The exact second Sonic and his companions were trying to battle their way out of a hostile situation, Lara Croft and her associate, after enduring so much trouble speeding through a messy jungle, finally managed to arrive in the exact spot where the Ratakyan Ruins were.

The problem was, while there wasn't a lot to see, it was obvious that the place was swarming with unearthly monsters.

And to seemingly top it all off, somebody else was here as Lara could hear voices coming from inside the temple, echoing out as people found themselves in the heat of battle with angry hissing and roaring creatures, probably more of those ugly spider beasts and those weird snake creatures.

While there was hissing from the monsters, Lara and Oskar could also hear chemical mist being sprayed that accompanied the sounds of combat.

"Crap, darn!" Oskar exclaimed, "Somebody must've gotten the treasure and now they're under attack from those things!" Lara slammed her fist on the handle of the bike, "If a rival o' mine's gonna get 'is or 'er hands on the ancient treasure, they either have to go through me or I'm gonna have to help 'em out."

A group of ugly monster spiders soon spotted Lara and Oskar and devious smiles crossed their faces. Howling and hissing like mad, the monsters scuttled across the ground towards them both.

"SHIT!" Oskar yelled, terrified at the sight of the spider beasts. Lara grabbed out her silver eagle pistol from her shorts pocket, climbed off the bike, stood up and took aim. "EAT SOME SILVER LEAD, BEASTS!" The archeologist yelled.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! The bullets lanced through the furry hides of the spider monsters, piercing the legs, eyes, head and antenna.

Red and green blood sprayed forth from the wounds as the bullets ended the monsters' lives in seconds.

About two monsters took notice and headed straight for Lara, eager to bite her head off. Thinking fast, she snatched her second pistol, reloaded her first and switched to machine gun mode.

Lara leapt into the air with ease and shot at the snakes. The monsters hissed and shrieked in agony as the bullets entered their hides and struck them in the heart, setting off a chain reaction that stopped their breathing entirely.

One super ugly spider monster, with horns and one massive eye went straight for Oskar, who got out his pistol and shot the spider in the eye, more monster blood tainted the ground and the spider beast shrieked before collapsing.

Lara landed on the ground near the snake monsters' remains and beckoned to Oskar, "C'mon lad, whoever's fightin' more o' them in the temple need our help." Oskar saluted, "No prob, boss."

—–

Despite having an advantage over the monsters attacking them, Sonic knew he and his friends had to escape and survive before they got tired and where overcome by the hordes of spiders and snakes.

With each creature they took out, another would replace it, more vicious and scarier than the last one. Their current strategy so far had been effective, but now it was time to improvise and adjust their strategic approach to the battle.

Willing to take any dangerous risks with his friends next to him and the limited space, Sonic decided to go all out with his blue blur tornado move that he'd been doing for years.

The blue hedgehog flexed his arms n' legs, did a few jumping jacks while punching a few spider monsters, and made his move, zipping around in a circle at top speed, often curling up into a ball to spin dash any enemies in his way. Sonic hoped for the best, that it did the trick…

It did do the trick for a time. Sonic did enough speed dash running to a point where it did create a blue whirlwind tornado that sent several monster snakes and spider monsters flying into a wall with enough force to crack any bones in their ugly bodies.

Those who survived were blasted by toxic mist before fainting. Tails and Sarah were fine, the brown fox was trying to make sure her dress wasn't affected by the wind.

As Sonic poured all of his energy into doing his best to ensure he and his friends stayed alive, he suddenly began to grow tired, tired and exhausted from spin-dashing and running in circles at top speed. No, I never grow tired much.

Sonic thought, feeling the strain, While I do need breathers, I'm usually not one to tire out very quickly. I'm the most-skilled hedgehog of all time, I've got lots of stamina. Speed isn't my only strong suit, I'm super good at dancin' too...

Finally, after so much running and spinning, Sonic could feel himself losing his breath and a bit of his stamina. He had to slow down, rejoin his comrades and resort to some karate attacks against the monsters, all while trying to catch his breath so he would not pass out.

That's when he noticed her, the slender brunette with muscular arms and long legs with brown eyes covered by shades and wearing a tank top, belt, blue shorts and combat boots, brandishing two pistols and accompanied by a boy.

The two figures stood on the steps leading out of the temple, seemingly blocking any chance of escape for Sonic and his friends. The trio had enough issues with the monsters, now these two people were here.

Because of the girl's expressionless face, she might as well be a robot, did Eggman finally perfect his technology to a point where he could build the ultimate weapon powerful to defeat Sonic.

Heck, how did the doc he was here?

"GET DOWN, YOU BLEEDIN' BLOKES!" The girl shouted, "WE'RE ABOUT TO LET LOOSE!" Knowing what was coming, Sonic ducked, Tails and Sarah following suit, even as the monster creatures either turned their attention to the newcomers. Sensing inescapable danger, Sonic prepared himself.

But then...

BLAM BLAM BLAM!

"AYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Sonic heard guns going off, a pistol accompanied by a machine gun, the sound of creatures screaming and the sounds of blood splattering everywhere, even feeling drops of monster blood on his arms as well as monster bits.

"Ugh!" Sonic exclaimed, getting to his feet and dusting himself off, finally noticing he had a bit of dirt and blood stains on himself. "Aw, jeeze." The blue hedgehog complained, "I just had a wash day a few damn days ago."

"So did I." Tails agreed, he too was covered in dirt, monster bits and blood, "Look at me, look at all this shit. I just showered today." Sarah wasn't too happy, she looked as though she'd been dragged through an ugly swamp, her hair was messy, her dress was a dirty and she was covered in monster stains.

The surviving demon snakes and spider monsters nearby were recovering from their shock and were glaring at the group of explorers in the room, planning their next move and their plan for vengeance.

"Hopefully the treasure is ok." Sonic mumbled, taking out the bundled relics out of his pocket. Examining the rolled up scroll and the container, he sighed with relief and shoved them back in his pocket.

The girl and her associate, who'd saved them, blew out the smoke emitting from the tips of their guns.

The brunette beckoned to Sonic, "Not much time until we have to deal with more of these things, we gotta get out of here. We'll deal with the treasure afterwards, got it?"

Sonic shrugged, "No biggie. Thanks for your help, guess we'll call a truce and figure out the rest."

"I could use a bath." Tails groaned as he, Sonic and Sarah followed their new friends out of the temple.

"Yeah." Sarah muttered. "I need a shower too, a nice long one."

"I just realized!" The girl exclaimed, she put away her guns, raised her sunglasses and looked at Sonic, "Aren't you Sonic the Hedgehog? World famous hero?" Sonic scratched his head, "Yeah, I guess I am quite a big deal these days."

The brunette, who spoke with a British accent, extended her hand, "I'm so honored to meet you, I'm Lara Croft. Archeologist," she gestured to the boy, "This is my associate Oskar."

Sonic shook Lara's hand excitedly, "So pleased to meet you, Ms. Croft." Lara winked, "Good to meet you too, Sonic. You can stop shakin' me hand, we can talk about stuff later. Right now, we got to get out of here."

Tails shook Oskar's hand, "So you're what I am to Sonic?" Oskar nodded, speaking with a Scottish accent, "Yeah. You're Miles Tails Prower, aren't ya?"

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEARRRRRRRRRR, HISSSSSSSS! OWOOOOOO! The sounds of monster cries echoed throughout the ruins as the monsters inside the shrine had now plotted out their comeback, meanwhile, more spider beasts and more snakes from the underworld were emerging, ready to attack.

"Houston and company, this is Hooba Dooba the Hooba, we have a problem." Sonic told everyone.

Lara started giggling and Sonic looked at her, speaking in his normal voice, "What's so funny?" Tails, Sarah and Oskar were laughing as well. "HEY!"

"You're so funny and handsome." Lara explained.

Sonic blushed, "Thanks, I guess. Can we get to the butt-kicking and getting the heck out of here?"

"Well, you know what they say, Sonic." Lara prepped her guns, "When we join forces, the sky's the limit, so we best get crackin'! I think we're gonna enjoy hanging out together because, well, WE'RE SUPER AWESOME!"

"I've always wanted a gal like you for an combat partner," Sonic quipped with a smirk, getting into his combat position.

"Lets do it too it." Sonic and Lara shouted in unison.

That was when the ugly monsters attacked and, just like that, the biggest battle of Sonic's life was well underway, also making it the biggest battle in Lara's life as well.

They'd seen many battles, but this was a way different battle from the other battles they'd fought against countless, nearly nameless enemies throughout the years.

This time, it was in the depths of a rainforest in ancient ruins, surrounded by thousands of abominations who'd moved in sometime after the Ratakyan tribe faded into obscure history a long time ago...