Knuxouge - Clipped Wings

EPILOGUE

The crash of a thousand boulders falling was the team's alert that Eggman had started his latest attack. Not only that, but it ruined the atmosphere of the fancy restaurant Knuckles and Rouge were in. They would have to cut their date short to go fight him.

Rouge, master of the quick change, peeled off her evening dress to reveal her usual skintight battle outfit underneath.

"Do you wear that under everything?" Knuckles goaded, taking off his restrictive tuxedo and laying it and his seat.

"As a matter of fact, I do. I even have another one under this," Rouge replied, sarcastic as ever. She grabbed Knuckles' hands and flew out a large open window they had been sitting near at the restaurant. As they did, a waiter rushed after them, gesturing wildly.

"Don't worry— we'll be right back to pay the bill!" Knuckles called while they were still within earshot. The waiter simply appeared defeated.

"Remind me to give him a huge tip later," Rouge laughed as they flew above the city.

"You? I thought it was my turn to pay."

"If it was up to you, it would always be your turn to pay. Anyway, we better meet up with the rest of the team and scope out this new bot." Rouge rolled her eyes.

Once they'd reached the edge of the forest, Sonic ran up next to them. Tails and Cream flew in quickly, and Amy was riding a motorbike right behind. Now the team was assembled. Sonic began his briefing.

"I went ahead to the mountainside to get a look at the bot. It's big, got 4 shovel-arms, but it's legs are thin. We could probably bust them in easily. Knuckles, Amy, you're our frontal offense, focus on the legs! Rouge, Cream, and Tails, you focus on damage control. And I'll be in charge of banter!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Why is banter an essential part of the battle plan?" Cream asked politely with an incredulous look on her face.

"Because Eggman's graced us with his presence this time. He's hovering right next to his attack bot," Sonic clarified. It was clear that he considered this a good thing.

They made quick work through the forest and soon could see Eggman and his ugly machine.

It was busy hacking away at the side of the mountain. It was either looking for something in the most haphazard way possible or trying to cause a rockslide. All bets were on the second option.

"Hey Egghead! We haven't seen you in a while," Sonic began. The others dispersed to do their individual jobs.

"Only because I didn't want you to see me," Eggman insisted, not looking up from his handheld monitor.

"Is that why? Here I thought it was because you couldn't fit through your front door," Sonic ran circles around Eggman and his little hovering ship just to annoy him.

Meanwhile, Knuckles and Amy found the legs a little tougher than they'd bargained for. Their first attempts at smashing the metal twigs didn't affect them. The giant robot hadn't even been distracted by them. It kept chiseling away at the mountain precariously as several large rocks shuddered above them all, just waiting to crash down at the slightest provocation.

Rouge, Tails, and Cream were on the rocks in no time. Quickly Tails brought some rope and stakes out of his trusty pack and the fliers set to work. They tied down any particularly large and unstable boulders. Tails also directed where to skewer the mountainside to provide more stability. Cream was able to evacuate the nearby animals.

The flying team's efforts weren't perfect. The only thing that could secure the mountain for sure was stopping that stupid bot. So Rouge flew down to help the frontal assault tanks.