GREEN HILL ZONE ACT 1

It had been two years since he had left his friends on South Island. Two years, since he flew away in his airplane, the Tornado. And Sonic The Hedgehog was excited. Granted, there were some rough times here and there (one particular escape from a maniacal scientist came to mind), but overall, the things he had seen had astounded him, and he couldn't wait to share his wonderful adventures in the outside world with all of his woodland friends.

But that wasn't the only thing on his mind. Apparently, his homeland had a brand new monarch, and a wave of change was brought with him. He had opened a casino, and had begun industrializing certain areas of his former home. In the monarch's words, he was doing this in an attempt to modernize the land, or so he had heard. His identity however, was still a complete mystery, even to South Island's own inhabitants, and this perplexed our spiky blue hero to no end. How can someone rule an entire island without anyone, including the people living on it, knowing his name, or even what he looks like?

He pushed those thoughts at the back of his mind however, as all he really wanted was to see his friends, catch up on old times, and be able to feel the comfort of home again. It had been two years after all, and though he was a massive thrill-seeker, even he wasn't immune to homesickness every once in a while. Which was why he was heading back, to see the familiar sights and people of his home, but also to see what had changed since he had left.

Finally, after flying for what felt like ages, he saw South Island in the distance. As he got close, some changes became immediately apparent. For example, he noticed a massive metropolis had been constructed and the casino he had heard about was almost as big as the city beside it. And at the top of the highest peak was an industrial complex that spewed black and blood red smoke into the sky. Though these sights slightly disturbed him, the hills he grew up in seemed to be just as he remembered, so that must mean his childhood friends must be alright… right? After concluding these thoughts, he decided to land on the shores of his tropical home.

After gracefully landing the Tornado, and stashing the key in the hidden compartment of his sneakers, he raced into the tropical jungle. But, for all the ground he was covering he noticed that something was missing. All of his childhood friends and loved ones were nowhere to be found, as if they had just vanished into thin air. Then, he heard something in the distance. He charged forward towards the unusual sound, weaving through trees and brush as he did so. He had stumbled into a clearing, and saw something very strange.

It looked like a rather large ladybug, but he noticed that where one would expect its legs to be, it instead had a single wheel. It looked almost as if a ladybug decided to cross-breed with a unicycle. What's more it appeared to be using its large claws to dig through some nearby bushes, as if frantically searching for something. He approached it carefully, and reached out his hand to get its attention. "Hello?" he inquired, "You looking for something there, pal?"

Suddenly, just as he touched it, it quickly spun around, and tried to attack him by swiping its right claw, and would've succeeded, had Sonic not dodged it just in time. Our blue hero took a leap backwards, "Whoa! Watch it pal! You could've nicked me just then!"

But the bug just glared at him, and charged forward! Sonic however, was much faster, and circled around to the other side.

"Well alright, you asked for it!" The motobug charged once again but Sonic leaped over him, turned, and charged after it in kind.

The motobug stopped, and turned around… just in time to see a blue hedgehog with razor-sharp spikes rolling toward him at lightning speeds.

With no time to react, and completely caught off-guard, our stout young lad cut through it like a hot knife through butter, easily destroying it completely. He hopped out of his roll, braked and turned around... and was face-to-face with one of his childhood friends, standing amidst a wreckage of smashed steel and exposed wires, and she looked scared.

"Pocky? Is that you?"