He, Tails and Chip flew back to Mazuri by morning. Their timing was perfect. The village they had gone to the night before was disrupted by a swarm of Eggman's robots, looming threateningly over them. The villagers would not stand any of it, least of all Eggman's attempts to simultaneously coerce them into submitting to his will while condescending to them.
"You see," he explained, "if you just tell me the location of your temple, I won't have to do anything nasty."
"We're not telling you anything!" A young child screamed, throwing a pebble at the doctor and his ship, much to the surprise and silent approval of his elders. Eggman flung his head back, shocked at the impact of the pebble. He raised his head, his frustration doubling.
The villagers, sensing his mounting anger and being familiar with his trigger-happy tendencies, stepped back, shielding the younger residents.
"That gash in the earth is only going to get bigger until you tell me where your temple of Ga…"
Eggman stopped, struck dumb as blue streaked his vision, destroying every one of his robots before he had time to blink.
"Wh—urt?" he fumbled, unable to take it in, "Sonic!"
"Yo Eggman!" Sonic said brightly, after making an impeccable landing, it was pretty good to him, anyway, "thanks for that little skydiving adventure the other day!"
Sonic realized it was the first time that he had spoken with Eggman face to face since that night on the carrier. What Sonic wouldn't give to show Eggman all of the perks of his "festive" new look, but taunting him would work nicely for the moment.
"I should have known you would still be alive, you stubborn little hedgehog!" Eggman shouted.
No thanks to that energy you shot me with. Sonic thought, realizing that his body was able to undergo a lot, but not something as draining as falling thousands of feet from the sky. Sonic started. He had landed from that unhurt, didn't he? How the hell did he do that? He strained to remember something. But something had stopped him before he fell to the ground, right? There was no way he could have…
He heard the footsteps of the villagers behind him, and Sonic cut his thoughts short. He could go back to them later, for now, Eggman…
"What are you doing out here?" Sonic asked.
Eggman dismissed Sonic and Chip with a wave of his hand. "I see no reason to tell you!" he sneered. "In any case, I'm busy. Farewell!" Eggman pulled a lever, and his mini Egg-ship began to rise.
Chip lurched forward, but Sonic pulled him back. "Wha- how-? Hey! That's playing dirty!" Chip stammered as the doctor flew away.
"Just ignore him," Sonic told Chip, though in some part of his mind wondered how Chip thought Eggman could deal with situations in any other way. Sonic guessed he had more experience with Eggman. Imagining what Eggman could be "busy" with did not sound appealing, but he figured that it could not have been anything that could cause immediate destruction. Having known Eggman for as long as he had, Sonic knew that Eggman would have been bursting with glee if he was about to unleash something particularly evil. He decided to go after Eggman later. For now, his priority was the people who Eggman had tried to intimidate.
"Is everyone here alright?" he asked. The villagers nodded, thanking him.
Sonic nodded in response. One of two of the villagers looked shaken, but a good majority of the crowd appeared slightly annoyed, even amused. They did not buy Eggman's attempt to threaten them.
Chip looked up at the sky, at the trail of smoke that the mini Egg-ship had left behind. "We are going after him, right Sonic?"
Sonic sighed. "You got it!" He looked at Chip. "Ready to go?"
Chip nodded.
Sonic took one last look at the villagers, grinned, and sped off, Chip trailing behind him.
The safari beyond the forest pulsated with life. Wind whistled through the brush as Sonic sped by. The bright gold of the sand, the blue of the sky. Sonic had run through a good many places. He may have ran through this area once or twice. But he had never seen it. The frustration of the previous night, his own exhaustion faded, becoming the dust he trailed behind him. This was why he needed to run, to explore the world. He needed to feel the life around him. To become part of it. To live it.
He glanced to his right and saw a giraffe walking by, its long neck perched high in the air. Sonic looked at the creature with a new sense of wonder. What was it like to have a long neck like that? How did it seem so normal after all the abnormal things that had been happening? Well, Sonic thought with a grin, Eggman could not destroy everything.
It took a few miles and a breath-taking stream of landscape before he reached a bridge. The wooden platform stretched for miles. What caused Sonic to stop was not the bridge, but Eggman's robot. The robot hovered in the air, pincers sticking out of the front. Eggman and his mini egg-ship floated beside it.
Chip looked at Sonic, then looked at the dazzling purple creation.
"Is that…"
"Yeah," Sonic answered, leaning against one of the wooden poles that served as the entrance to the bridge, "that's him."
Sonic pushed himself away from the pole, getting an idea.
"Let's run," he said, "and they'll follow us. Since they're waiting for us anyway."
Sonic grinned. "I wonder how long it will take Egghead to realize that we're already here."
Chip also grinned. Sonic poised, about to run for it.
"Ready to go?" he asked.
"Yeah!"
"All r"- The last of Sonic's sentence was lost as he zoomed through the bridge, passing Eggman and the robot.
Noticing the brush of wind and the hedgehog causing it, Eggman launched the mini egg-ship and powered forward, the creature flying beside it.
While Eggman appeared to be relaxed, leaning back in his seat, his mustache flowing pleasantly in the wind, he was ready for blue heads to roll.
Sonic noticed Eggman and the robot gaining speed on him. When they started to pass him, Sonic immediately slowed down, tailing Eggman and the robot.
It took Eggman some time to realize Sonic was now the one chasing him, not the other way around. He pressed up on the breaks, causing the egg-ship and the creature to come to a skiddering halt. He turned the craft around and started to float backward, eyeing Sonic's cheeky grin warily.
"Rrgh, how'd you get here so quickly?" Eggman asked the question with such genuine bewilderment that it made Sonic grin all the more.
Sonic forced himself into focus as Eggman straightened up in his seat.
"No matter," Eggman said, "your road ends here."
Eggman and the robot suddenly dipped, nearly blocking the center of the bridge.
Sonic had to screech to a stop to prevent hitting the robot. Eggman smirked. Payback.
"Behold!" Eggman shouted, waving his arms above him. "My new power!"
The robot's pincers pulsated purple and gold. They clapped, metal clamping on metal menacingly.
"Egg Beetle, go!" Eggman shouted. He lowered the egg-ship into the cockpit of the robot.
Sonic kicked the tip of his shoe against the wooden slat. He wouldn't let Eggman surprise him like that again. Chip wheeled beside him, flashing a cocky smile that would have been more appropriate on Sonic
Sonic ran as the Egg Beetle floated backward.
For the first time since Sonic was thrown out of Eggman's carrier, Sonic felt at ease. With the exception of Chip, who flew beside him and waved his fists without doing anything, this was a normal day for him. Sonic lunged forward, using the pincers to leap to the button above the cockpit. Sonic rammed the weak spot, making sure to give another kick on the glass in front of Eggman's face for good measure. Sonic was in his element.
It didn't take long. As the pathway twisted and straightened under his feet, Sonic hit the Egg Beetle one last time, watching as the machinery crumpled inward, exploding. Eggman, using the egg-ship, flew out of the Beetle, inconsiderately leaving the mess of metal in its wake.
"Just like usual! All bark and no bite!"
Sonic grinned, basking in his gloat. It had been a hard night, didn't he deserve to celebrate crushing Eggman yet again? Rubbing it in his face? Sonic felt a small, unpleasant swoop in his stomach as he realized he had the same thought before Eggman trapped him in the egg carrier.
Sonic and Chip ran up to the charred remains of the Egg Beetle, then looked down below. The village below them was far down. There did not seem to be anyone around. They looked back up at the Egg Beetle. A wire sparked, then stopped.
"It's…not going to explode, is it?" Chip asked nervously, peering behind Sonic's shoulder.
Sonic walked to the Egg Beetle. He cautiously reached one hand, touching the robot's cooling surface. He then walked around it, occasionally kicking loose parts and examining the wires. He learned how to check for explosives or an unstable robot from Tails. It had not been the first time Eggman had put a bomb inside of a robot, or had made a robot so badly that it exploded, causing more damage than it had when it was active.
After a few minutes, he looked up and shook his head.
"I don't think so."
Sonic and Chip moved remains out of the main path of the bridge.
"That should be good," Sonic said, wiping his forehead. "I'll ask Tails about maybe moving this stuff someplace else."
Chip nodded.
Sonic looked ahead. The multicolored cloth overhead, which had only appeared in sparse parts of the bridge, was now becoming more and more apparent? Something about the cloths and the bridge looked familiar, like he had seen it on a certain map.
Sonic grinned.
"We're almost at the end of the bridge!" he said. Chip looked at him, confused.
"Let's go!" Sonic started to run. Shrugging, Chip trailed behind him.