Mario and Sonic: Super Eclipse and Determination

The monster's cave

__Thanks to the cover of all the dead trees, the Mario Brothers' group made it through without anymore detection. They could see Bowser's Castle now. There was a bridge that led to the castle with a wide lava moat surrounding it. The castle looked much bigger than Princess Peach's castle. Sonic could definitely tell Bowser must have a high ego with the giant statue of what he assumed was his head over the castle entrance. Sonic couldn't really imagine living around this area. It was way too hot; hotter than the Dry Dry Desert. But he knew he would be able to manage.
__They saw over in the distance that the other groups have made it as well, spread out amongst the dead trees. For some reason there were no minions, robots, or the CCO in sight.
__Tails had the walkie-talkie and was speaking to Espio. "We've all made it. Is there anyone at the entrance?"
__After about a minute there was a click. "No. They're all protecting the throne room. I shall open the gate for you now."
__Tails then brought up his communicator and began speaking to the other groups. "The enemy are in the throne room. Espio is about the open the gate. We'll all go in and split up again."
__They all watched as the castle gate was slowly opening, being quiet so no one would hear. Once the gate was opened enough for E-123 Omega to fit, Espio just appeared on the bridge, signally the others it was safe to come.
__Mario led their group to the bridge first. After them was Princess Peach's group, then Princess Daisy's, Yoshi's and finally Toad's. Espio made his way to all the group leaders and began speaking.
__"Blaze and Captain Toad are already making their way to the throne room. I'll be joining them shortly. Do you all know where you're going?"
__All of the groups leaders nodded.
__"Good. I shall see you all again soon." He then turned invisible and just disappeared.
__Everyone then made their way into the castle. They all divided and went through different hallways in their respected group. The Mario Brothers group had taken the main hallway that would go straight to the throne room. This would be too risky, but they knew they were up to the task.
__While walking Sonic heard people talking. He knew Tails, Shadow, and Silver could hear them, too. Sonic had grabbed Mario's shoulder to make him stop before Silver picked them all up with his telekinesis and carried everyone to the ceiling. There was a small patrol of CCO agents walking from the throne room area. A few looked worried while the rest looked tired.
__"Things are really getting insane," one of them spoke.
__"They won't even tell us what they're working on. This is too impractical for us to be working here."
__"You're thinking too much."
__"But don't you think it's weird? We're being forced to work with Bowser's minions and a bunch of scary looking robots and we don't even know why."
__"And if we go out of line that old man threatened that his robots would get rid of us."
__"Look, just keep your mouths shut then. We can't afford to back down now. We're in too deep."
__"In too deep of what!?"
__"That's the problem! We don't know!"
__"Especially with that dragon. It looks completely different from the dragons that live close to the yoshisaurs. I mean... I guess it looks similar to the Lord of Lightning."
__"You mean the Ruined Dragon? Yeah, I guess you're right."
__"There is definitely something off about that dragon, though. It's... I dunno... It's just weird that it's here."
__The agents were then out of the hallway. Silver had waited until they could no longer hear them before setting everyone down.
__Sonic turned towards where the CCO agents went and stared in confusion. Dragon? He then looked towards the throne room. Must be a coincidence.
__beep-click! "There are many patrols leaving the throne room." Espio's voice sounded softly.
__Tails then pulled out his communicator and repeated that to the others.
__The group divided and hid behind the pillars as more patrols of agents, robots, and minions entered the hallway. Sonic made sure no one was looking before he ran with his super-speed straight into the throne room and hid behind a pillar. Shadow had teleported behind him while one by one, slowly and discreetly, the rest came in and hid with them.
__Sonic motioned the others to stay as he peeked around the pillar. He couldn't tell if any of the others have made or not. But it could have been because the others took the longers routes. He then looked straight into the throne and flattened his ears, fighting the urge to let out a sound. There was what Sonic could now remember was the doomsday device. Above it was a weird looking cage with tubes connected to the device and the seven Chaos Emeralds. But what horrified him was what was in the cage. There was a large blue dragon with green eyes and a peach colored under belly. She wore a black nose ring, a black harness, and purple knee pads. There were clamps around her neck, arms, and legs that kept her chained to the bottom of the cage at a short distance. The dragon herself looked like she was in pain.
__Sonic kept his composer as he looked at Tails. The yellow fox was immediately frightened when he saw the look on Sonic's face. Sonic tried to keep his voice as low, yet loud enough to hear. "It's Dulcy."
__Tails's eyes were wide. "Dulcy!?" He whispered back. He then looked carefully past the pillar at the cage and retreated back. "She looks like she's in pain!"
__"That poor dragon..." Silver muttered.
__The Mario Brothers looked at each other before Mario looked at Sonic. "Another friend of yours?"
__When Sonic didn't answer Shadow started speaking. "Dulcy, Chaos Emeralds, and mutated plutonium. Eggman isn't playing around. He wants to make sure there is a definite victory for himself."
__"But what does he need a dragon for?" Luigi asked.
__"In our world, dragons are powerful creatures," Sonic explained. "When Tails and I were kids, Eggman was roboticizing everyone to build his empire. He wanted to make sure he roboticized all of the dragons as well to use their power. Dulcy was one of the lucky ones he couldn't get back then."
__"Did Eggman already have her before we came here?" Silver asked.
__"He must have," Shadow remarked. "Otherwise she wouldn't be in this world now."
__Mario was looking past the pillar. "So those are your Chaos Emeralds? I can definitely feel their strong power from here."
__Sonic then looked again at the seven Chaos Emeralds. "Hm. If all else fails, Shadow, Silver, and I can just turn super and fix all of this in a snap." He then twitched his ears when he saw people walking over to the doomsday device.
__Dr. Eggman was examining the machine as Metal Sonic stood next to him. The human was giggling to himself while he pat the robot on the head. "Isn't daddy just a great evil genius?" The robot, of course, said nothing.
__They both turned their heads as Bowser Junior and Kamek flew into the room. The young koopa hopped out of his clown car and handed Dr. Eggman a Super Star. "Here you go, Julian."
__"Ah, splendid!" He carefully took the star and turned to Metal Sonic. The robot turned its back to him and opened an empty space in its back. Dr. Eggman then placed the star inside and some wires were moving on their own to connect to the star. The back then closed and Metal Sonic turned around. It looked down at its hands and started flexing its claws.
__Dulcy the dragon then raised her head as high as the chains would allow her as she grunted in pain. "You won't get away with this, Robotnik!"
__Dr. Eggman turned to the dragon in disappointment. "You really want to start this now?"
__Dulcy was growling as her white fangs became visible. "Just you wait! I know Sonic is here, too! When he finds you he'll be sure to kick your ass!"
__Sonic couldn't help but smile. Still in good spirit, that Dulc'.
__Bowser Junior then turned around and started hopping up and down excitedly. "Papa! You're back!"
__Both Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic turned to look while Kamek floated down to the ground and bowed his head. Even Dulcy lowered her head and looked away. Sonic squinted his eyes, trying to look down the hall. There was a giant beast walking down the hall, so big he had to duck his head to enter the room. It felt so unnatural and uncomfortable to Sonic that the ground did not dare quake with every step this monster took. This beast looked almost exactly like the young koopa prince, but meaner and definitely a lot more frightening, especially with his red beady eyes, claws, and the spikes on his shell were so sharp that Sonic did not want to even think of touching them. As the monster stopped in front of Kamek, he let out a loud roar that shook the castle.
__Sonic kept his ears flat and his eyes wide as he slowly retreated his head behind the pillar. Both Tails and Silver looked at Sonic with concern while Shadow went to take a look at the enemy. "So..." Sonic said softly. "That's Bowser."