#msds

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“Tactful as ever, Knuckles. He knows we’re here now.” Sonic jeers.

“Good. I want him to know.” Knuckles says as he walks forward without heed.

The flashing alarm blares loudly as the sound of many robotic footsteps begin making their way to the scene. Eggpawns fill up the halls as they arrive, some sporting blunt melee weapons and some holding blasters.

Tails analyzes the situation around them. “Okay, I’ve got a plan. We’ll each split up and take out different sections of enemies, and-”

“No need,” Knuckles interrupts. “I can take them all out on my own.”

Sonic arches an eyebrow. “You know that’s crazy, right?”

“Listen, I’m really angry right now, and the best way I can work it off is by punching the bolts out of some bots. I’ll create a path through, you guys go on ahead and find Eggman.”

Sonic shakes his head and sighs. “Well, if you’re sure. I’m smart enough to know not to get in the middle of your rampage. Go get ‘em tiger.” He gives a thumbs up.

“I can stay and help, too!” Silver exclaims, stepping forward next to Knuckles.

“No thanks, I can handle this on my own.” Knuckles says with disdain.

“No, seriously, I-”

“I said no, Silver! I said I can do this myself!” Knuckles yells, causing Silver to step back, intimidated.

“...sorry…” Silver mumbles out, but Knuckles is already stepping forward, steeling himself for battle.

Sonic puts a hand on Silver’s shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about him. He wasn’t trying to be mean, that’s just how he is. Trust me, don’t take it personally, I promise you’re okay. He’s a tough cookie and can look out for himself. Besides, we have a job to do, right?”

Silver clenches his fist and nods his head. “Right, yeah. I’m ready to go.”

Tails scratches his ear a little bit. “I do wish he wasn’t so willing to put himself in harm's way like this. I would have preferred that we all could make it to the fight with Eggman together.”

“Well, this might be better actually, because we’ll be at full strength, rather than all of us being worn out for the fight,” Sonic says.

“I guess you’re right,” Tails responds. “All we have to do is wait for an opening to slip by and reach Eggman.”

Knuckles stretches his arms as he continues to walk forward towards the horde of Eggpawns lying in wait for him. “Well, if you're not gonna make the first move, then allow me!”

He rips a piece of sheet metal off of the metal walls, and chucks it like a frisbee at the army, already taking out a few rows of robots. Running forward, he begins to plow through the Eggpawns one after another with each fist strike. The bots occasionally try to gang up on Knuckles, but he is quick to throw them off, using the parts of other destroyed bots if he has to. At one point, he grabs a spiked Eggpawn by the feet, and spins around wildly as he moves forward, knocking out any other baddies in his path.

Tails observes for an opening as he surveys the damage. “Okay, Silver, let’s you and I fly over while Knuckles deals with these guys on the ground.”

“Got it, I’ll take Sonic,” Silver says as he begins to use his psychokinesis to lift up Sonic through the air.

“Careful, Silver, these goods are fragile, so handle with care,” Sonic quips.

Sticking close to the wall, the trio manage to fly over the Eggpawns undetected as Knuckles continues his onslaught below, who is currently throwing back bombs that were chucked at him first.

They eventually make their way through a number of halls until they arrive at a large door with the familiar Eggman logo. Silver cracks his fingers and forces the door open with a burst of energy. On the other side of this door is an expecting Eggman, floating in his Egg Mobile with a frown.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up for an unexpected house visit,” Eggman says, scowling as he talks. “Sonic, Tails, and… uh… Who are you again?”

“Silver. I fought against you and Infinite in the Resistance, remember?”

“Right, right. Anyways, to what do I owe you all the pleasure of bursting into my base and making a mess of my minions?”

“Don’t play dumb, Eggman! You stole the Master Emerald from Knuckles, and you’ve been making something new with the Hyperspace Sapphire!” Tails says with a point of his finger at Eggman.

Eggman recoils in shock for a moment. “Gah! How did you-?! I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about! Hyperspace Sapphire? I’ve never heard of such an item!”

Sonic rolls his eyes for a moment. “Whatever, Baldo. Just tell us what you’re planning, and we’ll do you a favor and give you a free beat-and-destroy combo deal! Courtesy of Sonic the Hedgehog and Co.!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! And even if I had an amazing, genius master plan, I wouldn’t tell you anyways!”

“That’s new,” Sonic comments. “Usually you love to drone on about your evil plans. This one must be big, huh?”

“He’s planning to travel to another dimension that he can conquer without interference,” A new, gloomy voice cuts into the conversation, as Shadow the Hedgehog jumps from the pipes on the ceiling onto the ground next to Sonic, followed by Rouge who lands next to him as well.

“Shadow?! Rouge?!” Eggman yells. “What are you doing here?!”

“Hey Doctor, long time no see,” Rouge says, putting her hands behind her back.

“Eggman created a machine that will allow him and his whole army to travel to another dimension where you don’t exist, so he can conquer that universe and create his Eggman Empire to expand his army even further,” Shadow explains, arms crossed as he faces Eggman. “He’s using three Chaos Emeralds along with the Master Emerald and the Sapphire to power the machine.”

“Wow Shadow, that’s impressive,” Sonic says. “How did you figure all that out?”

“Because I got here a while ago. And unlike somebody, I actually managed to be sneaky,” Shadow jeers.

Sonic laughs a little bit. “Alright, you won this one for sure.”

Eggman slams his fists in anger. “Grr! Why do you blasted hedgehogs have to ruin every single thing?! Don’t I deserve to win for once?!”

Rouge points to a door nearby. “The machine is in a chamber in that room, and it’s powering up for a jump as we speak.”

Silver nods his head and raises his fists. “Got it, then all we need to do is push through Eggman and destroy his machine before it starts up.”

“Not so fast, now!” Eggman chimes. “Don’t think you can get through me so easily! Especially when I have backup!”

“Backup…?” Tails repeats. “Oh no, don’t tell me…”

Eggman laughs maniacally as he pulls a switch, which opens a secret door on the other side of the room. A flash of red can be seen, and all of a sudden a metallic form barges out at incredible speed and stops in front of Eggman’s Egg Mobile, facing towards the heroes with a cold, unmoving stare. It was Metal Sonic, standing firm and locking eyes with the real Sonic, his fists clenched in hatred and fury.

“Metal Sonic?” Sonic stands unintimidated, keeping his gaze unbroken with Metal. “This won’t be a problem. I had no problem taking his polished behind to the dumpster last time we fought, what makes you think he’ll stand a chance against all of us?

“Because with his recent upgrades, Metal Sonic is now faster and more cunning than ever before!” Eggman gloats. “He’ll have no problem disposing of you once and for all!”

“I think he’s right, Sonic,” Tails says. “Metal seems different, and faster too. It might be harder this time.”

Sonic gets into a battle-ready pose. “Alright then, let’s split this up, why don’t we? Shadow, Silver, and I will take on Metal Sonic, while Tails and Rouge stop Eggman and shut down that machine.”

“Don’t order me around, Sonic,” Shadow says in a cold tone.

“That works for me!” Tails exclaims, moving with Rouge over to the side of Eggman. “Good luck, guys!”

“Ohoho! Feeling brave, are we fox boy?” Eggman sneers. “Well, lets see how you like this!” He pilots his Eggmobile into a nearby structure, which springs to life as he inserts the vehicle into the cockpit of the machine. Sharp blades start to spin around the machine like a fan, looking to slice anything that gets too close. “Introducing the Egg Copter! I’ll make sure you’re sliced and diced properly while I make Sonic watch!”

Rouge side eyes Tails a bit. “I don’t know how I let you all convince me to play the hero on this one. You better get me that Sapphire for all the trouble I’m going through.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure we get it for you. Besides, I’m already seeing a weakness in this design.” Tails says, putting his fists up to get ready to fight.

“I hope you’re right about this, twintails,” Rouge says as she flaps her wings and goes airborne.

Meanwhile, the three hedgehogs are at a standstill as they stare down the unmoving Metal Sonic silently.

“Hey Shadow, wanna make this fun?” Sonic asks. “Let’s see who can get the last hit on Deadbolt over here.”

“This isn’t going to be a competition, Sonic, because I don’t need your help to take him down. I can do this on my own, you two will just slow me down.” Shadow responds.

“Oh, big shot, huh?” Sonic smiles. “Let’s see if you can put your rings where your mouth is.”

“Guys, this isn’t time for games,” Silver chimes in. “We can’t let our guard down for one second!”

Metal Sonic stands with his arms to his side, but ready to receive any attack that might come his way.

Silver clenches his fists and takes a small step back, a bit intimidated. “Alright, we need to think about this strategically and try to come up with a plan…”

“No thanks,” Shadow says coldly. “Plans are for morons who don’t have the strength to face their opponents head on.” He squints his eyes as he jets forwards towards Metal Sonic.

“Sorry, buddy, have to agree with Shadow on this one. Plans just aren’t my thing!” Sonic exclaims as he curls up in a ball and spin dashes at Metal as well.

“W-Wait!” Silver yells in protest, but the other two hedgehogs had already gone ahead.

Shadow is the first to make contact with Metal, attempting to jab with his fist which is parried by Metal’s arm. Metal retaliates with a punch with his other hand, making contact on Shadow’s chest and pushing Shadow back a few feet.

Sonic gets in close and attempts to spin into Metal, but Metal reacts just in time and kicks Sonic away like a kickball into the air. Sonic unfurls from his ball form in the air and attempts to downward kick into Metal Sonic, but Metal grabs a hold of his leg and hurls him at Shadow. Sonic goes flying into Shadow and the both of them fall to the ground.

“Get off me!” Shadow yells as he pushes Sonic off.

Silver flies ahead now, as Metal Sonic’s jets kick in and he flies at Silver as well. Silver puts his hands forward and releases a wave of psychic energy, stopping Metal in his tracks with a green glow around him.

“Ha! Got ya!” Silver gloats. All of a sudden, Metal’s jets boost on again, and he breaks free of the psychic hold at an incredible speed. Silver gets caught off guard by this as he is suddenly headbutted by Metal Sonic.

Metal then grabs him by the face and pushes Silver into the ground head first, skidding him through the ground and onto the wall. He raises his clawed hand up to strike, but is interrupted by Shadow who spin kicks Metal away and rushes ahead with a follow up strike to the chest. Metal counters with a few slams as well, as the two begin trading blows.

Sonic runs over to Silver and extends a hand to help him up. “You okay, Silver?”

Silver rubs his cheek a little bit as he stands. “Yeah, I’m fine… I can’t believe he broke through my psychokinesis. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it!” Sonic reassures. “It’ll work out, so don’t give up just yet!” He rushes off to go rejoin the battle.

Meanwhile, Rouge and Tails are frantically flying around the Egg Copter, avoiding it’s sharp blades the best they can, but Eggman is hot on their trail and very persistent.

They manage to gain some distance and reconvene. “So, any updates on that idea you were having, or were you just trying to impress a pretty lady?” Rouge teases, but is panting a little bit trying to catch her breath.

“I’m still looking for an opening to get in close. He’s weak from the top, but I can’t get close enough to attack. Do you think you can distract him at all?” Tails asks.

“Heh, I think I can,” Rouge says, pulling out a few small pink balls. Eggman starts to close the gap now and is charging at them. “Don’t let me down, kid.” She flies up to gain some height on Eggman.

“Hahaha! Get ready to meet your end, Tails!” Eggman laughs. Rogue throws the pink balls at Eggman, which explode in a large puff of pink and purple smoke. Eggman begins coughing as he enters the cloud. “Gah! What is this?!”

As the smoke clears, Eggman looks up as Tails descends upon the Eggcopter, landing on the engine and stabbing a screwdriver into it. The blades of the vehicle begin to slow down a bit, before coming to a stop.

Tails stands proud over Eggman, hands on his hips. “It’s over, Eggman! Your machine is done for! Give up now before I… uh… Kick your… Butt! Yeah! I’ll kick your butt!”

“Oh, no. Whatever will I do now?” Eggman says, a bit of a sarcastic tone in his voice. “It’s too bad my useless Egg Copter doesn’t have any secret backup tricks. OH WAIT!” He pulls on a lever, and a large extendable metallic claw with three prongs emerges from the vehicle behind Tails and grabs him.

“Kid!” Rouge yells, flying at them now to try to help Tails, but Eggman swings the claw with Tails in it at Rouge and spikes her onto the ground. She lets out a small gasp before losing consciousness.

“You know, sometimes the most effective traps are the simplest ones! Hohoho!” Eggman cackles, bringing the claw holding Tails close to him. “You know, you annoying little vermin, you really couldn’t have believed you would stand a chance against me, right? All you are is a… a sidekick! You’re NOTHING without Sonic!” Eggman presses a button and makes the claw squeeze Tails, causing Tails to yell out in pain. “And now, you’ll die into nothingness, just like you lived!”

The claw squeezes again, and Tails screams once more. “S-Sonic!!” He cries out, tears forming in his eyes.

Sonic stops fighting for a moment and looks over at Tails and Eggman, his eyes widening. “Tails! I’m coming, buddy!” He begins to run over to them, but his path is blocked by Metal Sonic, who uses this opening to knee Sonic in the stomach and kick him farther away. He lands on his knees, coughing up a little bit. “N-no, Tails…”

“Metal Sonic!” Shadow yells out, clashing both of his hands with both of Metal’s hands as they wrestle over their ground. “Your battle is with ME! Got that?” He pushes Metal back as he spin dashes towards the robot.

“Sonic! You have to get up!” Silver yells from across the room, sending a psychic knife towards Metal Sonic as he speaks, who jumps over it with ease as he fends off Shadow.

Sonic grasps at his chest and coughs up a bit more. “I can’t... Move… I won’t make it in time…”

Eggman laughs maniacally. “Say goodbye to your little pet, Sonic!”

The doors to the lab burst open with a wide swing, as a flying Eggpawn soars through the air with an erratic pattern, with Knuckles on top of it. He steers the robot in Eggman’s direction, jumping off and gliding over to the top of the Egg Copter. He lands right next to the arm of the claw, and with a heavy grunt he rips the arm off and throws it off. As Tails begins to fall to the ground, Knuckles jumps down and catches Tails in his arms, gently placing him on the ground.

Tails breathes heavily as he slowly opens his eyes. “Knuckles… Thank you…” He forms a small smile.

“No problem, bud. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.” Knuckles says. He looks over to Sonic, who gives Knuckles a nod and a thumbs up which Knuckles returns as well. He then turns to Eggman with a furious gaze.

Eggman smiles nervously and sweats a little bit. “Aha… Knuckles! Good to see you! Er…”

“I think you have something of mine, Eggman. I want it back. Now.” Knuckles says, punching his hands together.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about! Now if you will excuse me, I have other places to be.” Eggman says as he begins to drive the Egg Mobile backwards.

“Not until I get my chance to crack an egg!” Knuckles yells, giving chase to Eggman.

Sonic stands up now, taking a few more deep breaths to compose himself. As soon as he can, he starts to make his way over to the injured Tails. Metal Sonic, who is currently engaged in a chase with Silver, turns his head and notices Sonic trying to get away. He kicks on his thrusters and goes to block the path again. As he stops in front of Sonic, he attempts to make a punch, but Sonic just barely jumps out of the way.

“Looks like I’m not going anywhere with you still here, huh?” Sonic stretches his neck. “Alright, I’ll make you into scrap metal then!” Sonic jumps into the air and vaults towards Metal Sonic with a homing attack. Metal Sonic seems to copy his movements, and performs a homing attack at Sonic as well. The two blue blurs bounce off of each other multiple times, spinning all around the room together.

Silver flies over to Shadow, who was cast into a wall recently before Sonic began to fight again. He extends a hand out, but Shadow slaps it away, getting up on his own.

“I’m starting to get really sick of this,” Shadow complains.

“Maybe we should think of a plan real quick while Sonic is keeping Metal busy,” Silver suggests.

“Maybe you should shut it before you get a swift kick to the head, Silver,” Shadow says, as he warps to behind Metal Sonic, where he attempts to jab at Metal but instead hits Sonic accidentally. Shadow shouts out in frustration as he launches another all-out attack.

Knuckles is continuing to give chase to Eggman, who is trying to outrun Knuckles in his Egg Mobile. Eggman attempts to throw down spiked mines, but Knuckles breaks through or dodges them with no problem.

“Now, Knuckles! Can’t we talk about this?” Eggman says, frantically pressing buttons. “You know that I didn’t mean any of the things I did! I’ll change for the better, I promise!”

Suddenly, a blinking light flashes on his dashboard, and an automated voice calls out, “DIMENSIONAL EGG-PORTER STATUS 95%. PLEASE PREPARE FOR DEPARTURE.” Eggman smiles and rubs his hands together, as Knuckles swiftly jumps onto the Egg Mobile, facing towards him.

“It’s over, Doctor Eggman,” Knuckles says, a big grin on his face as he prepares to thrash Eggman real good. “I’m gonna make you pay for making me look like an idiot.”

“Oh, Knuckles…” Eggman sighs, pretending to sound sad. “Perhaps it is for the best you caught me. Maybe it really is time for you to.... NET ME IN!” He quickly pulls out a hidden bazooka looking weapon and shoots Knuckles point blank with it, with a large net coming out and wrapping around him and causing him to fall to the floor as he struggles to escape.

“Sorry, sucker! But I got places to be!” Eggman laughs as he begins to speed towards the chamber with the nearly charged Egg-porter. He presses a button, and the walls of the Egg-porter room open up and expand so Eggman can fit his Egg Mobile through.

“Grah! Sonic! He’s getting away!” Knuckles shouts, desperately struggling to escape the net.

“Shoot!” Sonic yells, looking around for a solution of some sort, then looking at the machine on the other side of the room. “Silver, I have an idea! Can you catch and hold Metal Sonic?”

“Yeah, but he’s able to break out of it, so I can only hold him for a second!” Silver replies.

“A second is all I need. Get his attention and get him as close as you can to the dimension machine!” Sonic commands.

“Right. Hey! Stupid metal faker! You’ll never be anything compared to the real Sonic!” Silver yells out. Metal Sonic finishes uppercutting Shadow and knocking him away, before turning his head at Silver with a hateful look. “Uh oh,” Silver says, turning around and flying in the other direction. Metal turns his thrusters on and quickly follows in pursuit, gaining on Silver with great speed.

Sonic now gets into a ball and starts to spin quickly, preparing for a spin dash when the moment is right.

Silver looks behind to see Metal Sonic nearly caught up to him. He raises his hand up and unleashes his psychic energy to hold Metal in place once again. “Now, Sonic!” He directs.

Sonic unleashes his spin dash and begins to barrel towards Metal Sonic at a high speed. Metal glares at Silver angrily and starts his booster up again to escape the hold, but as soon as his booster begins activating, Sonic immediately rolls into Metal at his high velocity, causing Metal to spin out of control.

Eggman cackles as he approaches the gate of the Egg-porter, looking at the gauge which is now complete. The automated voice begins to read out loud “DIMENSIONAL EGG-PORTER NOW AT 100%. HAVE A GREAT TRIP, DOCTOR EGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGGEGG BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-” Metal Sonic has violently crashed himself into the side of the machine, crackling with electricity and malfunctioning. The Egg-porter’s gate had opened for a moment, but then closed once Metal crashed into it and before Eggman could enter in.

Sonic stands triumphantly tall as he begins to gloat. “Too bad, Egghead. Looks like you were unsurprisingly stopped by us again!”

“No… My machine…” Eggman says with a dejected tone. “Do you… Do you realize WHAT YOU’VE JUST DONE?! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!” He turns his Egg Mobile around and attempts to fly off, when all of a sudden the gate opens back up and starts to suck everything inside.

Metal Sonic’s broken body is the first thing to get sucked inside, as well as the three Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, and the Hyperspace Sapphire. As they enter through the gate portal, they are lost into a white void.

Eggman is frantically pulling as many levers as he can to escape the pull of the gate, but he’s not fast enough as the Egg Mobile slowly gets closer to the gate. “NOOOOO-” Is the last thing Eggman yells before falling inside.

Knuckles starts getting closer to the machine’s gate next, as he struggles to escape from the net still. He’s nearly there until he is enveloped by a green glow and begins floating, as he is pulled closer to Silver who is attempting to fly away from the gate with Knuckles in tow.

“Silver! Let me go! You’ll only drag slow yourself down holding me!” Knuckles yells out.

“I won’t! I won’t let you go!” Silver rebuffs.

“That wasn’t an option Silver!” Knuckles barks. “Let go now!”

“But I-” Silver’s sentence is cut short as he is hit by a piece of stray machinery, causing him to lose focus and let himself and Knuckles fall into the portal.

The unconscious body of Rouge and the weakened body of Tails start to drag closer to the portal. Unable to resist the gravitational pull of the gate, Rouge quickly travels like a bullet towards the portal.

“Rouge!” Shadow yells, attempting to jump and grab her hand before she goes. However, he is barely able to grab her fingers and she slips away, falling into the white void. Shadow then attempts to grab onto an object to hold steady, but it breaks off and Shadow loses his balance and careens through the portal.

Tails attempts to fight against the pull of the portal, but his weakened state makes it hard to put up a fight. Sonic grabs onto his hand and links his other hand onto a pipe to hold steady. “I’ve got you, Tails! I won’t let you go!”

“S-Sonic! I’m scared! What do we do?” Tails cries out.

“I don’t know, but I promise I won’t let anything happen to you!”

The pipe begins to loosen in Sonic’s grasp, until it breaks off and Sonic and Tails begin to head for the portal. Sonic takes Tails into his arms and holds him in a protective hug as they go head first into the gate.

“I won’t let go, I promise!”

They pass through the gate, and the only thing around them is white space, and the sensation of falling downward. Sonic holds Tails close to his chest, until he looks down and sees Tails turn into dust made of pure light and disappear.

Sonic looks frantically around and sees nothing but the void. “TAILS! TAILS! WHERE ARE YOU!?” He screams. No response.

Sonic tears up and wipes his eyes. “Wherever you are, I’ll find you! If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll find you!”