Chapter Three
Spring if You Like Pinball!
At the base of a high mountain that held an iron structure bellowing smoke on South Island stood an area littered with spring boards, flippers, and bumpers. Sonic had followed Robotnik into the area until he lost him. He stops on the edge of a platform to survey his new surroundings.
"Now," he thought out loud as he surveyed the scene before him, "we'd did that overgrown egg go?"
As he surveyed his surroundings, an explosion detonated behind him sending him off the platform's edge. He tries to turn to see who had hit him but sees nothing. Sonic looks down as he falls to see a ramp on the bottom of the edge as he rolls into his, now becoming infamous, Sonic Spin as he gathered speed down the edge. He was then launched into the air only to hit a series of bumpers. Sonic continued to hit bumper after bumper as they made a clank sound, and was launched into the air and into more bumpers by some flippers. He finally landed on the other side after almost thirty minutes, and he landed dazed as his walk was that of a child who spun in circles until they fell down.
"Now," he tries not to throw up with his hands on his head as his walk became wobbled, "I know how a pinball feels like when had been bumped around."
He shakes his head side to side as he tries to clear his head. Sonic starts to run forward only to be stopped by an explosion. He looks up to see more of those wasps and they weren't alone. There were more of those crabs from Green Hill, some kind hermit crab with spikes on its head and a pair of large knife for pinchers, and some kind of hinged ball-like creature with its head and arms on the top half of the ball and its feet and tail on the bottom half of the ball.
"Is this the hedgehog?" one of the hermit crabs asked in a monotonic tone. "He's not so tough."
"He is tough since he's taken out too of my brothers," a wasp answered the hermit crab's question.
"I say you let us bowl him over," one of the hinged ball creatures said also in a monotonic tone as he gestured to his other brothers.
"I say we go all out on him!" a crab spoke as he clicked his pinchers menacingly.
"No!" another wasp spoke, "He's taken out our brothers and others by making them attack him!"
"Uh, where'd he go?" a hermit crab stupidly asked and they turned to find out that the hedgehog wasn't there.
Then the sound of rushing wind could be heard and the sound of almost simultaneous explosions could be heard. Sonic had taken the opportunity while the badniks were arguing over how to deal with him by attacking them after he'd gotten a good running start. They each fell one by one to each of Sonic's attacks. After they were all defeated, the encased animals fled while Sonic sped off in his search for the evil Dr. Robotnik.
Sonic traveled a little more slowly over steep inclines that almost forced him into his Spin and he didn't want to go through another pinball episode since his head hadn't recovered from the previous one. Small explosions started to follow him and he turns to see more of those wasps following him as they tried to 'sting' him. He hides behind a barrier as the swarm passed him while they continued their barrage. They swing around for another pass just to find that Sonic isn't there.
"Hey! Where'd he go?" one of the wasp asked.
"I don't know!" another one, apparently the squadron leader, spoke.
"Weren't you suppose to be watching him!" one of them shouted at one of them that was at the rear.
"Hey," it shouted defensively, "I don't have sensors at the back of my stinger!"
"Hey, ya overgrown wasp!" a voice spoke and they turned to see the hedgehog that they were chasing waving at them cheerfully from a platform in the middle of them. "Aren't y'all looking for little ol' me?" as he faked the Southern accent of a Southern belle and pointed to himself as he struck a feminine pose.
They surrounded him and launched an attack; however, they missed only hitting one another as the whole squadron was destroyed as the hedgehog cackled to himself over the stupidity of the robots. He speeds of over the pinball theme area until he came to yet another one of those rings, but this one was hovering over a colossal pinball table.
"Great, just what I need," Sonic heavily said sarcastically as he shook his head, "another pinball episode."
He surveys the table trying to find a way to the ring and he spots a ramp that leads to what appears the place where the ball is launched onto the table. Sonic heavily sighs and walks (for a change) towards the ramp. At this point, he soon got the big picture of the table. Sonic then steps on a button that he didn't see and he was soon encased in a clear orb.
"What the?" Sonic asked himself and soon the ramp tilted him onto the table as his question was answered.
However, the ball was spinning but he himself wasn't moving. He was soon launched into the game by the ball launched and the fun (or in this case: pain) began. The lights and sounds could've been deafening to Sonic if it wasn't for the orb protecting him. Weird sirens could be heard and the clanking of bumpers as Sonic was bounced and thrown around the table. He was bounced onto a ramp that took him up to the top of the table near the ring but he felt helpless that he couldn't get to the ring on his own since the table was now in control of his fate. He missed the ring twice and was dropped to the lower level of the table. It was not until the third time and after an hour that he had hit the ring vanishing from site. Soon after another harrowing pinball adventure in a spinning labyrinth, he emerges victorious with another Chaos Emerald in his hand.
He let out a sigh, but it didn't last since he felt cold iron on the back of his head followed by a cocking sound.
"Now, give me the gem and the location of the others, hedgehog!" it was that weasel before, Nack.
"What gem?" Sonic asked as he tried to act as innocently he could while hiding the 'gem' behind his back as he turned around.
"The gem behind your back!" the weasel snapped while not taking his shooting iron away from Sonic.
Sonic soon felt the 'gem' vanish and he let out a mischievous smirk.
"I have nothing on me, Nack," Sonic replied as he removed his hands from behind his back showing the weasel that he had nothing.
Nack's face became enraged as he watched Sonic casually remove his gloves to show him that he wasn't hiding them inside his glove either. Sonic could tell that Nack was enraged since his shooting iron was now shaking as if he couldn't keep it steady. Nack takes a step forward and full cocks his shooting iron, but had the misfortune of stepping on the very same button that Sonic had done before. He was now encased in an orb as the ramp tilted him onto the table while Sonic jumped onto steady ground while the platform tilted.
"I hope you have fun as a weasel pinball, Nack!" Sonic shouted as the launcher pulled back.
"What are you talking about!" Nack snapped and Sonic just pointed at the launcher as it was pull back to its extent. As if in slow motion the launcher came at Nack just as he let out a shout that started out slow then slowly became normal.
Sonic speeds off once again at a slower speed since he spotted rough terrain ahead while Nack was at the mercy of the pinball table. He makes it towards a set of springs only to get hit from behind by a projectile. Sonic yelps in pain while he was thrown into the air and he lands on a hovering platform high above him. He lands flat on his face as he moans in pain from pain in two places: his back and now his face.
"Not to self," he spoke to himself, "get used to changing situations and," as he gets up massaging his back, "work on those landings."
Loud buzzing sound were then heard and it came from more of those wasps. They all surrounded him and pointed their stingers at him as their buzzing became almost unbearable.
"Surrender hedgehog!" one of the wasps, that appeared larger than the rest, spoke.
"Sure, I'll surrender," Sonic replied with heavy sarcasm, "if you first get rid of the menace Spider-Man."
"Alpha! Beta! Cut off his escape route! The rest of you! ATTACK!"
The respective squads obeyed as the rest started to attack. Sonic was stuck on the platform as he constantly dodged the attacks. The shots forced him backwards as he fell off the platform and was able to grab onto the ledge. He quickly pulled himself up and launched himself into the air towards the wasps. He lands on the largest wasps, the leader of the swarm, as he rode it like a horse. The rest of swarm stopped their attack fearing that they will hit their leader.
"What are you doing! We have orders to extinguish this hedgehog no matter the cost!"
They all attacked and Sonic dodged the attack as he jumps onto another wasp. He breaks off its stinger and leaps towards another as that one went down while he used that stinger to attack the wasp he landed on. Sonic lands on another and this time he rode it around like a horse. He forcibly steered his steed into the rest of the swarm. The swarm tried to hit Sonic but only missed and they hit their brothers. Sonic pulls out the wings on his steed and removes the jets before jumping off it as it went down. He used what was left in the jets to land on yet another wasp as he used the rest of the fuel on the rockets to burn the wasp. Sonic pulls out the wasp's stinger as it went down with its head melted off to jump onto another wasp and use that stinger to pierce the wasp's thorax.
"Alpha through Theta," a large wasp spoke as it assumed command, "attack him! Tau through Omega, prevent any escape!"
Sonic's tactics began to work as he continuously used the wasps' stingers against them and while he piggybacked on them as they shot at their brothers in an attempt to hit him. Slowly all of the wasps failed and he rode the last one into the ground (literally) as its systems shutdown. He runs off over the next hill, but was stopped by another projectile and this one came from those crabs from Green Hill. Sonic was now starting to tire from his fight.
"Looking tired?" a crab spoke. "Allow me to tuck you in… permanently!" it clicks its pinchers and the rest of the platoon attack him with projectiles coming out of their pinchers.
Sonic jumps backwards to avoid the blast but more come from both flanks and his rear. He does a back flip, which surprises him, as he lands on higher ground before launching himself into his Sonic Spin. He bounces off the one that had shot at him before he took out the ones that had fired at him from his flanks as he was launched into the air from his attacks. They were destroyed and just as Sonic was catching his breath, more had surrounded him as they clicked their pinchers menacingly.
They started to close off his escape around him and Sonic thought of something that might be crazy enough to work. Since he's been on South Island long enough, he's seen severe storms that he couldn't explain himself. There had been columns of spinning clouds and weird storms that turn out violent before becoming calm the next. Those storms soon turned violent again that devastated the island by uprooting trees and causing the animals to act weird on the island. He starts to run in a circle before he starts to tighten the circle. Faster and faster he went until his running started to cause a column of air to form. The column of air acted like a vacuum forcing the robots into the torrent as they tried to stay grounded but they failed to do so. Sonic soon stopped running the column of air vanished dropping its load. They crashed onto the ground with such a tremendous crash that they were destroyed and the trapped animals escaped as Sonic ran off in search of his foe.
He soon stops as a steep hill that was littered with bumpers and flippers, and by now he was starting to get extremely tired from his ordeal in this area of South Island.
"Now," he asked himself as he tried to catch his breath, "where'd that rotten egg go?"
"If you are looking for Dr. Robotnik," Sonic turned to see one of those hinged robots from earlier but this one looked to be the same size as him, "he's at the end of this ramp, but in order to get to him. You must race me."
Sonic knew that this wasn't the time to be playing games with a madman on the loose, but he didn't seem to have a choice at the moment and he reluctantly agreed to the race.
"The rules are simple," the robot continued, "you must spin your way through the course and reach the end first. If you stop spinning even for a second, you automatically forfeit the race."
Sonic and his opponent moved to the edge of the incline and waited for their race to begin. He was still out of breath and he hoped that he didn't toss his cookies before the end of this.
"On the count of three," the robot continued. "One… two… three," and they were off.
The incline was steeper than Sonic could've imagined and he wasn't used to such speeds while he was spinning. He tried to dodge the bumpers and flippers but that proved futile since he was having trouble trying to control the direction of his spin. His opponent however was having an easier time and Sonic couldn't put his finger on it, but he guessed it had to be something internal about that robot that enabled him to move so easily. He soon spots a ramp coming towards him and he took the chance to make a beeline towards it. He does so and he was launched into the air and high above the course. Sonic also spotted his opponent ahead of his and he could also see the end of the course just ahead. He lands in front of the robot with a thud but he maintains his spin. They were neck and neck as they approached the steepest and most hazardous of the course. This time the bumpers were moving and they both had some trouble getting through without getting hit, but Sonic seemed to have the most trouble. They soon passed the course and were launched into the air by a series of springs. They entered the final leg of the course in which they had to climb up the incline while using the bumpers and flippers. Sonic finally reached the top by using a flipper to reach a ramp that landed him onto level ground.
He was exhausted and extremely dizzy from his third pinball episode. He then hears a series of explosions and he turns to see that the final incline had started to collapse with the hinged-like robot with it. Sonic soon spotted who he had been chasing since Green Hill after his dizziness subsided, Dr. Robotnik. He ran towards him just as the ground became narrow.
"I have you now, Eggman!" Sonic shouted as he skidded to a stop.
"I didn't think that you'd make it this far Sonic," Robotnik replied as he tried to keep his anger in check from the insult but that didn't seem to work. "I'll have you skewered for that insult!" To emphasize his comment, the bottom of his pod transformed to reveal a large harpoon on the bottom.
Just as his previous attempt to attack Sonic, the harpoon swiveled to aim at Sonic. Robotnik launched the harpoon, which was attached to a chain, at Sonic but he missed as it hits the ground. Robotnik then reels in his harpoon only to bring in a block that it was attached to. After it was reeled in, the block was destroyed and Robotnik aimed again in order to finish off his now increasing annoying foe. Over time as more and more blocks vanished until only one was left.
Robotnik laugh with a vile tone, "Hedgehog kebab anyone?" as he unleashed his harpoon attacking the block.
However, Sonic latched onto the side of the block, "No thanks. I already ate," as Robotnik reeled both of them in. Robotnik soon found the error of his way but it was too late. Sonic had burrowed through his pod leaving it destroyed and making him retreat yet again just as Sonic landed on the opposite side.
Sonic destroyed the Prison Egg and left to chase after Robotnik.
"Come back here Eggman!" as soon as he finished that last syllable, he felt the ground collapse and him with it!
A cackle unheard by Sonic followed as he fell by someone hiding behind a large spinning light, "You'll pay for putting me in that pinball, hedgehog, and no one outwits Nack the Weasel and gets away from it." He lets out another cackle as Sonic's screams faded. Nack walks towards the hole that he had made to find that it was deeper than he had expected it to be. He throws hit hat to the ground and stomps on it out of frustration.
Sonic gains another Chaos Emerald and deals Robotnik another defeat; however, it seems that the tables have turned for Sonic. Just where did Nack the Weasel send Sonic and will he, Sonic, get out of this situation? What is Robotnik's next big move and will he gain a Chaos Emerald before Sonic gathers them all? What awaits Sonic at the bottom of his fall? These questions and more will be answered in the next exciting chapter of A Hero is Born.
Post Author's Note: Yet again (like the previous bout with Robotnik) I changed it again just to make it a little more exciting than having Robotnik come over Sonic and allowing Sonic to attack him.