Here's chapter 3. Enjoy.
Sonic head was in a whirl. One minute he had been running through a flourishing tropical zone, the next he found himself three hundred years in the future. At the moment he was climbing a mountain path that led to the ruin that, three hundred years ago, had once been Palm City, the developed section of Palmtree Panic. And for his guide, who else but the secretive cyborg fox, Tech.
"I still don't understand." Sonic said. "What made this thriving zone become such a-"
"Uh uh!" Tech said, cutting Sonic off. "I'm not at any liberty to tell you anything until I am absolutely certain that I know what that jewel you have there is."
"But what's so important about this stone, except for the fact that I found it in a special zone?"
"I'm not one-hundred percent sure yet, That's why we have to go to the ruins."
"Why?"
"I CAN"T TELL YOU YET!!!!!" Tech shouted.
"Shhhhh, You don't want to bring the Swatbots, now do you?" Sonic whispered with righteous indignation.
"Now I can see how you would get on the guardian's nerves." Tech muttered.
"How do you know about Knuckles?" Sonic asked.
"Hellloooo? You guys were like global celebrates before you… um."
"Died. I know, I know. And you can't tell me how, even if it might save my life, because you're afraid of temporal repercussions, whatever they are."
"I just don't want the universe to fold in on itself, explode, or fall apart by any other method, thank you very much!" Tech growled."
"You're welcome." Sonic grumbled back.
They climbed on in silence for a while until they reached the top of the mountain.
"Oh my…" Sonic gasped as he saw the ruins. You could tell that it had once been an enormous, thriving city. But now it lay in desolation and waste. Some of the ruined walls looked as though they had been blasted with explosives. And just like the rest of the zone, pollution covered everything. "Was there a war here or something?" Sonic asked as they clambered down the side.
"I… Can… not…."
"Tell… Me… Yet..." Sonic finished for him as they reached the city and began to search for whatever Tech was looking for.
As they wandered through the ruin, Sonic turned to Tech and asked, "Are you going to tell me what it is we're looking for now, or can't you tell me?"
"You'll know it when you see it." Tech muttered.
As they were approaching a clearing that Sonic assumed was once a park, Tech saw something up ahead and began running towards it.
"Aha! I knew it!" He cheered as he dashed ahead, leaving a startled Sonic behind. An enormous and quickly shrinking shadow suddenly fell on him.
"What the-?" Sonic started, then looked up and saw something massive falling towards Tech. "Tech! Look out!" He shouted as he streaked to warn him. Tech glanced up and froze stiff, completely paralyzed by shock. Sonic barely managed to shove him out of the way just as the huge object came slamming down where he had been standing two seconds ago.
"Mwahaha- huh?" A familiar, evil voice laughed as Sonic and Tech picked themselves up from the ground. "Where did those pests go?"
"What th- Robotnik?!" Sonic exclaimed in surprise and fury (but mostly suprise).
"Sonic?" The mad doctor said, trying to turn his mech around. "I guess I shouldn't be suprised that you managed to find me."
"How did you get here?"
"The same way you did of course." Robotnik said mysteriously.
While Sonic tried to figure out what the mad scientist meant (And Robotnik tried to turn around his mech.) Tech shouted, "It doesn't matter how you got here, Eggman, 'cause we're gonna send you back where you came from!"
"Eggman?" Sonic and Robotnik said simultaneously.
"Isn't that what you call him?" Tech asked sheepishly.
"No, but I like the sound of it." Sonic grinned.
"Well I don't." Eggma- err… Robotnik growled, as he finally managed to get his mech turned around and glared at the two heroes.
"Why not?" Sonic rhetorically asked. "You always name your gadgets Egg-something or other. Speaking of which, what horrible name do you have for us this time?"
"This is the Egg-Bouncer." Robotnik stated, causing Tech to laugh derisively.
"What's it gonna do? Kick us out of the zone for causing trouble?" He chuckled.
Ridiculous though it's name may be, the name Egg-Bouncer fit the mech perfectly. It's body was the basic egg capsule design Robotnik used for nearly all of his mechs but with the addition of two arms with spring loaded, bumper shaped fists on the front and two spring coiled legs with spike tipped feet.
"Laugh while you can, you pain of a fox, you won't be laughing for long." Robotnik said, pushing a switch and causing one of the fists to launch towards Tech, but fall just short of striking the now hysterical cyborg. Turning red with fury and embarrassment, Robotnik retracted the fist and stepped forward so he'd actually be able to hit somebody.
Realizing Robotnik was going to try to hit Tech again, Sonic got a running start and tried to slam the cockpit. But one of the bouncy fists raised up and deflected Sonic's strike. Before he knew what was happening, Sonic found himself dazed on the ground with a headache from the spring's blow.
Turning from Tech, Robotnik turned towards Sonic to crack his skull with a powerful blow from one of the fists. As the fist flew towards Sonic, Tech leapt towards the extended arm of the robot and slammed it with his tails, severing it off of the mech completely.
"Why you little pest!" Robotnik yelled as he turned back toward Tech and fired the other fist. "You're going to pay for that!"
While Robotnik was yelling at Tech, Sonic had managed to shake off the headache and had sawn through the other arm of the poorly designed mech.
"NO!" Robotnik shouted in anger and humiliation. He quickly realized that unless one of his foes stepped close enough for him to kick, he was virtually powerless. "You won't defeat me that easily!" He yelled as he began flipping switches at a crazy pace, setting the mech into overdrive. As the machine dashed towards the two travelers, hoping to impale one of them on one of it's spiked feet, they leapt into the air at a speed that made the Egg-bouncer look downright pokey next to them, and repeatedly bounced onto the side of the mech, completely destroying the legs. "NOOOOOOO!!! Robotnik screamed as the hero's jumped clear and his mech collapsed and exploded in a large, smoky blast.
"Gee… what a way to go." Tech said with a tinge of pity in his voice.
"Robotnik's survived worse. Don't be so sure he's out." Sonic muttered darkly. Sure enough, Robotnik soon floated out of the wreckage completely intact, yet rather blackened, using a small jetpack. "Gee doc, usually doesn't more of your machine survive?" Sonic mocked.
"You can't escape me no matter what time period you're in, Sonic, I will return!" Robotnik yelled as he turned and flew off.
"Tech! Get up there and stop him!" Sonic yelled as Robotnik quickly got further and further away!
"Um… yeah… I, um… gee…" Tech stammered, "It's just that-"
"He's getting away! Hurry up!" Sonic shouted.
"I'm kinda low on power." Tech said with embarrassment. "I couldn't hope to stay in the air for longer than five seconds." At this, Sonic just groaned hopelessly as he watched Robotnik quickly become a speck in the sky."Right!" Tech said, snapping Sonic out of his depression, "The ruin I was looking for, it's over here!"
As they ran towards the mysterious pillar, they noticed what looked like a giant, mechanical flower bud ahead of it.
"What the heck is this?" Sonic wondered as they neared and saw that it was dimly pulsing light.
"I think it's some sort of power source for the robot base nearby." Tech replied
"There's an entire base of robots? Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
"I'm not even going to humor you." Tech grumbled as Sonic smashed it, releasing a large scattering of sparkling seeds.
"More seeds?" Sonic said questioningly, " What are they? The robots in the present were powered by them too."
"You ask me one more question, and I'm going to leave you to the Swatbots." Tech growled as the seeds simultaneously sprouted into the strange pink and blue flowers. Walking past the instant garden, Tech reached the pillar that looked even more ancient than the rest of the city. It had seven sides and each side had a small hole in it.
"What's this-" Sonic started before Tech glared him into silence. Boy, if looks could kill. He thought to himself as Tech began to rub his fingers over the stone, feeling for ancient writing.
"There's an inscription on it that may explain your time jump." Tech said, peering closely at writing what looked like gibberish to Sonic.
"Are you sure you're allowed to tell me that?"
"If my theory is correct, I'll be able to tell you everything." Tech said as he continued examining the pillar. Turning to Sonic, he said, "Pass me the stone." Confused, Sonic handed it over.
"What do you need it for?" He asked. Instead of answering, Tech inserted the stone into one of the pillar's holes. Nothing happened. "Is your theory correct?" Sonic said.
"When did you get the stone?" Tech asked, ignoring Sonic's sarcasm.
"I found it in a special zone back in the first act." Sonic replied.
"Hmmm… What time was it?"
"I don't wear a watch…"
"Your time period or mine!"
"Okay, okay, it was the present."
"Ok. Now I think I got it." Tech said. "In order to test my theory, you'll need to get back to your present and try the pillar there."
"How? I don't even know how I time warped in the first place."
"Easy, do the inverse of whatever you were doing at the time of the first temporal warp."
"Run backwards while holding the stone?"
"At least try running in the opposite direction."
Shrugging, Sonic took the stone back, and dashed back the way they had came, all the time thinking Please don't launch me further into the future. As he picked up speed, the same blue sparks surrounded him and the flashing time warp started once again, catapulting him back through time.
I know it's not as long as you might hope. I'm still trying to figure out what the best length for a chapter would be. The next chapter should be longer. I would love any comments you might have so please review even if you didn't like it.