It was just another day here at Green Hills Zone. I was just chilling outside, laid back under the shade of an oak, away from Mother Nature's bright summer lights. If I wanted lights flashing at me, I'd go to the Casino Zone. I chuckled. It wasn't too often I would get a laugh out of my own jokes. That was so lame, I thought. In the distance, I heard an all too familiar voice, calling out my name.

"Tails!" I replied. "Glad to hear you don't sound like a girl anymore." He looked down at the grass, visibly offended. Tails was trying so hard not to blush. I just stood there and laughed. "Very funny Sonic…" he retorted with a hint of spite. His voice, like that of most young teens his age, cracked just a little bit every once in a while. Still, I'm glad he doesn't get bullied by the other punks down in the city for "sounding like a girl".

"By the way," I continued. "Got you a little gift for you birthday." From behind the tree, I pulled out a box wrapped in red paper. There was a green bow on top, courtesy of Amy's "artistic design". The very thought of what she could, and surely would, do struck fear in my heart. I shivered even though it was pretty hot outside.

"Great!" Tails thanked me, and just went on his way. To be honest, I'm quite puzzled as to why he came here in the first place. Did he know I had a gift for him? Meh, who cares? The sun had just begun fading away in the horizon, ready to end its celestial course for the day. Just when I was ready to take yet another nap, I heard a loud explosion far away. The unexpected shockwaves caught me off guard, and threw me to the ground.

Quickly, I ran to the edge of the cliff. There, I saw Eggman in the distance, doing what I assume to be destroying parts of Green Hills Zone, mostly digging into cliffs. I had no idea what he was trying to do this time, nor do I know why he was in Green Hills Zone, but I had to stop him. As I was dashing towards his location, running up loops and jumping around the usual amounts of trampolines, I got curious as to what new low he had fallen to. Usually, he attacks me directly, and immediately states his goals and claims. At the very least, he has some sort of big machine that looks somewhat threatening. This time however, from what I could see, it was just a big, metal ball with four spider legs. I couldn't even picture him trying to take me on with that "thing".

Finally, I cleared through the last wave of Badniks, which I haven't seen in a while; I stood face to face before Eggman. That's when I burst into hysterical laughter. All my expectations, all of my worries, if any, were gone; it really was just a ball with four metallic spider legs. That's it. I expected at least a laser, or cannon, something. Nope, just a big red ball he could barely fit in with four metal legs. He didn't even try crushing me with the legs. In fact, he didn't even notice me coming. The only reason I even bothered to come was because he used this "thing" to wreck the landscape.

"Hey Fathead!" I yelled. "What do you think you're doing? Are you eating dirt now? Is that your new hobby?" Obviously, I hit a nerve. But it was so funny just watching him trying to turn around in that thing. His stomach to up every inch of the pod (there wasn't much space to begin with). I was rolling on the floor, crying in laughter while he was screaming swears at me. After quite some time, he finally raised a leg, and attempted crushing me. Fortunately, he hit missed me by quite the stretch. As I was ready to get up and kick his butt, the edge I was on collapsed. While he retracted that "leg", I used a boost, and jumped onto it, holding on, watching the platform crumble into the sea.

"Not so tough, huh?" he retorted. Now I was pissed. I was still hanging on to that "leg", when he suddenly bashed it into the cliff, throwing me into a hollow area I didn't even know existed. The outer wall collapsed, and to my surprise, was able to get out of his machine. He ran towards the end of the cave. A sliver of light revealed some sort of weird inscription on the back wall. In front of it was a golden rod.