Chapter 6: The Underground Aqueduct
The darkness swallowed my entire body; I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. All I felt was rushing air. Then, I broke through and appeared in a whole different environment. There was water everywhere, and old crumbling structures submerged in it. Using my twin tails, I slowed my descent and caught Sonic as he dropped past me.
"Whoa, that's a lot of water! Are you sure this was a good decision?" Sonic asked.
He was deathly afraid of water. If a lake or pond was nearby, he'd make an effort to not go anywhere near it. Sonic sure was fun at the beach.
"Yeah, yeah. You're afraid of water. Don't worry about it. There should be enough air bubbles under there to keep us safe." I reassured him.
"...and if there isn't? Then what?" he asked.
I rolled my eyes.
"It'll be okay. I promise. Now's my turn to repay you for all those years of taking care of me. I'll make sure you get out of here in one piece." I looked down at him. He winked at me.
"Thanks, fluff. I'm in good hands."
Hm, that was a new nickname. Fluff. I like it. We continued floating down, until Sonic's feet touched a solid platform. The water beneath us was dark blue and I could vaguely make out some things under the surface.
"I'll go in first, you follow me. I've got experience with this sort of thing." I said.
I took off my special sneakers and put them into the supply bag. I dipped one of my paws into the water. It was cold, but not hypothermia-inducingly cold.
"This is pretty cold. Are there any wet suits in there?" I asked Sonic.
He rummaged through the bag, with no luck.
"Nope. I guess we'll just brave the cold?"
My ears pricked up as I thought about the idea of submerging my entire body into that water. Suddenly, a chill went up my spine.
Sonic's gloved hands touched my back, and rubbed the fur. He caressed my back muscles all the while giving them a gentle massage. I instantly calmed down.
"I thought you said you said you'd get me outta here in one piece? Can't do that with your tails between your legs. C'mon, step it up!" Sonic said.
I gritted my teeth, and jumped in. The water absorbed me greedily and it filled my ears. My body sank lower and lower until I hit something. Must've been the bottom. Looking up, all I could see was something sparkling. Sunlight. A shadow passed over it, and Sonic landed right next to me. He gave me a sign with his hand. Pointer finger and thumb forming an O, while the other fingers stick into the air. The all clear symbol. We continued forward, slowly slogging through the flooded aqueduct. There were various twists and turns, all filled with water. Sonic and I hadn't encountered any trouble with air, as there were cracks in the floor occasionally seeping large bubbles of oxygen. We came across a strange object. It was a metal pole with a hand attached to it.
"What is this contraption? It hasn't rusted at all, yet it's submerged in water. Let me get a closer look…" I edged closer to the mysterious pole.
All of a sudden, something rose up from beneath me. It was a quickly rotating platform. The hand grabbed the top of my head and the platform went faster.
"Tails! What's going on?!" Sonic asked.
"I don't know, but I don't want to find-AHHH!"
The large hand let go of me and I was launched forward at blinding speed. I streaked through the various hallways and intersecting paths. Sonic was right behind me. Finally, we burst through the wall and landed in a big pool. It was about ten feet deep. In the center of the pool stood a large grey cylinder. It seemed to be a turbine, as there were intake valves and energy collecting tubes on its side. Then, a circular shadow descended over us. It was yet another of Robotnik's machines. This robot was spherical and had red chrome paint. On its sides, arranged in diagonal lines, there were four thrusters. Each attached to a yellow X mark in the machine's "chest". It had angry looking purple eyes.
"Yikes. Somebody's having a bad day." Sonic snarkily remarked.
The robot all of a sudden shot up into the air, and made a wide arc downwards. The four thrusters on each side activated and drove the machine down the side of the pool we stood in. It barrelled towards us.
"Watch out! Jump over it!" I yelled.
Right before the machine mowed us down, we jumped over it, and I had managed to score a hit on it. It came back down the other wall and we jumped over that as well. Finally, the robot launched up and planted itself onto the cylindrical turbine. The thrusters deactivated, and the turbine began to spin. The water was being stirred violently, almost like a whirlpool. Sonic and I didn't stand a chance. We were thrown all around.
"What's it doing to us? My head's spinning…" Sonic said. The water stopped moving, as the robots began to fire its thrusters once more.
"I've had enough of that, thank you! Hya!"
Sonic jumped as high as he could and lashed out with a vicious kick to the machine's red chrome hull. The metal crumpled and the robot began to explode. It fell to pieces, which all landed in the water. I gave Sonic a high five.
"You did a good job, Sonic. Maybe you're getting over your fear of the water." I told him.
The ground began to shake. A large crack formed beneath our feet and the water pressure sucked us under. We spun around and around, and were deposited in a deeper area of the aqueduct. In front of us lay another long hallway. This time, Sonic led us ahead. We came out the tail end of the hallway and came across a large wall. There didn't seem to be a way of getting over or around it.
"Looks like we're trapped. Maybe there's some way we could get over?" I said.
As soon as those words were uttered, the ground shook again. Behind us, another wall came at us. It was moving quite fast.
"No time to talk, just run!" Sonic shouted.
Bubbles burst from his mouth as his legs revved up. He shot up the wall and went right over. I followed in the same fashion. There were several smaller hallways with dead ends. Sonic and I panicked and ran into every room. A yellow spring sent us flying upwards, escaping the clutches of the crushing wall. It slammed into the opposite wall with a loud thud.
"Hoo boy, that could've ended badly. Let's keep it moving." I said. Sonic nodded in agreement.
For about an hour or so we were inside this new sector of the aqueduct. Twisting water slides and precarious ledges overlooking spike beds made up most of this place. Pretty soon, we had reached the end. Water rose to about 5 feet from the floor here. There was no obvious exit.
"Aw man, it's a dead end! Now what?" Sonic asked me. I had no idea.
"Now, YOU DIE! Hahahaha!" Doctor Robotnik's voice came from somewhere up above.
He descended in a modified transportation pod. It had a golden colored propeller on its underside, and a rack of old war depth charges of the same color on the back.
"You meddling worms will die here and now! Nobody ever comes to the Hydrocity, so your bodies will never be found! Hahaha! Suffer the same fate as my empire! Broken up and dissolved!"
The evil doctor pressed a button in his pod that made the propeller spin. Faster and faster it went. A tall waterspout rose from the surface of the once tranquil pool. We were getting attracted towards it slowly.
"Keep moving, Tails! We can't get caught in that blade! If we do, we're goners!"
Exerting much effort to escape the clutches of the killer propeller blades, I gasped for air, but instead inhaled a load of water. I began to choke.
"Sonic...help...me…" I barely made out those words.
He grabbed me by the arm and threw me further away from Robotnik's machine. Sonic would take care of it.
"Hey, RoBUTTnik! I don't appreciate you tossing my partner around like that! It's time I set you aside for good!"
He curled his body into a ball and revved his legs. His entire body rolled at high speed, and he dashed towards the Doctor. Slicing clean through the metal armor, Robotnik's deadly robot exploded, all of its pieces shedding into the water. He flew away angrily, and completely red-faced.
"Tails! Baby, are you okay?" Sonic asked.
I gurgled and spat water. My lungs craved air, so I sucked in deep breaths.
"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks for the save. I knew I could count on you to come through for me." I said while smiling.
"Nah, it's no problem. After all, you were the one who helped me with my fear of water. Come here, little buddy."
Sonic opened his arms wide for a hug. I wrapped myself around him, our hearts beating in sync.
The ground shook again, breaking our hug prematurely.
"Oh, now what's happening?" Sonic asked himself.
Cracks in the floor opened up under us, and water poured out. Then, two powerful jets of water thrust us up and out of the Hydrocity. We slammed through the ceiling and burst back out into the open air.