The Mystic Ruins were among the most peaceful places to be in the world. Everything about the world seemed to be at a standstill as the jungle sang into the starry night sky; crickets chirped as they sat upon the mossy tree branches lining the jungle whilst various frogs croaked and hopped their way across the lily pads in the pond surrounding a local resident's hut. On top of that, the serene flowing of the stream carried a soothing symphony into the night as it poured down into the roaring waterfall at the bottom of a cliff. The time was early morning so a faint orange glow of the rising sun began to show above the horizon in spite of the stars still being visible in the sky. The entire woodland area was nothing more than nature running its course.
But then along came the hovering sounds of five E-thirty thousands patrolling the area, scaring the various wildlife in the area and forcing them to run away. They shown their searchlights across the forest landscape in avid search of the Chaos Emerald supposedly located nearby. Just about all of Eggman's intel indicated it existed in this location and they weren't about to let their mechanical forms pass it up. They would maintain their "leave no stone unturned" mentality until it was found.
Little did they know that this was home to Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends.
Further into the jungle stood a cliff that with a mine cart passageway, which stood dysfunctional for who knows how long. Where one would have expected to hear no sound, one came pouring in from the other side of the tunnel: a sound that reflected the capacity of a sonic boom, but muffled. The nearby lightning bugs scattered upon hearing the sound as it neared closer to their location; sooner or later, Sonic himself emerged from the tunnel, his speed exploding its way into the ruinous area. As he forwarded along onto the swampy ground, he spotted the river flowing through the forest directly ahead of him. With a flip, he leaped spectacularly over the stream and landed on the other side without setting a foot into the water. He then proceeded to slide underneath a fallen tree that would have otherwise barred his way before rolling into a ball once more to regain his footing on the muddy ground. Just when it looked like he was in the clear, the hedgehog screeched to an agonizing halt soon as he realized a squad of E-thirty thousands were floating in front of him. This, unfortunately, prompted the robots to turn his direction, aiming their guns toward his position.
"There he is! Blast him!" the commanding robot communicated to his fellow comrades.
With a sly smirk on his face, Sonic made like a banana and split from his current standing position, rolling to the side as five lines of gunfire came honing in on his direction. Running into the treeline to his side, he disappeared from the robot's line of sight, confusing them just as planned.
"Sir, where'd he go?" the robot questioned immediately before he became smashed into smithereens by the feet of a blue streak with red sneakers. The robots turned to open fire at will, bearing no idea where the blue blur went before he leaped off one and onto the other, the cannon-like power of his Homing Attacks smashing them into pieces like paper mache. With a skid across the ground, Sonic left the pieces of the robots behind and continued onward, wondering if there were more in sight.
Eggman's robots… I'd better make sure Tails is okay! Sonic thought to himself, thinking about his friend living nearby. Tails was the last person he would ever let get hurt in his entire life so he knew he wasn't about to let him down.
Sonic continued to circumnavigate the forested ruins ahead at top speed - the place once belonged to an ancient race of echidnas so the various ruins and ziggurat temple he passed by were most expected. Even as he blazed by the trees in his way, his green eyes were still sharp enough to make out the smallest of twists and turns through the forest. Soon as he reached a clearing, the hedgehog came to yet another stop to witness the scene ahead of him: a large squadron of E-thirty thousands were surrounding the Tails' Workshop, a rundown grey and orange building of fading colors surrounded by various machines featuring Tails' signature two tails logo on the front above the entrance. The robots had been scattered about through the air in an effort to pick off the defense turrets Tails had recently installed onto the building in case something like this were to happen.
He just loves his machines, don't he? Sonic thought cleverly to himself swiping a finger across his nose.
With a running start, Sonic took off into the firefight taking place, jumping into the air and drilling his ball form through the robots hovering closest to the ground who were too distracted by the guns to really notice him. After picking off the more clueless mechs, Sonic re-positioned onto the top floor balcony of the workshop, the E-thirty thousands turning their attention to him since he was in sight. The began to fire upon him as Sonic leaped into the air, directing their attention away from the building and toward his curling ball form tumbling through the air. With a swift kick, Sonic took out the nearest robot as it cycled its last rounds, sending it flying into another robot and the two collided before falling to the ground. Sonic then grabbed the robot below him and, with an overhead throw, tossed it straight into another one breaking them both. With a downward spiral, Sonic stomped toward the ground, taking out a circle of robots stationed on the ground with the power of his shoes producing a shockwave that shattered them all.
Fed up with all the ruckus, a duo of flying E-thirty thousands activated overhead their grenades they pulled from their hip sockets and chucked them toward the turrets as their gunfire began to die down. The slow, built-up beeping honing in on Sonic's triangular ears, the hedgehog turned to witness the bombs being tossed through the air and immediately charged up a Spin Dash that sent him soaring into the air toward their trajectory. With a simple swipe across the bombs, Sonic sent both grenades flying straight back to their senders and, before they could react, both robots exploded in a shower of sparks and metallic pieces falling toward the ground. Nearby, Sonic watched as the firework show displayed died out with the sound of his feet impacting the ground. The hedgehog couldn't have been more proud of himself.
Sonic then ran to the base of the workshop. "Tails! Are you okay?!" he called out to the one he considered a "younger brother" - whom he still had no idea whether he was inside or away.
Right on cue, the wooden door atop the workshop balcony opened revealing the orange-yellow, and white Kitsune-like fox that was, indeed, Miles "Tails" Prower. The fox looked around for a moment before looking down to witness the blue hedgehog calling out to him from below like a Romeo serenading their Juliet.
"Sonic! You showed up just in time!" Tails exclaimed with a smile on his face.
Almost immediately, Sonic jumped up to the top balcony to talk with his "little bro" face-to-face.
"You know me, never a dull moment!" Sonic boasted, the full moon image reflecting in his eyes.
"True dat!" Tails giggled with a raise of his fist. "What took you so long to get back? I was starting to worry."
"Well, it's a long story…" Sonic trailed off before getting interrupted.
"Before you start, does it involve Eggman?" Tails interrupted to ask of sarcastic curiosity. Just about anything involving his extended absence had to do with Eggman in some way, shape, or form.
"As always, yes it does!" Sonic said closing his fist in affirmation. The hedgehog then went on to recount his nightly run across the United Federation mainland that eventually landed him in Central City. He then told about how he had seen a pair of police helicopters track down a fleeing suspect and followed them until it seemed they needed help most. With enough witty banter and descriptive imagery, Sonic finished his story explaining how Eggman left him in the dust for a change. And that's why Tails was never the one to like being alone. He and Sonic were roommates who shared bunk beds in the top floor bedroom of his workshop every time Sonic needed a place to stay away from the public eye. Even so, he understood Sonic's need for adventuring and investigating strange disturbances in the world and the story was enough to convince him.
"As much as I believe you and everything, I almost find it hard to believe he's back so soon. Wasn't he last sucked into a black hole that spat him out into space?" Tails asked the same question Sonic asked himself.
"That's what I thought too! Knowing him, however, he's got his ways of escaping even the toughest situations we put him through!" Sonic noted while also hypothesizing without much guess.
All at once, their hearing picked up the noise of a person panting deeply nearby prompting them to turn the direction from which it was emanating. To their surprise, they were greeted with the presence of their red echidna friend with clawed boxing gloves, Knuckles the Echidna, who stood clenching his knees apparently out of breath after a previous scuffle. All the more this brought them back to their days of traversing Angel Island and befriending the guy following a misunderstanding they had due to the likes of Eggman.
Speaking of Eggman, Sonic and Tails did not like what he had to say.
"Knuckles! What's up?" Tails asked of concern.
"S'up, Knux? What's happening?" Sonic essentially repeated after him redundantly much to Tails' annoyance.
"...The Master… Emerald!" Knuckles panted through his deep breaths. Had he been running or fighting?
"What?!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed in unison.
After a few seconds, Knuckles caught his breath and resumed talking. "You want the long version or the short version?"
"It doesn't matter," Sonic immediately said his signature motto.
From his hunched position, Knuckles stood up straighter to explain his story. "Well, I was guarding the Master Emerald like I always do when Eggman's robots attacked the altar with an aerial assault. I tried fighting them off, but there were just too many of them for me to reasonably take on. All the more, that gave them a chance set the altar ablaze yet again with their built-in flamethrowers and flame grenades. Long story short, they extracted the Master Emerald all because I was too busy taking them out."
This news came to the annoyance of Sonic and Tails. They all thought Eggman was just too long gone for them to even worry about protecting the Chaos Emeralds and their controller, the Master Emerald, but now here they were discussing the doctor's most elaborate heist yet - and from the shadows nevertheless. "Dude, you really gotta get better at guarding that thing!" Sonic poked fun at him. "Haven't you already spent enough time away from it to hang with us?"
"Hey, I don't see you guarding the Chaos Emeralds like you're supposed to! Why do you think they keep getting scattered around after every use?" Knuckles fired back, genuinely infuriated with Sonic for his insufficient ways in keeping the Chaos Emeralds in check. He could've sworn the Emeralds had minds of their own, but that still wasn't enough for them to keep from falling into the wrong hands.
"Okay, guys, before you get on each other's nerves again, let's make sure we're all on the same page of taking direct action!" Tails intervened knowing that the two were ramping up an argument like they usually do.
Knuckles slumped, somewhat ashamed of his comeback. He knew Sonic had a tendency to joke, but most of the time, they just seemed like insults. "You're right, Tails. I'm sorry," the echidna confessed.
"Good," Tails followed. "Now if there's anything we can agree on, this is definitely Eggman's most elaborate heist yet, correct?"
"Right!" Sonic responded enthusiastically.
"Good news is he hasn't gotten a hold of my Chaos Emerald yet."
"Courtesy of moi, thank you very much!" Sonic pointed to himself.
Knuckles rolled his eyes at Sonic taking credit for something he didn't witness. For all he knew he was rubbing it in his face for being able to take on a bunch of robots that he somehow couldn't.
"So, if we use my Chaos Emerald, we can detect the others, find Eggman, beat him, and win them all back! It's foolproof!" Tails boasted, confident in their ability to wreck Eggman's plan like always.
"Tails, you're a genius!" Sonic complimented him much to Knuckles dismay.
"Hey, I don't see you giving me props for at least trying to defend the Master Emerald!" said Knuckles in an effort to pick a fight.
Sonic turned to his gullible echidna friend, sweat dripping from his forehead in annoyance. "Okay, sheesh! No need to get so uptight about it. You did your best, I'm sure of it! There, is that any better?"
"Since it makes me feel better, yes!"
In that time the two spent bickering at one another, Tails had strolled back inside his upstairs bedroom, traveled to the workbench, and acquired the golden Chaos Emerald he'd been saving for experimentation. All the more, he was very glad Sonic made the effort to defend his life's work by taking out the besieging robots that were so clearly out to steal it for their boss's purpose. In an instant, the golden aura from the Emerald glowed brightly, illuminating their faces with a golden sunrise hue that was all the more fitting for their environment given that the sun was almost up. Even though this was the billionth time they'd seen a Chaos Emerald, the mysterious wonder of the precious gem took their breath away as they stared at it together.
"Good thing the Chaos Emeralds have the power to detect the others via magnetic attraction, don't they?" Tails asked somewhat jokingly. He knew they shared this common knowledge, but with his smart attitude, he liked restating facts.
"You said it, Tails! All aboard the Tornado en route to… wherever it is the Chaos Emerald takes us!" Sonic called out, mimicking the nature of an in-flight captain.
After making a few adjustments to Sonic's signature plane, the Tornado - a biplane they had utilized since their initial adventures on Tails' home island of Westside Island - the gang piled into the transport plane, the Chaos Emerald equipped into the front end console. After the palm trees lowered and the runway raised up from the cliff jutting out near the workshop, Tails ignited the Tornado's engine, rolling it across the runway a few feet for Sonic to hop on top of it. With a pointing of his finger, Sonic pointed the way toward whatever destination the Chaos Emerald had in store for them. Ultimately, the Tornado boosted across the runway until it took off near the end and into the golden sunrise that was beginning to show upon the mountain where they were residing. Hopefully, this wouldn't be the last sunrise they ever saw.
In an open clearing on the tropical island of the Adabat archipelago, an aging stone shrine surrounded by seven stone pillars stood with its contents in place. Surrounded by grassy brushings and covered with age-old moss and other overgrowths, the place looked to have remained untouched for centuries. On top the pillars sat six of the seven Chaos Emeralds each of varying colors and surrounded by squads of Eggman robots willing to shoot at anything that crossed their boundaries. At the central shrine, the Master Emerald was lowered into place by the claw contraption Eggman had installed into his Eggmobile. Soon as Eggman hit the button that released the Master Emerald from his contraption's claw, the oversized jewel emitted a green pulse of psychic radiation, confirming that it was lodged into place. With the shrine just about complete for the ritual all Eggman needed was one more regular Emerald and then world domination would be within his grasp.
"Yet another brilliant success by the world famous, Dr. Eggman!" the doctor boasted to boost his own ego. "Stealing the Master Emerald would have been the quintessential icing on the cake, but given that we still haven't found that last Chaos Emerald, it was the easiest option we had!"
"You mean business this time with all the breaking into and burning down places you've done, don't you?" his red and black circular robot dubbed "Orbot" asked him excitedly. Something about seeing his boss grow this mad with power made his robot insides giddy.
"I'm glad you're excited, Orbot! Really, this is all apart of the revenge plan I concocted a while ago in case of the amusement park fiasco failing on me (which it did, but who am I to care?)!"
"Decided to go for a smaller scale, didn't you, boss?" asked his yellow cubed-shaped henchman bot, Cubot. He and Orbot were inseparable and were amazed seeing their boss confident for a change. Maybe a little too confident.
"Sure, it may look small on the outside, but, once I unleash it and pull it under my control, it will cause catastrophic chaos on a global scale!" the doctor said holding together his fists before spreading his arms out as far as they could go. The fat man might have never exercised, but sure as well knew how to stretch.
The robots exchange bewildered looks with their expressionless faces. He was known to say stuff like that almost every time, but the results of his scheme varied. "What makes this time so special?" Cubot questioned as if denying his boss's vision of a perfect world.
"You've described just about every ultimate power you've tinkered with using very similar wording. How should we believe this'll be any different?" Orbot followed.
"Because this one carries the powers of space!"
The two robots shot him very shocked expressions with what little facial movements they had as if very intrigued to hear what he had to say.
"Eons ago, the echidna tribe that lived here, the Nocturnus clan, took on a powerful entity rumored to have formerly resided in the far reaches of space. With what ancient tech and Gizoids they had at their disposal, they somehow managed to take down this cosmic entity, casting its remains into the crust of the Earth, only accessible through this shrine here and one other across the world. The ancient prophecies I dug up around this area portray this entity as a world-devouring monster of god-like proportions. The only artifacts strong enough to set this atrocity free are the Chaos Emeralds, which I have gathered in preparation to release it myself. By harnessing its power, I, alone, will crush those miserable rodents and world domination will finally be within my grasp!"
In a typical evil scientist tradition, Eggman finished off his monologue with a hearty evil laugh that echoed off into the distance, scaring away whatever birds dared to set foot in the trees of the thick shrubbery nearby. Unexpectedly, Orbot and Cubot joined in on his comedic evil laugh, catching him off guard, much to his dismay.
"Don't laugh with me, you're ruining it!" the doctor demanded.
"Sorry, boss, we got a little carried away there," Cubot apologized.
"You're just lucky I'm in a good mood today," Eggman said right before a blip on his radar appeared, alerting him with a small beeping sound. "And as if it couldn't get any better, it looks like our dear Chaos Emerald hogs have decided to pay us a visit! Let's send them a little welcoming committee!"
With the flip of a switch, Eggman set his plans in motion as he continued to watch the plane-shaped blip approach his location ever so boldly.
The clouds breezed by Sonic and co. as the Tornado flew through the warm, sun-filled air that had begun to indicate they were close the tropics. Up until now, the Chaos Emerald had been leading them to the nearest signs of Chaos Energy nearby and the more they flew south, the more the Emerald began to pull strongly in the direction of Adabat. No doubt they were close now.
"The Emerald's sensing a strong reading of Chaos Energy from the continent of Adabat," Tails noted to Sonic and Knuckles behind him. "Guys, I think this might be our stop!"
"Great, then let's roll out the welcoming committee Eggman so formally deserves!" Sonic said as he continued to hold tightly to the handlebar provided for him to stabilize himself in the back.
"And I'll do the honors of tearing his robots apart limb from limb!" Knuckles rejoiced with a swing of his knuckled fist.
"Hey, now, we don't wanna get that gruesome now do we, Knuckles?" Sonic asked jokingly.
"But you know I like punching stuff! I'm just adding more descriptive language to my speech for the sake of sounding tougher!" the echidna retorted, full of himself and his ability to joke around.
"Dude, think of what you're telling the kids here!"
"Who cares what the kids think? I'll go into insane detail about how I…"
Tails shut out Sonic and Knuckles' petty argument by concentrating on the air ahead. He was used to this from them, but as of now they had been travelling all morning and heard it non-stop. The best he could do was simply focus on what he did best and that was soar through the air like the ace he was.
He gripped the control wheel and maneuvered it downward, sending the plane down through the thin lair of white clouds that had previously taken up their view. Upon emerging from the bottom of the clouds, the nearest island of Adabat came into full view, the tropical trees, cliffs, and ruins filling their vision with something that resembled a postcard image. This stopped Sonic and Knuckles' arguing for the most part, yet Tails couldn't foresee it subsiding any sooner. Suddenly, an alarm rang from his plane's radar indicating imminent danger approaching. A red blip appeared on the radar, pinning the location of a mechanical turret beneath them firing upon them with machine gunfire.
"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed as he maneuvered the plane in a loop maneuver to evade the gunfire that shot up passed them.
"Hey, take it easy!" Sonic exclaimed over the ruckus as he had to hold on for dear life to his simple handlebar and nothing more.
Without much notice, an explosion impacted the Tornado's right wing, rocking it violently and causing the plane to dip its trajectory straight into the jungle mainland below.
"HANG ON!" Tails screamed over the sound of the plane spiraling out of control.
The entire gang shouted continuously in unison the further the plane plummeted toward the ground below, Sonic struggling to hang out through the sheer grip of his white gloves while his friends were safely secure in seatbelts. Thankfully, Tails had installed an emergency parachute system into the back of this Tornado model in case something like the current situation ever happened. And so, with a pull of the stick, Tails released the parachute from the rear and the frayed out, allowing them to land and skid into the dirt with less of a force.
With as much dirt that kicked up into the jungle air, a cloud engulfed around where the Tornado had landed, blinding the occupants for a few moments. Thankfully, the dirt cleared up quickly as Sonic coughed and swatted it away.
"Tails, Knuckles! You alright?" the hedgehog asked as he hopped off the Tornado.
From the dust clearing, he could hear and see that his buddies were just as he was, coughing and swatting the dirt cloud away.
"Made it down in one piece!" Knuckles assured him, his thick thumb in and upward position as he got out of his rear seat.
"So much for the Tornado though…" Tails noticed, crestfallen that yet another model of his and Sonic's had bit the dust quite literally. With that the fox set his pilot helmet aside and pushed himself out of the cockpit and grabbed the Chaos Emerald from its console. He then joined Sonic and Knuckles as he stood up next to what wreckage had befallen his prized transportation.
"Something about that sudden gunfire and missiles has Eggman written all over it. Surely, he can't be far!" Sonic stated with a clenched fist.
Knuckles noticed Tails' eyes were locked in a downward position looking passed the Emerald, indicating he was saddened by the loss of yet another Tornado. "Don't worry about the Tornado now, buddy. Right now we gotta search for the Eggman who did it!"
With that, Tails perked up, still upset yet somewhat hopeful he could make him pay for what he did. "Right!"
And just like that, Sonic sped off into the buggy jungle ahead, his allies following close behind. If there was anyone who knew the jungle better than anyone it was Sonic as he had been here before on a previous quest to track down a chain of temples from which he had to restore power to the Emeralds and, with them, the pieces of the planet. And so, Sonic's knowledge of the area ahead proved useful, as Tails and Knuckles struggled to keep up with him through long stretches of jungle, which then lead to a sandy beach surrounded by exotic cliffs beyond which sat pockets of ocean water. Established on the water was a series of ancient ruins carved by an unknown civilization that Sonic remembered had a tendency to collapsed upon being approached. His guess was just as correct as his hunch as the ruins came down toward them, forcing Sonic to push Knuckles and Tails along across the water, which he could naturally run on. Much to his annoyance, neither of his friends possessed this skill like he did so instead, Tails opted to fly with his twin tails operating in a helicopter-like whirl that kept him above ground, and Knuckles gliding above the drink below as if he were one with the wind.
Despite never teaching them enough of his skills, Sonic still appreciated his friends for their resourcefulness.
The further they traversed across the archipelago, the more strange everything became as the islands were rather vacant with not an Eggman robot in sight. The scene couldn't have been more unsettling.
Without a doubt, Sonic was left confused and Knuckles disappointed as neither of them had anything to take their anger out on. Despite his plead to take on Eggman for wrecking his Tornado yet again, Tails remained concentrated on where the Emerald was leading him, shutting out Sonic and Knuckles' silly argument as they began to mess about and chase each other around in the background. From there, Tails was able to sense the Emerald pulling him strongly in the direction ahead of him and so he looked up to notice the white Chaos Emerald sitting on a large stone pedestal. With a gasp, Tails smiled as he felt himself accomplishing something for the first time all day.
"Hey, guys!" he called out to his friends. "I found the Emerald!"
Nothing. Sonic and Knuckles were likely too busy fake fighting each other behind some bushes or something. And so, Tails decided to shrug it off and jog ahead to grab the Emerald off of its residing place. As he approached it, however, his mind began to wander to all the possibilities as to why this was so easy finding a Chaos Emerald out in the open of all places. Was it really just the Emerald making things easy for them? Did it get left behind on their previous quest to recover them? Or was it a trap enacted by Eggman to lure them all away from the real Emeralds nearby?
Whatever the reason, Tails was certain he would find out.
He reached for the emerald and grabbed it in his gloved hand, gripping it tightly as he held it up in the air.
"YES!" the fox exclaimed as his grip apparently tightened to the point of shattering the Emerald into a million pieces. "What?!"
Once the Emerald pieces fell to the ground, suddenly, Tails realized he was standing in the middle of a lasso ringed around his foot; the lasso then picked him up off the ground leaving him dangled by a hidden machine of various colors that then protruded spikes from the grass below. All the while, Tails accidentally dropped the real yellow Chaos Emerald, resulting in it rolling away from him out of reach.
"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed. "Sonic, Knuckles, help!"
Just then, from behind the wide stone pedestal stepped out none other than Dr. Eggman in his traditional red and white jacket with golden buttons and black jumpsuit pants that would give any fat ninja a run for his money. Without hesitation, the doctor laughed evilly in Tails' face over the accomplishment that he somehow managed to capture him of all people.
"To think you, of all people, would be the one to fall for my fake Chaos Emerald trick, Fox Boy!" the doctor taunted, referring to a previous event when Tails pulled the same maneuver on Eggman.
"This isn't funny, Eggman! Let me go!" Tails said, arms and legs flailing in preparation to take him on.
Ignoring him, Eggman bent down to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from where it sat next to the spikes. "Too bad! Finders keepers, losers weepers! And to think I'm the one lucky enough to have brought along my Chaos Energy Radar to detect this!" Tails continued to dangle helplessly as the doctor's Eggmobile summoned from above to pick him up. "Farewell!" Eggman taunted as the mobile ascended into the sky and boosted off into the direction Tails could only assume was where the real Emeralds were located. With the doctor on the loose with his Emerald, he knew only bad things were about to happen no matter if he got down or not.
Thankfully, he didn't have to think on that last part much as Sonic and Knuckles sped up to meet right next to where he dangled from. "Tails, buddy! You okay?"
Without questioning him further, Sonic simply spun toward the rope that held his leg cutting it down with a swipe of his ball form as Knuckles caught him and set him down away from the spikes.
"We heard what sounded like Eggman's voice and decided to stop messing around a bit," Sonic explained.
"You were the one who wanted to mess around in the first place!" Knuckles retorted.
"Okay, guys! Don't fight right now. Eggman is here! He's got our Emerald and I saw him fly this way. Come on!" Tails described quickly with a wave of his hand.
From there, he and the others took off into the trees toward what looked to be a clearing of sorts - the first one they'd seen in a while. Whatever they found on the other side, they would be ready to face no matter what.