Unleashing Sonic: Story Mode
Beyond the City of Sand was a highly rocky area, all sporting scorch marks. Another look around, and I noticed it was pretty hot in a desert for nighttime…but that was because there was fire everywhere I turned.
"I haven't felt this tired since that first time in Apotos…" I yawned, trying to push myself to keep going. "And what adds to the charm of this time around is that I've got three more areas to get through rather than just two…I'll probably fall asleep and walked over the edge of a cliff."
"Maybe the areas will be shorter!" Chip suggested, trying to get me to be perky. But it was hard to be perky when your smile was being weighed down with exhaustion. Despite being tired, I managed to muster up enough energy to climb a winding trail through the rock, following the fire torches lined along the edges. I stopped right before a small drop in the elevation- it was a big space, plus there was some rings…
Cue battle time!
Five Deep Nightmares rose to the challenge that was me and dashed forward. They all surrounded me, and I suddenly found myself running on pure adrenaline. I extended one fist and ran at them, only managing to hit two. I ducked under a swinging fist, then reached for one's tail while I was on the ground. Giving it a pull, I tripped the Deep Nightmare, then used it to knock down all the others. Chucking the one I had in my hands into a wall, one of the ones on the ground grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.
"Hey!"
I kicked it off, only for another to grab my arm and slam me into the ground. Slightly discombobulated, I tried to break free, but I was failing miserably. The other three grabbed my other limbs, and the Deep Nightmare I had tossed at the wall still had a bit of fight in him.
"Chip! Help!" I cried, suddenly being stretched out like a trampoline. Chip had started to fly over as fast as he could, but he didn't make it. The fifth Deep Nightmare had leaped into the air and pounded its fist into my stomach. The wind was knocked out of me, and it certainly didn't help when I was tossed into the dirt. The pack of Nightmares snarled at me and approached once again. Chip flew in front of the one I had weakened and snapped a photo, the flash actually putting it out of commission.
I growled as I struggled to get back into action, sticking my leg out and knocking them all down once again. While they were down I stood back up, grabbing them each one by one and throwing them at the ground, at rocks, and at pots gathered around in the corner. They all went limp, and as they disappeared, four Dark Bat Snipers arrived to take their place.
"I guess I can't have just one round of battles anymore, can I?" I sighed, jumping up and pushing two of them to the ground, then finishing them both off with an extra punch. I did the same to the other two, which was enough to get the force field to disappear.
"I hope I can keep up my adrenaline…" I huffed, grabbing the cliff's ledge and pulling myself up now that it was force field free."…because when it wears off, I probably won't even be able to function properly!"
"Who would've thought? An adventure that's bad for your health!" Chip exclaimed.
And if it's not bad for your health, then you're probably risking your health instead.
"And in other words, I took a sweet picture of you throwing a Deep Nightmare with this rock arch way in the background!"
Chip showed me the picture, and I smirked. He then frowned, however.
"That was right before you needed me, though…"
"Eh, don't worry about it. I'm fine now, aren't I?"
Chip nodded, and I continued down the trail. It curved in-between the cliffs towering above us, winding through the rocks. The moon hung above us, shining like a star and bigger than life. My moon gazing was interrupted though- a wall of flames came to life along with a force field, and a Flame Master emerged from the fire. The Flame Master was accompanied by three Deep Nightmares, and if I went to attack the witch, I'd get burned.
"Talk about turning up the heat," I remarked, Chip shaking his head and floating off to the side, ready to help out if needed. I tried to attack the Deep Nightmares, but a suddenly blast of fire singed me and I went toppling into the ground. I rolled around, trying to put the flames of my fur out. The three nightmares advanced toward me while the Flame Master stayed close to the fire wall. The monster started to attack, but I repelled them away with a sudden burst of blue power.
As soon as they saw my new coat of blue, they tried frantically to scramble away, but my arm was faster and grabbed one of their tails. I twirled it over my head with my new found strength, then let it go. It tumbled around in the air, crashing into its two friends and defeating all three of them. Smirking, all I had left to take care of was the-
"ARGH!"
The Flame Master gave me a dubious look after launching its latest attack. I was covering in fire, but the flames quickly faded as I located a barrel of water off to the side. The Flame Master saw what I was about to do and tried to strike me, but I jumped over the fireball, grabbed the barrel, spun around, and hurled it at the Flame Master. The flames were doused, rendering the witch powerless.
"It's all washed up now, huh?" Chip asked as I tackled the Flame Master to the ground and let loose. Once the witch was finished, I grabbed another barrel of water and threw it at the fire wall. The fires were doused and the path was clear.
"The ones that heal and the ones that shoot electricity are still more annoying, but the Flame Masters are definitely a close third."
I climbed up a pole and jumped onto higher ground. Just by looking at the place, I knew there would be a lot of climbing.
As long as there's no cliff scaling, I'll be fine.
Chip went on ahead, seeing as he had it easy and he could fly over everything. I grunted, pulling myself over ledges and making my way over rocks jetting out of the side of the cliffs. A Flying Pe- er, a Dark Bat was just around the corner, and I grabbed onto it and let it take me across a gap.
"Okay Sonic, just a head's up, there's some pretty narrow footing in this part…" Chip warned me. I glanced behind him- he certainly wasn't lying.
And it didn't help that there were pots in my way and Dark Bat Snipers shooting at me!
I slightly gulped as I pressed myself against the wall, slowly inching my way over. Whenever a pot was in my way, I smashed it quickly then repositioned myself before I accidentally slipped off the edge. As I made my way over, I gradually got closer to the Snipers, and I was really hoping that they wouldn't see me-
Who am I kidding? It was open season on yours truly.
"GAH! GAH! ARGH!"
I hurried to get to the area where the Snipers were so I could destroy them, but at this rate it looked like they were going to destroy me first! It was an onslaught of sizzling red orbs, and every time I moved, one went whizzing right by me! When I finally made it to the edge, I knocked them both out of the air at the same time, then kicked them over the edge. My Dark Bat troubles still weren't over- two more Snipers, and two Dark Bat Thunders as well, appeared, along with three Spikes and two Deep Nightmares.
"Looks like you've got your work cut out for you!" Chip laughed nervously. Seeing the look on my face, he quickly went off to take cover. I sighed, then grabbed two of the Spikes. I threw one at the Deep Nightmare, depleting half of its health, then the other at the Dark Bats. The Snipers were defeated, but the Thunders were not. They were angry too, and I suddenly had several volts hurled at me, making my fur stand out on end. The Deep Nightmare struck me in the shoulder while I noticed the final Spike inching towards me.
"Can you all gather together and say cheese?" Chip asked, flying out of his hiding spot and snapping a photo at just the right moment. The Thunders and the Deep Nightmares were positioned right by each other, making me able to finish them all off by tossing the final Spike at them.
"Great timing, Chip!" I exclaimed, going beyond the battle are and finding a path hidden behind some rubble.
"I guess I redeemed myself," he said with a sheepish grin, catching up and floating alongside me.
The path sealed away by a wall on its left side had jets of fire streaming out of its right side. I was burned once, but after that, I managed to run by them quickly as they were about to blow or jumped over them at the last moment.
I should've figured the dramatic path was going to lead to something big.
The Goal Ring was up ahead, but before Chip or I had even said anything, the force fields went up and the monsters emerged.
Two Big Mothers, three Rexes, and who knows how many Killer Bees.
"You have got to be kidding!" I whined, wincing as the mass of bees approached me in one giant bunch. I took out the Rexes, then I tried to swipe at the Bees, but they all moved from out my reach and charged in. "Ack! Where's a crate when you need one?"
I really probably should have focused on at least one of the Big Mothers, but I was seriously in dire need of bug spray. I tried to push through the Bees to get to one of the bigger foes, but they both knocked me away by slamming into the ground and sending out a shockwave.
"NARGH!"
The strength of the shockwave was so strong it sent me toppling into a wall. The bee instantly saw easy pray and started stinging me like crazy. Every little poke of their stingers continued to inch me toward the edge. I didn't know how much power I had left, but I unleashed it, and the bees all expelled away from me and disappeared. The Big Mothers saw that their spawns were gone and proceeded to create new ones. I managed to stop one though, by plowing into its back and rapidly punching it.
One is better than none!
The Big Mother I was currently fighting started to lose health rapidly, but she wasn't quite beaten yet. The other one, meanwhile, had given birth to five more annoying Killer Bees. I grabbed the closest one and slammed it into the first Big Mother- both were beaten instantly. The remaining Mother roared and pounded its fists into the ground. Luckily, I had jumped up at the right time and even had two of the bees get caught in the blast! Landing back on the ground, I gripped the remaining two bees and smashed them against the Big Mother, taking care of them. The Big Mother went to produce more once again, but I jumped at her and went crazy with attacks.
Chip danced around, trying to use the same moves as I was. "Uppercut! Right hook! Full nelson! A kick in the-"
"ROAR!"
The Big Mother flung me off her back and brought a massive hand down on top of me. I managed to muffle out a sound of pain, but it wasn't like anyone needed to hear me to know that. I pushed her hand off of me, then grabbed it with both of mine. She looked a bit surprised, and I wasn't even if I could pull off what I was about to do.
I gritted my teeth as I strained to pull her off her feet, and after an intense grunting session, I finally managed to do so. The Big Mother hit the ground with a thud, but I wasn't finished yet. I growled again, dragging her across the ground in a circular path. I slowly started to pick up speed and momentum, and Chip just gaped as the Big Mother gradually lifted up off the ground.
"Whoa…"
Soon enough, I was spinning her around like any other enemy, and let her go like the such as well. She collided into a pillar holding up a ledge with a 30-Ring on it and struggled to get back up. The Big Mother glared at me one last time before dispersing into small purple specks and disappearing.
I casually jumped up onto the ledge and claimed the ring, restoring the health that the Killer Bees had stung away from me. Chip was still amazed that I had managed to throw the Big Mother as he followed me to the Goal Ring.
"That was incredible Sonic!"
I grinned. "I do tend to do incredible things!"
Chip smiled back, then waved a hand in front of my eyes. "Just to check, you're still doing okay, right?"
I shrugged. "As in me being tired? I get the feeling that if I fall asleep I won't wake up for a long time…but I think I'm fine now."
"You sure?"
I nodded. "Yeah…the thing I'm worried about is that I'll become so tired that I'll get, like, hyper or something, and then I'll crash."
"Hopefully you can hold up a little longer…"
I sure hoped I could too.
. . .
Past the Goal Ring was a sort of valley, as Chip and I discovered when we ascended up the path. We didn't even get that far when I found myself trapped in another battle again.
"A guy just can't get a break, can he?"
Two Spikes and about seven Red Rexes. Nothing that took too much effort- I just threw the Spikes at the Rexes and they all went boom. The fields went down, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for pulling off the quick tactic.
"All right, let's get started for real this time," I said, stretching my arms up and grabbing a bar above me. I used it to swing onto another one and then land on a cliff on the other side of a gap. Chip held up a card that had an "8" on it.
"An 8? That was at least a 9.5!"
"You were lagging on the second swing and you were a bit off on the landing, plus it wasn't all that impressive."
I rolled my eyes and stepped onto a platform, which was the only way off the cliff. Unsurprisingly, when the platform reached its destination and I stepped off, the monsters came rolling in again.
"I remember when the battle were very rare! It was all about the surviving of the night, and now every other moment I seemed to be killing a bunch of neon creatures."
"Things certainly have progressed, haven't they?" Chip questioned, scratching the back of his head.
This round of foes were just Killer Bees, and thankfully this time I had a few crates around me. It took three crate throws to dispatch them, and the force field fell.
"Wow, they might as well not even show up if they're going to be this easy!" commented Chip.
"But they'll show up anyway just to torture me," I groaned, sluggishly carrying on. The path seemed to end, but Chip pointed out that a pile of rocks had caved in on a small tunnel. A few punches turned the rubble into smaller rubble, and the path was clear once again. On the other side of the tunnel was once again an area where I would have to navigate narrow footing. The only difference this time was that the footing was even narrower and there were Fire Blowers trying to knock me off rather than Dark Bat Snipers.
Now instead of just being knocked off, I'd be fried to a golden brown as well!
I grunted something under my breath and I crossed over the first path- nothing too bad there. The real issue was with the second path- the Fire Blower was spewing flames right over where I needed to walk! I waited until it stopped blowing, then leaped up and knocked it onto its back. A quick shove over the edge was all it took to get rid of it.
After that, I scanned what I would be navigating next- an even narrower path loomed ahead, along with another Fire Blower that proved to probably be more annoying to deal with than the one before it. I jumped down onto the next ledge, then inched myself onto the thin path. Even from how far away I was from it, I could feel the heat of the flames the Blower lashed out with.
Just like before, I stopped at the edge of the flames when I reached them, waiting for it to stop blowing. The moment it did, I knocked it over from afar with my extended fist, then rushed over and kicked it off the edge as well.
"So that was a bit easier than I anticipated…" I shrugged, carrying on.
I walked down another path that cut through the cliffs, the faint sound of Chip snapping pics being the only sound I could hear besides my own footsteps. I was so focused on the small sounds that when the barriers shot up and the monsters emerged, I let out an unexpected yelp.
Well, at least I was given a tiny break.
Four Deep Nightmares and two Dark Bat Snipers- if I played my cards right, they shouldn't have been much of a problem. One lunged, curling up and throwing itself at me. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, it plowed into me and I slammed into the barrier.
"What the…"
Another Deep Nightmare jumped up, then crashed down onto me, while yet another swept my feet from under me just as I had stood back up. I groaned, rolling out of the way of the fourth one's attack. Once I leapt back to my feet, I struck the first one in the side with my fist, then did a handstand and kicked it down with both my feet. The other three were looking dazed from my move, and they practically shrunk when I snarled at them. The Snipers were shooting at me like crazy, but were failing since they constantly hit the Deep Nightmares instead.
"How do you like THAT?" I growled, alternatively thrusting my fists against the second Deep Nightmare. It felt defeated, and I worked on the next two. The classic "head-clonk" worked nicely here, and I finished them both off at the same time by shoving my fists into their stomachs, each twice. They fell over with the wind knocked out of them as I ran over to the Snipers. I knocked them out of the air and finished them off afterwards.
"Sonic! The Goal Ring? !" Chip cried, flying around the corner and putting on a shocked look.
Boy, I wish he hadn't told me that.
I was just as surprised as he was, but just by looking at the area before the ring, I knew I was in for something. First off, there were several platforms hovering over a never-ending abyss that I would have to miraculously navigate. Then there was the suspicious area in front of the Goal Ring, where I was almost positive another set of enemies would jump out. And if that wasn't enough, I had a suspicious feeling that a bigger foe would emerge to crush me, like they seemed to be doing lately.
"Okay…I'm gonna try to take this easy…"
If it was daytime, I could've jumped from platform to platform in a flash and leapt into the Goal Ring before any sort of barriers bothered to pop up.
I waited for the first platform to come my way, then stepped on it, heading off into the latest challenge. The one I was currently on went up and down, but the other three platforms went left and right, and with close observation, I noticed that they all joined up at one point. Shame I couldn't just bolt across them at that particular point, huh?
The first platform touched the second, and I swiftly jumped onto it. Before I could even attempt to reach the third one, they glided right by each and I found myself impatiently tapping my foot.
"This is going to take forever…yet I can't afford to get risky…"
I irritably waited for the two platforms to cross in that split second again, seizing the chance and leaping over. I hardly alighted onto the next platform, slightly slipping when I landed. I regained by balance quickly, and once again waited on the return of fourth platform petulantly. I glanced over to the Goal Ring spinning around in its little safe zone- it just made the longing to get over there even more unbearable.
At long last, I was finally able to leap onto the final platform, and within the same second I made my way over to the area just in front of the Goal Ring. As soon as I touched down on it, four Deep Nightmares crawled out of the sands and a barrier rendered the Goal Ring unreachable.
"I don't have time for you!" I growled, grabbing one of the Nightmares and throwing it somewhere down into the abyss. The other three I attacked simultaneously, and they weren't hard to batter down at all. Another round of four Deep Nightmares emerged as well, and I took care of them just as quickly.
"You've gotta be kidding!" Chip gaped, watching as another four Deep Nightmares emerged out of the darkness in the sands. I made a face and punched one right off the edge.
"They obviously weren't listening when I said I wasn't in the mood."
One tried to do the midair spin-then-kick like a previous monster, but I caught onto him doing the trick that was all-too-familiar to me and stopped him before he pulled it off. I shoved him into the rest of his buddies, knocking them all to the ground and leaving them unable to survive one more hit. I socked them all, just as easily as the previous Nightmares. It was what came next that was going to be a bit tougher.
Remember how last time I was wishing I could fight a Titan or two? I got my wish.
The hulking brutes emerged out of the ground after the defeat of the Nightmares, standing on each side me and giving me no option to escape. I did the first thing that came to my mind- I ran at the left one and hacked mercilessly until half its health was drained and it swatted me away like a fly. I spiraled in the air, not stopping until my head crashed against a metal crate.
"Ow…"
Wait…metal crate…
Once I pulled myself together, I heaved the metal crate over my head and hurled it at the weakened Titan. I hit it in the chest, causing it to stumble back from the sudden force. Seeing my chance, I jumped onto the crate and pushed off of it, lunging at the Titan and punching rapidly. I didn't stop until the Titan was felled…and the other one started beating on me like a piñata. I whirled my head around and growled at it.
"Wanna play rough, huh?" I sneered, my annoyance rising with the blue glow around me. I had no time to think over why I was constantly abusing this power lately- I just wanted that Titan gone. It saw my blue afterglow and cautiously walked away from me, but I charged like a blue lightning bolt and collided into it with such force that I knocked it right over. The loud thud that accompanied the crash could be heard from quite a distance- I think I even made Chip jump!
As I fought the foe, I slowly began to realize how much easier it was to take them all down. Sure, the surplus of fights I had to endure were annoying, and the abundances of the monsters were too, but it really didn't take all that long! If we were still back in, say, Spagonia, I wouldn't have been able to clear out those Nightmares as fast as I did, and I certainly wouldn't have been strong enough to knock an entire Titan over…
I guess either I'm getting more ruthless or just stronger.
"Huh…" I breathed, the Titan fighting to get back up again, but dropping back down and releasing its club over the edge. It roared lightly before disappearing into the usual purple aftermath. The barriers went down, and the Goal Ring was released from its former ultra violet prison.
"You're probably going to kill me for asking this again," Chip groaned, wringing his wrists. "But I just want to keep making sure…are you confident that you can hold up?"
I waved him off, trotting through the Goal Ring and continuing up the path ahead. "Of course! I mean, we're three-fourths done now! No point in turning back! I feel totally fine! I could go forever now! We'll be done in no time! It's like I'm not even tired anymore!"
I yawned.