Chapter 6
Launch Base
_______________________________________________________________________
The warm cement vibrated around the flat circular door in the
ground. A big vent beside it was roaring, expelling air like a reversed
vacuum cleaner. After a few more seconds, the manhole-like door snapped
open, revealing a deep, dark hole beneath it. The roar of the vent
lessened as air escaped through the exit. Suddenly the two figures,
one after the other, shot up out of it, propelled by the wind. They
were curled into compact balls for protection.
The little round door slapped shut. The two landed on it and
bounced off. Sonic uncoiled in midair and landed on his feet, but Tails
uncurled too late and tumbled a couple feet. Unhurt but breathless, he
jumped to his feet. Sonic was staring at his surroundings. "Wow," he
said.
The Ice Cap range towered up in the north, beautiful and distant.
Their foothills and spurs were closer. In fact, the transporter vent
was located on top of one of the hills. The mountains stretched north
and south, as far as the eye could see. The valley floor spread out
from there, running south and west.
But to the west, situated like some monstrous spider, was a
gigantic group of factories and towers. They could see the paved road
that snaked down from the vent outlet to the industrial zone. The
morning sun, shining hazily through the thick mare's tails, picked out
other ribbons of asphalt entering the place.
Sonic shaded his eyes for a better look, and Tails said, "What
is that place, Sonic?"
He shrugged and squinted. "It looks like a--a base, or a city
or something."
"You think Knuckles is anywhere around?"
Sonic dropped his hand and looked around at the tawny hills.
"Maybe, but I doubt it. He pry high-tailed it for that place down
there."
"Let's go there!"
"You said it."
* * *
They had followed me, I was sure. That snoop Tails! Now they
had found Launch Base, the one place Robotnik had warned me never to
tell about.
I jogged into one of the streets, showed my passcard to a
sentry-bot, then went on. I had to warn Doc that they were here. What
he would do to them I didn't want to think about. I also didn't want
to think of what had just happened in the mountains. I was their enemy,
and yet they had saved my life. It didn't make sense. And it burned my
heart as I thought of more ways to hurt them. I couldn't squelch the
memory, either; I was still freezing. The sun and muggy weather felt
good, and running helped, too. But I shivered every time I passed
through shadow.
Abruptly the buildings fell away. Stretching into the distance
was the black lake I had protested when I had brought the Death Egg
here. I hardly looked twice at it, now. I didn't care about the
enormous ship parked on the launch pad in the center, either. Where
was Doc?
My answer came as one of the ship's rockets fired up with a
terrific screaming roar. Rocket test. He must be in the main control
tower. It was only a block or two to my right. I headed toward it,
distractedly noticing the huge cloud of white rocket smoke billow
into the sky.
A moment later I clanked up the steps to the control tower's door.
I opened it and was met by a rush of cool air; the air-conditioner was
on. I shivered and stepped inside.
Doc was standing before the control console, reading printouts on
the system status. He didn't look up when I came in, but said, "You're
late." I was supposed to have met him at nine-thirty. I glanced at my
watch, but it had 'frozen up'. "What time is it?" I panted.
He frowned at me over his red mustache. "Ten after."
I was forty minutes late. I gulped. Now was not the best time to
give my bad news, but I knew I had to.
Doc turned back around and watched the computer screens. I felt
like I was freezing to death in the cool room and longed to step
outside, but made myself hold still. "Uh, Doc ... I need to tell you
something."
"What?" he asked without turning.
"It's bad news. Um ... Sonic and Tails followed me from Ice Cap."
I cringed as Robotnik slowly turned to face me. "What did you
say?" he asked slowly. I couldn't read his expression, so I repeated
myself. To my surprise he only turned to face the computers again.
After a moment of cold silence, he said, "I had not planned on this,
it doesn't matter. Launch Base has twice as many robots now, because
of the evacuation of Ice Cap. Once Metal Sonic arrives we can shut off
all power up there and concentrate it on the launching of Death Egg."
He looked at me over his shoulder. "Use the badniks to hinder them as
much as possible. Capture them if you can. If you can't and they head
for the Death Egg (as I am certain they will), then let them go. I will
deal with them myself."
"You mean with that new gear I built for your hovercraft?"
"Yes. And Knuckles, if you really want to impress me, set a trap
and have them walk into it."
"What kind of trap?"
He pulled open a drawer, took out a small object and flipped it to
me. It was about the size of an arubix cube with a keypad and liquid
crystal screen. It was a combined bomb and detonator. I looked up at
Robotnik. "Give me some instructions for this thing and I'll impress
you."
A moment later I stepped out of the tower into the warm sunshine,
relieved I was still in one piece. I closed the door and leaned against
it with a sigh. Doc could be very unpredictable sometimes. I had been
sure he would kill me ...
Something struck the inside of the door. I jumped away from it,
startled. Robotnik roared in fury, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"
Very unpredictable. I fled. He might change his mind about killing
me if he saw me again.
* * *
Sonic grabbed Tails's arm and yanked him off the street, into the
shadow of a building. He pressed himself and the fox against the hard
wall and held still as a pair of flame-thrower-toting cobras slithered
by, red eyes searching for intruders.
Tails went limp and closed his eyes. "Oh gosh, Sonic," he gasped.
"I didn't even see them!"
Sonic nodded, shaken. "I didn't, either. I heard 'em." He stuck
his head around the corner and scanned the street. "All clear, now.
Let's keep going."
It was the second time they had hidden from dangerous robots.
Sonic had made the mistake of destroying a couple, putting all the rest
on red alert. Now the badniks were firing at everything that moved. The
cobras were the most common. The natives of Launch Base were black with
red trim, and the evacuees of the Ice Caves were white with blue
markings. The white ones were sharper and faster than their black
counterparts, being made for dealing with machine-freezing cold. The
problem was Launch Base was swarming with them.
Sonic and Tails had spotted Death Egg in the center of the base
and had heard the rocket fire. And, as Robotnik had anticipated, they
were heading out to see it. "We may not be able to stop its liftoff,"
Sonic had said optimistically, "but we can stow away inside and cause
trouble from there, like I did before."
Getting through the streets of the factory/city was more of a
chore. Robots stalked all angles constantly, and several times the two
found themselves feeing before and alerted squadron. If he could get
Tails to safety, often Sonic would turn battle the robots for the sake
of showing off his superior speed. (They didn't know it at the time,
but this turned out to be good training for Robotropolis in years to
come.)
At last they made it out to the black lake. It was criss-crossed
with fuel pipes, cables and high-voltage wires, all of which were
suspended several feet above the water. Sonic and Tails, seeing the
danger of it, joyously began to hike along the pipes, scorning the
bridges, to get to the launch pad.
Before long they hit a snag. The cement pipe they were on turned
and went another way, instead of intersecting the next one. They stood
there, looking across the ten feet of dark water at the other pipe.
Neither wanted to brave the water, and both were reluctant to jump.
Tails looked at Sonic. "Airlift?"
Sonic nodded, hands on his hips. "Only way over," he began.
Suddenly he turned, looking back toward the shoreline. Then he snapped,
"Down! Robots!"
They dropped flat on the pipe. Tails lifted only his eyes to see
the shore, as if afraid any movement would give him away. Sonic did the
same. Only five rods away were a group of badniks. Some were cobras,
and others were floating security guards. They were all standing a
short way out on one of the thickest pipes, but didn't seem to be
patrolling. It was like they were all waiting for orders.
"What're they doing?" Sonic whispered.
Tails squinted. "Not much. Oh, wait! They've got a prisoner! He's
all chained up, and he's got a great big metal bar strapped to one leg."
"You mean, like, they're gonna take him swimming?"
"Looks like it. He's scared."
"What is he?"
"I can't tell. He's wrapped from head to toe in chains."
Sonic looked at his friend, smiled and slowly pulled out two chaos
emeralds. Tails was horrified. "You're not gonna challenge 'em, are
you?"
Sonic focused his gaze on the robots. "Of course. They don't have
any backup out here, and that guy probably didn't do anything wrong.
Stay here, little bro. I'll be right back."
He struck the emeralds together. His cool blue brightened to hot
yellow, and his spikes stuck up on his back like someone had rubbed him
the wrong way. His eyes became fierce. He gave Tails a thumbs-up, then
quietly stepped off the pipe and skimmed across the dark lake toward
the robots.
The prisoner was standing still, heart in his mouth, staring down
at the water. It would hurt to drown in that, but at least it would be
fast. Robotnik had been too busy to devise a longer, more painful
execution. If only his arms and legs weren't bound! Then he could show
these robots a thing or two--
One of the robots gave a warning shout, and the whole bunch was
knocked over. The prisoner fell sideways onto the pipe and lay there,
stunned. What was that? A star? A comet? It came around again, shooting
through the air, plowing into the robots, throwing them into the water.
As one of the cobras slid by the prisoner, it wrapped it's metal tail
around his leg, pulled itself upright and shot a flame-burst at the
bright thing. The prisoner flinched as he felt the heat of the fire on
his face. The bight thing didn't mind the attack. It kicked the cobra
in the head, knocking it into the water. It retained it's hold in the
prisoner's leg, and its weight began to drag him off the pipe sideways.
"Help!" he yelled, slipping and unable to stop himself.
Sonic pounced on the prisoner, catching him just before he hit the
poisoned water. He set him upright on top of the pipe, snapped the chain
with super strength and unwound him. As he did he asked, "What are you?
You don't have fur!"
The creature sat up, jerked the heavy metal bar off his leg and
let it fall into the water. It would have been the weight that sank
him underwater. He looked at his rescuer. "I'm a chameleon, and my
name's Espio. What the heck are you? A sunbeam?"
Sonic shook his head. "Naw, I'm a hedgehog. I'm Sonic, but at the
moment I'm Super Sonic."
Espio and Sonic stood up and faced each other. Espio had smooth
skin, a heavy brow and forehead, and a horn on his snout. His tail was
long and skinny, as were his arms and legs. He wore a pair of faded
white sneakers on his feet. He was surveying Sonic critically. "I can't
glow, but I can turn yellow. Wanna see?" Without waiting for a reply,
the lizard's skin turned a light yellow that matched Sonic's.
Sonic smiled. "Cool!" He took two of the chaos emeralds and struck
them together, decharging himself. His yellow faded into his normal dark
blue.
Espio did the same, his shade of blue matching Sonic's. "You're a
wise guy, aren't you?" said Sonic. "What are you doing in Launch Base on
the execution line?"
Espio looked down. "Aw, I got caught. I got dared to sneak in here,
and some robots spotted me." He looked up at Sonic. "What are you doing
here?"
"Oh, I'm out for trouble, too. I crashed Death Egg once," Sonic
jerked a thumb at the gigantic ship, "and I aim to do it again."
"Alone?"
"No, with my friend Tails." Sonic turned. "Hey, Tails, come over
here! You gotta meet this guy!"
Tails came flying over the water, tails a whirling blur above him.
He landed beside Sonic and was introduced.
Espio turned a light green--his default color--and said, "You two
are taking on Robotnik all by yourselves? Man! You been anyplace cool?"
"Oh yeah. We just got in from Ice Cap. It's way past cool, ha ha."
"We spent all yesterday on the Floating Island," Tails added.
Espio looked interested. "No kiddin'. You know, I've always wanted
to go there and look around."
"You ought to," Sonic said with a significant glance at Tails.
"Just steer clear of its' guardian. He's really territorial. Know what?
He's not there right now, and the island is parked real close to shore.
You check it out now."
The chameleon's eyes opened wide. "Really? Oh, cool! Care if I
leave now? I've always hoped I'd get a chance like this."
"Sure, go ahead."
The lizard whirled and ran for the shore. Sonic watched him go.
"Hoo boy, I just gave him permission to go one someone else's property.
Knux'll hate me."
"He already does."
"Ya got a point there. Oh well. He can't hurt an island, I guess.
C'mon, let's keep going."
* * *
I watched the whole confrontation through binoculars. The
execution of the chameleon hadn't been my idea, but Sonic and Tails
had gone out of their way to stop it. "Just like they went out of their
way to help YOU," my conscience said. I muffled the voice and shoved it
to the back of my mind. I didn't need any feelings of guilt messing up
what I was about to do.
I had the detonator set on fifty seconds. I figured that would
give me enough time to plant the charge and get to safety. (You can
cover a lot of ground in fifty seconds.) I didn't think about what it
would do to Sonic and Tails. All I thought about was how cool the
explosion would look.
I slid off the pumping station roof I had been standing on and
ran for the bridge. If I hurried, I could beat them there.
* * *
The Death Egg had three tall towers around it to steady it and
help it launch straight up. The launch pad was a gigantic metal grid-
platform with three levels. The pipes that crossed the lake fed into
huge pumping and holding stations beneath it. Security cameras covered
the whole area.
Sonic and Tails climbed up onto the first level and walked around,
examining the machinery. They didn't notice the figure on the floor
below as he followed them, watching them through the grating floor.
* * *
The two were talking idly, but I gathered that they wanted to
board the ship. Jerks. They wouldn't find any boarding stations down
here, I knew. But my problem was that I didn't know where they would go
next. I didn't know where to plant the explosive. See, I had no idea
how large an explosion it would make. I never would have considered
planting it on the launch pad, otherwise ...
I was nearly below them, and could hear every word they said.
Tails said, "You think Slasher can get that weird writing translated?"
Sonic replied, "I donno. We can ask her when she picks us up,
later. Too bad that mural was destroyed--it was a whole story."
I pricked up my ears. Mural? What mural with weird writing? Did
they mean the one in Marble Gardens? The one that one of the first
Guardians had made? And it was DESTROYED?!?
My hands knotted into fists. This was the last straw. I was going
to FEED that detonator to Sonic, if I had to. In my mind I twisted what
he had said. He had really said 'the mural was destroyed.' I made
myself believe he had said, 'we destroyed the mural.' It was the first
time I had succeeded in making myself stupider than I really was. And
it would not be the last.
As I made my way up onto the top level, the old, quiet rage
returned. The one that had been born in Hydrocity as I chased them
down the water duct. My lust for revenge consumed all reason ...
* * *
Sonic and Tails were examining the base of one of the towers,
wondering if they could climb it, when they heard footsteps clanking
across the walkway toward them. They turned. "Don't look now," Tails
muttered, "but here comes our favorite person."
Knuckles talked toward them, stifflegged, like a dog about to
attack. His eyes were dark and burning dangerously. Sonic, remembering
what Slasher had said about fighting, slowly backed away. Knux stopped
ten feet from them and lifted a small black object in one hand.
"Remember when I said I was going to get you back for scaring me,
Sonic?" he leered. "Here it is." He lowered it, pressed the 'execute'
button, then flung it at Sonic. Sonic caught it as Knux said, "I'm
outta here," and fled.
Sonic stared down at the ticking numbers a moment. Suddenly he
realized what he was holding. "Tails, it's a bomb!" he cried. "Run!
Get off the launch pad!"
Tails took off in one direction, Sonic in another. Tails skidded
to a stop and yelled, "What are you doing?"
Without slowing, Sonic yelled back, "Gonna throw it in the water!
Now RUN!!!"
Sonic neared the edge of the pad. The bomb was like a hot coal in
his hands. He wanted to throw it down and run, run, run. But he
couldn't. If it went off in the open, it would kill him, Tails and
Knuckles-- not to mention blow up Death Egg, which would destroy
Launch Base, which would wipe out miles and miles of surrounding
countryside. If it went off in the lake, it's shock would be somewhat
buffered.
He saw the water dark and still under the grey, overcast sky. He
jogged to a stop and flung the bomb out with all his might. It sailed
out fifty feet and splashed into the water. He whirled and pelted
after Tails, who was far off, under Death Egg's underside.
* * *
What happened next was total confusion to Sonic and Tails, but,
as I was at a safe distance by then, I saw everything.
The bomb went off underwater, muting its shock. But instead of a
big splash, I was startled to see a jet of flame roar up out of the
water and spread across the surface. With horror I realized that so
many chemicals had been spilled into the water, it was more more
chemical than lake. The surface bore flammable fumes, which were now
lit and burning like a torch.
I was perched on a half-sunken abandoned lookout tower. It only
stood twenty feet above the weirdly flaming water, so when the fire
encircled the cement base, I knew I was trapped. I crouched down,
close to the top of the tower, and found a small breathing space. I
sat there in a cool island of air, looking across the lake of fire.
Oh well, I would be stuck for a while. I had no way of contacting
Doc, but supposed the badniks would handle the fire. I wasn't worried.
Well, I wasn't until I saw Death Egg's rockets fire and stabilize
and fire one by one. I clapped my hands to my ears; the roar was
deafening.
As the rockets warmed up, they began to vibrate the ground. I
felt the tower begin to rock slightly. I tried to balance it with my
weight, and that worked for a few minutes. But it wasn't long before the
rockets were going full throttle. Death Egg began to rise. The ground
(and the tower, I might add) began to shake badly. The tower swayed
back and forth, it's eroded underwater supports cracking. I tried
desperately to keep my balance, knowing that if I fell into the
burning water it would be curtains.
The tower snapped like a matchstick. I rode it as it toppled
toward the fire, terrified. Just as it was about to hit, I leaped off
and glided. The rising heat creating an updraft, and I rode it with my
heart in my mouth. Gosh, if I had hit the water--
I headed for shore. My first trap had failed and nearly backfired.
I needed time to think of more. I was going home.
* * *
Death Egg roared skyward, away from the orange, smoking lake
below. Sonic and Tails had leaped on a retracted landing platform at
the last minute. It was a big flat sheet of metal that was pulled
almost flat to the underside of the ship. There was a two-foot wide
space between it and Death Egg's ugly outer hull, and Sonic and Tails
had crawled into it. They were lying flat on their bellies, peeking
over the edge at the retreating ground, hands clasped around their ears.
The noise was so intense neither could make themselves heard, so
they ride in silence. Once Sonic touched Tails's arm and pointed to a big
pipe that ran across the siding above them. A few feet away, it had a
big hole broken in it, as if it had hit something during the launch. A
clear fluid was pouring out of it. It looked like a broken sprinkler.
"Gas," Sonic mouthed to Tails. They didn't know it was one of the main
fuel lines, or that all the fuel in the ship could leak out through it.
Death Egg rose into the air until it was level with the tops of
the tops of the Ice Cap range, in the distance. Then it began flying
southward, toward the ocean.
They were just starting to pass over the low coastal mountains
when the platform they were on parted and began to extend, lowered by
the four support rods in the corners. Sonic and Tails looked at each
other uneasily.
The platform lowered twenty feet and stopped. Death Egg spread
out above them like a roof, the booster rockets still roaring. Sonic
and Tails stood up, still holding their ears against the noise. The
motion of the ship made it difficult to keep their balance, so they
stood in the center of the platform to keep from being knocked off.
The rockets began toning down to an idle. Enough to keep the big
ship afloat and drifting, but not travelling. Sonic looked back.
Launch Base was still in sight. There was no reason to stop now. He
looked at Tails as they came to the same conclusion; Robotnik was on
to them.
Suddenly the openness of the platform seemed threatening. There
was nowhere to hide, nothing to use as a shield against danger. They
were trapped 5000 feet above the ground.
Tails grabbed Sonic's arm and pointed. Far off along Death Egg's
underside, two big bay doors were opening. They hung wide for a few
tense seconds. Then Robotnik's little utility ship dove out. It was
decked out in bright red armor, and two gigantic arms with hands
extended out in front. A low crown of metal spikes encircled the
windshield. Shorter spikes studded the armor around the engines. It
swooped toward them, hands outstretched.
"Uh oh," Sonic said to Tails, able to speak over the subdued
rumble of the rockets. "I don't like the looks of this one. Steer
clear of it until I can test its defences." Tails, already scared of
the ship, agreed and backed into a corner.
Robotnik charged at Sonic, aiming the hands at him. Sonic
sidestepped at the last instant, letting the ship go by. It was fast
and heavily armored. The style was different, too ... as if Robotnik
hadn't designed it. Sonic examined it as it went by again. Yes, it
had a laser cannon, but that wasn't the main weapon. The main weapon
were the hands; the huge metal hands that slowly flexed as the ship
moved. What would they do?
"See any weaknesses?" Sonic shouted to Tails.
The fox shook his head nervously. "Be careful--it looks evil!"
Tails had noticed the different craftsmanship as well.
This time, when the ship passed by and turned around, it slowed
down. It flew over the platform, the hands turned toward Sonic,
forcing him back. But, as the platform was only twenty feet square,
Sonic didn't have very much room to maneuver. He stopped and stood
still, letting the ship get very close. When the clutching hands
were only inches away, Sonic leaped over them, landed on an arm on
all fours, then jumped off the other side. As he did, he noticed a
weakness.
The arms were so heavy they had to be balanced equally for the
little hovercraft to carry them. With his added weight, the ship
listed to one side dangerously, balance overthrown. As it headed out
and turned for another flyby, Sonic called to Tails, "The arms are
too much for it! If we jump on one, it'll blow the engines! C'mon!"
Tails stepped reluctantly into the open as the boss returned.
Robotnik was no fool. He could see Sonic had found his ship's
Achilles's Heel. He decided a change of action was necessary to keep
Sonic on his toes.
Sonic and Tails were split up, ready to attack when the ship
passed between them. But this time, as the ship swept by, it swerved
and drifted left, putting itself between Sonic and Tails. To Sonic's
surprise and horror, the hands were not facing him--they were aimed
at Tails.
Sonic couldn't see Tails with the bulk of the boss between them,
but he heard his friend cry out when the hands closed on him. The ship
turned. Sonic was aware of Robotnik's triumphant sneer, but his
attention was focused on Tails.
The fox was pinched between the metal hands with only his head
visible. As the ship began to move upward, he cried, "Sonic, don't let
him take me! He'll kill me! Help!"
A deadly fear washed over Sonic. He ran forward and leaped at the
ship, but it was already too high. He stood below and watched helplessly
as the ship carried Tails out over empty space and hovered. Tails,
beginning to choke in the tight grip, gasped, "Sonic, he's gonna drop
me!"
Before Sonic could react, the hands opened. Tails let out a shriek
as he fell. But fortunately--or unfortunately--he only fell a couple
feet. The ship's laser cannon fired a single blast. It caught Tails in
the upper body and sent him flying back onto the platform. He rolled to
a stop and lay still, gasping. Sonic bounded over to him and fell to his
knees. "Tails!"
The fox opened his eyes fearfully. "Am I dead?"
"No. Where did he shoot you at?"
Tails pulled himself to a sitting position and looked down.
Stunned, he as of yet felt no pain, but saw the blood. The blast had
caught him squarely in the right shoulder. Red was seeping from the
wound and running down his chest and arm.
Tails gulped and looked up at Sonic. "Whup his tail for me, will
you? This is gonna start hurting in a minute."
Sonic stood up, eyes locked on his hurt friend. Slowly he turned
to face Robotnik, who was floating in one place, watching. The
hedgehog's head went down and his body stiffened. "That was too much,"
he growled. Deliberately he pulled out two chaos emeralds, held them
out so his enemy could see them, then struck them together. His blue
flushed to a hot yellow. He took two running steps and leaped out onto
Robotnik's ship.
His feet planted firmly on either arm, he pressed his electrified
hands against the ship's metal hull and glared through the windshield
at Robotnik. The two regarded each other with cold hatred. At the
moment, Sonic's hatred far surpassed Robotnik's. Sonic had behind him
an injured companion.
The power of the chaos emeralds flooded freely into the ship,
frying the engines and machinery. The ship began to falter and jerk,
but Sonic stood firm, fury making him reckless. He didn't move until
one of the arms sparked and split in half, plummeting toward the
distant ground. Then he jumped back to the platform and stood over
Tails, watching as Robotnik retreated.
Suddenly Tails said, "Sonic, shut off the emeralds! You're
frying the platform!" It was true. His energy was flowing through his
feet, into the platform and up the support poles. The machinery the
poles connected to were sparking and smoking. Sonic hurriedly decharged
himself, but not before one of the poles pull free with a grinding of
metal. One corner sagged.
Tails looked at Sonic, frightened. "What do we do?"
Sonic looked around wildly, beginning to panic. "I--I donno, we
can't jump--"
"Sonic, our whistles! Blow the five signal--Slash said that's
the emergency signal!"
The whistle was already in Sonic's mouth. He blew it five times
as hard as he could, hoping it would carry over the noise of the
rockets. Then he dropped it back to it's place on the string, looked
at his friend and waited.
There it was! Slasher's counter-signal, a high-pitched scream.
She had heard and was on her way. Sonic peered over the edge. To his
surprise, they were no longer over the mainland--the indigo ocean
spread out below. Almost directly beneath was the Floating Island.
Slasher was a winged dot, rising in large circles like a pigeon.
Suddenly the huge rockets sputtered. Sonic looked back at them.
Tails lifted his good arm and pointed to the ruptured fuel line, which
had been leaking this whole while. Death Egg was running out of gas.
Sonic looked back down, cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted,
"Hurry, Slasher!"
One of the other support rods jerked and pulled free. The
platform sagged downward sharply. Sonic fell to his hands and knees
and crawled back to Tails. He held his friend to keep him from sliding
down the slanted platform. He could see the broad ocean over his
shoulder. He felt the platform sway. The remaining support poles were
not strong enough to hold them up and would snap very soon.
Another jolt. The two of them slid downward a few inches. Tails
had his eyes closed and teeth clenched--Sonic didn't know if it were
from pain or fear--probably both. "Hurry, Slasher," he whispered, half
afraid a loud word would bring it all down.
"Sonic!" The wind created by Slasher's wings fanned his face.
She was hovering in place, jaws wide and gasping for breath. He looked
up at her helplessly, afraid to move. She dove forward, grabbed him by
the arm and swung him onto her back. Seeing Tails bleeding, she grabbed
him up in her arms and held him against her chest. Then she dove
sideways, away from the platform.
The velociraptor went into a steep spiraling dive, retreating
from the Death Egg. Sonic crouched low against her neck, watching the
Floating Island grow below. Behind, Death Egg's rockets spluttered
again, dying, then reviving. How long it would stay afloat was a
mystery ...
(
geocities.com/timessquare/realm) (
geocities.com/timessquare)