CHAPTER FOUR: CHAOS SIX Amy Rose quietly walked down the streets of Station Square. There were no people around.. it was almost morning. She yawned. "I didn't get any sleep last night.." she commented. "I hope Sonic found his way out okay.." The bird started circling her head and tweeting madly. "Hey.. what's wrong, birdie?" Amy asked. She heard a sound behind her.. she turned, and saw a stone skipping down the footpath, like somebody had just kicked it. It hit the wall of a building and rolled to a stop. "...what?" Amy asked, walking up to the stone. She picked it up. The bird was still going crazy. Another sound behind her.. a strange clanging. She turned around. Silence. "Maybe we should go, huh?" she asked the bird. Suddenly, something grabbed her arm. "Why not STAY A WHILE?" somebody asked. Zero appeared right in front of her! "WHAT TH...?" she exclaimed, shocked. "Cloaking device.." Zero growled. "Just intalled. I've searched the world for spare parts! You thought I'd be easy to evade?" "GET LOST!" Amy screamed, breaking the robot's grip. She ran inside a factory building and slammed the metal roller-door, just as she heard Zero run into it from the other side. "We'll be safe here..." she told the bird, panting. There was a noise on the other side. Kind of a whirring. Then, there was the sound of screeching metal. With a flash of sparks, a small jigsaw-blade poked through the door just beside her head, and began to cut through it. "Or not!" Amy exclaimed. "Come on!" The girl and the bird ran up the stairs as fast as they could. They spiralled around and around.. floor after floor whizzing past. Eventually, Amy came to the end of the line.. a door marked 'rooftop'. She opened it, and stepped out. She was on the roof of the building. She walked right up to the edge. It was a long way down. "We're trapped." she told the bird, sadly. "How will we get down?" "You could always jump!" Zero said from behind her. She spun around, shocked. "ZERO! Bbbb--bu-but HOW?" she stammered. "Elevator, kiddo." Zero replied. Now, where were we? Oh yes... I was about to capture you. Don't try to escape this time, you're caught between a rock and a hard place! I can guarantee you that being captured by me won't hurt anywhere near as much as your current alternative..." Amy looked down at the cars below. "I'll never let you take birdie!" she warned. "Birdie?" Zero asked. "Who wants birdie? There's a perfectly good hedgehog right here!" "What??" Amy asked, shocked. "I thought.. I thought you were after this bird!" "After the bird?" Zero asked. "I don't think Sonic's gonna risk his life for a bird!" "What about Sonic?" Amy demanded. "You'll see soon enough!" Zero replied, impatiently. "Now, come down quietly!" Amy sighed, and stepped down from the ledge. But then she tripped. And fell. The world below came speeding up towards her. Her life flashed before her eyes. Zero ran up to the ledge, and looked down. Amy was falling to her death. Zero looked up, and shot his arms out to his sides. He bent his knees once, twice, then dived off the roof like an Olympian. The robot sped towards Amy quickly. She was falling slower than he. He caught up to her in mid air, grabbed her around the waist, and operated a massive jetpack on his back. About a split second before impact, they pulled up and rocketed through the air.. the bird frantically flying behind, trying to keep up. Knuckles stared up at the huge Egg Carrier vessel. It was docked on the ground.. waiting for the strange robot to come aboard. The robot pressed a button, and an eerie door opened in the side of the craft, letting it in. As soon as the door closed, Knuckles did the same. And when he was inside, he stowed away, until the massive ship lifted off... Nearby, another two characters hid in the bushes. "Wasn't that Knuckles the Echidna?" Streak asked. "Froggy's inside that big thing!" Big replied, ignoring his cousin. Streak looked at the side of the ship... it was massive. And there was a picture of Robotnik's face on it. Streak gasped deeply. "This thing belongs to ROBOTNIK!" he exclaimed. "Who?" Big asked. "Robotnik!" Streak replied. "Doctor Robotnik, he's a big... fat... mad scientist. He's a very, very bad man, Big! If we go inside there, he'll torture us, then he'll kill us, Big, because he's a very, very, very bad man! Now, I know you want your frog back, but it's GONE, Big.. it's GONE. I'm SORRY, I really am! But we've been following that thing around for ages now, I'm tired, I'm hungry, let's just go home, huh? We can fry up a couple of fish.." "You didn't have to come along!" Big pointed out. "I Din't ask you to follow me, you did it yourself!" "I _HAVE_ TO FOLLOW YOU!" Streak shouted. "Because, if I DON'T follow you, you'll walk around like a MINDLESS LEMMING, and get yourself KILLED!" "I ain't stupid!" Big protested. "I ain't smart, but I ain't stupid! You can stay 'ere if you want, but I'm gonna get on that thing an' find my friend!" The cat turned and walked towards the ship. "Okay Big... look... I'm sorry." Streak admitted. "But this is Robotnik! He'll tear you limb from limb! I worry about you, cuz! Please, just.. just turn around, come back... we'll go fishing, huh?" There was an uneasy silence, then Big turned and walked back. "Oh alright!" he gave in. "Lets go!" "YEAH!" Streak shouted in triumph. "Lets go home!" "Hey, what's that?" Big asked, pointing up. Streak looked up. "What?" he asked. "I can see a bird... it's just a crow, though! What am I looking at, Big? Big?" The cat turned to see the door of the huge ship closing behind his cousin. "BIG!!" he screamed. "GAAH! He's gone inside! What do I do??" He ran right up to the door, and stared at it. "Robotnik.." he muttered. "I can't believe I'm doing this." He pressed the button, and the door opened. He took a deep breath. "I..... am a tool." he declared, walking inside. The door closed with a clatter, as the engines started up. Sonic, having searched Twinkle Circuit, had somehow found his way to Speed Highway. He zipped around, narrowly missing several cars, until he found a place to rest. "Now what?" he asked. "I can't find Amy or Tails.. I can't get to the Egg Carrier.." "Well, if you have nothing to do, I have some suggestions.." came an evil voice from above. Sonic looked up, and saw Amy.. with a gun to her head.. her bird circling around madly. Her captor? None other than Zero Tolerance. "ZERO!" Sonic exclaimed, shocked. "So you DID survive!" "I survived alright!" Zero snapped back. "Save a few broken bones.. my armor absorbed most of the shock. And hey! Look who I managed to come across!" he chuckled. "No... not you!" Sonic yelled with rage. "You sure picked a crappy time to start strutting around the place again!" "SHUT UP!" Zero shouted. "In case you haven't noticed, I have a friend of yours hostage!" "Drop her, Zero.. she's not worth as much to you if you're knocked off that balcony by me with a broken skull!" "Ho HO! We shall see!" Zero declared. "If you want her back, you're going to have to battle me! TO THE DEATH! We'll see who gets broken by all this!" "Amy, are you alright?" Sonic asked. Amy nodded sadly. "You're ignoring my offer!" Zero replied. "Did you hear me, you little blue idiot? I challenged you.. no, I DARED you to fight me! Are you going to accept? Or am I going to have to blow this little girl's head away? 'Cos I really don't wanna have to do that, Sonic.. look at her, she has her whole life ahead of her... are you going to take that away from her Sonic?" "Don't, Sonic!" Amy warned. "He's got guns and everything! You're no match.." "I accept, Zero Brains!" Sonic shouted. "Excellent!" Zero applauded. "And that's TOLERANCE, Sonic, I didn't go off and think up a perfectly good evil name to have it ridiculed by a little freak like you! Now, run off into the forest... don't try and find me, believe me, I'll find YOU!" With an evil cackle, Zero and Amy disappeared into the building, with Sonic blinded with rage. "Sure! Throw every brainless villain in the world into this situation!" he shouted. "I can't BELIEVE this! I think I have too many enemies.." Tails opened the hangar door, revealing a strange looking biplane.. looking quite dusty. "All tests positive!" Tails announced. "It works like a charm.. I dub thee.. Tornado 2!" He smiled, and wanted desperately to dust it off and give it a full wash and paint job.. but there wasn't quite enough time. The o ld plane would just have to do as it was. Tails jumped into the cockpit and started the engine. "It's time!" he announced. "Off we go, Tornado 2! Off to find Sonic and finish what we started!" In the Egg Carrier, Robotnik was walking down the main corridor. "The frog.. at last!" he announced. "Now.. I'll wait for just a little bit before I give it to Chaos.. I have things to do first, and I don't want his power wasted before I can use it on Station Square!" He threw open a door, and dozens of strange blue things tumbled on top of him! "YAAAARGH!" he yelled, thrashing. When he picked himself up, he saw the scene properly. Inside the room, in the center, was the giant mako-shark-shaped Chaos monster. And surrounding him were dozens of little baby water droplets! And un-hatched eggs! Robotnik's first thought was "He's a SHE!", but that didn't really make sense. "Chaos... what the heck?" he demanded. "Chao." Chaos replied. "Ivo Robotnik! Chaos is acheiving perfection too slowly! The side effect is that Chaos is producing these... small... ssstupid organisms. Chaos must EVOLVE, Ivo Robotnik! Evolve quickly! Acheive perfection so he may serve out your wishes!" "Soon, Chaos! Soon.." Robotnik guaranteed. "Try to hold back on creating these little globs of goo, huh?" He sweeped all the chao into the room, and closed the door. "Chao." he snorted. "Maybe I can train them to be vicious mercinaries, or something." At that point, Mecha Sonic walked up to him. "Sire.." he said. "I have some interesting news." "Out with it." Robotnik replied. "Sir, we have re-located the bird which escaped earlier this week, causing you to lose your cargo..." "You have?" Robotnik snapped. "WHERE?? That bird must PAY!" "Below.." Mecha replied. "Do you wish me to beam it on board?" "As soon as possible.." Robotnik growled. "Oh, I have waited SO long for this!" Zero announced evilly. "Sonic, prepare to be destroyed!" "NO!" Amy shouted. Zero turned the gun on her. "SHUT IT, girlie! I don't need you any more! Don't force me to dispose of you!" Amy dropped back. "Now, where was I?" Zero asked, walking up to Sonic. "Oh yes! I was going to DESTROY you!" "Not gonna happen!" Sonic replied, defensively. "Prepare to die!" Zero announced. At that moment, Amy and her bird bolted towards Zero and attacked him. Zero quickly activated his rocket pack and blasted over them, coming to land behind them. He raised his gun. "I waaaarned yooou!" he growled. He was interrupted by something blocking out the sun. Zero, the bird, Amy and Sonic all looked up, forgetting what they were doing. The Egg Carrier! It was so silent that nobody heard it coming! "What the heck is THAT thing?" Zero demanded. The Carrier stopped directly above them, opened some kind of hole, and shot a beam down to the ground! "GAH!" Zero shouted as he, Amy and the little bird were sucked into the ship. "NO!" Sonic shouted. But he was too late. He got there just as the hole closed up, and the Egg Carrier began to move again. "OH NO!" Sonic cursed. "I've lost her AGAIN!" He frowned and looked at which direction they were heading. The ship was going towards the mountains. "I'm not gonna let egg-man escape THIS time!" Sonic announced. "Watch out Robotnik! This time it's PERSONAL!" Zero and Amy stood in a dark, dingey corridor. The bird was flying around, cracking up. "Wha?" Zero asked. "We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Gah, I'll throttle whoever runs this ship!" He looked at a mural on the wall... a picture of Robotnik's face. "Well well well!" Zero commented. "Robotnik! Haven't seen HIS smiling face in a while!" "Where.. are we?" Amy asked. "Are we in that big ship? The one you fell out of, birdie?" "Geez, will you stop talking to that dumb bird?" Zero asked. "It can't understand you or talk back or anything." "Whereas you talk TOO much." Amy replied, glumly. A group of robots stepped out of the shadows. "Well well well..." a blue one said. "If it isn't three more additions to Robotnik's happy prisoner family." "You are prisoners of war, soldiers!" a yellowy orange one said. "Follow us! You will not speak unless spoken to!" "Sorry, my mindless metal comrades!" Zero exclaimed, using his rocket pack to blast to the roof. "Can't stick around! I'll be seein' you!" "GET BACK HERE SOLDIER!" the yellow robot raged. "Very well.. he will be aquired later. You, civilian! Come with us!" Amy was led off into a dirty jail cell. "Gamma..." Robotnik called. E-102 Gamma approached him. "I have a little job for you." Robotnik announced. "Go through to the dungeon. There is a girl in one of the cells, and she has a bird with her. Do not worry about the girl just yet, just get me that bird!" "Aye aye, sir." Gamma droned in reply. He strided down the halls of the Egg Carrier, and came to a door. He opened it just a crack, and peered inside. Packbell was in there, with Beta. "Testing operations..." Packbell said. "You're making an excellent recovery, Beta!" Gamma closed the door. "This is the wrong room." he announced to nobody in particular. Then he headed down the hall once again. Amy sat, crying. The bird chirped sadly. Outside the cell, a robot approached. A red robot. He looked at the girl through the bars. Amy looked at him with spite. "What do you want?" she demanded. "The bird..." the robot replied. "Well, you can't have him. Go away." Amy replied. The robot stood there for a moment. "I have data on you." he said. "Excuse me?" Amy asked. "I have met you. During the attack on New Knothole." Amy remembered. "Yes.." she replied. "Yeah, you.. spared my life!" "I am sorry you were captured. You had your life ahead of you." "So, saving me was just a one-off occurance, huh?" Amy asked. "Please, quietly hand over the bird." the robot insisted. "No!" Amy snapped. "Why not?" the robot asked. Amy just started to cry. "Why do you cry?" the robot asked. "I'm never going to see my friends again.." Amy sobbed. "Sonic.. the Freedom Fighters.." "Does not compute." the robot admitted. "You're just a dumb robot, what do you know?" Amy asked. "You only know what's programmed into you. You've never lost somebody you care about, and you'll never need to." There was a long silence, and then the robot said "I have." "What?" Amy asked, looking up. "Who could YOU have lost?" "My sibling." the robot replied. "My brother. E-102 Beta. I was forced to fight him. He was damaged. He is not the same. I miss him. He would not miss me, but I miss him." Amy walked up to the robot. "I'm.. sorry." she admitted. At that moment, the bird flew through the bars, and hovered just in front of the robot's head! "Birdie! No!" Amy shouted. But the robot made no attempt to grab it. They just stayed.. staring at each other. "Birds.." the robot said. Memories flooded back to him. His mother was a bird.. he missed her. He missed her so badly. He wanted to cry, but his robot body wouldn't let him.. He shook the memories away. "Go." he said. "Huh?" Amy asked. "Go." the robot replied, pushing a button which opened the jail doors. "Escape." Amy walked out into the corridor. "You're not like the other robots, are you?" she asked. "What's your name?" "I am called E-102 Gamma." the robot replied. "Go. It is dangerous here. Take the bird. We will be back at Robotropolis in due time." "Thank you so much!" Amy replied, tears welling up in her eyes. "You are happy and yet you cry again." Gamma stated. "Insufficiant data. I do not understand." "Don't worry, Gamma!" Amy called. "You will always have a place in my heart!" With that, she left. "Where are we?" Streak demanded. "We're LOST! THAT"S where we are!" "Hot.. Shelter.." Big read. "Yeah, it's hot alright!" Streak replied, wiping his brow. There was a clanging behind them. The two cats turned to see an E-101 robot walking up to them. "Who are you?" it demanded. "Where's Froggy?" Big demanded back. There was a long silence. "Yeah, uh.. HI!" Streak greeted. "I'm Streak, and this here is Big! Um.. we're just here, looking for a frog, you see.. he's about.. yay high, and... oh, yay long... It has a tail, so it's easy to... The robot grabbed him by the neck and threw him to the wall. "INTRUDERS!" it shouted. "No!" Streak yelled back. "Just... uh... visitors!" "INTRUDERS." the robot repeated, squeezing his hand around the cat's neck. In self defence, Streak let rip an enormous electric charge. The robot blew a circuit, and fell backwards. An alarm went off, followed by another. Soon, the whole hot shelter was ablaze with alarms. "Oh no oh no oh no!" Streak stammered. "Robotnik's gonna capture us and then he's gonna torture us and throw us overboard into the ocean or something where we'll be eaten by sharks and whales and pirhannas and... sea urchins and whatever else and we'll rot and never see the sun again and I DON'T WANNA DIE!" "Get a hold o' yerself, good buddy!" Big urged. Streak looked up at him. "Why are you always so carefree, Big?" he asked. "It's just my nature, cuz!" Big replied. "Now cheer up.. we're gonna go find Froggy, and then we can all go home and fish together!" "Fish.." Streak snickered. "But Big... this is my first time facing Robotnik without about fifty others to back me up!" "You have awesome powers, good buddy!" Big replied. "You an' me an' Froggy can take on all these nasty robots ourselves!" He began to sing. "Oh, it's a windy and sunny day! I can hear the faint sound of distant waves.." Streak smiled and began to sing too. "The past weeks have been going by so fast, it's all the same, the bright sky and shining sun.." "I have a feeling it's gonna be a fun daaay!" "Hey, big guy!" "Hey, little guy!" "Can you tell me who came first?" "Sorry, but I don't know!" "We're simply naturaaal!" They both laughed. "Sure, we can do this!" Streak announced. "Let's get 'em, big guy!" "Sure thing, little guy!" And they ran off to find the missing frog. Sonic chased Robotnik's Egg Carrier through the mountains all day, and now a storm was starting to form in the sky. The problem was - he was running out of mountains. He got to the top of the highest one, and looked at the Egg Carrier just flying away from the area. "It's no use.." he sighed. "I just can't catch it. I'm gonna have to find another way... He heard the sound of a small plane above him. He looked up.. and to his relief.. TAILS! He was in a new plane, heading straight for the mountains. "TAILS!" Sonic yelled, waving both arms. Tails spotted him, and moved the plane around towards him. "I'm so glad you're okay!" Sonic announced, grinning. "Sure thing, Sonic!" Tails replied. "Now, hop in! We've got an Egg Carrier to catch!" So they were off once again. Sonic on the wing, Tails at the controls. They dodged the Carrier's defenses, and shot parts of the hull to pieces with their gunfire. Then they turned to face the Carrier head-on once again. As before, the nozzle opened to reveal a huge weapon.. but this time, Tails wasted no time in opening fire on it. When it shot the massive beam, the plane dodged, and continued its fire. Eventually, there was an explosion, and the nozzle of the ship closed, dragging the blazing firey remains of the weapon inside. Tails blasted the plane over the nose of the ship, did a loop, and came in for a landing on top of it. "Uh oh..." Tails said, stabbing a button on the console. "What's uh-oh?" Sonic asked. Tails stabbed the button again. "Landing gear is jammed." Tails replied morbidly. "WHAT??" exclaimed Sonic. "We're gonna have to taboggan-land this thing!" Tails announced. "Hold on!" Sonic yelled out as the plane's belly scraped along the top of the Egg Carrier. Sparks flew everywhere as Tails tried to control it. Eventually, it stopped dead, and the two both fell out of it. "We're here..." Sonic announced. "Dangerous fire in sector fourteen!" Mecha announced. "Mecha.... WHY are those two idiots on my Egg Carrier?" Robotnik asked, clenching his fists. "They were readily prepared this time, sir." Mecha replied. "They disabled the primary weapon." "That's it.." Robotnik announced. "Time to show them exactly what this vessel can do! Mecha, I want you to transform this ship into deep space mode!" "Might I ask why, sir?" Mecha asked. "Because it will enclose the ship into a tight fortress." Robotnik replied. "The only way they can possibly get inside will be through a missile tube into the sky deck, and I seriously doubt their chances of getting through automated security therin. Now, DO IT!" There was a loud noise. Knuckles looked up from the sky deck he was stowed away in, and noticed that things were moving. The walls of the deck moved outward, and snapped erect like wings at the side of the Carrier! The sudden exposure to the open sky almost ripped the echidna from the ship, and he decided to get to a safer area. "Warning. Warning. Deep space mode activated. For safety reasons, move away from any moving machinary." "What's deep space mode?" Tails asked. He was soon to find out. The entire vessel was changing. Wings on the side formed and snapped i nto place, and every crevice.. every opening on the top of the ship closed up into a tight seal. The whole ship went through a transformation right before Tails and Sonic's eyes. "Whoa!" Tails yelled. "It changed shape! Did you SEE that?" "Yeah!" Sonic replied. "This makes it harder to get to Robotnik!" "Look!" Tails pointed out. "There are some missile tubes or something... maybe we can get inside before this thing does something else!" "Good idea Tails!" Sonic announced. "Lets rock!" "Hot Shelter." Amy read. "What's a hot shelter? Looks like the works of the ship!" She looked around at all the huge gears around the place. As she was staring, she didn't notice a shadow pass over her.. until it spoke. "So, you finally escaped! Took you long enough..." Amy turned to see Zero! "You again!" she exclaimed. "What are YOU doing here?" "What, you think I'd be locked up someplace?" Zero asked. "Thought those idiots caught me? HA! I find that insulting, little missy!" "Who are you.." Amy asked in a low voice. "You're after me when I've never met you, and you obviously don't work for Robotnik.." "Just a guy with a mission, lady." Zero replied. "And a score to settle. Now, excuse me whilst I grab you and get off this thing, huh? I'm sick of chasing you around, you're much friskier than that Sally girl was." Amy bolted across the hot shelter. "YAAAARGH!" Zero shouted. "Get back here! I'll strangle you after your use has expired! YOU HEAR ME??" And the chase was on again. Amy jumped across gears and pistons, turned corners and hid behind a wall. "Did we lose him?" she asked. "NOPE!" shouted Zero, rocketing across from nowhere. Amy screamed and jumped off the platform. She landed on another metal pathway, and ran. She could hear Zero running after. "He's like a recurring nightmare!" she declared. She ducked into another area, then into a room full of fish tanks. "Wha...?" she asked. "Why does Robotnik have so many fish tanks?" "He's just a fishy person, alright?" replied Zero, landing in front of her. He snatched at her, but she ducked and ran again. Dodging gears, she ran for ages. Never stopping. She reached an elevator and turned the wheel to make it lift. Then she ducked into another room and slammed the door tight. She turned about five huge locks, and blocked the door with her body. "There." she said, panting. She looked around... there were a lot of television screens around her. "What are these for?" she asked. "Monitor Room" a sign said. Amy walked up to the monitors, the bird flapping behind her. There was a control switch. She threw it to the "on" position, and all the screens flickered to life. Security monitors! They all showed parts of the ship. In some, robots were marching around. In others, nothing was happening. In one, there was a little water droplet with eyes walking around. "What's THAT?" she asked. Then, on the biggest monitor, was a huge view of Zero. Amy was startled, but realised he couldn't see her. "Looks like he lost us!" she chuckled. Zero looked left, then right. His mouth was tightened into a scowl. Then he looked directly ahead. There was no movement for a long time, until finally he raised his arm-gun and pointed it ahead. "What's he aiming at?" Amy asked. He fired. There was an explosion as glass shards flew everywhere, and there was a huge hole in the monitor screen. Zero stepped through it. "Hey, I found you!" he announced. "I like this game! Now I'll hide, and YOU can go seek!" "GO AWAAAAAY!" Amy screamed, almost tearing her hair out in frustration. "Sorry, end of the line." Zero replied. Amy took her hammer, and slammed it across Zero's head again. The robot toppled, and Amy ran through the hole that he had come through. There was a light.. so bright. It enveloped her. When she could see again, she was in a different place. "Birdie?" she called. The bird had gone. She wasn't in the hot shelter any more, she was in some kind of village, with a temple. She walked around slowly. "How the heck..?" she asked. There was an altar off to the side.. with some kind of jewel on it. The huge gem sparkled in the light. There was a girl standing there.. an echidna. She was talking to more little water droplet creatures! "Don't be afraid.." she said. "You're safe with me. I came to tell you.. we're going to have to put you and the Havoc Gem underground for a while. It's my father's will... he's going to fight the Third Test, and he doesn't want any chao to be hurt, or the gem damaged. I hope you understand." Amy walked up to the girl. "Excuse me?" she asked. The girl turned around. "Yes?" she acknowledeged. Before Amy could reply, she realised she was just standing back in the hot shelter. "What was THAT?" she asked. The bird, who was still with her, chirped in reply. "Well, we'd better get outta here before Zero catches up..." Knuckles glided through the sky deck, bashing guns to pieces. "Where's that Chaos?" he asked nobody-in-particular. Alarms went off as his presence was made very well-known indeed. He didn't care.. so far he had been able to throw back whatever the Carrier threw at him. He was just about to exit the sky deck into the main catacombs, when the alarm lights started flashing extremely brightly... Knux shielded his eyes.. bright red light, everywhere. When he opened his eyes, it was nighttime. He was standing at the altar where the Havoc Gem sat.. and everything was on fire as if a war had broken out. Knuckles shook his head hard. "Nooo... not again!" he complained. "What is the MEANING of all this??" He walked towards the altar to investigate. Tikal was lying near-dead on the ground, surrounded by a few strange water-droplet-like creatures. "What.. happened here?" he asked. Tikal looked up at him. "Oh.. it was horrible!" she lamented. "They came, and my.. my father.." she spoke jerkingly. "I had.. no idea how bad this would turn out!" she spluttered. "They're coming back, and... and when they return, they're going to take us! We failed the third test... now they're going to take us away forever!" Knuckles snapped back into reality with a look of horror in his eyes. The third test.... it was all coming to him now. That wasn't the Tikal he knew... Tikal had told him once of her mother. The echidna who was ALSO named Tikal. Naming your daughter after yourself was sometimes a custom back then. But how.. and WHY was he continually flashing back to a time fifty years prior.. to an event he had never witnessed? He realised that he had been watching the events unfolding of the so-called third test - the exact events which led to the kidnapping of entire generations, and which left Knuckles as one of the last echidnas on Mobius. He clanched his fists hard. "I'm going to win this." he announced. "I'm getting back my Emerald... I must do this to honor my ancestors. In their absence, I'm the only one who can." Sonic and Tails flew into the open air, then landed on a platform, after being shot from the missile tube. Then they began to run through the entwining mass of platforms that was the sky deck of the Egg Carrier. Every so often, the ship would pick up speed, throwing them off course, or tilt to the side, changing the direction of gravity. The whole thing was very confusing... Robotnik wanted desperately to destroy them once and for all. And it seemed that every minute he was closer to succeeding. "This thing is incredible!" Sonic awed. "Yeah, in a terrifying creepy kinda way!" Tails replied. "Come on! Keep going!" Sonic came to the end of a path, just in time to see a huge, HUGE gun on the underside of the ship turning to face him. It was being piloted by an E-101 sentry. "RUN FOR IT!" Sonic shouted. The two bolted down the path, just as a wave of huge green fireballs destroyed it behind them. They rounded a bend, and ran down another path, again narrowly missing the onslaught. Again they turned, onto platform three... the gun was destroying the ship better than i t was getting them! Eventually they rounded to platform four. Sonic found himself at the control of a rocket launcher that was supposed to be used against him. Instead, he stared right down the barrel of the huge gun and fired three rockets. The E-101's eyes shrank into fearful points of light as the explosion set in. "Three major fires in sky deck!" Mecha reported. "Platform one.. out of comission. Platform two - out of comission. Platform three - out of comission. Main belly gun - out of comission. Fires on platforms four to six, spreading to main deck." Robotnik held his head in his hands. "Can't the Carrier handle two tiny intruders..?" he asked. "More than two, sir." Mecha reported. Robotnik lifted his head. "What?" "Sssss....The hedgehog and the fox are on the main platform of sky deck, and I have just recieved word of the echidna Knuckles heading topside." Mecha reported. "Knuckles??" Robotnik demanded, shocked. "When did HE get here?" "I have also recieved word of a prisoner.. the girl with the bird.. who has escaped to the hot shelter. The shelter also contains two more unidentified intruders." Robotnik grabbed the robot in rage. "THAT'S SIX INTRUDERS!" he boomed. "ARE YOU SUCH AN IDIOT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN DETECT WHEN SOMEBODY IS STOWING AWAY ON MY CARRIER?!?" "Apologies, sire!" Mecha exclaimed. Robotnik threw him to the ground. "I want them destroyed. You hear? All of them. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, the girl, the other two whoever the heck they are... I want them DEAD and OFF my ship IMMEDIATELY! DO WHATEVER IT TAKES! MAKE ANY SACRIFICE! I'M SICK OF THEIR STUPID FACES!!" Sonic burst out of the sky deck and onto the top of the ship, followed by Tails. The wind caught them by surprise, and they started running along a large stretch of panelling. Suddenly, catching him by surprise, the panels began to fall away! They were being jettisoned! The two jumped quickly away from the area, and could see much of the ship was in flames. "Robotnik's getting really desperate!" Sonic announced. "He's dumping parts of his ship to get rid of us!" Just then, right before their eyes, there was a controlled explosion which detached most of the sky deck from the ship, and sent it hurling through the clouds. The section was beyond repair, so he probably dumped it to stop the fire spreading to other sections. Sonic and Tails jumped into a corridor which led into the ship's interior. "Is that it?" Sonic asked, apon reaching the main catacombs. "It might be.." Tails replied. "But we might wanna search the bridge. I can't see where Amy would have been taken.." Amy stepped into the open air. "Aaah, free at last!" she declared. A shadow passed over her, and her immediate thought was of Zero. "You are really BUGGING ME!" she yelled. "I'm gonna knock you off this ship if you don't leave me alone!" "Charmed!" Robotnik replied, kicking her over and onto her stomach. She let out a loud wheeze, and the emerald shard she found in Twinkle Park fell out of her pocket and rolled a few meters. Robotnik walked up to it and picked it up. "What's this?" he asked. "An emerald shard! FANTASTIC! You just saved me a lot of trouble, girl!" "What do you mean?" Amy asked, trying to pick herself up. "I mean, this is going to help Chaos achieve perfection!" Robotnik replied, cackling. Sonic and Tails wandered through another corridor, and surfaced again on the bridge of the ship. And there was Amy... confronted by Robotnik himself. "SONIC!" Amy shouted. "AMY!" Sonic replied, running towards her. "He took my jewel.. he says it's going to help Chaos achieve perfection, or something like that!" Robotnik turned to sonic, cacking evilly. "I hope you had fun destroying my Egg Carrier, Sonic!" he said. "Look what your friend found for me! I was going to torture that stupid little bird of hers.. but no matter, this is all I really need! My interests are with Chaos.. and destroying all of you!" "You had an emerald shard?" Sonic asked Amy. "I.. Emerald shard? What emerald? I don't get this! I...What's this all about?" Amy stammered. "GAMMA!" Robotnik screamed. "Get up here!!" There was a metallic clanging.. and E-102 Gamma appeared. "Another E-series idiot, huh egg-man?" Sonic asked. "GAMMA!" Amy yelled. "ENOUGH!" screamed Robotnik, walking away. "Gamma, dispose of these idiots! Show them what you've got! Do not disappoint me!" "Yes Master Robotnik.." Gamma replied, turning to them. "Sonic is my mortal enemy. Priority hedgehog... destroy." "Good boy!" Robotnik said. "Now, excuse me, I must attend to other matters!" Gamma raised his laser rifle, and Sonic stood ready. Gamma started targeting and firing rapidly.. Sonic was taken aback.. this robot was good! He yelled aloud when one of the missiles skimmed past and charred his shoulder. But then the robot had to re-load, and that was when Sonic made his move. He rolled into a spindash and attacked. Gamma was thrown back, and Sonic pounded into him again and again. "SYSTEMS FAILING!" Gamma announced frantically. Sonic stood back, and began to run up for the final destroying blow. But Amy stepped in front of him. "STOP IT!" she ordered. "Both of you!" "Huh?" asked Sonic, shocked. "Amy.. step aside! That thing is dangerous!" "No he isn't!" Amy protested. Sonic tended his shoulder. "Yah-huh!" he argued. "This robot is my friend!" Amy declared. "He helped me!" "How can ANYBODY make friends with a ROBOT?" Sonic asked, in surprise. "Sonic.." Amy moaned. "Just trust me... please?" Sonic looked into her green eyes. "Okay, I guess.." he said. "He's had enough.. at least you're safe." That's when the alarms went off. "WARNING" the computer shouted. "FIRE SPREAD TO HOT SHELTER. ENGINES NOW RUNNING AT TWENTY-THREE PERCENT SUGGESTED CAPACITY." "Sonic!" Tails shouted, as the ship began to tilt. "The ship's losing altitude!" "Right.." Sonic replied. "Tails, you fly Amy off the ship. The robot can find a way off if it wants to as well." "What about you?" Tails asked. Sonic grinned. "I've been fighting Robotnik for years." he said. "I've fought him ever since he was created. Everywhere I went, he would be there trying to kill me and take over the world. Enough is enough... today, I am going to make the final blow." he clenched his fists. "Today, the captain is going down with his ship, and I'm going to be there to make sure. Don't worry, I'll find my own way off." Tails nodded, and he and Amy made their way to the edge of the ship. Gamma activated his jetpack, and blasted into the air. Sonic walked alone towards his goal.. As Gamma got to the edge of the ship, Amy called out to him. "You don't have to work for Robotnik!" she yelled. "You can go your own way! Live your own life!" "Why are you helping me?" Gamma asked. "Just returning the favour!" Amy replied, smiling. "Amy, come on!" Tails urged. She held onto him tightly, and he spun his tails and took off like a helicopter. Big sat on the edge of a fish tank. His lure was cast into the water, and he was skilfully trying to attract his frog with it. "You sure you can catch that thing?" Streak asked. "No problem!" Big replied. "My little buddy Froggy will take my bait, won't he!" Streak stared into the tank.. and everything started to go blurry. There was a massive light that swept over him. He put up his hand to shield himself.. and when he took it away, he was staring at an army. There must have been hundreds of echidnas, marching through a field, heavily armed. They were ready for battle. Streak rubbed his eyes and looked again. No change. "Where are we?" Big asked. Streak turned to him. They were both standing at a strange altar, underneath a huge emerald. "You can see it too?" he asked. "I sure can!" Big replied. "Then I'm not dreaming!" Streak declared. "That army.. who are they fighting? I can't see anybody else around.." The ground started to shake. Both cats looked up. Hundreds of points of light... like stars, only in broad daylight... and getting bigger... closer... Then they were back in the ship. "What just happened?" Streak asked. "I dunno, but I got Froggy back!" Big replied, holding up the frog. It struggled in his grasp. "How'd we get here?" Streak asked. They were standing on top of the ship, clouds whizzing past overhead. "Ooooh... this is way too weird for me." "GREETINGS!" came an announcement. Both cats turned to see a man in red, standing there grinning. "Uhhhh... is dat Robotnik?" Big asked. "Uh, yes Big, that is Robotnik." Streak replied, gulping. "Who are you and what are you doing on my Egg Carrier?" Robotnik asked through clenched teeth. "Uhh... eheh... there's a funny story behind that!" Streak replied. "See, me an' Big here..uhh..just came aboard to...erm.." "We're gettin' Froggy back!" Big interrupted. "Aaah yes, the FROG." Robotnik growled, snatching the frog away from Big. "HEY!" the cat protested. "CHAAAAAAAOS!" Robotnik shouted. A puddle began to form on the ground. Seeping up from below. Streak took a step back when his feet began to get wet. "What the...?" The puddle of liquid thickened and then began to solidify. It pulled itself into a shape.. like a giant fish. Its eyes were last to form, yellow and unblinking, just under a big ugly brown visible brain. "Chaos is here..." the monster glugged. "Duuh, what is THAT thing?" Big asked. "Uh, what happens if you leave salad dressing out of the fridge too long?" Streak guessed. "Chaos! I have more power sources for you!" Robotnik declared. He held out a large green gem in one hand, and held the frog by the hind leg in the second hand. "Excellent!" the monster growled. It leaned its huge head over, and swallowed the frog in one gulp. Then it took the gem in one squirming tentacle. "FROGGY!" Big screamed, beginning to fret. "I... don't think your frog is the extent of our problems, here." Streak admitted, staring hypnotically as light spewed forth, and the monster's shadow began to grow across the ground significantly, cheered on by an evil spine-chilling laugh. "Oh....... my." Knuckles stood before the biggest switch he had ever seen. "Emergency alert cancellation" it read. "use to cancel deep space mode." "If I'm to continue, I'll need to change this ship back to it's original shape!" he announced. He struggled with the switch to operate it.. "Emergancy alert cancelled." said a voice. "Resuming monorail operation." "Huh?" Sonic asked. He was startled when the ship began to move... the wings rolled around and sat flat alongside the hull, and the deck began to change to its original layout. "How did that happen?" Sonic asked. He shrugged, and continued on his way. Somebody came running up to him... it took him a while to recognise who it was, and even then he didn't believe it. "Streak?" Sonic asked. "Streak the Cat? Wha... what are YOU doing on the EGG CARRIER?" Streak stopped in front of him, panting for breath. "It's a very long story." he replied. "That frog...and Robotnik...it..it was just a dumb pet frog! Who would have thought.." "Streak, say it slowly..." Sonic told him. "Sonic.." Streak began "Over there, in the middle of this ship, is the biggest monster you have ever seen. He was raised by Robotnik, he..." "Chaos?" Sonic asked. "I don't know his name.." Streak replied. "Look, my cousin Big is practically obsessed with rescuing this stupid little frog that that monster swallowed.. he can't fight that thing, he'll get himself killed! You've gotta help him, or get him away from there, or something!" "No problemo!" Sonic replied, running in that direction. "Wait up!" Streak called from behind. Sonic slowed his run to a stop, jaw hanging open. "Oh no." was all he managed to say. A humungous creature, so big it almost could have weighed the ship down, turned towards him. A huge scorpion, complete with bladed tail, face studded with emerald shards, and completely composed of liquid. "C..could this be the same beast?" Sonic asked. The creature looked down at him and laughed. "Chaos will destroy you.." it boomed. "Chaos..will destroy you ALL! Chaos is so close to perfection! CHAOS WILL SUCCEED!" "Sonic, meet Chaos Six." Robotnik said smugly, stepping from the shadows. "Chaos.. would you please do the honors of disposing of this pest?" "Chaos will.." Chaos boomed. Sonic noticed another figure nearby. "Froggy?" the person asked. "You're Big?" Sonic asked. Big turned to him. "Yeah!" he replied. "I..I MUST SAVE FROGGY!" "If he's your friend, I'll help you." Sonic replied, looking at the Chaos beast. A small frog was swimming around inside. "Oh thank you!" Big replied happily. "Sonic!" came a voice. Sonic turned to see Knuckles running up to him. "Knuckles?" he asked in disbelief. "YOU'RE here, as well?" Knux nodded. "Yeah, I........HOLY CRAP!" The echidna caught a glance of the giant scorpion. "Chaos Six." Sonic replied. "It's HUGE!" Knux whined. "That thing's got six pieces of the Master Emerald..." Sonic replied. "No wonder it's so big!" "Froggy!" Big cried again. "Alright.." Sonic said. "Knuckles, Big, Streak.. you guys ready?" "Yeah!" they all said in unison. "Lets GET HIM!" Sonic shouted. Then he ducked out of the way, just as Chaos stabbed at him with his tail. "Come and get me!" the hedgehog shouted, running circles around the creature. "Chaos will crush you into tiny red puddles!" Chaos announced informatively. Knuckles ran up to him and grabbed one of the emerald shards in his face. He wailed and shook his head frantically. Then, when he had thrown Knuckles off, he turned to the fallen echidna, and drew a mighty breath. The monster sucked so strongly that Knuckles found it hard to stay put and not get sucked inside. Streak leaped toward him and pushed him out of the way of the beast's wrath... and got sucked in himself! The cat struggled to swim out of the monster, and, in self defence, let rip his awesome electric shock ability. Unfortunately, Chaos conducted electricity a little too well. The entire monster glowed a bright white, and when it died down, Streak wasn't moving. "COUSIN!" Big shouted. "Knux! I have an idea!" Sonic shouted. "We gotta change this ship again somehow!" "I know how!" Knuckles replied. "Be right back.. don't go away!" The echidna ran off. "You shall submit to Chaos!" Chaos shouted. "This is it.." Big announced. "Been fishin' for years.. it's time for th' big one!" He pulled back his rod, and cast it.. right into Chaos! The lure tangled around Streak's tail. Big struggled with the line to try and pull his cousin out. Meanwhile, Sonic was running circles around the beast. Chaos was swiping at him with his tail, and missing only slightly each time. Big pulled Streak from the monster, and then proceeded to fish for his frog. He pulled the frog out with a plop, and both it and Streak lay there motionless. Suddenly, something began to happen. The ship began to move. The wings detached from the sides, and stood outright, and in doing so, a bar attached to them moved. The huge iron bar swiped just over the heads of Sonic and Big, but whacked straight into Chaos. The monster screeched as it was thrown into a huge engine, which had moved from the side to the center. As soon as the monster went through the turbine, the entire engine exploded in a firey blast. The blob of Chaos liquid dribbled from the destroyed engine, and lay motionless in a stream. "Chaos!" Robotnik called, appearing. He was in a huge machine which had a long metal snake tail behind it. "Are you alive, Chaos?" he inquired. Chaos dribbled along the ground towards the machine. "Chaos! We must evacuate!" Robotnik warned. The liquid dribbled into some sort of cargo hold at the base of the machine. "I hate you.." Robotnik said, pointing at Sonic. "You are going to die HORRIBLY, Sonic.. I will see to it myself! COME, Mecha!" Mecha Sonic blasted up behind Robotnik, and the two flew off the side of the ship. Before Mecha left, he turned to Sonic. "Here's a parting gift, hedgehog!" he announced. He aimed and fired. Sonic dodged the shot, but in doing so, he lost balance and fell off the ship... fell through the air into the water below... Big helped his limping cousin get across the top of the Egg Carrier. "That... thing ruined my electric shock ability." Streak complained. "I can't do it without sending a jolt through my body, I.. can't control it any more." "How are we gonna get off this ship?" Big asked, holding Froggy under one arm. "I have no idea." Streak admitted, shaking his head. "We could always try that thing!" Big suggested, pointing to an old biplane left crashed on the ship. "You know how to fly a plane?" Streak asked. "I don't know the first thing about it." Big replied morbidly. "But no harm in trying!" "Probably a great deal of harm, actually, but anything's better than staying on this doomed vessel." Streak added. Big walked up to it, and placed Froggy in the cockpit. Then he walked around the back, and began to push it towards the edge. "Grab on!" he told Streak. "Big... what are you doing?" Streak asked suspiciously. "I'm gonna fly dis plane, what else?" came the reply. "Big, I... I don't think they really work like that." Streak said nervously. "This is a bad idea, we should go..." Big grabbed his cousin's arm, then dropped the plane off the back of Robotnik's ship. "BIIIIIIIIIIIGGG!" Streak screamed as they hang-glided the biplane to safety. Knuckles glided from the ship for what seemed like hours. Behind him, the Egg Carrier had hit the water, and was floating on the surface. "That's another of Robotnik's devices out of comission." he said to himself. But he wasn't happy. "I still haven't completed the Master Emerald." he said, drearily. "I wonder if the Chaos Monster stayed on the ship? No.. I saw Robotnik get away.. he wouldn't have left his precious monster to crash." He decided to go back to the Floating Island, and devise a way to get to Chaos to retrieve his emeralds.