Chapter 3: Secret Base
Sonic and Tails materialized three feet off the ground and landed with a crash. “Try getting us on the ground next time?” Tails yelled as he and Sonic attempted to right themselves.
“So sue me,” Sonic answered. “I’m still learning.”
“That’s more than I can say,” Tails commented. He looked over the outside of the base. There were several windows with bars over them, and the occasional Robotnik logo painted over with a GUN logo. “How do we get in?” he said.
“Don’t we have security passes?” Sonic said.
“Let me rephrase: where’s the stinkin’ door?”
“Oh.”
Just then one of the walls of the base exploded, leaving a enormous hole ten feet off of the ground. The force threw out a relatively short GUN soldier. “LARRY!” he yelled after he had hit the ground.
“Bob?” Sonic asked in amazement. Tails left no time for Sonic to wonder as he grabbed his hand and dragged him toward the hole.
“We can get in from there,” Tails said. He and Sonic locked wrists and slowly rose up to the hole. Tails, being on top, could see in first.
A guard (whom Sonic recognized as Larry) was pointing a bazooka in random directions. When he saw Tails, he dropped the bazooka and freaked. “AAA!” he screamed, “Who are you?”
“I’m Tails, I’m a kitsune, and I want IN!” Tails said. Larry simply screamed again and ran off.
“Should we split up?” Sonic asked once he and Tails were on the ground.
“Sounds good. We’ll meet at the back entrance in half an hour. You got your pass?”
Sonic pulled his keycard out of his left glove. “What, you think I wear extra large gloves for fashion?”
Tails chuckled and ran down a hallway.
-
- *
Sonic wasn’t too keen on exploring the old base. He had too many bad memories of this place from his little adventure with the water monster Chaos. The sooner he met back up with Tails the better. In the meantime he walked around aimlessly, keeping a keen eye open for the Emerald or the possible badnik.
Suddenly a door slammed shut behind him. Knowing that didn’t mean something good, he ran back to it: no handle. He looked for the nearest card reader: smashed. He pushed, slammed, and spindashed the door several times: still there.
“It’s always the simple things that get you, Hedgehog,” Robotnik said. Sonic bristled at the sound of his voice, then turned around slowly to see what his foe was this time. It was a mechanical walker with a spring for a foot. Under better circumstances, it would have been funny, but now… Sonic hadn’t really fought a robot for at least a month, and he was feeling a little out of practice.
He decided to end it as quickly as the last one. He pulled out his emerald, but before he could give a command Robotnik shot the ground in front of him. The force knocked Sonic backwards and sent the emerald sliding towards the doorway.
In half a second Sonic was up and running, but Robotnik’s trigger finger was slightly faster. He shot the area around narrow doorway several times, causing it to be completely blocked by rubble. Sonic was now left with no choice. If he climbed the wall of rubble, Robotnik would shoot him. He had to deal with the robot the old fashioned way.
“Bring it on, Eggman,” he muttered.
-
- *
Tails was seriously looking for the emerald, and he was having a difficult time doing that. The base was filled with dead ends, pumping machinery, and sliding doors. He was just about to give up and head to the rendezvous point when someone above him yelled, “TAILS!”
Tails looked up. There was a catwalk above him, and he thought he saw someone up there. He found the nearest ladder and climbed up. When he got there, the person was gone, but there was a small flash coming from the doorway at the end. He followed it and came to another ladder, which he climbed. At the top of this one, however, was something slightly different: a door labeled “Chaos Chamber.” He quickly scanned his card, ran in, and was holding the orange Chaos Emerald within two seconds.
“The sooner I get to Sonic the sooner I get rid of you,” Tails muttered to the Emerald. As his thoughts turned to Sonic, something clicked inside his mind: Sonic’s in trouble!
No time to figure out how he knew, Tails just knew! He tore down the nearest hallway and ran through the base, guided by some unknown instinct. He ran without the faintest sense of direction; he only knew he had to go this way, then that way…
Finally he ended up in front of a locked door labeled “Training Room V.” The card reader for this door was conveniently broken. How can I open the door… Tails thought, glancing around the room. Finally he remembered his Chaos Emerald.
“Chaos Emeralds fry electronics,” he muttered excitedly. He pressed the emerald up to the lock which began sparking and crackling in response. Finally Tails heard the lock spring open, but as soon as it did another lock, this time a dead bolt, sprung into place.
Tails pushed and pulled on the door in frustration, but to know avail. He tried his turbo-whirl technique, but only gave his tails some nice bruises. In desperation he picked up the Emerald, pointed it at the door, and yelled, “Chaos Spear!”
The Emerald only flickered.
Tails collapsed on the ground and moaned. Sonic was in trouble and there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t even use his Emerald—
“Out of the way, Tails!” someone yelled. Tails looked back to find Larry brandishing his bazooka. Tails didn’t think twice: he got out of the way as quick as he possibly could.
“The world needs a hero,” Larry muttered, to himself, cocking the bazooka. “I. Am. That. Hero. They call me—”
The building resonated with the sound of the explosion as the door in question was thrown into oblivion by the bazooka. Larry lifted the muzzle of the gun to his mouth, blew away the smoke, and said, “Larry-boy.”
“Thanks!” Tails yelled as he ran through the doorway, pausing only to pick up the blue Emerald lying there. Sonic must’ve dropped this, he thought.
-
- *
Sonic and Robotnik were in a dead-locked battle. Both were constantly fighting; any let up on either side’s part would result in certain victory for the other. Sonic was constantly dodging Robotnik’s laser gun, but it was the same gun that held Sonic at bay. Unfortunately, Sonic was beginning to wear out. Whoo, he thought to himself, you’re out of shape big guy.
Suddenly, Sonic slipped on a small patch of oil and fell flat on his back, winded. He closed his eyes in pain and refused to open them. “Not like this,” he said quietly, fully expecting Robotnik to shoot him. “Please not like this.”
Robotnik by now was laughing like the crazed maniac he was. “Never thought I could do it, could you?” he said. Sonic finally forced himself to open his eyes and stared down the gun barrel that was pointed in his face. “Any last words?” Robotnik said.
Just then a large explosion shook the room. When the smoke cleared, Tails was standing at the edge of the room holding one Chaos Emerald in each hand. “Drop the gun, Eggman!” he yelled. “Do you want me to use both of these?”
“Impossible,” Robotnik answered. “No one can do two Chaos Spears at once.”
“Are you sure? After all, I am a kitsune, and they have been known to do some pretty crazy things, especially around Chaos Emeralds…”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Are you sure you want to risk it?”
“Yes,” Robotnik spat, pulling the trigger. The laser bolt richocheded off the empty ground. Before Eggman had a chance to figure out what went wrong, his “walker” took a direct hit from behind.
“Have a nice trip, Eggman!” Sonic yelled. Robotnik simply mashed his eject button again and flew out through a window.
Sonic fell on the ground in exhaustion, and Tails ran up to him. “Get these things away from me,” he said, throwing the Emeralds on the ground.
Sonic raised his eyebrows. “They’re not going to kill you Tails. Oi, if we’re going to be carrying these, I should probably get my medallion.”
Tails nodded and handed Sonic the phone. Sonic smirked and called Sally. “Hey Sal, we got the gem… Yeah, we ran into a little trouble, but we’re all right… Yeah, we were gonna have to run into town anyway… No kidding! It’s cute couples get in free night again? Sounds… Reporters? They don’t scare me; I’ll destroy them all! Muahaha!... Wait… Amy? You can’t be serious… but… Tails…? But… Sally? Sally? Awww, here it goes!” He shut the phone and groaned, “Tails, how’d you like to go on a date with Sally?”