Chapter 24: the unmovable object
The large platform finally screeched to a halt as it arrived in a lower part of the city. The group hopped off the platform as they started to walk towards a tunnel.
"Looks like we are in another area of the city..." Tails muttered
"Yeah...somthing is...different..." Sonic said as he walked backwards.
Twilight started to sniff the air as she said casually "yeah your right...I think I smell water!".
Sonic's pupils became tiny dots as he froze in place with a blank face. Tails and rainbow dash looked at each other with a worried expression as twilight's eyebrow raised. " uh...are you OK sonic?" She asked, no response.
"Sonic?" She said as she walked over to him and waved a hoof in his face. "Hello?", he still stood frozen as twilight leaned forward and poked his arm. His body tilted like it was completely rigid and he fell on his back like a solid wooden board, still frozen in his position.
Twilight turned back to tails and rainbow who had fake smiles on their faces as she curiously asked " OK what's his problem? ".
Tails sighed and said " well you see...sonic is a bit...aquaphobic... ". Twilight put her mouth in an "o" as she turned back to sonic who was still on his back. "Is he...stuck like this?". Rainbow rolled her eyes as she walked over to sonic " no just wait a sec..". Rainbow stood over sonic and leaned in close. Her eyes met his as she got closer sonic began to hyperventilate as she puckered her lips up, She gave him a small peck on his cheek. Sonic suddenly surged upward with his face so red it looked like it was on fire. He quickly stood up and gave a nervous grin as rainbow rolled her eyes with a blush. Tails and twilight were snickring at the scene before them as they continued to walk toward the tunnel followed by their blue freinds.
As they walked rainbow dash moved to sonic and said "next time you get nervous around water..." Sonic raised his brow as rainbow counties "just think about my awesomeness!" She said as she stuck her chest out proudly. Sonic hid a blush as he rolled his eyes and muttered "yeah whatever...".
The group got to the beginning of the strange tunnel as sonic stepped up first. He stook his foot into it and was surprised when he felt a force pull him inside it as he began to run through it. Rainbow tilted her head slightly as she said " we went through a tunnel like this before how come we didn't get pulled in like that?" Tails shrugged as he said "maybe we didn't notice because we were already running..". Twilight rubbed her muzzle as she said " yeah that makes sense...I did feel a bit faster when we went into it.".
With that the trio nodded as they all ran into the tunnel.
They boosted forward out of the tunnel and ran down a large orange and white spiraled pipe. When they got to the bottom they saw sonic waiting with his arms crossed and his foot tapping the ground impatiently. "What took ya so long?" He said angrily. Rainbow dash held up her hoofs "Whoah...chill out there spikes!". Sonic sweat dropped and scratched his head " heh...sorry...just a little on edge.. ". Rainbow rolled her eyes as the group ran off again.
They passed a few obstacles such as strange platforms that puffed up and dropped when they jumped on them and some Cannons. They also encountered some strange robots that would make a wall of electricity and quickly move from the floor to the ceiling... Sonic kinda got...zapped. They ran down a narrow corridor that seemed to have a dead end but when they got to the end they saw another force tunnel, except this one was facing upward. " well uh...ladies first!" Tails said nervously as he pointed at the tunnel. Rainbow dash rolled her eyes then jumped up and was propelled upward through the tunnel. The rest followed as the tunnel went up for a while.
When the reached the top and shot out of the tunnel they saw a wide area. They walked looking around curiously as sonic started walking backwards again "man this place goes on forever!". The others giggled as they continued to walk...suddenly a rough voice came from behind sonic " well...well if it isn't the little group of dirty trespassers!" Sonic slowly turned with a serious frown as he said "you...".
Twilight looked confused as she quickly turned to tails " am I missing something? Who is that?".
" That's knuckles... He is the guy who punched sonic causing rainbow to be transferred here from the massive energy discharge...". Knuckles flexed his arm as he said "yep and by the way...it felt SO good to sink my fist into that dirty thief's face!".
Sonic growled and yelled out " I'm no thief! I earned them fair and square! ". Knuckles laughed as he said " sure you did...I'm afraid I'm going to have to end this little chat...I hope you like water!". Knuckles quickly stomped a large button in front of him then he added "and DARKNESS!".
suddenly a loud rush of water could be heard as the area shook, knuckles began to walk away. " where are you going?" Sonic yelled as he ran after knuckles, but before he caught him the lights in the area cut off leaving the group in total darkness. Sonic tripped over the button knuckles pressed and skid across the ground. "Um guys?...I can't see..." Rainbow said nervously as a facepalm was heard in the darkness. "Use your wrist watches!" Tails yelled out as 4 dim lights appeared. The group walked over to where sonic was and saw he was still sitting on the ground with an embarrassed smile.
"Well what now? We can't hold our Hoofs out like this all day!" Rainbow said with annoyance. Twilight lit up like she got an idea as she concentrated and her horn began to glow purple, 4 bright yellow orbs appeared and floated above everyone."these will follow each of us and light the way!". Sonic whistled "Man you are just full of surprises!" making twilight blush slightly, tails frowned and said "you know i could have just made a...nevermind..." He muttered trailing off. The group moved forward again as they were met with a dead end, "dammit!...any ideas?" Sonic said as he kicked the wall. Tails looked around and pointed to a strange block on the floor, "I think we can bust that thing open!". Sonic smirked then jumped into the air, he curled into a ball and struck the block accurately breaking it to reveal water. When he landed rainbow dash ran up to him excitedly " dude! I have seen you do that a few times...its like you home in on stuff...what do you call that move? ". Sonic rubbed his chin he never really had a name for it. " uh i dunno... The homing attack?" Sonic said with a shrug. "Awesome!" Rainbow said as twilight and tails walked up to the hole.
"Alright this is the only way out..." Tails said as he jumped into the water.
"Here we go..." Twilight said nervously as she jumped in behind him. Rainbow walked up to the hole and was about to jump when she turned to sonic who was shivering nervously. She had a seductive smile as she said "Come on spikes...follow the rainbow!" She yelled as she swung her tail and jumped into the water. Sonic sighed then tiptoed to the edge and stared down into the water. He stuck his shoe out and put the tip of it in the water. Suddenly rainbow dash emerged from the water and grabbed Sonic's foot with her mouth, sonic yelped as he got dragged down into the water.
They avoided things like crushing barrels and spikes as they finally submerged in a new area. They all hopped out of the water and looked around as they noticed a large button similar to the one knuckles pushed earlier. Tails walked over to it read out it's label "light control". He frowned and folded his arms as he said " I swear they put these buttons in the strangest locations... ".
" push it tails!" Sonic said, tails stomped on the button and the area flashed brightly as all the lights came on again. Twilight closed her eyes and her horn lit up again making the 4 light orbs disappear.
The group continued until they came into a tight room, a thick door slammed behind them as they ran in. They all looked back surprised as they grinded to a halt. They noticed the small room had a single floating barrel blocking what seemed to be the way out. Tails frowned as he spun his tails and started to fly to the top of the room "im gonna have a look around...".
While tails checked the top of the room sonic and twilight were at the door that trapped them in. " hmmm weird" twilight said as she tapped the door with her hoof, she turned to sonic and asked "uh...do you think you could bust this down?". " sure thing princess!" He said with a grin as he reved up a spindash. When he dashed at the wall he simply bounced off harmlessly, sonic was thrown back a few feet as he uncurled and rubbed the back of his head. "Are you ok?" Twilight said concerned as sonic gave a nervous smile "yeah...but we're not getting through that wall..". They both walked over to rainbow dash who was sitting staring at the barrel when tails flew down from the upper area of the room. " any luck?" Rainbow asked as tails shook his head in disappointment.
"Well we have to pass this thing..." Sonic said as he pointed to the barrel. Rainbow dash hopped onto the barrel and it moved downward with her weight, just as everyone got excited thinking it was that simple the barrel just bobbed back into its original position. Rainbow dash frowned as she started to jump onto the barrel repeatedly making it move further and further downward each time, she almost had it until her jumps stopped moving the barrel and it quickly zipped back upward into its original position throwing her to the ceiling. Rainbow let out an "Ooof" as she slammed into the ceiling, when she fell she was caught by sonic who winced slightly as His arms were still injured. He set her down and she said "thanks spikes..." She then frowned at the barrel and said "well that thing is not going to budge that way...".
Sonic stepped forward confidently and said " my turn! ". He jumped into the air and curled up and homing attacked the barrel a few times, each time bumping and denting the barrel but still it just returned to its original position. Sonic landed breathing heavily as he frowned " time to use my figure 8 technique! I'm going to spin this thing out of place!" He then took a stance as everyone watched in amazment as he started to run in place really fast causing his feet to blur together until they formed a figure 8. With a smirk he surged forward onto the barrel spinning it rapidly with his feet, the barrel started to wobble as if it was going to finally give in but suddenly it just started to spin the other way, the sudden change in direction threw off Sonic's grip and he flew backwards and slammed into the door that blocked them in. He groaned as he struggled to stand and walked back to the group. Rainbow dash was excited despite the failure as she yelled "that was bucking AWESOME!". twilight sighed and said " yes it was...but it still didn't work...I think I have an idea... ".
Twilight walked up to the barrel and concentrated her magic making her horn glow purple, a purple aura appeared around the barrel. Twilight strained as she began to slowly force the barrel downward. She was sweating heavily and her nose began to bleed as the barrel neared the bottom of the passage, but she couldn't hold it forever... The purple aura around the barrel quickly faded causing it to surge upward and return to its original position. Twilight fainted and fell to the ground as tails caught her before she slammed her head. " OK guys...I think we should take a break..." Rainbow and sonic nodded as they both plopped down on the floor. "That is some freaky otherworldly bullshit right there..." Sonic said with a frown as the group relaxed.
Notes: oh noes! they are trapped forever! if only they knew...up and down... JK.
I'm just think about how I'm going to have them figure it out...I would also like to mention I play the sonic 3 and knuckles mod "sonic 3 and rainbow dash" (it originally inspired this fanfic) alongside the story to refresh my memory of anything that stands out in the levels. I would recommend you all do the same or just play the mod for shits and giggles... Just google it...you will find it...
Anyway thanks for reading!