Tomorrow's Wake
Angel Island Zone Act 2
The sensation of rolling through a hole in the wall was one I always found fairly uncomfortable. The feeling of speed was enough to satisfy the thrill-seeker in me but being completely blind and in such tight quarters dampened the mood. Running in the fresh open air gave me a sense of freedom, but I found such tight passages inside the earth very restricting. Usually these passages were not too long in length and I would shoot out of them at high speeds. It was just the fact that I was contained in such a small space that dissatisfied me. I could blame my love of flight, I suppose – the open skies offered limitless directions to me.
This tunnel had some rings in it, I was sure of it. Through the mess of spinning that filled my vision in the dark passage, I saw golden sparkles. It had to have been about three rings; it was the usual formation of rings around the zones. I couldn't feel the sensation of Chaos Energy that came from the rings, only the effects it offered. It was purely visual so I had to rely on sight to spot the groupings of energy that I could use. The tunnel twisted down and I started to gain speed; I was likely to hit something on the way out. I quickly planned to myself to uncurl the moment I saw light; I didn't want to risk rolling into a wall or some other nasty trap.
I heard and felt the impacting of rock; I must have rolled through a fragile wall. Light filled my scatterbrained vision as I shot out of the wall and into another before I had a chance to uncurl myself. The light switched back to darkness and as I went back to my usual form I saw a wall coming at me just a couple of yards away. I hastily put on the brakes and skidded with all my power to avoid running into the wall.
Just an inch separated me from running face first into certain disaster. With only three rings on me, that was sure to have injured me considerably. I put a hand to my chest and exhaled deeply. 'Too close', I said to myself 'too close...'
I turned behind me to see what I came out from. That didn't quite matter because my eyes quickly darted to a big center of attention: a giant spinning ring floated before me. A Ring Gate!
Ring Gates consisted of mass amounts of Chaos Energy which created a portal to other dimensions and surreal worlds. Special Stages. Anything that was able to pass through had to contain enough Chaos Energy inside to make the warp. Chaos Emeralds were always waiting in Special Stages, and this was my chance to acquire one! But I only had three rings; Sonic needed at least fifty to pass through from what he told me.
As Sonic said, the nature of entry into Special Stages changed. Could it be that the conditions also changed too? Chaos Energy truly lent to its name, I had no way of finding out for sure. I could have just as easily returned back with fifty rings to be safe but I felt a strong desire to investigate the portal before me. After all, I had not actually seen one in person before. It was likely that given Sonic's notorious lack of detail that I could find out something about these that he never bothered to look into.
I had to hop in the middle, if I go by what Sonic had said. 'Fair enough' I thought, 'I would just end up on the other side if it didn't take me anywhere.' I nodded to myself and dove into the ring in front of me. White light engulfed me for a split second.
I landed safely on both feet on the other side and rubbed my eyes. The flash of white light had blinded me for a few moments. However I knew that it also meant I made a successful leap into the portal. White light signified entry into a Special Stage, as I learned. Once I recovered I stood around and looked at the sight before me. Truly a bizarre spectacle!
I was placed in the middle of what appeared to be a very small planetoid. No, it was too small even for that. It appeared to have its own gravitational pull to keep me in but it was much less than that, perhaps a meteoroid – it had to have been a hundred or so feet across. Owing to the surreal nature of Special Stages, the entire place was...completely random. The ground under me was a flat floor checkered with alternating shades of dark and light brown. The 'sky' above me looked like space with stars and other similar meteoroids but was colored a pale blue.
All around me were many simple spheres floating an inch or so above the ground, roughly half my height and colored blue and red. Some were metallic and had pictures of stars on them, reminding me of the bumpers scattered around Casino Night Zone. Red colored spheres formed a maze around the area, leaving only clearings around; I was in fact placed very close to a 'wall' of them to my right. Blue spheres were placed along the clearing in square groupings. One such set was in front to my right. The spheres resembling bumpers were placed in a band about two spheres wide that separated the different sides of the meteoroid I was on, I could see them distantly ahead of me.
The place was eerily silent, not a sound could be heard aside from my own breathing. All Special Stages were quiet, really. I recall the halfpipes from my last adventure from Sonic; he was so thrown off by the silence that he hummed a tune from start to finish. I have to admit...his songs were very catchy. He had a better ear for music than I did; usually I was content with the sounds of whatever was around me. Given that there weren't any noises around here was something very different, I would have to make up a tune for myself.
Before I took a step forward, words flashed before my eyes for a few seconds:
Get Blue Spheres
It was the objective laid out before me. It was similarly done in the past in the other Special Stages too, however strange it was for floating words to flash before Sonic and I. This seemed almost too easy: all of the blue spheres were clearly in view! It was as simple as walking up to them.
But it was the moment where I took my first step that I was instantly forced into a run. The meteoroid I was on instantly began to rotate, forcing me to keep to my feet in a brisk run. It still wasn't much of a challenge, 'Okay, this still isn't too hard, all the blue spheres are so easily attainable'
Yet the moment I wanted to turn to my right I didn't turn – everything under me turned. The whole world around me turned in an exact 90 degree angle. This threw me off a great deal and I ended up missing the blue spheres I had intended to collect. All forward progress was halted during the turn. It was very disorienting! It seemed as if the world under me turned on my command but was limited to turning left or right. This made movement seem like I was forced along a grid. Quickly I 'steered' myself to the right to start collecting the blue spheres before me.
The spheres didn't disappear upon collection. A split second glance down to my feet showed that I simply walked through them. They made a rather loud sound. It was...hard to really describe. Still is hard to describe, even after the fact. I guess it sounded like a dog barking, or perhaps a 'wompf'. It wasn't exactly the kind of sound I was looking for break the silence around here. I focused my vision ahead to continue around the grouping of what were sixteen blue spheres. When I went along the fourth side of the square, my ears twitched in realization. The blue spheres didn't disappear; they turned red from under me. Special Stages have very strict conditions; I feared that touching a red sphere in any way would end my chance of acquiring the Chaos Emerald hidden within.
Before I had a chance to steer out of the way from the red sphere ahead of me, all the spheres suddenly disappeared and turned into rings, making a loud chime in the process. There wasn't anything wrong with rings, in fact collection of these were necessary to advance in the previous ones I had encountered. I ran across to spiral inward and collect each ring. I took a quick mental note to myself to go around square groupings in an outline. The objective was to 'get blue spheres' but I deduced a more proper description was 'remove all blue spheres'.
After collecting the last of the sixteen rings I saw ahead of me four blue spheres in a small square. I didn't think it would be enough for an outline but I ran across them in a very tight square to see what would happen. I heard no chime and I was an inch away from running into a red sphere! I quickly jumped in the air to hop over it and land further ahead.
'That was too close!' I steered the world to turn left and ran ahead to a long band of bumper spheres 'I guess it doesn't work if the square is too tight' I said to myself.
The band of bumper spheres had two 'openings' to either side; I went across to the right side and saw ahead of me four more blue spheres in the same tight square as before. This time I took to a corner and went across it in a small 'U' to come out without running back into the newly formed red spheres. Through the removal of these blue spheres I saw another large square grouping of sixteen like the one from my starting point. I steered ahead to that direction and started to run across the outer edge like before.
I noticed that as I ran across to the fourth edge and heard the loud chime which signaled the spheres turning into rings, that the speed of the world under began to increase. This became even more evident as I was collecting the rings around me. One surprise after another! I had to heighten my reflexes now to prevent myself from steering into the massive sea of red spheres that surrounded the clearings.
Turning back ahead of me I saw a long formation of spheres, mostly of the bumper variety but with some blue ones snaking through the inside like a corkscrew. I positioned myself to follow the path of blue spheres. With the world under me scrolling ahead faster, I had to make use of quick reactions to turn without impacting a bumper: it would send back into a newly formed red sphere.
I forced my eyes to focus straight ahead and down to the ground to see the spheres ahead of me: I rotated the world under me left and right in a tight corkscrew to navigate the tight path and remove the eleven blue spheres ahead. The path led me back out the other side where I quickly turned my eyes back ahead of me again.
Sixteen more blue spheres came ahead; I could sense that I was rotating around this meteoroid fairly quick, given its small size across. I figured the path ahead would be completely symmetric: I went across all the formations I could expect to see ahead of me from here on. Aside from the speed of the floor under me which began to increase, I found myself in the clear.
It was enough for me to start humming a tune of my own. I wasn't very good at composing a nice melody like Sonic, but I felt fairly proud of the song I created in my head. It was pretty catchy! It was what I needed to break the monotony of running over the loud-sounding blue spheres. I kept the song in my head as I ran to cross the four sides of the next formation of spheres ahead of me for more rings.
The floor under me sped up further and I quickly navigated around the outer edge. This wasn't a problem to me for the square formations even as the speed increased: I timed the turns based on the loud 'wompf' sounds from running over the spheres. I mentally created a quick count as I did this: 'One, two, three, four, turn, one, two three, turn, one, two, three, turn, one, two, three'
The loud chime sounded off and spiraled inward to collect the sixteen rings. Ahead of me was two more groups of four spheres separated by a band of bumper spheres like before. It was starting to get simple again and the added speed actually benefited me by quickening the process: I could complete this stage in no time now!
I ran across the first group of four spheres ahead of me and ran through the left opening of the band of bumper spheres to reach to the other side for the four spheres before me and behind that was what I assumed to be the last of the group of sixteen. The world under started to speed up even further and I was now forced to run at close to my top speed without having to use my tails for a boost.
I coasted across the outer edge of the formation to make the spheres turn into rings and as I went inward to collect them all, another chime filled my ears. It sounded like a small music box melody that lasted a few seconds, ending with a distant fading echo. The stage before me was still there, so this couldn't have been a 'confirmation' sound of my objective. What could it have been? I didn't pay it too much mind, although it almost interrupted the rhythm of the tune I hummed to myself.
Beyond that final grouping of sixteen was the second of two corkscrews. The world under me had sped up considerably since I went through the first one, turned my eyes down to the ground to focus solely on the blue spheres (I felt confident enough that continuing to hum the song to myself wouldn't distract me, so I kept humming along). I kept a quick mental count to keep pace:
'One, two three, turn, one, turn, one, two, turn, one, turn, one, two, turn, one, turn, one!'
The instant I collected the last blue sphere the entire sea of red spheres and bumper spheres shot off into the air and the world before me quickly slowed down to the a halt. I skidded to a stop and looked straight ahead of me: a large, well-cut stone with a shimmering shade of emerald green. A Chaos Emerald!
I walked up to it and picked it up with my hands. The stone began to shimmer and the world around me spun rapidly. Before I could look around at what happened, I was engulfed in another flash of white light.
The distant sounds of crackling fire filled my ears again as I rubbed my eyes to adjust my view. I was back in the burning jungles in the same cavern from before. The first thing I did was look down to my hands. In one of them I held the very same Chaos Emerald. I grinned wide and gazed upon it, running my other hand across its facets.
It was a very beautiful gem; the entire set was very beautiful really. They were all rather large, I could fit about a couple in my hands at a time (although Knuckles' hands seemed to be big enough to hold as many as four). They each had a brilliant cut – a diamond cut as it's also called – and it often led me to wonder if the moniker 'Chaos Emeralds' was a bit of a misnomer. Surely they were gemstones, but the various colors the held were often not the colors of actual emeralds, save for this green one I held before me.
Regardless of what kind of gemstone they actually were, the set of seven Chaos Emeralds were the largest sources of Chaos Energy on the planet. Only the Master Emerald could trump the seven Chaos Emeralds in power. It's often said the Master Emerald resided on this very island, although the varying amounts of legends and myths often led its details and other important factors a bit of a mystery. Much like the other stories I've been told in this manner I chose to disregard that and sought more concrete evidence. All that mattered at this moment was there were six more emeralds to collect. I carefully placed the Chaos Emerald in my backpack and tightly zipped it shut. I couldn't afford to lose the emeralds again, especially from another surprise attack from a certain annoying echidna.
For all the power they contained, the Chaos Emeralds were often very choosy, especially for Chaos Users. I witnessed Sonic attain a storied 'Super' form upon collecting all seven of them, but when I had the seven emeralds shortly before they scattered off I couldn't perform that feat. In fact, I didn't get so much as any power from the emeralds. It was like they were closed off to my body completely.
As I walked back out I came to the realization that perhaps the Chaos Emeralds were choosy to me because I hadn't 'earned' them properly. That is, I didn't go through seven Special Stages. This did lift my spirits a bit: if I could manage six more Special Stages (especially if they're of the simple sphere-collecting variety) then I had the potential to become Super like could. It was like the emeralds had an 'imprint' on the owner who had earned them.
I noticed that there was no bridge ahead of me, only a path leading down. I assumed from all the crumbling rock that there must have been another fragile piece of land bridging the walls together. The air around me got drier and it was starting to feel uncomfortable breathing in the hot air from the raging fires around me. This massive highway before me was still left spared, but I couldn't count on that for much longer, so I had to make haste.
I hopped down to the path below and saw a tiny pool of water, inside which was three rings. I couldn't pass up any rings at this point; it was never a bad thing to collect any ring in my path. The pool of water was roughly three feet in depth though and as I jumped down into the water I sank to the bottom. It was an unfortunate consequence of being a Chaos User: the nature of the Chaos Energy inside me completely nulled my body's natural buoyancy and leaves only gravity to push me down. That did not mean I lacked any ability to swim. If I was going to swim like a normal person, I had to 'simulate' the buoyancy of water by focusing my Chaos Energy around my body to force me up while underwater.
The pool I was on wasn't too long or wide, so I walked under to pick up the three rings below and climbed out of it. I shook the water off my fur (very important when I start to run again, if not annoying in places with large amounts of it) and look at the area ahead of me. There was another large waterfall here it made a large pool of water. The pool appeared to have flooded beyond its limits: the ground I was on was wet and collected water up to my ankles. It was probably what filled the smaller one before.
Above me was a wooden bridge, broken off at one end and mostly frail though the end it was connected to led to a mostly cracked section of rock by the wall ahead. The only other option was to go up, but I didn't see any need to waste the energy to fly all the way up. Seeing as the place was full of secret passages hidden behind cracked rock, I jumped atop the wooden bridge and walked across it.
The bridge began to break off from behind me (what was with everything being so fragile in this jungle? It had to have been the fires going on at this point) and I quickly ran across to the cliff ahead of me, collecting four rings in the process. The spun around to bash my tails through the rock, causing it crumble to the ground and reveal a hidden passage mostly obscured by thick brush around me. The leaves and overgrowth have started to dry up, although none around have caught fire just yet.
What was most important was that there was a monitor in here and it also had a picture on it that was new to me: that of a large drop of water. This had to have been another elemental shield and I went up to it and broke it with my tails. The picture of the water drop rise in the air and disappeared, and instantly a large bubble surrounded me. The bubble encased me all around but it also refreshed the air inside it; it was very cool and moist. I took in a few deep breaths in satisfaction, much better than the increasingly dry and hot air around me.
Much like any other shield I came across before, this shield didn't have any sort of physical properties. I couldn't reach out to touch the bubble (as it consistently followed me) but behind me I extended my tails as far as they could to see the tips of them reach outside the shield. But I still felt encased inside the bubble because of the fresh air around me; it was a pseudo-physical shield much like the plasma shield I had earlier. I was in an area with a lot more water so this air supply was sure to come in handy.
Ahead of me was another crumbled rock which I promptly bashed away with my tails exposing another path outside and a row of three rings before me. Another rhinoceros badnik charged at me the moment I set foot out the passage. I let the badnik speed at me and waited for the right moment.
Just a foot away from me I stepped calmly to a side and watched as the badnik attempted to put on the brakes to prevent it from crashing into the pile of rubble I had just bashed through. The badnik crashed into the rock and broke apart, sending a Flicky to hop away in freedom. I smirked as I noticed it lacked any sort of crumple zone to absorb the energy from a front-on collision, an obvious oversight in Eggman's part.
Ahead of me was another pool of water and what appeared to be a rotating log of sorts. It spun on its own and on one side contained three large spikes. Likely it was a trap set by Eggman but another ill-placed one: I can easily jump over to the other side by leaping into the air in a ball. I handily did this and landed on the other side, which sloped downward into another pool of water. As I went down and into the water I realized I had held my breath on habit. I exhaled and took in the air around me in the bubble. This was really handy; although I was a bit disappointed the bubble didn't help me float up to the surface.
Looking forward I saw more of those strange spinning logs and a small step below, either end had one row of spikes but three rings were also placed in the bottom. To my right was a coconut tree but the leaves atop it were beginning to burn so it was too risky to climb up it. To my right I saw that the pool was lined by a tall wall of rock and overgrowth and to my right, the pool ended but beyond the edge was a large dip to the burning jungles below. It wasn't very wide, yet it was quite deep, so I found myself forced forward yet again.
I decided to fly over the pool instead to reach the other side way in front. The rings below weren't too important to me as I now had a shield to protect me from a hit. I walked back up the ramp that led into the pool and twirled my tails to take flight. I took care to avoid the three burning coconut trees ahead of me and gained a little more height to reach the other side. I landed on my feet and walked forward to collect three rings that were on a small decline.
Ahead of me was a huge concave ramp. I didn't have enough room to simply run up it to the floor above on the other side; there wasn't much room to accelerate. I had just used my tails to fly over the water before so I thought it a good time to try out a Spin Dash.
The Spin Dash was the hardest move I picked up from Sonic, all the more amazing was that I learned it simply from observation. It involved taking the form of a ball and charging up large amounts of energy and then launching forward at high speeds. The trick was actually staying in place while charging – as a ball I had to spin forward faster and faster but at the same time lock myself in place and then find a way to launch myself ahead.
It seemed very impossible: I would force myself to roll ahead anyway with the way I was charging up the dash. The key was intense realignment of the Chaos Energy inside my body. A good deal of it already had to be done to turn into a ball but more of it was required for the charging of a Spin Dash. The nature of the Chaos Energy inside a Chaos User sometimes bent the rules of gravity such as my ability to jump higher when rolled into a ball. If I spun fast enough in place with enough focus, the Chaos Energy 'locked' my body in place but still with a spinning motion. To launch, I had to release all that focus which removes the lock and sent me flying ahead. It was like wheels 'burning rubber' as they called it.
It was very hard to grasp, even for me. This broke basic laws of motion! But it was also a vital move in my repertoire so I couldn't complain at the actual mechanics of the move so much as I would appreciate how well the move has helped me in the past.
I curled into a ball and started to spin faster and faster. I moved forward slightly as I started my charge but as I gained more spinning speed and spread my internal Chaos Energy around, I stopped moving forward and remained spinning place. I let myself charge for a few more seconds and then quickly dropped all focus, sending myself straight ahead up against the ramp. The moment I didn't feel anything under me was when I felt myself in the air. I uncurled myself and look down to see myself launched high up the ramp and the ground below me. I aimed myself to land on the grass below and landed on both feet.
It was downright dangerous to be sent so fast with no ability to see, I not only had to plan before the launch but also after. Unless I had someone leading the way ahead of me, I strictly saved the Spin Dash for emergencies or very small applications of it, such what I had just done. Now that I was safe, I looked ahead of me.
Another cracked wall was directly in front, the wall mostly overgrown with dried up leaves, some starting to catch flames. These cracked walls leading into passages were very common, it seemed. I wondered if they were put up on purpose or perhaps were left up some time ago. Sonic told me of a similar situation in Green Hill Zone back on South Island (a place I've yet to see myself). But then given the surreal nature of the zones around the world, I wouldn't be surprised if there were many hidden passages I've yet to discover, even in places I knew like the back of my hand.
However there was also a second option; a floating platform gently rose and fell, leading the way to a path above. I could give my tails a little break from smashing rocks, so I hopped onto the platform and let it take me up. Above me was a swinging vine, but it was placed too high to be of any particular use (especially since I could just as easily jump to where I need to go). Behind me was yet another cracked wall (these shouldn't surprise me now) and straight ahead was a cliff ahead with a gentle slope leading down.
In my path were tall, beautiful flowers starting to collect flames. I shook my head in dismay and jumped over them. I never was one for flowers, admittedly (I could argue Sonic had a liking to them), but I also wasn't one for needless destruction of them. The fact the jungles around me were in blazes still rang across my mind: it just wasn't fair.
Up ahead was another rhinoceros badnik. They were starting to become child's play to handle: I took a small jog straight at it and then rolled into a ball right through it, breaking it apart. Eggman's AI routines for the badniks were awfully simplistic. He mass manufactured so many, he probably found it quicker to make simpler AI programming into them. I was no expert in the field of artificial intelligence, much less programming itself – I always fashioned myself as a mechanic. Seeing Eggman's badniks fail miserably to stop me gave me the impression that I should take up the study of AI just to make something better. Yeah, that would show him!
Ahead of me was a small 'pool' of spikes. To navigate over it I could just fly, but there was a vine handily swinging over it. I hopped up to grab onto the pulley and jumped off the other side. There was a waterfall ahead, one of many. It was fairly thin for a waterfall; I estimated it to be about 10 feet wide. The current moving it across was fairly fast and it ran down to a large pool of water below. On the other side at my level was another cracked rock. I was in the mood to keep going 'up' so I jumped across the waterfall to the other side. The other side featured yet another cracked wall and a crumbling rock shortly before it.
Upon uncurling myself to land from the jump, I landed onto the rock which began to break apart under my weight. This time I turned my eyes straight down as quickly as possible to spot a spring launcher hidden underneath. I let myself bounce up off it and turned my focus to what was above me. There was another cliff leading to a path straight ahead to another cracked wall, but there was also another floating platform that was about to rise up to two higher cliffs on either said. I reached out with my arms to grab onto the side once I gained enough height and climbed onto the grassy top of the moving platform. I heard projectiles fire and spiked balls rained down from the cliff above.
Spikes! They were sure to break the bubble shield I had around. I didn't have much room to evade the projectile and my mind couldn't process enough options quickly enough, so I sidestepped in vain. It was likely to skim a side, causing the whole bubble to pop. But to my surprise, the spiked round bounced off at an angle! I raised my eyebrows and looked up to see another spiked ball come down at me while I was busy looking at awe at the first. It too bounced off harmlessly to a side.
This was new! Shields I had collected in the past never repelled any sort of fired shots; they instead took it as damage and dispersed. This bubble I had around me turned out to be pretty resilient! I jumped atop the cliff above to my left to see what was firing these shots at me. It was a badnik, but of a different design: it resembled a large flower, a tulip to be precise. The base of it contained three fairly large spiked balls and the lower rim of the 'petals' had spikes jutting out to the side. I saw it fire two more of these similarly shaped spiked balls into the air, coming from the middle of the 'petals'. It seemed to fire them with no rhyme or reason. Without any problem I jumped onto the exposed top while rolled into a ball and crashed through it, sending a Kucky out to freedom.
Ahead of me I spotted yet another new monitor. This one featured a picture of fire. A Fire Shield? It would certainly prove invaluable in the midst of the burning jungle! I wasted no time in breaking it apart. The bubble shield around me was gone and was instead replaced with spherical shield of flame. The cool moist air that surrounded me was also traded for warm, dry air. I still didn't find much trouble breathing it in; somehow it felt a lot more comforting compared to the air around the jungles.
I assumed that the shield would offer project from fire and burns. This did open up a realm of possibilities as I turned to my left and looked down at the burning jungles below. There was nothing to see there, not even rings. Even if I could see through the rising heat waving up into the air, there would be no purpose in going down there. My goal was straight ahead. I turned back to jump off the cliff and down to a lower one on the other side of the floating platform. It appeared to be blocked off: tall pillars of bark-like stone impeded the path. The pillars were of the same natural composition but were clearly carved this time and appeared to have been purposefully placed to block the way before me. I shook my head in mild frustration. My newly acquired fire shield would very likely wear off in water, and backtracking to the waterfall and the pool below seemed like the only option now.
I then twitched my ears, a typical habit expressing one of those 'ah-ha!' moments: 'Oh yeah, there was that cracked wall just below me.' I nodded to myself and hopped off the edge onto the ground below.
Ahead of me was a wall of plants and rock and a particular section of it fragile and about to crumble. These crumbling rocks seemed to be all the same to me. I just shrugged that off and bashed it away with my tails. It exposed a small room inside lit by four small torches against the wall. The only content of the room was an odd-looking switch in the center. Colored steel gray and about the size of a spring launcher, it had on arrow pointing down located on the rim. I supposed it had to be pushed down. Much like the spring launchers and spikes I had encountered, the switch looked completely out of place in the jungle and mostly pristine in condition and generally unaffected by the elements. Likely something set by Eggman.
Switches of this nature aren't new to me, Sonic and I had found plenty before and they usually were beneficial enough to open up a new area. The presence of this one directly below the pillars above led me to believe this would make them give way. I climbed onto the switch to let my weight push it down. The switch let out a 'click' and the walls around me began to shake and tremble for a few fleeting seconds. I dashed out of the room to be sure it wasn't a trap but I looked back and the trembling stopped.
My ears picked up the sounds directly above and behind me: two different sounds. The one above was very likely the pillars giving way as it sounded liked moving stone. The other sound which was behind me was that of water rushing faster for a split second and then fading off to nothing.
'The waterfall?' I curiously walked back to where the waterfall was and blinked in surprise when I saw that the waterfall was now gone! Looking down below I also saw the entire pool of water had completely drained away. That was very odd; why would one switch alter both the passage above and this waterfall? It didn't really make any sense (especially the thought of Eggman rigging this particular waterfall to drain away to wherever) other than the fact that two paths were now open to me.
Multiple ways to traverse a zone were common situations in the past. Sonic would pick just whatever suited his fancy and I simply followed. Here I took a more careful approach. I was very curious about where all that water went, but I'd likely only find a drainage system of some sort down below. The formerly blocked passage behind me was sure to take me to a more direct path ahead. I didn't have much time to spend looking around for purely observation and curiosity with the jungles around me still on fire. I had to keep moving ahead.
I nodded to myself and turned back to the floating platform which had fallen low enough for me to jump upon. I hopped back onto it and let it take me back up to the lower cliff ahead where the way before me was blocked. Sure enough, the stone pillars had given way and revealed a corridor ahead leading upwards. I hopped off the platform onto the passage and ran across it.
The corridor consisted of stone all around and the way leading up was outlined by rows of spikes. They were placed all along the walls but stopped at the top. I craned my head up to see that this was another path and it seemed to lead straight ahead. Furthermore there were several rings leading the way up directly in the middle marking a safe ascent from the spikes all around, I counted five. I shrugged and twirled my tails into a quick spin to get myself into flight. This was a piece of cake.
It was probably put around to prevent someone like Sonic from going up, seeing as he couldn't possibly jump all the way up top. I carefully hovered upwards and collected the five rings in the process. As I reached the top of the corridor to the path ahead I saw another model of tulip badniks, spewing out large spiked balls left and right without any care in the world (I guessed these badniks didn't have any sort of visual aids or 'eyes').
The bubble shield I had earlier repelled the projectiles handily. Could this fire shield do the trick too? I shook my head. I couldn't risk trying this out; having a fire-based shield right now was very important and if it couldn't offer any defense against projectiles I'd lose it right away. I was above the 'well let's see what happens' approach when clear danger was in the line, or at least something important enough such as this.
I landed on the ground from my flight and ran for the badnik the moment it finished firing off two rounds on either side. I rolled into a ball and collided with it, breaking it apart and sending off another Flicky to fly away. While I was rolling I had heard it firing off a round just before I impacted it. As I uncurled, I looked up to see that last round it had fired and it was about to fall on me!
I braced myself, unable to step out of the way in time but the sound of flames above me perked my attention. I looked up to see the spiked ball burnt asunder, its ashes cast off into the hot air. I blinked in welcome wonder; this shield was turning out to be quite useful! I let out a sigh of relief and walked ahead to see that before me was a concave ramp leading down. It was very steep and it had five rings on it to lead the way down.
Jumping onto these and taking a ride down gave a quick boost in speed that I found very thrilling. Before I took the jump I scanned ahead of me to see a short track ahead of me to follow. The ramp lead to a cliff, looking quite similar to the crumbling ones before. A few inches after the cliff was huge, stationary platform, covered in grass and plants that looked about nine feet wide. Above this was vine swinging back and forth and in front was a floating platform that moved up and down to another larger floating rock formation, apparently shaped as a flipped 'L'.
My tails wagged in delight; this was going to be another quick burst of action like old times. I waited a few fleeting moments for everything to position itself properly and then I took off, going down the ramp below and collecting the five rings in the process. I let gravity do its work and I did my part too by spinning my tails. I ceased to run with my legs and let my toes skim the ground as I sped for the cliff before me. It was likely to crumble and it did, but I shot off the edge and onto the nearby platform.
Midway in the air I stopped the spinning of my tails and sprang to the air in a jump, reaching up for the pulley on the bottom of the swinging vine. It was swinging back perfectly and was about to give its momentum forward (aided in no small part to my burst of speed before). My reflexes kicked in and I let myself go, flying in the air straight for the floating platform which was now in the right position to land on.
The very millisecond my feet touched the grassy top, I sprang to the air once more to the top of the new formation before me. Now on a rush I continued to run forward and let my fast thinking kick in. As I ran down the top of the path at around fifty miles per hour (and rising) a tulip badnik came into view and behind it was a Super Rings monitor. I waited for the right moment and then turned into a ball to barrel past both with ease. As I uncurled I felt the sensation of falling down, I was off the floating rock already!
Below I landed on a new stationary platform in the air (I could have easily survived the long fall from above as my body was able to withstand it, but I wanted to keep my momentum going) and in front of me was a wall. I turned behind me without stopping, wanting to keep up my fast pace and ran off the platform to the flat top of a vertical loop. As I ran across it I saw a hill going down the opposite way, a very steep one at that. Three rings were waiting on the hill down and while I was landing on the top of the loop, I could see five rings around it.
I jumped off the edge and landed for the three rings, then quickly turned around and gave my tails a good twirl to kick start my second gear. I propelled myself around the loop which led further down through a small patch of dried leaves. I dashed straight through them and heard the leaves rend behind me from my now-sharp tails. Not bothering to look at my wake behind me, I focused instead on the second loop which also had five rings running around it. Gravity started to push my speed beyond its max and started to catch up with Sonic's running usual speeds. My lips curled into a grin as I flashed around the full 360 degrees.
Up ahead was a very steep hill leading down and further down was a gigantic waterfall. The end of the hill had a simple ramp that twisted around at the end, similar to one I found before. With the speeds I had beginning to get around three hundred miles an hour, I was likely to rocket across the waterfall to the other side. I didn't stop running: there was a series of ledges all the way on the other side that led straight up, something I could do with a quick series of jumps. I leaned my body forward and hit the ramp at full speed.
For a few fleeting moments I was caught in the enthrallment of being sent across the air at such a fast speed. It really did feel like flying and it was my one true love in the world. To be sent in the air like this for only a few seconds was enough to remind me of being in the cockpit of my Tornado at top flight. But without the restrictions of a cockpit around me, with only my body to take me from point A to point B, it was real bliss! It was the truest and simplest joy to me in my mind; no machine can come close to a sensation like this, no matter how finely crafted and designed. I felt very special to be able to lay witness to excitements in life that only a select few can hope to dream of attaining.
My brief pleasure subsided as I turned back to the 'real world' around me. There a ledge to land on! As I saw it come into view I spotted a spring launcher hidden among the grass and four rings behind it. My trajectory was about right to land on the ledge and continue a fast run into the spring launcher. It would take me up to a higher ledge to a side leading up to two more cliffs higher up leading back the other way lending to a maze-like path that would lead me higher up the waterfall.
I landed on the ledge and kept up pace into a fast run. My legs were easily able to withstand the shock from exceedingly high falls and at speeds such as this. This let me carry momentum from the arcing leap in the air before without having to stop and have my legs mangled up from the landing. I collected the four rings ahead of me and went for the spring launcher.
Looking up as I stepped onto it, I went for the next ledge. It was to a side and as I began my ascent from the spring launcher, I looked up and saw that I wasn't going to reach the other two ledges that were higher up from it. I instead looked down to land, but noted another hidden spring launcher implanted in the ground on the lower ledge.
It was sure to give me the boost up so I aimed myself for and it turned my sight back up the moment I planted my feet on its surface. There was a ceiling ahead and ahead of me was blocked by a wall. A ramp leading up to nowhere (or rather, the ceiling) was there as well as a badly placed rhinoceros badnik. Honestly, what was it doing over in a stray ledge with no room to move around and no way to get across to the other side? Directly above was a vine swinging back and forth, I was heading up its way so I reached out to grab onto the pulley and jumped off to the other side which led back to the waterfall.
Beyond some burning flowers and plants, the cliff gave way and stopped not far from where I had landed below. The waterfall was truly gigantic! What I first suspected to be floating rock was in fact portions of the wall jutting out beyond the crashing water. These portions dotted the waterfall below but were mostly absent as I looked further up. Two rows of three rings each formed a path leading up to a cliff to the other side. A spring launcher at the corner led higher up which allowed passage back to the other end of the waterfall. It was too high up to jump onto, so I took flight with my tails to reach up, grabbing the first set of rings along the way.
Suddenly square portions of ring were pushed out from behind the waterfall. I was dangerously close to flying directly into one of these and I quickly steered myself to a side out of the way. Upon turning back to look at them, they receded back in the waterfall. A trap, perhaps? Surely it flustered me for a few moments, but I wasn't completely thrown off by that. Traps like these I had to anticipate as I moved along in my quest: I couldn't take the zones for granted for either their natural of artificial hazards.
I flew higher up for the other three rings and landed on the long grass-topped floor of rock. I hopped onto the spring launcher to the higher end. The rock extended upwards in strange ways, making a sort of 'C' shape as I landed on the ledge to the right. The top of this led to the other side across the waterfall. Much of the zones had strange formations like this which made odd and sometimes fascinating shapes. Straight ahead from the ledge was a large step, after which was yet another cracked wall. I just ignored it (so many of them!) and jumped up the step and then turned back to the top of the 'C'.
I had to curl into a ball to reach this high jump, at least ten feet up in the air. I made the landing just barely and uncurled myself to see straight ahead. A rhinoceros badnik was waiting in the other end. I could easily guess what was going to happen: a head on charge. Beyond that was a wooden bridge that looked as if it had formerly connected to the floor I was on, but some portions were missing on my side. Four rings were on the bridge and beyond it was a small step and what looked to be a large ramp.
I ran straight up to the charging badnik and swiped at it with both my tails, sending it over the edge and all the way to the bottom of the waterfall. 'Have a nice trip', I mentally quipped with a smirk and turned my attention to the bridge.
I jumped onto and it began to fall apart (as expected), so I ran across to the other side with haste to pick up the four rings. The moment I stepped onto the cliff I picked up speed and made a short hop to get atop it. A simple row of spikes stopped me from running straight ahead and above me at the top of a tall coconut tree in front was a monkey badnik tossing a coconut from high atop its perch.
Coconuts and fire certainly didn't mix, I just stood in place and let the coconut burn to ash from the shield around me. I then jumped high into the as a ball and destroyed it with ease. I landed on the other side of the spikes and in front of me was a tall ramp leading straight up to a higher ledge. Three rings were at the foot of the ramp but at the top of the ledge was a row of spikes blocking the way.
Or so it seemed: the blunt part of the spikes to the side was situated at the exact edge of the ramp which went to a straight vertical ascent. I could spin dash up the ramp and land on the other side of the spikes. The blunt parts of spikes could be stood upon and I had done this before with spikes situated on their sides before. It wasn't like simply touching them was of any harm. I wonder if Eggman actually thought this when placing them around randomly.
I rolled into a ball and began to let out bursts of rapid spins. Satisfied with my level of charging, I let loose the spin dash and shot up the ramp. I felt myself going straight up, touching first rock then steel, then nothing but air. I was in the air now so I uncurled to see where I was going and looked down. I gave my tails a quick twirl to push me forward as I fell to land beyond the spikes on the other side. Directional influence with my tails was a trick I recently picked up and it was especially helpful for spring launchers and other situations that would send me straight up but required me to nudge myself in one direction or the other.
On the other side was a Lamp Post and a cracked wall. Upon landing and passing by the Lamp Post, I heard the parts inside whir and it let out a low chime with its round tip flashing red and yellow. As much as it started to annoy me, I had to smash down this cracked wall to continue. I bashed it down with my tails and saw that it revealed a tunnel, wide enough for me to fit through as a ball. I had to gain enough speed to run through it, although usually the paths inside walls would twist and carry myself below which gave me speed to continue on. To be safe I entered the passage with a spin dash and kept my eyes peeled for any quick changes from darkness to light.
I felt myself twisting around in a backwards 'S' and then waving up and down continuously straight ahead. The tunnel was completely smoothed out like the one I had encountered further back so it gave me more speed. The consistent wave of the tunnel was enough to give me a constant speed throughout instead of simply being a straight line which would have eventually made me lose speed and momentum (this made me wonder about the construction of these tunnels if they were done on purpose).
Faster and faster I went until I felt myself going on a straight line and then rising straighting up. I felt myself impact the bottom of the ground and I shot up out of it and into the light of day. I was launched straight up into the air and as I uncurled myself, I found that I had been thrown up very high into the air. Although I was able to land from this height safely, it'd not only leave my legs a bit sore, but it'd also probably disrupt the Chaos Energy of the fire shield I had around me. I quickly started to spin my tails and let myself hover down to the floor below. I landed a few feet from the large hole in the ground I created and picked up three rings in the process.
Directly ahead of me the track of this floating highway began to widen and was completely flat for a considerable distance. It felt like a very long straightaway. For all the randomness of zones and their exotic layouts, complete straightaways like this were extremely rare. Sonic would have loved to speed through this. It was like a long drag strip.
My ears picked up a sound. It was distant at first but it was very distinct. It was engines. Massive engines. Even from far away I could feel they were huge. Something big was coming from above. I looked up in the sky above to see what was arriving. My tails actually wagged in anticipation as I heard the sound get closer and closer. I ran forward down a few steps of land and onto the long straightaway to get a clearer view. It was...
It was an airship! More precisely, a flying destroyer. It had to have been one of Eggman's designs but it was real sight to behold. Really, both terrifying and awe-inspiring. Colored a deep shade of green, the ship was much smaller than the giant Wing Fortress from before, this one appeared to have been made for quick bombing runs, judging from the seven large chutes placed below it. It was propelled by a mixture of rocket boosters and propellers up front to stabilize its direction. The armor on it looked relatively light, it didn't seem to be made for any long-lasting confrontations but it also gave it a great amount of speed for a ship its size. On its side in small white letters, I spotted the name 'Flying Battery-001'.
Flying fleets were a rare specialty of Eggman's and actually exhibited among the best and finest of his works. His badniks were nothing but a shoddy mess of mass-produced drones. Not even his larger creations, the so-called 'minibosses' could compare. Not even the various iterations of his Egg Mobile, converted to various combat purposes could match this. This was among the fruits of his labor that I actually admired in design and execution. Eggman learned very quickly how to effectively utilize this notion of an aerial base of operations: starting from a mechanized zeppelin (of all things) to the enormous but surprisingly frail Wing Fortress. The presence of this meant he had started to venture into an actual aerial fleet.
I could always dream up a blueprint for a simple two-seater private aircraft – something small like the Tornado. I took to Sonic's plane instantly not only because I fell in love with its construction, but because I didn't have any materials to work with to make a plane of my own. Even when I was given possession and care of the Tornado from Sonic, I still dreamed big. Even after putting twin boosters on it and improving the engine and chassis, I still wanted to think ahead to bigger and better things. Seeing Eggman do what I dreamed of didn't set off any envy. It emboldened me! He proved to me that these things were possible and within my grasp.
But such exquisite designs meant nothing to their application. It was one thing to craft a fine design as this, but it was another to completely abuse it and demean its technical value. This aerial destroyer lowered its altitude and opened all the hatches. My eyes widened. It was going to carpet bomb the area!
This was harrowing, but I had no time to stop and remain dumbstruck over the waste of a technological marvel. I had to get out of here! I scrambled down the long path and put my tails to a spin as soon as I could to attain my top speed. The roar of the engines became deafening as it lowered altitude even more and began to drop its payload: huge incendiary bombs easily my size. I propelled myself to the limit and my heart began to somersault inside. This destroyer could easily outpace me and I had no room to hide.
I looked behind me and saw it begin to drop its bombs from two chutes at a time with the ones up front going first. The ground from under me shook with tremendous force and sizable craters were left in its wake and tall flames burst out from each explosion. Three bombs fell from each chute and in timely fashion. The fell in sequence from front to back, so I had to push myself as fast I could to hopefully outrun the explosions from each bomb – not even my fire shield could withstand the sheer force from these rounds.
I didn't look back again, I put faith in my ability. It was...rare that I would do that. What if the destroyer decided to drop more rounds and break the pattern? Indeed I'd have to turn back and see what would happen. However I was too...heartbroken to see what happened. No, that destroyer, this 'Flying Battery' didn't deserve another look.
The shadow of the airship fell over me as I continued to make a mad dash down the long, seemingly never-ending straight. The ground continued to shake violently with each passing bomb and I only mentally counted off how many bombs would fall. Nine more. Eight more. Seven...
As the remaining rounds fell a small patch of trees came to view in the horizon. It was probably the only way I could take cover however the rounds would have been exhausted by this point. I still had a little more to go and my tails were starting to get pushed to the limit. Fatigue hadn't set in yet but it would soon. Four more rounds fell upon the ground.
Three more bombs.
I didn't look up at the destroyer, my eyes were locked straight ahead. But that last chute was certain to inch by closer and closer at this rate. Again, faith in myself drove me to continue on; I felt my tails starting to get sore. Just a bit more to go!
The first of three blasts came closer than before. Between the roar of the engines above and the explosions of the bombs, my ears were ringing constantly. The trembling became more violent as the blast radius approached closer and closer. My mind demanded my body push itself beyond the limit and it started to yell back to me in fatigue. This couldn't last much longer! I had been certain before I'd reach cover before the round would go out.
The second blast stepped up the force, my feet had left the ground completely for brief moments of time, it almost left me airborne and would have thrown me off my trajectory. I was unable to feel the heat from the bombs but had I not this shield around me it would been very intense. I started to fear that the force of the bombs behind would remove my shield. Or worse fall onto the shield. If that happened...
The last of three blasts came and the blast was near-deafening. I couldn't hear the sound of my own yelp I let out in reaction. The ground trembled violently as ever and my bee-line for cover wavered. I spread the tips of my shoes out on the ground to steer myself ahead. The flames overcame my vision for a few seconds. As the flames left, my shield remained. I was spared. The patch of trees approached closer and closer. I was going to make it.
The destroyer began to take on more altitude and steered away from where I was going. A cleared path was made between the trees that I took to instantly and continued to speed through. My body was begging me to stop for only a moment's rest and my ears were ringing. I wasn't content with stopping now, I felt the need to run as fast I could. Not for fear of another destroyer, not for fear of the raging fires all around me. It wasn't even for reaching Eggman as soon as possible.
To be honest...I don't know why I still ran.
I was overcome by emotion. I had a drive but what to do with it? What was it for? It was pointless to keep running at full speed for nothing but I didn't see that. Even as I started to feel sore all around and my Chaos Energy inside was burning I still didn't want to stop.
I almost let myself go. It was like shutting off all my senses. My ears were ringing but I didn't care. There wasn't anything to hear. What could I want to see? Only the trees ahead of me? The blazing flora and fauna around me? Did I feel any need to smell the burning air? To feel the hot, dry air all around? Maybe I didn't want to believe it then or even ponder it but maybe...just maybe...
...this may had been too much for me to handle at once. Between that blasted echidna, the loss of the Chaos Emeralds, Eggman and his evil plans; the razing of the jungle, the waste of an aerial marvel for simple carpet bombing. And it was all without him...
Without...
I had to stop. It hit me then and there. It was a mental slap in the face to wake me up to my senses. I ceased the spinning of my tails and skidded to a complete stop, sending up a cloud of dirt in my wake.
My sight returned to me first. It never left, but without any reason to care for what was ahead of me before, it felt as if I opened my eyes yet again. ahead of me was a tall cliff. I was standing on a wooden bridge connected to a large ledge that extended outwards from behind the waterfall. Beyond that was another bridge leading to the tall cliff.
A massive waterfall was to the left of me. That brought my hearing back: the ringing from before was still faintly in my head but now I heard the falling rush of water from high above. My scent came back then came back, the smell of dry, hot air. It was still from the fire shield around me but it was of a mild level of comfort to me. At least it was helpful to me. My sense of feeling was the last to come back. I had been all but numb for mere seconds but it rushed back to me as if I hadn't felt anything for weeks. My body remained sore from my intense burst of speed, my tails were especially thankful to finally rest and remained completely still.
As I slowly walked to the center of the wet, grassy ledge my mind was a dense fog. I had no clarity – it contrasted the crystal clear goals I set for myself when I started my quest. At that moment I wasn't sure what to do. Should I really have kept going forward to wherever these jungles took me? To just keep running until the floor from under me burns to the ground? What was I doing all this for?
I stopped walking and looked behind me. It was almost an empty stare. I wasn't completely without feeling like I had been a few moments before but I was looking at a whole lot of nothing. However, I barely felt something inside me. A voice perhaps, one of those nagging inner facets of an individual's conscience everyone had that drove them to get back on their bearings.
I was too listless to hear that voice. I needed a trigger to get back on track.
And it came to me from another voice, this one not of my own: "Enjoying the show, fuzzball?"
My fur bristled and I turned to my left. From behind the waterfall...
"How nice… I suppose it is only appropriate that someone bear witness to the clearing of these worthless jungles! This area will make a fine, new base of operations!"
Eggman.
A loud splash came from the behind the waterfall, revealing a combat-modified Egg Mobile. These were the 'boss' machines, the kind made specifically to stop Sonic and I. The designs were always very different but usually maintained the same basic principle: there was a big dome of glass with Eggman in clear view and the original model of Egg Mobile was hidden inside. It was like a 'lock-on' technology that he would use to mix and match variations based on the natural terrain and other factors.
The vehicle was almost completely sphere like, much like the flamethrower miniboss from before. This one was colored blue and much thicker armor than before. A thick steel rim was placed under the dome of glass up top, likely to secure the basic Egg Mobile that was inside. This allowed it not only to stay on, but also to eject at will. Eggman was an escape artist – he would likely eject if the vehicle's outer shell started to fail or fall apart.
At its sides were two cannons. These were also sphere-like which was made to be easily pivoted around in a full 360 degrees. The chutes of the cannons were wide and it looked as if I could almost fit inside one while curled in a ball. The bottom of this vehicle appeared to be consisted of bronze, an interesting, if not effective choice of material for this application. Bronze doesn't generate sparks and given the theme of flame-based weaponry I had seen, I can assume it was made to endure the presence of flammable vapors. This likely contained the fuel for the cannons to spout out flames of some kind.
Behind the cannons were two larger spheres with two pipes running across the sides, looking like giant veins. This looked to be a power supply rather than a fuel tank, and appeared to be one of the sources of energy keeping the vehicle afloat.
Unattractively placed in the front of the ship, directly underneath Eggman's glass dome and securing metallic rim was a speaker through which he spoke to the world his twisted ideals.
His voice was gravely and thick, it was about as unattractive as his looks "Let's make sure you stay put for a while!"
The giant vehicle floated further behind me and I turned around to keep pace. The cannons twisted directly below and shot out two large balls of fire to burn out the bridge ahead of me. The wooden bridge easily succumbed to the fire and the burning ashes fell below to what looked like an almost limitless fall below (where could it lead to?).
Not finished yet, the cannons twisted directly behind him and Eggman craned his neck back to see his next target. Two more fireballs shot out of the cannons and laid siege to the patch of trees before me, sending out high plumes of flame in the air and sending the trees down to block the path.
Turning back to face me, he arched an eyebrow in surprise. "What's this? Looks like you came prepared..." He was eying my fire shield.
"Well then...let's fix that, shall we?"
With a loud splash Eggman retreated behind the waterfall again. I tensed my body and looked back to the waterfall to my left. The waterfall was very loud and easily droned out any other surrounding sounds. The lack of a visible engine on the vehicle also made it extremely quiet, it would be impossible for my ears to discern the sound of the vehicle from behind. He all but disappeared beneath a veil of water. Curse him!
I had only a limited space to move around. The cliff high above only led to a very high wall. I would have nowhere to run except back through the torrent of flames from the patch of fiery trees, but it didn't serve me well to escape. I had to stop him!
Cautiously I stepped around the grassy platform. I couldn't take a chance going on the bridge, since he could easily burn it down and send me down to the very bottom...wherever that may have been. It was hard me to predict where Eggman would pop out and I didn't have much room.
I heard another loud splash. Behind me! I whirled around but it wasn't in enough time: Eggman's vehicle towered over me and rammed into me head on. I let out a yell in surprise and grabbed onto the edge of the platform to my right; I was almost knocked off! My shield vanished and I was left vulnerable once more.
I climbed back onto the floor and looked up to see Eggman retreat to a side and fire off three rounds of fireballs. The cannons were aimed down at 45 degree angles and the fireballs curiously angled off upon hitting the floor to move straight at me. I took flight with my tails to evade the three fireballs. Looking down I saw they left a small trail of flames in their wake.
He was planning to burn the only safe platform I had! I landed onto the ground and went behind the waterfall. There wasn't too much room for me here and the sounds of rushing water overwhelmed my sense of hearing. But I wasn't back here to hide, I ran back to where the fires had started and twirled myself around a few times to send off water at the flames with my tails. I went back out to see rising steam in place of most of the fires.
But I also saw Eggman right in front of me. He let out a booming laugh and sent out two more fireballs my way. I rolled out of the way to my right and turned back to see the fireballs disappear beneath the waterfall with huge clouds of steam. This was my chance to attack – I ran for the side of Eggman's vehicle and jumped at it while curled into a ball.
The ship didn't spin around to face me and evade in time and I impacted the hardened armor. It was enough to bounce me off back the way I came and I uncurled as soon as possible to see my damage: I made a large dent at the center of the vehicle, directly under the metallic rim above. That also meant I completely busted the speaker that stuck out the front. Buzzing and crackling sounds were the last of its sounds before it died out completely.
I had no words for Eggman, and now he had none for me. I'd rather fight him in silence than listen to him boom out nonsense from a speaker. I still saw him trying to speak out to me from behind his glass dome but it was so thick and well protected that it was all but soundproof. I didn't bother to guess what he was yelling at me.
The vehicle took higher to the air and floated above me. I craned my neck to see it aimed its cannons straight down. I ran for the other side (and careful not to step on the wooden bridge) as Eggman fired down a flurry of fireballs at the ground, blackening the grass and sending out fires to spread across an entire side of the center platform.
I ran back behind the waterfall and to the other side where I attempted to extinguish the flames. It was now a bothersome task: I had to divert my attention in attacking him head on and instead had to manage my limited space. As I spun myself around to put out the flames, I faintly heard a splash from above and looked up to see Eggman's vehicle about to swoop down at me.
My reflexes kicked in and I sprang from the ground into the air and rolled myself into a ball. I bounced off a smooth surface and I uncurled the moment I could to see I had hit the glass, leaving a sizable crack across the top. I landed back to the side closest to the bridge and ran out from behind the waterfall.
The moment I ran out, Eggman popped out as well and fired off more fireballs at the ground. As they angled off to rush forward at me, Eggman charged at me with his vehicle. He was going to push me back to the wooden bridge! I had to evade to prevent myself from being cornered, so I took to the air with my tails and I flew around the ship to land across at the other side. One of the cannons pivoted around straight behind and fired off two shots at me as I landed.
One shot grazed my arm but the other hit me square in the chest. I fell back to the ground and watched as all of my rings scattered out around me. My chest was burning! Just breathing made it hurt and I clutched my chest in a feeble attempt to quell the sharp sensation of pain.
I got to my feet as quickly as I was able and made a scramble for what rings I could grab before they disappeared into the air. I ran across the platform to grab ten rings, only enough to dull the pain around me. I skidded to a stop and whirled around to see Eggman's next course of action. I began to formulate a plan in my mind, trying my hardest to ignore the burning sensation of pain around my chest.
I had two options: to destroy the fuel cell underneath the ship or to destroy the power supply directly behind the cannons. The first option seemed most attractive because the underside of the ship was most vulnerable, even if Eggman would point his cannons below, they could not protect the direct underside of the ship. The second option would do the most damage to the ship but it was hardest to do; I would have to risk being put into harms way from the cannons (and with only ten rings I would incur serious burns across my body) and I would have to constantly outwit Eggman to get behind him.
Eggman steered his ship opposite the waterfall and turned to face me, pointing his cannons at the platform. He was going to set fire to it again, with what grass was still on it that hadn't burnt to ash. I retreated behind the waterfall to wait out the attack but I could see the big blue vehicle charge at me. For once this was an attack pattern I predicted.
I took a quick mental snapshot of the vehicle. It was going to come directly at me and with a sidestep, I can counter with a hit from behind – right at the power supply behind the cannons. I executed my plan: leaping off to a side and then taking to the air as a ball as Eggman zoomed past at nothing. I curled into a ball, certain that my trajectory would be on target.
I bounced back and felt myself go through the waterfall back into the open, I returned from ball form to see nothing but the waterfall in front and looked down to see I would land on a completely burnt out part of the platform. I landed on both feet, kicking up ash in the air around me. Eggman was waiting behind the waterfall again. Looking around, not much of the platform around me was still burning, much of the grass had become ash at this point. Although I was comforted that I didn't have to micromanage this battle, that still left Eggman to force me to play guessing games behind the waterfall.
With a loud splash, Eggman appeared directly above me and fired off his cannons directly below at me. I lowered my brow and instead took to the air underneath the vehicle. I flew past the four rounds tossed down at me and aimed my whirring tails at the fuel cell underneath. With my tails hardened into blades, I collided with the underside of the ship and quickly flew off to a side: I looked to see that I had cut several small holes into fuel cell, causing the fuel to leak out slowly.
I had him cornered this time: it was simply a matter of outlasting him. I didn't want to just outlast him though, I wanted to defeat him. I landed safely beside a far end of the platform opposite the cliff and looked up in the air.
He was clearly frustrated as I saw his face turn red in anger. He fired off more rounds from his cannons, the fireballs became more volatile from the disrupted fuel supply. I easily leaped over each shot: it was Eggman's biggest fault for him to be angered. It caused him to become more reckless.
I charged forward I leaped over each shot and as I got close enough, I rolled into a ball underneath the vehicle (I took care to avoid going directly under the middle to not get fuel spilled on myself) and uncurled myself beneath it. My eyes spotted that I did hit the power supply that time before. I was unable to see where I had specifically damaged it but the left power supply was beginning to send off sparks in the air.
This was both good and bad as I hopped into the air and slashed my tails at the other power supply. The sparks were sure to set off fires from the leaking fuel. But with Eggman's vehicle getting more and more crippled, I had no better chance than now to dispose of it. My tails had cut through both of the pipes sending off electricity and sparks in the air. I backpedaled as far I could to avoid getting any thrown at me.
It turned out to be the decisive blow. Eggman's attempt to turn the ship around failed from both damaged fuel supplies and it instead fell to the ground with a loud thud. The leaking fuel and sparks were a recipe for disaster! I took flight to avoid the explosions caused from the fuel setting fire to the ship and sending off damaged parts all around.
I flew all the way across to the other side and landed on the wooden bridge to witness Eggman ejecting his Egg Mobile from the damaged shell which tumbled over the floor and fell down the depths beyond. Eggman retreated with his Egg Mobile all the way down below. I couldn't hear what he was yelling from behind the glass but I was able to guess:
"I'll be back!" And he will. He always did.
My ears picked up the sounds of propellers in the air and I turned my attention upwards with my body tensed. I relaxed when I saw a familiar sight instead: an Egg Capsule.
Egg Capsules were large prisons that contained flocks of small animals inside. Eggman was usually guarding these Capsules after encounters with his combat-oriented vehicles. The large metallic capsules had a yellow switch on the top roughly the size of a spring launcher which, when depressed, opened the Capsule from the sides and sent out the small animals to freedom.
This one was peculiar in that it had two small propellers keeping it afloat from what would normally be the bottom; the switch was instead directly below. No matter, I twirled my tails and hovered up to push the switch down from below. The doors on the sides opened up and flocks of Kuckies and Flickies flew out. They let out a chorus of chirps and warbles as they briefly encircled me as I went to land on my feet and then dispersed in random directions. The mobile Egg Capsule then hovered away beyond the waterfall.
I was alone again and with a dead-end in front. The tall cliff above only led to a wall. I did spot a strange switch on the foot of it, however. What could it be?
My curiosity was interrupted when I heard a loud crashing of rock from the wall: pieces of it flew around some of which fell down to my level upon the wooden bridge. I stepped back to get a better view of what was beyond.
Knuckles.
The red echidna come out from the wall with ease and stepped in front of the cliff to get a view of the sight before him. I could see his deep purple eyes scanning around; they looked pained and horrified. His mouth was kept stone cold and stern. He was clearly mad at something. Once those eyes locked onto mine I could see what it was for. He let out a snarl, baring small fangs.
"You!" He pointed at me with a closed fist and lowered his brow.
I deflected a sharp tone back at him with biting words "I have a name you know, it's called Tails."
He spat at the ground. "You don't deserve a mention after what you did. I can't believe you'd actually do this. You're supposed to be just a bratty kid..."
Clearly I did something wrong here. Was it me disposing of Eggman? No...he couldn't have seen that, he had just come out of the wall, he couldn't have seen what happened.
I had to ask. "What did I do?"
He snarled again and shook a fist at me "Don't play stupid! You set fire to these jungles!"
My ears folded back. It was one thing that this Knuckles was highly gullible but I just hated being accused of something I felt was personally horrifying myself. Why would I ever think about doing what Eggman did?
"Where did you get that idea? Eggman's lying to you! Why would I… how would I even set all these fires myself?"
But it felt like all of what I said went through one ear and out the other. "You're the one feeding me lies! I can't believe you...I treasured these jungles..." He looked hurt. Very hurt. Even if only for mere moments.
I tried again in vain to convince him otherwise "There's no reason in my mind to set fire to these jungles either! I could see the beauty in them too! I didn't want–"
He yelled back at me with his eyes flaring. Over the harsh waterfall, his voice was clear as crystal "What does it matter?! Ever since you came here you've been nothing but trouble! Everything would have been fine had you not come here with your stupid mission to stop the doctor!"
He stepped back a bit and rested a thick shoe on the small metallic switch. "Get out of my sight." He stomped on the switch with all his power.
From under me the wooden bridge collapsed and I was left powerless. I dropped down to the depths below, left wondering why this had to happen. What did I really do wrong? Was it really my fault...?
I'd never weathered a worse series of events in life than I had up to that point.