Night's Rescue: Part 1 By: Asa Castle __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 1 __________________________________________________________________________________ The sound of crunching leaves made Knuckles look behind him. Seeing Sonic run towards him, he flung his large fist at him, knocking Sonic head over heels onto the ground! "Sally, I think your virtual reality battle sequencer works fine," Knuckles said, looking at Sonic sitting in his chair with wires running into his silicon head. Sonic burst through the door holding a miniature TV screen in his hands. "What's going on here, Knuckles!? I told everyone NOBODY was going to use my computer duplicate program to beat up. Make one of Robotnik," Sonic told Sally, who was sitting in her bamboo chair, just smiling at the ticked-off Sonic. "And will you stop smiling at me!?" Sonic yelled. "Well, you're just pretty funny, Sonic," Sally said. Tails walked through the door, holding a miniature computer Knuckles put together for him. "What are you up to, li'l buddy?" Sonic said. "I'm still working on my program that I'm making you the star in. My first one was such a hit I decided to make another one with Knuckles' help," Tails said, typing in a bunch of strange numbers and words. "Well ... what's it called?" Sonic asked, interested by his project. "It's called Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and I even added myself into it! I've been working on a two player mode on it where you can race me and try to get all the power ups and rings, but still pass the finish line first. Wanna try?" Tails said, hoping Sonic would be interested to try it out. "Sure li'l buddy, I'll try it. Hook it up to Rotor's TV screen," Sonic said, grabbing his controller up from the dusty floor. ****** Tails turned on the power to his game and listened to the familiar chorus for Tails' company he called SEGAŠ. Then Tails moved the highlighted option to 2 Player and hit START. "Now Sonic, which level do you wanna play? So far I've added four levels to the 2 Player Mode; there's Emerald Hill Zone, Mystic Caves Zone, Casino Night Zone, and Bonus Stage." "I think I'll try Emerald Hill Zone, it looks the nicest," Sonic said, fascinated by the bright colors and flashing lights. As soon as the screen cleared Sonic shot off using his Spin Dash Attack, then Tails did the same and followed behind him. "TAILS!!! Why did you program that move in!? That's my signature move!" Sonic complained. "Well ... I ... ummmmm, I wanted it to be fair," Tails slowly answered. Sonic hooked the controller up to the robot Sonic shell that Rotor had made for him, then he slipped inside of the shell to get the full feel of the game. "WHOA!!! Tails, inside of the Sonic Shell in virtual reality, this game looks great! But isn't it going a little slow?" Sonic asked Tails. "Well, yeah that was my only problem. I'm still getting help from Knuckles on that part," Tails answered Sonic. ****** After playing all the zones the name Carnival NiGHT Zone made him think about NiGHTS. "Knuckles, find Slasher. We're gonna have to find a way to get NiGHTS back to Nightopia," Sonic whispered to Knuckles, trying not to get Tails involved. "Will do," Knuckles answered. __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 2 __________________________________________________________________________________ "Reala, I'm telling you we should upgrade his power capacity. Last time, the only reason he was crushed was because his power levels were too low and his shields were NOT protective enough!" Packbell complained to Reala, who was building a new robot. "PACKBELL!!! Hush up! We'll add the new Power Capacitators when his outer hull is done. This time I'm making it out of the strongest essence and most evil substance in Nightopia, the T-Bit 2000," Reala told Packbell with a deep, dark, evil hiss. "The WHAT!?" Packbell asked. "The T-Bit; it stands for Terror Bit. The 2000 is for it's 2000 meshed together nightmare molecules that there is nothing stronger than except for the fabrics of time itself," Reala said, his dark eyes gleaming under the metal ceiling, creating an eerie glow. Reala took out a small teleporter machine and pressed a button. On a large view screen before them the screen turned to a dull blue, then flickered and showed a picture of Nightopia. Reala pressed another button. After the flash of light following the pressing of the button had cleared, Packbell looked at Reala to see him holding a glowing black orb. "This ... this is the new millennium of DEATH!" Reala laughed insanely as Packbell backed away in terror from his new rival, but Reala wasn't a rival to kill, he was the worst kind ... a silent rival, the ones who hate and fear you ... but work with you side by side all day long. ****** "Slasher, isn't there any way we can get INTO the Interweb?" Sonic complained again. "Sonic, I keep telling you, once you go in ... you don't come out very easily, and YES I can get you in but I ... well, your story of NiGHTS really told me about him, so ... I ... I guess I'll take you into it. Now remember, when you two go in I'm coming also," Slasher told S&K. "All right," Sonic said impatiently. Sonic hopped onto Slasher's back, pulling Knuckles up off the cold ground floor and up onto Slasher's warm back. Then the three flew away in the direction of where the Floating Island was last, a few miles from Robotropolis. "Slasher, do you think Spark will be there?" Sonic asked, sounding a little worried. Slasher, struggling to hear his words that were being blown away in the wind just said, "Maybe." "Well, if he is, you've gotta keep him from hurtin' us and us from hurtin' him, okay? Because, you see, I'm kinda mad at him and for some reason. As you know from when I told you last, he wants to kill me," Sonic said to Slasher, who was slashing her tail around in the air, trying to get control in the windy midday afternoon. "Slash, why's it so windy all of a sudden!?" Knuckles yelled, trying to get her to hear what he said through all the wind. Before Slasher could answer, the clouds broke from below them and what seemed to be the old Battery Blimp (Flying Battery Zone) lifted up from the clouds, creating more wind through it's powerful turbines. "C'mon Knux, lets go check it out!" Sonic said in a daring voice, just before he leaped from Slasher's back, going into a sonic spin. Knuckles just followed, gliding slowly downward at a safe speed, unlike Sonic, who was moving so fast by the time he hit that there was a loud pinging noise under his weight as some of the metal buckled from the blow. Knuckles dropped from his glide and landed on two feet beside Sonic. "What do we do now Sonic? Slasher said she was too tired from all the wind and that she'd just hide somewhere on the outside of the ship, so she's not gonna help us until we leave," Knuckles told Sonic, seeming to be slightly worried about it. "C'mon, we'll just go shut down Robotnik's operation and see if Reala is on board," Sonic told Knuckles. Knuckles grabbed Sonic's hand and held on as Sonic shot across the slick metal surface into a spiraling tube down into the center of the Flying Battery Blimp. Once inside Knuckles walked forward towards a computer panel only to be launched head first into a the wall after tripping on what seemed to be a trap roller skate. Knuckles fell to the floor, his head badly bruised and spilling blood over the cold floor. "KNUCKLES!? Are you okay!?" Sonic yelled, not noticing the blood. Sonic walked up to him and found him out like a light. Sonic picked him up and flung him over his back, then activated his Hyper belt to become Hyper Sonic. Sonic spun down a spiraling screw and shot off a ramp out into the air, then blew his whistle still encrusted in sand. Slasher blew through a small wall, sending pieces of metal into Sonic's face. Slasher grabbed Knuckles and flew under Sonic, catching him on her back while he dehyperized himself. "Sonic, what happened?" Slasher asked curiously. "I-I-I don't know! He just walked out and was slammed into a wall by one of those roller skate things. But I'm not sure why he got hurt. I guess he just wasn't ready for it," Sonic answered back slowly. "Well, Sonic, I'm heading back to Mushroom Hill on the Floating Island to get the Chaotix's help. He's loosing blood fast," Slasher told Sonic calmly, but with a hint of concern in her voice. ****** "Slasher, land here. I can see some mushrooms through the treetops," Sonic said to Slasher while he cradled Knuckles' head, holding a cloth to his wound. Slasher dove down onto a large Mushroom. Sonic jumped off with Knuckles, landing on the soft ground. "ESPIO!!! MIGHTY!!! ANYONE!?" Sonic yelled as Slasher flew around above the treetops looking for the Chaotix. "Yo, what's shakin' blue boy?" Mighty said as he stepped out from behind a mushroom. "Look behind me," Sonic said, just loud enough for him to hear what he said. Mighty gasped as he saw Knuckles laying on the ground, bleeding all over the forest floor. Sonic spun backwards and grabbed Knuckles in his arms, then shot back over to Mighty and said: "WHERE DO WE TAKE 'IM!?" Mighty said, "To Angel Island, through the rock caves!" Sonic ripped his wrists across his emerald belt. After the light died down Sonic grabbed Mighty and streaked through the forest towards Angel Island. ****** "Antoine, quit drinking my soda!" Sally yelped. Sally got up and shook Bunnie to wake her, then they both got up and hooked Nichole up to a big TV screen. Then they flipped her on and said: "Activate tracker beacon #1, code named Blue." Nichole's screen flickered for a second. Then the words _ACCESSING_ moved onto the screen. After the words were gone it showed a satellite picture of Mobius, then began to scan and zoom into the wanted area. Once it was done it showed a slow moving object easily detected by the scanners, then below it about two hundred miles over there were three fast moving objects all together. "Current status of three life forms in immediate area," Sally told Nichole. "Add profile side screen," Bunnie added to Sally's command. Antione stumbled over to them to see the camera zoom in on the three life forms, then three profiles popped up on the side, one was Sonic the Hedgehog, the other was Mighty the Armadillo, and the other was Knuckles the Echidna. "Current status of three life forms.", Sally said. About a minute later three other screens appeared over them, for Sonic it said _LIFE=123% and rising_, for Mighty it said _LIFE=97%_, and for Knuckles it said _LIFE=23% and falling_! "Full status of life forms #1 and #3.", Sally said a little concerned. Then Nichole said _FORM #1 UNABLE TO SCAN ... TOO POWERFUL_/_FORM #3 SEVERELY INJURED ... LIFE STILL DROPPING_! ****** Sonic skidded to a stop, leaving a trail of mud behind him on the moist Angel Island ground. Sonic dropped Mighty and dehyperized. "Where to now!?" Sonic asked. "Under this stone there's a secret room after the staircase, follow me," Mighty said as he pulled up a boulder and flung it to the side without any trouble at all. Sonic shot down the staircase and saw a life support machine. He quickly hooked Knuckles up to it but had no power! Sonic ripped off his belt and hooked it up to the machine. After a whine it began to glow with power, then turned on. Mighty came jogging down the stairs with a first-aid kit and the rest of the Chaotix (Espio, Mighty, Vector, and Charmy) running down behind him. "SONIC!? WHAT'S WRONG WITH KNUX!?" Espio yelled. "Yeah, sup 'ith Knux?" Vector also asked. "Just help him get better and give him this computer chip when he gets better so he can find us in Mushroom Hill," Sonic told the Chaotix. Sonic hooked up the life support machine to Espio's portable power pack that he had brought, then ripped his belt out of the machine, hooked it up to himself and shot out towards Mushroom Hill. __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3 __________________________________________________________________________________ "Sonic, is that you!?" Slasher yelled out into the darkness from behind a mushroom as she heard a faint crunching of leaves. Nobody answered. She turned around and didn't see anything, so she closed her eyes again, trying to fall asleep. Then Slasher heard a faint humming from behind her. She turned around in time to see a dark blur fly at her with such force it knocked her out cold! ****** "Reala, it's working, it has accomplished it's first mission," Packbell told Reala, who was hovering in a dark room with an evil shadow cast over his face from the setting sun. ****** Knuckles walked up a small hill to see all of Mushroom Hill ablaze in a bright orange flame. Knuckles stumbled forward, trying to take it all in, then a breeze caught the flames and blew them into Knuckles' face. Knuckles covered his eyes and stepped back, wondering what had happened, he saw one small trail of charred ground with burning brush all around. Knuckles jumped over towards that direction and began to glide along the trail, using the heat to hover through the air. Knuckles was getting tired and was about to stop and rest his aching head (that had just begun to hurt again), when he heard a loud boom followed by a screeching noise! Knuckles looked up to see something holding a dark object carrying a limp creature under it. Then a flash of flame revealed that the limp creature in it's arms was Sonic, then another flash shone over the creatures face revealing that it was another Metal Sonic! A loud humming noise filled the night until the a blinding flash of light shot down from the robot. When it hit the forest floor the ground seemed to erupt and split open under Knuckles! Then Knuckles was blown down and ... out like a light! ***** Slasher awoke on a cold metal floor, chained to the ground with energy bars (a force-field chain). She looked around to see Sonic and Knuckles out cold and also pinned to the floor. Suddenly the room was filled with light as a door opened and a dark figure floated through with two other figures behind it. One appeared to be a humanoid and the other looked like Sonic. Reala hovered through the doorway holding a small computer that showed the recording of Metal Sonic when he crashed into the lake, then he said: "Slasher, the strongest of the Freedom Fighters, behold my newest and MOST evil creation ... Mega 2," Reala said in a cold voice that chilled Slasher's ears. Then the humanoid stepped through into the light to reveal that he was Packbell, after him Spark and Mega 2 walked in, each of them with their own evil smile. Behind them all loomed the dark shadow of Robotnik who was grimacing at the captured Freedom Fighters. "Mega 2, so why are you so special!?" Slasher said sarcastically to the new robot. All he said was: "I'm the stuff from your darkest of terrors." Slasher just flared her teeth at him and growled as Spark stepped in farther and threw a knife at Sonic, cutting his belt from his waist. Sonic shook his head as he started to wake up, then kicked his legs around, trying to get them free. "CLAUDE!?" Sonic yelled as he looked up. Spark grabbed him by his neck and held a knife to it, saying: "Don't you EVER call me that name again, or I'll have your hide right here and right now!!!" Sonic gulped and said: "How did you escape Sandopolis?" "Lets just say I'm QUICKER than you may think," Spark replied with an evil little smirk across his face. Slasher swung her tail out and knocked Spark head over heels onto the cold floor. Mega 2 flew in and shot a stun ray at Slasher tail, then said: "Maybe now you'll keep your tail down." Knuckles began to wake up. Once he realized what was going on, he used a secret Echidna sign language to tell Slasher to grind her teeth against her chains and he'd do the same. She winked back to him. "You living scum bags, I have already begun my plan to destroy Sally's computer down with my Mega 2 virus, and once it's operational on her system it will trace Knotholes location on a map and send it to me electronically," Robotnik chuckled. "WHA--!?" Sonic gulped. Mega 2 grabbed Sonic and ripped his wrists out of the energy bars, then flung him over to Spark, who punched him in the gut, knocking the wind out of Sonic. Mega 2's sensitive ears heard the scraping noise as Slasher's and Knuckles energy chains sparked and broke apart, letting the two up from the cold metal floor. Slasher jumped up into the air and kicked Robotnik over, who in turn rolled into Spark and Packbell. They all ended up in a heap against the far wall. Robotnik jumped up and pressed a button on his wrist which teleported him away, then Spark, Mega 2, Reala, and Packbell all began to attack. Slasher whipped Reala into a wall while Knuckles was busy beating Packbell to a oily pulp. Sonic slammed into Spark at mach 2, sending him flying backwards through a wall and finally crashing down onto a pile of robot parts. Spark got up and flung a razor sharp piece of metal at Sonic's face. Sonic dodged, but his arm was sliced down the side. Knuckles lunged out at Spark, slamming his fist into his jaw. Sonic heard a loud crunch as Packbell's arm was crushed mercilessly under Slasher's weight. Then Sonic grabbed Knuckles and flung him at Reala. Knuckles slammed into Reala, sending them both onto the cold metal floor across the room. Then Mega 2 began to charge up his mini PPC on his shoulder. Once it was loaded Sonic began to run at Mega 2, ready to uppercut him, but Mega 2 fired his PPC shot and his chaingun rocket launcher. More than three hundred mini rockets and a power discharge were shooting at Sonic head-on, but he ducked under and went into a spin dash attack. Mega 2 was knocked backwards, head over heels onto the floor, when Sonic hit him. Spark, who got hit on the head by falling debris from Mega 2's missile and PPC shots, was beginning to get up again when Knuckles was thrown into him. They both were knocked out cold and buried under five feet of metal and broken cement. Reala flew around Sonic and flipped him upside down, letting him fall headfirst onto the floor. He flew down and kicked Sonic across the floor into a wall. Slasher, who had been hit on the head, was just regaining her senses when Reala kicked her stomach. She just stood up and whipped him across the room, through a wall, and down an open elevator shaft. Suddenly the room was filled with SWAT-bots and Slasher, Sonic, and Knuckles were surrounded! The SWATs grabbed Sonic and slammed him into a wall until he was bruised all over his body so he wouldn't (and couldn't) fight back. Then three of them dug Knuckles out and clamped his fists shut in a steel robot hand cuff and threw him out into the hallway to be carried away. But when they got to Slasher, none of them could stop her. She had already smashed two and was ripping at one's chest. Finally two ULTRA's ran in and heaved her up into the air and slammed her into a wall, knocking her senseless! __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 4 __________________________________________________________________________________ -VIRUS UPLOAD COMPLETE_ was what Sally was looking at on Nichole's screen. Sally was looking at it, wide eyed with her mouth hanging wide open. Then Nichole said _SENDING LOCATION OF KNOTHOLE VILLAGE TO SERVER IN ROBOTROPOLIS- Sally tried all the commands she knew of, but none would work! Finally Bunnie grabbed it from her and ripped Nichole's modem right from her! There was a faint buzzing noise as Nichole's screen flashed _DANGER...DANGER...MODEM PROCEDURE INTERRUPTED, ALL FILES LOST_! Sally picked Nichole up slowly and looked at Bunnie. Bunnie said that it had to be done; Sally just nodded ... ****** Sonic was slammed into a prison cell with Knuckles and Slasher thrown on top of him. Sonic awoke from the blow to his back as Slasher landed on him. Sonic crawled up and looked around, then revved up and slammed into the prison bars, only to be blown backwards by an electric jolt! Sonic reached down to his belt, but it was gone; the guards must have taken it. Slasher began to stir and get up. She instantly knew what was going on. she slammed into the bars, but was blown away, just as Sonic was. Slasher told Sonic to spin dash through the bars while she took care of the electricity. "Wha--!? How are you gonna do that, Slash??" Sonic asked, shocked. "JUST DO IT!!!" Slasher screeched. She grabbed the bars and held on. She began to burn a bright white as the power surged through her body. Sonic revved up as told and shot through the bars, splintering them into little pieces. Knuckles got up and began to run, seeing Sonic running away. Slasher let go and stumbled to the ground. As Sonic saw her he stopped. "SLASHER!!! C'MON!" he yelled. "No ... no, stop Mega 2. Leave me. I'll catch up," Slasher moaned to Sonic as she lay on the ground. Sonic began to protest, but Knuckles just grabbed him and ran out of the prison area. ****** "KNUX!!! We gotta get Slasher!" Sonic yelled. "No, you heard what she said, to destroy Mega 2," Knuckles told Sonic. Sonic nodded and shot away from Knuckles, towards a small computer mounted on a wall. _BEEP ... BEEP, BEEP BEEP_. Sonic was typing in the only access code he knew for Robotropolis, but it was the most important one, the access code for the bay doors to Robotnik's headquarters. A beep sounded as a large door slid open and a dark shadow shown through the now open door. "I've been expecting you," a voice said. "WHO!?" Sonic and Knuckles questioned. "MEGA 2!!! CAN'T YOU DANG FOOLS FIGURE ANYTHING OUT!?" Mega 2 yelled. Two lasers shot from the darkness, one hitting the ground and the other blowing Knuckles backwards and stunning him. Sonic spun forward, only to be blown away by one mini-missile. Sonic crawled up, his quills burning with orange flames. "I was designed by Reala, my master, and I was created to destroy you mercilessly!" Mega 2 said, sounding evil even through his mechanical echoing voice. Sonic just frowned as he got up and began to spin again. This time he spun around Mega 2, shot up into the air and crashed down onto Mega 2's head. Sonic fell to the ground without leaving a scratch on Mega 2. Sonic was grabbed by the leg and thrown through a steel wall and landing on his back! "NOW I WILL KILL YOU!!!" Mega 2 said evilly. Mega 2 reached out his hand and a blue beam shot from it. It coiled around Sonic's limp body. He lifted up off the ground and was flipped into a wall! Mega 2, this time, reached out his arm and shot an electric red beam at Sonic. Now Sonic was pulled towards Mega 2 while the red beam seemed to cause him great pain from the fact that he looked like he was literally on fire! Knuckles got up in time to see Sonic get slashed across his side with a knife from Mega 2's wrist! Knuckles hopped up and ran at Mega 2,poised for attack, only to be shot away by a mini-missile. The shot blew Knuckles into an electric generator which exploded, stunning Knuckles! Sonic, now laying on the ground bleeding all over, tried to grab Mega 2's leg, but was kicked aside as Mega 2 walked towards Knuckles with an evil glare in his eyes. "MEGA 2! I want Knuckles alive but you can destroy that wretched hedgehog," Robotnik said as he appeared on a tower above Sonic. "NEVER!!! I will kill them all, and I do NOT obey you, you fat worm!" Mega 2 yelled up at the enraged Robotnik. Robotnik, surprised, began to pull out a emergency destruct button for Mega 2, but a laser shot blew it off the tower and down onto the ground below. Mega 2 ignited his jet engines and flew above Sonic and Knuckles and landed on the platform that Robotnik was standing on. "MEGA 2!!! I COMMAND YOU TO HALT!!!" Robotnik screamed with a look of terror in his eyes. _YES MY CREATION KILL HIM...KILL HIM!!!_ a transmission said into Mega 2's receiver. Mega 2 raised his chaingun missile launcher and began to charge up his energy banks to fire it, when a large black shadow slammed, into him knocking him off the tower and onto the ground below! Mega 2 got up and scanned himself, revealing he had interior damage to his jet propulsion units. Sonic raised himself and tried to get up but was shot down again by a stun blaster shot from Mega 2. The shadow landed to reveal that it was Slasher! Slasher whipped her tail around and slapped Mega 2 into the broken generator. The still active broken generator blasted Mega 2 away and slammed him back into the back of Slasher. She turned around and ripped his chest panel off with her talons, then kicked her powerful legs through the delicate mechanical insides, now open for attack. Mega 2 landed on top of Sonic and exploded, sending Sonic backwards into a wall behind him. Sonic went limp as he went unconscious. Metal pieces of Mega 2 flew everywhere. One hit Robotnik over the head, making him run inside for safety. Some pieces flew from Sonic's direction and hit Slasher in her hip. She turned to look that way and saw the limp Sonic laying slumped against a cracked wall! Then she saw Knuckles and ran over to him. She grabbed him up then flew over to Sonic and grabbed him, placed them both on her back and flew back towards Knothole. __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 5 __________________________________________________________________________________ Sally adjusted Sonic's life support system and patted Knuckles on his back as she looked worried at Sonic. Knuckles had recently revived from his attack and was now helping to get the injured Sonic back on his feet. _BLEEP_ a sound indicating that his health level was climbing, sounded as Sonic opened an eye and smiled at Knuckles. "Sonic, are you all right?" Knuckles and Sally said. "Oh ... I--I ... I'm all right," Sonic said weakly. Sonic slowly got up and began to tell Sally and the rest of Knothole his story ... ****** "Sssonic ... now that I am back, I will destroy you for destroying me, Metal Sonic!" __________________________________________________________________________ NiGHTS' Rescue (PART 2) __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 1 __________________________________________________________________________________ "REALA!!! Get over here and show me your plans for part 3 of the Mega series!" Robotnik yelled as he typed in some words into his program pad. Numbers began to flash on the screen then they faded red and a dark face came up, it resembled Mega 2 except more pumped up, it said: "Robotnik, my program is fine. I just want my new body." "Robotnik, I'm busy. Get Packbell," Reala said as he hovered away. Reala flew into his little workshop and flipped a switch to a large metal body, a whining noise rang through his ears as a billion little lights flashed and then flickered on. Mega, Mega 2, your programs will be added together to create Mega 3 and he will be the one to KILL Robotnik and his petty empire that I shall soon rule!" Reala said with an evil grin across his face. "Rise my ORIGINAL METAL MINION!!!" Packbell said as he stared down into a dark pit filled with sparking wires and gleaming metal. "My master, I am back and ready to serve once more, for I will DESTROY Sssonic THIS TIME!" a voice said from within the shadows. "Excellent, now go, present yourself to Robotnik my creation, my Metal Sonic." ****** "Sonic, are you sure your up to racing us after that fight with Mega 2!?" Knuckles asked Sonic who was standing on a dirt hill overlooking the race course. "Sure, what, you think a little near death battle can stop true blue!?" Sonic said sarcastically. Knuckles grinned, then he moved down to the starting point and stretched his arms and legs getting ready to race. Sonic hopped down from the hill and spun down to a stop beside Knuckles, Knuckles looked sonic over then said: "Okay, lets RACE!!!" With that Sonic shot off way ahead of Knuckles who was still trying to get his muscles warmed up so he could gain speed. Sonic leaped over many rocks and small obstacles each time gaining more speed, Knuckles who was now catching up began to spin his legs around faster and pulled up right behind Sonic. Sonic, trying to show off, did a spin attack but tripped and collapsed on the ground his side opened up and slightly bleeding! "SONIC!? Sonic? SLASHER!!! GET OVER HERE!" Knuckles yelled at the top of his lungs while Sonic lay there still as a stone. ****** "Your lucky Slasher got you here Sonic, or...you'd be underground in a casket full of flowers," Sally said while she looked at Sonic's pale face. "Sure, whatever," Sonic said slowly. Sally frowned and leaned over to pat his back, Sonic smiled as she walked out of the room slowly. "Sonic, are you alright?" Tails asked Sonic. "Sure, li'l buddy, I'll be up and out in a day," Sonic answered to Tails. ****** Sonic streaked across the muddy roadway to Robotropolis, Tails and Knuckles pulled up beside him and gave him the thumbs up signal to continue. "Knux, thanks for helpin' me the other day," Sonic said a little embarrassed. Knuckles just smiled as he went into a spin dash and shot ahead of everyone. As Sonic streaked to a stop beside Tails in a greasy mud pool outside of Robotropolis Knuckles came back and said that the streets were clear. Sonic nodded and grabbed onto Tails who began to fly up into the humid, smoggy, polluted air. Sonic waved his feet through the air trying to help Tails see where they needed to land, Knuckles flew by them using the strong south wind as a lifter in his dreadlocks. "Tails, you know how I told you about all the Mega's?" Sonic said slowly. "Yeah, I can't wait to see the remains of one. Maybe I can help Rotor reconstruct it for us," Tails said excitedly. "NO!!! Were NOT going through that AGAIN!" Sonic yelled. Knuckles frowned at Sonic remembering how Metal Sonic had frightened him to death last time he was around. Sonic's feet touched the hard metal pavement where he had last fought Mega 2 three days ago. "Wha!? That's weird, they usually don't pick up remains until a week has passed," Sonic said to Knuckles and Tails who were looking around a little worried. "What's wrong guys!?" Sonic asked seeing their eyes wide open. "S-S-sonic look...either that's you up there or that's...Metal Sonic!" Knuckles said shakily. Sonic yelped as he looked up and saw a dark figure that looked exactly like himself in a smog cloud above them all. "Sssonic, I am back and ready to destroy you just as you destroyed me," the figure said. Sonic shivered as he recognized the voice. "Knuckles, get Tails out of here!" Sonic yelled. Knuckles nodded and pulled Tails away from the open area as Sonic was blasted backwards into the old broken generator and was then blown away again from the still live wires. Knuckles ran out and was instantly knocked backwards by a dark shadow! "WHO!?" Sonic yelled as he saw the dark blur hit Knuckles. The blur flashed to a stop in front of Sonic and said: "Sonic, I introduce myself MEGA 3." "Mega who? I am the only Metal around here," the figure in the smog said angrily, it then swooped down and knocked Mega 3 over into a pile of dirt. Sonic now could tell that the one in the smog was definitely Metal Sonic, Mega 3 stood up and gripped Metal in his jet engine hole and said: "LISTEN! If you wanna kill Sonic then don't attack me! I'm here to help!" "Whatever, just as long as you realize that I am the ONLY Metal here!" Metal Sonic said angrily. "Listen, I don't care about being Metal, I just have to obey Reala," Mega 3 said. Using this spare time Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had snuck off inside of the building complex of Robotropolis. "Knuckles, be careful I don't wanna mess up this mission like last time...and I DON'T want to have to fight Metal again," Sonic said to Knuckles as they all ran down the main hallway in the computer complex. Knuckles screeched through an open doorway and flipped on a computer, _WELCOME...PLEASE ENTER ACCESS CODE_, Knuckles typed in Metal and the screen glowed yellow as the log in code began to access the main computer banks. "No, you fools don't!" Robotnik said as he ripped the monitor out of the computer's main system. Sonic shot to the side dodging the flying monitor. Knuckles leaped up onto the desk and faced Robotnik head to head. Tails flew out of the room leaving Sonic and Knuckles alone in the room. Robotnik's arm smashed through the desktop and sent Knuckles down to the floor on his stomach. Sonic flipped through the air and side swiped Robotnik's hip sending him crashing to the floor on top of Knuckles. "OWWW!!! Get 'im off me...OWWW!!!" Knuckles yelped as Robotnik crashed onto him. Robotnik stood up and flung Knuckles into a computer's monitor, the screen shattered in two as Knuckles blew straight through it and landed on the floor out like a light. Sonic looked at Robotnik as he pressed two buttons on his wrist, suddenly the wall behind him exploded as Mega 3 and Metal flew through it and hovered behind him! Mega 3 raised his stun gun to Robotnik's head and blasted him at full power! Robotnik fell to the floor along with Metal who had his back transistors dangling out of his back sparking and on fire! Spark and Reala stepped into the room grinning at Sonic who was still just standing in place shocked at what had just happened. Then a whirling noise filled the room as Tails flew into the room and blasted Spark in his side with a mini-blaster! Then Tails tossed Sonic a Chaingun fully loaded and ready to be shot, Sonic grabbed it and smiled smartly as he pulled and held the trigger. ****** The room was filled with the constant pinging of bullets as pieces of the wall shattered and fell down around everyone. Reala zipped through the air just barley dodging a barrage of bullets, Spark crawled across the floor and grabbed a knife from his belt. Sonic was knocked over by the force of the gun and was then pinned to the wall by Reala, Spark flipped up into the air and flung a knife at Tails! Tails flipped to the side to dodge it but was grabbed by Mega 3 and smashed through a wall and then tied in a bent pipe sticking through the wall! Reala flung sonic across the floor and kicked him into Mega 3 who blasted him with a stunner, and he was out cold. __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 2 __________________________________________________________________________________ Sonic woke up beside Knuckles, Tails, Metal, and Robotnik who were all tied in chains against the wall. Robotnik looked at Sonic as Knuckles growled at him, Tails scooted away from Metal who was glaring at him while his auto repair system was reconnecting his broken transistors. "Robotnik, Ummm...can you get us out? We'll probably...have to...w-w-work together to beat them," Sonic said slowly. "W-w-well, um...yeah here press this button on my wrist and I'll cut you out," Robotnik said softly as he and Sonic noticed that Reala and Spark were asleep. Sonic rolled over to Robotnik and pressed the button on his wrist slowly, a light flickered from it as a small laser beam cut through the chains and set them all free. Robotnik crawled over to Metal Sonic and ripped his wiring out and then whispered: "He won't help, he'll just follow his programming." Tails got up and helped Sonic and Knuckles up, as Robotnik got up they all backed away a little still a little nervous around him. Robotnik snickered as he raised a mini-blaster from his wrist and aimed it at Reala, the trigger made a clicking noise as the room flashed as the laser beam streaked through the air and knocked Reala over onto the floor. "WHA!? What's going on here!?" Spark yelled as he saw Reala get blown down onto the floor. Sonic shot over to Spark and pinned him against a table, then he said: "CLAUDE!!! ACCESS THE PORTAL RING...NOW!!!" Spark nodded as he slowly and carefully accessed a computer and typed in a password. The room flashed a blinding white as a large ring appeared before them all, Sonic then typed in the destination _INTERWEB_! Sonic leaped into the ring and yelled to Knuckles to get Tails out of there fast. ****** Sonic tumbled through open nothingness as he was temporarily blinded by a bright flash of light, when the light was gone Sonic found himself standing on a barren rock covered with shattered relics from all over the galaxy! Sonic looked to his right and saw the destroyed remains of Sandopolis that was recently blasted out of existence, Sonic tried to run over to it but found that when he ran he didn't move! Suddenly the whole area began to swell with heat as Sandopolis disappeared and then reappeared under Sonic, Sonic fell down into the scolding hot sand and began to hop up and down from the heat.! Then a flash filled Sonic's eyes as NiGHTS fell down from nowhere and crashed down near Sonic, then he mumbled: "Wh-wh-where...wha? Who are...Sonic, get me out of here!" Sonic grabbed his arm and began to jump through the air towards the open portal when he heard a loud laugh and saw Tails fly threw the portal and crash into the sand beside NiGHTS. Laser beams began to fill the Interweb as they shot through the portal faster than Sonic thought anything could reload. "Tails, NiGHTS, get over here were gettin' out!" Sonic yelled. NiGHTS and Tails stumbled over to Sonic slowly, once they were all there they grabbed onto each other and ran through the portal as fast as possible. ****** Sonic woke up beside Knuckles, Tails, Metal, and Robotnik who were all tied in chains against the wall. Robotnik looked at Sonic as Knuckles growled at him, Tails scooted away from Metal who was glaring at him while his auto repair system was reconnecting his broken transistors. "Wait...a minute...hasn't this already happened!?" Sonic yelled. Then he saw NiGHTS' distracted face in his mind and awoke beside Robotnik who was pinned down to the floor by Mega 3 and Reala, Spark was battling Knuckles and Tails was leaning over Sonic with NiGHTS who looked worried. "What happened?" Sonic asked. Spark laughed as he saw that Sonic was awake, then he said: "Lets just say we were messing with this!" Sonic was knocked over as his belt that he had lost in the fight with Mega 2 slammed into his head. Sonic picked it up and slowly put it onto his waist, then Sonic ripped his wrists across it and exploded into Ultra Sonic, Spark stumbled backwards as his eyes were filled with the light from Sonic's transformation. "What the!? Sonic what are ya doin'!?" Spark yelled shocked from the sudden change in Sonic's colors. Robotnik slammed into Spark and sent him flying into Sonic knocking his belt off of him and into Tails' arms. "Tails! Get back to Knothole...and take my belt with you!" Sonic yelled to Tails. Tails flew out through an open window and disappeared in the polluted air outside. Robotnik then pulled a gun on Knuckles and blasted him into Sonic, Knuckles and Sonic leaped up and spun away in different directions to avoid Robotnik. Reala looped around Robotnik and NiGHTS sending them flying through a wall from the force of his paraloop. NiGHTS flew back at Reala and knocked him into the computer keyboard, the computer then said: "Nightopia location established." Then NiGHTS flung Reala across the room into the newly opened portal to Nightopia, then NiGHTS waved to Sonic and flew in after him leaving a wisp of sparks behind him. ****** Seeing this sign of friendship Spark began to hate Robotnik and his sign of evil, but knowing how he hated Sonic he could not help him. Spark grabbed a blaster rifle and blew open a wall, pieces of the wall crumbled down a precipice that this area of the complex was resting on, then Spark leaped from the ledge and fell down onto the jagged rocks below! Sonic's face sank as he saw what his brother had done, he ran over to the window and looked down to see the blood stained rocks and the limp body below twisted around backwards. Knuckles noticed what had happened and walked over to Sonic to look at his brother below. "Well, looks like I can kill two birds with one stone, or should I say with one blaster shot?" Robotnik chuckled as he held a gun to Sonic and Knuckles' head! __________________________________________________________________________________ Chapter 3 __________________________________________________________________________________ Knuckles leaped from the precipice and pulled Sonic down with him, Knuckles then flipped Sonic up onto his back as he caught a strong wind and glided down to the rocks below. Suddenly the rocks exploded leaving nothing behind, not even Spark's body! Sonic wiped the dirt from his face and saw Robotnik above him laughing while his mini-PPC was glowing with heat! Knuckles looked behind him to see Sally riding on a hover bike with a little pistol, then she said: "Come on, guys Tails told us that you and Knuckles would be here, we gotta leave...you've been through to much today anyway. Knuckles nodded as he pushed Sonic behind Sally and then he hopped into a little box on the back for luggage. Lasers shot through the air as SWAT's surrounded them, Sally hit the gas pedal and rammed through the wall of robots, five SWAT's crumbled to the ground and exploded sending the rest flying across the field and into the cliff wall. Then Sally began to head towards Knothole Village. "Sonic, I found this on the ground below," Knuckles said to Sonic as he held up Sonic's Emerald belt. Sonic just took it and said thanks slowly. ****** A month later Sonic and all of Knothole had made a small memorial for Spark (aka Claude) and Sonic had gotten over his loss. Sonic was now just glad that NiGHTS had gotten home and it was all over... THE END ______________________________________________________