Notes: …and Knuckles

Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise…I just enjoy the games

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Ch. 8: Starting over…kind of


Sonic and Tails woke up the next day.

"Man, we slept way longer than I wanted to," Sonic said.

"I think we earned it, Sonic. If it bothers you so much, let's get moving now."

They pressed on through a lovely green forest with mushrooms of various sizes.

"Wow," Tails was in awe, "Some of these mushrooms are big enough to bounce off of."

"Now there's an idea, little bro."

Sonic leapt onto the top of a mushroom, which bounced him up high into the air. He landed on a nearby ledge. Tails flew to keep up.

"I'm gonna call this place Mushroom Hill."

"How apropos, Sonic. Hey, do you hear something? I think someone's nearby."

The duo came to the edge of a sharp drop. At the bottom there was…nothing.

"I could've sworn –"

A strange noise came from below. Out came a red head from seemingly nowhere. It was Knuckles, and was looking left and right, as if he was hiding something. After a minute of looking around, he hit a switch on the ground. The same strange noise was heard. He then covered the switch with leaves and left. When they were sure he was gone, Sonic and Tails hit the switch. The noise they heard was a nearby wall opening. Inside was a giant ring.

"Another giant ring?" Tails wondered, "But we have the seven Chaos Emeralds."

"I'd say this calls for an investigation, Tails."

"Are you sure about this, Sonic?"

"We may learn something interesting," Sonic replied with a smirk.

FLASH

They were now in an underground cavern, and before them lay what looked like a shrine. There were seven small pedestals that surrounded one large central pedestal. Atop the central one was a large green emerald.

"Sonic, I read about this somewhere. I wish I could remember where exactly…but no matter. This must be the Master Emerald. It's said to be able to control the seven Chaos."

"Then what are these other gem things?"

The seven other pedestals each held a large emerald, but they were all a dull grey, like the power had been drained away.

"Well maybe…"

Just then, the Chaos Emeralds began to glow, and they flew into the air.

"Tails, I am not making them do this!"

Each of the Emeralds flew into one of the large grey gems.

"Well that's just great," Sonic grumbled, "Now I can't go super."

"Why not try touching one of the gems and see what happens?"

Sonic shrugged, "What've we got to lose?"

FLASH

"Tails, do you see what I see?"

"It looks like the same pocket dimension we had to run through to get the Chaos Emeralds."

"Only this one seems even more gaudy. Better get to collecting blue spheres. Hey, wait, there's a yellow sphere. I wonder what it does…"

Sonic and Tails were sent flying across the board.

"There's your answer, Sonic. It's basically a spring."

They finally collected every blue sphere, and…

"Tails, is this a Chaos Emerald?"

"It's way too big to be a Chaos Emerald, Sonic. Whatever it might be, you've earned it. Maybe it'll help you to go super again."

As soon as Sonic grabbed it, they were sent back to Mushroom Hill. He tried going super, but to no avail.

"Despite it being bigger, it looks like I'll need all seven of these if I want to go super again."

"It seems like seven is the lucky number, Sonic."

"I once thought there were only six Chaos Emeralds."

"Only six? That just doesn't sound right. Hey, look over here. There's another giant ring back behind this wall."

"I guess that knucklehead needs to find better hiding spots."

"Are you sure he's the one doing the hiding? We really don't understand these rings and such. Maybe he had to build around the ring, for all we know."

"Well,you keep thinking about it while we grab another Emerald."

FLASH

"I'm glad we did that one quickly...as if I do anything any other way. I'd like to know who comes up with these color schemes."

As they talked, they traversed through the lush green forest, bouncing off mushrooms and contending with Badniks. There was a large dragonfly Badnik that hovered in place, appropriately enough called Dragonfly. There were also small butterfly Badniks that homed in on the heroes, they were called Butterdroid.

"Sonic, is that mushroom hopping towards us?"

"That depends…did we inhale spores?"

Sonic bounced on top of the hopping mushroom. The cap flew off to reveal a small round Badnik with a spring for its bottom. It was called Mushmeanie. Sonic gave it another hit to free the critter inside.

They eventually came to a relatively clear area. There were a few bare trees scattered about. Just then, one of the doctor's creations came into view. It flew through the air, nothing more than a large torso with boosters below, and wielded a large axe.

"Is that you, Sonic?" the doctor's voice rang out, "Say hello to Hei Hou! I don't use much wood in my work, but one can never have too many resources."

Hei Hou went up to a large tree and began chopping away large sections. It then sent the logs flying at Sonic and Tails. They dodge the incoming logs and began taking turns to smash the robot. When it finished chopping its current tree, it moved on to another to repeat the process.

"Enough is enough!" Sonic shouted.

He rushed over to Hei Hou and began attacking it faster than before, until at last it was destroyed.

"Cutting down trees carelessly like that is not cool."

"Did you ever read that Dr. Suess book, Sonic?"

"It's just common sense, Tails…but yes."

As they continued through the forest, the foliage began to grow dull.

"This place sure goes through it seasons quickly," Sonic observed.

"While that might be plausible for a floating island," Tails replied, "I don't think this is natural."

A gust of wind blew a mass of brown leaves in their direction. It turned out to be a weathervane Badnik called Cluckoid. Sonic dispatched it swiftly.

"What a blowhard."

"Hilarious, Sonic," Tails said, rolling his eyes.

"What? I've gotta make a quip now and then. Incoming!"

Something flew past the duo.

"Did you see what that was?" Tails asked.

"I wasn't paying attention. Duck!"

Something flew past again.

"Okay, is it just me, or did that look like a mushroom?"

"Over there, Sonic. It's another Badnik."

A mole-like Badnik, appropriately enough called Madmole, was periodically popping its head out of a hole to throw mushrooms at Sonic and Tails. Sonic smashed the Badnik when it stuck its head out again. They continued onward and saw a pulley system.

"Let's use this thing to get to a higher vantage point, Sonic."

"Good idea. I'll take this side."

Once they were in a different section of the forest, they noticed the foliage was now a dead-looking grey color.

"We've got to find whatever's causing this weather change, Sonic."

"I hear ya, buddy. I always preferred green myself. Hey, look, another giant ring. The sooner we get all these…Super Emeralds, the sooner I get super again. Speaking of which, I think we've found number three."

FLASH

"It seems like we're finishing these pocket dimensions a lot faster."

"It's all down to practice, buddy. Of course, who knows if time works in there."

They sped up their search, taking out Badniks along the way, until…

"What's this weird-looking machine?" Sonic asked.

"It looks like this is the weather manipulation device that the doctor is using on Mushroom Hill. Sonic, I think you should –"

*SMASH*

"Well, that is what I was going to say."

"It's like I read your mind, little buddy."

Just then, Dr. Robotnik emerged from beneath the destroyed weather machine inside a huge mobile.

"Now why did you go and do that, Sonic?" Robotnik asked in and annoyed tone.

"Hello? Because that's what I do; I smash your stuff."

"Plus your device was causing forcible changes to the ecosystem," Tails added.

"Yeah, what he said. Why did you build that thing anyway?"

Robotnik stopped to think, "Uh…because…because I'm an evil scientist. What do you expect? It's what I do! It's my thing! Now it's time for me to make my escape in my Jet Mobile!"

The mobile began zooming backwards through a forest of thorny vines. The duo had to take care not only to avoid said vines, but also getting too close to the thrusters of the mobile when they were boosting flames.

"Hey, Sonic," Tails said, "Why is Eggman just speeding away and not attacking us?"

"It doesn't look like that mobile was designed with weapons, buddy."

Sonic and Tails then took turns attacking the Jet Mobile until it began to malfunction.

"I knew I should've added weapons to this thing," the doctor grumbled.

"I noticed another design flaw in this model, Doc," Tails said.

"And what might that be, fox boy?"

"A rear view mirror!"

"What?" he said, and then he to look behind the mobile, "Oh no."

*SMASH*

The Jet Mobile collided with a very large, very sturdy tree. Sonic and Tails did a high five as they found the capsule with the animals inside and released them.

"That'll teach Eggman not to mess with forest and jungles anymore," Sonic bragged.

Suddenly, the sky grew dark as a massive shadow passed overhead.

"Uh, Sonic…"

"I can see it, Tails."

It was an enormous airship, easily twice the size of Wing Fortress.

The regular Egg Mobile flew past them.

"I see you've met my Flying Battery! If you want to give chase, you'll have to hop on quickly!"

As he flew off, the Flying Battery was indeed passing low enough that Sonic could hop on.

"Looks like we have no choice, Tails."

"He'll have the home field advantage, Sonic."

"I've never let that stop me before," he replied with a smirk.

Sonic leapt aboard as the airship began to ascend, with Tails flying over to land next to him.

"Looks like were gaining altitude, Sonic. Think we're headed for that volcano?"

"No doubt about it. Now let's ground this Flying Battery!"