*Okay, before you guys say anything, yes, I have seen Sonic Underground. I know Sonic has parents and a brother and sister. For this story though, I am going by what the 2020 and 2022 movies have given us about Sonic's childhood. I have a plan for Sonic to explain to Knuckles later on, I promise. For now, onto chapter four! *

"Oh man, oh man, oh man!" Sonic cried, pushing Knuckles off of him.

"What do we do, Sonic?" Tails asked.

"We get out of here. Knuckles said. That fire is spreading quick, which means we need to beat it before it surrounds us!" They all took off in the opposite direction of the flames and headed down the mountain. They got halfway down and were met by another wall of fire.

"Ah! Why is this fire spreading so fast?" Tails asked. Sonic remembered what hid dad had said earlier.

"It's the dry season. Dad said that there hasn't been enough rain, so he had to make sure the fire we made last night was fully out. Someone's fire must've reignited!" Then Sonic gasped. "Mom and dad! What if they can't see the smoke? We have to find them!"

"We will, Sonic, but we have to get back to camp first. Knuckles said. What is the quickest way?"

"We passed a bridge on the way here." Tails said.

"Lead the way, Tails!" Sonic said. Tails flew ahead as the echidna and hedgehog followed, dodging falling branches. Soon Tails saw the bridge up ahead.

"There it is. We're almost...AH!" The young fox yelled as he fell to the side and hit the ground hard.

"Tails! Sonic and Knuckles yelled. They ran over to see what had caused the fox to scream when Knuckles saw it.

"Sonic, his tail. One of them is on fire!" Knuckles said.

"Roll on your back, Tails! Roll now!" The fox obeyed and rolled over. Sonic rushed over and rolled him back onto his side, checking his tail. "Oh no, it burned some of his fur!"

"Wait what? Did you say some of my fur is gone?!" Tails yelled.

"Yes buddy. I'm afraid a fire ball hit your tail and it singed your fur. It's okay, it's not that bad. It will grow back, but for the time being, I don't think you should use your tail to fly."

"But Sonic..."

"No butts, Tails. I don't want you to hurt yourself more. But hey, I can carry you on my back if you get tired, how's that sound?"

"Okay! And hey, look, there's the bridge." Tails pointed to a gap in the path, but where the bridge should've been, was just an open space. On either side, the bridge lay against the cliffs, broken.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Knuckles said. Sonic glared at him.

"How are we going to get across now? This is the only way back to the campsite." Tails cried. Knuckles looked at the cavern ahead.

"You have a plan in that big head of yours, Knux?"

"Give me a second." Knuckles looked around to see if there was any other way across, but there wasn't. "Okay, we're going To have to take a page out of your book, Sonic, and use our speed. You can get across that with your speed alone, but I can glide across the gap with Tails on my back."

"I'm sorry, did you say you can 'glide'? Like what, some kind of flying squirrel?" Knuckles raised a fist towards Sonic.

"Now is not the time to be cracking jokes, hedgehog! Yes, I can glide across long distances. It's one of my strengths."

"Do you think it will work?" Tails asked.

"Only one way to find out. Hop on, Fox." Tails climbed onto his back but looked behind him at Sonic.

"You'll be right behind us, right Sonic?"

"You betcha, little bro. Once you land safely on the other side, I'll be right behind ya." Tails nodded and gripped tightly onto Knuckles fur. Knuckles crouched down, dug his claws into the dirt, and took a running start down the path. Right before he got to the edge, he jumped, spread out his arms, and glided across the gap. He hit the other side and Tails tumbled from his back.

"Yes! Nailed it!" Knuckles shouted.

"Tails, are you okay?" Sonic yelled.

"I'm good, Sonic!" Tails yelled back.

"Okay, hedgehog, your turn." Sonic got into position, ready to take a sprint across the path when he heard a cracking sound behind him. Looking back, he saw several trees falling, but it was a big oak tree that made his eyes widened. It was falling right towards him.

"Sonic, run! Now!" Tails cried. Sonic didn't hesitate a second more and took off. But even his super speed wasn't enough to beat the falling tree, for he slammed to the ground, rattling everything around it. A large branch at the top broke off and hit Sonic just as he jumped off the cliff. He screamed as he fell into the dark cavern.

"NOO! SONIC!" Tails jumped up and tried to fly down to him.

"No! We'll get down to him a safer way. Come on!" Knuckles put him on his back and together they began to climb safely down the side of the cavern.

*Oh no, what's going to happen to Sonic? I'll post more chapters sometime this week! *