The soft calling of his name caused the blue hedgehog to look up. When he did, a gasp left his mouth. He was sure none of his friends were alive, even assured of it, but here sat Rouge. He turned the solemn look he had into a smile and softly exclaimed, "Rouge? I can't believe it! You're okay!"
Pushing herself off the ground with a groan, the bat nodded. "Likewise." With the hedgehog more open, she could see even more of the scrapes and gnashes. It was worse than she thought. Quite honestly, the fact that he hadn't bled out was extraordinary. "I may be fine, but are you okay?"
The question lingered in the air for a moment. After a few seconds of silence with the only sounds being that of the creaking metal, the azure hedgehog replied, "Other than the pain, I'm doing well. I mean, well enough for being in a prison cell." His ears flicked a little as Sonic placed his cuffed hands on his legs. Even when the glowing blue chains grazed his legs, he didn't wince from their electrical shock.
Raising an eyebrow, the bat seemed quite shocked. With everything Sonic had been through, he seemed to be handling everything quite well. As she pressed her hands against, Rouge tried to see if anything gave. There had to be a scrap of metal or subtle crack she could exploit. At least, so long as she didn't severely injure her kicking leg. It was already aching enough as it was. Taking a step towards the glowing bars, the albino bat gave a listen. "Hm, not a fatal voltage, but getting shocked by one of these would not be pleasant."
The azure hedgehog looked down with a sigh. Of course, he knew that. The first thing he did once he was thrown in here was run for the exit. He just didn't know those bars would come down. Shaking his head a bit, he stared at his wrists. "Believe me, I've tried every possible way to get out of here." He shook his wrists, attempting to pull them up. A long chain clanked, obstructing any further movement up. "So much so, they had to chain my arms to the ground."
"Hm," The bat stated. Why the hands? Although Sonic's legs were battered and bruised quite badly, they didn't seem exactly broken to her. "Well, this place must not be entirely hedgehog-proof, especially if they chained you." She felt the wall again before giving a sigh. "How did you remain so hopeful being here?"
As he softly clanked the glowing chains, the hedgehog looked up, biting his lips. "What do you mean?"
Rouge sighed and sat down, leaning on the bench Sonic was currently sitting on. Although it did seem safe to touch the chains if Sonic could, the bat's ears told her otherwise. "To tell you the truth, I never actually expected to survive this mission for this long. I just wanted to feel as though I was helping, especially since both of my teammates are gone one way or another." She grabbed her knees, gripping them tight as her wings folded behind her. "Ever since I found out Knuckles was creating a Resistance; I'd been working some of the more dangerous jobs. Gathering intel, breaking into secure Eggman bases, even learning whatever I could about this Jackal."
The azure hedgehog suddenly shook a bit. His breathing became heavier. When his chains began to clank from the shaking, Rouge shot up to check on him. "Sonic, are you okay? Did I say something wrong?" The azure hedgehog didn't respond. "Sonic?"
Once his breathing had become normal, the hedgehog gave a sigh. "Yeah, I'm fi-" Something outside the cell caught his attention. It was a small red streak bursting towards them. Once the streak slowed, the hedgehog gave a slight gasp. "Is-is that a wisp?"
As she followed his gaze, the bat gasped as well. "Why yes, it is. What do you suppose he's doing here...wait. If a wisp is here, then that means-" She gave a wide smile, ecstatic to what this meant. They were being rescued! But then, the Jackal's words to Knuckles and Amy set in. Rouge's smile slowly caved. He was expecting them. If they wanted even the slightest chance to escape, they had to do it now. "This gives me an idea." She went over toward the glowing bars. "Hey, could you do us a solid?" Spitting out some wisp gibberish, the little red guy nodded. "Great, see if you can find some way to turn off the bars."
The wisp stood up tall and gave a salute before flying off again. "Don't worry Sonic," Rouge stated, "we'll be out of here soon."
The chains clanked again. "Um, Rouge, there's something I should tell you-"
After only a few seconds had passed before the cell bars disappeared, as well as the chains around Sonic's arms. Coming around the corner was the red wisp, shaking his tendril around as he tried to blow out the mini fire on it. Rouge gave a chuckle. "Nice job. Come on Sonic," she stated to the blue blur, "let's see if we can find the rest of this wisp's team."
Currently, the hedgehog was looking at his feet. "Um, yeah, about that Rouge-"
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Rouge folded her ears down, wincing as an alarm blared. Red lights glowed all around them, signaling the breakout. "Come on Sonic, we need to go!"
"But Rouge!"
The bat quickly grabbed the hedgehog's gloved hand and yanked him up. She was expecting to pull him behind her, what she wasn't expecting was him nearly collapsing on the floor.
Gripping the bat's hand, Sonic tried his hardest to stay upright. "I was trying to tell you." He stated before falling back on the seat. "My legs are broken. I can't run, much less stand up!"
The blazing sirens seemed to grow louder as panic and dread set in. "When did this happen?" Rouge questioned, taking a look at the injuries inflicted upon his leg. Nothing seemed broken. In fact, it only seemed like walking would be painful to him, not impossible.
"Well..."
Bursting into the room, the wisp seemed to scream something. He constantly pointed down the hallway and began to pull both Sonic and Rouge. "What is it?" Sonic questioned.
A shadow appeared right in front of the cell. Although not much was distinguishable, the horns were unmistakable. Rouge, put Sonic's arms around her neck and, with the wisp's help, got him out of the cell. Sure enough, a Zeti was behind them. "Trying to escape, are we?"
Gripping the railing that blocked a large pit of doom, Sonic turned around to see a familiar enemy. Zavok stomped down the hall, glancing at the open cell door as the sirens continued to blare. "Oh, Zavok, didn't expect to see you here." It still seemed to surprise the blue hedgehog about his appearance, despite having seen him all throughout his "stay". Didn't the two just fight eight months ago though? The strange thing was though, when the Zeti passed by his cell during the first few months of his capture, the guy seemed to have completely forgotten any of their battles. He even seemed quite loyal to Eggman despite he and the Zeti's betrayal. It was quite odd.
Although neither Sonic nor Rouge knew anything about the Zeti really, they did know the species absolutely despised both the humans and mobians for something that happened eons ago. Sonic never had a good time to ask since he was either destroying a robot or trying to avoid the Zeti's tricks. He couldn't blame them for getting mad at Eggman at the end though. What he could blame them for was sucking the life out of Mobius and everyone on it.
"Hm, why aren't you and your," he glanced at Rouge, "friend in the cell? I'm sure we both know what happened the last time you tried to make an escape."
The red wisp shook, being buried in Sonic's shaking quills. Glancing up, the hedgehog patted the scared little guy and looked up at Zavok, giving the best determined face he could give. "Well...this won't be like last time."
To both Sonic and Rouge's surprise, the Zeti gave a smile. "Always the same attitude, even when you can't do something as simple at standing up." Bringing his hand up, Zavok gave a whistle. "But if it's a fight you want, I'll give it to you."
Rouge's ears swiveled around. There was a clank and a loud brrrrr sound echoing through the metallic structure. It was almost too difficult to pinpoint its exact location, but it was getting closer. Suddenly, the bat tensed up and dove to the side, bringing Sonic with her. Right then, the railing the hedgehog had been holding onto only seconds before was completely scrapped away. Popping out from the hedgehog's quills, the wisp gave his concerns. "Don't worry, we're fine." Rouge stated as she coughed from the build-up of smoke. From what was the question though.
As the fog began to disappear, what Zavok had called became visible. It seemed like a large buzz bomber. In fact, it could have been but saying it hadn't exactly attacked them yet, something else was more likely. Those suspicions were proven to be accurate when the Zeti jumped on top of the robot, almost seeming to ride it. Rouge stood up, holding her hand back when Sonic tried to push himself off the ground to follow her. "No, your leg is too beat up. I'll handle this."
The hedgehog looked up at her and bit his lip. "But I can't just...Rouge!"
Before he could finish, the bat had begun moving in. She flew up and over, staying close to the wall as she went through her utility belt. Opening up each pocket, she stuck her hands into them, turning them out. They were all empty. Not even a lock pick was left. Argh! If only she hadn't gotten captured, then that Jackal wouldn't have raided her of her equipment! Still though, her expertise of Eggman's equipment should hopefully be all she'd need.
"Hey Zavok, I'm over here!" Rouge called, hoping to get that giant buzz bomber to ignore Sonic. Zavok pushed a few buttons on the robot's controls, summoning a swarm of mini buzz bombers to ambush the bat. Rough attempted to hit them, but they were too small to pinpoint, let alone kick. Not to mention, the stinging lasers them emitted was pretty distracting as well. When it didn't seem like the fight would go any further, a red figure came up, turning to face the little bees. A burst of fire shot out in front of the bat, hitting the tiny targets and destroying them. "Thanks little guy."
"Hm, so your little friend has fire? Well two can play at that game!" The Zeti raised his hands up, forming flaming balls of fire, before throwing them at his two opponents. The wisp attempted to stop the ball; however, it was too big for him to control. He and Rouge split, allowing the fire ball to shoot between them, taking out the ground below.
Even with the fireballs behind them, more still kept coming and the lasers on the buzz bomber wasn't helping any. Rouge and the wisp wove in and out of the obstacles, not even able to get close enough to hit Zavok. With all the commotion and shooting, Rouge had nearly forgotten about Sonic being below them. With how deadly the attacks were, him even being present was dangerous. She turned to the wisp. "I need you to go down there and get Sonic to safety. I'll be fine on my own for a little while." Standing up straight and giving a small salute, the wisp nodded and flew back towards the azure hedgehog.
Once he arrived, the wisp motioned to Sonic and attempted to pull him away from the fire and lasers. "Hey, what are you-?" The wisp only replied in his wisp gibberish, pointing at the light show in front of them. "Well I know that!" His legs were broken, not his eyes. The wisp crossed his tendrils and huffed, pointing away from the mess above them. Lingering his eyes above, the hedgehog balled his hands up. No. He wasn't running from this. If only there was something he could do to help though.
Using her expertise on espionage, Rouge was able to get close enough to Zavok for a hit. She expertly dove out of the way of obstacles and poised her leg for a strike. Finally, she would be one step closer to beating his, and all on her own. Once she got close enough for a hit though, something seemed strange. The Zeti didn't even seem to notice her as she came hurtling down. Despite not knowing what he thinking about, she had heard a few words being huffed under his breath. "Yes, they will pay for what they did!" Then, she was knocked onto the ground.
The bee buzzed over her, ready to sting her at any moment. Rubbing her head, the bat tried to shake off the hit. Seeming to become even more red than he was before, Zavok bellowed, "You mobians always think you can win, celebrating so soon even when victory is not yet certain! Perhaps we should have come here long ago to put you in your place."
Rouge raised an eyebrow. "What do you-?"
"I will stand for you no longer. Time to end this!" The buzz bomber aimed its stinger right for the bat. Rouge gasped and tried to move out of the way. To her horror though, she couldn't move. Her leg had gotten stuck in the metal floor, likely torn apart from the thousands of other blasts the Zeti had let off.
"Rouge!" Sonic shouted. If he didn't do something soon, she'd be crushed. But what could he even do? It's not like he could just run over there and smack Zavok. He couldn't just leave a friend high and dry, especially a friend who was about to get stung. There had to be some way her could help. Wait a minute, the wisp! "Hey, little guy," Sonic started, causing the wisp to stop pulling, "I think I've got an idea on how to help."
This was surely the end for her, the bat sighed. All that effort trying to explore the Death Egg meant nothing. She wouldn't even get to say goodbye to anyone. At least Sonic and the wisp were able to get out. Hopefully they could find the rescue team and make it back to Earth safely.
Just when the stinger was close to reaching her, a flash of orange zoomed by, knocking it back. The giant bee hit the ground, scrapping the metal floor with an irritating sound. Rouge removed her hand from her eyes. In front of her, the red wisp popped out of Sonic, giving him a high five. "Sonic!" Rouge exclaimed as she slowly shimmied herself out of the hole. "You're standing!"
At the sudden exclamation, the hedgehog looked down at his legs. Although they were still battered, bruised, and painful, they no longer felt numb or broken. "Huh? But, I thought-"
Dusting himself off, Zavok lept over his broken mech to face the bat and hedgehog. "And again, you celebrate despite your opponent not even being down yet. I'm beginning to even wonder how you mobians won last time."
Now, Sonic was the one holding Rouge back. "What's your deal anyway? Did you forget about trying to drain the world of its energy? Kidnapping Tails? Eggman betraying you?"
Zavok gave a short chuckle. "You continue to speak lies in hopes of saving yourself. Cute." Sonic and Rouge exchanged glances. "You know hedgehog, I may not have paid you much mind before, but now," he gave out yet another whistle, causing the bee bot that Sonic and the red wisp had just trashed to fly again, completely fixed, "you have my undivided attention!"
"But how did he-?" Sonic commented, his ears folding down and his legs slightly shaking. "Rouge," He turned to look behind him as Zavok jumped back on the buzz bomber, "follow the wisp back to the rescue team. I'll handle Zavok."
"Sonic, you're in no condition to fight, especially not alone!" Rouge exclaimed as a few stings were shot. Not missing a beat, the azure hedgehog picked her up and moved them farther away from the mech.
Once they were unable to see the bee, Sonic sighed. "I've faced him before; I can do it again. Just go!" He motioned for her to start running.
Sighing, the bat flapped her wings. "I sure hope what you're doing Sonic. Try to stay alive until we come back." Sonic gave a nod, giving Rouge and the wisp enough assurance to leave him on his own.
Popping around the corner came the bee bot. Immediately, Sonic headed in the opposite direction. He needed more space if he was going face Zavok. The only question was, how long could he last?
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Oh geez, I did not expect it to take this long for this chapter. Thank you being patient! I did have to shorten the original outline because of how long this chapter is. The next chapter is already in progress. Hopefully I can get it out in less than two months but I can't really promise anything 😅 Thank you reading!