Chapter Twenty-One: Shrine of ice

Sonic slowly glided down towards the top of one of the mountains, watching as it came closer and closer. He thought, This is just great. Once we hit it, we're going to have a really long fall.

Miles looked down, and asked, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

Sonic replied, "No, not really. This is the first time I've ever been out of ideas."

Then, he noticed a few patches of cracked ice right near where they were going to land. He knew how to snowboard, and he figured that he could crack off a piece with his landing and snowboard down the mountainside. He said, "I have an idea now, Miles! Hang on!"

He suddenly dropped off of the hang glider, and Miles gasped as they fell through the chill wind. He landed right on one of the ice chunks, knocking it up into the air. Then, he jumped onto it, and began sliding down, with Miles clinging onto him frantically. He slid down the mountainside with ease, easing his way past trees and rocks as he sped down faster and faster. It never seemed to get that fast to him, but Miles was freaking out. She was scared, thinking that he would wreck at every other moment, and beginning to worry as they sped up. Then, they hit a large rock, which acted like a ramp that Sonic leaped off of. As they flew over a huge amount of snow, they dropped into an ice cave and Sonic leaped off the board before it slammed into a wall. He landed and slid to a calm stop right against it, and then Miles let go of him. She was extremely shaken by the whole ride, but managed to say, "That was…fun! I enjoyed that!"

Sonic gave her a confused look and said, "I thought you were afraid of crashing."

Miles replied, "I'm always like that on high speed rides, and that felt like one. You know, at the carnivals?"

Sonic said, "Okay. So, you actually had lot of fun. Okay, then maybe I'll have to do it again sometime."

Sonic then looked around. They were in a large ice cave, with multiple paths leading through it. Two of the paths were immediately accessible, being on the ground near them. Sonic asked, "Do you think we should split up?"

Miles replied, "After what happened last time, I'd rather not."

Sonic said, "Alright, then we have to decide which passage to take."

Miles looked at the two passages, and said, "I say we should try the left one."

Sonic said, "That's fine by me."

He ran down the left path and stopped immediately when he entered the next room. There were five robots, as tall as normal human beings, patrolling the area. Their arms were machine guns that were aimed in front of them, waiting for an unidentified person or robot to cross their path. They were scanning the entire area, looking for any signs of life as they patrolled. On their chests, there was large G, most likely standing for G.U.N, on the front. Sonic whispered, "I think that the military has decided to take matters into their own hands here."

Miles looked over, and asked, "What would G.U.N be doing here?"

Sonic replied, "I don't know. I know that they're probably investigating because of the forest fire here. There were a large number of explosions from those missiles, and that's another thing that might have attracted them."

One of the robots barely heard them, and trained its guns in their directions. Sonic and Miles dashed back into the passage to hide from the robot just in the nick of time. The robot scanned that area for a moment, and then continued onward. Miles poked her head out, and after she saw them walk away, she said, "They're gone."

Sonic said, "We need to find the humans first. The robots will doubtless open fire on us if they see us."

Sonic ran out into that room and noticed up to seven different passages. He knew which one the robots had gone down, so he didn't count that passage. He asked, "Where to now?"

Miles said, "I guess we should try the one in front of us."

Sonic ran in, not saying anything. Miles followed, and they arrived to find a long hallway in front of them. There were crystalline chandeliers above them that were glowing in a rainbow of colors. Miles stared up at them for a few moments before looking back down to see Sonic walking across a thin looking ice floor. Miles said, "Sonic, be careful."

Sonic looked down at the floor, and then stopped. He said, "Uh oh."

The floor began cracking, and then collapsed underneath him. Miles leaped over and caught him before he fell. She flew him up to one of the chandeliers and landed on it. Sonic said, "Wow, that was close save!" He glanced nervously down at the spikes below.

Miles said, "Be more careful next time."

Sonic looked down at the entrance, and heard metallic footsteps coming from there. He said, "Oh, great."

Miles looked just in time to see the robots from earlier walk in, watching warily. Sonic said, "We have to go now. Back to the other entrance."

One of the robots heard him and glanced up. He froze as it scanned him, and then it said, "Identity confirmed. Sonic the Hedgehog found."

The robots glanced up, and didn't fire. He thought, They were looking for me? For what-

His thoughts were cut short by them scanning Miles. The robot said, "Intruder alert!"

Sonic grabbed Miles at the last moment and then leaped away right as that robot began firing. The chandelier fell and Sonic barely landed at the entrance to the hall. Sonic ran inside before the machine gun fire could hit either him or Miles. He heard the robots call, "Emergency alert! Do not let the intruder escape!"

An alarm sounded, and Sonic realized that they had stumbled into a temporary G.U.N base. He said, "I know where we are now!"

He decided not to stay in that cave for longer than he needed. He ran out to the first entrance, only to find that a bunch of snow had blocked off the entrance. He looked back, and looked to the passage to the right. He said, "This way!"

He ran towards that passage and ran inside. Miles followed shortly before a stream of robots came into that room and looked around. Then, they ran down that passage, hoping to catch their intruders. However, Sonic and Miles were long gone by the time they ran into that passage. They were three rooms ahead, and quickly advancing. They arrived at a pool that led out of the cave through an underwater passage, and Sonic decided, "We have to go through there. That's the only way out for us at the moment!"

Miles was startled by his decision, as she had been expecting him to run onward. She cried, "You can't swim!"

Sonic replied, "Yeah, but I can run through water like this just fine! I've done it before!"

Sonic ran into the water, and let himself drop towards the bottom. Suddenly, memories began returning to him from the last time that he was on the mini-planet, and had to swim. He began figuring out how, and before he knew it, he swimming through the water easily. Miles was even more surprised when she saw him swim out and up to the other side. He popped out, gasping for air, and Miles followed shortly. She asked, "When did you learn to swim?"

Sonic replied, "It's a complicated story."

Then, Eggman flew by, storming about something. Sonic heard, "Blasted hedgehog got away, again! How does he do that? It always looks like he isn't even trying!"

Sonic called, "I never really have to try!

The mobile stopped and turned to face them. Eggman called, "You blasted hedgehog! I'll kill you this time, fool!"

Sonic called, "Yeah? Just try me!"

Cannons protruded from the side of the mobile, and Eggman said, "If I can't hit you because you're so fast, I'll slow you down!"

He shot a large stream of super cooled air right at Sonic. Miles dashed aside, but Sonic stood there. Then, at the last possible moment, he slid along the snow and ice underneath the jet of cold air. He came up right underneath the egg mobile and kicked it up into the air. The cannon moved and Sonic had to leap aside before the jet of air hit him. Miles flew up, and punched the glass of the mobile as hard as she could. She managed to shatter it inward, and then Eggman said, "Fine! This calls for duel-cannons!"

Another cannon protruded out the side of the mobile and it began shooting ice at Miles. As Sonic dodged the cannon shooting at him, he noticed that they worked on a set system. One cannon was almost always on the opposite side of the other. He grinned and called, "Miles! Stick close!"

He met up with Miles, and made sure that the cannon was still chasing him. Suddenly, it turned as Eggman tried to engulf Miles in the super cold air. Sonic used that moment to attack the mobile. He leaped up, and kicked into the cockpit. He hit Eggman in the face, slamming his head down on the control console. Eggman accidentally pressed the self-destruct button as he struggled to get back up, and cried in dismay, "Not again! Why do my stupid robots always have to add one of those?!"

Sonic called, "Better luck next time, doc!"

The machine exploded, and as Eggman flew away on a jetpack, Sonic heard him muttering, "Unbelievable! I have to get rid of that problem pronto!"

Sonic looked over, and gasped. Miles had been caught in the jet, and was knocked out. He ran over, and she was frozen from the inside. He grabbed her now rigid body and looked around frantically for a hot pool. He didn't find a hot pool, but he found several dead trees nearby. Thinking quickly, he ran over, grabbed a bunch of sticks and began forming a fireplace. Suddenly, several G.U.N soldiers ran out, and when they saw him desperately trying to save her, they ran over and called, "Sonic! Are you alright!"

Sonic looked over, and then called, "You won't touch her!"

They ran over, and said, "We apologize for the misunderstanding! The robots have a set programming, so that's why they did what they did."

One felt Mile's arm, and said, "Great. We need to get her heated up and fast!"

He said, "Sonic, you'll have to go on while she's recovering. I hope you can stop Eggman."

Sonic said, "Take good care of her. I don't want her to die on me."

Several of the soldiers were already applying very warm looking blankets to her, and as she slowly began thawing, she managed to moan in pain lightly. Sonic said, "Miles, you'll be fine, love."

He said, "Thank you. Take good care of her, alright?"

Sonic turned and said, "You'll pay for this, Eggman!"

He ran off, following Eggman. He dashed into a snowy tunnel, and swore, "If anything happens to Miles…I will kill him myself."

Miles will be temporarily out of the picture. This is to explain why it is only Sonic in the next game. This will also add a few more worrying moments as he keeps in touch about her condition. Well, I hoped you liked this chapter, and don't yell at me that I changed my mind about when G.U.N would show up!