As the blue hedgehog was grinding down a corroded and narrow stone rail, his cheeky smile was now replaced with the face of a man lost in his own thoughts. His friends have vanished right before his very eyes, and as he reached deeper into the shrine, his mind was only centered on finding them.
"Damn, it happened again! Why do I get so careless when I'm havin' fun?", the hedgehog thought. "It always happens! I start feelin' the good ol' tingles I feel when I'm on a cool adventure, then the next second somethin' goes wrong because I'm way too confident!"
As he reached the end of the pillar, the hedgehog leaped into the air, curling into a ball and landing on a platform, striking a pose. He got up, looking around the place. The room he was in was dimly lit, and water was covering the ground, rising only up to his feet. Pillars of stone would reach from the floor, tall enough to reach the ceiling tens of feet above him.
As he slowly started to speed up, he was startled by the attack of what looked like a rusty, ancient robot. It looked more like an automaton, like a wander of engineering than a wonder of coding and modern technology, with a steampunk aesthetic. At the sight of him, Sonic's smile reappeared, as he rushed in to attack it's center, destroying it and admiring the sound of metal dropping on the floor, as if it were music to his ears.
He quickly turned around and boosted through a narrow corridor, just a few feet above ground level. The corridor he was running through was only getting more and more narrow, with ramps, ups and downs making this pathway a little harder to follow. At the end of it, Sonic passed up a ramp, which sent him flying into the air, and as he looked below him he could see a bottomless pit. Sonic gasped for a bit, before reaching the other side of the ravine, and quickly dashing forward.
The room he was in was even darker, and the hedgehog knew he had to step carefully as to avoid any traps and draw unwanted attention. Using nothing but his sense of smell and hearing, the speedster seemingly walked through with care, taking it a little slower than usual. He would stop at the sound of just water drops dripping down from above.
The hedgehog had always hated moments like these. Moments in which he had to stop and actually let his mind act instead of his feet. Surely, with enough patience, he had managed to find a room, proceeding to the next chamber. As he walked through, he'd noticed a few torches light up, to reveal what seemed to be a giant water tank, with water filled up just below the platform he was on!
"I have to run on THIS?!", Sonic thought, as his innate hydrophobia had started to kick in and get him to panic. Fortunately, he didn't stick to this poor plan for long, as from beneath the deep waters some sort of giant stone snake had reached up, swimming it's way across the room, cautiously sinking itself into the water at certain points. As the hedgehog looked around him, he couldn't help but notice the other door, placed on a platform above him, right on the other side of this room. He only smirked, his eyes lighting up as his mind had thought up a pretty basic, but effective plan.
He started running in place, his legs seemingly curling up into some sort of after-image circles, as the hedgehog prepared his famous Figure-8 technique. He eventually accelerated, going from zero to a hundred in virtually no time. He leaped into the air, backflipping and trying to crash into the massive stone snake slithering around in the water. He barely missed, and had he not grabbed onto the marble scale on the side of the snake, he'd be sinking into the pool for sure.
With a smile on his face, the hedgehog clinged on for dear life as the snake tried to shake him off. Time after time, Sonic had to hold his breath, as the snake headed underwater and came back, leaving him with little room to breathe. Eventually, Sonic got up, still holding onto the snake. He ran across its body, reaching the head, and as he tried to jump to the platform he was aiming for...something happened. The snake had moved it's head, leaving Sonic with nothing to run on.
Eventually, Sonic found himself grabbing onto the tongue of the snake, having been caught in its mouth.
"Not today, pal!", Sonic shouted. "This ain't one o' those fanfics."
He got up, holding onto the tongue, and in just a couple of seconds, he launched himself out, landing on the platform. He boosted through the corridor, as he heard the rumbling sound of a giant boulder rolling after him. Sonic would turn around and smirk, as it had just gotten a little more interesting for him.
He was dashing off a steep downward path, and he could hear the boulder hurling after him faster and faster, as it picked up speed. Sonic tried to limit himself, but his excitement kept driving him forward, eventually accelerating more and more. It came to a ramp, which would launch the blue blur over a giant ravine, whose bottom was obstructed by the darkness. After he crossed it, he could just hear the sound of the boulder hitting the marble ground, crashing into it.
The shock of the impact managed to get the entire floor to crumble after Sonic. He got cocky, thinking he could outrun it just by doing a light jog, but no. He found out that his smirk had turned into regret then a bit of fright as he stopped feeling the ground beneath his feet. He started falling into the seemingly endless pit. The fear started to envelop his body, the cold sensation almost making it seem like he was freezing. He then felt his entire body stiffening, as he had difficulty moving. He seemingly….stopped in mid-air. He could then notice a purple, mistifying aura glowing out of his hands and feet. It would rise up on his arms and legs, and he'd then see it envelop his entire body.
"What the heck is g...goin' on?", the hedgehog said to himself. He was so scared that even his inner voice was stuttering. "A...ARE THE PIECES OF THE WALL BREAKING OFF?". His mind wasn't playing tricks on him. Large chunks of the stone walls were rushing at him, and the only thing the hedgehog could do was flinch and grind his teeth. As the stones were inches away from hitting him in the face, he could feel them...passing through him. They were transparent, sure, but Sonic's vision was still blinded as if he were right inside of them. He could then see his vision distort, the edges of what he could see stretching out in front of him, and he could hear a whisper cloud his thoughts.
"W...WHAT THE?!?", he said, slowly losing his cool. "W...what are you sayin'?"
The whisper would grow louder and louder. Out of the gibberish, he started to make out more and more of what he was hearing.
"Heeedge...hog", the whisper would say. "You...are threading on sacred ground. Return now….or this shall be your burial ground."
A purple screen was flashing in his eyes, soon the purple-ish color being all that he could see.
He eventually found his hands strapped to some cuffs. The cuffs were chained to the ground, and something was...off… They looked as if they were made of magma, molded around to take the form of handcuffs and chains. What was even more peculiar was how even though the magma was touching his wrists, he felt no burning sensation.
He looked up, only to see a throne and what looked like a mummy sitting atop of it. From the walls behind it, he could notice two waterfalls of magma pouring down from above, forming two flowing rivers of lava that lit up the otherwise dark chamber. The red tint of light given off by them showed off an ominous look.
"Sonic...the hedgehog!", the figure said as he got up from its throne. "You...have trespassed on holy grounds, and disturbed the sanctity of this sacred place."
The figure continued to walk up to him.
"You sicken me!", it said, as a rotten, wooden scepter with maggots coming out of it was forming in its hand. It had a white, pearl-like gem embedded into the top of it, the wood curved around it. He put the part with the pearl under Sonic's chin, lifting his head up so he can stare the mummy right in its eye sockets.
"WHAT SAY YEEE, IN YOUR DEFENSE, TOMB DEFILER?", he shouted right in his face.
"Th...that...I...I've been here before. Ya didn't bother to come after me back then, did ya?"
"Pffh…", the figure said. "I merely allowed your passing as a pilgrimage to the Chaos Mural. It was vital you understood as to keep the past from repeating itself! Now, you show up to our home, completely uninvited and with no goal whatsoever!"
Sonic tried to answer, but before he did something caught his attention. He saw...Tails and Lyrene! They were binded with the same chains, but unlike him they were dangling above the lava waterfalls.
"M...my friends!", Sonic shouted. "B..bud...let 'em go...It's mostly my fault we're here to begin with…"
"In due time, hedgehog.", the figure said. "Now, I give you an ultimatum! Turn back, and run out of this temple, or stay here, and suffer at the hands of the proud Echidna Army!"
Sonic would raise an eyebrow. The Echidna Army? But they've been destroyed by Perfect Chaos thousands of years ago. This little tidbit of food for thought made him not focus on his fear for a while.
"But, I thought the Echidnas were taken down by Chaos years ago!"
The linen wrap surrounding the mummy's face would fold around to form a smile.
"Oh, are we?", said the mummy with its old man-like voice, and using a sarcastic tone.
Out of nowhere, around the ground they were standing on, different bones would pop out, forming some skeletons of old echidnas. They would walk forward, forming a circle around Sonic and the mummy. The mummy had gotten pretty close to Sonic.
"I'll have yee know that the Echidna Clan is not only alive, but stronger than ever bef--GAH!"
He didn't get to finish his sentence, as the blue hedgehog had headbutted the mummy right in the chest, causing it to stagger, and his chains to melt away.
Immediately, the skeletons would rush at him, as the hedgehog would do nothing but keep boosting forward. He thought that if his chains melted, so did his friends'. He ran forward, enveloped in that blue distinctive aura that pushed the skeletons away, even decomposing them into bones.
He ran up the wall, even jumping over the waterfalls of lava. He eventually caught his two friends in his arms, before stomping on the mummy leader right as it reformed.
He placed them down, getting them ready to fight.
"Gee..Sonic…", said Tails. "If you'd have come sooner, maybe my wrists wouldn't be as sore!"
"Eh, you really needed a break from bein' grounded in reality!", the hedgehog replied.
Tails would facepalm himself. Lyrene would be shivering in fear, but would take out some sort of refined coal sword. She would take out a match and light it on fire.
"A flamin' sword? Daaamn, that's real cool! Oxymoron unintended!", said Sonic.
"Hey! Here's someone with a knack for the flashier things in life!", said Lyrene, responding to the compliment.
That way, the three of them started to deal with the skeletons. Tails would be using his trademark arm cannon, and at some points smaking bones with his tails. Lyrene would be rocking that flaming sword, along with the cheap throwing knives. Sonic would punch and kick his way through whatever lunged at them.
"Die! Die for your foolishness!", screamed the mummy lord, as he used the scepter to call on different pieces of marble to lunge at the trio.
Little by little, they all made their way through the horde of fleshless echidna soldiers. The only problem was that they kept getting up.
"So, is nobody gonna do something about the fact that we aren't putting one dent in them?", asked Lyrene.
"Normally I'd have a risky, half-baked plan up my sleeve", answered the hedgehog. "But, y'know...I'm an expert in heaps o' metal, not piles o' bones!"
He looked to Tails, rubbing his fingers on his chin to think.
"Y'all heard about the fight or flight instinct?", he asked.
"Uhh..yeah", said Tails, trying to multi-task between answering and kicking calcium butt. "It's triggered whenever the human body is put in a situation in which adrenaline is pumped into its body!"
Sonic would nod in approval. "We've tried fightin'. Let's stick to runnin'! Yo Tails, I need you to throw out your bombs like a madman!"
"What for?", asked Lyrene.
"Welp, explosions cause fire, n' fire gives us light. This'll not only distract the anorexic antagonists, but it'll also light up the place 'nough for me to look for an exit!"
Tails would nod as a sign of understanding. He'd take out some bombs from god knows where, and start chugging them at the robots! Lyrene would also help, as the bombs were durable enough for her to use the long, unsharp part of her sword in the middle to hit the bombs like tennis balls. That way, they made extra sure the bombs hit where they had to. As bombs blew up, Sonic made extra sure to run around the blast radius, using the light generated to look for an exit.
After a few good minutes of searching, his face lit up as he noticed a cracked, weakened, deteriorated place in one of the walls above them. Without hesitation, he rushed to his friends, grabbing them by the hand.
"Let's make it! Triple boost!"
The three of them were enveloped in a blue, jet-like aura. It was similar to Sonic's during a Mach Boost. They all rushed through the skeletons, slowly heading up the wall. Lyrene would grind her teeth, as the high speed coupled with the unsafety of what was going on was scaring her a bit. Eventually, Sonic looked at Tails as they reached the crack in the wall. Tails nodded, understanding what his friend wanted to do without using any words. The hedgehog lifted both of his friends upward, and Tails rushed to catch Lyrene, using his twin tails to keep them in the air. While in mid-flight, Sonic used his momentum to spin-dash, combining that with his Boost ability to smash through the wall. He miscalculated though, as he then found himself falling face first into what seemed like a big flowing river of lava.
"Sonic! Catch!", said Tails, using his free hand to reach for something.
Sonic would then grab some sort of box. He clicked a button, and out of nowhere the trademark Extreme Gear hoverboard popped out, unfolding itself in place. As he was grabbing onto it, his face let out a huge grin. He splashed onto the surface of the lava starting to skate on it.
"Man, this is amazin'!", said Sonic, as he screamed in excitement.
"Should'a brought a spare for myself...", said Tails, who was starting to pant. He started to get winded, as his tails started spinning slower.
"A...ARE YOU NUTS?!?!?", said Lyrene, still holding Tails' hand as he lost altitude. "YOU'RE GONNA BURN US ALIVE!"
Tails eventually threw Lyrene off. As she was screaming and her entire life was flashing right before her very eyes, she landed on a piece of the stone wall that had fallen into the lava. Tails would fall onto it as well, leaning down and gasping with his hand on his heart.
As Sonic surfed onto the lava, he noticed how in the distance there was some sort of vortex formed, pulling everything down. It was all caused by some sort of giant machine, sucking all of the lava up like an oversized vacuum. He would immediately notice the insignia on it.
"Awe...shoot…", said Tails, now regaininf his stamina. "I...forgot to mention."
The marble platform Tails and Lyrene would be surfing on got closer, but still behind Sonic.
"While you were running off earlier, I...sorta...found out that Eggman had followed us in…", he continued.
"Hm, don't surprise me…", Sonic replied.
"Apparently, he has access to the same Com-Pack Technology I used to store your hoverboard in, but on a much grander scale!"
Sonic would get an idea.
"A'ight, pal! Looks like I've got a date with an egg man who's scrambled in the head!"
He'd point to the platform at the top of the machine.
"Guess you guys 're gonna have to keep searchin' for the stone!", he continued.
"I...uh...suppose…", Lyrene replied.
And so, after a final thumbs up, Sonic speeds up on the hoverboard, jumping into the air and falling headfirst into the vortex. He kept a smile on his face throughout it all.
Above the machine itself, purple lightning was lighting up the place. A ray of purple energy with a rocket-shaped end was boosting down after Sonic. Right as he got into Tails' and Lyrene's line of sight, the purple energy dissipated. It revealed….a near identical copy of Sonic. Same quills, and same purple quills.
"M….METAL SONIC!", screamed out Tails.
Metal would then fire an energy ball at Tails' stone platform, destroying it. Luckily, Tails had managed to grab onto Lyrene and fly up to the machine. Metal had been falling into tbe vortex, following the blue hedgehog.
"Well, as you scrap 'bot would put it...I guess the fun's about to sta..ta...tart!", said Sonic, immitating the glitching of a robot.
They both fell into the vortex, getting ready for another one of their iconic battles! Sonic was getting back into his usual cocky nature, as Metal Sonic was trying his best to stand up against his adversary and duplicate.