Sonic Runaways

Tails landed the others aboard the Robodoom. "Quick! We have no time! Get back Sonic's emerald!" Tails cried, everyone chasing the Robo-Robos down the halls of the orbiting Robodoom.

The Robo-Robos shot their way, but they all dodged whilst trying to keep momentum. "Thorns!" Amy cried. A sharp vine erupted from the card she held, and quickly shot towards the Robo-Robo holding Sonic's black Chaos Emerald. It followed and stretched further from the card as the Robo-Robo flew all around the room to shake the thorns away. In its frenzy, it flew straight into a wall and was smashed to bits.

At the same time, Knuckles landed another punch into Mecha Sonic's face. Mecha was no longer being knocked out of his Super form. Knuckles' gloves were being burnt just by touching the powered-up robot.

"You cannot defeat me, organic," Mecha muttered. "I will blast you and your precious island back into the ocean." Mecha shot bullets Knuckles' way. Knuckles tore two pieces of metal off of the tower to his side, and when he could no longer dodge the bullets, he instead deflected them with the pieces of metal now attached to his knuckles. Mecha shot more and more bullets. Knuckles punched them away faster and faster, roaring powerfully. A few bullets were deflected right into Mecha. "You're crafty… I'll give you that. However, creativity is nothing compared to raw power." Mecha rammed into Knuckles, punching and kicking him into a wall of his precious sanctuary. And then out the other side of that same wall. Knuckles landed on the ground, but got up quick enough to fend Mecha off. He saw an opening, and punched Mecha with his makeshift brass knuckles so hard that the slabs of metal on his fists shattered.

"That doesn't sound like something Sonic would say," Knuckles snickered. "You're a pretty crappy copy if you ask me!" Mecha Sonic clawed at Knuckles, who held up his arms in defense. He then kicked Mecha back a good few feet.

"I am no copy!" Mecha laughed. "That hedgehog is a weakling! I am GOD!" Mecha had been standing in place long enough to be targeted by Chaos. He was splashed right into a wall. Knuckles approached the short-circuiting robot, and began to wail on him until he was nothing more than scrap metal. Knuckles then dragged his remains over to the edge of the Sky Sanctuary, and tossed him right off. Holding his arm, Knuckles shambled back to retrieve the Master Emerald from Mecha's detached hand.

"Now… it's your turn, Sonic," Knuckles growled, looking up at the Robodoom. Suddenly, a dark shadow was cast over him. It was emerging from the Robodoom. "Oh no…" Knuckles gasped, holding the Master Emerald away from the shadow.

Back on the Robodoom, Tails held the black Chaos Emerald over Sonic, as Amy destroyed the last remaining Robo-Robos. She and Ata walked back to Tails. Tails didn't know what to do with the gem, until it began to shine brilliantly. It floated out of his hands and descended into Sonic's chest. As soon as the bottom of the emerald touched his chest, it phased right into him. "Sonic?" Everyone asked.

Sonic opened his eyes. His left one was electric blue again. "What the---? Tails? Why are we on the---?" Sonic asked, getting up and shaking his head. Tails immediately jumped in to hug him.

"I thought I lost you!" Tails sobbed into him, smiling. Sonic hugged Tails back, grinning joyously. They quickly departed, and shared a fist bump. Amy and Ata were smiling from nearby.

"Nah, I never lose!" Sonic exclaimed. As Amy approached for a way less platonic type of hug, the room turned a shade of red. Alarms blared. "Oh, what now?!" Suddenly, a large metal fist shot through the wall.

"Gyahahahaha!" An unhinged, bit-crushed voice laughed, as the hand tore apart the wall. Two red optics glared at them from the newly-formed hole in the wall. "That stands to be corrected, Sonic!" The giant Robo-Robo-like machine rasped in excitement. It sounded like a louder, more mighty version of Robotnik's voice. "You really thought I could be taken out that easily? I had this Great Robo-Robo body prepared as a backup in case anything happened. It doesn't matter that Mecha shot me. I didn't even feel it!" Robotnik barked. "I don't feel anything anymore. Not like this. This form, for all its shortcomings, has its merits. Now, if I lose, I won't feel pain. I can come back better than ever. And if I win, I won't be able to regret killing you once and for all!" Sonic readied himself for a fight. He jumped out of the way as the Great Robo-Robo smashed his fist down onto the floor, nearly squashing them all. Sonic gritted his teeth as he looked up towards the shallow reflection of the man who raised him.

"I don't think I'll be able to regret killing you either," Sonic growled. "I'll erase every trace of your code from the Robodoom's systems after I destroy you here! I'm not going to do this forever!" Sonic slashed a finger off of the Great Robo-Robo with a blade of lightning.

"Even if you do erase my existence on every system here, there's still copies of me nearly everywhere," Robotnik replied. "You should know by now that code never dies. I'll be here long after you're dead and gone!" Sonic, infuriated, shot a blast of lightning at Robotnik. Robotnik, unhinging his metal mouth to the ground, revealed the Master Emerald inside. It dispelled the large blast, and Sonic's heart momentarily stopped. The Master Emerald, under Robotnik's control, began to charge up a stronger blast than Sonic could even muster.

Sonic bounced headfirst into Robotnik's agape mouth, and chipped a piece off of the Master Emerald. This forced Robotnik's head up, and he fired an incomplete beam of pure Chaos energy into the ceiling. The ship began to explode. The piece of Master Emerald fell into Tails' hands. "I'll apologize to Knuckles later. Tails, everyone, get out of here!" Sonic ordered. "I'll take care of Robotnik." Tails looked to Sonic.

"But what about you?!" Tails asked.

"I'll be fine… as long as I have these Chaos Emeralds!" Sonic called. Tails reluctantly nodded. He ran off with the others to find escape pods. Sonic looked back to Robotnik. Calling upon the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic watched as they began to circle around him in the air. "Even if I fail to completely destroy you, I'll take away everything you have left. Your machines, and your power. If you say code never dies, I'll turn your endless life into an eternity of imprisonment and helplessness!" The emeralds phased into Sonic, and once again, he turned into Super Sonic.

As Super Sonic turned to his left, he saw three escape pods for each of his friends heading towards the planet below. He grinned, and instantly ravaged the entirety of the Robodoom. As the Robodoom fell apart from him zipping all over the place and tearing it apart, he saw only one more thing escape into space: Robotnik. Sonic instantly gave chase, not about to let Robotnik get away with the Master Emerald. Even if it was incomplete, it still posed a threat should it become whole again in his hands.

As Sonic broke through orbiting space junk, and bashed into Robotnik, he realized something interesting. The Master Emerald wasn't instantly neutralizing the Chaos Emeralds, not his heart or the seven other gems that he had locked onto it. But it was draining them little by little. Sonic kept bashing into Robotnik, not letting anything get in his way. It was a mad dash to try and stop him, and Sonic was slowly yet surely feeling the effects of the Master Emerald on his Super form, and even his blood flow. If it kept going like this… he would fall back to Erius and be dead before he landed. Sonic desperately kept wailing on Robotnik.

His heart was racing, his eyes were darting between Robotnik and anything that could slow him down. The slightest bump in the road, the slightest loss of momentum could be detrimental at this point. He desperately knocked into Robotnik. He had lost his super strength, and had to rely only on speed and flight to keep going. Then, his invincibility gave out a little. He felt the pain of hitting into the space rocks, but was still not being knocked out of the sky completely. He had to keep pushing forward. Nobody could escape Super Sonic.

This continued until finally, as the gold fur on Sonic's body faded back to blue, Sonic bashed into Robotnik one last time. He was launched back, as his flight gave out. He saw the Master Emerald falling from Robotnik's mouth as the doctor exploded. "No! No! It can't end like this!" Robotnik shouted, as Sonic hopped off a meteor and Homing Attacked into Robotnik. Robotnik completely fell apart, shouting curses and threats until he was gone. However, Sonic wasn't there to hear his old father figure's last words. He was in complete freefall. The seven additional Chaos Emeralds emerged out of his chest and departed back to their resting place.

Sonic skydived towards the Master Emerald, trying to reach out to it. As he did, he thought about everything he had done up to that point. All his thoughts were forming together into one word: freedom. Everything that came with it. If he could reach the Master Emerald and turn Super before he landed, he would live to see true freedom. The empire had been dismantled, the Robodoom was no more. Robotnik would be powerless to do anything against him anymore. Now, Sonic just had to survive this exact moment to see the fruits of his labor.

Sonic reached out, but fell short. In one last ditch effort, he plucked out a quill from his spines and reached out to the emerald with it. By the time the tip of the quill touched the top of the emerald, Sonic was just above the ground. As soon as he made contact with the Master Emerald, he crash landed right into the devastated, flooded Echidnaopolis.