Chapter 2: Forest Expedition

The girl, while keeping her desired pace, turned her head to Sonic, who was running right on her left side. Their eyes met in the blurring scenery, both locked on each other. Noticing how fast they were actually going, Sonic and the girl can't help but smile at each other, rather than curse competitively. The girl was even compelled to wave at Sonic and smile happily, and Sonic couldn't help but give thumbs up in response. This was the challenge that Sonic was waiting for, a challenge that he hasn't had in ages. But nothing ever prepared him for what was about to happen. For the girl's friendly smile slowly formed into an evil grin. With that, she bolted ahead!

"What!?" Sonic tried desperately to keep in contact. Fortunately he was able to keep the same distance. For some reason, the game wasn't a game anymore. The girl was cutting through the plains like her very life depended on it. Then Sonic realized the terrible fact of the whole race. The girl wasn't racing. She was trying to escape!

"Oh no you don't you bitch!" Sonic was closing in on the girl one more time, determined to beat her. But then the plains deteriorated and a set of large hills appeared. The girl found this change in scenery…an opportunity. Sonic still maintained a good distance between them, even getting close to passing her up. But then the two of them started climbing a very large hill, close to being a small mountain. Reaching the top was straining Sonic. He hasn't run up a slope like this in a long time. He never even felt the need to train up, being as cocky as he was. That would play a big role in what happens next. When the girl began going down the opposite slope, she jumped up into the sky, and twirled sideways to face Sonic. "What the hell!? What is she going to do!?" Sonic said. The girl then yelled, "Say goodnight loser!"

Before Sonic could react to her voice, He felt something hit his face, something hot. Sonic then covered his face from the explosion and in turn lost his footing. The blue hedgehog violently rolled down the 45-degree slope with his face still covered. It felt like he was tumbling down for hours. When he finally stopped rolling down and the ground was level, Sonic was face up with his hands spread out, his body bruised, and his face burnt. Still conscious, he could here the Sonic boom left behind by the victorious girl. For the first time in a long time, Sonic the Hedgehog…was defeated.

Sonic never moved. He didn't even try to wipe the burnt fur from his face; He just lay there motionless, staring at the passing clouds.

"What…what happened? How…how…did I…lose?" Sonic's expression remained shocked as he gazed into other afternoon sky. "Why did I…lose? Was I too confident? Was I too cocky? What did I do wrong?" Sonic didn't know how to say it. "I lost and she won." He couldn't say it. He simply didn't know how. He just felt the suspicion that she was out there, and she was laughing at him. She was laughing at how he was easily brought down, easily sent down a hill, and in her wake. Every minute passed like it was an hour. And the hours, felt like never-ending days.

"Man. What a bummer this is. I can't believe I lost. I can't believe I lost." Sonic felt like the sky was spinning as he repeated those words over and over. He felt he was forever trapped in the race, to remember how fast the girl was, and how fast he was taken down. For all he knew, his leg…were cut off and taken by her.

Two long hours passed. By now the burnt hairs were blown from Sonic's face. His eyes were closed as if he was ready for someone to find him and step on him. "Wow. Even a small loss would make me act like Shadow. This really sucks." Sonic then opened his eyes once more and looks at the fluffy white puffs in the sky once again. "Well would you look at that? Even the clouds are moving faster than me."

Almost immediately after he spoke, he felt a rumble in his blue locks that made him jump in fright like a schoolboy after he found out he was sleeping in class. "What!? Who's there!?" After looking around, Sonic realized it was his cell phone. He always keeps it nestled in his hair if he ever needed to call up Tails for a ride. But now, it seems someone is calling him. Sonic reaches to the back of his head and pulls out the phone. He presses talk and holds it to his ear. "What's up?" He answered.

"Sonic? Where the hell are you! We got work to do."

The voice griping at Sonic is none other than the voice of Knuckles the Echidna, Sonic's past rival, and protector of the Chaos Emeralds. Sonic was really surprised that Knuckles would even call him on his cell, considering they aren't that much friendly to each other.

"Oh Hey Knucklehead. What's new?" Sonic asked as he plopped back onto the ground again.

"Knucklehead! Why I aorta…never mind. I need you to meet me over at the edge of the forest up in the north highlands. That new place; Requiem Forest." Sonic was trying to remember where this Requiem Forest was and knew that it was unexplored land. It was always blocked off by G.U.N. so Sonic wasn't too interested in that area. "So what's up man? What's going on in Relinquish Forest?"

"That's Requiem Forest! R-E-Q-U-I-E-M! Got it memorized?!" shouted Knuckles.

"Okay sorry! You didn't have to spell it out you nobody!" Sonic remarked ignorantly.

"Look. Whatever okay? Just meet me at the edge of the forest. You and I need to check something out that happened last night."

"Oh yea! That explosion! It was on the news last night!"

"Exactly! Wait…you watch the news?"

"Oh…well I was sneaking around Rouge's pad and she was watching it. You should really try the 'Turkish Delight' in her fridge. Spot-on!"

"Hold up! You stole Rouge's sweets? …Forget it. Just get your kleptomaniacal ass over here. We need to do this tonight!"

"Fine. I'll be there. Just stop pulling your dreadlocks and wait for me." Sonic said as he pressed talk to end the connection. "Hey! Wait up-" The phone line went dead and Sonic put the phone back in his hair. "Hmm. Revamp Forest eh? I've been wondering about that place. I better book it over there!" And so, Sonic burst toward the north where the forest is found, and where Knuckles was waiting.

Hmm…that explosion WAS a pretty big thing on Rouge's television. Maybe that's why Knucklehead wants to check it so badly. I guess I can't blame him. I was wondering a bit myself. That explosion was all over the news. But I better keep my mouth shut about that girl and the race that I lost. I don't want Knuckles to think that I've gone soft.

That girl probably cheated anyway. Must've thrown one of those smart bombs at me. No one could beat me; therefore she must've cheated. But I'll deal with it later, because when I see her again, she's going to wish she never messed with Sonic the Hedgehog! Now where's that Rubba dub forest again?

In about ten minutes, Sonic already passed up the city and was heading to the more mountainous north. Up north was where Knuckles said he'd meet him, at the entrance of Requiem Forest. With that in his mind, Sonic pushes forward to the rendezvous point.

A the edge of the great Requiem Forest, Knuckles the Echidna was impatiently pacing in a circle awaiting Sonic's arrival. "Argghh! Where is that fool! It's bad enough that he hung up before I told him to bring a machete, now he's even later than ever. Next time he asks me to get somewhere I'm going to tell him to kiss my-"

"You called Knucklehead?" Sonic suddenly appears crouched on a nearby tree branch and waits for Knuckles to respond.

"Uhh…umm," Knuckles stuttered, "Yea! I've been waiting for you to get here! Heh…T-That's right." Sonic jumps off of the branch, which bent as he pulled away from it, and lands right where Knuckles was facing. A small group of leaves fall from the branch that shook up from Sonic's jump. "So Knuckles. What's up? What's the plan," Sonic said waiting for the red echidna to explain why he was called up.

Knuckles let out a sigh and folded his arms, "Okay. Listen carefully. You already know that last night there was a huge explosion, right? Well you might think it was, but what I felt was totally different. It actually felt like some sort of energy, rather than just an explosive charge by G.U.N."

"Energy?" Sonic repeated, "Like the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Maybe so. But all the emeralds are safe at Angel Island, along with the Master Emerald, so they couldn't be the case. What I felt was like the emeralds, but from a different source. It didn't come from an object I think, but rather…a person."

Sonic was baffled by it. For as long as he can remember, the Chaos Emeralds were a source of power for everything. What else could make such power explode like that, the Sol Emeralds?

"Blaze?" said Sonic, thinking of the only person to have access to a different source. If anything, she would be responsible for an explosion that is if she was angered enough.

"No. I highly doubt it." Knuckles stated, "She's on our side after all. Whatever did do this must have immense strength to make an explosion without something like the emeralds, and that is why we're going to check it out. If you ask me, we're looking at another threat to the world."

Knuckles sighed again. Sonic has never seen Knuckles so concerned since the monster Chaos, so now it must be something serious. Sonic looked down at his shoes and tried to put the pieces together. "If there really was another group of enemies…then why did they attack the forest?"

"I'm not sure," Knuckles said, "but it's about time we found out. Enough talking. Let's go!" Sonic's head rose to find Knuckles proceeding into the dense woods, but Sonic didn't follow. Something was stopping him, which was the fact that he lost to that girl. He still felt bummed out about that incident. The guilt and depression followed him all the way to the forest.

"Wait!" Sonic shouted without thinking. Before Knuckles entered the darkness of the woods, he turned his head to Sonic. "What is it Sonic? What's holding you back?"

Sonic didn't know what to say. He didn't want Knuckles to here about what happened. Instead, he brought up something else. "You think we should call up Tails too?" Knuckles shook his head. "I tried…but he has other affairs right now it seems."

That's right. Miles Prower, good friend to Sonic, left on another journey. He said he was going to try to study up on old civilizations, and that Sonic didn't need to worry about him. He also said he was bringing a subordinate so he'd have more help in his research. Sonic didn't know why he wouldn't bring him, Tails just said it was going to be boring, and said that Sonic would hate it. Nonetheless, Sonic still thinks about Tails, and remembers that Cream the Rabbit was writing to him every Thursday. Even Amy and Rouge wrote him a letter.

Sonic wasn't surprised; He HAS been gone for half a year now.

"Ah…we'll be fine without him this one time. Let's get this show on the road!" Sonic said with all his confidence back. Knuckles nodded and let out a respectful humph. "Okay. Let's do this!"

Relentlessly, Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna proceeded through the new world of Requiem Forest. The trees were so dense and close to each other, that the protective canopy blocked that nearly all the light. The flora down on the ground were different though, something none of the heroes have seen before. For safety, Knuckles stated before they got to far into the forest, that they would maintain a slow pace to avoid getting lost. That gave both of them to observe the sounds and looks of the forest.

They can both hear birds chanting and singing up in the tall canopy, and small frogs and chirping insects hidden in the lower brush. The plants had weird shaped leaves, some that were shaped like funnels, and others that resembled jaws. Knuckles could tell that the plants are carnivorous, but he never saw them quite like this. After minutes of walking, they spotted a flytrap that looked to be as tall as a royal gravestone, stretching 3 meters into the air. Sonic backed off a little ways from the ugly looking flytrap.

"What's wrong Sonic? Afraid of an overgrown plant?" Knuckles let out a small chuckle. "Dude! That thing just moved!" Sonic said pointing at the plant. "Ah come on Sonic. You can't expect all ugly plants to come and bite you. Besides, it was probably the wind." Sonic sighed and continued on with Knuckles. When they covered about two meters though, Sonic heard a long hiss coming from behind. Knuckles heard it too and both turned to their back, seeing only the plant in view. "Okay then Knucklehead! Tell me! Did the wind do THAT?" Sonic pointed again at the monstrous flytrap and looked at Knuckles with wide eyes. "Umm…well…it is a meat eater. It might just have a bad case of gas." Knuckles smiled and shrugged. Sonic couldn't help but think that Knuckles was being a moron today. Plants don't get gas, they don't have stomachs…do they?

"Fine. Whatever then." Sonic said giving up on the idea that they were going to be eaten by some piranha plant thing. With that, Sonic gave the plant one last look before catching up to Knuckles.

It's been about an hour in the forest already and Sonic began showing signs of impatience. He's been looking around and kicking oddly shaped rocks around as he walk, at which is playing a real number on Knuckles' nerves. Trying to play it cool, Knuckles takes a deep breath and proceeds forward with Sonic playing football with egg-shaped stones. Sooner or later, Knuckles felt a large object hit him on the back of his hard head, shattering his meditation.

"Will you stop that!?" Shouted Knuckles after quickly turning to face Sonic. Funny thing is, Sonic didn't notice what he did wrong. "Ah lighten up Knuckles, We're almost there aren't we?" A big red vein appeared right on Knuckles' big hard head as he grit his teeth and growled like he was some Tasmanian devil in heat. "Sonic! First off, we don't have a heading on where we're going. Secondly, You kicked a rock on my head. And Lastly, It Hurt!!" Sonic backed off holding his hands up at Knuckles', while he had his fists up ready to sock Sonic in the teeth. "Whoa there Knuckles! I didn't kick a rock at you, honest! You got the wrong stud!" Knuckles lowered his fists, showing that he cooled down, and huffed angrily. "Then if you didn't do it…" Knuckles proceeded to look up in the sky, thinking that someone, or something, decided to pelt him with a stone or two. But once he did, a huge rock about the size of a medicine ball, found it accordingly to meet Knuckles' unlucky face.

"See? I told you I didn't do it!" Sonic said to the squashed Knuckles. "I see, point taken Sonic old pal. Now would you be so kind as to get this Boulder Off Me?!" Knuckles shouted flailing his arms outward in a blind rage. "Whoa! Okay." Sonic moved the big rock off of Knuckles and revealed his face with a busted nose. "Aoooww Hah Haaooww!!" Knuckles shouted agonizingly holding his nose. "I'm godda feel dis for a Gnod Dabb year! Dabbit!" Trying hard to avoid laughing at Knuckles Sonic looked up into the canopy. "Well? How do you suppose a rock as big as that ended up in the trees?" Knuckles stomped the ground in pain like a Sumo wrestler's attempt at dirty dancing. "I duddo! Bong keys?" Sonic then spotted a dark figure looking down at them with glowing eyes. "There! That guy!" Sonic shouted pointing at the figure. Knuckles just finished reshaping his nose and shouted, "After him!!"

The figure jumped and sprinted through the canopy above with Sonic and Knuckles chasing after him. The figure maneuvered through the canopy like a ninja on a sugar rush, looking to be out of this world. Whatever this person was, he just became their target. Sonic was already in front of Knuckles as they chased down the rock-fling caper through the denser woods of Requiem. It almost seemed that Knuckles was having trouble keeping up, but he was really wrapping up his nose with a bandage, not enough to make him sound funny. "Come on Knuckles! Pedal to the Metal!! You're fading back!!" Sonic shouted to his rear. "Don't get cocky Sonic. These woods are really dense! Keep your eyes in the front of you at all-" Knuckles stopped talking as soon as Sonic ran head first into a large tree. Then he said, "-times…"

After passing up Sonic, red Echidna screeched on the grassy ground and went back to aid him, while the figure disappeared in the darkness. Knuckles kneeled down before the dazed Sonic and said, "you alright George of the Jungle?" Sonic sprung up from the ground and tried to run again, "No I'm not!! That guy's getting away!"

Knuckles grabs Sonic by the hair and flung him back on the ground. "Save it Sonic. That guy is already miles away. Just chill out." Knuckles stands back up and brushes off his knees and elbows. Sonic had his fists balled up and his arms shaking, "But Knuckles! He's…he can't just go…" Sonic sighed and rubbed his nose after colliding with the tree. Even if it was only a few hours ago, Sonic was beaten again. This certainly wasn't his day. After getting up, Sonic found the tree that he ran into and kicked its trunk. "God! I hate these things! Who invented trees anyway!?" Knuckles looked at Sonic taking his anguish out on the poor tree and shook his head. "Sonic, just save it, okay? I'm not too proud of it either, but we'll get him soon. I have a feeling we'll run into him again." Sonic finally stopped hitting the tree and put his hand on the bruise he left on it. He was really letting the idea of losing get to him. Now he was taking it out on a living thing that can't even defend itself or tell him to stop. Sonic took a big sigh and sat down on the trunk of the tree. "I'm sorry Knuckles," Sonic said, "I just haven't been myself lately. Losing is really getting to me." Knuckles shook his head again. "Well you never let get to you before, that's for sure." Sonic wiped the sweat from his forehead and scratch his ear. "I guess so. It's just not one of my days I guess. I'm sorry Knuckles." Then Sonic turns to the tree he leaned on and put his hand back on it. "I'm sorry tree."

Knuckles shook his head yet again, knowing that Sonic had a great deal of sympathy for all things living, even the ones that just stand in one place all their lives. And then something caught his eye. Knuckles couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before.

A castle…