Chapter 3: Fight In the Cavern

It was quite dark for Tony Stark, even though he had night vision recently installed in his Iron Man suit as he began to search the dark cavern for the elusive Sonic the Hedgehog and his two-tailed fox accomplice for the Chaos Emerald.

"Come on out, where ever you are" said Tony as he began to commonly walked right into the dark cavern.

Back inside the dark cavern, both Sonic and Tails were hiding behind some rocks. Poor Tails, he was quite scared on why the man in the hi-tech suit was after him.

"How did Eggman get someone like this to do his dirty work?" asked Tails as he whispered to Sonic.

"I don't know" replied Sonic, "but you can stay here while I handle him."

"Er, can I come with you?" asked Tails to Sonic.

"Why?" replied Sonic.

"I'm afraid of being alone in this dark cavern" replied Tails.

"Fine" said Sonic, "but you may want to take cover when I deal with this guy."

Meanwhile, Tony Stark was still doing his very best to find the pesky blue hedgehog. Even with his hi-tech Iron Man suit at his disposal, he seemed unable to find the blue hedgehog. That is when the "General" began to call to see how his progress was doing.

"I'm sort in the middle of something" said Tony as he turned on his built in communications system within his suit which the "General" was on the other line.

"Oh, sorry to bother you sir" replied Scratch who was still masquerading his voice to be as the General's, "we just want to know how you were doing."

"Oh, I have trapped our blue fugitive in this very cavern here, now it's all a matter of time before I retrieve the Chaos Emerald which he stole from our national treasury" replied Tony.

"Oh, that's good, our top, top people will be very pleased with you, see you later soldier" said Scratch.

"So, how far is he on his progress?" asked Dr. Eggman after Scratch hung up on Tony Stark.

"He's got that blue hedgehog trapped" replied Scratch.

"Excellent" laughed Dr. Eggman.

"How far are we hacking into Tony Stark's database on his Iron Man suit technology?" asked Scratch.

"I'm glad you asked" replied Dr. Eggman, "we have already stolen his blue prints of his original Iron Man suit, and we have modified it to my specifications."

"I have even helped Dr. Eggman create a new place on the center of the suit where the Chaos Emerald will be used to power it up instead of a lame car battery" added Grounder.

"Good work boys" said Dr. Eggman to which he then was preparing to get ready to go on his hovercraft, "come on, we have any moment to loose if we're going to retrieve that Chaos Emerald from our good friend Mr. Stark."

Meanwhile, back inside the dark cavern, Tony felt like he was in a maze of some sort as he seemed to not be able to find the blue hedgehog. He came across too many dead ends in the dark cavern, but then he noticed that the blue hedgehog's presence was not far, just a few spaces away from him. He then signed his night vision light finally on the blue hedgehog who was trying to avoid him.

"Got you, you blue fugitive" said Tony as he shined his light from his Iron Man suit onto Sonic, "I'm going to give you one last chance, hand me over the Chaos Emerald from the U.S. government's national treasury, and I shall not have to use force again."

"National treasury?!" cried Sonic as he took out the Chaos Emerald, "You mean this belongs to the government?! What kind of lies has Dr. Eggman been telling you?"

"Sonic, I think he might have been tricked into believing it was a command from government officials" whispered Tails who was hiding behind a rock next to Sonic.

"Of course, Eggman, along with Scratch and Grounder must have hacked into his home computer system to trick him into tracking me down" said Sonic.

"All of what you say is all lies" barked Tony to which he began to approach the blue hedgehog, "I have been given a specific orders from the General to apprehend that item you have stole from our national treasury, now give it to me, or you shall pay the price."

"First of all, you got to catch me first" said Sonic as he stuck out his tongue and then began to race deeper into the dark cavern.

"Er, better go and follow him, bye!" cried Tails as he scattered off.

"I didn't want to do this, but you two made me do it" said Tony as he began to ready his jetpack system.

Tony's Iron Man suit zoomed right up toward where Sonic and Tails were. This even shocked the blue hedgehog himself whom couldn't believe that someone was able to match his speed.

"So, you want a race here?" asked Sonic as Tony was neck and neck with the blue hedgehog.

"Ha, racing you?" replied Tony, "My Iron Man suit can certainly outrun you any day of the week."

"Is that so?" asked Sonic as he was egged on for a challenge, "Tell you what, we'll race for this Chaos Emerald. Since it seems like fighting over it might be a bit too messy."

"Keep talking" replied Tony.

"If I win, I keep the Chaos Emerald, yet if you win you can have the Chaos Emerald, and I'll surrender myself to you" continued Sonic.

"Hmm, sounds like a fair assessment to me" said Tony, "I'll do it."

"Sonic, don't do it, he's just a part of Eggman's scheme" said Tails who finally caught up.

"Don't worry Tails, I can bag this in either way" replied Sonic.

"Oh is that so, let's see if you can catch up with me, say back at the entrance of the cavern?" asked Tony.

"You're on" replied Sonic as he began to race in Tony's reverse direction.

"Wait for me!" cried Tails.

But what poor Tony Stark didn't know was the so-called blue hedgehog "fugitive" would certainly be right all along. As in right the same moment in time, Dr. Eggman, Scratch and Grounder had prepared themselves to head toward the canyon area where the three were located to finally retrieve the Chaos Emerald, which Dr. Eggman had been searching for quite some time to finally be used in his newest ultimate weapon.

"Is everything packed?" asked Dr. Eggman as he was about to gear up the hovercraft.

"Yes your evilness" replied Grounder as he saluted to Eggman, "we also have a special EMP cannon also installed in your hovercraft to subdue our friend Tony Stark."

"Excellent" said Dr. Eggman, "that should give us enough time, before Tony's suit could be able to reconfigure itself, and by that time, the Chaos Emerald shall be the source for my Chaos Suit."

"Now that's one evil plan, bawhaha!" laughed Scratch.