"Sonic! Get off the train, man!", said Tails, looking out the train's window in horror at his friend.
"Oh, c'mon Tails! Don't be a buzzkill! This is suu-uper fun!"
As the grey metallic train was speeding along the tracks on it's way to the ruins, the passengers would look in awe and disgust as a blue hedgehog was pretty much resting on top of the train, some even believing it was asleep. He clearly couldn't be bothered to take a seat inside, like everyone else.
"Sonic, get off right now!", said Tails, suddenly taking on a serious tone, as of a parent that is scolding their kid. "Everyone's looking at us!"
"N' sit down n' look out the window like everybody else? Sheesh, you're more borin' than I thought, buddy! No thank you!", responded Sonic.
"Uhh...is he always like this?", said Lyrene.
Tails would sigh. "Yeah….that's Sonic….Always trying to be a show-off. I know he likes to hang out in the outdoors, but this is taking it too far!"
"Well, let's get him off o' there! He's gonna get himself hurt!", said the dire wolf.
Tails would place a hand in front of her, stopping the dire wolf. "It's no use, Lyrene. Sonic's just...Sonic. Free to speak his own mind and do his own thing. Just leave him be. Even if I try to say something about it, like earlier, it would just fall on deaf ears"
Sonic would have a huge grin on his face, as he held onto the roof of the train. "What could be better than the feeling of the wind blowing through your quills?", he thought. It was soothing, and it calmed him more than anything. It made him feel alive, and that was the only thing Sonic ever wanted out of life. He kept looking up at the sun, shining and shimmering. It was a beautiful feeling, as he felt his mind slowly drift away, as his vision became blurry and more blurry. He fell asleep.
"Ow, ow, OW!", he screamed. He put his hands on his head, as he possibly suffered a concussion. In front of him, he could see his friend Tails reaching a hand out for him. He got up, and he felt the ground under him as being grass, not the steel shell of a locomotive.
"You see what happens when you try to do things your own way, Sonic?", Tails said.
"Just...what the hell happened?", Sonic said, getting up and moving his hand across the area where he got hurt.
"Aaand, I was right!", said Lyrene.
Tails would laugh.
"This here was a lesson in the laws of gravity!", laughed Tails.
"Yeah, very funny, smart-ass!", Sonic responded. "Leave the bad jokes to me now, will ya?"
Sonic would start looking around. They had gotten to the Mystic Ruins. It was all there! The rocky ruins, covered by the lush green grass extending over to the sun! The vegetation completely untouched by man's destructive hand had overgrown, creating a diverse environment, with lakes, jungles and hillside peaks. Sonic walked up to Lyrene.
"So, how about we head out?", he said.
"Ohh...uhh.sure!", she said, being startled by the hedgehog.
They continued to walk, making their way across the grassy peak. They passed up lakes, had crossed cliff after cliff. Eventually they stopped at a large site, right in the middle of a patch of land on the way to Tails' abandoned workshop. Traffic cones and banners were put up everywhere while cranes and bulldozers were lined all over the place, revealing a crater which led deep underground.
"So, how about we head in!", said Tails, as he continued to walk towards the entrance.
"Woah, woah, buddy!", said Sonic, grabbing him by the tail. "I thought you o' all people would'a realized that this big ol' crater over there...it's not the way to go!"
Tails would raise an eyebrow. "I...don't follow…"
"He's right..", Lyrene responds. "I know what you want to say. You must not want to go that way, because the entire cave has already been explored by the research team and whatnot! They've found nothing! Plus, if I've picked up on the way you think, you might not think it's fun, is it Sonic?"
"You're readin' me like an open book! Suspicious….", he responds, before shrugging. "But I don't care!"
Tails would immediately agree with them, before asking his friend.
"So, what do we do now?"
The hedgehog would form a cheeky grin on his face, nudging his head in the direction of a minecart. It was placed on a rusty rail, looking more unsafe and decrepit than anything.
"Oh, if you think I'm gonna ride in that, you--EEEK!", Lyrene says, right before Sonic pushes her right into the minecart.
"Okay, WHAT WAS THAT?!", she says, dusting herself off and looking after the two who were getting inside as well.
"A lil' physical motivation!", he responded, as he closed off the part that acted as some sort of door.
Sonic then reached out to the long lever being placed on the side of the tracks, and started pulling on it. It was kinda hard, as the lever was rusty enough to cause him quite the hard time.
"So, what's supposed to happ-EEN!?", said Lyrene right as the minecart had started to pick up speed, the shift in acceleration startling her.
In front of them laid only the black void of a tunnel, as torches would only light up the smaller portions of their view. The minecart would go faster, and faster, and faster, as Lyrene and Tails would only hear the sound of a minecart speeding through the tunnel, and Sonic's screams of joy and excitement. The hedgehog would lean on the front of the minecart, shifting its weight to the front to speed it up.
As they got further and further along the path, they could see the track opening up to reveal an entire network of other train tracks. They were about to comment on it, but their conversation was cut short. They could hear something like a buzzing sound, as if some sort of over-sized bee or wasp was roaming in the tunnels. Before they could say anything, they were invaded by a swarm of gigantic black and blue striped bee robots would fly after them. They'd scare Tails a bit.
"Eeek! B..Buzz Bombers! S..Sonic, do something!"
"Heh, looks like that ol' egghead is goin' after the time stone as well!", said Sonic as he climbed to the side of the minecart. "Yo Tails, ya didn't forget your arm cannon, did ya?"
A red and orange arm cannon would form on his right arm, seemingly out of nothing.
"Locked and loaded!", Tails responded, with a clear smirk on his face.
Lyrene would search into her satchel, taking out a couple of throwing knives. They would look pretty rough, as if she just stuck together a stick and a sharp rock with a piece of grass, or linen wrap.
She'd start chugging the knives at them, hitting the robots in the head or body. Sonic himself would vault over the edges of the minecart, trying to kick the buzz bombers into the walls. Tails would be doing his best to aim at the robots, but the sheer anxiety would cause him to shiver and miss.
"S..Sonic! I..I.." He'd find it hard to even form sentences. "I...can't hit them!"
"Sure you can, bud!", Sonic said right before being interrupted to kick a robot into the wall. "It kinda confuses me how the hero of Station Square, or how the one who brought down the Bird Armada can't shoot down a couple o' pieces o' scrap!"
"B...But it's not the same!"
Sonic would sigh, vaulting back over the edge and heading to his friend.
"Tails...you're embarassin' yourself! Just try to chill and AIM ALREADY!"
Tails would close his eyes, as tears would start rolling down. He wasn't used to his friend criticising him so harsh. He aimed his arm cannon at the robot, but then he started to have something else in mind.
"You know what? HOW ABOUT NO!", he said, right before lashing at Sonic, grabbing him.
"Hey, what're ya doin'?", he said, as Tails would literally throw him into a robot, as if he were a ball.
Sonic would be fast enough to roll into a ball right before hitting the robot, but after he hit it, he unexplicably started bouncing from wall to wall. Sonic then pretty much crashed into Lyrene, the hit knocking them both out. Tails became mortified.
"Sh..Shoot!" He'd start stuttering more than before, trying to take a deep breath and focus. Right as he was about to shoot his arm cannon, he was put off guard by a Buzz Bomber shooting up a back wheel. Now the cart was unbalanced, leaning a bit to the right. Sparks were flying out of where the wheel was. If that wasn't terrifying enough for Tails, then the fact that some of the sparks had hit some robots, somehow turning them on fire surely sealed the deal.
Tails turned around, as the light at the end of the tunnel slowly started to get closer and closer. He had to act fast.
As he mustered all his courage, by pure luck he managed to shoot a bunch of rocks on the ceiling that were loose. They fell in, the debris effectively trapping the robots inside the tunnel. Tails let out a victory cry, before turning around and stuttering at what was coming right up.
He saw the end of the tunnel, woth tne rails seemingly going up to form some sort of a ramp. Without a second thought, Tails scoffed, grabbing his friend and jumping out of the minecart at the last second. Using his two tails, he spun them around like helicopter blades, slowly floating down at the crash site of the minecart.
He placed the hedgehog and the dire wolf down, looking around to see where he ended up. He was now surrounded by the dark green trees of a rainforest. It was so dense that the fox cub couldn't even see past five, or six trees. He could hear the sounds of birds chirping away and of a river flowing through at a regular pace. He stood down to take his breath, and settle down after his heroic deed.
"U...Uugh…" Tails looked over to his friend, who was now showing signs of life. Tails just walked up to him and playfully poked the hedgehog with a stick. Instinctually, Sonic just grabbed the stick pulling it out of Tails' hands.
He got up, dusting himself off after his friend had been "considerate" enough to place him down in some mud.
"So, what happened n' how'd I end up in this war trench?", he said, using the stick as a toothpick.
Tails then excitedly told Sonic about all that he had done. After that, the hedgehog couldn't help but congratulate his best friend, even going so far as to apologize for yelling at him. Sonic picked up Lyrene and they headed into the jungle.
"Geez, this place's sure hard to navigate. I barely even remember how I managed to make my way through this place back in the day.", said Tails.
"Eh, the fact that Eggman had a base as big n' flashin' as the whole o' Casino Night Zone smack-dab on the other side was a big help!"
They started following the river, while Tails was somewhat annoyed by Sonic, who was humming a swamp rock song. They were looking around just out of amazement, as the place was unbelievably beautiful, even though they've seen it plenty of times.
It was moments like these that made fighting for the planet worth it for Sonic. He loved nature more than anything in the world, and he wasn't going to succumb to some fatso willing to turn it into his personal factory. Nature should be preserved, not 'redesigned'. How could the egghead not see the beauty in all this?
Why does he have to have the final say on how this planet should be? He almost always asked himself this question. How could the old man not see the beauty in it all? One thing was always clear to the hedgehog: let the fatso try, as Sonic will always be there to have his say, and have his say he will!
Eventually, they would be surprised by a giant water lily leaf, floating down the stream. On it, a big round purple cat would be taking a nap.
"Better run through the jung...huh?", said Sonic, as he walked straight into the bank and placed his foot on the lily, stopping it.
"Huh? Why'd you stop, Froggy?", said the cat as it woke up.
"Yo Big! Long time no see!", Sonic waved.
"Huuh? You look familiar…."
"I sure do! Remember the Egg Carrier n' Chaos?"
"Oh!" The cat jumped up. "Sonic! You came to visit!" He then raised his eyebrow. "Who's that on your shoulder? You catch any fish?"
"Heh, it ain't food! It's a friend!"
"Uhh..Big!", said Tails. "Would you mind telling us if you know anything about a rare gem popping around these parts?"
"Oh! Hiya Tails!" said Big, as he flailed his arm around to wave. "Was it that sparkly shiny thing? Yeah, some big buttbrains with cranes and drills showed up near the train station and started digging around!"
"Heh, so ya do know somethin'!", said Sonic.
"What else do ya wanna kno--FROGGY! GEEZ, I THOUGHT HE WAS STILL HANGING ON THE LILY PAD!", said Big, as he started to search around frantically looking for his friend.
"Uhh...buddy, ya still got some directions to give!", said Sonic. "I'd love to help ya find him, but we're behind schedule!"
"Okay, okay", said the purple cat, tempering his nervousness for a bit.
"So Big…", asked Tails. "What do you think is the best place to stsrt looking for the gem? I'm talking about a place the Institute hasn't found yet"
"Oh! I know just the place!", replied Big.
"Go through that pyramid-shrine thing!
The one with the stone in the middle!"
"Heh, I remember that! We owe ya one, pal!", replied Sonic, as they wandered off into the jungle.
As the two amigos made their way towards the center of the jungle. Their brief expedition was cut short by the appearance of a giant robot, with a sculpted chest and a drill and a razor sharp claw for hands. It was using it's excavator hand to slice through the trees, even being strong enough to send them flying into the air. Sonic got annoyed, and he flicked his nose, smirking to hide his anger.
"Well, guess this kinda fun never stops, does it Tails?"
"Let's take him out Sonic!"
Sonic would immediately dash at the robot, trying to boost up his leg. He was still holding Lyrene, so it made it difficult for him to use his trademark Spin-Dash. Meanwhile, Tails would be throwing Ring-shaped bombs at the robot, trying to break through the leg parts' armor. He wasn't careful, as the robot kicked Tails with quite the impact, sending him flying yards away.
"Geez! You made the team, son!", said Sonic to the robot, right before running after Tails.
He boosted through the jungle, looking up to see wherever Tails would land. He'd swing from vine to vine, trying to launch himself as high up as he could. He managed to find a vine long enough that as he grabbed onto it, it started wrapping around a tree branch, gaining enough momentum to send Sonic rocketing into the air. He could see the robot slowly advancing at them, but the only thing his mind was set to was his pal Tails. He tried his best to catch him, but the fox glided into him, causing all three of them to come crashing down into a tree.
"Ghh...guess the apple...or hedgehog...don't fall far from the tree…", said Sonic as he got up, dusting himself off as well as Lyrene, as unconscious as she was.
"Yo buddy! Catch!", he said, as he threw Lyrene at the fox who just got back on his feet.
"Are you planning something, Sonic?", said Tails, catching the dire wolf.
"Ya bet!", he responded, smiling and doing a thumbs up.
He climbed up to the trees, picking up vines and tying them together. He placed knot after knot, as the footsteps of the large robot approaching were like a timer counting down to him. He eventually wrapped part of the vines around his arm, as he zoomed over to the robot. He jumped off the trees, grabbing the robot's leg. He used the vine as a climbing rope, advancing upwards to the robot's head. He used his honed reflexes and speed to dodge any potential drill or claw attacks.
Eventually, he reached the top of the robot. He wrapped the vine around the robot's neck. The robot, confused, started running around, stepping on trees and flora. Sonic was mounting it as if it were a horse!
"Y..ya better have something good up your sleeve!", said Tails, trying his darnest to dodge the robot's steps. They were so powerful they caused small earthquakes, causing Tails to stagger every few seconds. He was throwing bombs again, trying to get the robot to stay in one place and to avoid anymore flora (and even fauna. Yikes!).
The robot eventually came to it's senses. It reached the claw up to it's neck, trying to cut off the vines all around it. Within the next second, Sonic found himself crashing into the ground. This time, he was lucky, as at the last second, his best friend had caught him in mid-air, using his helicopter blades-like Tails to hover. They floated down, Sonic fist-bumping his friend for the great rescue. Right next to them, the head of the robot crashed into the river stream. Turns out that while it cut Sonic's vine using its scissor-like claw, it also caught its entire head in its grasp, slicing it clean off.
Out fell a small audio chip, with speakers attached. The hedgehog picked it up.
"Okay, Ground-Hog! Here's what you have to do exactly now!", said the voice coming through the communicator. "Now that you've had your fun, hear me out! If I can't find the entrance, I'll just have to CUT and MAKE myself one!"
The voice was incredibly familiar to Sonic. He leaned in, using the speaker as a microphone.
"Sorry boss, but it looks like some harsh weather conditions 're screwin' up our
work! It's a lil' cloudy, with a chance of blue blur!"
"WHAT?!?! NO, YOU LITTLE! WHY NOW?! HOW DID YOU FIND ME?!"
"Well, it wasn't hard. I ain't the one with the literal sense o' grandure!", he said, whilst kicking the robot head. "Mark my words, Egghead! For as long as I breathe, ya won't get to ruin one patch o' grass off this beautiful planet, y'hear me?"
"YOU WISH! YOU'RE NOT GONNA STOP ME THIS TIME, YOU IMPERTINENT RODENT! THE TIME STO--"
The voice slowly distorted, as Sonic had crushed the speaker and the sound chip.
As he looked into the distance, he saw tree after tree fall, creating an open path through the jungle straight toward the pyramid. Right behind him, egg-pawns wearing lumberjack hat and axes would reveal themselves. Sonic growled like a wild animal, rushing at them and letting their bodies hit the floor in miliseconds.
"S...Sonic…..? You're a little harsh, pal!', said Tails at his friend who was now clenching his fist in anger.
"They've destroyed this jungle, so I'll destroy them!", said Sonic in a serious manner. "Ugh, ya know how much these lumps o' metal disgust me! I wish they'd all
rust in a scrapyard!"
"Geez...I've always been telling you not to hate on technology! Just because some people wish to use it for their own gain and destruction, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have any good uses!", replied Tails.
Sonic would be silent, not responding to his friend which made a pretty good point.
He leaned over to Lyrene, taking off his glove and collecting some water from the river stream in it. Right after that, he poured all the water on the dire wolf's face, as she sprung to life.
"WHY'D YOU DO THAT?!?!", she angrily asked.
"...it looked fun. Plus, it might be 4 years overdue, but an Ice Bucket Challenge is always cool."
They all looked over to the pyramid. The only one not gazing was Lyrene, staring at all the destruction and the robot head staring up at the sky.
"I'm not eeeven...gonna ask.", she said.
"Hm...well let's get movin'. Stone's not gonna find itself!", said Sonic as they headed in.
"Wa..wait..We're heading in there?", said Lyrene, clearly not getting an answer. "Answer me!"
As the three of them approached the temple, Tails started to speak his mind through exposition: "The Great Echidna Shrine! This monunent hasn't been explored in 4000 years! It was abandoned after the Echidna Clan was destroyed by Perfect Chaos."
"Cut the chit-chat, Tails!", said the blue boi. "How's about we go in, eh?"
"Just….we're going in there?", said Lyrene pretty concerned.
"Yeah! It seems fun!", replied Sonic.
She sighed.
"Fine, lead the way hedgehog.."
They then head into the ruins, not knowing of the particular dangers that lay ahead.
They don't know what, or who they are going to come across….
….except that it knows. It knows it's going to come across them!
Deep into the ruins, there lays an abandoned marble throne. Surrounded by waterfalls of lava, it springs to life as a purple aura envelops it. Right then and there, some pieces of linen wrap snap together, forming some sort of a humanoid echidna-like being. It hold a rotten, maggot-infested wooden scepter, with some sort of bright, silver-glowing orb.
They've intruded on his home, and he doesn't like it!