The Robotic Endgame

XVII. Sonic the Hedgehog

I had underestimated how many robots would be in the city. There was at least one on every block, watching for something. Whether it was Wily making sure no one interrupted the search, or trying to keep a curfew for the people still living inside, I couldn't be sure. I felt bad for the people inside the city, though, knowing they were living in fear of what was happening. I just hoped that if they were forcing them to stay, they wouldn't put them into any danger.

It wasn't just Wily robots, either, which were each unique in their own way. Several more of Eggman's robots roamed the city, walking around buildings or looking for the shards. If they were looking for the shards, though, they obviously had no clue what they were doing.

I sped past the twentieth building, nearly getting noticed by some weird blue woman robot holding a trident. I was barely able to dart across a nearby alley, then hide behind a large plant before getting spotted by the robots on the other side. There were three of Eggman's robots, turning in various directions as if they were looking for something small, fast, and blue.

"Sonic," Dr. Light said in my ear, making me jump. The robots looked at each other as the plant rustled. "Get on top of the building your under."

I nodded even though he couldn't see me, but waited for the robots attention to move away. For a few minutes, they just stood there, turning slowly. Eventually they realized it must have been some sort of error in their systems, and went back to going down the streets. Once they were all turned away from me, I dashed back into the alley I had run through, sprinting up the side of the building until getting to the top. I sighed with relief. There weren't very many robots up on the buildings, but the structures were all sorts of sizes and distances apart, so jumping or running up them was a chore.

"Do you see the big glass building in front of you?" Dr. Light asked.

"You mean the one I broke?" I whispered, holding back a chuckle. The building hadn't been repaired, and I suddenly remembered crashing into it and somehow not getting killed. It wasn't far away, but getting to it would probably still be a chore. "Kind of hard to forget."

"You need to get inside," Dr. Light replied. "That's where you need to go."

"How?" I asked, still speaking softly. "Running on glass is like running on ice. Do you think there'll be robots by the door?"

"I don't know," Dr. Light explained. Very helpful.

"Well, only one way to find out," I said, running and jumping onto the next building. I rolled as I fell, trying to keep from landing on my feet wrong. There was one more building in front of me, but there was a street in between me and the structure.

I looked around, the glass building taunting me. If I could get onto the next building and jump off, I could possibly leap into the hole I had made originally. But that was a big 'if'; the street was swarming with robots, probably all on high alert for me.

With a sigh, I decided to go around and see if I could run up the building from a different angle. The first side I went to was also very busy with robots. I had to carefully run to the other side, and was lucky enough to find that it was completely abandoned. Deciding to not overthink it, I ran up the building, finding that the hole was far away, but not too far away. With the perfect jump, I could just barely make it.

I walked to the edge of the building, watching the robots walk along the street that separated me from the glass. It made sense that there were so many robots around this part if Dr. Light was right, but it made things tough. I wondered if we were too late, and the robots had already gotten the shard. I shook my head and waited, thinking that the robots would never disappear enough for me to get through the hole.