Back to Chapter 41

“You’re going to be sorry, you eggy creep! When Sonic catches you, he’ll--!”

“He’ll what, exactly, my dear?”

Robotnik stared Madonna in the eyes. The blonde leader of Sonic’s Bodyguard Platoon could have done with a real bodyguard right now as she stood in a cell in Robotnik’s awful Scrap Brain Zone home.

“He’ll beat you- just like he did before”

Robotnik laughed heartily.

“No, I don’t think so,” the cruel doctor responded, “Not this time. This time I have the perfect weapon at my disposal. Sonic won’t be able to win this time. And by the time he realises that, it’ll be too late. And from my Sky Base Zone, I’ll be able to co-ordinate attacks all over planet Mobius!”

“Sonic can beat anything you throw at him, Robotnik!” Madonna responded, defiant.

“Then perhaps I should show you what my latest weapon is,” Robotnik pressed a button on a control panel. The door to the room slid open.

Behind the door was something that made Madonna’s mouth drop.

Robotnik bared his teeth in a sinister grin, “Good, isn’t it?”

***

Sonic had been racing through the Scrap Brain Zone for thirty-seven minutes now. The problem was, in a Zone made up entirely of factories, he really had no way of knowing which one was the place he needed to be. Any one of these diabolical buildings could be hiding Robotnik. To make matters worse, everywhere Sonic went, he ended up springing some kind of trap designed to slice him, fry him, electrocute him or squash him. Robotnik had been rather thorough on that front, there was no denying it.

Sonic had enjoyed a little bit of good fortune, however. Inside one of the labs, a twisting winding circuit of corridors and hallways, he’d found the fifth Chaos Emerald. It was just sat out in the open, as if minding its own business. Sonic didn’t understand why Robotnik would leave one of the objects of his desire unguarded like that- and so concluded he hadn’t. The only logical explanation was that the emerald had somehow gotten to where it was by chance. Sonic had thought about it and, really, none of the places he’d found the emeralds had made any sense. They were scattered randomly, some were in relatively accessible places, some were hidden. It didn’t make sense that someone could have placed them where they had been found. Moreover, when Sonic picked the emeralds up, they disappeared- so how could anyone have placed them at all?

It didn’t make sense. Sonic rubbed his head in his hands in frustration. He just wanted a sign telling him where to do next. Anything at all!

“Sonic! Help me!”

That would do it.

Sonic looked up to the source of the voice. A young, pretty blonde human woman in a red dress looking through a barred windowless hole in what was quite obviously a cell in a nearby building.

“Madonna?” Sonic called up.

“How did you know my name?”

“Well, you’re my biggest fan, aren’t you?”

Madonna blushed, “That’ll have to wait- you’ve got to help me! But be careful, there’s—”

But it was too late. Sonic had already blasted at top speed through the door of the building.

Sonic’s feet pounded up the flights of stairs until he reached the cells where Madonna was prisoner.

“Stand back, I want to try something out,” Sonic told Madonna, who duly stepped back from her cell.

Using his Triple Spin manoeuvre he’d sliced at Snively’s capsule with, Sonic cut the bars off Madonna’s cell as if they were made of cardboard.

Madonna refused to hide how impressed she was, “Oh, wow! That was amazing! You’re amazing!”

“You’re not so bad yourself for a human!” Sonic grinned, “Come on, I’m gonna have to carry you to safety”

Madonna hopped into Sonic’s arms.

“Hm. Pretty light for a tall girl!” Sonic smiled.

“Thanks, I’ve been working out”

Sonic rushed down the stairs at a speed that would have threatened to ruffle Madonna’s hair if it wasn’t so short. Sonic kicked the door open and rushed outside.

Sonic glanced at Madonna as he ran, “If we’re lucky and he’s not been picked up yet, we’ll be able to get you to my friend Mach, you two should be able to hide together”

Robotnik’s voice rang out, “Hiding won’t help you, I’m afraid, Sonic!”

Sonic screeched to a halt. Madonna clutched on extra tight, hoping not to be hurled away by inertia.

There was Robotnik. He was on a floating platform with a handrail around its edge.

“I’m afraid even you’ve been too slow this time, Sonic,” Robotnik taunted, “It’s a real shame I’m not going to be here to watch your demise, but I do so look forward to replaying the CCTV footage over and over and over every night”

“It’s over, Robotnik. I’ve got you now”

“I think not. As a matter of fact, you’re going to let me escape because, if you don’t, your friend will be in terrible danger”

“Sonic, I tried to warn you—” Madonna started.

A metallic stomping sound grew nearer to Sonic and Madonna.

“I wonder how long you’ll last before you give in”, Robotnik smirked, “Toodles!”

The platform Robotnik was stood on rose into the air and out of sight. Sonic turned to see something he hadn’t accounted for: Jules.

“Sonic, it’s like a robot version of you,” Madonna stammered.

“Worse,” Sonic replied, gently putting her down, “It’s my dad”

“Your—” before Madonna could reply, Jules slammed a mighty fist into the ground and buckled the floor panel Sonic had been stood on point-two-five of a second beforehand, a swift sidestep being the only thing that saved you.

“Robotnik did this to him,” Sonic told Madonna, “Uncle Chuck tried to help my dad but… it was a trap. And now look”

Jules whirred and whirled around on the spot to face Sonic, an expressionless face staring a hole in Sonic’s head.

“I’m not going to fight you, dad,” Sonic told Jules.

“Correct,” Jules responded in a tinny voice.

Sonic took a step back, “Why so sure?”

“This unit will not be attacked by Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog cares too much for this unit”

Jules was right. And Sonic knew it. Sonic couldn’t throw a punch or Spin Attack at his dad, even if he was roboticized. All Sonic could do was dodge each attack.

But Sonic was getting tired. He’d been on the go all day, in situations that would have individually been more than enough for anyone to handle- and he must have faced half a dozen of them at least. The emotional strain of facing his dad would have been too much.

The floating platform returned to ground level. Sonic didn’t know what he could do. He couldn’t let Robotnik get away. But he couldn’t run and leave Madonna! He couldn’t fight Jules- but he couldn’t simply leave someone to face down a huge hulking robot.

And then it hit him.

By “it” I mean the fire extinguisher.

And by “him” I mean Jules.

Madonna had whacked the roboticized hedgehog in the back of the head with the extinguisher and he flopped to the floor, out of commission.

“What did you do that for?!” Sonic asked.

“Well, I could hardly stand and watch you get squashed! What kind of fan would that make me?”

“I guess you’re right but… did you have to hit him so hard?”

“Sonic, I’m sorry, truly I am, but your dad has been turned into a robot. He can take a blow to the head better than you or I. I don’t know how to help him but I do know how to help you and right now that involves hitting him so hard he needs to reboot”

Sonic chuckled, “Ah, sounds like you’re my kinda gal after all if that’s your way with computers”

“Get on the platform, Sonic. Go chase Robotnik. He’ll be in his Sky Base Zone, whatever that is”

“I can’t leave you here!”

“I’ll find some place to hide, don’t worry. I’m not just some ditzy blonde bimbo, Sonic. There’s a reason we named our group after an army instead of calling ourselves Sonic’s Cutesy Babe Squad”

Sonic shrugged, “Fair enough”

Sonic stood on the platform and prepared to press the button to activate it.

Madonna walked up to him, “You’re my hero, Sonic, you know that?”

“Well, yeah, I figured, what with the fan club and all”

“No. If it were about fandom, I’d have said ‘I’m your biggest fan’. You are my hero. You’re an inspiration. Since I was a little kid, I was told… well, never mind, that’s another story for another time. But I’ve always looked up to you”

Sonic raised an eyebrow, “I’ve only really been famous for a few months”

“Yeah,” Madonna nodded, “I know. But I wasn’t talking about fame” Madonna pressed the button on the platform and it began to ascend, “Stop talking. Go save the world. Go save people. That’s what you do”

Sonic watched as Madonna shrank out of view. He waved down at her. Before too long she was out of sight.

CRIKEY, it was cold all of a sudden!

Sonic looked around. He was up in the clouds. He had no idea what to expect now, but he was fairly sure it wasn’t anything good.

On to Chapter 43