Chapter 3

"The spring yard is a perfect place for an ambush," Robotnik concluded, rubbing his gloved hands deviously.

The spring yard was South Island's… unique business in devices used for easy transportation during the construction of large-scale buildings. Despite being rather dangerous and unpredictable, the owners seemed to make a good profit off the product.

The yard itself was gigantic, as it had no fences or barriers. Large neon signs were everywhere, shamelessly advertising the various types of springboards throughout.

Of course by now he had already eliminated the owners of the spring yard, making it his property to use as he saw fit. The amount of available materials used to build the springs could speed up the production of his robot army.

Yes, South Island's defeat would be a swift and easy one. His only concern was locating the Chaos Emeralds. The island itself was pretty much useless; a convenient location for strip mining, nothing more. But the emeralds… they were something of inexhaustible power. He wanted that. It could put his experiments light years ahead of his colleagues.

Then those USRA fools would be begging me to come back.

As he relished his daydream, a soft beeping at Robotnik's cockpit warned him of the hedgehog's approach. He activated his intercom and commanded his robotic servants, "The hedgehog is not to be harmed. He must be coaxed into running, that's all. Set all weapons to stun."

Sonic was racing through the spring yard. The labyrinth, his destination, was not far from the area he was now in. He hoped that he might find another portal to the Chaos Realm there. If all worked out, he could redeem himself of his failure and offer the people of South Island the hope of freedom.

The spring yard itself looked unoccupied; almost vacated. It gave Sonic chills when he thought about it. Something didn't feel right.

Without thinking, Sonic took a quick leap to his right, narrowly missing a plasma bolt fired from the stinger of a buzzbomber robot.

The robot's eye sensors glowed red, zooming in on Sonic. It managed to fire one last time before it was sliced in half by the force of the hedgehog's speedy back flip.

More robots began to arrive, swarming in like the insects they were modeled after. They fired their plasma bolts.

Forget this, I'm out of here. Sonic thought as he once again took to running. Faster and faster he went, gaining momentum to the point that he was leaving a path of charred footprints. Luckily Sonic's shoes were designed to resist friction (it had taken him a lot of time and money, but he had eventually paid to have sneakers tailored with him specifically in mind) otherwise his feet would likely get badly burned.

Before long, the buzzbomber droids were long out of sight. He was approaching the end of the spring yard. A smirk formed on Sonic's lips. Who knows? Maybe I'll manage to get out of this alive.

"Dr. Robotnik, the target has vacated the area. He is currently being monitored as you requested," a buzzbomber droid reported.

Robotnik made his hands into a steeple, nodding calmly. If I were to wager a guess, the hedgehog is making his way toward the labyrinth. Little does he know that that particular area was my first conquest upon arriving here.

"Very good," Robotnik finally stated. "Let's return to base. If my calculations are correct, we have time on our side."

And soon the emeralds along with it.