Chapter 1: Trouble in Green Hill

Green hill is a beautiful zone, it really is. I'm proud to be able to call it home. I can hear the waves crashing against the tan and brown checkered cliffs I'm currently running on. I can see the famous 'Green Hill loop' up ahead and I run towards it without hesitation. I give a soundless sigh as I inhale some of the sweet ocean air. For whatever reason, I have no voice. Tails figures I'll get one eventually, but I'm not so sure. If not though, I'm sure I could manage without.

Tails had asked me to come to the far side of the zone. Something about a flightless Flicky managing to get himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, or more appropriately, a rock wall and a bottomless pit. Tails more than likely knows he can help the bird on his own, I guess he just wants me to be there in case something goes wrong, which is understandable being the trouble magnets we are.

I'm now face to face with the gigantic loop. It always intimidates me, even being as how I've lived in green Hill all my life, how much larger the loop is up close than when you're looking at it from a good few miles away. I begin to pick up my pace, knowing all too well from experience what happens when you don't have enough speed. The first time I attempted to tackle the loop, I hadn't really understood the laws of gravity. I had learned the hard way that a jog wasn't going to cut it. I hit the ramp and begin my climb around when I curl myself up. I give myself a hard shove off and rocket around the loop without a problem.

I pull out of my spindash, my signature move really, shifting from rolling to running again in one smooth move. My ears twitch and swivel backwards, catching something as I continue forward. A low rumbling sound. At first, I dismiss it; Green Hill is covered in waterfalls after all. But then the sound began to get louder and louder and louder, until I have to flatten my ears to prevent myself from going deaf. I come to a screeching halt, grinding my heels into the soft earth. I twist around, both confused and curious. My black eyes widen and my jaw drops as I witness a large hole in the sky, long black claws grabbing onto the edges of the torn air and pulling a large beast through.

A roar like nothing I've ever heard shakes Green Hill, shifting the ground out from under me and my back hits the dirt, but my eyes refuse to pull away from the monster. 'Tails' I panic almost instantly. Whatever it is, it's more than likely after me and Tails. I figure it's something Robotnik has conjured up, but still, it seems too advanced, even for him. ' I'm not gonna take risks with this thing!' I declare to myself stumbling to my feet, my movements clumsy in my franticness. As I begin away from the creature, it gives another roar, a low rumble, like a train whistle mixed with a lion's roar. My teeth chatter. I've never seen anything like this! Robotnik's attempt at destroying the Mobius, the planet I live on and create 'Robotnik Land' was crazy enough, but this is ridiculous! The beast chases me as I dash down the emerald and forest green striped paths.

I look back once, only to find the color, the greens of the leaves and the palms and the blue of the flowers and the sky disappearing. I gasp as I snap my head forward, only to find the colors ahead of me evaporating, threatening to leave me in the powder white nothingness. I swallow hard, 'It's now or never!' I think. I leap a few feet off the ground, my eyes shutting tightly. My sneakers hit the ground and my eyes fly open, a crash erupting through the air after me as I shatter the sound barrier. I bow my head forward, my vision disoriented, trying to catch up with the colors. It's almost like paint getting wet; it drips and splatters and eventually disappears. But as I speed up, so did the Green Hill's familiar colors and they disappear completely faster than I can blink. And I find myself alone, running in this weird white emptiness the world has become.