Tomorrow's Wake

by Chicobo329

Follow the steps of Miles "Tails" Prower as he ventures alone on the fallen Angel Island to stop Eggman's evil plans at reviving the Death Egg. An adapation of Sonic 3 & Knuckles that follows solely Tails. Rated T for some blood.

1. Angel Island Zone Act 1

(I'm not one for Author's Notes at the beginning of a story, since people want to see the goods right away, but I will give two important notes before moving along. This story uses a modified canon of mine: Tails Adventures did not take place before Sonic 2 as was the case in the original Japanese storyline. Instead , Tails has yet to go through the events of that game. Naturally this is an alternate canon story anyway, presenting Tails going through Sonic 3 & Knuckles alone, so I could afford to be a bit lax in this regard.

The other note I have is for right at the start: the beginning features a journal entry. I don't think I'll do another like it again, but aside from this entry which is present tense, the rest of this story is past tense narration. That's all! Enjoy the show.)

Disclaimer: I'll do this disclaimer only once. The characters of Sonic The Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles The Echidna, and Dr. Ivo Robotnik (aka Eggman) are property of Service Games Ltd. (SEGA). Furthermore the basic scenario of this game, Sonic 3 (combined with Sonic & Knuckles) belongs to Sonic Team (and also SEGA) but the majority of original elements and this story itself is the product of myself. This story is not for profit and I much don't like the prospect of being sued. Go to GameFAQs to look up this game and check the Data section to look at the game staff: give them all a big kudos for creating what I feel to be the finest Sonic game ever made.

The title of this story is taken from a remix from Overclocked ReMix, 'Tomorrow's Wake' by Rexy.

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Tomorrow's Wake

A Sonic 3 & Knuckles game adaptation

By Chicobo329

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May 27th, 1994

I have successfully landed on Angel Island, the former floating island of the world. Formerly floating, as it was knocked out of its ascent and sent plummeting into the southern seas by the ruined Death Egg. I'm amazed the island didn't incur any further damage; it appears to be just floating lazily across the sea. No doubt Eggman is still alive. Not more than two days have passed since its falling and the entire station disappeared from view. He's going to rebuild it, I know it. But I have to do this alone; I don't have Sonic with me this time.

He disappeared after the Death Egg crashed down. I prepped the Tornado to make a hasty recovery but he was nowhere to be found. I couldn't believe it myself, that the world's most famous hero could die that easily, and with all seven Chaos Emeralds in hand. I refused to believe it. Logic overwhelmed hope: the seven emeralds came crashing down along with the Death Egg and Sonic's body wasn't found. I couldn't set out on a frantic search for him; he wouldn't want me to do that.

I knew what Sonic would want me to do: get the Chaos Emeralds back and stop Eggman. Whether he actually died or not, this is my chance to prove to him I can take charge. To have followed in his shadow for only even a short time has proven to me that I can keep up his pace and make my own path. My chance has finally come not only to make him proud, but also to succeed him. I can become the world's newest hero and carry on his legacy! Perhaps I feel that I am shooting high, but I have confidence in my own ability to keep my head out of the clouds. I can do this.

Not long after landing the Tornado, I used my Chaos Locater to retrieve the seven Chaos Emeralds. A speedy recovery was possible: they all landed around the Emerald Hill area, not far from where I parked the Tornado before. It was almost as if they wanted to come back to my possession and I was glad for this. I hadn't personally held onto all seven before, but I was well aware of their power: Sonic changed form and became Super Sonic with them. The power he gained was truly awesome; I couldn't begin to imagine how it must have felt like to have all that power gathered inside one's self. And yet, here I am with all seven, but with no capability to attain a Super form.

It's as if the stones have not chosen me, that I'm not deemed worthy. I personally find it asinine! Stones with minds of their own? Impossible! Even with the mysterious powers of Chaos Energy this seemed far fetched to think. It was enough that I decided to go this alone without Sonic, but it personally frustrates me that he could do something with these stones that I couldn't. What was his secret? What did he have that I don't?

I'll find a way to use them, somehow I will. Eggman will pay for what he did to Sonic and I'll see to it personally that justice is served. I have the seven emeralds in tow, tucked away in my backpack. I only have a few provisions on me: an emergency tool kit, water, some small medical supplies, and this journal (along with some spare pens). This should last me a while; knowing Eggman, there will be multitudes of badniks to not only smash but also to take parts from. Hopefully that, along with natural flora and fauna here, can get me through this trek. I've never used a journal before. I held onto this for a while but never found a need to document the time I had with Sonic. Without him now, this is the time to put onto paper my adventure so that one day I can look back onto these pages to see how I really did and learn from my trials and tribulations.

My first step is to explore the nearby jungles. The Tornado is parked onto a nearby beach (perhaps formally a cliff of the island itself) and with luck it will stay safe. My first job is simply to investigate and search for clues as to where Eggman hid the Death Egg. From there I can formulate a better plan of action.

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Jungles were not places I was used to. I had traveled with Sonic all around the diverse West Side Island, but I had never found myself in a real rainforest or jungle setting. Sonic used to tell me of a time when he went to some sort of 'Jungle Zone', but knowing his lack of attention and detail, I can only assume it was just some random jungle anywhere. For all my respect and admiration for him, I was actually really annoyed at this fact. Where was Sonic's sense of perception and analysis? Did he even have time for that? Much less what those words actually meant?

I didn't think I would remind myself of Sonic's shortcomings. And he certainly had quite a few. But at the time, when I started to walk through this jungle, I let my mind wander onto all sorts of subjects. Sonic was a dominant subject in my mind. Gone for only days, and yet I felt as if he would be gone forever. It was only like yesterday when I idolized him and followed his shadow across the world and here I am going on my own trek across new lands. This time I could travel at my own pace and see the places for what they were really worth.

The warm, wet air dampened my long fur and left me feeling uncomfortable. Although the lush greenery and exotic plants were enough to catch my fancy, letting my eyes wander and take in the sights, it was a constant feeling of the warm, sticky air that forced me to focus on my mission. Much of the tall overgrowth towered over me and my small frame; at times the tall grass and leaves nearly overwhelmed my path ahead. I often had to slice them down with my tails in lieu of something more practical like a machete. It was a locale that wanted people to bask in its pleasure, but apparently it wasn't too kind to people wanting to cut their way through it.

For a short while, as I was slicing my way ahead, I had thought I was going into the wrong direction. In the times before with Sonic we had a general idea of where to go. Follow the trail of badniks to lead the way to where Eggman was, then pursue him to some other place. Heck, even following trails of rings would suffice! Those mysterious golden rings, visible only to those with a keen sense of Chaos Energy, often floated harmlessly in the air and in rows which Sonic would use a guide to get through a lot of the areas. I never understood how or why the rings were located the way they were, but as I figure, there's a logical explanation in the end. Chaos Energy often worked in mysterious ways...

Regardless, the absence of rings and badniks made me feel at the time that I had gone off track. It annoyed me more than it should have; I was already fresh off my goal to defeating Eggman in the absence of Sonic and to have started my journey that way dampened my spirits a bit. As far as I was concerned, I was alone save for the scores of exotic bugs and animal calls that echoed all across this rainforest. There wasn't so much as a single nut or bolt left on the ground, or the smell of oil and grease to offer any clues (I wouldn't have been able to smell it anyway, as the damp air overwhelmed my sense of smell).

But I never felt completely lost. It was a gut instinct that I followed, taking a page from Sonic's book of life (not that he would have any time to write one). Usually I would set up a plan beforehand and it was these plans that helped Sonic stop Eggman before. So it was a bit strange for someone so methodical such as myself to just go on a 'gut feeling'. Perhaps at the time I felt that it was my only sense of self assurance that I wasn't going onto some pointless adventure, but it certainly worked in keeping me moving.

I was relieved when I found myself in a clearing. My tails had been used quite often to cut ahead new paths and finally I was able to rest them for a bit. The clearing was very welcome, as the tall overgrowth from before was gone, replaced by a wonderful view of a tall cliff ahead with small amounts of water leaking down, not enough to be called a major 'waterfall'. Lush green plants dotted the rough brown cliffs and the grass several times taller than myself shortened dramatically into something more stable to walk through.

The skies could be seen farther ahead, which led me to believe I'd made some sort of ascent while back in the thick of the jungle. This world was often strange in this way, with many 'floating' rock formations with their own soil and grass. I had seen plenty back at places like Emerald Hill and Hilltop. Many of these are scattered around the zones, which makes these areas feel maze-like often hopping up and down from these formations would be the optimal way of passing through them.

I looked forward to seeing a good vantage point of the area once I passed through this ravine of sorts, but I had stopped for a moment simply to catch my breath and take in some fresh (and thankfully less moist) air. My eyes scanned around the area ahead for anything unusual. Nothing noteworthy could be seen, aside from more tall trees and vines, and some very welcome sunshine. My nose and ears weren't too reliable here because of the many distractions to those senses; my eyesight became vital to spotting any potential dangers. I prided myself in my strong senses, welcome carryovers from the kindred vulpine species. I was often able to spot many dangers ahead before Sonic could. I didn't feel lost without heavy use of them, but at times they can be overbearing (the heavy stench of crude oil in Oil Ocean Zone was murderous to my nose!).

Neither of these helped me for the surprise that happened next. The ground from under me began to rumble, but before I had any opportunity to even look down to see what was below I was tossed aside with a violent force and tumbled across the grass. The contents of my backpack scattered across the ground and I was left reeling in pain from whatever (or whoever) shot up from the earth under me. I stopped to look up and see the cause of the issue.

A red echidna, clad only in thick white gloves, akin to boxing gloves with two spikes on each hand above the knuckles and thick shoes colored green and red with metal plating atop each. He seemed to have yellow socks on; in retrospect I felt they didn't really suit him. He seemed quite a bit taller than me - I could guess he was almost a foot taller. Long spines ran down his head, down to about shoulder's length. They appeared as 'dreadlocks', and seemed more naturalistic to his species than Sonic's broad, large spikes. On his chest was a peculiar marking, a sort of upside crescent colored white. I couldn't tell if this was a natural marking or perhaps something painted on. But it was that stupid grin he had on his face that I remember the most! The moment I looked up to his face and saw that big toothy grin and accompanying snicker, I growled and got to my feet. Before I could recover the most important cargo I carried, the Chaos Emeralds, he sped across the ground and snatched up all seven. Such speed! He had to have been a user of Chaos Energy to have run at such a fast speed.

"Stop!" I yelled at him and started to run after him. But I couldn't do such a thing; I tripped over my own toolkit! I landed face first onto the ground and looked up to see that cursed sneer on his face again.

"Go back home, kid! I don't have time to deal with you," he taunted me again and showed the seven emeralds he held in his hands. "I'll be taking these to the doctor."

'The doctor'...I knew right away who he was talking about.

"Eggman!" I snarled and got up to my feet as fast as I could. "You're working for him?"

The echidna simply shrugged "The doctor sounds like a nice person to me. Somebody just ruined his space station and stole his Chaos Emeralds. He told me some blue hedgehog and a two-tailed fox would be after him to try and sabotage his plans."

I was almost livid, not just because Eggman was doing some dirty trick, but because I downright hated this guy! How could he be so...stupid as to have fallen for a simple lie like that? It was as if he were gullibility personified!

I clenched my fists and folded my ears back "You'll be dealing with me! Eggman's space station is a practical death machine! He's trying to take over the world, not save it!" I didn't think this guy had such a thick head!

I couldn't bear to wait for his mind to take in the truth, so I charged at him and rolled into a ball. The spinning maneuver was a trick I picked up from Sonic and is made possible by the Chaos Energy inside us that makes our bodies very flexible. Only Sonic perfected it to the point where he can actually see where he's spinning, manipulating the energy inside to keep his vision focused to a single point ahead even while rolling at a fast speed, creating something similar to a 'persistence of vision' effect. I lacked this ability so my blind charge was a risky and reckless move. The echidna saw this coming and I felt myself being kicked off track and tumbled yet again over to a side.

That stupid snicker filled my ears and I looked up from the ground again to see him just standing there, sneering. "The way you fight, I'm sure the doctor will have no trouble dealing with you. Get out of here, kid."

"I'm no kid!" I gave another snarl, I couldn't take that crap! I helped save the world with Sonic before, I could do it on my own! There was no way I could take that stupid insult "I'm Miles 'Tails' Prower! I am going to stop Eggman and anyone that gets in my way. And that includes you."

I jumped onto my feet again and this time ran at him and spun once, sending my tails at his chest. I thought that with luck I can slash at his chest, or at least knock him back a good deal. But he also anticipated this attack; he leapt into the air curled into a ball (I was surprised that he could do this too, 'definitely a Chaos user' I told myself) and landed behind me. Before I could twirl around and react, he punched me (keeping in mind he still held three emeralds in that hand) and hit my ribcage. Those two sharp spikes on his glove dug into my side and I staggered back in pain, clutching the spot where he struck.

His toothy grin receded into a simple smirk as he stood back and watched me bleed. "They don't call me Knuckles for nothing."

I looked down at my glove to see it stained with red with blood. The two holes on my side from his spiked gloves were not very deep, yet it was very painful. I sensed the fact that he held back his punch on purpose, perhaps to further provoke me. This 'Knuckles' certainly did a good job at this: here he was with seven emeralds still in his hands and he simply stood there to toss me around and laugh at me.

But my rage quickly faded away as I noticed a very odd sight: the emeralds in his hands began to shimmer! It was a faint shimmer, a small twinkle around some facets as if it were 'winking'. Were these stones being mischievous? I stood there and watched as the emeralds floated out of Knuckles' oversized mitts. The shock of this made the echidna stagger back and almost fall on his back (now that would have deserved all the laughter in the world!). The seven stones floated in the air, gave a final shimmer, and shot off into the sky.

Knuckles then shot a glare at me and clenched his fists "What the heck did you just do?!"

What did I do?

"I didn't do a single thing! The emeralds acted on their own and...scattered." The emeralds never did this before, why now of all times?

The echidna shoved me aside and stormed down the ravine into a further clearing ahead. He turned back to me and pointed at me with a warning, "Listen here 'Tails', stay out of my way! I won't let you harm the doctor and take the emeralds. If I see you again, I won't be so easy on you!" Before I had a chance to respond he dashed off.

I kicked the ground in frustration. Not only did I lose the emeralds, but I cursed myself for not packing with me the Chaos Locater I used to find the emeralds. Stupid! The emeralds could've been anywhere on this island and I had no means to locate them. Frustration built up as I hastily gathered the rest of my possessions back into my backpack. How come Sonic never had it this tough? He always took these things in stride, and yet I got so angry that I almost couldn't think straight.

I calmed down just enough, however. I knew my mission. I knew what I was here for. Getting the Chaos Emeralds was the first priority now as getting all seven are vital to stopping Eggman again. I looked to the path ahead of me and ran down it, ready to start an emerald hunt.

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Tomorrow's Wake

Angel Island Zone Act 1

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Of course I still had the wound on my right side. My mounting frustrations set me off on a brash decision yet again. I felt like Sonic already: rushing ahead without thinking. I couldn't just waste my medical supplies on a wound this early on my way. I had to find some rings. 'Where there's badniks, there's rings' he would say. Rings had healing properties only to those that can utilize Chaos Energy. Collecting them meant having wounds heal considerably faster than the average person, often closing up and healing before my very eyes. Without question they have saved my life, and Sonic's, several times.

The phenomenon of rings often (though not always) appearing when trouble was around led me to believe there was some sort of subconscious 'trigger' that makes one sensitive to all things Chaos-related suddenly 'wake up' and see these golden objects. There's always a reasonable explanation behind these events, I'm sure of it. I had always wanted to pursue study on this subject and thought that hopefully someday I could fully realize how to harness this awesome force.

Fortunately, my decision to not use my medical kit paid off. After running out of the ravine and up a small incline, I could see into view three rings, floating inches off the ground and spinning around in a lazy pace. Only three rings wouldn't be enough to completely recover, but the least it could do was stop the bleeding. Quickly I dashed to the top of the incline and grabbed the three rings. Rings disappeared by touch, leaving behind four sparkles that fade away in a second's time. As I learned from Sonic, I could touch rings with any part of my body and they would be 'collected'. Each ring contained a small sample of Chaos Energy which transfers to the user that touched it.

I already felt its magic working from within: I looked down to the wound to see that the bleeding slowed down to a large degree. The area was still tender and pain shot across my side when I reached down to touch the wound. I needed more rings. It was almost like an addiction: as if somehow I still needed to get more and more rings. It wouldn't reach a fever pitch, but often in areas of intense action and numerous hazards I found myself scrambling for as many rings as possible.

A simple scan from my vantage point saw five more rings down the slope ahead of me. Further past that, beyond the coconut tree ahead, were three more on an arcing slope, and three more down past a large rock above. Fourteen rings. Considering how that blasted echidna was purposely holding back, that sounded like a reasonable amount to heal up my wound. I moved across the gentle slope down in a light jog and grabbed each of the five rings.

I had enough momentum to dash up the slope and gather the other three in one fell swoop. Running down hills and reaching the tall quarter-circle slopes at the ends of them often threw Sonic and me high up in the air with all our momentum from running. Oh the rush I'd feel from that! The feeling of the wind going against my fur from a brisk run (which, to someone with power like mine equates to about that of a speeding car down a highway) is nearly unparalleled. Only the sensation of flight on the Tornado or with my own two tails could match and exceed that.

I couldn't realize this thrill as I was hit with a rude awakening. As quickly as I dashed down the slope, I was stopped in my tracks when a large blunt object impacted my head. It hit with enough force not only to make me momentarily dizzy, but it also caused the rings I collected to fly out from my body and scatter in the ground beside me.

The Chaos Energy collected from rings escaped the user in one of two ways. It would filter out of the user naturally each minute after its collection; I estimated about five to seven rings worth of energy at this rate. The filtered energy mingled with the atmosphere and over time reforms again into rings in some other area. The other way was if the user was hit with a notable amount of force, causing it to wildly fly out of the user and reform back into rings for mere seconds before dispersing again in the air. How much rings' worth of energy lost depended on how much damage the user inflicted.

What I was hit with was far from the severest of injuries and sheer force I've been struck with in the past, but it was enough to knock out all eight rings I collected. I was unable to recover in time to recollect the lost rings, but was able to spot the offending object.

It was a coconut.

From the very same tree I had passed off moments before. And it didn't just fall from the tree: it was tossed at me from what appeared to have been a robotic monkey. A badnik. One of the practically countless varieties of robotic creations by Eggman meant to stop anyone in his path. Legions of them were deployed in the many zones in the world, and their presence here on this island meant that he already launched his plans to take over the place. Although I could have used this spotting as comfort that I can follow a clear path of these badniks to Eggman, I was too flustered from the simple fact that a coconut of all things would cause me to lose all my rings already. And frankly I was still angry from the previous encounter with Knuckles.

Rather than destroy the badnik through traditional means – jumping onto while rolled into a ball – I instead picked up the coconut it threw at me and threw the fruit back at the robot with all my might. The coconut hit the badnik square in the face and with enough force to toss it out from its perch atop the tree and crash onto the ground, breaking into several pieces. I walked up to the wreckage to assure myself of its demise.

The surefire way of telling that a badnik had been truly defeated was from the small animal that popped out of it. Eggman's creations were often powered by 'small animals' – miniature species of various kinds – for their sensitivity to, and possession of Chaos Energy. Because of their small and defenseless nature, they were often captured by Eggman and put to work inside his many badniks. Once liberated from their robotic prisons, the small animals usually hopped off in freedom.

I saw no sight of any small animal, so my first thought was that it was still stuck inside somewhere. As I reached down to sift through the broken parts, a small blue bird darted out into the air. It was enough to nearly startle me, I stepped back a few paces as a result. The tiny bird had then perched on the disembodied head of the badnik it was once trapped in and give me an inquisitive stare.

This was a small animal I was quite familiar with: a Flicky. Flickies were tiny blue birds with fairly large heads, small yellow beaks, red cheeks, and a deep blue 'mask' by the eyes. Blue was the most common color, although Sonic once told of seeing many different colors and variations on a trip to a place called Flicky Island. Sonic stopped Eggman from using the island as an easy place to harvest these birds, but they are still pretty common around the world.

Although all small animals had some level of higher intelligence as compared to others, Flickies were particularly keen on the world around them. It was because of this and their mysterious ways that they were very storied; as a younger child I was told of tales of Flickies sharing close bonds with a person they chose to be worthy and always being at their side. Between that and Sonic's exaggerated stories of them usually following him (and actually keeping up with him at full speed!), it was hard to really discern fact from fiction, so I just brushed aside these tales.

What mattered to me was that this particular Flicky wasn't quite content with escaping and looked me over instead. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it; I thought that perhaps it had something to show me. When I went to approach the bird it fluttered its small wings and flew out of my reach. I didn't have any time to play with it; I let out a huff at this and started off on my way. I've destroyed countless badniks in the past and I never paid much attention as to where the small animals went after they had been freed.

But this Flicky was persistent. It flew into my view as I was about to collect three more rings on the quarter-circle slope. I did my part to grab the rings and stopped again at level ground above the slope. 'What could it want?' I thought as I shot a glare at the bird. It flew around in a circle and seemed to trace a path for me. It went straight ahead and sat atop a large, heavily cracked rock, almost as tall as I. After giving a wave it flew up again and over a nearby coconut tree, where it sat atop a leaf and waved again. After that it took to the air once more, up and over me. It seemed to have landed in a niche far above me, well over my head and covered by huge leaves and vines.

Now I was sure it had something to show me. I could have just flown up to the niche instead of follow the path it showed, however I have learned from my past adventure with Sonic that it was wise to save my strength. My tails were well tempered from years of using them excessively for a variety of purposes (and very strong because of my Chaos Energy), but they still tired me out if I used them too much.

I jogged down a few steps and leaped into the air to land on the rock. My mind flashed courses of action in just a split second and the moment I was to land on the rock I knew to leap up onto the tree. However the rock was more fragile than expected and crumbled under my weight. It broke apart into four large pieces that bounced across the ground. Instead of landing on the grass below, I was instantly bounded upwards, having no time to look down at what was below me.

But I knew what it was from the very distinct sound, a 'boing'. A spring launcher. They were all over the place whenever Eggman was around. I had never understood the purpose of scattering these around ad hoc; usually they would benefit Sonic and I by taking us to higher ground. I suppose that there were instances in the past where they became a hindrance. I had heard about how Spring Yard Zone was stockpiled full of them which made it hard for Sonic to move around without being thrown in some random direction.

Being caught off guard, I was tumbled up in the air. I became well-trained in using these springs so I knew the first step was to let myself bounce off it again to get my bearings; wildly spinning the air prevented me from controlling my direction in the air, much less see where I was going. I felt my feet landing on the surface of the spring and instantly launched myself back up in the air. I assumed the proper position for these springs: arms kept to the sides and down as close to the body as possible, legs close together and as fully extended as possible, tails straight down and the head kept looking straight upwards.

A split second after being sprung upwards, my eyes darted to the coconut tree. Instantly my mind processed all the information I need to see, leaving the rest of the world around the tree a blur. It was a hidden spring launcher atop the coconut tree. The sudden revelation made me aim for the top of the tree, but already my mind was looking past that as I was just halfway there. 'What else was ahead of me?' my mind thought, quickly processing faster than Sonic's top speed. The wealth of experience from lightning quick speeds trained myself into having extremely fast thought processes and reflexes. The ability to see what was ahead of me well before getting there while going at top speeds was no easy task. It gave me the ability to think well ahead and plan a course of action through the world's many labyrinthine zones.

I reached the apex of my launch and as I was about to land atop the hidden spring launcher, my eyes picked up another important object: a floating platform. A small earthen platform, having its own patch of grass atop was moving up and down by some unexplained force (equally unexplained is how it managed to float). I always assumed this was some sort of Chaos Energy; the world was teeming with it! Despite their small sizes, they were quite stable and many a time I leaped from one to another. Sometimes they were the only stable ground to stand on amid long, seemingly bottomless pits.

I bounded off the spring launcher and aimed myself for the platform. As I set myself in position, I could see that this indeed lead to the niche above. I didn't spot the Flicky, so maybe it was further in or possibly flew off. Upon landing feet first on the platform, I took a small breather. Normally I didn't have much time to catch my breath over quick bursts of action; I came to learn back then it was a luxury. But I was simply out of practice and I needed to get back in the swing of things. I let the platform carry me up to the cliff and hopped off it once it reached the top.

Ahead of me was the Flicky from before, standing on what appeared to be two television monitors. Behind them was a wall of overgrowth and extended upwards and around me. To my right I could see the deep blue sky with some occasional cloud cover and the vast jungles before me. The vast blue sea could be seen and sparkled under the sunlight, its waters calm. Turning back to the monitors I saw the small Flicky wave to me with a wing and with a simple chirp. It fluttered its wings and took to the air once more, circling around me once before flying away with another chirp. I had to smile at that; it was very helpful of the Flicky to direct me to these monitors. Most small animals I gave no care about and they didn't really care much for me either aside from just being freed from their badnik prisons, so it was a pleasant surprise that this one went out of its way to show me something.

The monitors before me had two simple pictures on them: one had a picture of a ring; another carried the picture of a sneaker very similar in design to Sonic's. They weren't really actual monitors. It was unusual enough for these things to be around the zones in the world and well removed from any plug socket. Instead, they were manifestations of Chaos Energy. Another benefit people like me was the fact they were able to be harnessed and seen. Unlike rings, these manifestations take the form of whatever strikes the subconscious of the user; it was a random object. To me and Sonic they appeared as television monitors. Very peculiar, I always wondered, but not really something I wished to investigate further (although I noticed these monitors appeared to be white and more contemporary in design, a better sight for the eyes as compared to the old gray boxes). All I cared about was what was inside the monitors.

The contents of the monitors varied and small pictures on the screens of them displayed what they had inside. Much like rings, monitors were invaluable but they were rarer than rings and had more beneficial effects. Obtaining the contents meant destroying the monitor. The usual means was rolling into it or jumping onto it while curled into a ball. For this instance I simply batted my tails through the first monitor, breaking it open. Amid a small burst of 'parts', the picture of a ring rose up in the air and I felt its power instantly enter my body.

I called the monitors with ring pictures on them as 'Super Rings' monitors. They procured about the same energy as 10 rings. They were the most common which led me to believe that Chaos Energy would often 'lump' together into these, given the vast supply of rings one could find. The Super Rings monitor did the trick in healing my wounds completely; even the bruise on my head was gone mere moments after breaking apart the monitor. That left the other monitor.

Speed Sneakers. Rare indeed! They offered an intense jolt of energy for a brief period of time, which translated into a running speed increased several times over. Sonic would break these open without a second thought and leave me behind. Breaking open one of these monitors meant bringing a risk. Running fast, but at what cost? What hazards lay ahead that would catch an unsuspecting speedster? I turned behind me and looked down from the foot of the cliff to check my surroundings.

Ahead of me was a fork in the road, so to speak. A floating rock formation gave way to a top half, but its path was mostly obscured by a low laying 'ceiling' of more floating rock. The floating rock was brown, and looked somewhat like a stony bark. With the dense growth of tall leaves and vines, it gave an impression of a thick mass of trees. Down below, shortly after the hidden spring launcher from underneath the rock was a small 'step' of earth, above which was a not-so-aptly hidden spring launcher. It was facing the other way, likely meant to push me back the opposite direction. Some of Eggman's 'traps' were very childish in design; it was almost insulting to see it placed there. Beyond that there was another coconut tree and a gentle slope leading up a path directly under the floating rock formation.

The left and right were not options to go. The whole place itself felt like a natural, plant-laden aerial highway. Going forward or backwards were my only options, lest I wanted to explore the intensely deep jungles beyond. Given my venture cutting through the densely overgrown greenery before, it didn't seem like a very attractive option to me. The paths before me were certainly wide enough to comfortably move around on, but the whole place forced me to move in two dimensions. It was certainly disorienting to an unsuspecting individual, but I was well-seasoned in this type of layout.

'Pretty easy,' I said to myself 'I break the monitor and make a dash to the path below.' It was the safest option in my opinion, as I was able to at least see more of the bottom path than the upper one. I positioned myself in front of the monitor and took a three-point stance. With my tails held high, I timed the movements of the platform shortly after the cliff's edge. I counted down three seconds.

Two seconds.

One second.

My tails crashed through the monitor behind me and I broke into a dash the very second I felt its effects. My body felt electrified! Not only four steps taken ahead and I felt myself nearly matching my top speed. I had to heighten my sense of awareness to intense proportions to wield this awesome speed; I timed my dash at the perfect time to run off the edge and onto the floating platform.

My mind had it mapped it all too quickly: after running off the edge cliff and then off the platform, the acceleration offered from the Speed Sneakers monitor would be enough to shoot me off the edge and just beyond the opposite-facing spring launcher to the hill above. As I darted up the hill I saw ahead of two sets of spikes, with rows of four each. Spikes were another common trap set up by Eggman, meant to discourage running at high speeds and possibly to impale us. It depended on where he placed them, although like his spring launchers, he sometimes had a knack for just placing them in random spots.

Again, it didn't seem very hard. By now I was already attaining speeds topping a hundred or so miles per hour and I hadn't even kicked into 'second gear'. Jumping over the spikes would be done leaping into the air at the apex of the slope ahead of me. But as quickly as I laid out my plan, it was foiled: I tumbled into the air the moment I sprang from the ground from something in my way. The force was enough to send me sailing over the spikes, but it also made me lose all my rings again. I landed flat on my stomach at the edge of a cliff. I felt the wind knocked out of me and I struggled to breathe again for a few fleeting seconds.

Ahead of me I saw the cause of the tumble: another badnik. This one was designed like a miniature rhinoceros except it eschewed the use of legs and instead moved around on a single large tire. Eggman's designs continued to baffle me. How could something on a single tire maneuver so efficiently? It locked its robotic eyes to mine and started to charge at me, swerving across the sets of spikes ahead of me like it were an easy slalom.

I still had the effects of the Speed Sneakers power up, if only for a few more seconds. I took advantage of this to quickly get to my feet and charge at him too. I sped around the first set of spikes and met to clash with it in the middle, where I rolled into a ball head on. The satisfying sound of broken parts filled my ears as I uncurled and skidded to a stop before the other set of spikes. Pain shot through my body the moment I felt the energy inside from the Speed Sneakers left. That fall had done more than ten rings worth of damage, that was for sure.

While still being held, rings completely protected me from most manners of attacks and injury. But the nature of the attack I measured by its worth in rings. A simple cut or laceration from a brush with a spike would deal a few rings worth of damage, which left me to carry more rings inside. Injuries of a more severe nature would cause me to lose more rings. If I was dealt more rings' worth of damage than rings I had inside me, my body would take the difference's worth.

That fall had to have been at least twenty rings worth and I had sixteen on me, which explained the sensation of pain all around me. I didn't have any cuts on me upon inspecting myself, but I figured to have had some bruises all around. I cursed myself again. Things weren't going my way and I didn't like it one bit! It was one thing for badniks to gang up on me or to overpower me fair and square, but it was simply unacceptable to myself to had gone off to such a bad start by making bonehead mistakes.

Perhaps they wouldn't seem as such to another person. I was already well above the average person in physical skill and at half the height of an average human. The tricks I picked up and learned over the past two years would have taken decades to master to others. The standards I set for myself were abnormally high at times as a result of my knack to learning quickly (often by rote) and my wealth of Chaos-based powers. I literally saved the world from certain domination with the help of Sonic not too long ago, after all.

Setting the bar so high was sometimes frowned upon from Sonic. But Sonic was so fortunate, he didn't really care anything yet he had still handled Eggman twice before with a hand behind his back. I didn't have that ability: I learned what I needed to at a faster pace than him, and all throughout my past adventure. That was what set myself apart from him; I grew up faster. Maybe I still wasn't any match for Sonic's famous top speeds, but I was on par with several of his other abilities.

Those thoughts actually made me feel better. 'If I'm going to be angry every time I so much as trip, I might as well turn back now', I said to myself. 'I can do this, I've learned from my mistakes before. I can do this again here.' It wasn't just that, though. What I didn't catch at that moment was the very notion of the potential to equal or succeed Sonic was enough to lift my spirits.

I brushed off some dirt from my arms and jogged down to the edge of the path before me. There was a cliff ahead that offered a good view of what lay before me. Directly ahead were three vines that swung back and forth. At the ends of these yellowed vines were small rods tied to the end. It appeared as if they were meant to support hands. Further supported by the fact the vines were so close it looked as if this was meant to be a means of getting onto another road at the other side, suspended in air like the path directly above my position.

Down below wasn't a pit (and I was thankful for this, as in times past this seemed to be commonplace) but rather another coconut tree and two spring launchers on steep 'steps' of land, both facing the opposite direction. Another badnik, the same model of coconut-throwing monkeys from before, was waiting at the top. It spotted me but remained at its post at the top with a coconut in hand. I suspected that it was waiting for me to either go below or toss a coconut at me while swinging from the vines above.

Before I had a chance to plan, however, the ground from under me began to crumble and fall. Using my reflexes I jumped off the falling ground before it had a chance to fall a few inches down and aimed for the swinging vine ahead of me. It swung back just as I had reached out to grab it but this time I look down below me and quickly scanned for what was going to happen below.

Sure enough, the badnik was aiming for me and tossed his round. This time I was prepared for it and twirled myself around to bat my tails at the coconut. It sent the fruit flying back to the badnik and busted the fruit clear through its chest. I landed on both feet and watched the felled badnik land on the ground and a tiny white chicken pop out. A Kucky, they were called. They were another in the fairly diverse class of small animals that Eggman imprisons inside his robots. I admit that I half-expected this Kucky to also offer a helping hand to me, but this one simply hopped off. I suppose I couldn't expect them all to really do anything for me, but it would have been nice, I thought. It wasn't worth my time to check up on every small animal I freed anyway. Hordes of badniks about meant an equal amount of the little animals about.

Up ahead of me was another large incline and two steps of land, on each were spring launchers pointing the other way. More importantly there were four rings on the incline; the pain around my body still lingered from the collision above so they were a welcome sight. I ran up the hill and took all four of them and leaped up at the peak of incline to jump over the first of two steps in front of me. I took another high leap to cross the next two; this required me to roll into a ball. Sonic and I (and likely this Knuckles person) had the ability to jump several times our own height. A rough estimation on my part put it to about eleven and a half feet with my jumping ability on par with Sonic's (I noted to myself once that I may actually jump higher than Sonic, but he never seemed to believe me). Rolling into a ball spun around the Chaos Energy inside me, which in turn boosted my jumping height. The highest leaps were those made in this manner, even though by jumping normally I can still reach about five to seven feet in the air.

It was one of the most common risks I took: Sonic was able to see where he was going while rolling around as a ball but I still couldn't. It required me to take a quick 'snapshot' of what was ahead of me and go by that mentally when jumping around in the direction of my choosing until I was able to uncurl myself and land. I was able to get by easily in the past since I simply followed his lead but I was alone this time and had to be more careful.

The jump I took was simple enough, I didn't even need to see. It was, however, a good chance to start trying to focus my vision while in a ball. I sprung from the ground and went into my ball form, but this time opened my eyes. The view around me was very literally a blur! It was too much, too fast to discern anything and I had no idea which way was forward or backward. All I could see was a sea of green, brown, and orange (likely my own tails). Upon landing my sight had to momentarily readjust itself before the view before cleared up. I landed on the top of the step and ahead find another tall rock. Above me was one of the swinging vines from before.

I wasn't satisfied with taking leaps of faith, even if I did precautions beforehand. I mentally noted to myself to keep my eyes open while rolled up. My level of confidence was pretty high that I could master this soon; I just hoped that it would happen sooner rather than later. I didn't want to end up getting seriously hurt from a botched jump, after all.

I walked up to the rock and climbed atop it. This one didn't crumble under my weight, although it still looked fairly fragile. Above me was a higher track of land from before. The last of the three swinging vines was above me and well within my jumping distance. 'But wait!' I said to myself, I looked ahead and let out a grin and wagged my tails with joy.

It was a vertical loop straight ahead of me down a hill.

Sonic called them loop-de-loops or shuttle loops. Regardless of the moniker they were indeed continuously upward-sloping sections of track that form a complete 360 circle. Commonly in rollercoasters, it was similar in principle to simply run through it at high speeds. Gravity worked in opposition to slow the ascent up to the very top and then kicked in beyond that point to help pull one down for the descent. The greatest force was applied at the bottom and often the loops encountered were nearly or completely circular which meant a more intense application of G-forces (as opposed to a tear-shaped loop from a rollercoaster).

I was able to withstand a large amount of G's, several times more than the average person. This resistance allowed Sonic and I to reach dizzying heights and attain incredible running speeds without incurring any excessive physical fatigue. The Chaos Energy inside me worked to stabilize my body consistently such as blood flow and internal structures. This enabled me to perform many athletic feats that were simply impossible otherwise.

This particular loop seemed to be holding up the track above me and I spotted five rings floating along the track in a tighter circle, well within my grasp. I could have simply taken the vine up and continue above, but I simply did not want to turn down an opportunity to run through a loop. I kept my wide grin and hopped off the rock in front of me and began to break into a dash. After I attained a speed around eighty or so miles per hour, I started to whirl my tails behind me to give me a boost in speed.

This was the bulk of my 'running' ability. To even come close to Sonic meant using my powerful tails to propel myself forward. I rose my feet up so that only my toes skimmed the ground (a big reason why the tips of my shoes were made of extremely durable materials to handle the friction) and kept my arms tucked close to my sides. My tails would literally become as blades: the vast concentration of Chaos Energy on them would reform them and change their very structure down to the molecular level. This in turn allowed me to attain my trademark ability of flight, akin to a helicopter. In actuality the tails didn't spin like a classic helicopter, but rather used contra-rotation. Each tail spun in opposing directions which counted the torque issue from a traditional propeller and prevented my body to gain a tendency to spin. This let me skim a surface with my tails spinning behind me and shoot across the ground at top speeds of roughly 250 miles per hour, slightly faster than a standard Formula One race car. Sonic's speeds usually topped at 350 miles per hour or so, but that was in desirable conditions (more precisely, a flat plane). 'Subsonic' would have been a more suitable name for the hedgehog; only by turning Super could he break the speed of sound.

Even in a casual sprint I can feel the rush of wind against my fur and at full speed I hit the start of the upwards slope of the loop. Running past each of the rings I encircled the loop and let myself feel the G's force myself down at the very bottom. It was exhilarating! The feeling of such a force pulling me down was the best part, bar none. It may be that the world around me raced around my line of sight in a sea of colors or the pleasing sound of my tails whirring at such a high velocity behind me that could tickle my fancy but nothing felt better than the laws of physics bestowing upon me a wonderful gift in sheer G's. I could only count with a hand the people in the world that would find a state of near bliss in this way.

Through my moment of pleasure I spotted ahead of me a ramp and a large pool of water from a giant waterfall far above. The ramp was smoothed out rock and had a fairly sizable twist before the tip of it. At my rate of speed I'd be sent flying in a spiral all the way to the other side of the pool. And that was just perfect.

Down the hill I went at breakneck speeds and I slowed my tails down to a stop before leaving the ramp to stabilize my trajectory (keeping them spinning while twirling around in the air would have been disastrous). The other end of the pool was on higher ground and I could tell from the midst of my launch that I couldn't reach the other side. Quickly I turned my eyes down and I could see through the crystal clear water a spring launcher at the very end of the pool.

It could not have been placed in a better position! I landed into the water feet first with a large splash and let the spring launcher take me up. The intense rush from the dash before suddenly ceased and instead was replaced by a quick rise up out of the water and into the air. I didn't tuck my arms to my sides like before as I had quickly caught notice of another swinging vine overhead mere moments before touching the spring launcher. My arms reached out as I gained more height and both grabbed onto the rod below to hang on.

The vine had just been swinging back and was about to go forwards again. Still very much on an adrenaline high I instantly leaped off it and curled into a ball as just milliseconds after grabbing the edge I saw another monkey badnik on a nearby tree. I barreled through it with ease and landed on the ground below. Ahead of me was another short, acute slope above which was a large step of land, roughly three times my height. This required another jump while in ball form, which I took easily and landed handily on the top.

Another crumbling rock was seen ahead of me (I wondered about the large amounts of fragile rock around there, yet the 'highway' kept afloat in these jungles were as strong as ever) and beyond that were two sets of spikes. These spikes were slightly different from the rest: they moved up and down at set patterns from the ground. One set was on the ceiling of the track above me, hidden among the dense overgrowth. The other set was on the ground a few inches ahead, both set to alternate between exposure and hiding. Yet another painfully simple pattern! I simply leaped from the rock and beyond the floorbound spikes. Instantly I was caught by surprise once I landed; a force from behind pushed me forward at high speeds. As quickly as I could get some footing, I twirled my tails and once again reached my peak speeds.

From the sound I heard it was definitely a spring launcher, but it had such a kick! It must have been a red-colored one. They were much stronger than the yellow ones I had encountered thus far and I had seen the effects of both varieties from my last adventure with Sonic. When set pointing up, spring launchers set one up in the air. To its side, spring launchers pushed one forward at considerable speeds. It was like an instant acceleration boost that Sonic and I would use to our advantage if necessary.

As the view rushed past I could see the track taking a sharp slope upwards into a complete vertical ascent against a rocky wall. It led me straight up and beyond the long downward hill of floating rock above, the same higher track from before. I grabbed six rings along the way, three shortly before the slope and three in a row against the wall. As I propelled myself straight up I could see that the path merged with the same one from above and led right into another vertical loop. Five rings led the way around the loop and I graciously followed them around and down a slope in my new path.

Five more rings waited for me and I collected them with ease as I went down the hill. Before me was a massive tree that appeared to have been hollowed out. Racing through the large 'doorway' at the base of the trunk I saw that the base outline around the inside was smoothed out to make concave ramps all around, creating a 'bowl' of sorts like a halfpipe. I diverted my direction slightly, I knew what to do in a moment's time. By hitting a ramp at an angle I would spiral upward across the inside of the tree. I kept my tails at full spin as I ascended around and around. It was another moment of breakneck velocity and seeing the view spiral around fascinated me! As I continued to climb up the tree I could see another doorway carved out that would lead me out. I had climbed up the tree just the right way to dash straight out of it and ahead to wherever it took me.

Once I had spiraled higher I saw that the doorway led outside to higher ground where more tall, wet grass paved the way ahead. I rocketed out of the doorway into the world outside. My sheer speed made me fly past two more steps of ground and lead me to a clearing above. The view of the jungles to my sides was gone, replaced by high rocky cliffs and distant waterfalls with water pouring down. Beyond the cliffs the sea could be seen and clear blue skies.

My ears twitched. I heard something. I had very capable hearing and was able to discern sounds even beyond the sound of my propeller-like tails. I quickly ceased the rotation of my tails and skidded to a stop. It took me a short distance to skid to a complete stop after having gained maximum speed; only a few short feet was a miracle really, as opposed to being sent flying much farther. I knew for as long as possible that my body was completely different from my peers in many ways and I took some pride in that. That included not skidding several yards away into a wall every time I hit top speed.

The sound was faint but familiar. Thrusters. I looked all around to find the source; thrusters like what I heard meant that something big was on the way. Eggman's larger and more elaborate creations usually had some capability to float in the air as he had a personal preference to aerial maneuverability. I looked behind me and instantly ducked for cover as a large spherical drone sped past me. I quickly got to my feet and looked upon it.

It hovered in the air in front of me and sure enough it had three thrusters on its bottom keeping it afloat. It was mostly spherical as was typical of Eggman's designs and this preference made sense given his name (and his body shape for the most part). On the front it had a large nozzle; the two exposed fuel cells on the sides could confirm to me this was a large flamethrower. On the front of the orb was a straight metal extension that jutted out from the front. This likely contained various sensors and a camera system which led me to believe that Eggman was not personally piloting this. On the top were three tubes covered with lids at the top. That meant it probably had missiles of some sort.

That meant…

Before I came to my ultimate conclusion the sounds of more thrusters filled my ears. To my left I looked in awe as a whole swarm of these large badniks filled the area. I hastily turned back to the one in front of me after hearing the sound of the lids opening. Suddenly it fired several projectiles into the air. My eyes widened when I realized that they weren't missiles. They were incendiary bombs.

I ran for what cover I could find as the bombs rained upon the ground. The drones all around me followed suit and napalmed the scenery around me. Tall plumes of fire sprang into the air and the pleasant sounds of wildlife and waterfalls were quickly replaced by roaring fires and crackling wood. Raging fires blocked the path behind me as the tall hollowed out tree quickly burned to the ground. The entire jungle was fuel for a firestorm. I turned back to the drone ahead of me which simply hovered away into the jungle, its job done.

I was left stunned. This was…horrifying.

Plenty of times in the past I had seen the aftereffects of Eggman's destruction and even places that have yet to see his wrath. But never before did I actually see Eggman commit such acts in person. It was senseless! He had his badniks and traps laid out already and now he decided to torch the place down to the ground. The ruination of nature for what cause? What purpose? 'Why?' I asked myself over and over. It was simply chaos for chaos's sake. The sign of a true madman. It was one of the worst sights I had ever seen in my life.

My mind filled with anger. He could not get away with this. Now more than ever I felt the need to put him to justice. If Sonic wasn't going to be around to stop him then it was up to me. I could picture him in my mind simply laughing maniacally as his twisted deed was carried out. The image taunted me, it was as if he was laughing at my inability to stop what had just happened. I clenched my fists tight and tried my hardest not to let rage get the best of me. I had to focus. I had to find Eggman and put him to justice once and for all. 'Whether I have all the emeralds in hand or not, I will find a way to stop him.' I told myself. My plan realigned itself: Eggman was now the first priority yet again.

I broke into a dash down the grassy road before me. Eggman had to be around the jungles somewhere. He always wanted to lay witness to his own grand schemes. This vain trait was his weakness; he always left himself open for attack. I had to use the same plan as before: follow the trail of badniks. Straight ahead was a wall on top of which was the rest of the track ahead. Something was atop it as I ran down the road, it looked very familiar.

I jumped up as a ball and tried to see ahead of me. Through the blur of the world around me in 360 degrees, I could see something gray and red in the middle of all the fiery orange. It wasn't quite helpful to see, my vision still a mess while in a ball, but I heard something familiar. It was a mechanical whirring and a low pitched chime. Upon landing I uncurled and looked behind me. It was a Lamp Post. They were of a design completely foreign to me and definitely not any of Eggman's creations. They had a simple metallic base and a long pole which pivoted around in a circle when rushed past. The tip of the pole was a round lamp, a white star was featured in the center and the outline of the lamp flashed red and yellow.

In the past, having enough rings' worth of Chaos Energy inside when passing through them would open a gate into a surreal world called a 'Special Stage' where the Chaos Emeralds would lay in waiting at the end of a long series of halfpipes. I looked up at the tip of the post (almost twice my height) but saw no rotating sparkles: no gate to a Special Stage. I was sure that I had enough rings to gain passage, but I stopped myself upon remembering what Sonic once told me about Special Stages: they never were the same. He told me in the past before I joined up with him that Special Stages required entry through large 'Ring Gates' which resembled giant rings.

This led me to deduce that each time the Chaos Emeralds scattered, they had to be collected in different ways and through a different passage to reach them. I sighed a bit as I decided to run past the Lamp Post into the small cavern ahead. If entry wouldn't be gained from running through Lamp Posts, I had to find another way to acquire the Chaos Emeralds. I had no clues to work with other than to be weary of any large gates or sources of Chaos Energy around.

The cavern ahead of me appeared to have been created by man. The floor of the ground smoothed out into a floor and small torches were added along the walls in groups of four to light up the area. I was greeted by a trap right away: a set of spikes jutting down from the ceiling. Fortunately I was small enough to simply go under them (if not just barely) and down a small ramp which had three rings on it. Beyond the ramp was a hole leading downward (hopefully not a pit) and on the other side of the hole were several sets of spring launchers placed along the floor and ceiling. They seemed to 'block' the way out of the cavern to a clearing ahead, the sound of rushing water led me to believe it was a waterfall ahead.

Fortunately these spring launchers were in a flawed position and I simply ran down the ramp and put my tails in a twirl to give me enough speed to fly off the edge and onto the other side without touching the springs at all. The springs were probably there to fool someone into jumping which would force them to spring up and down from ceiling to floor.

Down the path to the waterfall I jumped over another large rock onto a cliff over the waterfall. I heard the ground begin to crumble and I leaped off in time before I could fall to the pool of water below. Shortly before I curled into a ball I could see a row of three rings and I aimed for those as I jumped off and landed on the ground before it too began to crumble. I quickly ran off it down another hill which had three rings on it and jumped up another step of land.

Above me I saw a different model of badnik. It was a giant floating worm, its body consisted entirely of connected spheres and it snaked its way around the air. It would have been completely vulnerable had it not been for its peculiar defense mechanism. Along its body were charges of energy that ran across the head all the way to its tail. It appeared to be an invisible charge but light reflecting off it revealed its range as it moved itself in the air: its small head was left completely open. I performed a backflip as it wiggled ahead at me and extended my tails as I flipped in the air to bat them at its head.

The badnik's head flew off and the rest of the body fall apart, each spherical part bounced around the ground and the Flicky trapped inside flew away in freedom. Ahead of me was yet another waterfall ('Where did all this water come from? Where did it lead to?' I thought to myself) but this time overhead I saw a swinging vine with a rod at the end like before but attached to a rope that went all the way down to the other side. It was a makeshift zip-line more or less. What's more, there were rings floating overhead so I didn't see any reason not to try it out.

I jumped up into the air and grabbed hold of the pulley as gravity started my descent. As I coasted down the line I saw that it ended with the rope tied to a coconut tree. The tips of its leaves were burning with fire but fortunately the trunk and bark stood intact. Rings encircled the tree and I realized that after the rope had reached the end that I was thrown around in a circle while still holding onto the pulley. The line would likely snap if I continued to hold on while letting it take another revolution so I leaped off with momentum and reached for the top of a vertical loop.

The loop, like the others before, was constructed of the bark-like stone seen in many places around the jungle. The top of it was flat and had several plants growing from it that easily overtook my height. None of them yet succumbed to the raging fires around me. It appeared as if the highway I was on was somewhat spared from the flames, but the thick of the jungle was still burning. At this point the air started to get drier and warmer. I began to see the heat rising in the air, an inferior mirage formed as the area around me seemed to distort in waves slightly.

At the other side I noticed a monitor hidden in the brush. Naturally unaffected (these monitors always looked untouched), this one flashed a different kind of image on the screen, one I haven't seen before. It looked like a lightning bolt. Electricity was probably a power I didn't need at the moment, but I was curious about this new design. I popped open the monitor and instantly I became surrounded by an electrical discharge. It was a round shield but it has the properties of plasma.

I looked down at my feet when I noticed some Chaos Energy enter my body. Looking down I saw another ring from the loop below slowly creep towards me as if it were magnetized. This was strange as rings weren't made of any actual metal: they were simply visual representations of acquirable Chaos Energy. Seeing how this functioned like the shields I had acquired before, I could assume this was simply Chaos Energy mixed with plasma which probably created the magnetic effects on rings and only rings.

I had collected many shields in the past with Sonic. Shields were external applications of Chaos Energy. Being hit by a sort of force would cause the shield to disappear (and give the user some kickback depending on the nature of the blow), but it prevented any bodily harm in the process. The problem with shields was that the nature of the Chaos Energy was somewhat volatile; although they protected me from many strong hits, even a weak force that wouldn't normally cause much damage would still be enough to make the shield disappear. Basically it was good for one hit. The presence of this plasma shield led me to wonder if other 'elemental' shields were around. I could only hope to find them as I came across them but I was under no time to really search for and study these shields.

I ran forward and off the top of the vertical loop. A floating platform was at the end, against a large wall from an overhead floating rock formation. I stepped on it and it took me down to the base of the loop where I leapt off and onto the ground below. Three more rings from above became attracted to my new shield and I grabbed each of them. I stopped to look at my left and see the formerly lush rainforest now an ocean of fire. Green and brown were gone and replaced by reds and oranges. Small flames were already seen on some of the plants that crept along the highway I was on. It was only a matter of time before the ground I was on would burn: I had to make haste.

I jumped off a large step and landed below where I caught the sight of a Super Rings monitor behind me. I bashed it open with my tails and started down a slope in front of me. There was a wall ahead, mostly held up by large rocks, some of them crumbling. At the end of the slope I was thrown into the air with another 'boing', a hidden spring launcher on the ground. I landed on a cliff above which had a tall grouping of rocks put together in a pile. This appeared to have been stable and so I climbed atop it and looked up. Two cliffs jutted out from either side and spikes were placed along the walls. The cliffs looked fragile much like the previous ones I had encountered. Looking up to my left I saw that it lead to another niche. I was too close to the wall to see what was to my right but the familiar sound of thrusters in that direction led me to believe that spherical flamethrower was back.

I made the choice to go that way and this time I took flight. The ability to fly using my tails was of a similar function to using them during my 'running'. They became as blades when spun with great speed and if I took to the air while keeping them spinning I was very much a living helicopter (running on coaxial contra-rotating propellers no less). The ability to fly in this manner took more fatigue out of me than simply using my tails for a speed boost while running, so my time in the air was limited. While in flight I kept my feet and arms dangling to keep my back flat in the air. Moving forward while flying meant that I had to raise my back to put my spinning tails slightly behind me to give me movement forward. To turn around while flying I would have to tilt my body around in that direction, again much like a helicopter. I was self-taught to fly in this way and over the years since I learned I have become an expert at this truly unique method of flight.

Fortunately the cliff ahead was not terribly high so it took only a brief rise above to reach the cliff above. It was going to crumble and I felt it beginning to so I ran off the cliff and onto a gentle slope leading down into a clearing. Three more rings awaited me (at this point I had collected over seventy) and two tall coconut trees lined the path. They had just caught fire: the leaves atop started to collect flames and two more small fires started on the trunks of each. The sound of thrusters drew louder and louder. I looked up and saw that spherical flamethrower descend from above.

The camera above the nozzle caught sight of me and a light above it flashed red. This time I was the target. I backpedaled a little to give myself some distance between it and me. It hovered down to my level and started to approach me. Fire spouted from the nozzle in front and sprayed ahead. I quickly ducked from the attack and rolled into a ball further back. I uncurled and knelt on the ground, looking up at the flying mechanical orb. I had to damage its fuel cells which contained the napalm inside but I had to be weary of the incendiaries it had loaded and the flamethrower up front. This plasma shield I had with me offered no protection from flames so I considered it as simply a 'free hit point'.

I ran forward and jumped into the air while rolled into a ball. This was the preferred method of damaging the larger badniks (Sonic called them 'minibosses') but while it was easy for Sonic, it became risky for me. If only I could see clearly! I planned my trajectory mere moments before jumping but I left it up to my calculations to see if I could land the hit. I bounded off the metallic hide which confirmed my hit. I uncurled shortly before landing on the other side.

The 'miniboss' whirled around and sprayed more flames at me, this time aiming the nozzle lower to my chest. I had little time to react as I had just uncurled and was forced to take the hit. I was knocked back to the ground and tumbled on the dry, dead grass with my plasma shield gone. I had to rely on what rings I still had in me now. How could that giant metal ball move with such agility?

I saw that the hit was just to the side of the camera, but a clear miss from the fuel cell. The flamethrower hovered up high up into the air and moved back from me. 'What was it doing?' I said to myself. The sound of the hatches on the back answered my question. The bombs! I held back from intercepting it in the air: using my tails while in flight could rip apart a great deal of things, but the thrusters being placed directly under it prevented that option.

The large badnik fired off three bombs high into the air, one from each hatch. I craned my neck in the air to predict their movements and quickly ran back to my right. One of the bombs landed inches from the tallest of the two coconut trees and engulfed it in fire. Another landed just near where I was formerly standing. The other spiraled in the air and was headed straight for me. I couldn't move back any further, a wall was to my right. I had to jump out of the way, but it landed about a yard from me and exploded in fire. I took the hit from the front as I attempted to dive forward out of the way and scores of rings scattered from me. That had to be nearly all my rings! I hastily retrieved as many as I could but could only recover several of what had been possibly forty or fifty rings.

Turning back I found the badnik had hovered to my level and was approaching me again. A frontal attack was too risky as it could spray its flamethrower at any time and it was hovering too low for me to roll underneath it (and its thrusters still firing would have burnt me anyway). The ground was on was not wide enough to offer much room to move around, either. The gears in my mind churned quickly to formulate some sort of plan. I took a quick glance at the position of the nozzle: it was straight ahead. The spray of fire it would put out would be high enough so that I could roll or slide under. Perfect!

I ran forward at the miniboss and waited for the moment it would fire its flamethrower at me. The moment I saw a flicker from the nozzle I slid feet first on the grass, barely avoiding the burst of fire. I twirled around while on the ground and swung my tails at its underside just below the nozzle. It left a very large dent below, but left the nozzle intact. I rolled backward to avoid a possible counterattack and I uncurled to see its next action. It was going to ram into me! I saw it charge after me with surprising speed. Again I charged after it but this time grabbed onto the nozzle (how reckless of me!) and sprang onto the badnik and jumped off it and around to the other side. The orb spun around in confusion and I ran back at it again and jumped into while rolled into a ball. I bounded off it and landed back to the other direction I was in. 'Definitely a Sonic move' I said to myself with a smirk.

The smirk changed into a grin: I had collided with one of the bomb chutes and damaged it beyond repair. The orb quickly gathered its bearings and opened the other two bomb chutes and began firing more bombs into the air. Quickly I turned up to the air to see where they were headed but I was just as quickly burned from the flamethrower while I wasn't paying attention! All the rings I had poured out of me and I stumbled back. The two bombs it fired into the air landed harmlessly on the ground beside me. Duds.

'A trick?!' I clutched my chest in pain. I wasn't burned yet but with all my rings gone my body was now vulnerable to whatever it tossed at me. I didn't think the AI in this miniboss would be so smart enough to pull off a trick like that. Eggman definitely had to be controlling this one from afar. I backpedaled again and left myself a safe distance from the range of its flamethrower. It was so simple to just aim for the fuel cells but already it became such a hassle and already I lost my shield and all my rings. I waited for its next move.

It took to the air again and opened the hatches to fire off more rounds (how many did it have inside?), four of them I saw. Each of the rounds landed very close around itself and it fired its flamethrower ahead. It effectively nulled any chance to charge at it, a defensive maneuver. I may have been foolish enough to do a head on strike before but I didn't intend on doing another. It probably expected me to make another mistake. But it still was a mulligan, I was left back to plan another attack. My eyes darted to the right where I saw the two trees. The one hit from the nearby bomb explosion had fallen off the track was on and into the fiery depths of the jungle below. The other was still standing, although it looked as if it would succumb to the intense flames and fall shortly.

The miniboss again approached me and I stepped back (I was mindful of the duds still laying on the ground) further, luring it back. I charged at it again to provoke it into firing its flamethrower. After the expected spray of fire I slid under the flames again and sliced my tails through the trunk of the extremely weakened tree beside me. I quickly crawled out of the way and looked up as I saw the tree fall down and onto the top of the badnik. The force it pushed it all the way down to the ground and completely damaged the bomb chutes. What was more, it landed on top of the duds! They both exploded and the entire mechanical orb was swallowed in flames and set off a series of explosions. I ran back for cover to avoid the flying parts and flames.

I threw a fist to the air in victory. Not an easy victory but it was the first of what I projected to be many in stopping Eggman once and for all. There was still the possibility that more of these would be around the jungle but frankly I didn't care. I had motivation, I had confidence, I had the ability, everything was going to go my way, I thought to myself. I turned ahead to me to the wall. Although the wall seemed to have blocked my path, a good portion of it had crumbled rock. I walked up to it and batted my tails against the rock to break it apart, sending large pieces flying. It revealed a small tunnel through the wall that twisted and turned around inside. It was small enough for me to fit as a ball.

'The curtain has closed on the first act.' My lips curled into a small grin. 'It's time to start the second act and put an end to Eggman's show once and for all.' I rolled into a ball and went through the tunnel beyond.

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(Author's Note: From here on out, I'll stick author's notes on the bottom, I don't wanna force anyone to read anything longwinded before the story itself. This story is the product of my fourteen years (going on fifteen) in playing Sonic 3 & Knuckles extensively. Not a year passed by without playing this game at least once and I have mastered this game inside and out. And yet I still suck at speed runs. No record setting times here!

Because this draws a lot from my experiences, I aimed to create an adaption of this story that works on pure game elements and contains itself within Sonic canon pre-Sonic Adventure. The four characters you saw on the Disclaimer: Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Eggman, are the only ones in this story from start to finish. There are no original characters or cross-canon references. The planet and world setting is original, however, but lightly made and mostly to accommodate the zones and backstories from the early games: it is NOT Mobius.

Much of the observations and references you'll find are from my thoughts of the game, when I first received it back when I was just seven years old all the way to present day. It was a big influence in my decision to write this story in a first person narrative as this gives the feeling that you're playing the game. The fact this follows only Tails makes this story effectively an adaption of a playthrough of S3&K with just Tails alone. As a result, I took as much creative liberties as I did to preserve spirit of the original game. Look for this story to directly take from parts of the game, but at the same time, toss new surprises and twists to keep things fresh and new.

This is my FIRST piece of fanfiction that has been released to the public and I am a little nervous. But still, feel free to leave reviews and give comments. I will do my best to reply to them, so feel free to ask questions. This is going to be a learning experience for me from start to finish, so I don't expect this story to be perfect.)