Notes: Heyo! It's been a little while, hasn't it? Sorry for the wait guys, but I wanted to make sure this chapter was as good as it could be. As always, thanks for all the support! I never expected anyone to be interested in this story so the fact that you guys are sticking around (and more join the party each update!) is awesome. Love ya!
Zonic slapped his hand to his forehead moments after Scourge was out of sight. "What was I thinking?!" he groaned, kicking a stray can on the sidewalk. "First of all, making a bet with that jerk. Second, letting him run off uninhibited when I can't even catch him! Dammit!" He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around. Scourge was nowhere to be seen. It was no use trying to find him now. His best option was to look for the Chaos Emerald, and hope to meet Scourge there.
He looked at the radar built into his gauntlet. It wasn't the best at detecting and tracing Chaos Energy, but it was better at it than he was. There appeared to be more than one source of the energy, which was odd. 'Don't the Chaos Emeralds spread out a lot when they scatter? Why would two end up here? Unless there's something wrong with my radar... Wouldn't be the first time.' Either way, he didn't have time to fuss around with his tech. He focused in on the stronger of the two signals and headed towards it, hoping to be successful in his Emerald hunt.
As he walked, he looked around at the scenery with interest. He was accustomed to the dreary, semi-apocalyptic views that his home Zone offered him on a daily basis. But Mobius Prime was colorful, filled with life and people. Even if Twinkle Park was stuck in a single point in time, he could still see peoples' smiling faces as he walked past. There were plants lining the many paths, large trees providing shade, and fountains spurting playfully in the plazas. He couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous. His entire planet was under siege, and had been that way for years. But Mobius was peaceful. Beautiful. It didn't feel fair. He didn't have time to worry about fairness, of course, but it still bugged him.
He passed at least a half a dozen rides before his radar started beeping at him. The Chaos Emerald- if it was even here- was dead ahead. The Zone Cop looked up. He could see a building about fifty feet away with a huge lit-up neon sign that said "Twinkle Kart." Time to get down to business.
He stepped through the sliding door and found himself in a dark hallway with no lights except for the floor, which was glowing a bright pink. The pink reminded him of Amy for a split second, his face going red, before he refocused. The hall was filled with people, none of them moving. They must've been waiting in line when time stopped.
Zonic gulped. What would happen if he touched one of them? Would he freeze, too? He really had no way to know, and he wasn't too keen to find out.
'But everyone's standing so close together, there's no way I'm going to be able to squeeze through them. I'd have to be able to walk on the walls or something...' He blinked. 'Duh!' He pulled his spatial stabilizer off his wrist and jumped to the wall. He moved up to the ceiling and easily walked through the corridor, avoiding everybody. Once he got to the front of the line, he re-stabilized and jumped back down to the floor. There was another door here at the front, which he pushed open with his shoulder. He entered into a circular room, this one brightly lit with spotlights and neon. There were karts scattered throughout the place, each one floating a few inches off the ground. There was a large doorway at the far end of the room leading onto the track. According to Zonic's radar, the Emerald was down that way.
He walked over to the track and looked down. Well, there was no way he was going to walk to the Emerald. There was a huge drop at the very start of the track, and lots of insane jumps interspersed throughout. He cursed under his breath. 'Crazy thrill seekers...' He turned around and looked at the hoverkarts.
If the Commander knew he'd abandoned his post to go go-karting on Mobius, she'd have his head.
He picked out a kart, a bright red one with the number four on the back, and climbed into it. It looked simple enough to control. Steering wheel, gas, breaks, turbo. He only hoped that it would still work outside the time stream. He had his doubts, but it was his best shot at getting that Emerald. So, he hopefully put his foot on the gas.
Zonic nearly had a heart attack as the kart shot forward, rocketing onto the track and flying off of the first drop. He landed back on the track softly, thanks to the cushion of air underneath the kart. The Zone Cop was screaming and shouting obscenities the whole way. Once he calmed down, he took his foot off the glass, and the kart slowed down a little bit. He steered away from a ramp, not wanting to be airborne any more than was necessary. He came to a fairly level section of track, which meant he could finally slow down and look around for the Chaos Emerald. He pressed down on the brake pedal, slowing his vehicle down until it was only going about 10 miles per hour. He took a second to catch his breath. He totally didn't expect to be launched through the air like that. Unlike Sonic Prime, he didn't much like surprises.
He looked around the room, trying to see if the Chaos Emerald was close by. It was hard to tell though, since the track was the only thing that was well lit. It almost felt like the track was suspended in mid-air, as everything else was consumed by darkness. He couldn't see any magical glowing gem, so he pressed on, trying to go a little slower this time. He swerved the kart around countless tight corners and jumps, though quite a few of the ramps were unavoidable, and sent him high into the air against his will. Fortunately, the kart handled much like a Zone Cop hover-transport, something he had plenty of practice with, and the winding nature of the track was reminiscent of the Cosmic Interstate (the place in between dimensions, connecting all different worlds to one another). Though, at least the track here was in tact. Many parts of the Interstate had been destroyed in the war between the Zone Cops and Doctor Nega. Zonic gripped the steering wheel tighter. If Nega dared try anything while he was away in Mobius, he swore-
His radar started beeping rapidly, and he brought the kart to a stop. It was about time, too; he had almost run the whole course of the track, and he did NOT want to have to make a second lap. His stomach had done enough flips for now.
He hopped out of the vehicle and stepped onto the track. "Now, if I were an all-powerful, otherworldly, mythical gemstone, where would I be?" he wondered aloud, pacing up and down a small section of the track. He started to feel a slight tingling in his chest, almost like he was about to hiccup, only the hiccup never came. He frowned. "What…?" He slid his hand underneath his chestplate and tried to feel his heartbeat. He was able to locate it after a few seconds. It was strong- stronger than it usually was. It was odd; stronger, but not any faster than normal. The Zone Cop didn't think it was something to worry about, but it was still curious nonetheless.
He took his hand off of his chest and looked around once more. Forgetting his heartbeat, the Emerald had to be around here somewhere. But where? He couldn't see anything, and yet his radar wasn't shutting up. Maybe it was faulty, and had been leading him on a wild goose chase the whole time.
Zonic sat down on the floor with a huff and leaned against the side of the hoverkart. Maybe he should've stayed at HQ after all. He was better at fighting than finding things. Finding things wasn't his thing. He groaned and leaned his head back, looking up. His eyes shot open.
Directly twenty feet above him was the yellow Chaos Emerald.
He gaped at it in astonishment. He'd found it! Zonic, the slowpoke Zone Cop had found the Chaos Emerald. He couldn't wait to wave it in Scourge's face. Well, after he found a way to get it down, anyway. He wouldn't be able to teleport or open up a portal to get to it, since none of his gear (save for the stuff Tails provided him) liked Chaos Energy much. It was a miracle his spatial stabilizer was unaffected. Speaking of the stabilizer, he thought about taking it off and walking up to the ceiling to get the Emerald, much like he'd done to avoid the line of people earlier. However, he soon realized that there was no wall on either side of him to walk up, as the track was suspended. This was certainly one heck of a pickle he was in. The only thing he had on hand to use was the hoverkart, and what good was that when he needed to get 20 feet in the air?
"Wait." A lightbulb had just gone off in Zonic's brain. He jumped back into the kart, put it in gear, and zoomed back the way he came.
He drove up the hill, a determined look in his eye. Reaching the top of the incline, he spun the steering wheel hard, turning the kart around 180 degrees. He was now high above the Emerald, looking down at it. There was a ramp halfway down the hill, which was hopefully placed in a position so that he could drive off it and shoot straight towards the Emerald. He pushed his visor down over his eyes and gripped the steering wheel tight. He took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
"Okay, let's do this."
He slammed his foot down on the gas, and the kart hit full speed almost immediately. He gritted his teeth as he tried keeping the vehicle on track. He'd have to hit the ramp dead-on if he wanted a chance to grab the Emerald. He didn't want to think about what would happen if he hit the side of the jump. Flipping through the air and crashing violently at high speeds didn't sound like a fun plan to him. So he focused on keeping the kart centered on the track as the ramp fast approached him. Before the No-Zoner knew what was happening, he was flying through the air, having launched off the ramp like a rocket. He put his hand up into the air, level with the Emerald. Time seemed to slow down as he got closer- or maybe it really did slow down for a second, it was impossible to tell. His fingers brushed against the Chaos Emerald, pushing it out of its static position in the air and knocking it into his outstretched palm.
He didn't have time to celebrate though. He needed to make it down to the ground without getting himself killed. His foot was still on the gas, so he would hit the track at a run. The floor grew closer and closer, and the hedgehog braced for impact. He squeezed his eyes shut as the kart hit the track, the cushion of air underneath it not enough to stop it from touching the ground. It thumped and skidded across the track before it crashed into the side wall with a THUD.
Zonic groaned and clutched his spinning head as he stumbled out of the kart. He stood still for a few seconds, trying to regain his balance. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and slowly sat down, once again leaning his back against the bright red kart. He held the yellow Chaos Emerald in both hands and smiled. He did it. He found one of the seven Emeralds, and he did it before Scourge did. He chuckled. Maybe he didn't need speed to keep up with Sonic and the others, after all.
He turned the Emerald over in his hand and looked into its depths. He'd never held one before. It was strange- it seemed to thump in time with his heartbeat. 'Is this why my heart was beating so strongly before?' Zonic wondered. 'Because the Emerald was close by?' He placed the Emerald up against his chest. Besides his slightly elevated heartbeat, he didn't feel a thing. He frowned. 'Scourge could sense this thing from outside the park… And he's barely in tune with the Emeralds compared to Sonic. But here I am, with the thing right over my heart, and I can hardly feel anything…' Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he wasn't as good as Sonic after all. Maybe he really was just a poser.
Speaking of Scourge, where was he? He definitely should have shown up by then. "Dammit… If he ran off, I'm going to kill him so hard…" Zonic growled as he got to his feet. He hated being a babysitter.
His hoverkart was effectively totaled, so he wouldn't be riding it to the finish line. Thankfully, the exit didn't look too far away, and there weren't any insane slopes or jumps to conquer. He walked out of the building without a problem, and stepped back into the stale, sun-baked air. He didn't see a sign of the green hedgehog anywhere. If Scourge wasn't here, looking for the Emerald, where would he be? He surely must've sensed the energy coming off of the thing.
"Unless he was sensing the energy of something else." Zonic looked down at the radar on his wrist. There had been two energy signatures- Zonic had followed the stronger of the two, but it was possible that Scourge had followed the weaker. He pinpointed the location of the weaker energy signal and started toward it at a run. He could only hope that Scourge was there, or else he'd have a real problem on his hands.
ooo
Scourge couldn't help but laugh out loud as he ran through the park. He was feeling great. He had finally ditched Naggy McBossypants, he could run for the second time in over a year, and he was bound to find the Chaos Emerald first, no problem. This was turning out to be a pretty good day.
He skidded to a stop and looked around. He plucked a churro from the hand of a non-moving child and took a bite of the cinnamony snack. It was still warm, even though it had been there for at least a day and a half. 'Well, if I had to say one thing about Mobius Prime, the food ain't half bad,' he thought with a smile. 'Now, if I were an all-powerful mass of Chaos energy, where would I be hiding…' Scourge closed his eyes and focused, trying to feel the gentle tug of the Chaos Emerald's power. He could sense the familiar energy practically licking at him, drawing him near. His eyes shot open and he looked to his left. There was a large drawbridge in front of him, leading inside a dark castle which probably held a park attraction inside. There was a lot of energy coming from inside, that was for sure. The green hedgehog smirked as he walked in. He could feel that foot rub already.
The door shut behind Scourge as he entered the castle. He spun around in surprise and slammed his gloved hands on the wooden door. He tried to push it open again, to no avail. He huffed frustratedly and pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head. "Looks like the only way to go is forward," he muttered to himself before turning around again.
The room's lights suddenly kicked in, assaulting the hedgehog's ice blue eyes with brightness. He instinctively squinted and raised his hands up to block the light. Once his eyes adjusted, he opened them slowly and dropped his arms to his sides. Strangely enough, he opened his eyes, only to come face to face with Sonic Prime.
"Whoa!" Scourge yelped, taking a step back. Once he realized who it was, he took a deep breath and clutched his chest, Sonic doing the same. "Jeez, Blue, don't do that, I came this close to spin-dashing you," the green hedgehog said. The blue one said nothing, he just copied the Moebian's movements. Scourge raised an eyeridge. Sonic copied simultaneously. They both took a step towards each other. Each one reached a tentative hand out towards the other, but when their fingers were about to meet, Scourge's hand only brushed against glass. A mirror.
His eyes went wide, and he quickly pulled away from the glass. If this was just a mirror, why did the reflection look like Sonic, and not him? That was impossible. Unless... He looked down at himself to check and see if he suddenly looked just like Mobius' hero. He didn't.
"Okay, what the hell..." he whispered. He looked back up at the mirror and instead of Sonic, he saw himself, like he normally would have. "This is a little too weird for me. I'm out." He turned around, expecting to see the door, but only saw more mirrors; each of which reflecting an image of himself back to him. He blinked. He could have sworn that reflection was wearing red sneakers a second ago. He looked all around, seeing only more and more mirrors, and more reflections. And each reflection, for a split second, looked precisely like Sonic.
"Okay helmet head, this is a clever little prank you're playing, now cut it out! The joke's over!" Scourge called out, fists balled. There was no response save for his own echo. The sound waves reverberated off of the mirrors and made his ears ring. He frowned. If the Zone Cop wasn't behind the weird mirrors, who, or what, was? As far as he knew, he and Zonic were the only two in the park who weren't frozen. Just what was going on?
He shook his head, trying to ignore the mirrors. He had a Chaos Emerald to find, after all. He turned to his right and started down a narrow hallway, also lined with mirrors. His reflections walked alongside him as he made his way down the corridor, which only served to freak him out more. He could practically see the smug looks on their faces, and they seemed to walk with more confidence than him as well, even though they copied his movements perfectly. But they couldn't be any different than him, could they? They were just reflections. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, that must've been it.
The hallway twisted and turned, even doubling back on itself a few times. Scourge tried to get his bearings straight, but it was nearly impossible. He could barely tell which way was forward with all of the mirrored walls. More than once he tried to turn a corner, only to find that there was no corner to turn, and he walked right into a wall.
"Great. This place would be a huge mirror maze," he said, bumping into another one of the mirrors. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the Chaos Energy again. It took him a couple seconds to concentrate, but once he did, he felt the energy faintly pulling on him from all directions, as if it were everywhere and nowhere all at once. He rubbed his eyes through closed lids. He didn't like this. He didn't feel any closer to the Chaos Emerald- in fact, he felt further away than he did when he was outside. But it had to be there, or else why would all this energy be in the air?
"Unless it's got something to do with all the mirrors," he said, opening up his eyes and staring right into the face of his reflection. "The energy could be bouncing off them. Making it look like there's more energy here than there actually is. Sneaky." He scowled at the reflective glass in front of his face. Only, his reflection didn't scowl back. The image smiled instead. Scourge stumbled backwards in surprise, backing into another mirror. He flipped his head around to look at it, seeing not himself, but Sonic again. The false reflection in this one was smiling at him too, and not even bothering to copy his movements. The mirrors next to that one were all the same; instead of echoing Scourge's visage back to him, they showed images of Sonic.
"Ugh! What the hell with all these stupid mirrors?! You're not my reflection, so what are you?" he shouted, getting ready to smash some glass.
"But we are your reflection, Sonic," the reflections said calmly. Scourge froze, tensing up. All the fake Sonics had just talked to him. But... that couldn't be right. That was impossible, mirrors couldn't talk. He felt the fur at the back of his neck bristle, and his quills stood on end. Something told him that this wasn't part of Twinkle Park's weird attractions.
"My name's not Sonic," the green hedgehog said, his voice low in his throat.
"Please," the reflections said, all smirking. "Just because you don't go by that name anymore doesn't mean it's not your name, Sonic."
"Stop calling me that!" the Moebian swung his fist at the first mirror he saw, cracking it and sending shards of glass falling to the ground. "What are you, and what do you want from me?!"
"We told you, we are your reflection," the images said, completely unfazed by the shattering of the mirror. "We are what you aspire to be, truly, in your heart."
"I do NOT want to be Mr. Bigshot Hero!" Scourge smashed another mirror, the shards slicing into his glove. He thought he felt some poke through his skin, but he couldn't be bothered to care. He wanted to know what the heck was going on, and he wanted to know now.
"You wish for Sonic's friends, the respect he gets, his freedom. You're tired of everyone hating you. You want to be accepted."
"Shut up!" More mirrors were mercilessly smashed. Pieces of glass now littered the floor, and Scourge was breathing heavily. "You're full of crap, you know that? So Blue's got a good deal going on here, whatever. It doesn't mean I want to have all that. I'm not Sonic the Hedgehog, and I don't want to be! I'm my own person, I'm not just his 'evil twin' anymore."
"But you said yourself, you are Sonic the Hedgehog at his full potential," the reflections said. Scourge busted several more mirrors, leaving only one left in his line of sight. "And yet, you're so jealous of him!" the reflection said. Even though it was just the one image, it sounded as if a thousand mirrors were saying the words. The voices bounced around in his skull, practically penetrating into his brain and making his head hurt.
"No! Leave me alone!" The green hedgehog clenched his eyes shut and gripped the short furs on top of his head. The reflections had to be a fake, some sort of trick. They weren't real, and neither were their words. They were lying, they weren't real, it wasn't true. He didn't want to be Sonic. Right?
"Leave you alone? But, Sonic, you ARE alone," said the voices. Silence filled the maze once their echo dissipated. Scourge cracked an eye open and glanced down at the broken mirrors at his feet. They all showed his reflection- his green fur, his sunglasses, his own, icy blue eyes looking back at him. Not some impostor's. Not Sonic's. He breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh man, what the hell was that…?" He took several deep breaths in through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. That had been an unsettling experience, to say the least. He would need to calm himself down before finding his way out of the maze. He sank to the ground, pulling his leather jacket close around his body. He sighed shakily. Either he was in some really convincing haunted house, or he was going actually insane. There was no way that all that had been part of time crumbling. That was straight-up freaky. And the things that the reflections said... He didn't want to be just like Sonic deep down, did he? He wasn't THAT jealous, was he?
'I mean, yeah, having some allies would be nice. Maybe friends, even. But I don't want to be the big hero. That's just not me, not my style. I'm not Sonic.' He rubbed his temples. 'But I don't really feel like I'm a criminal either, not after Zone Jail... Crap, I barely know who I am anymore. I'm a wreck, huh?' He picked up a mirror shard from the floor and inspected it. He caught a glimpse of blue fur through the reflection, and he hurriedly threw it away. "Chaos, not again," he breathed nervously.
"Scourge?" came a voice from behind him. The Moebian jumped and turned around.
"Zonic? Oh jeez, don't sneak up on me like that, dammit." He slipped his sunglasses over his eyes and got to his feet.
"What happened in here?" The Zone Cop looked around the busted hallway and kicked aside a shard of glass. "Are you- Wait. Did you just call me by my actual name?"
"What? Yeah, I guess. Why?"
"You never actually called me by my name before. Always 'helmet head' or 'chrome dome' or 'Mr. Pole-Up-His-Butt'. Anyway, are you okay?"
"... Yeah, yeah, great. Just needed to release some steam, is all," Scourge said, scratching the back of his head nonchalantly, as if he smashed mirrors every day.
"Right," Zonic said, unconvinced.
"So what are you doing here? Couldn't find the Emerald, huh?"
"Nice try kid." The No-Zoner pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald, the gem shimmering in the artificial lights. "Looks like Lil' T gets to have a playdate when we get back."
"Gods, don't freaking remind me," the green one groaned. "Let's just get out of this place. I'm starved." Of course, he wasn't really hungry, the churro he ate before having filled him up. He just wanted to get away from Twinkle Park as soon as possible.
"Maybe you should have stuck with me, then. I grabbed a chili dog on my way over here. It wasn't half bad," Zonic said with a triumphant smirk. "Oh, or am I not allowed to have chili dogs because I'm just a Sonic-faker?"
"You're not going to shut up about that until I apologize, will you?" Scourge asked tiredly as they started down the hallway of broken mirrors.
"Nah, I'll let it go. I've been thinking about it, and it was sort of true, what you said."
"What?"
"It's what us No-Zoners are taught all our lives, that we're more or less just copies of our Prime Selves. I just never really liked that fact much, and hearing it come from your mouth just made me dislike it even more."
"So that's why you flipped out. Heh. Well that's a depressing thing to tell to little kids, don't you think?"
"Maybe, but its how I grew up." Zonic shrugged. "Like your childhood was any happier."
"Are you kidding me?" Scourge crossed his arms. "Don't talk to me about childhoods. Yours was a frolic through a candy store compared to mine. I don't even have to know what it was like to know that you were better off than I was."
Zonic considered protesting, but decided it would be best not to. He knew Scourge's history, and it was sure to be a touchy subject- much like his own life when he was younger. Besides, the green hedgehog already looked troubled enough (though by what, Zonic had no clue) and the Zone Cop didn't feel like putting up with an enraged Moebian at the moment.
They turned a corner, entering a hallway where the mirrors were still all intact. Scourge gripped the ends of the sleeves of his jacket, but otherwise made no outward signs of discomfort. He glanced hesitantly at the mirrors lining the hallway, relieved to see that his reflection was his own. But this time, there was something else peculiar about the reflections that he neglected to notice.
Zonic looked over at the mirror and noticed a fraction of a second too late. The floor in front of the two hedgehogs looked completely normal, but the reflection told another story entirely.
The mirror showed that there was no floor in front of them at all.
"Look out!" the Zone Cop cried, reaching to drag Scourge away from the invisible ledge. Unfortunately, he was too slow. The green one had already stepped across the threshold, and his center of gravity was now right over the pit. He looked back at the No-Zoner just as his foot slipped through the mirage floor. The world suddenly falling out from underneath him, he plummeted, and tried to grab onto the closest object to keep himself from falling down the hole. Of course, the closest thing to him was Zonic, who tumbled down with him, the two yelling and cursing all the way down.
They fell down the shaft for several seconds before it started to curve underneath them, turning into some sort of slide. They went from a completely vertical fall to an angled one, twisting, turning, and dipping at high speeds as they slid down the slope. Scourge screamed for someone to "stop this crazy thing!" just as the slide started turning in a large spiral. Zonic flipped his visor up above his eyes. If he was going to be sick, he would rather not experience it with a closed helmet.
After what felt like forever, the slide ended, dumping the two unceremoniously into some sort of car. They landed in a pile of limbs, spines, and mumbled curse words, quickly trying to get off each other.
"Ugh... You okay?" Zonic asked, straightening his visor on his head. Scourge dusted off his jacket and picked up his sunglasses, which had come flying off during the ride.
"Well, aside from the skidmarks on my butt and the bruises I will most definitely have in the morning, I'll live. You have the Chaos Emerald?" he asked.
"Yeah, I got it right here," the Zone Cop said, holding it up. "I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking."
They finally managed to get themselves untangled from one another and looked around curiously. Scourge fiddled with the cuff on one of his gloves, which became lopsided during the fall. "Man, the hell kind of amusement park is this? They should'a named it Deathtrap Park, if you ask me."
Zonic nodded, glancing around the room they were in. "I wonder where that thing dumped us off?" he pondered aloud. The car they were dropped in was metallic, with a vinyl-covered bench in it for sitting. The car also had two rocket boosters on either side of it, making the Zone Cop wary. Here were many more of these cars lined up behind them in a single file. In front of them were what appeared to be metal tracks leading outside.
"What is this, a rollercoaster?" Scourge asked, eyeing the rocket boosters.
"Of course, because two heart attacks today weren't enough," Zonic said, getting up to climb out of the car. As soon as he did so, the train lurched forward, sending him stumbling backwards into his seat. "How are all these rides working? Time is supposed to be stopped!"
Scourge tapped him on his shoulder guard. "Yo, Zone Chump, you're gonna want to get a look at this." Zonic turned around to face the back of the train. Large, purple and black monsters were falling out of holes in the ceiling, just as the two hedgehogs had, and landing in the cars behind them.
"Think these are the monsters that Sonic was talking about?" the green hedgehog said, standing up in his seat and grinning. He could use a good fight right about now.
"Fight first, ask questions later," Zonic said, flipping his visor down over his eyes and yanking out his laser pistol. He turned so that he was crouched behind the seat, using the back of the car as cover. The train lurched forward again, and the rocket boosters on all of the cars ignited. An automated voice came on over the loudspeaker, telling the riders to keep all limbs inside the car, and to "get ready for Storm Rush!" The two hedgehogs held on tight as the coaster took off, the rockets increasing its speed exponentially. The car soared up the first hill without any regard for what its passengers were up to.
"Keep all hands and feet inside the car, he says," Scourge laughed. He stood up on the back of the seat, the train travelling almost vertically up the track. The monsters in the back started to make their way forward, climbing up the cars like a ladder. Zonic took a second to aim before he shot one of them straight in the chest, sending it falling off the car. It took down another monster with it as it fell off the coaster and to the ground. Scourge was readying to make a move of his own when the coaster came to the top of the hill and started to descend at a sharp angle. He gripped the back of the car to keep from flying off the side.
"Should've kept your hands and feet inside the car!" Zonic shouted above the wind rushing by.
"Can it, Chrome Dome!" yelled the green one. He started climbing up the line of cars, holding on extra tight whenever the train went through a turn. "If there's a loop in this ride, I'm gonna kill you guys for bustin' me out of jail in the first place!" he exclaimed, but Zonic didn't hear him. The cop was too busy trying to aim his pistol, not hit Scourge, and keep from falling off the rollercoaster.
The coaster suddenly lurched upward again, sending the Moebian falling down on top of a monster's head. He quickly grabbed a hold of the safety bar on one of the cars above him and kicked the monster repeatedly on the skull until it was knocked off the ride. He saw a well-placed energy blast from Zonic whiz by and take out another beast.
The train started to descend in a tight spiral, making it hard for the green hedgehog to get a good footing and not fly off the side because of the increased g-forces. He managed to stand up on the inside of the car, even though it was sideways. The other monsters on the ride weren't as nimble, however, and were still flailing about, holding on to the lap bars that would go over a rider's legs. Scourge smirked. He jumped, quickly spinning into a ball and slamming into one of the beasts with an effective homing attack. The creature was effectively stunned, so it was no problem for the Moebian to kick it off of the coaster. The train then came out of the spiral, shifting from being on its side to facing right side up. The two hedgehogs adjusted accordingly, realizing now why not many fights tended to take place on rollercoasters. It was exhausting.
As the coaster went into a series of smaller climbs and dips, Scourge homing attacked a couple more monsters. He landed on the edge of one of the cars, placing one foot on the front edge and the other on the back edge for balance. It was like he was surfing, only his surfboard was two inch-thick pieces of metal, he was going at around 60 miles per hour, and he was riding backwards. He eyed the remaining five or so monsters, preparing to give them all a taste of his boot. However, the train suddenly lurched to the left without him expecting it, and he tumbled right into the car. He landed on the floor of the car, with a bump on his head from hitting the side wall. He saw darkness clouding his vision as his head throbbed dangerously. The vibrations of the coaster rattled his brain and were giving him a major headache. He needed to get himself upright, if only to make himself more comfortable if/when he passed out. He could feel something warm trickle down the side of his face. Great, he was bleeding. He was bleeding and slipping into unconsciousness in the bottom of a rollercoaster car. 'At least this is more exciting that bleeding and slipping into unconsciousness in the Rec Yard in Zone Jail,' he thought bitterly.
He struggled to stay awake as he got jostled around by the movements of the ride and his vision grew darker. He thought he saw something bright fly by overhead, and he squinted to protect his eyes.
He wasn't sure how much time passed, but the rollercoaster was slowing to a stop. Finally, with the constant movement and jostling around now over, he could try and get up. He gripped the car's lap bar with one hand and the back of the seat with the other and pulled himself into an upright seated position. His head was spinning, his vision blurred, and his hearing foggy. As the train came to a stop, he wiped some of the blood off of his head. There was a good amount of it, but luckily not enough to cause him to pass out.
"Hey! What happened?" Zonic shouted, jumping from car to car to reach his fallen ally. Scourge cringed and flattened his ears to his skull, the Zone Cop's voice hurting his head.
"Didn't see that the coaster was turning... Lost my balance and fell in. Hit my head," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Probably concussed."
"Well, at least you're awake and talking. That's a good sign," Zonic said sternly. He tilted Scourge's head up towards him. The Moebian didn't protest. "Pupils are dilated... You feel dizzy?"
"Very."
"Okay, I think we can confirm you have a concussion. Probably not too serious, you just got knocked around a little. I'm more concerned about the bleeding."
"I can handle it," Scourge grunted. He held his hand to his forehead, trying to stop the bleeding with his glove. He got to his feet slowly, reluctantly accepting help from Zonic. "So why'd we stop, anyway?" he asked.
"Once you fell down, I got a clear shot at those monsters, and I took the rest of them out. With them gone, I guess the coaster fell back into the whole 'frozen in time' routine and stopped." The No-Zoner re-holstered his pistol and huffed. "So those things can definitely alter the flow of time. That's good to know."
"Lovely. Why don't we get the hell out of here before they come back, eh? I got my fill of fighting for the day," Scourge said, rolling one shoulder.
Zonic nodded. "I'm with you," he said. "Let's blow this joint."
Notes: Wow, two chapters in a row that are centered around Scourge and Zonic! I love these two, and pairing them up together on a mission was a blast. For everyone who are more fans of the Sonics and Tailses, don't worry! Another team will be getting the focus next time. The next chapter still has some heavy editing to go through, and even then I want to make some more headway with Chapter 15 before I post it. Thank you all so much for being patient and bearing with me on this! See you all next update :)
If you liked this chapter or have a question, feel free to leave a review! I always try and message people back, especially if I can answer something.