Run Run Run

It would be difficult to overstate the scale of the machine revealed immediately behind them; awkwardly bloated, just like most anything Eggman made, the puffer-fish-like monstrosity may have been an endearingly chubby, if slightly menacing, little thing had it been 1/1000th scale. In this case, however, a hundred Tornadoes, maybe more, could have fit into its open maw, with room to spare for plenty more tiny foxes, porcupines, and cats sprinkled atop (season to taste).

In short, the hulking seabase, or submarine, or airship, or whatever it was, was rumbling toward them with the roar of unimaginably-scaled rocket propulsion, with every intent to swallow them, and their little airplane, too.

For the most excellent Sonic Spindash RP, a pivotal moment in our current story-line.