Things just had to go from bad to worse, now didn't they? Not only were the heroes dropped from that bridge from it suddenly breaking apart on them, but they were finally reaching the bottom of the drop, and woo boy was there a flood of water waiting down them! Guess this was where all that water from the waterfall was draining down into... Pushing those factors aside however, whilst Rainbow Dash and Tails did have the luxury of being able to fly around, Sonic wasn't so lucky as it seemed like he was going to go down for the dip! That is, until something or someone snatched him by the arms and saved him from what could have been his watery grave. Looking up, it happened to be Rainbow Dash who ended up saving his life!
"Didn't need you taking a dive, did we Spikes?" Rainbow questioned with a smug grin, her question mirroring the very same question that she was asked back when Sonic saved her life from the bomber ship; Which in turn, made Sonic let out a small chuckle.
But unfortunately, that good factor didn't last all that long as there was no way that Rainbow Dash and Tails could fly all day here, and there didn't seem to be any sort of nearby landing spot other than a small ledge sticking out of a nearby wall; Which the trio had no choice but to take refuge on to think of their next plan to get further onto the island...
"Doesn't look like we can get anywhere above the water, and I don't think there's much of a chance of us managing to make it back up to the surface..." Tails spoke up as he took a quick scan of the area around them, making Sonic question. "So what, we have to go down in the water?"
"What, you afraid of a little water?" Rainbow Dash teased, the smug grin returning on her face as Sonic quickly countered. "Me? Scared? As if a little water can get to me! Lets get moving!"
And to just prove his point, Sonic rushed over to the edge of the ledge before coming to a complete stop. Oh how he hated water, especially when given the fact that he could not swim in the slightest. To make his hatred worse, it seems like the water down there was mighty cold, so may it might not be the best idea to go do-
SHOVE!
Or maybe now was the perfect timing, considering the fact that Rainbow Dash just pushed Sonic right into the water below! And as originally assumed, man was this water cold as hell! Luckily nothing that none of them couldn't handle, but the hint of how cold it is was still there. But as soon as the blue blur was pushed into the water, the cyan blur quickly dived in after him followed by the two tailed fox - which once they were all under, it seemed like this was indeed the way to go, as there was more platforms and a few torpedo shark Badniks waiting for them down here. Shark Badniks which charged at the trio the second they were spotted! And sure, their movement may be a lot more slow and sluggish under the water, but that didn't mean they weren't slow enough to take on the Badniks; Sonic managing to kick one down onto the stone floor below before he finally landed down whilst Rainbow Dash was able to swipe the other Badnik away with one of her wings, thus making it charge into a nearby wall. Though not long after, it seemed like their way forward was blocked once again via a rather massive stone wall! It didn't seem as weak as the boulders that Sonic had Spin Dashed into before, and with there being no way back, it seemed like they were stuck there... That is, until one of them just so happened to step onto a loose stone on the ground, it being revealed to be a hidden switch instead of an actual stone! In the mere seconds that followed, the stone wall in front of them opened up to reveal a trap door that began to suck the water - and the heroes - down into it! Being too slow in the water to get out of the way in time, the three of them were sucked up and swept away by the current the opened up trap door had created; Being tossed throughout some sort of hidden passageway before being forced out the other end - and luckily somewhere that they could catch their breath! Unfortunately not for long, since they only managed to get a few moments of air time before gravity caught up to them and they once again began another plunge to even more water down below them! Or at least, that was what would have happened if it wasn't for the fact that Tails just so happened to take notice of some sort of conveyor belt type of contraption which had parts of it outside of its spinning cog things that were small enough to grab on! Without a moment to lose, the two tailed fox quickly spun his twin tails fast enough to get into flying formation, grabbed hold of Sonic and quickly grabbed onto the conveyor belt looking contraption; Making sure that the blue blur was holding on before he let go of him. As for Rainbow Dash, just before she ended up taking the dip, she managed to spread out her pegasus wings and take to the skies as well; Hovering right near the contraption which Tails had luckily noticed in time to save both his and Sonic's skins from another cold dip.
"Thanks for the save buddy!" Sonic thanked Tails for his assist, the aforementioned fox boy only letting out a small chuckle in response before he began to look around to see if there was any other routes for them to take that would allow them to avoid the water below...
And sure enough, there was! Past a few platforms and another one of those odd conveyor belt things, there was a completely different path! So without a moment to lose, Tails once again grabbed hold of Sonic with one hand before letting go of the conveyor belt contraption with his other; Quickly using both his hands to grab hold of the blue blur before just as quickly getting back into his flight formation and flying right to the platform he had noticed, Rainbow Dash quickly following along. From there, it was actually a pretty straight shot ahead with there seeming to be no signs of them needing to take the dip once again. Sure, there were a few areas where they could drop into the water for an alternate pathway, but that was optional and Sonic could just run along the water whilst Rainbow and Tails could simply fly above those watery pits with their flying abilities. Though when it comes to adventuring with Sonic and Tails, things never go smooth sailing for too long, since mere minutes after they had continued along, that was when more of Robotnik's Badniks started to show up. But they didn't seem to be too dangerous, being these large fly like robots that tried to ram into them to send them into any sort of pits that were nearby with occasionally firing off an energy ball from those ridiculously large noses of theirs. And since they were so easy to take down... Of course the two speedsters couldn't help but be big ol' showoffs; Sonic pulling off little tricks in the air after pouncing off these fly robots and Rainbow simply grabbing and ramming the fly robots against one another! Far too easy when it comes to taking care of these things! But just as things seemed rather easy, karma once again hit them as the trio ended up hitting a dead end; Finding a loop that would send them straight into the water below! And with the wall that was connected to the loop too high for Tails to fly over to continue their mission, the trio had no choice but to go through the loop and down into the water... Though just as the blue blur stepped near the loop, a contraption suddenly popped out of the ground; A mechanical hand grabbing his head and this mechanical gear appearing under his feet, forcing him to run in place! But only for a few seconds before both contraptions popped back into the ground and sending Sonic barreling forward through the loop and down into the water!
"Sonic!" Tails cried out as he flew above and past where the contraption would pop out before charging up a Spin Dash and quickly going after the other.
And since Rainbow didn't have the speed on hoof to go through the loop itself, she simply walked to the edge of the loop and jumped up; Jumping to the exit half of the loop before going down to meet up with the other two... And as luck would have it, the second she jumped down, that was when the water level lowered; It being just enough for the trio to jump up to get oxygen if they needed it. The bad news however? They found themselves trapped in a half pipe room with this weird spinning contraption in the center of it, and with their way back suddenly closing up, there was no way out of here! Well at least things couldn't get any worse, right?... Unfortunately, that was not the case as the sound of something revving similar to a Spin Dash could be heard from above... What was that noise? Well before any of them could figure that out, this large metallic ball surrounded by jets came barreling down one of the ends of the half pipe; Ramming right into the trio before they had any chance to retaliate! But even if they wanted to, there was no way that they could, as those jets surrounding the mech were going a bit too fast for a safe counterattack...
Cue Sonic 3 & Knuckles Minor Boss Theme
Luckily the three of them managed to recollect their thoughts right after the first ramming, but they didn't have time to stand still as the mech came back for a second time to ram right into them once again! Though this time around, the three of them knew what was coming and thus were able to jump out of the way in time and right above the surface of the water for a few short seconds before being forced to drop back down into the water; Meaning the trio could get a quick breath of oxygen before being brought down once again. But that successful dodge was short lived as the machine dropped itself right down onto the spinning contraption in the center of the half pipe room and began to spin around; Making the contraption spin around with it. It was there that the three of them found out what it did... As the mech spun faster and faster, the water itself began to whirl around; Making the three of them spin around alongside the contraption inside the water! And who knows how long that thing is going to keep spinning for! It could keep spinning until the three of them drowned to death! However, there was one fatal flaw in the mech's plot to spin around... Well two actually. Not only did the machine's jets stop spinning around itself during this maneuver, but the water kept spinning them closer and closer to either the walls or the spinning contraption itself! And to make things better, it seems that the trio had managed to come up with the same thought... So after looking over at once another, the three of them simply nodded and waited for the machine to spin them towards the walls of the half pipe, and once they were close to the walls... The three of them directed their bodies so they could land feet/hooves first onto the walls! Sure, it was hard to keep themselves standing because of the machines constant spinning and pushing them even more against the walls, but the trio were able to use this to slowly climb up the half pipe and right above the water! Starting off their counterattack, Rainbow Dash quickly hopped off the wall the second she got the chance and rammed right into the machine; Knocking the thing off balance and forcing it to stop its spinning attack! Though because of this, the mech's jets once again started up and it seemed like it was going to pull off another one of it's half pipe ramming attacks. But just before the machine's jets could enter full speed, it was the turn of Sonic and Tails; Tails grabbing Sonic by the arms and quickly getting him flying above the water before flinging him right at the mech! And just before he came into contact with it, the blue blur quickly curled up into a spin ball and rammed right into one of the jet boosters of the machine; Knocking the thing off instantly and knocking the machine off balance even more than before! This was it, they were going to beat this thing! Or at least, they thought they were going to...
The second the first of its jet boosters were knocked off, the center of the mech opened up; Revealing a pretty large and what seemed like a powerful laser; It aiming right for the heroes and constantly firing these green energy blasts at them! And since Tails wasn't as fast as Sonic, he had a much harder time dodging the machine's attack than Rainbow Dash; Her using her own speed to quickly go in for the kill whilst it was busy firing at the Mobian duo! Just as it was close to getting a direct hit on the two heroes, the third hero of their party quickly rammed into the thing one last time with all her might; Knocking the machine off of the spinning contraption and making it fall into the water! And thanks to the damage it had sustained during the fight, the collision with the floor below was more than enough to make it self-destruct!
End Sonic 3 & Knuckles Minor Boss Theme
Phew, it was a good thing that they were finally done with that mech... But there was still one problem, the two of them were still trapped in this room with no way out, so how in the world were they going to advance? Well luckily for them, it seems like their hopes were answered in the form of a large trap door opening up in the center of the floor and making the water drain into the trap door itself! With no other way to go, the heroes didn't have a choice but to head right through the trap door and wherever it may lead the three of them...