Chapter 9: Dealing with Mushrooms
Sonic the Hedgehog darted between crushing pistons at high speed, leading the pursuing robots to their doom. The few ones that managed to avoid getting smashed found no hedgehog interloper on the other side, but a ramp leading to a sheer wall. Sonic shot upwards, running at a ninety degree angle and playing hookey with gravity. He jumped backwards at just the right time to land inside the narrow opening of an air duct. The preying mantis robots on the other side of the duct got the unpleasant surprise of their target exploding out of the floor beneath them, tearing through the one unfortunate enough to be posted in his path. Two mantis-bots both threw their boomerang scythes. Sonic dodged both blades, then skidded to a full stop right in front of the now unarmed robots. The hedgehog's smug expression would've been infuriating to the robots if they'd had anything to process emotions with. The appropriate emotion for the next moment would've been "shocked surprise compounded with fear of immediate destruction", because Sonic jumped straight up at the last possible second before the boomerang blades, making their comeback performance, hit him, and as a result the two unprepared mantis-bots got skewered by their own weapons.
But that happened some time ago. Right now Sonic was waking up from uneasy sleep to meet his second day in the Mushroom Kingdom. His feet still felt sore from yesterday and that wasn't right, because he'd only done a measly three mile run from Eggman's place, which was nothing. Giving up the Chaos Emeralds had been a really bad idea, especially if they were what kept the freaky effects of this world from getting to him - but if half of what Eggman had said was true, then it really was too risky. His best bet right now was to find the rest of the Chaos Emeralds before Metal Sonic did.
"Hey Mario!!" someone shouted.
Sonic sighed. Eggman had warned him about this sort of thing. "Fine," he said under his breath, "I'm Mario."
A newcomer to the hall of weirdoes made its appearance over the edge of the grassy knoll where Sonic had spent his night under the stars (He'd tried to see if he could spot any familiar constellations, but it'd been a fruitless effort).
"Hey...you," said Sonic.
"Mario! You've got to come quick! The Princess has been kidnapped, again!" shrieked the little kid, who looked like a cross between a mushroom and a...well, a kid.
"And it's my job to rescue her, right?" said Sonic.
Toad blinked. Mario had never responded like that before. Usually, he didn't even respond - just nod and get to work.
"Uh, yeah. Of course. Y-you've got to come quick! I saw the culprit with my own eyes; it was a robotic Harry Hedgehog! Bowser must've sent it!"
That got Sonic's attention. The hedgehog might come off as rash, but he wasn't stupid. If Metal Sonic was plainly visible as who he really was instead of some bad guy from this world, then that meant Metal already had a Chaos Emerald on him. Maybe more. If Metal Sonic was still as obsessed with defeating Sonic as before, then the kidnapping could only be for one reason: To lure Sonic into a trap.
"Which way?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know which way the kidnapper went, but Toadsworth told me to go tell you to meet him at the Princess's castle. He said he's got something important to show you."
"I said, which way, kid?"
"Uhhh, that way, but I thought we'd take a warp tube. Nobody knows how to navigate through them better than you, Mario."
Sonic shrugged. If warp tubes meant anything to do with those green pipes visible all over the land, then forget it. He'd learned his lesson from the first one.
Toad looked at his hero. "You look a little beat, Mario. Here, I've got red mushroom you can have."
Sonic took the mushroom, and was about to politely explain the fundamentals of fungi, and why the red ones with white spots weren't a good idea to eat, when suddenly the mushroom faded into golden sparks, and Sonic felt all his aches evaporate.
"Which way did you say the Princess's castle was?"
"That way, Mario, but-"
"Thanks!"
With that, Sonic grabbed Toad, and started running. Toad, who'd never gone this fast even during the go-kart tournaments that were held every year, stifled a squel of fear and kept his hands over his eyes during the whole trip.
Meanwhile, far away, a robot hand with titanium claws dug into the soft dirt and excavated a familiar yellow gemstone. It matched the other gem in the robot's posession perfectly in every way except for colour. On the uncomfortable rock behind it, Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom struggled in vain against her expertly tied bonds.
Next: Do the Mario!
