Chapter 3

Marble Garden

The pipe that had taken Sonic and Tails from Hydrocity did end in Marble Garden, just like Knuckles had thought. Sonic was the first one to awaken after they had been lying for about half an hour.

"Oh man. What in the world happened? I feel like I've been in a washing machine," he said groggily. Sonic sat up and looked around for Tails. He spotted him lying about ten feet away, still asleep. Sonic slowly rose to his feet and walked over to the sleeping fox.

"Hey, Tails. Wake up, little bro," said Sonic as he gently shook him. Tails eyes fluttered open.

"Just five more minutes, please?" begged Tails. Sonic smiled and rose to his feet. He looked about where they had ended up, trying to figure out where they had exited the pipe. It wasn't very much. Some ruins, grassy plains, a crocodile with headphones and a honey bee wearing a leather pilot's cap playing off in the distance…

"What in the world!?" said Sonic aloud when he saw the two other Mobians. Tails looked over at where Sonic was looking and suddenly became alert as well. The two Mobians were playing what looked like a game of tag.

"Who are they?" asked Tails.

"I don't know, Tails," answered Sonic, shaking his head.

"You think they're Knuckles' friends?" asked Tails.

"Maybe, but probably not likely. If they were, then they would be looking for us, not playing a game," said Sonic. Tails had to nod to that logic. "What do you say we find out if they can help us or not?"

"Sure. Maybe they know where another ring is," said Tails.

"They might," said Sonic. With that, he started running over towards the two Mobians. They didn't notice him at first, but when he got closer they stopped what they were doing. They waited patiently while Sonic and Tails approached them.

"Who do you think those two are?" asked the honey bee.

"Have no idea, but that hedgehog sure is fast" said the crocodile. A few seconds later, Sonic pulled up next to them.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Sonic, trying to sound friendly. The crocodile turned and looked at the honey bee, who nodded in return.

"Not much, blue dude. The name's Vector," said the crocodile, reaching out his hand.

"I'm Sonic," said Sonic as he took Vector's hand and shook it. The honey bee turned to Tails, who in turn flew up next to him.

"Hi, my name's Tails," said Tails as he reached out his own hand.

"Charmy. It's a pleasure to meet you," said the honey bee, shaking Tails' hand.

"So what are you two doing on this island, anyway?" asked Sonic. Vector and Charmy exchanged glances, then both shrugged.

"To tell you the truth, we've been here for over a month. We both came onto this island while it was setting in the ocean near Emerald Coast. The next thing we know, this whole island was a mile up in the sky. We've just been keeping ourselves amused until the next time this place lands near land," said Vector.

"Yeah, but we're really starting to get bored. Everyday it's the same thing over and over," said Charmy, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Well, you can fly. Why don't you leave?" asked Tails.

"Two reasons. For one thing, I can't fly that far. The other reason is I can't leave Vector here by himself, he'd probably keel over from boredom," answered Charmy. Vector chuckled slightly, then looked over at Sonic.

"Hey Sonic, I saw that you're pretty fast," said Vector. Sonic crossed his arms and frowned.

"What do ya mean pretty fast? I'm the fastest thing alive," said Sonic proudly. Vector only smiled.

"Well, then let's just see whose the faster of us. I'll race you to that ridge over there," he said, pointing to a hill that ended with steep edge on one side about three miles away.

"You're on!" said Sonic. The two of them assumed a starting position. Then they took off, both of them staying neck and neck with each other. Tails looked over at Charmy the same time the honey bee looked at him.

"Well, what do you say we go after them?" asked Tails.

"Sure thing, but I'll get there before you do!" cried Charmy as he took off after the two racers.

"Hey! No fair!" shouted Tails as he flew after the honey bee.

**********

I had been walking through Marble Garden for over an hour, still trying to find the exit pipe from Hydrocity. I was getting tired of walking and decided it was time to take a rest. I sat down on one of the smooth pillars that was strung about the ground. I then laid back and looked skyward, trying to remember just were that pipe was. I then sat up and looked around. I then looked over at one of the many buildings that littered the grassy plains and spotted what I had been looking for.

"All right! There's the pipe!" I said aloud as I ran over to it. As I had figured, Sonic and Tails were already gone. But a small trail of wet footprints gave me the general direction they headed in. Letting a smile form, I started off in the direction the prints were pointing. Then as an after thought, I went over to a nearby building and climbed onto the roof, where one of my flight tops was sitting. I jumped onto it and started running, the top spinning under my feet. It took a few seconds, but the top then lifted off the ground and started flying in the direction the foot prints had pointed towards.

**********

Hidden in the shadows shined two crimson half circles as they watched the red echidna run over to the pipe, then depart heading south-southeast. The two eyes' light dimmed considerably as Metal Sonic emerged from under the ruins. He watched Knuckles as he took off into the air, keeping him on his scanners as he activated his commlink.

"Metal Sonic reporting in, sir," said Mecha. His unit buzzed and crackled a few seconds, then cleared.

"So what is our red furred friend up to, Mecha?" asked the voice of Robotnik.

"He just found the exit pipe and then headed off in a southerly direction. I am following at optimal distance. He still doesn't know he's being followed," answered Mecha.

"Good, make sure you're not spotted or else the small amount of trust he has in us will be broken. I'm preparing to depart along with the Drillbot, so if you sense some tectonic vibrations, it's probably either me or the robot," instructed Robotnik.

"Do you doubt my capabilities to stay out of sight?" questioned Mecha, not even paying attention to the second part of the transmission.

"No, it's just that he has natural skills that might be able to break through even the most advanced stealth techniques, so stay focused," answered Robotnik.

"I will. Metal Sonic out," said Mecha, breaking the transmission. While he didn't express it when transmitting, he was angry that Robotnik didn't think he could keep out of sight from Knuckles for very long. He took off after Knuckles with a renewed hatred for the echidna, determined to catch him in the act of helping Sonic and Tails.

**********

"So, ready to give up, Sonic?" asked Vector as he raced along side Sonic at over a 100 mph. Sonic had to admit that Vector was pretty fast himself, but he was only letting the crocodile think he was faster, Sonic hanging back a few feet.

"Nope, but I think you should," said Sonic, smiling slightly as he neared the point he had decided to leave Vector in the dust.

"Now why would I want to stop now? I'm out ahead," said Vector. Sonic shrugged.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," said Sonic as he reached his imagined marker. He suddenly shot forward, accelerating as though he had spotted Mecha right behind him. Vector's eyes went wide when he saw Sonic blast past him and continue speeding up. Sonic kept accelerating, feeling the push of the sound barrier try to stop him. He continued speeding up, shattering the barrier open with a sonic boom. By now, he was well ahead of Vector and nearing the hill that was to be their finish line. Behind the two racers, Tails and Charmy were holding their own race.

"Come on, Charmy! I thought you were faster than that!" yelled Tails as he flew a few yards ahead of the honey bee.

"I am, but I prefer to conserve my energy until the time arises to use it," answered Charmy. Tails had always thought that keeping behind others voluntarily was just a sign of giving up, but Charmy's comment made it seem as though it was a smarter way of winning. Tails shook the idea from his head the minute he thought of how Sonic always used his full speed when he raced Shadow and Silver around Knothole weekly to keep in shape and how he won every time. Tails then sped up, pulling even further out in front of Charmy. Charmy just smiled as he watched the inexperienced fox gained even more ground on him, thinking to himself that the kid had much to learn.

"I'll see you at that hill," said Tails. They were about half way there, and by now, Sonic and Vector's race was nearing its end. Sonic had already reached the hill about a good mile ahead of Vector, who was still about a quarter of a mile away after Sonic had been waiting for about thirty seconds. Sonic took the spare time to take a look around. He didn't find much interest in the surrounding ruins, having seen enough ruins from villages that Robotnik had found and destroyed before help could arrive. His train of thought was broken as Vector came dashing up the hill, only going a lot slower than earlier.

"Hey, Vex! I was beginning to wonder if I needed to send out the search parties," said Sonic, smiling. Vector walked up to Sonic, totally out of breath.

"You…know…what? That was…the best…race I've had…in quite a while," said Vector.

"Glad to be of service," said Sonic. Vector chuckled a little before looking back towards where the two aerial racers were flying towards the hill.

"So who you thinking will win that race?" asked Vector. Sonic looked up and saw that Tails was out in front, but obviously tiring as he continued his accelerated pace. Charmy was still hanging back about ten yards, but still looked fresh and ready to go.

"I'd say Charmy. Tails is pushing himself so hard to the point he can't possibly keep going at that pace. Charmy, on the other hand, is conserving his energy and hasn't tired as much as Tails," said Sonic as he observed them. Vector nodded in agreement as they watched them come within a quarter mile of the hill.

"Looks like I'm going to win!" shouted Tails over his shoulder at Charmy.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Tails," said Charmy in a low voice as he sped up, quickly closing the gap in-between them. Tails was totally oblivious to the fact that Charmy was gaining until his sensitive ears caught the faint sound of buzzing. He turned his head around just in time to see Charmy move past him and continue gaining ground on him. Tails tried to summon more speed, but realized that he was too tired to go any faster. Charmy was a good 50 yards ahead now, landing on Vector's shoulder to signify that he had won. Tails landed three seconds later, totally exhausted. He panted heavily as he sat on the ground, holding himself up with his arms.

"Not so easy to win when you're too tired to keep up, eh?" asked Charmy. Tails ignored him as he slowly climbed to his feet. Sonic reached into his pack and grabbed four of the ten bottles of water they had packed for the trip. He handed one to each of the thirsty racers, then opened his own and drank half of it in less than ten seconds.

"You know, I can't believe we're drinking water after just having been dunked in it three times in the last three hours," said Sonic.

"I know what ya mean," said Tails as he finished drinking. Both Vector and Charmy looked at one another, then at their two new friends.

"What do you mean 'being dunked three times in the last three hours'?" asked Vector. Sonic then explained about how they had come to the island, the sneak attack from Knuckles, losing six of the emeralds but recovering three of them, their taking numerous dunkings in Hydrocity's water tanks, then ending up with them.

"Boy, you two sure have been through a lot!" exclaimed Charmy.

"Yeah, and I'll bet my speed that ol' Knux is still trying to track us down," said Sonic as he looked back towards where the pipe from Hydrocity had been. Suddenly, the ground started to shake violently. Vector and Sonic were thrown to the ground as Tails and Charmy took to the air. It was Charmy who first spotted what was causing the earthquake.

"Look! Some kind of drill is coming out of the ground!" he shouted as he pointed to the now cracking ground. Sonic and Vector regained their footing as two drills emerged from the ground. They were attached to what was basically three balls with an engine. The two smaller, outer balls held the drills while the middle ball held the engine. Sonic immediately spindashed towards the engine ball, but the thing shot into the sky, almost knocking Tails and Charmy from the air.

"Spread out! It can only follow one group of us!" shouted Sonic. They broke off into two different directions, Tails and Charmy heading into a small cave nearby while Sonic and Vector headed out into the open grassy plains. The robot paused for a second, unsure who to follow. It's simple mind tried to choose the most logical course of action. It was programmed to attack Sonic first, then Tails. But Sonic was out in an open area where its drills wouldn't have much effect. Tails, on the other hand, had went into a cave where its drill could use the hanging stalagmites to its advantage. Finally reaching a decision, the robot flew in the direction of the cave.

Sonic and Vector watched the robot from a distance as it hovered, trying to come to a decision. It then turned and flew off towards and then entered the cave. A sudden fear shot through Sonic. The robot was going after Tails, not himself like he would have thought. Tails wasn't up to fighting Robotnik's robots yet. And Charmy would also be a target. Sonic suddenly blasted from his spot accelerating from 0 to 200 mph in less than a second. Vector started off after Sonic, but there was no way he'd catch up in time to help.

Inside the cave, Tails and Charmy were trying their best to avoid the falling stalagmites as the Drillbot knocked them off the ceiling with its two drills. It wasn't easy, as the whole cave was nothing more than a narrow tunnel that only lead deeper into the ground, so all they could do was fly forward. It also didn't help having just flown a race for over three miles.

"Watch it, Charmy! One's coming on your left!" shouted Tails spotting a falling stalagmite. Charmy dodged to the right and dropping back, barely avoiding the sharp, pointed rock. Now behind Tails, Charmy saw the next one coming.

"Right!" he shouted. Tails dodged right, just missing another of the falling rocks. The Drillbot was good, but Tails and Charmy were better at avoiding the falling rocks. This made the simple mind of the robot start processing the situation again. It decided that if it couldn't hit them with the stalagmites from above, then it would simply thrust its drills into the two of them. The Drillbot started a sharp dive towards the two fleeing Mobians. Neither of them noticed, as they were too busy trying to make the best of the sudden lack of falling debris. By now, Sonic had caught up with them and saw what the Drillbot planned to do.

"Tails! Charmy! Duck!" yelled Sonic. Not thinking twice, they both dove to the floor as the Drillbot passed only centimeters above their heads. Sonic then shot by, heading straight at the Drillbot with anger he hadn't felt since earlier that morning. He curled up and spindashed towards the engine housing, crashing his spinning spines into the back of the Drillbot, knocking it off balance. As it fought to regain its balance, Sonic leaped high into the air, then spindashed towards the left drill ball. He connected solidly with it, crushing the small ball and knocking it off the Drillbot. Without both its drills to stabilized its weight, the Drillbot could no long maintain flight. It started a spiraling nose-dive towards the ground below, then slammed into the side of the cave wall. But it didn't explode, instead shattering into dozens of fragments. Tails and Charmy let out a sigh of relief, both slumping to the ground.

"You two okay?" asked Sonic.

"Yeah, we're just fine. A little exhausted, but fine," answered Tails. By now, Vector had reached them and was exhausted just like the two fliers. Sonic looked at Vector.

"You know, you really need to work out more, Vex," said Sonic. Vector nodded in agreement. He then picked Charmy up in his hand and placed him on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but I think we've had our fill of exercise today," said Vector, Charmy nodding in agreement. "We'll see you guys later."

"All right, see ya later," said Sonic as Vector and Charmy started towards the exit of the cave. Sonic looked back at Tails, who was still resting from the chase.

"Hey, you going to be okay?" asked Sonic. Tails nodded, then looked up at him.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," he answered. Sonic decided it was as good a time as any to break out the dinner he had packed them. Of course, they'd need a fire to cook the hot dogs he had brought with him. As luck had it, there were several dry sticks lying about the cave. He spent the next hour gathering up all the sticks in the area, then placed them in two piles, keeping one off to the side. He then looked over at Tails, who had fallen asleep.

He had his two tails covering his front like a blanket. Sonic couldn't help but smile at the sight. He returned his attention to the sticks as he pulled out the red Chaos Emerald and placed it on the edge of one of the pile. He then started backing away from the red emerald, it's glow increasing as he did. The distance between the red and green emerald now increased, the red's energy was starting to become uncontrolled and making the jewel hotter. Sonic had to back up a total of ten feet before the red emerald was hot enough to start the fire, but the sticks burst into flames immediately and stayed lit.

Walking back over to the fire, he sat down and stuck two hot dogs on a stick he had saved to cook them with. As the hot dogs cooked, he started to think about how the day's event had unfolded. He recalled the first encounter with Knuckles and how he knew how to activate the emeralds, recovering first the green emerald from Knuckles, then the red emerald, the fight with the fire machine and then Robotnik, getting dumped into Hydrocity by Knuckles, reclaiming the light blue and orange emeralds, getting chased by Mecha, almost drowning in the generator tank, the race with Vector, the attack of the Drillbot, and now their dinner. *Boy,* he thought. *I had more adventure today than in the past month.* His thoughts were interrupted by a waking Tails as he yawned and stretched, his tails sticking out like the stalagmites above them.

"Sleep well?" asked Sonic.

"Yep. I feel a whole lot better," answered Tails with a smile. Sonic smiled himself. He was used to not sleeping for a few days when he needed to, but Tails was still a kid and couldn't stand that amount of time without sleep.

"You ready to eat some dinner?" asked Sonic. Tails eyes shined with the look of happiness at the mention of a meal. Taking one of the hot dogs off the stick and placing it in a bun, he took a bit, then almost immediately spat it out. Sonic couldn't help but laugh when this happened.

"It's NOT funny!" shouted Tails, taking a drink from his water bottle to cool the burn on his tongue.

"Sure it is! You should know better than to bite into a freshly cooked hot dog. It's always going to be too hot to eat right away," said Sonic. Tails was about to say something else when his eyes caught something shining further down the cave.

"Hey Sonic, what's that?" asked Tails, pointing down the cavern. Sonic turned his gaze towards where Tails was pointing, his spirits soaring as soon as he realized what it was.

"If I'm correct, it's another ring," he answered. Tails jumped to his feet and started towards it, but stopped when Sonic didn't follow.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" asked Tails. Sonic shrugged as he put his hot dog into a bun.

"What's the rush? I say we eat first, then get the emeralds. That way, we won't have to cook these things again," he answered. Tails thought that sounded good as he sat down again. Sonic then took a bite of his hot dog, then also spat it out and took a drink of his water. Tails smiled evilly at Sonic.

"You know, you should know better than to bite into a freshly cooked hot dog. It's always going to be too hot to eat right away," said Tails as he recited Sonic's comment earlier. Sonic looked at him with a look of sarcasm on his face.

"Oh, shut up," he grumbled. Tails couldn't help but roll on the ground in laughter, and Sonic soon followed suit, relieving the tension brought on by the days events. After their laughing fit subsided, they started in on their hot dogs again. After they finished them, they both leaped into the ring and started the task of retrieving the last three emeralds.

**********

I had been walking in a southeastern direction for some time now having ditched the top after not seeing them from the air. I hadn't seen hide nor hair of them ever since I had let them out of the generator tank in Hydrocity, and I was beginning to believe I had lost them. It was then that I looked behind me towards the sunlight. It was now getting within a half an hour of sunset, and the daylight was fading with each passing minute. As I was watching the sun, I noticed something red flash in the ruins ever so quickly. I frowned, not knowing what could have caused that. Then an idea hit me. I decided I would let whatever it was suddenly lose sight of me and possibly reveal himself. I suddenly dove towards the ground and started digging. It wasn't long before I was a good ten feet underground. I then tunneled sideways towards where I had seen the red light. Above me, my stalker was peering into the hole I had dug, trying to figure out what I was doing.

"Metal Sonic to Robotnik. Come in, sir," said Mecha into his commlink.

"What is it?" asked Robotnik.

"Sir, I think Knuckles has gone insane," said Mecha.

"And why do you think that?" asked Robotnik, annoyed that the robot had bugged him with something so farfetched.

"Well, he just dug underground and then disappeared," said Mecha. Suddenly, Robotnik's voice boomed over the commlink.

"You idiot! Get out of there! He's onto you!" shouted Robotnik's voice. Metal Sonic wasted no time in powering up his engine to leave, but he didn't even get off the ground before I burst from the ground behind him, landing a punch to the back of his head for the second time that day. Mecha whirled around, his eyes glowing bright red with anger, looking like he was ready to grind me into dust. But before he could, I started apologizing for striking him. I had known all along it was him, but didn't let it be known.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Mecha. I thought maybe it was Sonic who was following me," I said. Mecha's eyes returned to their normal outage, then he growled something I didn't catch. He then extended his hand to me. I took it and shook it, letting the fact that he gave it a good squeeze go by unnoticed.

"So what are you doing out here, anyway?" I asked, even though I knew that he'd been tailing me.

"Just gathering data on these ruins. My master wishes to learn all he can about the history of this island," answered Mecha.

"Oh, well just don't touch anything. These ruins could come down just like that," I said, snapping my fingers. I saw Mecha shudder just slightly. I had obviously hit upon the spot where he had been watching me for the past four hours.

"Anyway, I think they've already left Marble Garden. It only takes me two hours to navigate it by foot, and with Sonic's speed, they probably got through even faster," I said. Mecha nodded his head slightly, obviously not wanting to believe me. "But if they were headed in this direction, then their next stop should be the carnival. If we go now, we should get there by nightfall." I then noticed that Metal Sonic had shuddered even more when I mentioned the carnival. I smiled inwardly. Obviously, the robot had run into a few of the things in the carnival that didn't agree with him before I had originally found him. All the more reason that he would be too worried about his own safety and ignore me for most of the time we were there. We then started off towards the carnival, Mecha lagging behind to stall the inevitable.

**********

A flash of light burst through the darkness of the cave as Sonic and Tails materialized once again from the sphere dimension. Sonic was now holding onto the white, blue, and purple emerald, all of their color and glow returned with the recovery of all seven emeralds.

"All right! All the emeralds are ours once again," said Sonic proudly. He started to put them in his pack with the others, but when he did, the light in the cave was driven back by the darkness. He sighed. He hadn't wanted to use the emeralds unless necessary so that Robotnik and Knuckles wouldn't know he'd recovered them. But if they were to get out of the cave safely, he had to use them to light their way.

Taking the other four emeralds from his pack, he struck all seven together in front of him. His blue color flashed to hot yellow and his quills stuck out as though he was electrified as the emeralds power surged through his body. The seven emeralds started orbiting his body once again, four horizontally and three vertically. They then started walking towards the exit of the cave, Super Sonic's glowing fur and quills providing their light. They walked for almost twenty minutes, not realizing just how deep into the cave they had gone.

Then they started feeling the flowing fresh air from outside, and both were relieved to finally be out of the cave. Sonic reached out and grabbed two emeralds from their orbit and clapped them together, his hot yellow fur returning to cool blue. It was considerably darker outside. Sonic was about to take a look at his watch when he remembered he had shorted it out the second he had become super. He made a mental note to get a watch that was protected against being super.

As they started walking, they noticed that the ground was starting to vibrate ever so slightly. Sonic grabbed Tails hand and sped towards the safety of a shadow under the nearby remains of a building. They both watched as a drill twice the size of the Drillbot's emerged from the ground, attached to none other that Robotnik's hovercraft. He had received a message from Mecha to meet him and Knuckles at the carnival and was heading towards it, not even taking notice of Sonic or Tails. Sonic watched the hovercraft as it started speeding off towards the south. He couldn't help but smile when he saw that Robotnik hadn't seen them.

"Oh man, I couldn't have planned this better myself," whispered Sonic.

"Planned what, Sonic?" asked Tails.

"You'll see. Think you have enough strength in ya to get me up next to his hovercraft?" asked Sonic.

"You bet," answered Tails as he took to the air and started flying towards the craft. Sonic ran along the ground, then jumped up and locked wrists with Tails, the fox carrying him high into the air. As they neared the hovercraft, Sonic instructed Tails to let him off on the rear of the craft, then to hang back and be ready to catch him if necessary. As he finished his instructions, they reached the rear of the craft. Sonic ever so carefully reached out a hand and grabbed onto the back of where the drill was attached. He then let go of Tails and grabbed on with the other hand. If the craft jerked any from his action, Robotnik didn't notice. Sonic couldn't help but smile as he situated himself so he could stand on his feet just out of view of the glass dome over the top of the craft.

He then took two emeralds out of his pack. Almost unable to control his giggling, Sonic clapped the two emeralds together as his color flashed to hot yellow, the emeralds starting their orbit. Immediately, Super Sonic's invincibility started to flow into the ship, electrifying the delicate circuitry. Robotnik started panicking in the cockpit as he tried to figure out what was going on. It was then that his gazing eye caught sight of one of the orbiting emeralds. Cursing loudly enough that he could be heard through the glass dome, Robotnik started shaking the craft back and forth violently, trying to shake Sonic off.

But Sonic held tight, the ship's electronics shorting out even quicker with all the jerking. The engines started dying, and Robotnik was yelling curses rapidly as he started punching several buttons. Sonic was enjoying the look on Robotnik's face that he wasn't prepared when the drill he was riding on suddenly detached from the ship. Sonic was startled, but not to the point of losing his head. He quickly leaped off the falling drill and started slowing his descent. Tails had flown down after him and was flying next to him as he dropped. After about a minute of falling, Sonic managed to pull out of the dive and head back up into the air, Tails right behind him. But by the time they had returned to where they had left the craft, it was long gone. And the sun had just set over the horizon, leaving them in the coldness of the darkness with only the light of the moon and Super Sonic visible.

"Rats! He got away again! I thought I had him that time," said Sonic. But Tails wasn't paying any attention to Sonic. He was too busy looking down at the carnival below them.

"Hey Sonic! Check that place out! Look, it's got a roller coaster and merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel and tons of other stuff!" he cried. "Oh can't we please go there? Please, please, please!" Sonic knew how Tails felt. The kid had hardly had much fun in his life, and what little of it he did have was usually months apart. And Sonic couldn't help but think that he deserved a little reward after collecting all the lost emeralds.

"All right. Next stop, the carnival!" shouted Sonic as he dove towards the brightly lit carnival below, Tails hot on his heels.

END OF CHAPTER 3