Chapter 5
Ice Cap
I yawned as I awoke from a most relaxing sleep. I had found a tall tree outside the carnival that had let me spread out quite comfortably on one of the long, thick branches. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, then nearly had the life scared out of me as they focused in on the image of Metal Sonic's face only half a foot away from my head. I let out a yell as I fell backwards off the branch. I watched the ground come flying up at me, then suddenly stop as Metal Sonic grabbed me by the leg and lowered me gently to the ground. Once I had my fear in check, I turned towards Mecha with an angry look on my face. His leg was repaired, having spent the night recovering inside the Flying Battery command ship that was floating on the edge of the north side of the island
"Why on Mobius did you do that!?" I yelled. I was sure that the steel-blue robot was amused by what he had just done, but he didn't let it show.
"Well, that was the most efficient way to make sure you rose with a start," answered Metal Sonic casually. I gave the robot an angry glare, then the sudden cool air of the nearby Ice Cap mountain range overcame the warm, tropical air of the island.
"Well, I guess we must have arrived at the Ice Cap range," I said, a little shiver to my voice as I tried to warm myself by crossing my arms. Being on a tropical island for so long, I wasn't used to the cold. I wasn't worried about someone spotting the island, since it was resting above the thick clouds just above the range. Then I saw Robotnik walk into the clearing, a look of disgust on his face.
"You! Where were you last night during the fight?" he asked. I began to panic. Did he know I had helped Sonic and Tails last night?
"Probably asleep," I said truthfully. "I usually go to sleep about the same time that your little crony here started chasing Sonic all over the carnival." Robotnik looked a little more understanding, but he was still pretty mad about the events that had happened in my absence. I made a passing glance at Mecha, who just started back with his crimson eyes, not allowing any emotion to show. I shuddered slightly, but not from the cold. Metal Sonic was seriously creeping me out. Not only did he seem to hate me, but the emotionless look he gave me now scared me more than when he had flashed his red eyes at me yesterday.
"So what now?" asked Mecha.
"Since we've arrived at my secret base here, we can get the part I need and then take a transport to Launch Base, then proceed by foot to the…project," answered Robotnik. I suddenly realized that I had no clue as to what in the world Robotnik was planning.
"Hey, Doc! Mind filling me in on what we need to get from here and what's at this 'Launch Base'?" I asked. Both Robotnik and Metal Sonic looked at one another. Mecha shook his head no, but Robotnik waved the suggestion away.
"The part I need from here is the focusing lens for a prototype laser cannon I've installed in a glorious robot of mine that is located inside the construction project which is on the site of Launch Base. What is at the base itself is a mechanical masterpiece that took me years to build. I started work on it even before I began my rule. It was halted when I was banished to the Void by Sonic and his band, but work resumed the same day I returned, and now it is ready for it's first flight. You'll see it when we get there," answered Robotnik. While what Robotnik said had me thinking, it still gave me no clue as to what was going on.
"Hey, Doc! If it's all right with you, I think I'll just stay up here for now. Radio me when you're going to move out and tell me which direction and how far to fly the island," I said. Robotnik looked at me curiously, Mecha still giving me that cold stare.
"How come?" asked Robotnik.
"Well, I'm just not used to the cold. Besides, I don't exactly want to leave my island unattended while Sonic and Tails are still running loose on it," I answered. Robotnik just nodded, then climbed into his nearby hovercraft and took to the air, followed closely by Metal Sonic. I followed them for three minutes before reaching the edge of the island. I then watched as they began descending towards the snowy peaks below. I shook my head, then started back towards the carnival to see if I could find a food stand with breakfast items in it.
**********
"Are you sure?" asked Tails as Super Sonic reached out and clapped two emeralds together, his hot yellow fading back to the normal blue.
"Yep. Knux stopped the island right above of the heart of the Ice Cap mountain range, and I saw Robotnik and Metal Sonic heading towards the largest of them," answered Sonic. He had been shocked to see the famous mountain range. From what he heard, the range was one of the most fun, but most dangerous, ranges to ski on. But it wasn't the slopes that had him worried. Robotnik had obviously told Knuckles to come here, but why? Sonic started to think, then decided he'd rather eat breakfast first before trying to figure out why Robotnik had gone down there.
Setting his pack on the ground, he dug through it until he pulled out a extra padded carton with four eggs inside and an eight strip package of bacon. He then started to look around for something to cook them on, but found nothing. Taking an idea from the other night, he pulled out the red emerald and set it on the ground. Next, he took a small frying pan out of a side pocket on his pack. He then tossed his pack a good ten feet away. Immediately, the red emerald started glowing even brighter as the distance between it and its cooling counterpart grew.
"How do you like your eggs cooked? I can't remember," asked Sonic, placing the pan on top of the red emerald.
"Over easy, same as you," answered Tails. Sonic then broke two eggs into the pan, which was fairly well heated on top of the scorching hot jewel. After a few minutes, he took the eggs out of the pan and placed them on a plastic plate Tails had taken from his own pack. He then set about cooking his own eggs while Tails chowed down on his. After Sonic finished off his eggs, he then cooked four strips of bacon for both him and Tails, which they ate with satisfaction. Sonic then grabbed his pack, took out the green emerald and set it next to the red one, then put both of them back into the pack. They then sat around for a good half an hour, trying to figure out the best way to find out what exactly Robotnik and Metal Sonic were doing down there.
"Well, I can fly down there and so can you if you go super," said Tails.
"True, but seeing a glowing, flying hedgehog might scare the people skiing," said Sonic.
"You're probably right," said a depressed Tails. They had been giving suggestions to one another for quite a while now, but Sonic suddenly broke the conversation with an idea.
"I know. I'll use that cannon over there," he said, pointing towards a cannon that had once been used in the big top for the act of being shot from a cannon. "If I spindash just right when I land, I'll be okay. Besides, there's a blanket of snow down there to cushion my fall, not to mention that I can use the emeralds if I don't think I'll land safely," said Sonic. Tails looked over at the cannon.
"Are you sure? It doesn't exactly look safe," he said.
"I have the emeralds, so I'll be fine. Besides, the speed with which this thing will shoot me out at is enough to actually make it fun," countered Sonic. Tails then sighed, defeated.
"Okay, I'll meet you down there," said Tails. He then twirled his twin tails and took to the air, heading in the direction of the nearby mountain range. Sonic watched him till he was out of sight, then walked over to the cannon. It was a self firing cannon, with a pull fuse that the person inside could use to launch themselves from the cannon. Sonic curled up and slid down into the cannon, one hand holding onto the launcher. He then gave the fuse a solid pull. The force of the explosion that the cannon gave off wasn't very big, but it was very loud. Sonic was shot out going close to breaking the sound barrier as he started a long curved arc towards the mountains below.
**********
I had finally found a stand that had the ingredients to make some pancakes and had started to mix up the batter when a loud explosion scared what little life I still had left in me after Metal Sonic's prank. I threw the bowl containing the batter into the air as I threw up my arms in surprise. I started to turn towards the sound of the explosion when the bowl fell onto my head upside down, covering my head in batter. Feeling very stupid and clumsy at this point, I threw the bowl off my head, wiped the batter off, and raced towards the source of the sound.
I ran about the carnival until I spotted the still smoking cannon. I immediately knew what had happened. I ran over to the edge of the island just in time to see the last visible portion of Sonic's blue color disappear into the white colored snow below. I thought about following him for a second, but held back. I wasn't sure how cold it was down there. I might have froze if I had gone down there. I pulled out the radio and sent a signal to Metal Sonic's comm unit. I really hadn't wanted to send the message to the robot, but I had no choice since the comm unit in Robotnik's hovercraft was still damaged from Sonic's earlier attacks. The radio crackled for a second or two as Mecha tried to lock onto the frequency.
"What is it?" he asked, his voice even and stern. Mecha sure held a grudge.
"I think you two might have company in a few minutes," I said into the radio. Silence for a second.
"Is it 'him'?" asked Mecha.
"Think so. He shot himself from the carnival's 'human bullet' cannon. I saw a hint of his blue color for just a second before he was out of sight," I answered. Silence for another second.
"Stay on the island. We will leave a little surprise for him and his two-tailed friend," answered Mecha. Then he signal cut out. I sighed as I looked down at the huge mountain range, then shivered again at the sight of the snow-covered tops. True, my island did have a couple of mountains that had snow on the tops of them, but I never went up them. Too much time to climb, I had always told myself. But the truth was that it was because of the fear of freezing up there.
I had experienced the snow and ice of the winter months only one time during my life about three years ago. And because I had been foolish enough to leave the island and venture out into the cold, I had become very ill by the time I had made it back to the relative warmth of my home almost a day and a half later. I had spent the next two weeks taking certain herbs to help with my sickness, but I had been bed ridden the whole time and unable to protect the island even if I had to. *Well,* I thought, *at least I knew that I couldn't be blamed if Sonic and Tails got the better of them this time.* I turned back and started back towards the stand to make another batch of batter.
**********
"So which slope do you want to hit first?" asked a black armadillo as he and a violet chameleon stood on the top of one of the highest mountains, their snowboards resting on the snow a few feet behind them.
"How about the expert slopes?" suggested the chameleon. The armadillo gave him an evil look.
"You sure you're up to it, Espio?" grinned the armadillo. Espio shot him the same look.
"I am if you are, Mighty," he said. At that moment, they looked up and then dove to the ground as they were almost dive-bombed by Tails as he came speeding down from the sky towards the mountain top. He landed next to them, tired from his recent flight.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" cried Espio as he stood up.
"Sorry, but I couldn't stay up in the air much longer," replied Tails.
"It's okay, just watch yourself next time," said Mighty. Tails nodded, then his eyes widen at the thing he saw heading right towards them.
"Down!" shouted Tails as he dove to the ground. Mighty and Espio turned around in time to see a speeding blur of blue heading right at them. They both dove to the ground once more, the blur passing just above them as it landed on Espio's snowboard.
"Hey! What's going on!?" shouted Sonic as he uncurled on top of the board. It was all he could do to get his feet in the restraints before he started speeding down the back side of the mountain. Espio and Mighty looked at one another, then stood up. Tails joined them as they started running over towards the side of the steep incline. What they saw was a runaway snowboard sporting a blue hedgehog who was trying desperately to avoid the trees speeding past him.
"Who does he think he is, taking my board without asking?" asked Espio.
"That would be Sonic the Hedgehog," answered Tails. Both Espio and Mighty turned towards Tails in disbelief.
"You mean that is THE Sonic the Hedgehog!?" cried Mighty.
"You bet," said Tails.
"Forget what I said," said Espio as he looked back down the mountain side, just barely making out the speeding snowboarder.
"Do you think he'll be okay?" asked Tails as he watched Sonic's out of control ride down the mountain side.
"Who knows? But if he doesn't stop before he reaches the end of that ledge further down the mountain, then he's going to go flying right into the side of the next mountain," said Mighty.
"You mean he's going to crash!?" cried Tails as he looked over at Mighty. Mighty slowly nodded.
"Probably. You see, this mountain rest right next to another mountain. The small area in-between them is nothing more than an entrance to a whole underground ice cavern. The problem is that if he doesn't stop, your friend Sonic will go off the edge of this mountain, hit the side of the next mountain, and then fall down into the cavern below," explained Mighty. Tails didn't even wait to hear if there was anymore to listen too. He jumped up and grabbed Mighty's snowboard from the ground, flew into the air, then attached his feet to the clamps and dropped down into the snow to pursue Sonic.
"Well, looks like you just lost your board, too," said Espio. Mighty let out a sigh, then turned to Espio.
"Yep. What do you want to do now?" asked Mighty.
"How about some hot chocolate down at the lodge," answered Espio.
"All right, but first I need to do something," said Mighty.
"What's that?" asked Espio. But before Espio could react, Mighty had made a snowball and had hurled it at Espio, who was smacked square in the chest. Espio heard Mighty let out a laugh before he made a dash towards the ski lift, Espio in hot pursuit.
**********
Tails sped after his friend, desperate to catch up to warn him before it was too late. Sonic, in the meantime, had finally gotten the snowboard under control, and was actually enjoying the fast paced glide down the side of the mountain. At one point, the mountain had a slight drop off of about 20 feet, and Sonic took full advantage of the drop, pulling off a triple flip before landing in the soft snow below. Tails followed only a few seconds after, but didn't pull any stunts. Sonic looked back when he heard a second snowboard smack the snow behind him.
"Hey Tails! Glad you could make it!" shouted Sonic over the howling wind. Sonic saw Tails mouth something, but couldn't make it out. Putting a hand up to his ear, he hollered, "What?" Tails cupped his hands over his mouth, then shouted what he had said as loud as he could.
"Sonic! Stop! There's a cliff about a hundred yards in front of you!" shouted Tails. Sonic barely heard him, but he had caught the gist of what Tails had said. Whipping his head around, he realized too late that he was already too close to the cliff to stop. Sonic flew off the edge, then closed his eyes and braced himself as he neared the side of the adjacent mountain. The next thing he felt was the tip of the snowboard slamming into the side of the mountain as the front end became stuck in the frozen rock. Then the board snapped in half from Sonic's weight, and he began to fall into the ice cavern below.
Tails, in the meantime, had stopped his snowboard right at the cliff's edge and watched helplessly as Sonic plummeted into the darkness below. He was about to fly down to see if Sonic was okay when a loud rumble caught the attention of his sensitive ears. Looking for the source of the sound, Tails glanced left, then right. But then he realized that the sound was coming from above. Looking up, he saw a huge avalanche of snow rapidly descending the mountain side, obviously caused by Sonic's impact with the mountain side. Tails quickly undid the restraining straps on the snowboard and leaped out of the way as the titanic mound of snow billowed over into the narrow pit of the ice cavern entrance. It last only about ten seconds, but the amount of snow that had fallen into the pit would be more than enough to bury Sonic alive if he was under it. Tails quickly wound up his double tails and flew down into the darkness.
**********
"Is everything secured?" asked Robotnik as Metal Sonic leaped out of the cargo bay of a transport they had rented from a nearby ski resort.
"Yes. It's all set and ready to be taken to Launch Base," said Metal Sonic.
"Excellent. I want you to take the transport there. I will follow you after I've radioed the echidna," said Robotnik. Metal Sonic nodded confirmation of his mission, then climbed into the pilot's seat and started the transport's engine. Robotnik watched as the twenty foot long craft eased into the air, then blasted from the hidden base. Robotnik walked over to his hovercraft and climbed inside. He had managed some repairs and now all that he needed to do was contact that echidna and tell him where to take his island. Reaching over, he punched in the frequency of Knuckles' radio. At first, nothing but static. Then the channel picked up the receiver, and the signal cleared.
"Come in, Knuckles," said Robotnik. There was a moment's pause, probably from Knuckles having to pick up the radio.
"Yeah, what's up Doc?" said Knuckles voice. Robotnik hear what sounded like chomping coming from the other end of the radio. *Probably just Knuckles having his own breakfast,* thought Robotnik.
"We're ready to head for Launch Base. I'm sending you the coordinates now," said Robotnik. He typed a few commands into the craft's computer, then waited for Knuckles response.
"Okay, got it. I should get there in about twenty minutes. Over and out," said Knuckles.
**********
"Sonic! Can you hear me?" shouted Tails. He had only been down in the cavern for a minute or two, but it was already creeping him out. And what was worse, Sonic had apparently been under the avalanche when it hit, as he hadn't answered Tails' calls. Tails continued digging through the snow, but was unsure just how deep Sonic was buried. Tails had been digging for a good five minutes when his ears caught the sound of crunching rock and ice. *Oh just great, what a time for Knuckles to decide to harass us!* thought Tails. The sound grew louder by the second, and Tails looked over at the wall off to his left. Then the wall crumbled away in a cloud of dust. Tails jumped back and tried to look brave, even thought he was feeling anything but that.
"Hey! Are you two down here?" cried a familiar voice. Tails immediately knew who the voice belonged to.
"Mighty! Over here!" shouted Tails. The black armadillo looked in his direction, then started running over to him. Following close behind him was the shape of Espio, who was complaining loudly about how cold he was.
"Hey Tails, are you all right?" asked Mighty. Tails ran into his arms, almost to the point of tears.
"I'm fine, but I think Sonic's been buried alive!" he cried.
"Stand back, kid. Let old Mighty take a whack at finding him," said Mighty. With those words, he dove into the pile of snow, rapidly tossing snow left and right as he burrowed into the snow pile. Tails and Espio watched Mighty disappear from view. They both waited, holding their breath for what seemed like an eternity. All of a sudden, the top of the snow pile burst outwards in a shower of snowflakes. Mighty's head appeared, then he climbed out with the body of Sonic slung over his shoulder.
"Found him!" shouted Mighty as he slid down the side of the snow pile, still lugging Sonic over his shoulders. He then laid Sonic on the ground. "He's half frozen. If we don't warm him up quick, he might freeze to death." Espio and Tails both looked around the cavern for any signs of wood to build a fire with, but nothing except snow and ice covered the floor and walls of the cave. Tails was about to give up hope when an idea struck him. He ran over to Sonic, placed him up against the wall, and laid down on top of him. He then wrapped his twin tails around Sonic's body.
"What are you doing, kid?" asked Espio.
"Trying to keep him warm. My fur coat is a very good insulator against the cold, and my body warmth should help as well," answered Tails. He spent the next half hour wrapped around Sonic like a fur blanket. In the meantime, Espio and Mighty had been busy digging further down into the cave. Tails had been telling them about their adventures on the Floating Island, how they had met Knuckles, and their battles against Robotnik and Metal Sonic. Espio had then remembered hearing something abut Robotnik supposedly having a hidden base somewhere real close by, so the two older Mobians had been digging further into the cave to try and find the base.
"…So then we left the island, and you know the rest," said Tails, finishing his story.
"Sounds like this Knuckles guy sure is a pain in the neck," said Espio's voice from down in their tunnel.
"Yeah, but sure does sound like someone I'd want to meet," said Mighty's voice.
"Why would you want to do that?" asked Tails.
"It's probably because he has no clue who the real bad guys are," said a new voice. Tails looked forward in surprise to find that Sonic's eyes were open.
"Sonic! You're awake!" cried Tails. Tails slid off of Sonic, who stood up, holding his head.
"Man, did someone get the license number of that hover-car?" asked Sonic. Mighty and Espio, hearing the new voice, had emerged from their tunnel.
"Oh good, you're awake," said Mighty. Sonic looked up at the black armadillo and violet chameleon. "Oh, where are my manners. My name's Mighty, and this here is my best bud Espio," said Mighty, pointing back at Espio. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Mighty extended his hand.
"Likewise. I'm Sonic," said Sonic, taking Mighty's hand and giving it a shake. "So what are you two doing down here, anyway?"
"Well, mainly saving you. Found you half froze. But the person who deserves the credit for saving you is Tails. He was the one who kept you warm. If he hadn't done that, then you probably wouldn't have made it," said Espio.
"Yeah, you've got a true friend in that little fox," said Mighty, looking over at Tails, who blushed slightly.
"Yeah, me and Tails have been through it all. And I couldn't think of anyone better to have shared those times with," said Sonic.
"Well, me and Espio need to get back to work. Hopefully, we can find that base in a few hours," said Mighty as he and Espio started back towards the tunnel.
"So how you feeling?" asked Tails as Sonic sat down next to him.
"Just fine, little bro. A little cold, but that can be expected down here," answered Sonic. They sat there for a few more minutes in silence, reflecting on everything that had happened over the last day and a half. Suddenly, a metallic bang sounded through the cave.
"Well looky at what we uncovered," said Espio's voice. Sonic and Tails both stood up, grabbed their packs, and started down the tunnel to see what was up. They walked for a few minutes before reaching Mighty and Espio, who were standing in front of what appeared to be a reinforced steel wall. Mighty placed a hand up on the wall.
"Must be at least six inches thick. No way I could break that down," said Mighty.
"Maybe not you, but I think I know someone who can," said Tails.
"Who?" asked Espio. Tails only smiled and looked over at Sonic. Sonic caught his gaze, then smiled himself. Reaching into his pack, Sonic grabbed the seven Chaos Emeralds out, four in his right hand, three in the left. He then smacked the seven jewels together, his blue flushing to hot yellow as the emeralds began orbiting his body. Both Espio and Mighty stared wide eyed with their mouths hung open as Super Sonic walked up to the wall.
Sonic looked it over for a few seconds, then flew backwards a good ten feet. He then curled up into a tight ball of spines and dove towards the steel wall. He connected solidly with it, leaving a huge dent in the side. It took another five hits like this, but the wall finally collapsed inward, revealing what appeared to be the remains of a recently abandoned laboratory and workshop. There were robot parts littered everywhere, some of which where bigger than even a Swatbot.
"Doesn't look like anyone's been in here for a while," said Sonic as he walked inside. Everyone else followed him in, letting Super Sonic lead the way in case there were hidden traps. As they walked through the lab, Tails spotted the main computer off in a corner.
"Hey Sonic, let me hack into his computer system. I should be able to find out when this place was abandoned and what exactly this base was for," said Tails. Sonic gave him a nod, and the four of them walked over to the computer. Tails went to work, breaking passcodes and bypassing firewalls left and right. After a few minutes, he began reading off what he had learned.
"This place was used by Robotnik as an experimentation laboratory where he designed weapons of mass destruction. Many projects were created in here, including the first design for Metal Sonic. But there is one weapon in particular which was created for the shear purpose of either taking over the whole planet, or just blowing it up. A weapon which is code named the Death Egg. In fact, the project has supposedly been completed," said Tails.
"You mean Robotnik has a weapon which could destroy Mobius if he wanted to!?" cried Sonic.
"Yes. But there's more. It says here that project Death Egg will be launching within two hours of now," said Tails.
"Your kidding!? Where?" cried Sonic. Tails punched in more commands as the monitor brought up a map of the surrounding area.
"Here," said Tails, pointing at a small area on the map near the ocean. "It's called Launch Base." Suddenly, thick sheets of solid titanium three feet thick came crashing down around all the walls. The computer screen went black and a picture of Metal Sonic's head appeared on the monitor.
"Surprise, hedgehog. You actually didn't think that we would let you find out about the Death Egg without there being some kind of consequence," said Metal Sonic's voice over the compound's PA system. Then the picture switched to one of a counter as it started counting down from three minutes. "You were a worthy adversary, hedgehog, but in three minutes, you will be no more. Enjoy knowing about project Death Egg while you can! Ha ha ha!" Sonic gritted his teeth, then brought his fists down onto the console, his enhanced strength enabling him to smash the computer with ease.
"What do we do?" cried Tails. The three older Mobians started scanning the room, looking for some way to escape. Mighty spotted a second ice cave that the titanium walls hadn't covered up. He dashed over to it, but the sides were so steep that there was no way they could climb down it. But he could feel fresh air rising from depths.
"There's a way out over here, but it's way too steep to climb down," said Mighty, pointing down the shaft. Sonic rushed over and looked down the shaft, also feeling midday air blow against his fur.
"Hey, how about we ride down the slope on this?" asked Espio. Both Sonic and Mighty looked over at Espio, who was pushing a steel block across the icy floor with ease.
"There's no way that can be safe. Besides, we don't know where this shaft leads," said Mighty as the timer reached 1 minute and 30 seconds. But Sonic wasn't listening to them. He was thinking about where he had seen Tails point at where Launch Base was.
"It might not be safe, but we have no choice except to ride this thing down the shaft. If I remember right, then this shaft should take us in the direction of Launch Base," said Sonic. The three other Mobians looked at one another, then climbed on top of the steel block. Sonic pulled the block back as far as he could, then pushed it forward slowly, making it inch along the floor. He then flew up on top of the block, deactivated the emeralds, and placed them back in his pack as the block inched ever closer to the edge of the shaft.
"Are you sure this is safe?" asked Tails.
"Too late to back out now!" cried Sonic as the block went over the edge. Everyone let out a yell as the steel block almost dropped vertically down the shaft, bouncing off the sides of the walls as it plummeted down. They had been falling for about 30 seconds when they heard a distant explosion sound from above. They all looked up in time to see a giant ball of fire come blazing down the shaft after them. They continued down the shaft for another ten seconds before hitting a 45 degree slope, which slowed them considerably, allowing the fireball to come within only meters of the back end of the block. Sonic and Tails watched the blaze inch ever closer to the back of the block, but Espio and Mighty spotted something else which they were more concerned about.
"Look! Up ahead!" cried Espio as everyone turned their attention to the front end of the block. About fifty meters in front of them was a row of ice stalagmites which blocked off the tunnel. Just a few meters beyond the stalagmites was the exit to the cave, which appeared to be in the side of the mountain far above the ground.
"Well, it's been nice knowing you guys," said Espio.
"Same," said Mighty. Just then, the block smashed into the stalagmites, breaking them off as the block continued on. Then the block flew from the mouth of the cave and became airborne. As soon as the block was clear of the cave's mouth, the fireball burst from within, jut barely missing them. The block started dropping rapidly towards the ground. But instead of the ground being far from them as they had thought, it sloped downwards at an angle that was unnoticeable from the cave. The block slid down the side of the mountain well over a hundred miles per hour. Sonic and Mighty crawled up to the head of the block, trying to steer it as it sped down the side of the mountain.
"Left!" cried Sonic as he saw a tree speeding at them from the right. Both of them gripped the front end and pulled hard to the left, the block following them. They continued like this down the side of the mountain for a good three minutes until Tails spotted something up ahead.
"Sonic! Mighty! There's a cliff ahead!" shouted Tails. Sonic and Mighty looked up to see that, indeed, the edge of a cliff was fast approaching them.
"Hang on!" cried Sonic as the block went flying off the edge. Everyone closed their eyes and braced for impact. The block fell a good fifty feet before slamming into the snow below. Everything became quiet for a few moments, then Sonic's head popped out of the snow, followed closely by Tails, then Espio and Mighty.
"Is everyone okay?" asked Sonic. Sighs and okays came from the rest of the group as they pulled themselves from the snow. Sonic brushed the snow off his fur, then looked around as he tried to get his bearings. He looked off towards the east and saw nothing but more snow. But a look towards the west revealed something which caused Sonic's jaw to drop. Tails, Espio, and Mighty all noticed the thing at the same time. About a half a mile away was a giant steel orb, easily taller than the biggest skyscraper on Mobius. The only thing distinguishable was that the front of the orb had Robotnik's ugly face on it, all the way down to the mustache.
"By the heavens of Mobius…" said Mighty and Espio at the same time. Tails whispered something which only Sonic caught.
"Yep. The Death Egg, which means that this is Launch Base," said Sonic.
END OF CHAPTER 5