Chapter 3

Sonic fell through the gray skies. He could start to see the sea rushing towards him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a small yacht. On it was a boy, but he couldn't quite make him out before he plunged under the waves. When he finally reemerged, the boy had jumped off and was trying to swim towards him.

Not the wisest of decisions. A wave caught the boy and he went submerged for a long period of time. Sonic knew he had to do something. The hedgehog reached behind him into his backpack and pulled out a glowing gold ring.

As the boy blacked out under the waves, he could see the silhouette of a creature, the light from the ring breaking through the dark water.

When the boy woke up, he was back on the yacht. Before him stud what looked like a blue hedgehog in sneakers and gloves.

"Are you OK?" it asked him.

This surprise was too much for the boy to take, and he fainted once again. Sonic was about to help him up when he heard others coming up the side of the boat. Since he had no idea where he was, his gut told him to lay low until they got back to shore. He went to a spot out of sight below deck. The commotion outside was muffled by the now dying storm.

When the boy awoke, they were docking at the harbor. He was lying below deck, still in his wet clothes. The past events felt almost like a dream.

An old man came below deck. "Chris!" he said, "You're awake! You have been out for hours. I thought Dr. White told him to stay below deck?"

"I did, but there was this storm and…" Chris paused to contemplate the events of the day, "On second thought, you'd never believe me."

"Come on, let's get you home." the old man said helping the boy to his feet, "We can talk all about it at home."

As the two left the ship, Sonic saw his chance to split. He left in a blue streak, unnoticed by anyone else. Nothing he passed seemed familiar. He could tell it was a city, but where was he? It was getting dark, so he would have to find his friends and fast.

Later that night, Sally was just waking up from her ordeal. She remembered falling through the storm and hitting the water, but everything after that was a blur. She staggered to her feet.

She could see a small ledge ahead of her beyond that was a road; and beyond that, a city. She was amazed, a city not claimed by Eggman's rule. How could this be? She hoisted herself up onto the ledge and started to cross the road. As she did two lights raced down the road. She looked to her side and froze like a deer caught in headlights. A juiced up formula one car barreled down the road towards her. Luckily, she was whisked out of the way into the safety of an ally by Sonic, who found her in the nick of time.

"That was a close one." Sonic said, "Wow, two saves in one night!"

"Thank you Sonic. Wait, who else did you save?"

"Some kid I saw doing the belly up. By the way, any idea where we are."

"Well," Sally said checking the pouch on the side of her boot, "let me check Nicole… Oh no!"

"What's wrong, Sal?"

"I can't find Nicole! It must have fallen out when I fell through..."

"The floor, right, while the Carrier was pulling a Houdini."

"This is getting to be too much."

"I bet- ya Mr. Speedy knows something about where we are." Sonic said.

"Wait, shouldn't we…" her words were too late, Sonic had already bolted after the car.

"…stick together." She let out a heavy sigh. "There he goes again."

Sonic barreled down the streets, hoping to catch up with the wise guy who almost made road kill of his Sal Gal. He was at top speed when he overshot his objective. The driver saw a streak of blue light flash by his driver side, extending for miles.

"What in the world was that?" thought the driver as he stopped his car. A voice came through his headset.

"Then why did you stop! You know we have the entire length of the road blocked off for the trial, just open her up already."

"There's something else on the road here, and it was fast."

Sam Speed looked up to see the blue blur coming back towards him.

"Crew, it's coming back, and it looks ticked!"

Sam put on the petal to the metal as the two passed for a second time. Sonic did a drifting u-turned and pursued the car. Sam had to concentrate. He had to finish the trial and the thing had already cost him time. Sonic came up beside the driver-side window.

"So it's a race. Fine, Speed accepts your challenge." The car sped up to outrun the blue hedgehog. Sonic wasn't about to be outrun, or ignored, by the likes of this guy. He caught up in no-time and hoped onto the hood.

"Hey!" yelled the driver, "Didn't anyone tell you not to ride on top of racecars!?"

"Didn't your mom tell you to look out for pedestrians!?" the hedgehog snapped back.

Sam hit the turbo bust, sending sonic flying over the roof and landing behind it on the road. Sonic realized this guy wouldn't give him any answers, but he wasn't one to loose a race. He got to his feet and showed his new rival what real speed looked like. The resulting shockwave form the sonic boom caused the car to swerve and skid to a stop. An aggravated Sam Speed got out of the car and stared at the trail of fire that extended off into the distance. He threw his helmet down at his most recent loss.

His headset crackled again, "Sam, What happened!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But what was that thing. Did it hit mock…?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it! Just set up for another run-through."