Sonic and EQG Forces

by SonicAKG

Back in Action

In the resistance base, the entrance doors suddenly opened, causing Sunset, Amy, Manic, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to turn to see who was coming through the doors.

"*whistle*, So this is your resistance base, huh?" Sonic said as he entered and took a look around. "Not too shabby. It's no Freedom HQ, but it'll do."

Sunset and the others suddenly froze in place as they couldn't believe what they were actually seeing.

"Sonic?" Sunset said in an amazed tone, which made him notice her and everyone else in the room.

"Yo, Sunset. Been a while, huh?" He cheerfully greeted.

Before she or anyone else could react, Sonic found himself wrapped in a large hug by Amy, much his surprise.

"Oh, Sonic, it really is you! Thank goodness, thank goodness! I'm so happy to see you again! This is just wonderful!" Amy blubbered with joy as her grip on Sonic grew tighter.

"Amy?!" Sonic nearly shouted. "Maybe I should've stayed on Eggman's ship."

The rescue squad then entered the room as everyone else noticed Sonic being smothered by Amy, much to their amusement.

"Is she always like this when Sonic's around?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You don't know the half of it. I'd say this is her being calm." Manic jokingly answered.

"Wow, talk about touchy-feely." Pinkie noticed which made AppleJack and Fluttershy raise their eyebrows. She was one to talk.

Amy continued hugging Sonic, who was looking pretty uncomfortable as his eyes darted around the room. Just then, Knuckles walked up.

"Amy, I get you're glad he's here or all, but give him time to breathe or otherwise you might end up killing him yourself."Knuckles suggested.

Amy then let go of Sonic, who then took a deep breath.

"Thanks." Sonic said before he turned to the others.

"Welcome back, bro." Manic greeted as he walked up and gave his brother a fist bump. "Though we were doing alright without you, it's nice you'll give a helping hand."

"Really? That's not how I heard it." Sonic quipped back.

Rainbow Dash then approached Sonic and gave him a hard slug in the arm, which he wasn't expecting.

"What was that for?" Sonic asked in a confused manner.

"That's for making us think you were dead for six months!" Rainbow answered.

"That wasn't my fault." Sonic replied before Rainbow Dash's face broke out into a grin.

"I knew you wouldn't go down so easily." She said as she gave him a playful punch in the same spot.

"Sonic, it's seriously good to see you again." Sunset stated. "This battle has really taken its toll and it wasn't easy thinking you were dead."

"It's good to be back, Sunset." Sonic replied as he placed his hand on her shoulder. "And I'm not going anywhere until I dish out 6 months worth of payback on Eggman."

"Ummm.....Hi Sonic, nice to see you're doing alright." Fluttershy timidly addressed Sonic, who gave her the thumbs up.

"I'm glad you guys haven't gone down since when I was gone. When I was up there on Eggman's ship, I knew you'd all carry on the fight without me." Sonic praised.

"With you back, this can show the people that Eggman hasn't lost yet. That we still have a chance to bring him down. This should increase our numbers." Silver eagerly said

Sonic nodded in agreement and took one more look around the room. As he did, he frowned.

"Hey, where's Tails? And Twilight and Spike?" Sonic asked.

Sonic's question caused the entire room to turn quiet as everyone formed somber looks.

"Tails.....well, when he found out that you might be dead, he didn't take it well. He ran off to try and find you. Twilight took Spike with her to go look out for him." Knuckles explained.

"We haven't had much contact with them either, so we're not too sure of their current situation." Sunset added.

Sonic looked down on the ground for a while before his face turned into a smile.

"Heh, we've got nothing to worry about. Tails and Twilight are tough, they can handle themselves. I'm sure they're fighting just as hard as you guys have been. We can find them along the way in trying to take out Eggman." Sonic said with optimism.

Suddenly, Sonic turned to Amy.

"Amy, if you're here, what about Sally and the others?" Sonic questioned as Amy rubbed her arm and formed a sad look.

"They couldn't get away during Eggman's attack on New Mobotropolis. They got captured when he destroyed the city. Only I got away." Amy regretfully informed him.

"City...destroyed? Sal and the others got captured?" Sonic repeated as if he didn't hear right. He then clenched his fist as he felt slight sensations of anger and regret for not being there.

"Sonic, like Sunset mentioned, these 6 months haven't exactly been stellar. Eggman's taken over everything and hasn't just destroyed New Mobotropolis. He did it to Canterlot and others." AppleJack said.

Sonic then folded his arms after hearing this and started to go over everything. So much had changed in his absence.

Sonic then remembered something crucial as his eyes lit up.

"Hey, have any of you guys seen Shadow around? He was with Eggman when I got beaten by that new guy. In fact, he helped beat me up." Sonic revealed, which made the resistance form astonished looks after receiving this news.

"Shadow? Are you sure? He's supposed to be on our side." Silver pointed out.

"Hold on a minute." Pinkie stated "Did this Shadow have black hair, with 4 pieces curling upward and two curling downward, 4 red stripes on the side with a wider stripe in the middle, have red eyes and red outline near his eyelids, two red and white shoes with a little bit of paint scratched off, white gloves with black wrist, red bands and two golden shiny rings, was wearing red and black with a patch of white fur and is about your height and weight?"

Everyone in the room couldn't believe how Pinkie had specifically described Shadow while Sonic just blinked twice.

"Uh...yeah...." Sonic slowly answered.

"With an eye like that, you'd make a good detective." Vector simply said as he rubbed the back of his head, which made Pinkie beam before she turned back to Sonic.

"Then like Silver said, that's hazy-crazy!" Pinkie stated. "Shadow wouldn't do something like that...unless he's being mind controlled..... again."

"That wasn't what I was hoping to hear, Big Blue." Rouge suddenly chimed in. "I had contact with Shadow sometime before you vanished. Our signal got cut off and I haven't heard a word from him since. I figured he'd probably be off on his own crusade as usual but I guess mind control is an option. It looks like I have some extra digging to do."

Rouge then reached into her pocket and pulled a small drive.

"But before I do, I need to give you this." Rouge said as she tossed the drive towards Amy. "It should be of some help. In the meantime, I'll contact you all when we find something."

"Hold on, but is another person going on their own really such a good idea? I mean, we already have 3 missing people to worry about." Rarity pointed out.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head. They don't call me the world's number one spy for nothing." Rouge casually said.

With that said, Rouge walked out of the Resistance base, leaving the others to find out what she had given them.

"We can trust Rouge. After all, she was the one who told us where Sonic was being held. Anyway, let's see what she left us." Knuckles stated.

Amy plugged the drive in on the resistance computer. After she did, a green holographic screen was displayed for everyone to see. Many texts of writing appeared along with what appeared to be schematics for a pyramid.

"Wow, this is...this is.....uh, what is this?" Charmy said in a stumped manner.

"It's a weapons factory. From the look of this intel, it's a big one housed in the Green Hill and is producing Eggman's arsenal at an incredibly fast rate." Espio calmly explained, which caused the entire resistance to form alarmed looks after hearing this.

"Weapons factory?!" AppleJack exclaimed. "That explains why he has so many robots under his control. This isn't good."

"With that factory intact, Eggman can just keep pumping out robots to keep us at bay. We won't be able to make any progress and take the fight to him." Silver brought up.

"Then we have to wreck it to the ground!" Rainbow Dash said in a determined manner. "I'll do it! I haven't had much field action."

"You can't." Amy suddenly told her. "You're supposed to head out for a recon mission in the far north, remember?"

Rainbow Dash groaned after hearing that. She had totally forgotten about the recon mission.

"Actually, while you were gone, a lot of areas that need our attention popped up." Sunset said as using a tablet, she displayed a screen with multiple beeping points to Knuckles. "They're going to need almost all of us, which is going to spread us thin."

Knuckles took Sunset's words into account as he put his finger on his chin to think of a plan. He then turned to Sonic.

"Sonic, I know you just got back and all, but you heard Sunset. Can you take care of this factory?" Knuckles asked, which made Sonic form an ambitious smile.

"Are you kidding? I was worried about being put on the sidelines. I got this!" Sonic told him. "Dealing a major blow back to Eggman on my first mission is just icing on the cake."

"What about me? I don't have a mission yet and this factory sounds like a handful. Mind if I tag along?" Manic requested, which made Sonic place his arm around him.

"Of course not! It's been a while since we've trashed some Eggman bots together!" Sonic agreed.

"This op could use one more person just in case." Knuckles said as he looked around the room for anyone else who could go with them. " I got it, take Fluttershy with you."

Hearing her name made Fluttershy fill up with anxiety. During her time with the resistance, she had never actually gone out into the field. It was because she was actually too afraid to go out in the front lines of battle. That wasn't her specialty.

"M-me?" She slowly said in a nervous tone. "Oh, I don't know about that...."

"Fluttershy, we don't really have any options left." Sunset told her. "I know it's not easy for you but we need to use all the hands we have."

Fluttershy took a gulp. The thought of actually going out against Eggman's army scared the living daylight out of her. She timidly looked down at the ground.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you'll be fine. You've gone up against an two crazy she-demon, 3 evil sirens and you even flew up to a giant water monster. You got this." Rainbow Dash reminded her.

Fluttershy knew that Rainbow Dash had a point. But this was different. The situation was an actual war, with so many enemies to fight. She just gripped her arm in an unsure manner.

Seeing how uneasy she was about this, Manic came next to her and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Sonic and I will just blitz through the place and you can just stay back and observe us. You won't have to put yourself in danger if you don't have to. The two of us got your back." Manic promised, which made Fluttershy feel a little better as she formed a small smile.

"Thanks, Manic." She responded, though her fear was still there.

"You sure about going with her?" Vector said with skepticism as he put his hands on his hips. "No offense, but she's shaking like a leaf."

Fluttershy was feeling somewhat disappointed that her fear was so visible but AppleJack spoke up.

"Don't let that fool you. When push comes to shove, Fluttershy'll pull through." AppleJack said in her friend's defense, which also added a small boost to Fluttershy's confidence, seeing as she always told the truth.

"The three of us won't let you down. That factory's going to be history." Sonic declared as he wiped his nose with his thumb.

With that said, Sonic, Manic and a still reluctant Fluttershy exited the resistance base towards their mission. When they left, Knuckles turned to Sunset.

"Hey Sunset, we also need some people to head over to the Mystic Jungle. You up for it?" He asked her.

Knuckles' request made Sunset recall her time in the city. She remembered the masked figure floating down in front of her after he had injured the citizens she was trying to defend.

"Tell you what, if you run, I promise I'll let you go for today." She recalled the figure telling her, which made her feel insecure and form a look of uncertainty.

"Uh...I think it's best if I stay here and help out Amy with tech support. It's a good use of my skills. You know that stuff is more my speed." Sunset nervously said.

"You have a point there." Knuckles agreed. "But I still need someone in the Mystic Jungle."

"I'll do it." Silver offered. "I can handle whatever Eggman throws at me."

"Though I hate to dirty my own hands with this sort of grunt work, desperate times call for desperates measures. It's dangerous if you go alone." Rarity chimed in. "I'll come with you."

Hearing Silver sound so determined and confident along with Rarity volunteering to accompany him made Sunset feel ashamed of herself as she formed a glum look. She had encouraged Fluttershy, who was scared to death of anything violent to go out on a mission when she couldn't even go out herself. She hated to admit it, but she was even more frightened of running into that figure again than Fluttershy could be of anything.

---

In the Green Hill, which was almost dried of its lake and flora, making it almost covered in sand entirely, Sonic and Manic were rushing into the area, with Fluttershy flying not too far behind. In the background, they noticed a large mechanized pyramid, which had a few large pipes attached near its bottom.

"That must be the weapons factory up ahead." Manic observed.

"Sheesh, Green Hill's in even worse shape than before." Sonic said with dismay before he looked back to Fluttershy. "It's too bad you couldn't come here to see how it normally looks. You would've loved this place if all the animals were here."

"Animals? Has Eggman's work on here displaced all the critters?" Fluttershy asked, clearly alarmed at the idea.

"Probably. He doesn't care too much on animals. He uses them as fuel most of the time." Manic answered.

"Though I did see a giant Sandworm." Sonic added.

This information caused Fluttershy to feel a newfound sense of anger stirring within her. It was bad enough that Eggman hurt people, but he even had to include harmless critters? Just thinking of it made her so...peeved.

On the path they were currently on, a legion of Eggpawns blocked the team's path. Sonic and Manic quickly turned into streaks and blitz past the robots with little difficulty as Fluttershy lagged behind to not be caught up in the action.

"Too easy. Let's smash this place to the ground." Sonic stated. "Hope you can keep up with me, bro."

"Are you kidding? I should be worried that you haven't gotten slow while you were in space." Manic shot back. "When you were gone, I had to pick up a lot of your slack."

The three of them soon approached a metallic scaffold that was surrounded by over-dimensional pipes before they landed on the platforms. Waiting for them were more Egg Pawns, who noticed the incoming intruders and aimed their weapons. Seeing this made Fluttershy squeal as she covered her face with her hands. Before the robots even got a chance to fire, they were destroyed by Sonic and Manic moving around as green and blue streaks.

"Yo, Fluttershy, the coast is clear." Fluttershy heard Sonic say as she opened her eyes to see him and Manic waiting for her.

"See? Like I told you, we can handle this." Manic reassured her as Fluttershy eased up a bit. He had a point. So far, so good.

The 3 of them made their way across the scaffold and took a narrow path which sent them on a wide road close to the pyramid. Surrounding it were storage areas for shipping containers, tube systems, and other metallic structures in the desert around the pyramid.

"We're almost to the entrance, but at the rate we're going, it's going to take forever." Sonic said, which Fluttershy found odd as he and Manic were moving pretty fast already. Then again, it was Sonic, who is pretty impatient.

"I got an idea." Sonic went on. "Hey Manic, let's try a Double Boost."

Manic then formed a slight grin. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Manic dashed backward slightly and grabbed a hold of Fluttershy's wrist before he came back next to Sonic.

"We don't want you getting left behind." Manic told her. "Also, brace yourself as this might be.....bumpy."

"Wait, what?" Fluttershy replied in a stupefied manner.

Sonic and Manic jumped in the air, taking Fluttershy with them as the two of them slapped hands and faced in front of them.

"Double...Boost!" The brothers yelled in unison as they were surrounded by a combined blue and green aura and burst ahead at unimaginable speed, breaking the sound barrier. Doing so caused them to smash through any enemy or obstacle that was in their way.

As they moved ahead, Fluttershy hung on for dear life to Manic. The speed they were moving at made her experience such an intense sensation as she yelled out loud. She felt the wind in her hair and on her face as she moved forward with the boosting duo. She had never felt anything like this. It made being on roller coasters seem like snail's pace. Fluttershy was trying her best not to faint due to how fast she was moving.

The three of them moved along the road, causing them to scale up on side of the pyramid and sending more enemies skyrocketing until they reached the top. In front of them was a large vent shaft.

"Bingo." Sonic said as the boost ended, causing him and his companions to begin to dive into the entrance of the pyramid while Fluttershy was still dazed.

"Now that you're in the pyramid, be careful. Eggman probably has defenses enabled." Amy cautioned over the coms.

As the team skydived into the entrance of the pyramid, a series of red lasers suddenly emerged in an attempt to block their path, forming a grid. Sonic and Manic avoided the beams as they fell, leading Fluttershy to do the same as they continued inside the pyramid. The two of them even turned around and crossed their arms to fall in style. Eventually, they reached the bottom.

"Too easy." Manic said as he dusted his hands and turned to Sonic. The two of them noticed Fluttershy, who wasn't looking too good. Her hair was a total mess and she was sort of wobbling back and forth as if she could fall over at any second.

"Hey, Fluttershy, you ok?" Sonic asked. "Sorry, I guess we should've given you a better heads up."

Fluttershy took in a few deep breaths before she managed to regain her composure. She looked at Sonic and Manic.

"I never want to do that again." She simply said, making the two of them turn to each other as Manic scratched his head.

"So, this is Eggman's weapons factory, huh?." He said as he looked around at his surroundings. The 3 of them were inside a metallic factory full of spinning gears with a greenish color.

"We got no time to lose, let's get this place smashed." Sonic said in a determined tone.

The trio moved deeper into the factory, their path blocked by more Egg Pawns,. Before any could do anything, Sonic rushed around them, sucking them up in a blue tornado and making them rise in the air. The robots exploded as soon as they crashed to the ground while Sonic looked quite pleased with himself.

"Hey, leave some for me." Manic complained.

"I told you earlier, don't be too slow." Sonic teased as Manic just folded his arms.

The 3 of them noticed a larger clockwork to the side, which caught their attention as they moved towards it. Once they were on the platform, a squad of Egg Pawns came and surrounded them.

"Seriously? Sonic just destroyed a bunch of them." Fluttershy said. She was starting to feel more annoyed than fearful of how many robots they encountered.

Manic reacted quickly and took out his two eskrima sticks. He twirled them at high speed and released them like they were buzz saws, slicing through all of the robots like nothing before his sticks returned to him as Sonic formed an amused look.

"Maybe you're not that slow." Sonic said in a neutral tone.

"Heh, I'm not going to let you show me up." Manic replied.

The team then moved through a series of gear platforms, leading them deeper into the factory. On each gear, they were ambushed by Eggman robots, but Sonic and Manic made quick work of them, even making it a competition as sometimes Either Sonic destroyed them or Manic did. As the mission went on, Fluttershy started to relax. It wasn't so bad. Sonic and Manic could clearly handle this.

Once they passed through the gears, the 3 of them now traversed across a long pathway. At the end of it, they found a metal gate in front of them. Using their speed, Sonic and Manic leaped over it while Fluttershy just flew across, leading them downward. They then found themselves on a long and narrow metal bridge. Beneath it was a series of large missiles and torpedos.

"Oh my, these are the kind of weapons that Eggman has? This is awful." Fluttershy in an anxious tone.

"Not for long." Sonic boasted as he prepared to dash ahead.

Suddenly, a gunshot was fired just barely in front of him, making him jump back and Fluttershy yelp. The two of them alongside Manic looked up to see the source.

Coming down towards them was Fang, with his gun in his right hand. He landed down in front of the triad. Fluttershy looked worried while Sonic and Manic didn't seem too impressed with what was in front of them.

"What? It's just Fang?" Manic said in a dismissive tone before he turned to Sonic. "You go on ahead and get started on wrecking this factory. I can handle this alone."

Sonic nodded and then turned to Fluttershy to give her an uplifting thumbs up. He then quickly dashed past Fang, leaving him to face Manic.

"Fluttershy, you should step back." Manic cautioned, which Fluttershy agreed to as she went and took shelter behind a nearby structure.

"So, you decided to join up with Eggman, huh?" Manic said. "You know he's like wrecking the entire world right? I know you're in it for the money, but don't you at least have some conscious?"

Fang responded to Manic's question by firing a series of shots. Manic evaded them thanks to his speed and using his sticks, he deflected a few of them to the side.

"Sheesh, sorry if I hit a nerve. Yes or No would've just been fine." Manic complained as he continued to fend off and avoid Fang's shots.

Manic then prepared to rush towards the sniper but before he moved, Fang suddenly leaped several feet in the air, much to Manic's surprise as he looked up.

"Ok...that's new..." Manic said with a dumbfounded expression.

In the air, Fang tried to hit Manic with his shots, but Manic was still too fast to hit. Fang then started to jumping around and firing his gun at the same time, making it more difficult for Manic to both defend and dodge, placing him on an edge. After a few more rounds of this, Manic hit back one of Fang's shot back at him while he was in the air, sending him down to the ground. As he was about to hit it, Manic dashed and delivered a strong kick to his stomach, sending the mercenary sprawling on the floor. When Fang came to a stop, he was suddenly surrounded by a dark, glittery mist.

"Wow! What's that?!" Manic exclaimed in a startled tone.

The mist began to clear and instead of Fang, Bean was now there, much to Manic's confusion.

"Bean? When did you get here?" Manic asked. "On second thought, Don't start talking. You never shut up."

Bean listened to Manic's request and generated a black bomb, which he tossed towards him. Manic sidestepped to dodge it and was then greeted by a barrage of bombs thrown by Bean. Manic avoided all of them, but they each released a small explosion, making it difficult for him to see in front of him. From her corner, Fluttershy winced slightly due to the sound of the bombs going off.

"Oh, I hope Manic will be alright." She expressed.

Bean continued his assault as Manic evaded the bombs. He then jumped back and threw his sticks like boomerangs, destroying any more incoming explosives before they returned to him. Bean then twirled his arm and then generated a larger bomb his size, which made Manic and Fluttershy form looks of panic. The mad bomber jumped in the air and launched the bombs towards Manic. Seeing the bomb made Fluttershy cower and brace for impact as she gripped her head and shut her eyes.

"Ok, hope this works." Manic wished as he headed straight for the bomb.

Using his speed, Manic ran around the giant explosive, creating a small tornado that kept it airborne. Manic then went underneath it and with his feet, he pushed the bomb back up with some force, making a small green flash as the bomb was sent back to Bean in the air.

*BOOM*

Fluttershy heard a large explosion that made her squeal. However, she noticed that nothing had happened in the area she was, which is where the bomb was headed. She opened her eyes and looked to see a giant smoke cloud in the air. On the ground, she saw Manic, who was in good shape, much to her relief. He was looking up at the resulting smoke cloud with curiosity.

"Hmmm, Bean wasn't his usual talkative self." Manic noticed.

From the cloud, Manic saw the same mist from before, which grabbed his attention. As he was looking on, Bark burst through the cloud and released a powerful punch that Manic dodged as he leaped back. Bark's punch left a small crater on the ground.

"Bark?! What happened to Bean?! In fact, what happened to Fang?!" Manic wondered.

Bark charged towards Manic and tried to hit him with a flurry of punches that missed due to Manic being faster. While he was trying not to get hit by Bark, he was thinking about everything that had happened in the fight.

"(First Fang, then Bean and now Bark. I know they work together but how come they haven't all tried to fight me at the same time? Something's not right here and I feel like that mist has something to do with it.)" Manic thought.

Manic managed to get some distance between him and Bark, which gave him the freedom to move and land a blow. However, rather than trying to hit Manic, Bark smashed both of his fists on the ground with colossal strength, making a small tremor that even Fluttershy felt it from where she was and this made her cling to the structure she was hiding behind more tightly. Manic began to shake as a result of this and he saw Bark coming to him with a right hook. Reacting quickly, Manic took out his sticks and managed to block the attack at the last second, though the force of Bark's punch sent him flying back and he skidded on the floor.

Bark raised his hands once more to repeat his strike on the ground. As he did, Manic dashed in the air to avoid the aftermath of the tremor, though Fluttershy felt the ground shake once more. Midair, Manic vibrated his body at great speed and dashed to Bark with his sticks out. The resulting impact of Manic's sticks against Bark's torso was a small soundwave that blew the silent fighter several feet away on the ground as Manic looked on. Bark lifted himself from the ground and was starting to be surrounded by dark mist.

"Not this time! I'm going to find out what's going on!" Manic yelled as he moved extremely quick to Bark before he could be totally enveloped by the dark mist.

Manic entered the mist and brought down both of his sticks for a strike. He then felt as if though something had stopped his attack. The mist started to clear, revealing who or what had done it.

In front of Manic was an Eggman robot decorated like a magician that wore a yellow colored jacket with a black and white tuxedo underneath. They had a yellow top hat, red bowtie, red eyes, gray appendages and a black lower torso. The forefront was yellow and they wore blue bumpers with yellow stars on them. The robot had stopped Manic's sticks with an ace playing card. Fluttershy looked on and put her hand to her mouth.

"So, you're the one who was pretending to be Fang and the others, huh?" Manic said. "Sorry, but your magic act's over."

The Heavy Magician then disappeared in dark mist, which caused Manic to slightly fall forward. When he regained his balance, he turned around and saw the Magician poof in front of him. It then tipped its hat towards him in a cordial manner, which caused him to glare.

"I don't like your attitude." Manic said as he ran towards the Heavy Magician and tried to hit it with his sticks.

The Magician vanished in a dark mist and then reappeared behind Manic. Manic then faced it and rushed towards it for another attack, but the Magician did it's disappearing act once more. Manic repeatedly tried to land at least one hit on the Heavy Magician, but it was no use.

"Stop that! Stop...spamming!" Manic yelled with frustration.

The Magician appeared in front of Manic and this time, Manic increased his speed and lunged at it before it could teleport. He then smashed his sticks onto the Heavy Magician's sides.

"Yes!" Manic cheered, glad he had finally managed to land a blow.

The Heavy Magician appeared to be stunned due to Manic's assault. However, it then exploded into a puff of confetti, startling Manic.

"What the?!" Manic shouted before the confetti expanded and wrapped around him tightly, leaving a single strand hanging.

Due to being in the air, Manic started to fall to the ground and he braced for impact. Before he reached the ground, his body came to a sudden stop in a bullwhip effect. He looked up to see that the Heavy Magician had the loose strand in its hand.

"What? But you were just....How did you..." Manic started to say until he was rolled up towards the Magician as if he was a Yo-Yo. When he reached it, he started to feel dizzy.

The Heavy Magician then released Manic back towards the floor and he landed on it with great force, making pain shoot through his entire body. The Magician then rolled Manic back to the top before sending him back to the ground again with another powerful impact. The Heavy Magician kept repeating this while Fluttershy looked on, disturbed due to what was happening to her friend.

"(This is terrible. Manic's at the mercy of that robot and Sonic already ran up ahead. Knowing him, he might've run off too far and if I call for back up, it might be too late. Manic needs help right now, but it's just me. What can I do? I'm not a fighter.)" Fluttershy said in her head.

Fluttershy continued to watch as the Heavy Magician kept flinging Manic towards the ground, wincing due to each impact. He could end up unconscious at this rate. Fluttershy knew she had to do something, but combined with the fact that she was absolutely terrified at this point and she had no combat skills made the situation even more difficult. She sank to the ground and covered her knees with her arms.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you'll be fine. You've gone up against an two crazy she-demon, 3 evil sirens and you even flew up to a giant water monster. You got this." She remembered Rainbow Dash saying earlier.

"When push comes to shove, Fluttershy'll pull through." AppleJack's words echoed in her mind.

Fluttershy thought to back to what the two of them said. In all those situations, she was frightened, just like she was now. But yet, she had always managed to come through and help her friends when they were in danger. Right now, Manic was in a dangerous situation and he needed her.

Fluttershy took a deep breath and rose up from the ground. She had made her up mind. She was going to stand her ground like she had done from before.

"Ok, Fluttershy. Think, there has to be something I can do." Fluttershy said to herself as she looked around the room for a while.

Suddenly, an idea came to her as she formed a wide smile on her face.

"I got it!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she rose from the ground and flew in the direction towards the entrance of the pyramid from which she, Sonic and Manic had come through.

---

Manic was slammed on the ground once more. At this point, it was a struggle for him to stay awake. His entire body was sore and his head was pounding like crazy. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He was then rolled up to the Heavy Magician again.

"Ohhh....I think I'm gonna be sick...." Manic groggily said.

The Heavy Magician snapped its fingers and Manic was no longer wrapped up by confetti. Now, his entire body was locked in some kind of floating box as he looked around frantically.

"What now?!" Manic wondered out loud.

The Heavy Magician tipped it's hat to Manic once more and from the hat, a giant saw emerged, causing the color to drain from Manic's face. He knew what was going to happen next. He then tried to struggle out of the box, but it was futile. He was too weak from being used as a toy by the Magician. The saw approached Manic's box and started to cut through, making him grit his teeth.

An echoey roar was then heard, causing both Manic and the Heavy Magician to turn to their left, which was the source. Shortly afterward, many crashing sounds were heard. These noises grew louder and louder until in front of Manic and the Magician was a giant sandworm, making its way through the factory and wrecking everything.

"Oh, wonderful. As if things weren't bad enough." Manic sarcastically said.

The sandworm got closer and Manic closed his eyes as he expected to become its next meal. Instead, the sandworm moved right past him and straight to the Heavy Magician, forcing it to vanish. Doing so released Manic from the box he was in a dark puff of smoke and he started to fall to the ground. He then landed on top of the sandworm's body and looked around in a perplexed manner.

"Ok, I'm confused." Manic said as he scratched his head.

"Manic, over here." He heard Fluttershy's voice say.

Manic looked up to see Fluttershy flying towards him. She then sat down on the worm's body alongside him.

"Fluttershy? What's going on?" Manic quizzically said.

"Well, I saw that you were in trouble and I needed to do something. Then I remembered how Sonic mentioned that there were sandworms around here, so I flew out of the pyramid and found one of them on the outskirts. I explained how Eggman was the one who had ruined his home to build this nasty pyramid and I asked him to lend me a hand. He was more than happy to help." Fluttershy explained.

"Fluttershy, you're amazing." Manic complimented, which made her slightly flustered. "With this thing, we can destroy this factory easily. But first, we just need to take care of that."

Manic and Fluttershy looked up to see the Heavy Magician flying away from the rampaging sandworm, which was still trying to eat it. In response, the Magician took off its hat and aimed it at the sandworm, releasing smaller wasp-like robots towards it. However, due to the thick hide of the sandworm's skin, it didn't feel a thing as the robots exploded all over its body.

"Trixie would probably like to learn a thing or two from it." Fluttershy observed.

"It is pretty tricky. Even if the worm gets close enough, it'll probably do some stupid magic trick or something." Manic informed Fluttershy.

"In that case, why don't you try grabbing its attention?" Fluttershy suggested, which caused Manic to grin.

"Be distracting? That's one of the many things I excel at." Manic responded as he ran across the sandworm to get closer to the Magician.

Manic saw the Heavy Magician from the side he was on and jumped off the sandworm towards it.

"Yo!" Manic called, which made the Magician turn towards him. "You're magic act blows! I want a refund!"

Manic twirled his sticks rapidly and sent to the Heavy Magician. In response, the Magician took off its hat and caught Manic's stick in it before it sent them back to him, forcing him to duck to avoid getting it. The Heavy Magician then reached into its hat and Manic felt his hair gripped by a hand. He then found himself yanked through a misty, dark dimension of some kind and was face to face with the Magician, still holding him by his hair.

"I'm not even going to try and wonder how that works." Manic dryly said as the Magician pulled him in closer.

"Oh, and by the way, you shouldn't look away when there's a giant worm after you." He added with a smug grin.

The Heavy Magician turned around to see the mouth of the sandworm coming down on it. While it was distracted, Manic placed his feet on the robot's chest and pushed it away, releasing a green shockwave that pushed the Heavy Magician right into the jaws of the sandworm, crushing it while the worm descended downwards. Manic then landed on the sandworm, joining Fluttershy as the sandworm held the Magicians body to the ground, causing a small explosion in its mouth and taking out the threat.

"Yeah! We did it!" Manic said with joy as Fluttershy couldn't help but smile.

---

Near the end of the factory, Sonic was still racing through, wondering what was keeping Manic and Fluttershy so long.

"The two of them should've joined me by now. It's just Fang after all." Sonic said to himself.

Sonic then heard the sound of wreckage from behind, making him stop running as he turned around to see the source. He then saw the giant sandworm demolishing the weapon's factory, taking him back a little.

"Wow! Do I have to fight that?" Sonic asked.

"Nah, he's with us." Manic answered, making Sonic look up at the top of the worm to see his brother and Fluttershy riding it.

"Manic? Fluttershy? It's about time! What took you so long?" Sonic questioned as the two of them jumped down to join him.

"Well, turns it out, it wasn't really Fang. Some magician robot just disguised itself at him and gave me some trouble. Luckily, Fluttershy convinced that sandworm to help." Manic elaborated.

"Ah, makes sense. This makes the wrecking the factory like 10x easier. Way to go Fluttershy! We owe it you!" Sonic congratulated.

"Thanks, Sonic. I have to admit, being out here with you two of you is probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. I wasn't sure if I would be of any help." Fluttershy confessed. "But seeing my friends in danger is even scarier. I just can't stand around and do nothing."

"Really glad we brought you along or otherwise, I would be in two by now." Manic said as he placed his hand on Fluttershy's shoulder. "And getting us out of a hard job."

"Well, I guess our work is done. We better report back to base that this factory's history." Sonic said.

The three of them then began to exit the factory as the sandworm continued to go around and reduce it to rubble.

Comments

[Saiyan of the North Star]

KO awesome chapter, the three did great together especially with Fluttershy getting the giant sandworm to help them as they continue destroying the factory.

[sonicandmario826]

Another Heavy down. Awsome fight!!! Liked that the Magician had a couple of new moves to fight them with.

Also it was pretty cool Fluttershy got to ride the sand worm.

[kinghearts]

Before she or anyone else could react, Sonic found himself wrapped in a large hug by Amy, much his surprise.

"Oh, Sonic, it really is you! Thank goodness, thank goodness! I'm so happy to see you again! This is just wonderful!" Amy blubbered with joy as her grip on Sonic grew tighter.

"Amy?!" Sonic nearly shouted. "Maybe I should've stayed on Eggman's ship."

Oh don't be such a baby Sonic

Is she always like this when Sonic's around?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"You don't know the half of it. I'd say this is her being calm." Manic jokingly answered.

"Wow, talk about touchy-feely." Pinkie noticed which made AppleJack and Fluttershy raise their eyebrows. She was one to talk.

really Pinkie?

"Hold on a minute." Pinkie stated "Did this Shadow have black hair, with 4 pieces curling upward and two curling downward, 4 red stripes on the side with a wider stripe in the middle, have red eyes and red outline near his eyelids, two red and white shoes with a little bit of paint scratched off, white gloves with black wrist, red bands and two golden shiny rings, was wearing red and black with a patch of white fur and is about your height and weight?"

Everyone in the room couldn't believe how Pinkie had specifically described Shadow while Sonic just blinked twice.

"Uh...yeah...." Sonic slowly answered.

"With an eye like that, you'd make a good detective." Vector simply said as he rubbed the back of his head, which made Pinkie beam before she turned back to Sonic.

That brings back some memories from Season 2

This information caused Fluttershy to feel a newfound sense of anger stirring within her. It was bad enough that Eggman hurt people, but he even had to include harmless critters? Just thinking of it made her so...peeved.

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