Disclaimer on chapter 1

Chapter 5: Rolling Robots

Eggman was watching the footage of both battles carefully, studying the hedgehog's moves.

"What is he…? Obviously not a normal hedgehog. No way can they move that fast. Is he some sort of government weapon? It reminds me a little of something… but I can't for the life of me remember what exactly…" he muttered to himself before interrupted by a call on the radio.

DOCTOR WE HAVE LOCATED HIM; HE IS WITHIN THE SPRING YARD TOWN. A Roller reported

"Good, follow him. Make sure he doesn't get anywhere near the Emerald."

ROGER

Eggman looked back to the video screen, at the blue hedgehog shown on it.

"I will defeat you" he said quietly

XOXOX

BONK

"GRR"

So far, Sonic liked the city a lot less than he did the ruins. The traps weren't much different, but it was those dang spheres! He was getting headaches from the constant "Bonk" noise. And what was worse was that he actually had to deliberately bounce off of some in order to get to some places.

BONK

"GRR"

And that was easier said than done.

BONK

"GRR. STOP GOING BONK!" he yelled as he finally got to the ledge he was aiming for. He took a moment to calm down and was then on his way again.

BONK

"GRR. I SAID STOP!" he yelled, then realised he hadn't hit anything. "What a minute…"

BONK. BONK. BONK.

He turned to see blue balls bouncing off of the spheres he had used to get up to the ledge. At first he thought them to be hedgehogs, like him, as he had similar size and shape when he had rolled up. That was until they unrolled themselves. What stood in front of him where three badniks, each made up of two hemispheres, with arrow point heads. They looked like armadillos to an extent.

"Great, more goons"

"SURRENDER AND GIVE US THE EMERALDS" said the first

"No way ball boy!"

"REFUSAL IS NOT AN OPTION" said the second

"Is for me, later!" said Sonic as he turned and span into a ball, rolling down a hill

"FOLLOW HIM" said the third as they all rolled into their ball forms and gave chase.

The first didn't last too long, it was knocked into a ramp by a sphere and flew into a wall, exploding and letting out a chicken.

The second was a little more difficult to shake off, but eventually, Sonic was too fast for it, and it was crushed under an incoming spike ball, letting out a small pig.

The third was a different story entirely. It wouldn't let up. Sonic had gone down tubes, between spheres, into dangerously range of spike balls, and still the robot would not stop coming. Sonic was eventually down to one option. He rolled towards a wall at high speed allowing momentum to build up in both him, and his pursuer. At the last second, he unrolled his legs and used them too kick off of the wall, pushing him into the air. The Badnik did not have such an option and rolled into the wall, suffering a similar fate to the first one. There was a different though. When it hit the wall, the resulting explosion caused a largish hole to appear in the wall.

In that moment, when Sonic had landed, he saw the Two Emeralds start to glow their respective colours. And within the wall came a pinkish-purplish glow which came with it. Sonic went to investigate, finding himself in a store room. And there, in the middle of the room, amongst broken glass and boxes, was another emerald, this time magenta in colour. Sonic grinned as he went to pick it up.

"Another one to keep out of Eggman's grasp." He said cheerfully. "Now all I need is another four."

He left the building and went on his way again

XOXOX

Near the city limits, Eggman waited. He had the eggspike attachment on his Eggmobile, a single spike which could impale anyone underneath the ship if he lowered it onto them. Perfect for the area he now waited. It was a single bridge between the city exit and the main road, made of blocks. The removal of one of the blocks would cause problems. The nature of the city would keep each block floating even if they where separated, but if enough are removed, it would prove impassable despite that. Eggman planned to remove them while he fought Sonic, but in such a way to make it seem as if to attack Sonic himself. He was getting annoyed at the hedgehog. A Buzz Bomber had informed him of the failure of his Rollers, and that Sonic now had the third Magenta Emerald. All that remained where the Red Emerald, somewhere in the Starlight Roadways above Station Square, the Green which was somewhere in the underwater labyrinths, and who knew where the Grey Emerald was… and if Sonic got past him, there was a chance he would make for the labyrinths and blindly stumble across the Green Emerald, just like he did with the other three already in his possession.

"And that won't happen if I have anything to do about it" Robotnik muttered.

XOXOX

Sonic figured by the signs he went by that he was close to the limits of the city considering he saw loads of signs saying "You are now exiting the city" along the way. The last part had been hard. A huge pit where he expected more paths to be, linked only by odd floating platforms with their own propulsion which seemed to move in some sort of pattern. Problem was it timed incorrectly, he would have plummeted. He managed to get across however and landed safely on the other side. There was one last bridge to cross, literally, however Sonic noticed another canister ahead of him.

"Heads up…" he muttered. He stopped half way across the bridge and began to yell "I know you're here Eggman! Your canister thingy gives you away."

"So what Hedgehog?" Eggman asked as he flew into view "When I rule the world you will see one of these on every street corner!"

"What? Those ugly things you put the animals in? That's just cruel!"

"It's for powering my army and that makes my containment units above words such as 'cruel'" Said Eggman in an annoyed tone.

"You are one messed up man Eggman!"

"Enough of this idle banter, prepare to fall at the power of my Eggspike!" and with that a spike jabbed quickly out of the bottom of the vehicle and Eggman just about dropped the whole thing at Sonic.

Sonic was, who was bemused by the spike coming out of where he would hit the thing! Instead of attacking, he had to dodge, or be a combination of impaled and squashed.

Eggman raised his machine back into the Air, and Sonic saw his chance, as the Spike retracted, he jumped up and hit the doctor's vehicle hard.

"GAH! Not again!" The doctor cried. The spike popped out quickly as he tried to attack again, only to have sonic dodge and the cycle repeated.

The machine was tougher, but Sonic saw no need to worry until…

"AHH!"

He lost his footing

"What the?" He yelped as he grabbed a hold of one of the stones, and realised, it was floating just like the platforms before. And just like the platforms before it was over a big void. He then realised what Eggman had been doing. Slowly witling away the bridge Sonic stood on. Block by block in hopes to have him fall without realising it till it was too late.

"Well that's a dirty trick!" Sonic said as he jumped back onto the platform he had been holding on to "and I won't be taken in by it, again!"

"HA! Even if you could hit me another time, you can't get to the other side now Hedgehog!"

"Wanna bet?" Sonic mocked as he took a step back. To the doctor's amazement, Sonic had landed on the other side of the bridge!

"GAH! My plan is ruined now! But just you wait Hedgehog! I WILL be back!" Eggman yelled as he flew the machine past him. Again Sonic had to chase him, pressing the button of the containment unit on his way by.

"COME BACK HERE EGGMAN!" he yelled. He had almost caught up to him, until he fell into a pit, not unlike the one back in marble ruins "Wha? Oh no… not AGAIN! AH!"