Notes: almost there

Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise

Sonic 2 & Sonic Chaos

Ch. 8: Familiar place, new face, and something bad

The entire landscape bore a resemblance to Green Hill, but it had been covered with machinery.

"How do you like it, Sonic?"

"What did you do to this place, Eggman?!"

"What you see before you is only a small portion of what used to be Green Hill. It's actually quite a distance from the area you call Green Hill, but regardless, I gave it a makeover. I call it Mecha Green Hill."

"How original."

Despite the obvious name, it was very true. The trees, flowers, bridges, and ground were all metallic. The grass was synthetic. The water was actually molten metal. The sky was a sickly green. The Bane Motora beetle Badniks from before patrolled the area. As Sonic walked on while looking back and forth at his surroundings, he walked under one of the trees. This tree had coconuts in it, but when Sonic walked under it, the coconuts dropped.

"Sonic, look out!"

*BOOM*

"Coconut bombs? Points for a bit creativity, Eggman."

"I can't believe he made a place like this right under our noses, Sonic."

"He has been keeping us busy, Tails, and he always works fast when it comes to showing off."

"This place is like what you told me happened on Little Planet. All that bad future stuff."

"I'm sure that's the effect Eggman was going for. Unlike the planet though, time travel is out of the question. So this place is gonna have to stay this way."

"I'm sure there's a few changes we could make. Like adding real plants. Then maybe the sky around this vicinity will look normal again."

"Good thinking, buddy. Who knows? This could be a good tourist attraction. It is, after all, only a small piece of the actual Green Hill."

"Work with what you're given, they say."

"Hold that thought, I just got enough rings."

Special

This place was very similar to the second area, except it was more horizontal than vertical.

"Guess I should start running. Wait, is that…?"

It was the rocket boosters for his shoes.

"This should cut time in half."

He flew through the dimension, picking up rings as he went, until at last he reached the end, and the silver Chaos Emerald was his.

"Have fun this time, Sonic?"

"I did actually."

"The fun ends now, you fools! The Tree Crawler will see to that."

"How intimidating is that name?"

"Its real name is Kamado MAX."

There was a tall tree in a pit of spikes. Going up and down the tree was the aforementioned robot. I was sort of a cross between a beetle and a monkey. Its back was heavily armored, so the obvious target was its head. As it climbed up the tree, its back armor opened up to fire a round of energy bolts from a cannon. It climbed higher and higher until it reached the top of the tree. Then it slid back down and began the process over. This time, Sonic was ready for it, and jumped on its head repeatedly.

"Take a shot at me and my friend, will you? Not anymore!"

In no time flat, it was destroyed, but Sonic was falling towards the spike pit.

"I may have been a bit overzealous."

"I've got you!"

Sonic was suddenly moving through the air. Tails had grabbed his arms, and was flying him to safety.

"I didn't know you could carry me, Tails."

"It can't do it for very long."

They touched down and took a break.

"Even if it was brief, that was impressive, buddy."

"Thanks."

"Just catch your breath. When you're ready, we'll move on."

The sky was getting cloudy as they drew closer to the next destination. In the distance, there were several oil refineries, which were quite the contrast to the ancient ruins the duo had arrived at. Quite a few of the floors were structurally unsound, so they had to move quickly to avoid falling.

"Were there always oil refineries here, Sonic?"

"Yeah, but not this many. All points lead to Eggman."

"I'll bet when everyone else evacuated, he moved in and took over the existing refineries."

"I'm surprised he isn't here to gloat about it."

"Well now that you mention it, Sonic, how could I not?"

Sonic and Tails looked around. They could hear his voice, but no sign of where it was coming from. This obviously wasn't one of his factories, so there couldn't be any cameras.

"Where are you hiding now, baldy?"

"None of your business! I wanted to welcome you this area. I'm sure you'll love it, Sonic. Welcome to Aqua Planet."

"As in there's water here?"

"Of course! If you can get through without drowning, I'll see you at the end."

"Don't listen to him, Sonic. If this place is so full of water, why haven't we seen any?"

"You think maybe the name Aqua Planet was misleading? Now that I think about it, why is it called Planet? We're still on South Island."

As they traveled through the ruins, Sonic quickly collected all the rings he needed.

"That was fast. Gimme a sec, Tails."

Special

"Oh great, more of those dang tubes. At least there's no water here."

Sonic went zooming through the transport tubes. Back and forth, in countless circles, and with no end in sight.

"I'm all for these tubes up to a point. This is ridiculous! It's making me a bit dizzy."

He stuck through it though, and at last he found a way out. At the end, he found the purple Chaos Emerald.

"Sonic, you did it. That makes six Emeralds."

"You mean five, right?"

"Actually…"

Just then the floor collapsed. The fell into the water below, but it really wasn't that deep. They kept going until they could finally get back on dry land.

"Well that was a minor nuisance."

"Well here comes a major one, Sonic."

A large egg-shaped robot hovered into view. It has eyes, a beak, and three tiny legs.

"That's still not major, Tails."

"Is that so, Hedgehog? You'll change your mind when my Sphere-O-Bot takes care of you!"

The Bot didn't do much. It hopped up and down across the floor, occasionally shooting an energy ball. Sonic easily destroyed it…or so he thought.

"In case you forgot, Hedgehog, this is an egg. So there's something inside!"

The top half of the egg came off, and dozens of mecha chicks came flying out, launching themselves at the pair like torpedoes. As the team avoided being hit, they conversed.

"More of these stupid mecha chicks."

"You fought them before?"

"Eggman used them back when I was rescuing you."

All the chicks were destroyed, and all that was left was the bottom half of the egg bot.

"Allow me, Sonic."

"By all means, buddy."

One hit was all it took.

"That's that. Now let's get out of here."

Right over the next mountain, there loomed Dr. Robotnik's new fortress.