Author's note:
Wow. That's dedication. Nail Strafer went to the trouble of rewriting Chapter 3 of this story so that it was three pages long. I can't type out the whole thing here, but here's a portion of it:
He started walking off into the thick undergrowth, and before long he was out of sight. All Shi could hear was the noise of the brush being pushed aside now. However, that faded quickly too. Now she felt truly alone, and she really didn't like being all by herself in a place like this. However, there wasn't much she could do to deal with it, apart from finding something to think about. Unfortunately...her brain didn't seem to want to concentrate on any subject apart from how much she wanted out of here.
I could get jumped from behind by a monster in the dark, she thought. Or get bitten by a snake hiding in the fog beneath my feet, or get attacked by the giant or whatever who's making all that thunderous noise. I have to wonder, why is it called the Infinity Woods? None of the stuff we've seen so far seems to have anything to do with infinity…
"Hey!" someone screamed behind her.
Shi gasped and toppled over backwards. She started crawling backwards along the ground, trying to get away from whatever it was had yelled at her. Her back collided with a tree stump, and she stopped. Now that she was sitting still, she looked at who had yelled and saw that it was her brother Juan.
But that's impossible! He went north when he left me, and now he's coming up behind from the south.
"I thought you were gonna wait back there..." Juan said. He folded his arms. "Why'd you change your mind?"
"I didn't! I've been standing here the whole time!"
"That doesn't make any sense...I walked in a straight line from where I left you..."
That Nail is good, huh? Well, on with the story.
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Chapter 4: The Egg Digger
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"Look at that monstrous Egg Digger!" Shi whispered to Juan. "How are we going to defeat him?"
"Easy," Juan whispered back. "All Dr. Eggman boss creations like this one are weak in one area in particular: the windshield. Watch and learn."
With those words, Juan took a running start and nailed the windshield with a really powerful karate kick.
The windshield wasn't even scratched.
Dr. Eggman cackled. "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to give the Egg Digger such a weak windshield that it could be destroyed in eight or so whacks?"
"Why not?" Shi responded. "You did every other time."
The doctor responded to this comment by pulling a lever. A detachable, radio-controlled drill flew at Shi, who jumped back just in time to avoid getting torn to pieces.
Meanwhile, Juan got an idea. He climbed up on the windshield and banged on it, not causing any damage but causing a lot of noise.
"Stop that infernal banging!" Shi yelled, covering her ears. "You're breaking my concentration!"
The banging was also disturbing Eggman, who fired the next detachable radio-controlled drill at Juan. Juan jumped out of the way, and the drill smashed into the windshield.
The windshield got a big crack in it.
Dr. Eggman flew into a rage. "Why you! Look what you've done to my glorious Egg Digger! You'll pay for this!"
Noticing a water pipe on the ceiling, Shi aimed her yo-yo at it. Hooking on perfectly, she swung around and around the Egg Digger.
Seeing how much of a nuisance Shi was, Eggman tried to drill her. Juan karate-chopped the drill out of its flight path just in time, though, and it lost control and drilled the Egg Digger's windshield again.
"I've got an idea!" Shi yelled to Juan. "Quick, climb up!"
On her next pass, Juan jumped and grabbed Shi's foot. As Juan climbed, Shi whispered something in his ear.
"A bit risky, I suppose," Juan replied, "but it's worth a try."
Finally Juan reached the water pipe Shi was swinging from. He yanked a section of pipe loose, drenching the area below- and the Egg Digger- in a LOT of water.
Eggman laughed again. "That's supposed to foil me? I compensated for that too. The outside of the Egg Digger is completely rust-proof and waterpr…"
The sentence was not finished. The Egg Digger was short-circuited all over. A reasonable amount of water had gotten through the cracked windshield and reached the controls, which Eggman had not bothered to protect.
At last, the Digger exploded. When the dust cleared, Juan dropped down to investigate. Dr. Eggman was nowhere to be found. He had escaped at the last second.
The explosion had also blown away the dirt that had covered the Chaos Emerald's pedestal. Shi dropped down and approached it.
"It's… I don't believe it… it's a real Chaos Emerald!" Shi exclaimed in awe. "Stand back, Juan, I'm going to take it off its pedestal!"
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Chaos Emerald, indeed… but you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out what happens when Shi takes it!