Chapter 16: Six
Chapter 16: Six
Rainbow's body was completely locked up. Her teeth were gritting together hard, and she wouldn't be at all surprised if they sudden cracked under the pressure. Her mind was just dead to the world, her eyes squeezed shut. She couldn't bring herself to move, let alone breath. Only two feelings were registering in her mind: one of her hoof locked with the hand and arm of somepony else, but she didn't know who, and the other a sensation of a warm liquid dripping on her which caused her to jump as another drop was felt.
She waited, and waited, but ever since the deafening crunching noise, nothing else came. "Are…are we…" she stuttered, not even knowing who she was asking.
Fortunately, a familiar voice was the one to answer. "I…don't think so," came Sonic's voice. "Amy?"
"Sonic?" they heard the girl whimper. Rainbow could feel Amy shift with her hoof draped over her. She felt as if she was maybe raising her head up, but she soon felt the girl jerk beneath her, a light gasp escaping her mouth.
This prompted Rainbow to finally open her eyes, accepting that no blow was coming. Still shaken, her magenta orbs looked over at her other hoof. She saw that both it and Sonic's arm was locked in a defensive position in front of Amy. Sonic's other arm was draped over Amy in a similar fashion to her hoof. Sonic too had finally looked up, his eyes meeting hers before they slowly drifted to Amy.
Rainbow got a good look at the girl herself and both quickly noticed the mortified look on her face, her hands covering her mouth in shock. Rainbow followed her gaze, and what she saw caused her whole body to tense up again. A large body of red encompassed her vision, along with a spiked arm that sat an inch away from her nose.
She dared not move, lest she felt that the arm would come straight for her with no way for her dodge. It never moved though. After a few seconds, Rainbow moved past the fear at the sight and finally noticed something about the scene before her.
This was not Gamma's arm…
She managed to bring herself to look away from the arm, finally taking in the scene before her. The red being was indeed Gamma, but unlike what she expected, he looked to have thrown himself over them, his repulsors keeping him in midair over their heads.
The arm pointing directly at her was sticking through his body, a thick, black liquid slowly dripping out of the wound.
"What the hay?" she questioned. "What's going on?"
"Mr. Robot…" she heard Amy say in a hushed tone.
By this time, Sonic had also clued in and with caution, he leaned back in order to look around the big robot. "Hey, check it," he blurted in surprise.
Rainbow herself looked around him now, and she had a similar expression of confusion and worry. There was another body of metal on the other side of Gamma. One that belonged to an E-101 Beta.Both of their chassis' were pressed tightly into one another. Beta's arm was impaling Gamma straight through the torso, the red bot completely unmoving as he stared his brother directly in the eye. It was then she noticed the positioning of Gamma's single working arm and realized that it too was impaled within his counterpart.
"Ok…" she uttered, almost too star struck for words. "W--what the hay am I looking at here?!"
Her question went unanswered, but only due to the sight of both Gamma's and Beta's beginning to fall, their metal bodies still connected by their arms and their repulsors failing to function. With wide eyes, both Sonic and Rainbow gripped Amy by her arms and pulled her and themselves out from under Gamma, knowing that is he was to fall on them it wouldn't be pretty. They fell to the floor with the pink hedgehog in tow, feeling the vibrations of the robots' bodies hit the platform.
Despite crashing down onto the platform, Gamma's and Beta's bodies were still sitting straight up, continuing their heated staring contest with their spiked arms dug into each other. As they were out of any immediate danger now, Amy had wormed her way out of the others' grasp and crawled over to check on Gamma. She now stood behind him, placing her hands on him in shock as tears streamed down her cheeks, finally understanding what he did for them.
"Mr. Robot!" she cried. "Wha--what did you do?! You didn't have to do that for us?!"
Beta shifted as he looked at her, his body shaking the entire time. He was having trouble processing what was happening.
He could see his heads-up display identifying the damage to his torso, his wound reaching all the way through his body. He tried recalling the events leading up to this, his memory banks having issues as he tried diverting power to his critical systems.
The last thing he could remember was removing himself from the wall, finding himself close to the group that was next to his damaged brother. He believed that was his chance, his opportunity to end at least one of his targets right there and then. He moved so fast that not even the fox could react in time to stop him. His attack should've connected with them right then. However, he never expected Gamma, his own brother, to throw himself over the group, ending with both in the position they were in now.
Even though he was still confused about why Gamma had taken such an action, he still had a mission to complete. He lifted his other arm, pointing his hand cannon at the girl. Gamma must've seen this, as his eye darted to the glowing orb that was the weapon charging up.In a moment of unnatural determination, he transferred all of his energy to the servos in his arm.
It wasn't much, as he barely had any power left in him, all the levels on his HUD showing critical states all around. That didn't stop him, however.
With a loud creaking of bent metal, Gamma's arm pushed further into Beta, which unfortunately caused his own wound to be capitalized on as well. His vision began to go static, his internal systems being damaged with every movement he made against Beta. This needed this to be quick. With one more burst of power to his arm and repulsors, he flung his body upward, his arm tearing through Beta's body all the way up to his other arm. He could feel his own body being torn up as well, several warnings going off as he was notified of all the damage. But he couldn't let that stop him, not now. He continued until he tore Beta's arm clean off, his arm cannon shutting down as it flew through the air.
Gamma was now aware that he was freed from Beta's other arm, but only due to his body being torn in half like his brother's. He was free to fly through the air until he landed some ways away from them, his body hitting the floor with a loud, reverbing echo. Beta's own body fell back to the floor, his arm severed, and his torso shredded from the inside out.
"No!" Amy near screamed, running over to where Gamma had landed.
"Amy! Wait!" Sonic called, but she didn't listen.
She rushed over to where Gamma landed, Sonic right behind her as they crouched down to the red robot.Rainbow, on the other hoof, got up and placed herself between them and Beta, getting into a stance that showed she was ready for him to make the slightest move. Fortunately, it didn't seem that he was in any condition to do anything.His body was torn open, his right arm was missing, and the other one was limp as he lied on his side. His green eye flickered, its cracked glass casing shining as it did.
Beta looked at the pegasus in front of him but despite his every intention his body no longer had the power to even scan her form. He read his power levels, and they were in the red zone and dropping at a steady rate. This was it. There was no recovering from this state, as he was beyond the limit of his onboard repair systems, his main power core shot. He looked away from the pegasus and landed his reticle on Gamma, who was currently being looked at by the two hedgehogs. He could still not even begin to process all that had happened in that past few minutes.So many probabilities shot through his mind, hoping to find some reason as to why Gamma had done what he did.
And he couldn't find one…
Not one. It was as if Gamma had been taken over by some unforeseen force, one that he couldn't have prepared for. One that went beyond the reasoning given to him by his master. He continued to stare at his brother, even as his power gauge began to reach its end. His reticle finally began to fade away, most of his HUD shutting down along with it.
Rainbow watched the robot as his one eye slowly began to shut off. The green in it became darker as a low humming came from him, his bodies way of attempting to stay functional. Finally, however, his eye shut down, the noise receding along with it.Rainbow remained there for some time, her body still tense as she waited for him to just jump up and catch her off guard. Thankfully, it never came. With every light dimmed, and his whole body limp he just lied there motionless.He was done.
She let out a sigh, her body finally being able to relax somewhat. After all that energy she put into her powers earlier, she could already feel the effects on her body somewhat. Thankfully, it was no more than a few aches here and there in her legs.It was at this time she heard the sound of jets next to her, and she brought her head up to see Tails landing the Tornado on the platform, jumping out soon after and flying over using his two tails.
"Rainbow!" he exclaimed, landing by her. "You're not hurt, are you?!"
She just looked at him with a kind smirk and waved him off. "Nah, don't worry kid.Just a little sore is all. But I think we made it out without so much as a scratch."
Tails nodded but soon began scratching his cheek in slight embarrassment. "I'm sorry I couldn't call him out in time. He just came so quick, I didn't…"
"Hey, I said we were alright, didn't I?" she reassured. "You came through where it counted after all, and that's what matters in the end, don't ya think?"
"Umm, yeah," he hesitantly agreed. "I guess so.Still…"
"Mr. Robot!"
The two looked over at the commotion taking place behind them, and Rainbow's mind sparked in remembrance as to what just took place moments ago. Rainbow and Tails rushed over to the two hedgehogs, Amy kneeling over a crumbling Gamma with Sonic standing behind her. Rainbow looked at the robot on the floor, worry strangely filling her eyes for somepony who was just attacking them not 5 minutes ago. Just like Beta, a huge gash was cut through his body where his counterpart's arm was. All of his inner workings were exposed, and even they were nearly torn to shreds.Like his brother, his eye was flickering, almost looking for the power and the will to stay functional.
"Just hold on!" Amy sobbed, trying to somewhat comfort him, albeit through all the tears. "We can get you fixed up in no time, so just hold on! Tails?! You work with machines! Can't you do anything for him?!"
Tails examined Gamma, his eyes quivering, not even sure if he could answer that question. Looking at Gamma, he could tell that many of his primary systems were damaged beyond repair, even with his technical skills. Whatever model of badnik Gamma was, he was a far more advanced design than some of Eggman's previous works. He scanned the open wound and he did his best to find some solution, but…
"Amy…" he solemnly uttered, "I…I don't even know where to begin.So much of him has been damaged. I don't even know how he's still operational."
"Give it your best shot, buddy," Sonic suggested, prompting Tails to focus on him. "He's more than earned that much.If there's even a chance of him getting through this, no use in not trying."
With hesitance, but an eventual nod, Tails took his place next to Amy and got to work, doing whatever he could to keep the badnik with them for as long as possible. He still had no idea what had caused him to turn as he did, but one thing was for sure. None of the others might have made it if it weren't for him.
As he worked, Rainbow looked at the slowly fading Gamma, watching his eye move around on his head, observing the fox that was working on him. "You weren't trying to hurt us just now, were you?" she asked him. "You were trying to protect us.But I don't get why. We were just fighting each other earlier. So, why did you try to help us all of a sudden?"
Gamma's eye found its way to Rainbow and he settled it there at her question. She waited for a response and she heard a warble of distorted speech as she assumed he was trying to speak, but no true words came out. He was just so broken. It seemed that even he realized he couldn't properly communicate and stopped trying to all together as if to save power.
Through all of the tears, however, she heard Amy mutter, "He did it because he knew it was the right thing to do."
Rainbow and Sonic looked to her. Tails too seemed to be watching her out of the corner of his eye as he worked.
"It's silly to think about.I barely even knew him. In fact, not once did I ever think I'd feel this way about a badnik," Amy voiced, doing her best not to choke up at every word. "But right away, I knew there was something different about him.
When Eggman was holding me prisoner, instead of treating me like any other badnik would, Mr. Robot…*sniff*…I don't even know his name. Mr. Robot…he let me go. I could tell that he was struggling to decide on anything and that he really didn't know what he should do in anything. But even so, he still made his own choices, just like with what just happened.
And…I can't help but feel like for that instance we were actually friends."
Everyone went silent at her words. Even Tails seemed to pause as she spoke of Gamma. Rainbow especially felt the words cut deep. Not once would she have ever considered one of these things as a friend. They weren't even really alive, not like she or anypony else was and after her encounter with Metal Sonic that only solidified her feelings toward them. As of right now, however, she couldn't help but feel sorry for Gamma. She didn't know everything that went into making one of these things, but she could only imagine that Eggman went through a lot to make sure they never turned against him. Gamma must've fought hard to be able to do what he did.
"Man, not once did I ever think I'd feel sorry for a badnik," Sonic spoke up, crossing his arms in a solemn position. "Then again, I don't really think there's anything ‘bad' about this guy. Just…I don't even really know how to say it."
"You hit the nail on the head with that one pinhead," Rainbow said, for once not even trying to be insulting about it. "My head is spinning just at the thought of it. Hay, I don't think if I had seen it with my own eyes—"
They heard a shift of metal, and the whole group looked up to see that Gamma was looking at them all, his eye still threatening to shut off completely. Then they heard the noise again, the one of a distorted voice covered in static. Gamma was trying to say something but was still having great difficulty. Then he looked to Amy, his synthetic green eye locking with her natural ones.
Then the static stopped.
"D—D—D…" his synthetic voice struggled to say. "D—Designation: E-102 G—Gamma…"
Amy's eyes lit up. Did…he just tell her his name?
His eye had now left hers, and it was now staring ahead, past the group. Everyone, excluding Tails, followed his line of sight, seeing what he was analyzing.
"P—Primary…Objective…: Prooooo—Protect…that which i—is…important to you…Status:…Complete…" he said, eyeing the unmoving pile of scrap that was Beta.
With that, his green eye dimmed, the distinct whirring noise filling their ears, all before silence. One last spark ignited from the wires Tails was working on, but as he tried to connect them again, no sparks came. He tried again, and again, but still nothing. It was cold. He tried once more, but he knew what had happened, and his only response was to gently let the wires go.
Finally, he sat back up, looking the now motionless Gamma. He felt his fist tighten up, his own eyes showing their own sighs of sadness.
"Tails…?" he heard Amy question, a quiver in her voice.
"Amy…I…"
He couldn't.He looked at her, and his only response was a saddened shake of the head.
Amy's eyes widened in shock. Despite her best attempts to hold it in, she just couldn't anymore. The warm sensation of tears graced her cheeks, a visible quiver in her lip as her vision became distorted from the liquid building up. That couldn't be true…it couldn't. She looked Gamma, now finally learning his name, and balled up her fists. She could feel the tears dripping off her face and onto her hands, not even caring how she may look right now. She just let it all out, not able to contain any of it any longer.
She could feel herself about to crumble, but she then felt a presence on her shoulder. She looked to see a hand, Sonic's hand, on it and giving it a light squeeze. Normally she'd be all over him by now, but at this moment, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. She just sat there, taking in what comfort she could by his presence.
Rainbow herself could slowly feel the same feelings popping up. She definitely did a good job of hiding it from the others, but the tightening of her own face said otherwise. It wasn't long before she felt a wet sensation in her eye as well, and she felt the need to wipe it away immediately. "Dang it," she swore.
"You know," Sonic started, sadness in his voice. Looking at him, she could see it in his eyes as well, only a bit more composed than the others were. "Not every day you see something like this. Guess it just goes to show, not every enemy we come across is heartless."
"It's hard to think about," uttered Tails, "but…somewhere, under all of Eggman's programming, he really did have feelings just like any of us. But, what do think he was trying to protect?"
"I mean," Rainbow started, "he saved us, didn't he? He was friends with Amy after all."
"I'm…not sure," Tails remarked, putting his hand to his chin in a thoughtful manner.
Before she continued, Rainbow heard her earpiece turn on again. "Rainbow," she heard Blaze say, "look behind you."
‘Huh?' she thought but did as she was instructed and turned around.
She immediately stopped, almost confused as to what she was seeing. Right in front of her very eyes was one of the last things she expected to see in this place. There was probably the smallest bird she's ever seen sitting perfectly away from her nose, it's feathers silver in color, tiny beading eyes staring directly back at her.
"Uhh, guys?" she questioned. "I'm not the only one seeing the bird, right?"
The rest of group looked to her, including a reluctant Amy, and they were all indeed surprised to see the tiny avian looking at Rainbow with contemplative eyes.Sonic was the first to speak up. "What the? Where'd you come from little guy? No place for someone like you ya know."
Amy, fighting through the stifles, said, "It looks almost exactly like the bird from before."
"You saw it before?" asked Rainbow, still perplexed by the little animal.
"A different one, but yeah."
The bird looked at them all inquisitively, tilting its head to the side before flying past them.It made its way over to the wreck that was Gamma. It hovered in front him, letting out high pitched chirps as it looked at him.
"Strange," Tails inquired. He looked over to the wreck that was Beta and began to think. "Hold on, give me a second."
Going back to Gamma, he began working at a specific point on his mangled body, taking a piece of his exterior off like it was an access panel.
"What're you doing?" Amy questioned, seeing Tails poke around Gamma's body.
"Tails?" Sonic asked.
"Riiiiigggght, there!"
He pried out a small, spherical object from the opening in his torso. It was light grey in color and it fit perfectly in his hand.
"Umm, what is that?" Rainbow asked, getting up close to the sphere as to get a good look at it. Coming into view, however, was the small bird, practically pushing past her nose in order to face the sphere. It's chirping only got more frantic, it's wings flapping in an excited manner.
"Amy," Tails grinned, pulling the sphere away and presenting it to her. "I think you should be the one to open it."
Amy took the sphere, albeit a bit hesitantly. She held it in both hands, not wanting to risk dropping it. It was heavy, but even so, it also felt strangely hollow on the inside. Stranger still, it felt as if the sphere was trying to move on its own. She had to tighten her grip on it just so it wouldn't roll out of her hands. With baited breath, she spotted the small hatch on its side and pressed release just underneath it. The hatch popped open, the tiniest trail of steam leaving the opening as it did.
What she saw caused her breath to catch in her throat. Once the hatch opened, a small, feathery figure worked its way out of the sphere, its small pink body ruffling as it walked out. She held her hand out to give it a platform to stand on and dropped the sphere once it was out completely. As it finally righted itself, it opened its eyes and stared right at Amy, the hedgehog girl staring right back at it with wide eyes.If she didn't know any better, she could swear that the look it was giving her was one of joy.
"Wait," Rainbow spoke up. "I'm confused. Why was there a bird of all things inside of Gamma? Am I missing something?"
"It wasn't just inside of Gamma," answered Tails. "In a sense, that is Gamma."
"Wait…what?!" Rainbow exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Amy was too busy looking at the small bird to worry about anything else, the only word that she caught being…
"Gamma…" she uttered, a single tear going down her cheek as she let a light smile grow on her muzzle. ‘Gamma' looked at her with a cheerful expression, giving her a chirp as it extended its wings to her. At this point, the silver bird had flown over to him, chirping happily as it fluttered its wings. The pink bird chirped in a similar manner, happy at the sight of its friend.
"I think I see where you're getting at Tails," Sonic spoke up. "If I was a gambling hedgehog, I'd bet that that other bird is actually Beta, right?"
"I was thinking along the same lines," responded Tails.
"Wait a second," Rainbow asserted, waving her hooves in front of her as if to get them to stop talking. "How does this make any sense? What do you mean these two are Gamma and Beta? I don't really see how these little guys could've given us so much trouble earlier."
"It wasn't so much them we were fighting earlier," explained Tails. "I remember a while back that Eggman was trying to use animals like this to power some of his badniks. If there really was a brain behind these guys, that would explain why they were so much deadlier than the normal ones."
"He was using these guys to power his machines?" Rainbow asked, getting the sinking feeling that one yellow pegasus back in Sol was none too happy right now, and suddenly she was glad she wasn't with her friends.
"Nothing's too bad for Egghead if it means he'll get his way," said Sonic. "But hey, at least they don't have to worry about him any longer."
This time, Amy was the one to speak up. "I'm glad you two are free now," she conveyed to the birds, prompting them to look at her. "Hey, your friend Birdie is waiting for you guys somewhere.You better get going, ok."
The two birds seemed to understand, light nods in confirmation as the silver one already began flying off. However, the little pink bird still in her hands, ‘Gamma', remained where he was. She was confused to this at first, but she then saw him lightly hopping his way over to her face. Once he was close enough, a raised himself off her hand with his wings, bring himself level with her. With a final sendoff, he lightly touched his beak with the tip of her nose, a happy expression on his face. This only flooded over to Amy as her own expression finally grew to that of sheer joy.
With that, he flew off, his brother waiting for him. Once they were together, they took off, their small bodies disappearing rather quickly the farther they flew into the distance.
As they did, Amy ran after them, stopping just short of the edge of the platform. "Thank you, Gamma!" she shouted.
"Thanks for everything!"
Her shouts echoed throughout the large room, and she could only assume that he heard her. Soon, they were gone, the darkness of the room obscuring them from view. Although she was relieved beyond anything else, she couldn't help but rub her shoulder in discomfort, not really knowing how to feel right now. She heard someone come up next to her and quickly noticed it to be Sonic.
"I hope they'll be alright on their own," she said. "This place isn't for them."
"Ya know, I'm sure they'll find their way out. They're smart, so they'll be fine. Remember, our part isn't done just yet," he said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
That was a mistake.
Just like that, she had reverted from her solemn form and threw herself on him, wrapping her arms tight around his neck and giving him a death hug. His eyes nearly bulged out of there sockets at her strength, and he was starting to mentally kick himself for thinking this wouldn't happen. Even so, he just did his best to put on a wide small, along with giving her a light pat on the back."Glad to have ya back, Ames…"
Rainbow chuckled at his dismay, her former sadness now replaced with a light joy. However, she couldn't ignore the feeling of fatigue that ran rampant throughout her body. She noticed a large piece of pipe right next to them and couldn't help but sit down next to it, even if for just a moment.Using up that energy earlier thankfully wasn't the most physically draining, but a little R&R wouldn't hurt anypony.
"I'll be honest, I've got no idea how you guys do this kind of thing all the time," she stated to Tails. "We've just started and already I feel ready to take ten."
"It gets kind of rough at times," he said, "but we always pull through in the end.Although, I don't know how far I'd go if it weren't for Sonic pushing me all the time."
Rainbow contemplated that, looking at the hedgehog who was now trying to subtly get out of Amy's grasp. "No offense, but I still have no idea what to think of him right now," she said. "I can't even wrap my head around how he thinks at times."
"He's a bit interesting in that regard, yeah, but he keeps us on our toes, and that's something that's saved our lives on more than one occasion. His personality may take some getting used to, but aside from maybe me and Amy, no one warms up to him immediately. But given some time, they grew to like him, even Knuckles."
"I bet he at least remembers their names though," she said with annoyance. "Unlike me…"
Tails saw her visible disdain for him and said, "I…can't really speak for him on that. Come to think of it though, we haven't seen you for a few years now. It's bound to have slipped his mind at some point."
"You remember me though, so how does that work," she questioned him.
Tails shifted rather uncomfortably at her question. "Well, Sonics has always been an ‘in the moment' kind of guy. Even so, he tries to treat everyone the same, even if he wants to have a little fun with them at times."
"If you're trying to convince me to give him a chance again, you can forget that," she quickly voiced. "That's what you said last time, and look where we are now."
Tails just went quiet.It was true that she had no reason to really trust him on that after what happened. "I guess…you've got me there," he muttered as he scratched his cheek nervously.
Rainbow just sighed, but with chuckle to mix in with it. "Hey, don't worry about it.I'm gonna see you guys through this even if it kills me.After all, with all we've gone through, what'd that make of me if I decided to just up and leave?" she joked, but not after remembering her mindset the day before she came here, prompting a slightly nervous smile.
"For what it's worth Rainbow, I'm glad you're here.I feel like things wouldn't have gone quite the same if it weren't for you being here."
She just smiled at him. ‘Well, at least I'm welcomed here.Just what I've always wanted,' she mused.
"That reminds me," Tails inquired. "All those years ago on the Death Egg, Sonic said he just ran into you on board. What were you doing on there anyway."
"Oh, uh…" she hesitated.
"That, and you ended up disappearing for a long time afterward, only to appear again on Little planet, and now you're here.
Where'd you go? We never even got word from you afterwards."
"That's…a story for another time. I don't think you'd be interested in hearing about my personal life. After all, you guys are the ones seeing all the action anyway."
Tails tilted his head in confusion, almost put off by her answer. Not interested? If he wasn't interested he wouldn't have asked. Even though he's not had a lot of time with her, she didn't seem to the kind of person to lie. But he just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something more to it. Something that he was missing.
"Hey guys!" they heard Sonic call.
They looked at him and saw that he was now free from Amy's hug, an almost relieved look on his face as she simply stood beside him. "Don't know if you noticed, but we're not out of this yet! We still have to pay old Egghead a visit before we leave!"
With relief, Rainbow picked herself up and threw a quick smile to Tails. "Hey, if you want to hear about it someday, I'll be sure to tell ya. But now's just the time for us to play the heroes again. That ok with you?" She was mainly just saying all this just to change the subject, as she really had no idea of how she was gonna explain it all to him without giving anything away. She was glad the kid was smart, but this was getting a little too close for her liking.
"Umm, yeah," he said, a bit hesitant to go any further, as she obviously didn't want to talk about it.
"Come on slowpokes," called Sonic. "We're aging over here."
"Yeah yeah, just hold your horses, blue boy," Rainbow countered.
"I don't think you know who you're thinking talking to girly," he shot back with a grin. "Waiting around for you guys isn't exactly my style you know."
Without even waiting for her retort, he made his way to the edge of the platform and just jumped off. Using the large pipes around them, he began jumping higher and higher, only a blue streak to the rest of the group as he ascended.
"There he goes again," Amy sighed. "I can't have just two minutes with him…"
"I don't think we should keep him waiting though," suggested Tails as he made his way to the Tornado. "You guys coming?"
"Wait for me!" Amy called, climbing into the back seat as she tried to situate herself.
"Rainbow, you coming?" Tails asked the pegasus. With a raised eyebrow, Rainbow just proceeded to present him with her flared out wings. "Oh, right. I forgot. Hehe."
With some expert piloting and navigation on Tails' part, it didn't take long for the group to find their way out of the inner workings of the Egg Carrier. They even managed to catch up to Sonic, mainly due to him having absolutely no idea where he was going, which Rainbow couldn't help but secretly relish. Even so, they were all now on the top deck of the massive ship, the boards beneath their feet making a distinct kludging sound as they walked to the other end, accompanied by the sound of the Tornado stomping its way behind them.
Rainbow quickly began to stretch her back and take in the wind on her coat. "Unnngggh, it's about time we got some fresh air. Any more time spent down there, and I think I would've gone crazy."
"I know what you mean," said Sonic, stretching out his arms. "Put me in any of Egghead's places of enjoyment, and any place is soon preferable."
"But where are we?" asked Amy. "And what happened to the ship?"
True to her words, the ship was no longer high in the sky as it was before. In fact, the grey clouds that loomed around before seemed to have passed as well, the bright afternoon sun shining down on them. On top of that, the ship was sitting in the middle of an ocean, the sound of seagulls and the gently rolling waves entering their ears. The waves crashed against the side of the ship, causing small traces of water to spill onto the deck at times. In the distance, just on the horizon, was what Rainbow assumed to be a large coastal metropolis.Just judging by the size of the buildings, she couldn't help but compare it to that of Manehattan.
"Well, the ship was capsizing earlier," Tails deduced. "That jerk we felt before must've been the Egg Carrier crashing into the ocean."
"I felt that too," said Amy. "But I thought it was you and Sonic who did that. You mean it wasn't you guys?"
"As much as I wish," Rainbow mused. "The whole place was a giant slide at one point while we were in there."
"Well, no matter how it happened, I'm just glad Eggman at least decided to make this thing waterproof. The last thing we need was to start taking that on," stated Sonic, a slightly uncomfortable shift in his body as he did.
"You're not still afraid of the water, are you Sonic?" Amy asked worryingly.
This perked the ears of Rainbow Dash. "Wait. Are you telling me you're scared of a little water pinhead?"
"Hey, if you couldn't swim, you'd have the same feelings too Rainbutt," he shot back with a wave of the finger. He only assumed she knew how to, so it's not like she understood how it felt to be in that kind of position.
"I guess I just find it hard believe that the great Sonic the Hedgehog can't take on a little water," she responded, before catching that last bit. "And stop calling me that!That's not even my name!"
"Guys, can we please not do this now?" asked Tails with a sigh. He had hoped they could not be at each other's throats for at least a few minutes, but it seemed that something that wasn't an easy thing to accomplish.
"Yeah, stop making fun of my Sonic!" Amy pitched it, although only having the opposite effect to what Tails was going for.
"Wait, your Sonic?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the girl. "I didn't think you liked her that much, blue boy."
With a small tick growing on her forehead, Amy just stomped forward, her teeth visibly gritting together. Before he even knew what was coming, Sonic was suddenly pulled into the tightest hug he had ever felt in his life. This hug, however, was more of a headlock as Amy held him by the neck, causing his breath to be lost to him.
"Of course he likes me!" Amy stated to Rainbow, not even paying attention to the struggles by Sonic himself. "I'll have you know that we're destined to be together missy!I know it and even Sonic knows it!Tell her!"
If she was waiting for Sonic to say something, she wasn't about to get one. All the group heard was a mix of grunts and gasps for air a Sonic's muzzle began to turn blue like the rest of his body. Rainbow didn't know what to think right now. For one, she felt a light chuckle building up as she watched Sonic in the position he was in right now. Thing is, she was partially intimidated by how Amy was handling him, giving off the strong impression that this relationship was a bit one-sided, to a heavy extent.
By this time, Tails had already jumped out of the Tornado and rushed over to his partner's aid. "Amy, I think you're squeezing him a little too hard."
"Hmm?" she hummed before actually looking at her ‘boyfriend'. True to his words, Sonic looked like he was about to pass out from the lack of air. He didn't even have the strength to fight anymore, just letting what was going to happen, happen.
With an eep, she let him go, letting him fall to the deck on his hands and knees. With a sharp gasp, he finally began breathing again, clutching his chest with one free hand.
"Oh my gosh!" Amy squealed. "Sonic, I'm so sorry!"
"Hey...*cough*…no worries…" he choked, an apparent wooziness to his voice.
"Smooth, Ames," Rainbow whispered to the girl, convincing Amy that she didn't have the guts to stare at Sonic right now and just looked away with a blush.
"You ok Sonic?" asked Tails, his hand on his friend's back.
"Hey, you know me…I've been through worse," Sonic laughed.
"Worse?" asked Rainbow."Your head was about to pop off with how much she was squeezing it. "She believed she saw Amy flinch with another "eep" out of the corner of her eye.
"Don't worry.I'll be sure to finish that job myself!"
The group jumped at the new voice, but they all knew it perfectly well. Instantly, they all began looking for the source, but none of them saw a thing. However, that changed when Amy could swear she heard a loud whistling noise from above them, prompting her to look up.
"Look out!" she yelled.
Not even taking time to look at what she saw, the group just threw themselves out of the way, all before they felt the blowing of wind and the shaking of the deck, the sound of cracking wood splitting their eardrums. They all picked themselves up to see a massive robot in their place, half of its body embedded in the deck. It was red in color, and it was much bigger than Beta and Gamma ever were. In fact, its size reminded Rainbow of the robot back on the Death Egg.
Its body was red like it, but aside from that, it was completely different. The part of its body that was embedded seemed to be its head and on either side of it were two massive wheels with spikes lined the outside of them. A long metal tail extended out the back, giving the whole thing a snake-like appearance.
Using said tail, it pressed it against the deck and forcefully pulled itself out of the hole.It now stood tall, overshadowing any of them as it stared at them with its single red eye.
"I applaud you for being able to dodge that, but you'll soon find that it'd soon be in vain," Eggman's voice said through the external speakers.
"It helps when you call out your attacks before we even see you egg for brains," Rainbow shot at him.
"It's not like it matters at this point," Eggman stated with confidence. "I've got you right where I want you, and there'll be no escaping the Egg Viper. After all, I don't think you'll be the first to want to take a dip now would you Sonic?"
"We already talked about this," Sonic mumbled annoyingly.
Eggman just huffed in response. "You know, I was expecting Beta and Gamma to turn you all into dust by this point, but I can see that I was sorely mistaken.I don't know how you got passed them, but your little adventure ends here, along with them."
Amy's fist balled up at the mention of Gamma's name. She knew that Eggman had no real care for Gamma's or Beta's real feelings, and that just made something in her tick. She glared at the massive robot, not even fazed at this point by its looks, or how it could crush her with ease. Lifting one hand, she summoned her hammer, the overly large red and yellow weapon like a feather in her hand. The rest of group seemed to shrink back at the summon, both Sonic and Tails knowing that whenever she brought that out, someone was gonna be hurting into next week.
She stepped forward, clutching her hammer in both hands as she took a stance in front of the Egg Viper. "You have no right to say that about them!" she yelled in anger. "You have no idea how they felt, or what they really wanted! You were just using them for your own goals! I'm going to beat you into submission before we're done here you big jerk!"
"I don't know where all these feelings for some machines are coming from, but you are correct. They were just a means to an end, just like everything soon will be once Eggman Land is finally complete. The whole world will soon be in my grasp, and there's nothing any of you can do about it!"
"That's where you're wrong Egghead!" remarked Sonic as he stepped up next to Amy. "As long we're around, you can bet your mustache that whatever you do, we'll be there to meet it."
"That goes double for me," Rainbow joined in as she stepped up as well.
Eggman growled at them, and while they couldn't see it, a vein on his bald head was looking very close to bursting forth.
"Gggrrrr, fortunately for you, you're not the ones I'm after right now.My priorities are on something else."
"Something else?" Tails inquired, but a thought soon clicked in his head. "The emerald!"
As if on cue, he saw the Tornado, which was situated behind the Egg Viper, was lifted off its feet and into the air. Confirming his worries, he saw what was lifting it, and he could feel his heart almost sink. Water. Not just any water, but water that was loosely forming into the shape of tentacles that were constricting the plane in various places.
Sonic, Rainbow, and Amy all shrunk back at the sight, the latter two not sure what to think of it, while Sonic just glared at the familiar appendages. "Wha—what are those things?!" Rainbow asked in haste.
"It's…Chaos…" Tails answered, his voice shaking as he said it.
"Hehe hehe hehe," Eggman chuckled evilly. "That's right, Chaos. They broke our toys. How about we repay them the favor."
On his orders, the misshapen watery mass began closing up its tentacles, the Tornado beginning to bend and buck at the force being put on its body and wings. It wasn't long until the entire body was crushed underneath the force, the entire thing looking like a piece of paper being crumbled together before it exploded.
Tails' eyes went wide, his own pet project being torn apart in front of his very eyes. He watched as the scorched blue wings hit the deck, most of them bent in pretzel-like manners. What concerned him the most, however, was what he saw once the smoke cleared. Chaos was still there like the explosion never even took place.
Rainbow got a good look at the strange creature across from them, and she's never seen something so messed up since Discord. Like his tentacles, his main body was also made of water, but it was the shape of it and what was inside of it that caught her attention. Its body was large and round, almost frog-like in shape. It had a tail that resembled a scorpion and several arms and legs of similar nature. It had a gaping mouth with rows of metal teeth, and she could see its skeleton through its crystal-clear body, it too made of metal, and it was all connected to a large sort of brain. It had two large eyes lining the top of its body, both of them green in color. But, something else caught her eye. Lining its metal skeleton was what looked to be six Chaos Emeralds, all of them embedded in various places. And in one of its free tentacles, was the Chaos Emerald from the Tornado.
"I'd like to thank you for your generous contribution to the Eggman Empire," Eggman taunted. "Your donation is greatly appreciated. Now, if you don't mind, I believe its time for you to vanish!"
Without another word, the robot lunged forward, its spiked wheels spinning up to a rapid pace. The group all readied themselves, getting set to jump out of the way once more.It approached them and…
It stopped.
The whole thing suddenly stopped in its tracks, its whole body jerking as it looked to have been pulled back.
"What?!" Eggman roared, confused as to why he stopped.
"What happened?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm…I'm not…" Tails tried to answer, but looking past the main part of the robot's body, he finally realized what was going on, somewhat.
Pointing it out to the others, they all saw that what was holding back was none other than its own tail. Eggman looked to have tried to jerk away, but the tail was pulled back once again, and they all saw that it led down the very hole that Eggman made earlier.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he roared again. "You stupid machine!Do what I say!Stop going backwaRRRDDD!" he screamed as the Viper jerked back again, part of its tail disappearing down the hole. It was pulled back more, and more until most of its tail was gone. Its main body was now being threatened with going down as well, and despite all of the struggling, it continued on.
"Darn it! Darn it! DARN IT!" he yelled. "Activate the escape procedure! Get us out of here!"
"Yes sir!" two other voices exclaimed on the inside.
As requested by the doctor, the hatch on the front of the Viper opened up, revealing Eggman and both of his robot lackeys sitting in the cockpit of his eggmobile. With the Viper about to disappear, the vehicle shot out of the opening, hitting the deck slightly before it successfully managed to float in midair. Soon after, the Viper was forcefully and violently pulled into the hole, loud crunching noises heard as it vanished from sight.
"What's the meaning of this?!" Eggman demanded. "Who's responsible for this?!"
"Right here Eggman," said a new voice, one that Rainbow felt sounded familiar, but she just couldn't place it.
The owner of the voice appeared to have jumped out of the hole the Viper went through, revealing himself to the rest of the group. He stood directly in front of Eggman's eggmobile and judging by the looks on horror on their faces, he was not good for them. The figure was red in color, with very familiar dreads hanging from his head, prominent boxing gloves over his hands. Then it clicked. Rainbow almost immediately recognized his face.After looking into those purple eyes of his, it might as well have confirmed it.
"And you made a mistake if you thought you could escape from me," said Knuckles.
Eggman shrunk back in fear at his statement and so did Orbot in Cubot, both of the latters clutching each other in horror.
"Hey, Knux!" Sonic called, waving him down. "Long time no see pal!"
This caught the echidna's attention, prompting his brow to furrow at their unexpected appearance. "Sonic?" he wondered, his voice much gruffer than it was when he was younger. "What are you guys doing here?!"
"We could be asking you that same question!" Rainbow expressed, actually glad to see him here given the circumstances.
Knuckles looked at her with confusion before his eyes flashed with a hint of realization. "It's you."
Their speech was cut off when they heard the sound of the good doctor audibly growling to himself, his fists balled up as his brow contorted in anger. "That's it! I'm through messing around! I don't care how many of you there are! You're all just pests beneath my boot! Chaos!" he called to the monstrosity. "Here are your orders! You are to eliminate these vermin from the face of the earth! Now, show them your true power, one that will bring about destruction to all that would dare oppose the great Dr. Eggman!"
Silence took over the deck of the ship, the only sounds being the crashing of waves below them. No one dared move, as none of them seemed to want to agitate the creature before them. To everyone's surprise, including that of Eggman, Chaos made no attempt to attack the group. In fact, it didn't move much of anything. The only thing it seemed to be doing was staring intently at the brand-new Chaos Emerald that came into his possession, its shining glow illuminating its green eyes.
"Chaos!" Eggman called once again. "Did you hear me!I said to destroy them!"
Rainbow could feel a cold bead of sweat falling down her forehead, everypony sitting perfectly still in a nervous state. She remembered how Twilight looked when she got back, and according to Silver and Blaze, this was the creature responsible for her injuries. To her, it honestly looked ridiculous, but she knew better than to underestimate this one. She made that mistake last time with Metal Sonic.
Final, Chaos seemed to notice Eggman speaking to it, but it still barely even made a move, aside from not looking at the Chaos Emerald anymore. It was looking directly at Knuckles and Eggman. At this point, Knuckles was looking back at Chaos as well, and he got into a crouched stance as he waited for whatever came next. It was silent again, and everyone was on edge. They may have escaped the wrath of the Egg Viper, but this was a whole other ball game. This wasn't some robot either. From what Rainbow could tell, despite its strange appearance, it was one-hundred percent alive, with the brain to go along with it.
Finally, it made its move.It absorbed the Chaos Emerald into its body through its tentacle, causing its whole body to glow brightly as the emerald found its place within. Suddenly, said tentacle lashed out, heading straight for Knuckles. Knuckles brought up his fists, ready for the attack, but it never hit. In fact, Knuckles didn't even have to dodge. The attack shot straight past him, missing his body completely. Everyone was confused about what was happening, especially when said tentacle began wrapping its way around Eggman's eggmobile.
"Chaos! Wha—what are you doing?!"
The only response he got from the creature was a low growl, its watery body vibrating as it did. An eerie purple aura began taking over its body as its eyes changed from an emerald green to a ruby red.
"Oh no," Rainbow quaked, her apparent shock to the aura taking over her senses.
Before the doctor could get out another word, it pulled him in, slung its tentacle back, and released.
"Whhhyyyy mmmmeeeeeeee?!" the group heard as Eggman sailed into the distance, his eggmobile just a speck on the horizon in the blink of an eye.
"What's happening?!" Amy questioned, confused as to what just transpired.
With its focus now on the group, Chaos let out a near deafening roar, prompting the group to throw their hands/hooves over their ears. The glow of its body grew brighter, and Rainbow could feel the power in her chest starting to burn up with the amount of chaos energy it was letting loose.
Despite everything going on at once, Knuckles just removed his hands from his ears and growled loudly at the creature before him.It wanted to fight, he would give it one. "Alright big guy, let's dance!" He rushed forward, rearing back a punch.
"Knuckles! Wait!" Tails called out.
He didn't listen. Just as he was inches from impacting with Chaos' body, his vision was quickly taken up by nothing but light, and he was forced to cover his eyes, or else risk going blind.
"Darn it!" he swore.
The rest of group was also suffering the effects of the light, having to shield themselves from it.
"The hay are we supposed to do against this guy?!" Rainbow questioned. "And what's so important about him getting those Chaos Emeralds?!"
"Nothing good, I can tell you that!" answered Sonic.
The light persisted, but before long, a deafening boom was heard from where Chaos stood. The wind from the blast shot through their hair, the stinging of the cold air brushing against their skin. Finally, the light subsided, the wind along with it.
With it safe to open their eyes, they scanned what they could, perplexed by what was left.
The wind still persisted to a small extent but faded into the distance with a thunderous sound as it left. The space where Chaos once stood was now empty aside from a very confused and angered Knuckles. There was no sign of the creature, the only traces it was here being the wet wood.
"Wait," Amy spoke up. "What just happened? Where did Chaos go? It just vanished."
"Chaos!" Knuckles yelled, his fists at the ready even with no one there for him to hit. "Get back here!I know it's you and Eggman that were responsible for the Master Emerald breaking apart! So, get back here so I can pay you back for it in full!"
"Hey, Knux. Take it easy," said Sonic as he approached the echidna.
"How do you expect me to do that, Sonic?! Besides, it's your fault that the last Chaos Emerald ended up in that thing's possession!"
"Last I checked, one of those emeralds he has was yours. Or am I just remembering that wrong?"
Knuckles looked like he wanted to retort, but Rainbow could see his face go to that of anger to annoyance in an instant. He simply growled as he looked away, stomping off away from the group.
"Hey, don't be like that," Sonic joked, making sure to keep up with him as he walked off. "Mistakes happen, and besides, it's not like this is any worse than what happened before."
"Wait a second!" Rainbow called. "Are we not gonna talk about how whatever that thing was just disappeared to who knows where?! I feel like this is important stuff we're missing here!"
"I don't know," Amy said. "Maybe Chaos just left. It may have just wanted the Chaos Emeralds and after that, it may just have decided to leave us alone."
"I don't think so," Tails inquired, all while picking up a piece of what used to be the Tornado. "I do think you're right about it wanting the Chaos Emeralds, and that would explain why it decided to betray Eggman afterward, as I bet he was just a means to an end. But…after all this, I don't feel like it's done just yet."
"I still don't get all of this," Rainbow said. "What did it want if the Chaos Emeralds weren't it?"
"I'm still working on that, as I still don't have a good idea of what Chaos even is."
"It's a being that was born inside of the Master Emerald," they heard Knuckles state.
He caught all their attention, the echidna himself standing before Sonic and the rest of them as he looked out to the metropolis in the distance. "I'm not sure about all the details, but from I can gather, Chaos was a being that resided in the Master Emerald ever since the days of my clan. Thing is, I think something angered Chaos, something that my clan must have done to it."
"Hey, how do you happen to know all this, Knuckles?" Sonic asked.
"Well, a vision, if you could believe it."
"Huh, you too," Sonic responded.
This caught knuckles attention. "Wait, what do you mean by that? Don't tell me you've been having them too."
Rainbow listened intently at the mention of visions, and she couldn't help but let her mind wander to that moment with her mother earlier today. It was strange. Were they having a similar thing happen to them? Or was this something completely unrelated?
"Hit the nail on the head," muttered Sonic. "Whatever got Chaos so riled up back then, he's definitely paying someone back in full now."
"What, so it's a revenge thing?" asked Rainbow.
"I have no idea," Knuckles sighed. "Right now, my only concern is to get the Chaos Emeralds back. First things first though, we need to find out where Chaos went. If we can't even do that, it's not gonna be easy going."
"Good point," Sonic agreed. "Alright, anyone got any ideas."
"Umm," Amy trailed, albeit a strong shaking to her voice, fear evident in it, "I think I know where Chaos is…"
"Hmm, where?" asked Knuckles.
His only answer was a pointing of her finger, to which he was confused at first. The group followed her finger and froze as to what they saw. Rainbow's mouth was agape, and her eyes were quivering in a similar manner to Amy's. Her breath was caught in her throat, and her legs absolutely refused to move from their spot.
"Mommy! Mommy! Can we get one of the big balloons?! Please!" a little girl asked her mother.
It was midday in Station Square, the blazing sun beating down on the local residents as they went about their daily lives.
Many cars were backed up in traffic, the sidewalks nearly overflowing with people. The tall skyscrapers that towered over the streets reflected the sun off their glass exteriors while casting their shadows on those more fortunate.
At the moment, there was a mother and her daughter going on their daily walk, the mother wearing her white sunhat with the girl wearing just a simple bow. The girl was currently holding onto a couple of brightly colored balloons as they blew in the new but welcomed breeze.
"Did you not just get two new ones?" her mother joked sweetly. "Do you not like them?"
"Please mommy?! I promise this will be the last one! Pllleeeaassseeee," she asked excitedly, bright shining eyes pleading directly to her mother.
The older women sighed, but with an amused smile none the less. It may take some time out of the day at least, and she's always more than willing to please her little girl with gifts. At least she's enjoying herself. "If we must, but after this, we need to get home for dinner ok. We can't be late like last time."
"Yay!" she exclaimed in joy.
Looking at the stand her daughter had pointed out a second ago, she walked them up to it and let her pick out which one she wanted. She ended up stopping on a bright pink and blue one with frills around the sides.
"That one please," the mother said with a smile.
"Certainly," the man behind the stand said, unclipping the balloon and handing it to the little girl. "Here ya go. And this one is on the house."
The mother looked at the man with perplexed eyes and asked, "Are you sure? Money isn't an issue."
"Don't worry about it miss," the man laughed cheerfully. "It's always a pleasure to see such fine folks out today. Just be sure to get in somewhere quickly. It's supposed to stay scorching hot all day today."
"We will and thank you. What do we say?" the mother asked her daughter.
The girl just let the widest grin she had grow on her face. "Thank you, mister!"
The man just laughed. "Of course, little miss."
The man stopped his sentence when he felt something tap his head. He was confused as to what it was at first until he felt another. He quickly realized that it was water. At first, he thought it may have been some kids spilling water down from one of the buildings, but upon looking up, his confusion only grew.
"Huh, I mean, it was supposed to stay sunny all day," he said to the pair, eyeing the dark grey storm clouds that moved in overhead.
The women and her daughter looked on as well, feeling the small droplets of rain on their bare skin. Thunder rang out over the city, which was strange since there wasn't any sign of a storm earlier today.
The little girl watched with interest, feeling the cold liquid drop on her nose. She went to wipe it off, only to be off put by something down the street.
"Mommy?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. "What's all that water doing?"
"Hmm? Water?" her mother asked.
She looked to where her daughter was looking…
…and her eyes shrunk.
Far down the street reaching high above the skyscrapers was none other than a wall of water. One wall of water that looked as if it was getting closer, a gargantuan wave forming from the tsunami and overtaking all that stood in its way.
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Yeah, again, thank you for that.
Also. New Chapter.
Chaos shows, that as a villan deity you don't need a ton of "Elements", areas of influence for gods or demigods, or even particulary powerful ones, to be intiminating. What matters most is, and stays, Presentation!