The metal corridors glowed red as the proximity alerts of Eggman's base blared into life. Most of the building reflected the light. Only two were exceptions. Two streaks to be exact, one blue and one black. Sonic, fastest thing on earth and Shadow the ultimate life form, were running for the exit as the humanoid forms of Eggman's robots came to life.
"All robots come in! Shadow and Sonic are loose in the base. Kill them and bring me the engine matrix!" came the bellowing, slightly hoarse voice of Eggman. Nearly instantly, the corridor began to fill with gunfire. Both boys began swerving in perfect unison to dodge the fire.
"Did you have to gloat Sonic!" Shadow called.
"Come on Shad!" Sonic called back, the cockiness easily detectable in his voice. The danger of the situation hadn't phased him in the slightly. "What's the point in stealing this thing if we can't have a little fun with old Eggy?" Shots whizzed past his face like stars past a spaceship. "Besides, what would be better than seeing that look on his face as we left?"
A bullet tore through shadow's jacket. He pulled an SMG from his belt and blew the offending robot to oblivion. "Life, perhaps!" Another robot tried to cut him off. Shadow jumped, landing on its chassis. He stared into the robots photoceptors and smiled. Than his air shoes activated, blasting 500 pound per inch pressure of concentrated air straight into the robots body. The effect was the robot flying through it comrades into the far wall.
"Uh, Shadow!" he heard sonic behind him. Shadow turned. Sonic, his blue hair and hoddie drenched with sweat and his automatic pistol in hand, was staring at a sea of metallic bodies at least 15 meters deep. "We may have a problem."
Shadow spoke into the radio on his wrist. "Guys, this would be a perfect time for you to turn up."
"Already on it!" came a voice not only through the comm., but also from behind and around the robot ocean. Shadow turned. So did the robots. Then three things happened at once. 1: The robots on the left were engulfed in a sudden fireball.
2: the robots on the right were cut to shreds by a rain of shrunken.
3: The robots at the back glowed aqua, then spontaneously flew into the walls.
The end result was a symphony of electronic squeals, burning metal, and hydraulics bursting, ending with one major bang! From the smoke walked three figures: a tall, silver haired boy with strange tattoos on his hands, another boy in purple with a yellow streak in his hair and a calm expression, and a girl with a purple robe, white tights and ceremonial gloves. Silver, Espio and Blaze, the second strike team.
"We needed a rescue, not a fireworks display," muttered Shadow.
"What was that?" asked Silver, using his annoying, fake innocent voice. Blaze snorted.
"Thanks," seethed Shadow. His psychokenisis made him a vital part of the team, but Silver's immaturity was obvious. Shadow activated his radio again, switching to team 3. "Tails, Amy, Knuckles, respond. Any trouble at your end?"
In the hanger, the boy 'Knuckles' responded. He was called Knuckles because he preferred to use his fists over his brain. "Nothing we couldn't handle." His dreadlocks shivered as he cleaned the remains of more robots from his shirt. "I thought this was supposed to be a stealth mission?"
"It was," crackled Shadow. "Sonic couldn't resist teasing Eggman before we left." Knuckles nearly roared. It wasn't the first time Sonic's recklessness had caused them trouble.
"When he gets back I am going to throttle him!" he called loudly through the connection.
"Hey, I can hear you!" crackled Sonic's voice, mock hurt in his voice.
"Sonic!!" Knuckles yelled.
"Calm down Knuckles," said a female voice from inside the hanger. Amy Rose came from where two jets stood, one worse for wear. She was thin, perky girl with pink hair and a dress that was obviously fashionable rather than practical. She could have been mistaken for any schoolgirl except for the oversized hammer sitting on her shoulder. Her point in the team wasn't exactly sure; Knuckles suspected it had something to do with her father funding the team. Whatever it was, she could fight that was for sure. She also had a major crush on Sonic.
"It's not Sonic's fault these robots came, they were here long before the alarms sounded. Give him a break."
"It doesn't matter; he still put everyone in danger!"
"I'm sure it wasn't his fault!" There was what sounded like barely withheld laughter from the other end of the commlink. Silver again.
"Can you two shut up," called a voice from the damaged jet. "We have a serious problem!" Both of them came over to the jet. A pair of legs was sticking out from under its left wing.
"Whichever idiot landed the Tornado managed to rupture both fuel tanks and burn out the backup thrusters," the head that was at the other end of the legs was saying. "Without a new carbon burner and some fuel, we're screwed!"
There was a sigh from the radio. "Tails, we don't all have a degree! All I understood in that was 'we're screwed!'" A thin, lanky boy with yellow blonde hair pulled himself out from under the jet. A pair of goggles hung round his neck and there was a belt of tools holding up his jeans. Grease and oil covered his face. The most unusual thing was the pair of bright orange tails poking out from his pants. Tails, the team's engineer. He took the radio from Knuckles.
"Shadow without proper repairs, which I can't do here, the Tornado isn't airworthy," he said.
"Will it fly?" was Shadow's curt reply.
"For 10 minutes, if I use parts from the Whirlwind."
"Then it'll do." With that Shadow cut the connection. Tails sighed; thrust the comm. into Knuckles, muttering something about being overworked by an emo.
"Brilliant, we're stuck in the middle of a hostile base with a faulty way out," Silver said sardonically. "What more can go wrong?" As if some deity had heard him, thick steel barriers sprang down along the corridor, trapping the strike team. Espio came up behind Silver and rapped his knuckles over Silver's skull.
"Don't talk again!" Espio turned to Shadow. "Any ideas?" Shadow smiled, showing the points of his teeth.
"Just one," he redirected the smile to Sonic. In a second Sonic got it. He didn't like it.
"Oh no!"
"Oh yes!" the smile lingered on Shadow's face as he pulled something from inside his shirt. It was an emerald, flat and gleaming. It seemed to radiate an unworldly power. A Chaos Emerald. "Chaos…!"
"This is gonna hurt!" Sonic nearly whimpered.
"Control!"
There was a flash of near blinding light and the corridor was empty.
In the hanger, there was another flash and the strike team appeared. Sonic frantically began checking himself over.
"Am I all here? Is anything missing?" He began counting his fingers.
"Let me check," Knuckles said. He came over and hammered a vicious kick into Sonic's crotch. Sonic let out a slight squeak, than crumpled over. "No, all there. Now never do this again!" Amy, of course came over to help Sonic while Silver crumpled over as well, but he was laughing.
Espio carried Shadow, who was slumped with exhaustion, over to where Tails was welding part of the Tornado's engine into place. "How are we for launch?" Espio asked.
"Give me a sec," Tails replied. There was a bang from the hanger's entrance, quickly followed by another.
"We don't have a sec Tails, will it fly or not?" Shadow muttered. The power needed to transport the entire team had taken it out of him. Tails slammed the engine door closed and started climbing into the Tornado's cockpit.
"Espio, take the Whirlwind," he ordered over his shoulder. "Everybody belt up! We're ready to take off." There was a scurry of movement as everyone ran, or limped in Sonic's case, to their seats. Another bang sounded from the door. The pilots keyed the ignitions and there was the beautiful hum building to a roar that is associated with the starting of a jet's engine. Then the door of the hanger was literally blown open.
A man walked through flanked by two robots. He had a red coat, designer shoes and small, dark glasses that made it look like he had beady eyes. In fairness, he wasn't really that fat now, but his previous figure had merited his codename 'Dr Eggman'. With an IQ of 300, Ivo Robotnic is heralded as one of the smartest men on earth. He's also criminally insane, and at this moment, he is short one very powerful engine unit.
Of course, Sonic couldn't resist one last taunt from his seat in the Whirlwind. "So long Eggman. I'm sure this piece will end up in the good hands." He waved the component and laughed as the jet engine reached its peak. Dr Eggman just smiled and snapped his fingers. The two robots beside him raised their arms, which Sonic now noticed were highly modified, and fired heavy rockets after the fleeing jets as they raced forward at breakneck speeds.
"You never learn, do you?" Knuckles yelled through the comm.
"It's always my fault, isn't it?" Sonic sulked. The rockets began to gain on the Tornado, whose faulty engine was slowing down already.
"Guys," Tails voice came over the intercom. "I can't maneuver right now, so we're sitting ducks. With Shadow out, Espio took over insane planning. He thought for a second, than replied.
"Can Silver take them out from in there?" He looked over to the Tornado's cockpit. Sure enough, an aqua glow radiated from Silver's seat. A similar glow engulfed one of the rockets. Then it turned around and went back into the hanger, where it detonated loudly. There was another glow from Silver's place. Nothing.
"Sorry Espio," Silver's voice said. "I got one of them, but the second's not responding. I think Eggman has it shielded against my power." Espio, still outwardly calm, swore inwardly. A man with an IQ of 300 was getting smarter. Soon he might actually win!
"Hang in there guys, I'm bringing her around." Espio pulled hard on the steering jock to swing the plane back towards Eggman base, and facing the second rocket. Taking aim, he pushed the trigger for the Whirlwind's tracer bullets. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. He sighed. "Amy?" he asked behind him.
"Mmm?" was her reply.
"Did you get new ammunition for the Whirlwind's guns?
"Yeah."
"Did you load them?"
"No." Espio sighed again.
"Why not?"
"Well, I was going to, but then Cleo called, complaining about Julius and I guess I forgot. Why?" There were sighs from just about everyone in earshot. Why does this always happen, was what everyone was thinking.
"OK, new plan, I'm going to try ramming the missile," Espio said.
"What?!" Sonic called to Espio. "You're telling me that we're going to ram a missile?"
"Yes." There was a blessed silence from Sonic.
"Sweet!" he finally called. Shadow groaned.
Extremely carefully, Espio brought the Whirlwind beside the rocket. Then, like some kid poking a dead fish, he tapped the rocket's nose, and then recoiled instantly like it had been stung. Tapping the rocket of course set it off with a terrific explosion. From this explosion the two planes flew away from the base, leaving it in turmoil and wreck.