Heh. I was going to update on Friday, but I forgot. Anyway, here's Chapter 2. (Note: This chapter has absolutely nothing to do with Sonic Heroes - I just decided to use one of its levels for this chapter's environment.)

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CHAPTER 2: City in the Sky.

In the back of the room, Sonic wrapped his arms around his knees, eyeing his target for a second, then ducked his head and rolled forward, increasing speed as he went. His spikes rammed into the wall. He uncurled only to see that he had done no damage to the flat surface in front of him.

Not giving up, he spin dashed again, faster than the first time, but was disappointed to feel the wall deflect him again. He bounced back to the floor.

Getting to his feet somewhat unsteadily – he still felt weak, for some reason – he stared at the stubborn barrier, as if looking for a fragile spot that had to be there. Then, for a third time, the blue blur curled up and dashed forward determinedly. To his relief (since all this head-ramming was starting to hurt), the prison he was in began to vibrate as he made contact.

"Okay, good," the hedgehog said, getting up and rubbing his head. "If I can get it to move, then I'm sure I can break it down!" He shook his head to clear some of the… well, unclearness, and then began rolling again, hoping this would do it. He hit the vertical surface again, then allowed his round form to ricochet backwards and smack against the wall behind him. Gaining more speed, he continued bouncing from wall to wall in an effort to shake the box apart.

Finally, after about a minute and a headache later, the wall he'd first attacked gave out and collapsed. Sonic stopped in mid-dash and landed on the ground.

"That wasn't so hard," he said, stepping out of the room. Although irritating, the room had been relatively unproblematic to get out of. "Would Eggman seriously trap me in a place so easy to esc—whoa." The spiky teen's eyes got just a little bigger as he stared in awe at his surroundings.

Before him was a huge, innovative looking city. Weird, hovering vehicles were zooming around everywhere. Buildings rose higher than the ones in Station Square used to; they seemed to ascend forever into the deep, cloudless sky. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, giving the world around him an orange tint.

Beyond the buildings, the hedgehog noticed, there was… nothing. No trees or mountains could be seen in the distance. Only… sky…? He glanced around, outright confused, and then dropped his gaze to the ground.

The perplexed expression on his face vanished and fear replaced it. He could see through the blue road beneath him! And what terrified him more was that he could spot the earth's features below, the size of tiny specks!

This city was in the sky!

The hedgehog stifled a nervous laugh. "I really hope this isn't what Heaven looks like!" He stepped forward cautiously, as if the translucent path was as thin as paper.

Nothing dramatic happened though, and in all honesty, he hadn't expected it would, as the path looked supportive enough. It was just like a regular road, only smoother.

But what he didn't expect was to be pulled forward by what seemed to be a magnet so fast that his legs nearly slipped out from underneath him. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened as he took a second step.

"WHAAAAHH!!" Sonic shrieked loudly, holding his arms out for balance. Startled, he looked down at the road. It seemed to be moving him forward on its own! But… how?

He noticed what was on the sides of the road: two clear tubes with red hot electricity flowing through them. The words 'electromagnetic force' popped into his head as a sort of explanation for the phenomenon he was experiencing (along with the fact that this place was floating), but since he didn't know much about how electricity worked or science in general, he made a mental note to bring this up to Tails. Sonic was smart and quite clever, but he left the technicalities to his two-tailed friend.

After adapting to the strange new form of transportation, Sonic began to enjoy the sensation of moving fast without actually moving. Now he could see why Tails liked getting rides from him so much.

Eventually, though, he threw all caution aside and broke into a run, going faster than he normally could due to the mysterious street. Effort on his part was barely needed; he felt like he was Super Sonic as he raced along the see-through highway, not coming to a stop until the road itself did.

Next, he found himself on a large, green, hexagon-shaped platform. This one allowed him to stand still. At the leftmost edge of it was another road that led to Sonic didn't know where, and to the right was a huge bridge with a sign at the entrance reading, "DOWNTOWN GRAND METROPOLIS."

"Grand Metropolis, eh?" Sonic repeated. "Cool name." Smirking, he turned on his heels and raced up the bridge.

At the other end of it, there was another still platform. Sonic skidded to a halt on it and looked ahead of him.

The road before him literally turned upside down. It was like a giant loop. On the other side of it was the main chunk of buildings; restaurants, businesses, and even houses. The road seemed to be several times wider there, and while it had the same design as the ones he'd been on previously, it didn't appear that it would move him unwillingly. There were people standing on it as well, to his surprise.

"This'll be interesting," Sonic said, apparently oblivious to (or just unfazed by) the fact that one wrong step on this loop-de-loop would send him falling to his death thousands of feet below. He shined his pearly whites and sped onto the curving path. As the loop began to curve upwards, the hedgehog moved his feet even more rapidly, and faster still on the way down. He was easily outrunning the speed of freefall, despite his lack of shoes and inability to move quickly earlier. "YAHOOOOOOOO!"

Finally slowing down when the road was flat, a satisfied grin lit up the blue blur's face. Adrenaline made his heart beat faster than normal, and he could practically feel it booming against the inside of his chest.

It had been quite a while since he had done something entirely reckless just for kicks.

Catching his breath, Sonic walked into Downtown Grand Metropolis, a task made easier by the semi-transparent material beneath him. The hedgehog could compare it to sliding on ice, except it wasn't really slippery.

A few steps later, though, the road's mystifying powers seemed to disappear. Aware of this, Sonic quickened his pace and only slowed down when the path widened and buildings surrounded him.

"Pretty cool looking," he said to himself. Everything around him looked futuristic. Even the decorative trees had an evolved look about them. So did the people, to Sonic's surprise. They wore steel vests over their cloths for some reason, and a few had strange metal braces around their arms. He wondered why.

As the curious hero continued, he noticed that negative vibes seemed to be coming from everyone he passed, giving the atmosphere a tense feel. They all either ignored him or gave him a dirty look that made him feel incredibly unwelcome. He pressed on, looking down at the ground and ignoring the people. His hands remained at his sides in an unthreatening but ready manner; if he had been trapped in this place, somebody here must not want him around, and he was ready to fight if he had to.

Sonic was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the human he was heading towards, and walked right into him. Before he realized what happened, he was on the ground.

"Hey, sorry 'bout that," the hedgehog said, pushing himself to his feet. "I guess I—whoa! Hey! What're you doing?" Sonic jumped to his left, narrowly avoiding a punch to the face.

"My job," The human answered malevolently.

"What, your job is to attack unsuspecting anthropomorphic hedgehogs?"

"Precisely," The person raised his fist again. Sonic jumped up and grabbed it before he could strike. He twisted it, and, hearing a satisfactory cry of pain from the man, pulled him to the ground and then ran off, swerving out of the way of any more people he might see. Although the hedgehog wasn't afraid to fight for himself, he had never fancied the idea of attacking a creature with flesh and blood. It just didn't feel right.

"What's up with this? Who would hire people to hurt me?" Sonic paused, realizing how downright stupid that question sounded as it passed his lips. "Eggman…" Suddenly it all made sense. Why he had been trapped in a single room, why he was up in the sky, why everybody hated him. Eggman must have created this entire city!

But how did he convince these people to oppose against a national hero? A voice in the back of his head pressed on. He wouldn't sink as low as to… torture them, would he?

If Sonic didn't know better, he would have assumed that Eggman wouldn't. But as the hedgehog remembered how the malicious doctor had all but destroyed his legs – while he was wide awake, nonetheless – and confined him to a state of paralysis, he knew that the megalomaniac could have very well used this method.

A sense of valor took over and Sonic halted in his tracks, ready to turn back around. I have to help them!

Before the hedgehog could act on his decision, though, a loud "CHAAAAOOOOO!" filled his ears.

"What? Th-there's a chao here?" He looked around frantically, then spotted a small blue and yellow form a little ways ahead, zipping across an intersection in the road. Not too far behind it was the very subject of his thoughts.

Sonic turned around to look at the miserable people behind him, and then, deciding to deal with the more pressing matter first, continued after Eggman.

He reached the intersection and turned left. "Eggman!" he hollered. The evil genius turned to face him in his hovercraft. "Get out of here!" He commanded to the chao, half-noticing that it had a red bowtie on. It fled.

"Now why in the world would you chase after such a helpless little thing, Eggman?" Sonic asked, approaching him.

"Sonic!" He exclaimed, utterly surprised. Sonic didn't know why; he was never surprised to see Eggman anymore. The look disappeared as soon as it came though, and he grinned. "He was helping me find one of my soon-to-be minions!"

"Helping you? He was running away!" Sonic spat. "And that was Cheese, which means Cream is here, too! That's a new low, Eggman! She's not even six!"

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt her. She's going to help me run the Empire!"

"Empire?" Sonic asked. "Never mind, I don't even want to know. What makes you think Cream is going to obey you?" The hedgehog asked, folding his arms.

"I see you haven't met the humans I've captured, yet," Eggman said. Sonic's eyes widened in surprise.

So I was right about them, he thought. Without hesitating, he raced towards Eggman and kicked his hovercraft, catching the madman off guard. It soared through the air and slammed against a nearby building before landing with a clumsy thud.

Sonic was gone long before it hit the ground. He knew this was only a temporary fix, but it would do.

It was another ten minutes later before he managed to locate Cheese. The chao was hidden in a small alleyway, completely terrified. Sonic had managed to convince him to come out with a few soothing words. Now, the hedgehog was continuing down what looked like a highway, the chao safely in his arms.

"So Cream's this way?" He asked.

Cheese nodded.

"Okay. Why don't you lead me to her, lil' guy?"

A look of hesitance appeared on the small creature's face, then he smiled a little smile and flapped his tiny wings, rising into the air. "Chao!" Cheese said, pointing down the highway at a particularly tall building. He flew forward.

"You know she's in there?" Sonic asked. Another nod. "Did Eggman put her there?"

Cheese mumbled something in his own limited language, shaking his head.

"How'd she get there, then?"

"Chaooo…" he groaned, wishing he could actually answer Sonic. He stopped flapping his wings and dropped to the ground, then started walking around like a little human. Sonic chuckled at the imitation.

"Did some of his minions take her there?"

"Chao! Chao!" The chao squeaked excitedly, popping back up into the air.

"So that's why Eggman was looking for her. He must've not known yet," Sonic said to himself. "Hey, is anyone else here that we know?"

"…Cha…Chai—"

"Chail… Tails?"

The sky blue chao nodded.

"Do you know where?"

A look of disappointment appeared on his face, one that clearly said 'no, I don't,' and then, 'I can't talk, so shut up.'

"Okay, okay," Sonic said, seeing the irritated look that was twisting the cute chao's features.

They were almost at the building. Even though they hadn't been moving much during their little conversation, the path had carried them forward. Sonic could see a sign above the entrance reading, "Grand Metropolis HQ."

"All right, we're almost there!"

"CHAO!" Cheese shrieked.

Sonic quickly turned to face him. A scared look was on his face and he was pointing at something a little ways ahead of them. Sonic's face fell as he saw what the creature was looking at.

The road ended about fifteen feet ahead of them. There was a gap between the end of the path and the platform on which the building stood.

"C'mon!" Sonic picked up Cheese and turned around, breaking into a run. After a few seconds, though, it was evident that the road refused to allow them to go backwards, as they were in the wrong lane to go that way.

As that thought came to mind, Sonic raised his head and looked around. He noticed that there was indeed another 'lane'… but it was thirty feet away. The blue blur had strong feet, but there was no way he could jump that far. He would have better luck leaping off the end of the road and aiming for the still platform.

"Here it goes!" He said. Building up all the courage he could, he turned back around, took a few starting steps, and soared off the end of the path. "AHHHHH!!"

It was a great feeling to jump high into the air, going higher and higher until you reach that one point where you're neither going up nor down… you're just floating. It only lasts a split second, but it feels like gravity just disappears for that moment and the air around you allows you to float there.

But, once again, that pleasurable feeling only lasts a second.

The bad part is when the earth pulls you back down just a little too quickly, and you realize you're not going to make it as far as you thought you were.

This realization didn't dawn on Sonic so much as explode. The platform was still several feet ahead of him… there was no possible way he was going to make it unless he defied the laws of gravity… or if Tails came out of nowhere and caught him, but that wasn't likely. He was going to fall thousands and thousands of feet until he met with inhospitable ground… he was going to go splat and turn into a blueberry pancake…

Fortunately, all these horrible and revolting thoughts suddenly dissipated in Sonic's mind as he realized the wind wasn't crashing against his face, making his eyes water, nor was the ground getting any closer. Nothing was happening.

"Wha—?"

Then he realized he was being gripped under the arms by two tiny hands, ones that could only belong to his chao friend. The hedgehog turned his head to look at him. Cheese was flapping his wings furiously, ever so slowly bringing them back up to the platform. "Cheese! No way, I didn't know you were that strong!"

"Chaaaaoooooo…" he moaned, his little squeaky voice sounding strained. Finally, after seconds that seemed more like hours, Sonic was set on solid land again. Cheese collapsed beside him, winded.

My life just got saved by a chao. What does that tell you about me? Sonic wondered to the air around him. He sat down on the ground, deciding that letting the little chao catch his breath would be fair. In fact, he rather cherished the feeling of the ground beneath him.

The bipedal hedgehog lifted his gaze to the skyscraper. He began to count the windows from top to bottom, having nothing else to do.

A few minutes later, Cheese was back in the air. He flew in front of Sonic's face and tapped his nose, letting him know he was ready.

"…seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five floors. Wow, that's one of the tallest skyscrapers I've ever seen!"

The chao placed a hand on his hip and pointed to the top of the building.

"All right, all right!" The blue blur said, amused. "Let's go find Cream."

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I know things have started off slower than they usually do in my stories, but hopefully this chapter kept you entertained anyway. Chapters 3 and 4 will start picking up the pace a little, especially 4. Keep reading!

By the way, thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. I really appreciate it!