Okay, I'm not in Holaska yet...but Spagonia night seems to drag. Hm. Oh well-I'll have time to work on it tomorrow. Anyway, enjoy the boss battle!

Unleashing Sonic- Story Mode

Over a bridge, fast as lighting. I kinda felt like a ninja with my regained quickness. Eggman was driving ahead of me, with some large needled-bug robot.

It's a shame the robot felt the pain instead of Eggman…

I easily caught up to it with a slow jog, and I doubt he knew I was behind him.

"Eggman!"

He glanced over the side and saw me smirking at him.

"Rggh! How'd you get here so quickly?"

Gee, because I'm the fastest thing alive?

"No matter. Your road ends here!"

He and his bug creation somehow managed to fly ahead of me, long enough for Eggman to get his pod into the seating space in the beetle. I skidded stylishly to a stop, not wanting to be stabbed by that giant pincher.

"Behold! My new power!"

"Here we go…again!"

"Egg-Beetle! Go!"

"ooh! Adding the "go" to your command. That's original…"

"Shut up and be beaten by my beetle, Sonic!"

"You're the only bug I see…"

"You'll pay for that!"

You're going to pay for unleashing me! Whoa…"unleashing me?" …I'm freaked out.

I took a fighting stance, then Chip appeared out of nowhere and did the same.

"All right…let's see how we can pull this one off…" I muttered, speaking my thoughts. I know I wasn't going my fastest, but I couldn't seem to catch up with it! The pinchers suddenly launched into the air, and I couldn't help but cock my head.

"How about this?" chortled Eggman, launching purple box things that I easily avoided.

"Is that the best you have? I'd think after breaking the planet apart you'd have a little more up your sleeve!" I called with a smug look. I was finally starting to catch up with him, to add on to the smugness, until the pinchers, well, pinched together with me in-between them. As Eggman laughed, Chip floated over my shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

I winked. "Oh, trust me-I've had much, much worse than a little pinch!"

He grinned and flew back out of the way. Now returning my full focus back to Eggman, I gathered some rings then sprung into the air; the re-opened pinchers gave me a one-way ticket to the focal point of the machine. Good thing I didn't spring though-because he was jetting away from me once again.

"Now I know how to beat you…" I thought to myself with a grin. I dodged some more of his boxes again, then got ready for my attacking chance. As soon as I passed his last box, I gave myself a Sonic Boost and blasted into the Egg Beetle. It toppled into the air, and I wondered how Eggman was able to stay in his little compartment. The Beetle must've been built with real bug reflexes, since it managed to flip itself over.

I mocked, "How about that?" Eggman scowled and began round two.

"Ohohoho! Are you fast enough to dodge THIS!?"

I had prepared for more meaningless boxes, but Eggman's aim improved and I was hit by two...BOMBS?! Didn't see that coming. Out of frustration, I bolted forward in perfect timing-the pinchers had spread out to welcome me! The Egg Beetle toppled again, but then started to fly alongside the branch we were fighting on.

How a branch can be that long, I'll never know.

"Take this!"

I snuck a glance over my shoulder, seeing three missiles coming my way. No matter which way I moved, one was bound to hit me. I braced myself for the exploding pain that arrived on my back. The missile exploded on contact, and I let out a yelp. My rings scattered around me, and I snagged one bouncing right in front of me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the beetle getting ready to pinch me again. One step ahead of him, I jumped backward out of the way. Eggman drove it in front of me while I started to regain my speed, ready to catch me off guard. I bounced again, though with a slower reaction, the claw just brushing under my shoe.

"You almost had me…" I snickered. "Try something less predictable next time!"

"I'll show you unpredictable…" I heard him murmur under his mustache. He rapidly fired more boxes; I quick-stepped out of the way. I did a Light-Dash on some rings, then flew forward. The beetle was starting to wear down, and so was Eggman…

"You're doing great Sonic!" cheered Chip. "It's almost dead!"

I shrugged. "I guess They don't call it a 'beat'le for nothing…"

Eggman snorted, failing to come up with a witty comeback. He simply tossed those boxes again. I didn't even wait to use my boost this time around! I sprinted forward, flying by all the boxes and knocking into Eggman's "New Power" once more. It turned over again, Chip suddenly shouting at me to take the chance. Following instinct, I performed one last boost and turned the beetle over for good. It exploded in an orange flash, and Chip floated over to give me a high five.

"You're amazing Sonic! You just took it on like no big deal!"

"Ha! Same as ever: all bark and no bite!"

Only moments later, Chip and I took a look around the tree-forted tops of Mazuri. He peeked over the edge and spotted something.

"AH!"

He frantically pointed downward, so I looked myself. It was a large structure, surrounding trees decorated with streaming drapes between their branches. Mazurians must've done that to honor the place.

"Is that the Temple of Gaia?" I wondered aloud.

"Let's check it out!"

I nodded, kicked my leg back and took off the edge, Chip fluttering behind me. On the way down, we were laughing at how far we managed to fly. I, of course, landed beautifully, but Chip had ended up on a streamer, slid down, and was bounced off. I caught him before he splattered onto the ground, and I ended up carrying him inside.

*^*

Deeper into the building, Chip migrated onto my head, which I actually didn't mind at all.

"Whoa…awesome…" he gaped, staring at everything.

"What IS this place?" I still had my guess it was the Temple of Gaia, but there really wasn't anything to prove my theory. Chip, for some reason, seemed to be entertained with every last column and light we passed. Sooner or later, we approached a shrine, with a pedestal sitting in the middle of some very fancy stone work. Chip noticed it before I did.

"Hey Sonic! There's something weird here, right in the middle!" he pointed out. I turned to where he referred to, and saw he was right. He flew over to inspect it, barely giving me a chance to walk over. Chip stuck his head into the middle of the pedestal, and noticed something strange.

"Hey…what's this hole?"

"Wait!" I cried, not wanting him to mess with anything. Not thinking, I stayed where I was standing and reached out. "There could be some kind of-"

Typical. Random trap, shaking building, dramatic cutoff…should have seen it coming.

"Whoa! Wha-Hey!" Chip, in a scared fury, practically appeared behind me with the speed he flew, and I spread my arms out to protect him in case something was headed for us. Everything calmed down though, and the piece with the hole slowly popped out. Declaring it safe, I went to inspect it. After some quick realizing, I pulled out a black Chaos Emerald and placed it into a hole. It suddenly sparkled to life, energy and color flowing through it. It was the green one-which Shadow seemed to favor for some odd reason. It floated upward in a beam of light, both Chip and I gaping at the display.

"Wahoo!" Chip hurrahed, doing a mini-flip in the air. "The emerald's come back to life!"

"This was the Temple of Gaia! That's gotta be why Eggman was so keen on taking the place over!"

"Ha! I knew it all along…I'm just good like that!" I bragged inside my head. My moment of boasting thought was shaken up by a small earthquake.

"Whoa-Ooaahhh!"

"Here we go agaaaaaaaain!"

What was really happening was literally an earthquake. Outside, a ring on light emulated out of the temple, and a pillar of light shot out from the top, similar to the one the Chaos Emerald was in. The shaking in itself was the continent putting itself back together. A bright flash of blue, for the moment, was the sky, and the first continent had been restored.

Just as Chip and I were heading out, Tails managed to find us.

"Sonic! Good news!"

I braked and turned to Tails. Chip, who had been on my head, flew forward with the inertia and crashed onto the floor. My little buddy soared in the air, arms shaking with excitement.

"The planet! One of the broken pieces of the planet moved back into place!"

I grinned. "All right!" I motioned to Chip. "Nice job!" We slapped a high five, and I guess the force was too much for the little guy…he was like a helicopter with the was he was spinning off! Tails suddenly shoved some giant screen machine thing in my face.

"Take a look!"

I stared at the image, showing indeed the continent we were on had in fact, been restored.

I'm still wondering how he managed to get that picture without hacking into a satellite…

"Sweet!" After all, that was pretty cool.

"At this rate, you'll have the whole world back together in no time Sonic!" concluded Tails excitedly. I just folded my arms and tried to appear like it was no big deal.

"A planet sized jigsaw puzzle?" I asked, slightly flat. Tails raised an eyebrow. His face made me break out into a grin and give a thumbs up. "Sounds like a great excuse to see the world!"

Tails smiled back. "Only you Sonic…"

My smile got broader. Hey, if I somehow managed to get in as little nighttime as possible, this just might be fun!

You can't avoid what's inside though…