Notes: some have played this game, and can attest to its difficulty

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic 2 & Sonic Chaos

Ch. 2: Going from Under Ground to Sky High

Sonic wanted to get started as quickly as possible, but he just had to stop for another chilidog to build up his energy.

"Okay, enough fooling around. I'm coming to save you, Tails."

Sonic took off in the direction Robotnik went. It was mountainous region with small, brown crags. The first thing he saw was a cave. This cave had been used for mining, but was now abandoned.

"If there's one thing I hate almost as much as being underwater, it's being underground."

He followed the rail deep into the mine. There were spikes lining parts of the ceiling, and as Sonic ran past, they fell.

"Close shave."

Just ahead were, of course, Badniks. There was one that looked like a Moto Bug, but this one was called New Motora. Another looked like Crabmeat, but this one was half blue/half red and was called Taraban. The last was a familiar Badnik, the chameleon Newtron. Sonic quickly destroyed them all, but…

"They're all empty?"

Indeed, every Badnik was empty. No animal friends as batteries to be seen.

"This is even lazier than using seeds."

Sonic hopped into a mine cart and rode it through a long shaft.

"Hitching a ride just isn't the same as running."

He looked ahead to see a pit of lava.

"This is my stop! I'm already sick of this Under Ground area. Time to hit the heights."

He leapt out and found another way around. There were several springs in this mine, so he used them to get to higher ground. That's when he saw it.

"What in the world is a Chaos Emerald doing just sitting out in the open?"

Though admittedly it was in a very high spot, the blue Chaos Emerald was laying in an open area. Sonic took a look around, making sure it wasn't a trap, then simply picked it up.

"Well, that was easy."

Sonic continued on his journey through the mine. At last he came to a long stretch of rail. He took a deep breath, and ran. He was running so fast he barely noticed the tracks were a dead end. He was now flying towards the lava.

"Oh crud."

He tried to think of a plan, but it turns out he didn't have to. Something caught him before he hit the lava.

"It wouldn't be any fun if you were to die due to an obstacle like that."

"I suppose I should be grateful, Eggman."

Robotnik had used the large claw attached to the bottom of his Eggmobile to grab Sonic.

"Don't thank me yet, Hedgehog."

He carried him higher up to solid ground. This ground was very steep, almost like a ramp. In fact, the entire area was shaped like a funnel.

"This prize I caught in my claw stinks. I'm throwing it back."

Robotnik dropped Sonic near the bottom of the funnel. There was a large hole in the center. Just then, a huge head poked out. It had a massive pair of pincers and was snapping them at Sonic.

"Do you like it? This is my Doodlebug Mecha. As you can see from the design of the arena, it's just like the pit an antlion larva makes in the sand in order to trap and eat unsuspecting ants. Of course you're too smart to just fall in, so I'm going to help speed the process along."

His mobile dropped a large, silver ball. It bounced down the funnel towards Sonic. He timed it just right, and ran under the ball. The ball instead hit the doodlebug.

"Why not just take the hit? I'm sure your rings will cover you for a while. I just really want to cause you pain."

As he said this, he dropped another ball. Sonic easily dodged this ball and it hit the mecha.

"As if, Ro-butt-nik!"

"Your manners are as bad as ever!"

He dropped yet another ball. This one was bouncing much faster, but again, Sonic dodged it and it smacked into the doodlebug. He tried three more times, but each time ended with the ball missing Sonic and hitting the doodlebug.

"All right! Now it's my turn."

He flew his mobile straight at Sonic. Sonic merely grinned and turned around.

"Hey, ugly, come and get me. Open wide!"

The doodlebug expectantly opened its jaws wide. The mobile was closing fast. Then Sonic leapt over it, and it went flying into the waiting jaws of the doodlebug. Unfortunately for Robotnik, this not only wrecked his mobile, it also trashed the doodlebug.

"Looks like it was too big a meal for it."

The mobile still had enough power to help the doctor make a getaway.

"I know you have a Chaos Emerald. If you know what's good for your friend, you'll give me all the Emeralds you find when the time comes. If you do, I might let him go."

Robotnik was out of sight in no time.

"Like I'd really trust you, Eggman."

Sonic ran on as the mountains reached higher. The air got noticeable cooler as the landscape changed to an alpine region. There were lots of clouds in the sky. Pine trees dotted the area. The mountains were now a blue color as they ascended from below. Sonic noticed there were a lot of springs.

"Well if you're going mountain climbing, you might as well do it in style."

Using the springs, he quickly scaled the peaks. There weren't many Badniks here, save for the occasional Newtron. Sonic had to stop running, as the nearest peak was too far to jump to. Luckily, something was nearby to solve the problem.

"Cool, a hang glider. I guess this beats buying a plane ticket."

In no time he was soaring through the sky.

"This is what I call Sky High. Although I guess it still doesn't beat actual flying."

Suddenly, the sky grew dark, the wind became stronger, and rain started pouring down. Thunder and lightning filled the sky. The abrupt change in weather caused the glider to crash.

"Well this makes things more interesting."

Sonic kept going through this terrible storm. The wind was so strong at one point, it sent him falling of a nearby cliff.

"Well calling this bad would be an understatement."

*Boing*

"What in the world? Did I just bounce off a cloud? You know what? I'm just gonna go with it."

The cloud bounced him back to solid ground. No sooner was he there, a few Badniks that looked like turtles, called Game-Game, came along.

"Oh no, not turtles. What can they do?"

The Badniks pulled into their shells and began spinning. So fast they hovered in the air.

"Didn't see that coming."

He still easily destroyed them. Now he was at another cliff. There seemed to be no other path.

"I wonder."

He jumped off and, thankfully, bounced off a cloud. Using them like springs, he went higher and higher. He found a patch of more solid clouds.

"What a relief. So much bouncing can be a pain. Hey, is that…?"

There, nestled in this cloud formation, was the yellow Chaos Emerald.

"Well it's a more creative spot at least."

Jumping back down, he found another hang glider. This time he was able to use the wind to his advantage, such as maneuvering past spikes. Just as he landed, the storm cleared up and the sky was now as lovely as before. He went on, looking for Robotnik's next trap.

"I know that Eggman will have something waiting for me about now."

Ahead lay more clouds. They too were solid enough to stand on.

"Welcome to your doom, Hedgehog."

"Where are you, Eggman?"

"Alas, I couldn't be here. So I sent a few friends instead. Behold the Mecha Chick."

A small grey bird robot shot out from the cloud. It hopped around and flapped its small wings.

"That's it?"

"Oh, but like most birds, there's always a flock."

Seven more Mecha Chicks all shot out and started bouncing towards Sonic. Sonic took them all out with a spin dash.

"Just try that again, Sonic!"

The clouds gave way and Sonic dropped to a lower formation of clouds. There were four eggs strewn about. They shot out a great number of Mecha Chicks.

"Obviously I've gotta take out the eggs."

Sonic ran quickly and took out all the eggs first, then the chicks.

"You figured that out quickly, but you made their mother mad. Behold my Goose Mecha!"

A large head on a long neck ascended from the clouds. It was an angry mother goose robot.

"As if regular geese weren't bad enough."

The goose shot energy balls from its mouth. Sonic avoided the blasts and hit the goose on the head. It hissed at him and attacked again. He managed to hit the mecha a few more times.

"It would seem you're about to trash my mecha. No matter! I will have the last laugh. See you soon, Sonic!"

Finally, just as the goose was about to fire, he hit it one last time. That was all it could take. It exploded just like the other robots.

"That was pretty sorry, Eggman."

Sonic continued on his quest.

Meanwhile

"Your work is impressive, but it seems like these robots you keep sending out are rushed."

"Mind your own business, fox boy. I would never expect an ordinary machine to destroy Sonic. It has to be one I created especially for such a purpose. My Metal Sonic failed, but I've learned from my mistakes. If he does get past my pets, then he has to face me."