Collin and Sonic found themselves being chased through a mountain range, and had accidently fallen off of a cliff. "Next time I say I'm going to collect some mountain herbs, I'M GOING ALONE!" Collin growled as he tried to find a way to hang onto the sheer cliff they were falling from. His green cloak was once more torn, but not in its worst state as it was just a tear to the side of it.
Sonic was too busy trying to grab onto the cliff. "This cliff is too sheer… as in Sheer Terror! OW!" With a large KRASH! the two found themselves on a cliff edge that seemed to have a nest on it.
"Uggghhhhh…." Collin groaned.
"Wh…where are we? This isn't how I pictured Hedgehog Heaven to look." Sonic moaned as he looked up.
Collin grumbled as he tried to push himself up. "I don't think I'm welcome in Heaven."
"Who are you, Strangers?" came a voice.
The two boys sat up and looked in shock at an old eagle wearing a purple vest with a long white beard and a cane. "An Eagle?!" They hadn't seen an eagle in years!
The eagle frowned. "Don't try to fool me just 'cause I'm old! I can see you're not Eagles!"
"We're the Hedgehog Cousins, and yet I'm not physically a hedgehog." Collin muttered weakly as he stood up.
"I'm Sonic, and this is my cousin, Collin. We fell into your nest by accident!" Sonic explained. "We were looking for a way to avoid some of Robotnik's bots…"
"ROBOTNIK!" The old eagle steamed. "That's the low-down snake who turned all my friends into robots! He really ruffles my feathers!"
"That's him, the duke of puke himself!" Sonic nodded.
Collin adjusted his hood to hide his face better. "Pardon me for asking, sir, but how did you manage to escape?"
The old eagle sighed. "By hiding out in the mountains like a Bird-brained coward!" He scratched his head. "The name's Cyril, and I was once the leader of a large flock… but since they were all captured I've given up flying! I'm just a tired old bird… the last eagle on Mobius."
But the cousins aren't the only ones to find Cyril…
"Yo, Pops! I'm picking up a faint signal from the Mobian Mountains!" Ivo Robotnik Junior, or simply Junior as he was called, noticed on the screen of a monitor.
"Excellent, my boy! There must be several non-robots hiding out together! How fortunate… for us!" The fat tyrant stood up from his chair and grinned diabolically. "Get my Tyrolean hat, Junior! You and I are going for a drive up the mountains in my latest vile vehicle… the RAMBOT!"
Later…
Collin was taking a look through his bag to be sure he hadn't lost anything in the fall while Sonic was giving the old eagle, Cyril, a pep-talk. "You may be old, Cyril, but it doesn't mean you should give up on life! You've got to spread your wings and fly…" Sonic exclaimed. "Then you'll feel like an Eagle again!"
Cyril raised his wings and some old feathers fell from them. "I feel more like a Mobian Chicken, but I'll try, Sonic. Here goes…" Cyril took a running leap at the edge before Collin could stop him.
"Wait!" Collin's eyes widened as he looked up in time to see the old bird jump off the cliff.
"LOOK! I can still do it! I can fly!" Cyril started out happily flapping his wings.
"Way to go, Cyril!" Sonic cheered as Collin made it to the edge with him.
"I can… EEEEEEEEEEE!" Cyril cried out as he fell, losing altitude in his flight.
Collin looked over the edge, gripping it as the cousins called out; "KEEP FLAPPING, CYRIL! KEEP FLAPPING!" The two looked to each other nervously. They couldn't see him under the clouds below them anymore.
Soon…
Cyril, still alive, was huffing and puffing as he managed to land himself on a branch that was hanging off of a ledge of his mountain. "At my age, flying is FOR THE BIRDS! I've got to stop and rest!" He wiped sweat off of his bald spot. "It's no use! I may as well let Robotnik robotcize me too… maybe I'll learn to like the taste of machine oil!"
"CYRIL!" came a shocked voice.
Cyril was even more shocked as he turned his head towards the voice. He gulped. "The end must be near! I'm seeing things!" In front of him was a small family of eagles that had been part of his flock!
"No you're not, Cyril! We're members of your flock, remember?" The female eagle asked. "We've been hiding out for years!"
"We thought Robotnik had captured you!" her mate exclaimed with glee that they had been wrong.
"Capture me?!" Cyril got back some old bravado. "NEVER!" He then smirked as he realized something. "And to think, I almost gave up! I owe a great deal to those two Hedgehog cousins!"
Meanwhile…
"I should never have talked Cyril into testing his wings…" Sonic sighed as he worried about the eagle. "He might have been spotted by a bot…"
"Or by Robotnik himself!" Collin grumbled as he paced. "He should have tested it on solid land, not off the edge of a cliff! He could have fallen to his death as well!"
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that…" came a sinister voice.
"YOU!" The two cousins turned to see Robotnik and his robotic son in a ram based vehicle that was set to charge right at them.
"Surprise! I would advise you not to move a muscle, boys, or my Rambot will go on a Ram Page!" He laughed maniacally. "I'm so witty!"
"Pops, I don't think we…" Junior tried to point out something as he looked over the edge, adjusting his suspenders as best as he could as well.
"Quiet, Junior! Now, tell me, Snively," Collin scowled. "Hedgehog," Sonic growled as the two stood near each other defensively. "How many of your friends are here with you, and where can I find them?"
Collin looked at Julian with a raised brow. "How stupid are you to think that we'll betray our friends?"
"Yeah, forget it!" Sonic then took a look at the fat man and his son's outfit. "And don't you think you two are a little big for that Pinocchio Costume?" Collin's face couldn't help but erupt in laughter at his cousin's comment.
Robotnik however was not so happy. "How dare you insult me!" He activated the ram head on it, which rammed the two cousins off of the cliff. "Take that, you impudent fools!"
"Pops, I…"
Suddenly two eagles swooped in, one of which being Cyril, and grabbed the two by quills and the cloak! "Don't worry, little Sonic! I've got ya!" Cyril exclaimed.
"Cyril!" Sonic gasped with surprise as the group flew.
"JUNIOR! The hedgehog and that runt were rescued by EAGLES!"
Junior took an unnecessary breath, as he was a robot, and whispered to his father. "Please do not raise your voice, Pops!" Robotnik finally looked at what his son had been trying to point out and was shocked. "And try not to move until help arrives. I tried ta warn ya, pops, the cliff isn't strong enough to hold this ride…" Junior had signaled for help as soon as he had seen the imminent danger.
Soon…
Collin and Sonic were soon riding on the backs of the two eagles that had helped them. Cyril was plenty happy, as was Sonic. "I feel like a new bird, Sonic, thanks to you boys! Where can I drop you off?"
Collin had actually let his hood fall off when he had been rescued, but the eagles didn't question his species. He was enjoying the once in a lifetime experience of flying on an Eagle, and not being afraid of it. "Just… can you guys fly us to the Great Forest?"
"Yeah, after the day we had, we don't want to be dropped off anywhere!" Sonic agreed with a grimace.