhere. After seeing Sonic, and his master giving him direct orders to kill him at all costs, a single word kept coming back to him.
"HEDGEHOG," he said plainly.
"YES," Beta agreed, believing Gamma to be thinking along the same lines as him. "THE HEDGEHOG IS RESOURCEFUL. ALLIES ARE PROBLEMATIC. MUST RETHINK AREA OF APPROACH."
"HEDGEHOG."
Beta looked at him. "INDEED."
Gamma went silent for a few seconds, but only that. "HEDGEHOG."
"GAMMA. ARE YOU IN NEED OF REPAIRS?"
Not paying enough attention to his brother's inquiry, Gamma continued this unnatural train of thought. With every mention of the word, he felt as if something was trying to break itself out of its data constraints. He could detect his firewall countermeasures currently combating this. However, his curiosity was peaked now. He temporarily disabled the countermeasures, giving him a brief glimpse of what was setting him off.
The firewalls were complex, only shutting off for split second. But that was enough time for a piece of data to slip through. An image replaced the endless pipes, and he could feel his servos lock up at the sight of it. A pink hedgehog, holding onto a what looked to be a bird.
As soon as it came, however, it vanished in a flash of static, and his exterior sensors were one again responsive. He could feel a foreign, but familiar presence almost screwing into the back of his head. As he returned to the world, the feeling vanished. He looked to see it was beta, a small tool inserting itself back into his arm.
"ARE ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL?" Beta asked.
Still unsure about the image he saw, Gamma still nodded. "SYSTEMS ARE AT 100% FUNCTIONALITY. READY TO CONTINUE WITH OPERATION."
"See," Sonic said, already getting back into fighting stance. "What'd I tell ya."
The whole group was now on edge. It wasn't long ago that Beta and Gamma had disappeared into the matrix, and now they could all hear very loud and echoing crashes coming within. On top of that, the noise was getting closer and closer every second.
Before long, the contorted tunnel of pipes was broken even further as a bright light seemed to crash back through it, making its way straight for Tails. He saw this and flew straight up avoiding whatever had come through. Sonic and Rainbow had to dodge by going to the sides, Rainbow pushing herself away with her wings while Sonic jumped over to another flat surface. However, unlike Tails, they could clearly see what was coming for them.
Sonic quickly took note that it looked very similar to that shield that the robot used earlier to send him flying. This time, however, it was in the shape of a large dome, barreling straight between them all as both he and Rainbow spotted the bots behind it. Both of them had at least one arm extended as they emitted the shielding. Once they were clear, however, they dropped it, and took up positions at the others side, facing down the heroes.
"Bout time," Rainbow said as she stared at each of them. "Took you long enough to fix some loose screws."
"Man, I can't at between the two now," stated Sonic as he looked to Gamma. "They might as well be twins with all that new coat of paint you gave him, girly."
Rainbow was confused at first to what he was saying, but she quickly noticed what he was pointing out. While he looked to have done his best to rid himself of it, the entirety of Gamma's front was still coated in that oily substance from before, everything aside from his eye being blocked out by it.
She was about to comment on it, but in her inspection, she saw that both bots had now raised their arms, both of them pointing their blasters right at them.
"I don't think he liked that," she said, worry replacing agitation.
"All the more satisfying to say then," Sonic said.
Between each of their arms, both badniks had formed concentrations of energy, the ball-shaped masses pulsing as they spun and spun. Satisfied with the size, Beta was the first to fire it, a long blue beam replacing the small ball. The attack was on target for Rainbow Dash, who noticed this and dashed away. It was now Gamma's turn, once Beta was finished, he let loose his own beam, this one directed at Sonic. Sonic rolled under the blast as the surface behind him exploded into several pieces of shrapnel.
Using the roll to form a spin dash, he bounced up to meet Beta as he began charging up his beam again. In blue blur, he was close to making contact. However, just before impact, Gamma had suddenly placed himself between Sonic and Beta, activating his shields and swiping Sonic away. This caught him off guard, taking him out of his homing attack and pushing him back into open space. With the primary threat in a precarious position, Beta peaked over Gamma as he let loose his blast. Sonic saw the beam closing in, and being unable to dodge, did the only thing he could immediately think of and threw his arms up in front of his face, hoping to at least keep himself in the game long enough.
He waited for the beam to hit, waiting for a painful burning sensation to overtake his senses. Thus, he was completely unprepared for the feeling of all his air getting knocked out of him. His eyes went wide, his arms outstretched as he saw what hit him, the pony girl. She had crashed head-on into his stomach, headbutting him hard enough to push him back into a mix of insulated wires, the flexible, but hard circuitry catching him from the dark pit below.
Now that he was out of the way, Rainbow made a point to move away from where the beam would be flying past, doing so just before its bright light entered her eyes and soon after disappearing into the distance.
As he had propped himself up from his perch, Sonic clutched his stomach area as he let out a loud and raggedy cough. The pain was quickly subsiding, but catching his breath felt like an unobtainable feeling until he was blessed with an intake air.
"You *cough* couldn't be bit gentler with me could ya?" he snarkily questioned Rainbow. "Pretty sure you nearly broke something."
"I'm sure you can take it," she responded, although, in her head, she was just thinking about how good that felt.
She couldn't focus on her thoughts for long. Already, another beam was closing in on her, this one fired from Gamma again. She moved away quickly, just before dashing at the duo. As she got in closer, Beta put his arms down as he brought up his shields, Gamma taking his turn to fire his cannons. Rainbow threw a punch, but Beta caught it with his robotic precision, her strike bouncing right off his barriers.
She prepared herself to dodge the next beam, but as she made her retreat, she saw that Gamma had aimed his right at Sonic instead of her. Shock took over her. She thought Gamma would've tried to use that on her. She didn't even consider him using it on him while Beta acted as just a distraction. Thankfully, it looked as if Sonic had caught on and jumped out of the way. To her great confusion, however, he jumped right off the edge, diving straight into the abyss.
"What are you doing?!" she called out to him.
Her ear twitched, and she was forced to look away from him when she saw Beta now firing his beam. Horse apples. She corkscrewed around this one, doing what she could to close the distance as fast as possible. The beam ended, but Gamma had already finished charging his. The second one came, and Rainbow was forced to use some of her aura loose as she boosted up. In an instant, she rocketed forward, only to be met with Gamma himself with his protection up.
She threw a flurry of strikes, some being punches, some being bucks, but all of them were met with an impenetrable barrier, Gamma's deceptive speed working to his advantage. Rainbow threw another one for good measure, but unlike all the other ones, this one just straight up missed as Gamma rushed backward. Before she could recover, she saw the unmistakable sight of a beam heading straight for her. The light was illuminating her body it was giving off, and she realized her body had too much forward momentum to properly dodge.
She was about to bring our more of her power, hoping to let something happen that would save her from getting cooked. Before she could do anything, however, she was suddenly jerked away from her position, realizing she was being carried away from the now distant blast. She felt a pair of arms wrapped around her torso, which prompted her to look up.
She was suddenly feeling like she'd have been better off taking the energy blast head-on. She was currently on the wing of the Tornado, the plane fleeing as fast it could away from the robotic pair. Tails was solely focused on flying, but that's not who she was paying much heed to. She was looking dead in the eyes of the one who had pulled her away. The one who was currently holding her.
Sonic.
He just looked at her with that same go-lucky smile he always had on, letting it grow into a toothy one. "Look at it this way, now we're even."
'Yeah, no,' she thought.
Without a word from her, she just started trying to pry her way out of his grasp, but she didn't have to fight hard. He let her go the moment he felt her struggling. Once she was free, she back herself over to the opposite wing, doing her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling she just had.
"Alright Tails," Sonic spoke up, ignorant of Rainbow's dilemma, "now that we're all here, you mind filling us in on your plan?"
"Plan?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, not so much of a plan," Tails explained. "Just more of an observation. Have you guys noticed how those two were coordinating? How they kept switching places on the fly?"
Both Rainbow and Sonic nodded.
"Ok, then you had to have noticed how it takes some time to fire of there cannons," Tails continued. "They're switching and out like this so they can fire at a higher rate. Instead of having to wait for two different attacks, they can fire one twice as fast. Plus, with one of them free for a few seconds, they can cover for the other until it's their turn."
"I thought they were acting odd with them just switching back and forth the whole time," said Rainbow. "But I want to know how we beat that."
"I'm still working on that. For now, all we can do is hold them off."
"That's not gonna work forever Tails," said Sonic. "We can't let Eggman get away again. Plus, Amy is still on board somewhere, and don't even get me started on Chaos still running around packed full of Chaos Emeralds."
"I don't these guys are very keen and just letting us walk out of here," said Rainbow. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around how fast they are."
As they were talking, Tails had turned the Tornado back around so they were heading straight for Beta and Gamma, who looked to have already been on an intercept course.
"Well, hopefully, we can think of something soon," Tails said. "If we're lucky, we can finish this in one go. It all hinges on you guys being able to hit them before they can protect themselves. You think you can do that?"
"You realize who you're talking to Tails?" Sonic teased. "Please, I bet I could take them out in a single stroke."
"And where do I fit in all this?" Rainbow asked incredulously."
"I mean, I suppose you could help, too," Sonic shrugged. "After all, I don't mind sharing."
"Sure, you don't," she huffed. "Just don't get in my way like you did before, ok."
Sonic only looked at her with curiosity. "Before? When did I do that?"
"Guys!" Tails called out, bring the two out of their conversation and allowing them to see the two incoming bots.
Sonic just crouched down on the wing. "Alright Tails, just give us the signal and we'll do the rest."
Rainbow took on a similar position, flaring her wings and extending them out wide.
"Get ready," Tails prepped.
Already, they could see Beta charging his blasters, all while Gamma activated his shields.
"You take the one in front," Rainbow told Sonic. "I'll handle numero uno in back."
"In you're dreams, girly," Sonic retorted. "Leave the important stuff to me."
The two groups were mere moments away from colliding. Beta's energy only grew larger and larger as they neared, with Gamma taking his position in front of him. "Almost," Tails said as he clenched his controls.
Everyone was tense, no one saying a word from here on out. This was where it would count. If they were quick and careful, they could end this whole fiasco right here and now. Rainbow herself was hoping she could use some of her energy to pull off something. A rainboom would be nice, but she needed a lot more speed than this to do that. Maybe something like the buccaneer blaze could work. But, only time would tell at this point.
"No—" Tails yelled, only to be cut off.
In a split second, the entire area of the ship they were in jerked, everything shifting once again when the ship was capsizing earlier. Even Beta and Gamma were taken back. Another shockwave rippled through the ship, and the whole room began to turn over. Several pieces of scrap and pipes were being flung into the air by the sudden force of whiplash. One such piece of scrap had completely dislodged itself from its placing and had hit both Gamma and Beta on their backs, sending both of them completely off course.
While the heroes would've normally found this a good thing, that's not what they were thinking when Beta was sent flying right in their direction. Before any of them could react, Beta impacted with the front of the Tornado. The collision caused both Sonic and Rainbow to go flying off, leaving Tails to careen away from them with a now beat up Beta.
Tails had to wrestle with his controls to simply keep from crashing into the infrastructure, all with the weight of a bulky badnik on the nose of his plane. As he fought through the instinct to close his eyes from the air, he had kept them open long enough to see that Beta was still very functional, and he could see him grappling with something at the front of the plane.
His eyes flashed with realization. He was going for the Chaos Emerald while he was this close. In response, he did the one thing he knew would immediately solve the problem.
As he fiddled with his controls, Beta was doing his best to dislodge the emerald from its confines. Whatever was holding it in was doing its job well, as even with his strength he was having trouble. But it was only a matter of time until he finally forced it out. As he continued to use his spikes to pop it out, his visual receptors notified him of sudden movement all around him. With his reticle, he darted it every point that it indicated to him. It flashed red with each ping, outlining the hatches on the front of the plane that were now opened, and this time, they were not empty.
A flash of orange fire erupted at the front of the Tornado, smoke, and embers obscuring Tails' vision as the plane suddenly thrown back by the blast. The whole thing had flipped backward as Beta was flung into a nearby surface, his body partially stuck in the metal as his front was completely scorched, his single eye flickering as it threatened to go out.
With a flip of a switch and a tug of the joystick, Tails turned the Tornado back over as he enabled the legs to extend. Seeing a rather large industrial pipe, he angled the Tornado to where it impacted legs first, the hydraulics taking most of the force. He managed to prop it on top of the pipe, everything settling down as quickly assessed the damage. Thankfully, aside from some burns and pieces of the exterior completely missing, the nose was relatively intact, and with power still being supplied, it meant that the emerald was still there as well.
Slumping back in his seat, he let out a sigh. A situation turned back worked out in the end. His eyes flashed with worry in a quick shift in thought. He brought himself out of the cockpit as he scanned the area. In doing so, he immediately spotted what he was looking for. And his eyes shrunk at the sight.
In the middle of the open space, falling down into darkness, was both Rainbow and Sonic. Gamma, who was right along with them, was already aiming his blaster in the face of the star-struck pegasus.
Rainbow's magenta eyes were centered with a light blue glow as she stared at the glaring ball of light. It was mere inches from touching her nose, and she could already feel the heat radiating off it like it was hot lava. Her instincts were screaming to her to do something, maybe to fly in any direction as to get out of the way, as she saw that he seemed to be falling with them intentionally at this point. For a second, she very well considered it, but she knew she couldn't. She knew that Sonic was right behind her, and for her to dodge would mean Sonic would be the one to take the brunt of the attack.
The ball pulsed, and she realized that there was about only a second of thinking time left. Her teeth were grinding into one another as she strained to think of something. The ball flashed, but in that same instance, so did her thoughts.
"Two can play that game, buddy," she said to Gamma, her aura flaring as blue met red.
Gamma's beam made contact with his target, but in no way he thought it would. Right as he fired it, it almost seemed to have parted down the middle as something was blocking it. His scanners kicked in, and he identified what was blocking his attack, the culprit being a bright red barrier, the protection completely enveloping the pony, and in turn, protecting the hedgehog behind her.
His scanners were quickly overwhelmed, in the split second that the beam parted, the full blast of energy was already unleashed. The entirety of the area in front of Gamma was obscured by a furious explosion, the energy imploding as it made contact with the barrier. Gamma was thrown back, along with Rainbow getting pushed back into Sonic from the shockwave, the barrier-breaking apart from the blast. The trio continued to fall until they all impacted with a perfectly flat, metal maintenance platform off to the side. Sonic's and Rainbow's bodies bounced a bit from impact, groaning as they felt the pain enter them. Gamma's, however, hit with a thundering crash, vibrating the entire platform before it finally settled.
Rainbow had picked herself up, only very carefully. While nothing was broken, it still hurt to move her body at the moment. She could see Sonic in a similar predicament, bring himself up as he placed his hands on his knees.
"Hey, you still holding in there?" he questioned.
"Doing what I can," she responded.
Finally, Sonic stood up straight, looking to try and pop his back as he leaned back. "Thanks for the save by the way. Kind of wondering why you didn't do that sooner, but I'm not one to complain."
"Yeah," she said, although, on the inside, she had already felt the effects of pulling that off. It was only for a few seconds, but putting that much of her energy into blocking that last attack had drained a fair amount of her stamina. She'd have to make a point not to do that too much from here on out, otherwise, she'd be the one who needed saving.
They both heard an excessive amount of thrashing from in front of them. Looking for the source, they saw Gamma batting away at his frontal area. It wasn't hard to understand why. There was currently a fire glowing from him, the oily substance from before seemingly ignited by the explosion earlier. Small flames fell to the metal platform as the liquid dripped from his constant bashing of his body. Fortunately, for him, he seemed to have done the job rather well. While it wasn't all out, only smaller embers remained as he finally settled down. Unfortunately, his entire body looked to be greatly damaged by that. Being hit by his own attack in such a way tore parts of his armor off, along with taking off his left arm entirely. His eye was cracked down the middle, and he was still lying on the floor in an injured state.
"Looks like the big guy has nothing left in him," Sonic commented. "I think he's reached the end of the rope."
He then looked over to Rainbow, his back feeling just the way he liked it. "You know, how about we finish this whole together? You know, just to settle our little conversation earlier. Like I said, I don't mind sharing."
He gave a wink for good measure. For a second, Rainbow scoffed at the idea, but given everything that had happened, she was actually looking forward to this little confrontation being over. The sooner the better. "You know, just for the sake of getting out of here, we can take this big lug down together. But," she punctuated, "first to reach him gets first serve."
"Now that," Sonic stated, "is what I like to hear."
Without another word, the two speedsters readied themselves right before rushing to meet with the large badnik. Gamma, who was still on the floor, could sense that his servos were completely locked up, making his movements extremely slow and jittery. He knew he was too slow to do anything right now, and with Beta nowhere on his sensors, his only logical conclusion to the situation was one that ended with his termination. One more second and his time was over.
"STOP!"
Rainbow and Sonic's ears perked up at the sound of the feminine voice, along with a figure moving into their path, and almost immediately, they planted their hooves and feet respectively to the floor, bringing their progress to a sudden halt. They slid a couple of feet until they were few feet from Gamma and the figure that was placed between him and them.
Gamma looked to be a bit confused by the sudden change in situation, and his projections of the future were already shifting. To where now even his processors could tell at this point. With his broken eye, he looked at the new figure in front of him, its back to him with its arms outstretched as its feet parted in a protective stance. His mechanical mind clicked as the same data file worked to free itself from the firewall that was in place, and he wasn't sure if he should let it loose.
As this was going on, Rainbow was getting a good look at who was blocking their path, although Sonic recognized the figure immediately, it seemed, and right off the bat, Rainbow felt like she knew, too. It was a pink, female hedgehog who was facing them, her green, emerald green eyes piercing theirs with a stern look. Her quills were shorter than Sonic's, their style if she could call it that, in that of bangs of hair that fell to either side of her eyes. She wore a red dress with a white collar around the neck hole and a white stripe circling the entirety of the skirt, along with a pair of similarly colored knee-high boots with a white stripe going down the middle. Finally, she was topped off with a red headband and two golden rings around her wrists.
"Amy?" Rainbow wondered as she looked at the girl, seeing a ton of change in her appearance compared to that of last time she saw her.
"Amy?!" Sonic shouted out. "What're you doing?! You need to move!"
"No!" she said in defiance.
"No?!" Rainbow as the one to directly speak to her this time. "Do you even know what you're blocking us from doing?!"
"She's right," Sonic agreed. "You need to get out of the way before you get yourself hurt. That bozo behind you is no joke."
"I said no!" she yelled, her voice full of determination.
"Why not?!" Rainbow questioned. "Is there something we don't know about this guy or something, cause I can't see any other reason why!"
"Because he saved me!"
At this, both blue devils were perplexed. Did they hear her right? This badnik saved her? Rainbow couldn't believe that in the slightest, but for Sonic, he had a bit of an easier time. Not because he trusted a robot, but because he never knew Amy to lie to him about anything. Even so, what she was saying wasn't lining up with anything.
Sonic was about to say something this time, but he noticed something else first.
"Amy!" he yelled out. "Get back!"
Rainbow noticed it too, and seeing the worried looks on their faces, she turned around. In her face was the barrel of a single laser cannon that belonged to Gamma, who even in his injured state, was doing his best to keep his arm from falling to the floor, the metal appendage shaking as the servos whirred and spurred. Everything went silent as no one made a move. Sonic and Rainbow were at the ready to do something if they could, but what, they didn't know. Gamma and Amy's eyes met for the longest time. Normally, her eyes would've been showing fear and worry in them, what with staring down the barrel of what could easily end her life in a second.
But they didn't show that here, and Gamma saw this. They were filled with…something he couldn't quite comprehend. He was never properly programmed with emotions, so they were such a foreign concept to him. She was now completely turned around, and her face was completely shown to him now. A clear liquid was forming in her eyes now, and he quickly came to interpret that she was trying to hold back tears. Was her emotion…sadness? Sad for who? Certainly not the two behind her.
As he continued to look at her, his curiosity only continued to grow as the files in the back of his CPU were still beckoning to him. He allowed some of his processing power to reach out to them, but still had a lot of it focused on keeping his weapon trained on her. But even then, he had no idea what to do with the said weapon. Should he fire it? Or should he hold this out as long as possible until Beta could come to his aid if he would even make it here in the first place? Even with all these questions, there was one that was eating away at him, one that needed to be answered.
"WHY DO YOU INTERFERE?" he questioned the pink hedgehog, still holding his blaster her. "WHAT PURPOSE DO YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR UNIT IN DANGER?"
The girl's eyes still threatened to let loose tears, but judging by the contortions in her chin and cheeks, he could tell that she was doing everything in her power not to let it show.
"Do you really not remember me," she asked him. "Or has Eggman already taken that out, too?"
Gamma was silent for a few seconds as he scanned for a response. As he did, he saw another image in the data files that made it past the firewalls. This one was of his master himself, along with another image of his brother Beta being torn apart and replaced with new parts.
"WHY DO YOU INTERFERE?" he asked again, hoping for an answer to the question.
"Why do you think?!" she said, looking as if trying to grow a smile. "I'm doing this to save you silly!"
This time, his processors had all nearly stopped, only kept going by his determination to see more of the data. So much so, he unintentionally let his weapon fall, a distinct clanking sound echoing throughout the area. Rainbow and Sonic were surprised at this. Was she actually getting through to this guy?
Gamma searched, and searched, and searched for something to respond with. His search brought him to a recording, one through his own point of view. It was him looking down at the hedgehog girl in a jail cell, in her hands being the small bird he saw before. It was little hard to hear anything, but he could still make out some of the words said.
"WHY…" he trailed on.
Amy's curiosity was perked, listening intently to his every word.
"WHY…TRY TO SAVE SOMETHING THAT WHICH IS USELESS TO YOU?"
This time, Amy genuinely smiled, one small tear streaking down her cheek as she wiped it away. "Whoever said you were useless in the first place? We only met for a short time Mr. Robot, but even then, I made a new friend back then. You weren't just another one of Dr. Eggman's pawns. You could think for yourself, and you even went out of your way to rescue me and birdie."
She took another step closer to Gamma, the robot making no indication as to attack her. "Eggman turned you back into what you are now. I just…want to know…is there anything left?"
Another recording popped into view, this one confusing Gamma to no end. This one started once the girl had left the jail, seeing her rush out through the big doors before they closed behind her.
That's when it happened.
Gamma was suddenly and violently lifted into the air as a dark figure flashed into existence below him, taking him by his torso. He felt his body being completely pummeled and crushed as the figure zoomed around him, giving him no way of counter-attacking. Very soon, his body finally fell back to the floor, his visuals getting more and more static every second. His view was sideways, indicating he was lying on the floor unmoving and unresponsive. One of his arms and both of his legs were torn completely off out of the corner of his vision. As the recording was nearing its end, the shoes of the dark figure came into view, floating down from above. They were dark gray in color, and they were connected to a pair of dark purple legs, all which were surrounded by a dark aura. Soon after, the figure gave his head a firm kick, ending the recording right there.
"EGGMAN," he responded, "IS MY CREATOR. I AM TO SERVE HIM. MY ONLY PURPOSE IS TO PLEASE MY MASTER."
Amy shook her head. "No, it's not. He doesn't care for you in any way. If he really cared about your wellbeing, he would've let you decide if you wanted to come out like this. The only one he cares about is himself. Everyone is…they're just tools to him. And…you knew that…didn't you?"
The firewalls might as well have not been there at this point. The more he dug, the more he wanted to see. Another recording showed itself. This one taking place in a lab, a few minutes after the last recording. His master was in front of him as he seemed to be repairing some of the damages from earlier, but it was still obvious he was in horrible condition, his left arm and legs not even attached. He was just hanging from an assortment of wires that kept him from falling.
"Well," Eggman started, "you sure took quite a beating Gamma. I can't say that I'm not disappointed that the hedgehog girl managed to do this much damage to you. But, it's not all bad. Soon, you'll be patched up in no time, with a new body to boot."
Gamma looked around the room he was in, only one eye functional at this point. The lab was fairly small, but it was large enough to suit the needs of the doctor. On the wall to his right, he saw E-101 Beta connected to the same type of machine, but with his new body. It was shiny, indicating he was fresh off the production line. On the wall opposite of Gamma, he saw the rest of his brothers: Delta, Epsilon, and Zeta, in the same predicament, although unlike him, they were all intact.
"In fact, all of you will soon have new bodies!" Eggman boasted to the robots. "You'll be faster, stronger, and much more versatile compared to your old chassis'. If you're all good, I'll even throw in a fresh paint job."
Gamma knew what upgrades he was talking about. They were the same ones that he saw being installed on Beta before. How he was torn to pieces and replaced with something that wasn't him at all. Just a shell of what he was, and just by looking at him, he could see that plain as day. The words of the hedgehog girl repeated constantly in his head. That he was a "good person inside." He wasn't sure what a good person really was. All he lived for was to serve his master, but after encountering her and…that bird, he only felt conflicted in ways he didn't know possible.
"Now," said Eggman, "which one of you shall I start with?"
The doctor scanned the group opposite of Gamma, each of the different colored robots staying motionless as he paced in front of them. Eventually, he stopped and pointed his finger right at Epsilon.
"Congratulations Epsilon! You'll be the second only to Beta to receive this gift!" Eggman brought out a small remote and pressed the button. This caused a series of small arms come down from the machine above him. Right away, they began taking pieces of his brother off him. Epsilon's eyes darted back and forth as he recognized all the damage that was being down to him. The arms were eating away at his exterior, and while he was not programmed to feel it, Gamma could easily see it in his eyes.
He was afraid.
Gamma felt his single arm shake. It wasn't out of an error, or uncertainty. It was out of anger. And he was ready to act on it.
Gamma lifted his arm, aiming the blaster that was on it right at where Eggman stood. The doctor heard this and turned to face his creation, surprise taking over his senses.
"Gamma! What are you doing?!" he questioned angerly.
"EGGMAN: ENEMY," he said plainly as he fired.
Fortunately for Eggman, he knew to duck before the projectile hit him. Unfortunately for him, Gamma wasn't even aiming for him. The shots hit Epsilon square in the chest, causing the badnik to fall apart as his body fell from the wires. Gamma sent a spray of shots toward the others as well, having the same effect on them as Epsilon.
"No! My creations!"
Only husks remained of the badniks, and three small birds made their way out of the wreckage. Eggman was so dumbfounded that he couldn't even react to the birds making their way out of the lab, the door quickly closing behind them as they made their escape.
With one job done, Beta now pointed his weapon at Beta, hoping to finish what he started. However, just as he took aim, his arm fell to his side, most of his systems going dark as he saw the doctor pressing a button on the remote.
"Fine then," Eggman said, venom dripping from his voice. "If you wanted to be first so badly, then all you had to do was ask."
The recording ended, leaving Gamma awestruck at what he uncovered. Before long, the firewalls were back in force, almost seeming to paint a reticle over the girl in front of him. His processors had just shifted on their own, and everything inside him was screaming to be let loose. However, at the same time, he did what he could to return his processors to what they were doing before. He could still barely make out the image of the girl, alongside another image of his master.
"Amy, maybe now's a good time to back away," Sonic suggested.
"I don't give up that easily Sonic," she responded. "You of all people should know that."
Gamma's gaze was constantly shifting between the two images on screen. His processors were completely conflicted. One side said to destroy Eggman's enemies, but the other said that Eggman was the enemy.
"I know you're better than this Mr. Robot," Amy said. "Eggman doesn't have to be in control of you anymore. You can come with us. With your help, I know we could succeed. You just have to understand."
And he wanted to, now more than ever. The images were now flashing as he cycled them around. They lit up red whenever one started to look more tantalizing, but he would constantly shift back to the other in a split second. Only one of these figures was his enemy, and with his processors completely useless to him at the moment, he did something he never thought he'd get the chance to do again.
He made a choice.
Gamma was eerily silent for ages now. His eyes weren't even looking into that of Amy anymore. The whole group was silent as well. None of them knew what to do right now. Amy had taken full reins, and she was determined to see it through.
Finally, Gamma twitched, and he looked into Amy's eyes. Her own eyes shone brightly as she looked on. They were full of hope. They were filled with cries of joy.
They turned into signs of despair in a second.
Gamma had lifted his body off the floor in one quick motion, bring his one arm back as he looked to skewer Amy. Amy's face went to that of sadness, her tears beginning to fall as she looked on at what came right at her. Sonic and Rainbow Dash were already making their way over to her, their shouts being drowned out by her own thoughts on where she had gone wrong.
The two speedsters weren't at all prepared to make their way over to them. Gamma's arm was already thrusting out, and they both did the only thing they could think of. They threw themselves in front of Amy, wrapping both their arms and hooves around the girl in hopes to keep her protected. Rainbow even tried reaching out to more of her power, hoping to shield them all from the impending attack.
But she was anything but fast in this one moment.
CRUNCH
…
…
Rainbow felt warm liquid dripping onto her coat…
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Does Tempest Shadow appear in this story?
Why do authors like to leave chapters on cliffhangers!?!?
Ah! A new chapter, and new cover art to examine!
...I'm pretty sure you're not going to kill any of the three off (Sonic,Rainbow, and Amy), at least not now. Hmmm... The way I see it, the 'warm liquid' could be one of three things. Blood, Oil, or something I haven't thought of. Huh. So, either Gamma is hurt or dying, one of them is wounded, or something else. I don't know what scenario I'm hoping for...
8637702
Never watched the movie sadly. 😁
8638013
I'll just let you all know now, I'm not above killing certain important characters at any time. Just for a warning.
8637806
Because how else am I going to keep you coming back? 😉
8638478
...Still. I think it's unlikely you'll kill Rainbow, and if you kill Sonic, you'll bring him back. At least that's what I think. Once it get's farther along in the story, the chance you might kill one of them increases.
Amy...she's not really very important, is she? ....I think I'm more worried about her dying than anyone else.