The ancient Ratakyan ruins looked like a war zone as already ruined settlements crumbled to bits as more giant spider beasts and more giant snakes emerged from the Great & Mysterious Underground to join their brethren in battle with those who had intruded on their domain.
All the while as the monsters kept coming, Sonic and his friends including Lara were desperately holding their own and trying to hold back the monsters.
Even as Lara fired off multiple loads of gun shots in different directions with her pistols, while Sonic used his speed, martial arts and his Spin-Dash Homing Attack combo moves, nothing seemed to slow down the monsters or deter them from trying to attack the brave band of heroes.
Tails whacked three horned snake beasts on the head with a big silver wrench while gassing them with his Spray Gun, making sure to save some for the spiders. From time to time, he'd link up with Sarah and they'd attack a monster at the same second, ending it.
Oskar had already gunned down the beasts they left behind in the temple with one of Lara's machine gun and was proceeding to join the tag team effort against the enemy forces, the air was filled with not just the sounds of screeches, grunts, guns and exploding grenades but the stench of blood.
The smell of blood smelled like rotten eggs while the sweat smelled as if somebody forgot to clean their armpits, ugh, nasty...
Ages ago, the ground had been littered with nothing but weeds, rubble and ruins as well as sleeping monsters.
Now the ground was being littered with blood, bullets, what was left of monsters and the blasted off heads, snake tongues stuck out and their eyes rolled up into their heads. It was like something out of an action/horror/war film, except the victims were the villains and the monsters were the heroes.
"WE CAN'T FIGHT FOREVER!" Tails and Sarah shouted in unison as they knocked and blew away a couple monsters, "ITS BEST TO RUN!"
Oskar, still taking out spider monsters, nodded in agreement, "YEAH, WE NEED TO GET THE BLOODY 'ECK OUT OF HERE OR WE MIGHT BE HERE ALL DAY AND I DON'T WANNA GET EATEN ALIVE!"
Lara looked at Sonic just as he was spin dashing another monster, "Think we can retreat and fight at the same time?" Sonic was too busy to hear Lara's comment, "WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE NOISES AND CRAP!"
"I SAID, SHOULD WE TRY TO RETREAT AND STILL FIGHT?"
"SURE, WHY NOT! WE CAN'T BE HERE ALL DAY, EVEN IF THIS IS GREAT EXERCISE FOR ME AND I'M WORKIN' UP A DAMN SWEAT!"
"SHIT, NOW I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER ME OWN GUNS!"
As the ground began to rumble, signaling that more monsters were coming to assist their brethren.
Sonic, Lara and their friends decided that it was definitely time to make their retreat from the ruins and escape with their own lives so they could find the lost Ratakyan treasure.
Mowing down and bashing up a couple more monsters, the group made a run for Lara's bike, which thankfully had not been touched, eager to use it as their best option for an escape vehicle.
Unfortunately, the bike had room for only two.
Lara and Oskar climbed on board while shooting 6 monsters before starting up the engines and zoomed off into the jungle.
Knowing he potentially had to risk hurting himself, Sonic took Tails and Sarah by the arms and before racing off after Lara and Oskar at top speed, using all of his energy to zip through the jungle. Right behind them, a huge swarm of monsters burst from the ground, giving pursuit.
As for the Ratakyan Temple and the ancient village ruins? The temple sank into the earth, crumbling to bits, along with half the ruined houses, as larger snake beasts and more gigantic monsters emerged and joined the pursuit.
Racing faster than he'd gone before, Sonic gave it his all to go all out with his ultimate move; The Ultra Hyper Sonic Figure 8 Peel Out.
If there was one thing the blue blur never tried to do, it was doing the Figure 8 Peel Out while carrying two somebodies, as he feared that it would hurt them. In all the times he ran with somebody in his arms, everything was fine.
But to do a Figure 8 Peel Out while carrying so many people hanging on to him? The speedy blue hedgehog hero blur was worried that somebody would become gravely ill or hurt badly.
"YOU GUYS ALRIGHT, CAN YOU HANDLE THIS SPEED?" Sonic yelled, worried that his friends might not handle the speed. Tails let out a belch, "S-SARAH AND I ARE OOOOOOKAAAAAAYYYYYY!" Sarah was starting to feel a bit dizzy, " I'M SURE I'LL BE FIIIIIIIINE!"
Within seconds, Sonic and his two companions found themselves racing alongside Lara Croft and Oskar on their bikes before passing by in a flash.
"Oh my goodness!" Lara exclaimed with amazement, watching it all happen, "Not only is Sonic the funniest and most handsome man about, he really is the fastest person on the planet." Oskar bumped Lara on the shoulder, "A race they want, eh? Faster, Lara, FASTER! Who cares if we got limited, eh?"
Lara rolled her eyes, "The speed limit's at 88 MPH, if we set it up to 100..."
"BLOODY DO IT, LARA C! THE DAMNED BEASTS ARE GAININ'!"
Flicking switches and stepping harder on the gas pedal, Lara made sure the bike had enough fuel to go faster beyond its own speed limit as Oskar held on very tightly, gripping her shoulder and the bags with their stuff in it.
That very second Lara was setting up the bike to go more faster, Sonic had finally zipped into a wide open clearing, upon a vast plain of grass and dry ground. Feeling his companions were safe and knowing he needed a breather, Sonic skidded to a halt, leaving behind a small burning fire trail in his wake.
While the flames went out eventually, it did set fire to some farmland crops close by. The fire immediately spread to the nearby trees and quickly started a forest fire, oops! Sonic, hardly noticing it all, put down Tails and Sarah, who gasped for breath as he dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath too.
"Now, that..." Tails plopped down on the ground, clutching his head, "Was definitely… almost... stupid! Man, I feel dizzy."
Sarah dusted off her dress and rubbed her head, "Next time, lets use other means of… escape!"
"Least we got away," Sonic chuckled, getting back on his feet and breathing in some fresh air, "Man, I haven't gone so fast and gotten tired like this since I raced that guy with the rocket car.
Sarah giggled, "You should tell me about that race sometime, Sonic."
The group heard the sound of a loud motorcycle approaching and quickly smelled smoke and fire, realizing that, not only had they bypassed Lara and Oskar, Sonic had also accidently started a forest fire! The group scattered just as Lara's bike rocketed into the clearing.
"HOLD ON!" Lara shouted to Oskar. Letting up on the gas and pushing on the brakes, Lara's "borrowed" motorcycle grinded to a halt upon the barren patch of soft ground, the fire trail contributing to the big fire raging on around them. Lara climbed off the bike, free of any motion sickness.
Oskar, however, was a bit dizzy as he climbed off. The young Scot held his head, eyes spinning, even as he tried to keep himself from going to pieces.
"Feels like I've been through a really long roller coaster ride." Oskar collapsed to the ground, "Thankfully, I don't do roller coaster rides because I'm no amusement park person."
Lara wiped some sweat off her forehead and started to wipe some dust and dirt off her sunglasses, "Me? I haven't been to a load of amusement parks. Last time I ever visited one, lets just say that it was a trap."
Sonic coughed, "Seems we started a fire, haven't we?"
The five of them looked about at the damage they caused, the forest continued to burn as nearby farmhouses got caught up in the firestorm. This drew out the farmland's owner, an old guy with a scraggly beard, wearing red pants and a black shirt, a gun in his hand.
The man spotted the group, shouting something in Spanish and charged towards them like a bull. "Yes, we have." Lara gulped.
Loud shrieking and hissing pierced through the burning rainforests, the Spider Beasts and Snake Monsters were still coming.
Judging by some of the pained roars, many of them were being consumed by flames and burning alive. As for those who hadn't caught fire, they were not stopping until they had their ultimate meal...
"RUN FOR IT!" Sonic yelled, "WE CAN USE TAILS' PLANE!"
Lara held up her hand, "Uh, how about you, me and Oskar use MY plane and those two use their plane? Sound good?"
Sonic nodded to Tails, "Sure, it's a deal. Lets do it to it, gotta go now!" Tails took Sarah in his arms and he spun his Tails like a helicopter, the two love-foxes took to the air and flew off to the spot where they parked the Tornado.
"Sonic!" Lara beckoned as she took off running, "Follow me and Oskar, the plane is close by."
Sonic smiled, somewhere deep down, this was the girl of his dreams, but it would be a while before they admitted their feelings.
Snapping himself out of it, Sonic replied, "Right behind you, Lara."
It didn't take long for Sonic to catch up with Lara and Oskar, given the fact they'd given him a head start and he could go at super speed any time. Just ahead of them was what Lara had called her plane, it was an old World War II British bomber that had been modified so it wouldn't look really ridiculous!
"There it is!" Oskar proclaimed, "We just gotta ask Louis to start up the engines." Sonic was confused, "Who's Louis?"
"Louis Parcivil is a good friend of my family." Lara explained, "He fought in the war and, after retiring from the RAF, he started serving my family, even helping to turn one of his planes into the Croft Enterprises jet.
"He often rambles about his past and tells what we know as old man's stories. Depending on the situation, I sometimes don't have time for it. OI, LOUIS! START UP THE ENGINES AND MAKE IT QUICK!"
Just before the trio could reach the plane, an old man in a WWII pilot's uniform jumped out and started waving his arms frantically as if he were in a panic, trying to alert them of danger. "DON'T COME ANY CLOSER OR YOU'LL BE TOAST TOO!" The old man yelled.
Lara whispered in Sonic's ear, "Louis Parcivil." She looked at the old man, hearing what Sonic and Oskar were hearing, beeping noises, "WHAT THE BLEEDIN' FRICK IS GOING ON?"
Louis yelled, "SOMEBODY PLANTED A BOMB WHILE YOU WERE GONE AND I CAN'T DISABLE IT, THE PLANE'S ABOUT TO EXPLODE! GET DOWN!"
"WOT?" Lara yelled, not understanding what was happening. Louis yelled back, "DON'T FORGET ME, FIND THE LOST TREASURE!" The beeping intensified and Lara looked at Sonic and Oskar, "TAKE COVER!"
The three of them dived for cover as the plane exploded in a ball of flames, Oskar ducking while Lara landed on Sonic, the two accidently getting intimate as the archeologist hugged the speedster.
Flaming shards flew everywhere, the last pieces that fell were a pilot's hat and a tag with the name Col. Louis Parcivil!
Oskar was the first to get to his feet, the bag with Lara's possessions I.E. her guns and explosives completely unharmed. He observed the wreckage in shock, pondering who would do such a thing and which of Lara's enemies and rivals were the one to plant the bomb, so eager to be rid of her.
Oskar carefully picked up the name tag and the smoldering and ruined hat that belonged to Louis Parcivil, silently mourning the parting of a great man.
"Rest in peace, R.A.F Colonel Louis Parcivil." Oskar said.
Lara opened her brown eyes before Sonic, nearly blinded by the light of the explosion. The blue hedgehog opened up his emerald green eyes, the two of them looked at each other, chuckling with relief that they were still alive, before realizing that they had their arms around each other.
Blushing embarrassingly, Lara let go of the blue blur and got to her feet, Sonic springing back up on his not long afterwards. The two apologized to each other, Lara scratching the back of her head and blushing.
"That was a little weird." Sonic chuckled, dusting himself off, "Good weird, but still, we need to practice a bit of personal space a little bit as we don't even know each other. Still a close call, too bad we can't use your plane."
Lara nodded and shrugged, "Looks like we're gonna have to use your plane. Is there room?" The blue blur found himself laughing and shooting Lara a smug look, "'Is there room?' Oh, Lara. Come and see for yourself."
More loud hissing and screeching echoed across the country side as the monsters burst out of the burning jungle, ablaze in flames, yet hardly burning, and burning with pure rage.
The old farmer, whom Sonic, Lara and Oskar nearly forgot about, had almost caught up with them and was going to shoot one of them when he heard the monster noises and wheeled about to see the huge spider abominations and horn-headed snakes coming this way.
"Gonna mess up things even more, eh?" The farmer growled, "I'LL SHOW YOU, YOU UGLY, SHIT-SMELLING BASTARDS ARE TOAST!"
BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM! The farmer, whose name was Honbre Corsotraz, went wild, shooting at the charging stampede of beasts in an attempt to be rid of them all. He only shot down a few snakes and two spider beasts before he was swarmed and ran over.
Honbre screamed in horror and agony as the flames covering the monsters smoldered him and as the snakes and spiders began to eat away at his skin, everything. "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Farmer Honbre pleaded as he drowned in flames and his own blood, "NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Honbre's shrieks echoed across the countryside, very few all over heard the screaming, many didn't pay attention. By the time Honbre was eaten alive, Sonic had lead his new "potential true love" and her assistant to the air-field where the Tornado was parked, Sarah and Tails had gotten there before them and were just about to start it up.
"TAILS," Sonic yelled, "SARAH, START THE ENGINES! LIKE, RIGHT NOW!"
"That's your plane?" Lara asked, amazed by the design of it, "Wow, you guys are more prepared than I am. For some reason, I think I'm going to like it so much. Maybe I could, dunno, get my own biplane or borrow this?"
Sonic laughed and elbowed Lara, "You're gonna have to ask permission before you either steal or buy my plane from us, toots. Then again, getting your own is better." Tails, who'd taken the pilot seat and started the engines up, yelled out, "GET IN THE PLANE ALREADY AND QUIT YOUR BANTERING!"
Sonic got into his usual spot, standing atop the wing of the Tornado, while Sarah took the passenger seat this time so she could let her boy-friend pilot the plane, regardless if she had great piloting experience.
Lara and Oskar joined Sarah in the back with Oskar behind her and Lara in front of Sarah, as the engines warmed up, the biplane's propellers spun to life and the plane began to move.
"So, where to, Lara?" Tails asked, "Maybe we could head back to the states, my workshop is there, we can figure stuff out at my plane."
Lara shook her head, "Take us to England, to be specific, the countryside."
"Why the countryside?" Sonic asked. "What's so important?"
"My mansion is there, we Crofts like to have a lifestyle outside a big city due to how rich and popular we are. Me family has a huge bank account, we're billionaires, hence the big mansion, we've lived outside London for centuries."
"Great hooba dooba, aren't you Crofts still archeology types?"
"She IS!" Oskar yelled.
"Sorry, can we get movin' already?"
The Tornado gained speed running down the dirt road, Tails controlling the plane's pace. Once the Tornado gained enough speed, Tails pulled back on the throttle and the plane took to the air again as usual.
"Next stop..." The two-tailed teen yelled, "THE COUNTRYSIDE OF ENGLAND, CROFT MANSION!" Sonic clutched the Ratakyan scrolls inside his shorts pocket tightly, the bundled items had not fallen out and that was a good thing.
In the back seat behind Tails, Sarah was talking with Lara Croft and Oskar about how she and the two tailed fox first met, even talking about the many adventures she'd shared with him and Sonic over the course of half a year.
As they talked and breathed in the fresh air, both agreed that they needed to get a bit of rest and clean up when they got to the mansion in England before seeking out any ancient treasure left behind by ancient civilizations of old…