Sonic Ballistic

by Shblue

A few years after Sonic & Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik returns with a raging yet calculated vengance to conquer Mobius and punish Sonic forever. What seems like an ordinary adventure at first will slowly transform and change everything Sonic knows about being a hero. - Childhood fangame idea reimagined as a hardcore epic, and depicted in text. Finished 2010, uploaded here first.

5. Sonic Ballistic, Part 4

Part 4

Sonic slowly came to. His head was swirling and he felt like the world was rushing past him. He saw his hand before him, and stood up. His wounds were healed, although still sore. He looked at the ground and saw it was changing colors. Patterns shifted and coalesced around him, with the sky an ever changing painting of vibrant hues and intensities.

"Am I hallucinating..."

He walks a short while and comes to the end of the giant platform he stands on. Beneath is more of the unending painting, that does not seem to be the texture of any wall or surface, but an endless form that replaced the solid blue of normal sky. The very platform he stood on hovered within it. He looked up and around.

"Where am I?"

He notices a glimmer of light off of a shiny surface in the middle of the platform. He walks toward it, seeing it as a power ring. He saw his reflection on its shiny gold surface, and grabbed it. Suddenly, the sky changed. The colors and shapes and forms started moving in one direction. The platform he stood on changed as well, stretching into threads of color that shot like bullets into the distance. It became a road, curving and spinning as it vanished into the nonexistent horizon. He felt like the entire world was rushing around him, and through him as well. It gave him a rush, and he even felt the power ring tug him.

"This... this is the energy of the Emeralds. It must have helped me heal when I was out... this place, I remember it now! This is where the Chaos Emeralds hide! The Special Zone!"

As he said that, a group of objects rushed overhead. It was a circle of the Emeralds, rotating and facing Sonic. Startled, Sonic motions a step, but they fly down the road at an incredible speed. The power ring yanked forward and Sonic hopped to keep step. He understands, and races forward.

Special Zone [Act 1] (4/19)

This level has no enemies.

The sky is an endless dash of colors, mixing as they can in their rushing streams. The ground that Sonic walks on is similar to Silver Skyway's, except with the colors forming different, overlapping layers of shapes. The level will sometimes loop, but it will mostly consist of curves going down and up. After a while, Sonic will catch up to the first Emerald. Instead of grabbing it, it will fade away. In the background, its respective color will slowly be mixed out completely by the other colors.

As Sonic dashes on, he will eventually come across power rings. As he collects them, his speed increases. He will reach the second Emerald. As he passes through that, its color fades out in the background as well.

As he moves on, a specific line of rings (a line of rings referring to how they are typically laid out – in long rows, hovering above the ground) will pull off the ground and curl into a giant circle of rings. As it moves onward, rings that come from down the road will be collected into it. Sonic will eventually catch up with it and be running at the same pace as the circle is spinning. At its tangent with the road, Sonic will then continually collect rings and his speed will steadily increase even further. He will soon see the next Emerald ahead of him, spinning in the same fashion as if it was inside a giant wheel. However, Sonic will not be quite fast enough to reach it. This is when another circle of rings peels off the road and Sonic will be at its tangent. As Sonic's speed increases while he picks up the rings, the circle of rings itself will pick up more rings from the road rushing by. In this way, when the circle of rings' center becomes tangent with the circular path of the Emerald, Sonic will eventually run into it himself. As he passes through it, its color will similarly vanish. He'll quickly collect all the rings in the circle of rings and run on by himself. His speed at this point will be several times his normal maximum speed.

After a while, the line of rings will peel off again, but this time, they will rotate to their side so that they lie parallel to the ground. The line will whip into the air, and Sonic can jump onto the line to run on it as an additional path. The rings, lying flat, serve as another road. When Sonic runs by, the ring-road will again peel off and fly back towards Sonic in a manner resembling the effect of the lightning shield from Sonic 3. The ring-road will have loops, dips, and hills just as the normal road does. It will even have its own lines of rings hovering above them, and even those lines may peel off to form their own sub-ring-roads. In these several layers of ring-roads, if there is a gap in the line of rings, it will manifest itself as a gap that Sonic can jump over. If he falls, he will land to a lower ring-road, or on to the main road if he's on the lowest ring-road. He will eventually see the fourth Emerald, however it quickly dashes above. Sonic will need to climb to the highest ring-road in order to nab it. When he does, the background will again eliminate the Emerald's color. At the same time, all of the ring-roads will lose structure and simply be quickly sucked to Sonic. He'll fall back to the main road and receive a massive speed boost from all of the rings, and should be several ten times his max speed.

The next form of rings that will appear is the ring-rail. Instead of peeling off like the last two forms, rings will pause before Sonic (in that they move backwards faster than he is moving forward, giving the illusion from Sonic's view that they stopped). The rings from behind them will clack into each other, and they will all rotate in a wave pattern (like if you lie a deck of cards flat with each card partially covering the other one, and then flip the first card in the line, except perpetually). When the line is sufficiently long enough, it will move back in its original direction (or unpause). When Sonic hits the first ring, he will be dragged through them at incredible speeds (similar to a light speed dash). However, these ring-rails do not contribute to his overall speed, and when he lands on the main road after passing through a ring-rail, he will return to his original speed from after the fourth Emerald. These ring-rails will also peel off the ground and into the air, forming elaborate designs that will send Sonic flipping and spinning. Occasionally, one ring-rail will send Sonic flying into another one. When the fifth Emerald comes into view, it, too, will fly into the air. The ring-rails will now only curve from the main road up into the air, but not quite reach the Emerald. Sonic will need to time a jump so that he hits the ring-rail, and gets rocketed up into the air, to fall back down and pass through the Emerald. Should he miss, the same curve pattern will repeat after a short while. When the Emerald is passed through, its color will disappear. There will only be two colors in the background, now, although they will still mesh and change intensity. Sonic's speed will still be the same from before.

The final form of rings is the ring-boost. It is formed like the ring-rails were, except when the ring-rail is complete, it will fold on itself and form a torus made out of the rotating rings clacked directly against each other. This torus will be facing Sonic and will wrap around the main road. When Sonic passes through its center, his speed will double temporarily. Also, as soon as he passes through the center, the rings will unfold and be sucked back to Sonic like in the case of the ring-road. First the ring-boosts will simply be around the main road, but later they will be in the air. If Sonic jumps through one, he'll be sent rocketing through the sky. Should he hit another ring-boost, it will steer him in a new direction. The sixth Emerald will be flying much faster than the last ones, and Sonic will need to jump through the ring-boosts just to see it. He'll need to chain ring-boosts both on the road and in the air to finally get enough speed to get it. Once he does, he'll pass through it, and only one color will remain in the background. It only varies in intensity, some areas being darker, others lighter. His speed will have increased by about 50%.

In the final run, all of the forms of rings will appear. Ring-circles will roll across ring-roads, and ring-rails will send Sonic hurtling towards ring-boosts. Early on, Sonic will catch up to the final Emerald, but every time he speeds up, it speeds up the same amount minus only a little bit. In order to catch it, he'll need to always be accelerating and chain successive runs through lines of rings, under ring-circles, and through ring-boosts. When he finally passes through it, the background will fade into shades of gray, leaving only Sonic and the road to be in color.

After that, the road will level out. The Master Emerald will hover ahead. As Sonic runs towards it, all of the rings he's collected will be quickly sucked from him to it. The thousands of rings will exit him in seconds. Shortly after Sonic is expired of rings, but still running, the Emerald will spew the rings out into a giant circle that expands very far, with the road being its center. The rings will then narrow into the road and lengthen out into a helical coil around the road. Finally, Sonic will hit the Master Emerald, and his speed will sharply increase. He will accelerate wildly through the long coil of rings, which soon turn into a blur of gold. He'll be going so fast he'll lift off the road underneath him and start to fly. The road turns into a line of white, and the gold slowly fades into white as well. Soon, Sonic is completely covered in white. He feels like he hits something, however, and his feet catch onto ground again. His speed is indeterminable due to the lack of reference points. He is running again.

.

The white fades into figures and shapes. Sonic slows down and finds himself running across metal. When the white disappears, he stops completely. He looks around and sees old, broken machinery and metalwork all around him. The entire area is dilapidated, and Sonic enters a long hallway with long glass windows. He sees Mobius slowly rotate far away and finds that he's inside an old space station.

"...What? For a portal like that, it didn't send me very far. Why this space station, though...? It doesn't matter, Robotnik is down there. Whatever he's doing, I have to stop it! I have to get there..."

Sonic looks down the hallway, flooded with darkness. He runs into it.

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Space Ruins [Act 1] (4/20)

There are no enemies, but there are rings here. The design for this level will be a very worn industrial setting. Scaffolding will be bare, metal rusting and broken, pipes and wires exposed. All of the areas are very dark, lit up either by dim yellow lights that cover a wide area or very small red bulbs that cover only their immediate perimeter. Inside, the background will be very complex machines, all connected. They will be lit up by very dim blue lights or the same red bulbs from the foreground. Sometimes there will be glass windows that will show space, Mobius, and perhaps some of the space station as well. The level will consist of several types: the long vista hallways covered with glass windows, the maintenance hallways covered with pipes and lit up by yellow lights, connecting areas that consist of curves, jumps and hazards (such as broken parts, electric arcs, steam, etc.), and narrow areas filled with industrial machinery that Sonic will need to use precise timing to jump, wall jump, and roll through. At the end, he will come into a very long glass tunnel that connects two sides of the space station, lit up by red lights. After running through it for a short while, he'll hear a crash behind him.

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[Act 1 Boss]

A large metal ball quickly rolls from behind Sonic. It bears the runic inscriptions reminiscent of the Old Mobians' creations, however they are much simpler.

It has several attacks:

- it will roll ahead and fall back to trip Sonic,

- catch up to Sonic's speed,

- roll around the edges of glass tunnel (Sonic will need to jump over it repetitively),

- roll around from behind or ahead of Sonic and pause from wherever it is positioned and quickly fire a short laser beam,

- have two side compartments extend and rotate with the main part in the middle (such that the compartments skid the circumference of the tube),

- move back and forward in with compartments extended(Sonic will need to either jump or roll under its metal bars to avoid getting hit),

- pause its rotation as like before but fires lasers from its two extended compartments as well,

- and finally rush far ahead of Sonic in that configuration and open its main part to reveal a large cannon that will charge for five seconds before firing a very large laser beam that Sonic can only roll under. The ball can only be attacked when this cannon is revealed.

Eight hits will cause it to burst into flames and stop moving.

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[Act 2]

The glass tube will enter the space station again. The design will be the same, although Sonic will also go into more "external" areas – that is, areas like the glass tube that are mostly removed from the main structure. Enemies will appear, being very simple robots with similar inscriptions, but are only functional in design and do not resemble anything. They will be weak, but plentiful. When destroyed, only a Black Rock fragment will be left. The industrial areas will be the bulk of this level, however.

Through one such section, Sonic will come across a very large room. As soon as he does, he completely loses traction and flies to the other end. A rusty door blocks passage onward. However, Sonic cannot spindash through it as the door is flat on the wall. The room's shape is a large, but regular polygon. As there is a lack of gravity in this room, in order to move Sonic will need to land on a surface and jump in a new direction. In the middle of the room is an emerald shaped cast, and on the sides are broken platforms with Black Rock crust on them. This was the room where the Black Emerald was created. In order to proceed, Sonic will need to build speed by progressively jumping off the walls without stopping, and crash into the rusty door.

Gravity will return, and Sonic will race down a hallway. At the end, he will come into a very wide room. All of the machinery and electronics connect to a point on the other side. As Sonic comes to it, he will see a giant tube in a loop.

.

Suddenly, as he steps towards it, the floor lights up below him. The light dashes through all of the tiles on the floor, then up the walls and across the ceiling. Machinery starts to hum and the room lights up. Before Sonic can properly react, light is projected onto a blank wall. An image of an echidna appears. He is old, covered with scars, and emaciated.

"Sire, please halt. Before you continue, allow me to give you the information you need to operate this gate. This space building was first constructed so that the Black Emerald could be created with minimal interference from the natural forces of Mobius. It took many, many years, but in the end, its creation allowed our civilization to flourish. However, we were greedy... we advanced so quickly, thirsty to conquer the heavens. We wanted to test our own power, as the gods of this world. We tested it on each other... and, we sank into a bloodrage so primitive, that we doomed ourselves. The Black Emerald was passed from hand to bloody hand, the symbol of godlihood. Our leaders, who took it last, thinking only of vengeance and pride, summoned the fist of the heavens... and now, we seek refuge like worms within the planet we had forsaken. Our leaders... they took our ships and fled to the stars, away from the world they decimated. I... was one of those cowards... but I sought to protect our world however I can, and so I took the Black Emerald here, to its origin. I created this gate to cast it into exile, far from Mobius. I stayed up here and watched over the world, unable to do anything else.

...However, with the Black Rock within me, I continue to live, watching over this world, seeing only the clouds and a silent earth. I suffer, without food, without water, my existence solely supported by these Rocks, that I continue to put within myself. How many is it now? Five hundred? A thousand? I should be dead, several lifetimes over, and I feel the pain, but I watch over this world, and this gate, with hope for my people to return to the light. Now that you are here, my spirit can rest, knowing that Mobius has regained life. Since this recording, I have chose death, for I saw a mechanical being walk upon the surface, the creation of my descendants. The instant I saw it, I knew it was our savior. I trust in it completely, and my trust was well placed.

If you seek the Black Emerald, whatever your reason, you may enter this gate and find it, wherever it landed. My only request is that you prove yourself against my creation, so that my trust in you is warranted! Eralus!"

From the ceiling, a large tangle of pipes and metal start moving. Before Sonic can fully see what it is, it drops onto the floor and attacks!

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[Act 2 Boss]

Eralus is a large, mechanical creature resembling a lotus flower, with its leaves made of pipes bent over each other and its bud a complex crystalline electronic component. The leaves will be bent up, too high for Sonic to jump over. The outer layer of leaves will rotate flat across the floor, forming a slicing hazard that can damage Sonic. As it rotates, it will fire projectile attacks from its core.

These are:

- multiple napalm-esque energy attacks that burst into a column of fire when they hit the ground,

- a large energy orb which scatters into smaller shots that Sonic will need to dodge through,

- and a small, spinning square of energy which turns into a wave of fire when it lands.

When Eralus' inner layer of leaves bends to a 45 degree angle, it will stop rotating. This is Sonic's chance to attack by jumping from the outer layer onto the inner layer, and then at the core. If he spends too much time waiting, the core will release hundreds of small pellets that Sonic will need to dodge for half a minute. When inside, Sonic can land four hits before the bud releases an electric discharge that will knock him out. Sixteen hits will destroy it.

.

The projection fizzes out for a while, and then returns.

"You have won... very well."

Energy suddenly bursts into the tube and it lights up the room. Inside the loop, the familiar cloudiness appears. As the image begins to turn and spin, the old echidna continued.

"I do not know where the Black Emerald has landed, but the coordinates have not changed. If you bring it back to Mobius, perhaps our world can return to its former glory. I am sure that, whoever you are, if you bring back the Black Emerald in a time where we can breathe the air, our old civilization will rise from the dead! I trust in you, with all the years I spent in pain."

As he finishes, the gate is fully open. Sonic walks towards it, with the disturbing images of his defeat by Robotnik fresh in his memory. Without regret, he leaps in.

He returns to the Special Zone, running down the same rainbow path. However, the sky is much different. Instead of blurred grays shifting between each other, there are distinct, sharply contrasting shapes that spasmatically displace and flash colors. As he runs down, the shapes get smaller and move more erratically. Sonic then notices a strange black mass ahead of him. The road he runs on then suddenly shatters into pieces, and he barely catches himself from falling. The road, broken in pieces, still stretches toward the black area.

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Void [Act 1] (4/21)

There are no rings or enemies in this level.

Sonic will start off on the rainbow road pieces. The movement of color within it is very slow, and all of the colors are much dimmer. Sonic will be jumping from piece to piece as he approaches the blackness. As he does so, the shapes in the background will continue to decrease in size. After an eighth of the level, the background will effectively be static. The pieces of road will be larger, now, although they will be bent in shape anywhere from a simple hill to folding a cave in itself. These complex folds and the gaps between the sections will make up the rest of the act, and Sonic will not be able to go too fast or he risks falling. As he traverses the act, at certain points an Emerald will rush by him in the background. When the seventh Emerald flies by, he will come across the edge of the black mass.

Here, the road ends right before it. The mass is pure black with white streamers flashing across its surface like light on the top of water. The Master Emerald will block the way onward, its top face pointing towards Sonic.

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[Act 1 Boss]

The Master Emerald will not move, however the seven Chaos Emeralds will appear from the mass, covered in a thick, black fluid. They will make an attack and trade turns in a rapid pattern. While one is in position, the other six will be a shield around the Master Emerald.

- The first Emerald will move behind Sonic and fire four large beams from top to bottom.

- The second Emerald will move above Sonic and fire four large beams from left to right.

- The third will position above the Master Emerald and home in on Sonic, firing four shots.

- The fourth will attempt to ram Sonic.

- The fifth will rain down a hundred small shots that Sonic will need to run through as they fall.

- The sixth will fire four energy balls at the road, which transform into waves of increasing wavelength that rush towards Sonic.

- The seventh will toss energy balls up that burst into large explosions when they land.

Sonic can only attack the Master Emerald in the short time span as the Emeralds change, because the shield disperses for a few seconds. After eight hits, the Chaos Emeralds will return to the Master Emerald's side and revolve around it.

- They will all charge up for a final attack: an unavoidable beam that will eliminate Sonic.

If Sonic just hits the Master Emerald one more time, he'll pass through it and the Chaos Emeralds will simply fade out.

.

[Act 2]

Inside the black form, the white streamers will arc across the black sky like lightning (except instead of flashing and disappearing, they continue to snake elsewhere). The road has died of color, leaving Sonic alone with hue. As he moves on, the road will end. Floating in the realm are asteroid-like structures that share organic and artificial shapes, with crevices slowly pulsing in light and a silhouette of shapes converging and dissipating all over its surface. Most of the time they will be stationary. When Sonic lands on one, his gravity will be stuck to its surface like in Falling Frenzy, however with enough speed he can jump off. Parts of the act will be jumping from structure to structure.

However, long roads will appear again, and Sonic can run along those like normal. However, normal will only last for so long. The gravity may slowly switch, or Sonic loses his ability to jump, spindash, or wall jump. With a lack of enemies or hazards, Sonic will merely need to worry about getting frustrated as he makes his way onward.

Three-quarters through, Sonic will see bits of broken architecture floating about. As he jumps across hovering pillars and scattered brick roads, the architecture will become more advanced and modern. He'll eventually come across a large building, split in many pieces that float away from each other. As he enters the building, gravity and his movements will be normal. The rooms are filled with sculptures and engravings next to highly advanced structures of abstract shape and design. He will finally come to a large room with a mural of Mechanix in the center. The entire room is filled with Mechanix-shaped sculptures and mosaics of him.

Moving on, Sonic will continue through a small corridor. He'll come to a narrow room filled with creations of similar design as Mechanix's body. Armor, weaponry, bodysuits, complex machinery, and even scale models of buildings are made in his form. Later on, painted scrolls show the old Mechanix Seal, in the area before his actual containment area. It shows the early areas of the Mechanix Seal, and a map depicting its location relative to other Old Mobian underground areas. A large scroll depicts Mechanix restrained by iron bars in a large metal contraption that has several bars and wires crossed over a large manifold. More technical and detailed scrolls explain in pictures how Mechanix was released, studied, activated, and how he worked. Then, more scrolls appear as designs based off of Mechanix's design, one being of a bodysuit.

Upon exiting, Sonic sees a broken bridge with a field of shattered columns floating in concentric circles around it connect the building to another part of it. Halfway through it, the streamers in the background will blur race wildly and become thicker and thicker. Suddenly, the entire background will become white, and all of the structures in sight will repair themselves and become new. As the white fades out, a blue, cloudy sky will appear instead. Mountains will rise in the distance and fields and forests will rush under the columns towards Sonic.

.

Sonic looks around, surprised. The bridge spans over a very high distance, and he can see very far. From everything that he sees, it looks like he returned to Mobius. He shakes his head and rubs his eyes. The world is very real, and he hears voices further down the bridge. Coming close to them, he sees two echidnas, covered with bound cloth and metal rings wrapped around their waists and limbs. They bore inscriptions much like Zaga's, except much finer and more elegant, with very detailed patterns and designs.

"I had to do business with some Migatchans again today. It is rather troublesome," one spoke contemptuously.

"My, with those ingrates? Their entire culture is still so primitive. Not as bad as the Angelics, of course, or Zexa knows the Anazze. I heard they descended from a farmer's clan during the First Great Age."

The first chortled snootily. "Oh, that would explain it most assuredly. At least the Angelics secluded themselves on that Floating Island of theirs so that we do not need to deal with them. Those Migatchans demanded for me to treat them as equals!"

"Barbarians! You should not stand for that."

"It was a mighty disgrace on my family's name, and if they were so intent on insulting me for being inequitable, they should have had the tact to appoint a duel!"

"Hoho! Tact! They care not for propriety or honor. They are animals."

Sonic twitched. He walked towards them, to show them a piece of his mind, but the first quickly spoke again.

"Frankly, they should just die. They should all just drop dead. They do not deserve what we gave them, the freedom of the above-world, the possibility of our Images of Mechanix, of which this Great Age was built upon. Most of all, they do not deserve that..."

"Hey!-" Sonic yelled, but suddenly a flash of white blinded him and he held his hand over his eyes. As he lowered them, he found himself back in the Void.

"... what was that, just now? Why did I see that? Was that real?..."

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[Act 3]

Crossing the remainder of the bridge, Sonic will entire a hallway with tall windows and an arched ceiling. It will lead to a square room, and the next open doorway leads to a catwalk. The catwalk is circular, the hole in the middle opening up into a very large chamber below, about ten stories tall. Above the catwalk is a dome, completely covered in a fresco. The fresco depicts echidnas dressed in the Mechanix-styled bodysuits from before, exiting a hole in the ground. The ground around them, and stretching to the far mountains and a cyan sea, is mostly white. Even the sky is bleach white, without a single cloud. However, the sun shines brightly across the entire fresco. One of the echidnas, through the visor of the suit, can be seen to be crying.

The next room is a broken stairwell. Pieces of the wall have broke off and floated away, which Sonic may need to use to move past debris blockages. At the end of his descent, the doorway will bring him into the incredibly large room below the dome and catwalk. The room is completely full of sculptures and monuments dedicated to Mechanix, with a very large, realistic statue of him standing in front of a giant, broken tainted-glass window. His design is copied everywhere, on the walls, on the tiles, and even on the columns. The whole room seems dedicated to his image. The next doorway is broken down, so to move on Sonic will need to break through vents in the floor.

They will lead into another room full of items and machinery made in the design of Mechanix. A large scroll depicts how the world was the way it was because of the radiation, and how the air was made toxic. It also described how all Images of the Ultimate Being were not affected by the radiation (and so, how the bodysuits protected the echidnas who went above ground). The reason is because the Images absorb the radiation and convert it into non-toxic energy (mechanical, chemical, heat, etc.) Many scrolls attempt to describe this process. On the far right of the room is a doorway that leads to a small arcade.

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In the middle of the arcade, white suddenly washes through the cracks in the walls, and color peels onto all of the surfaces. The walls are now freshly painted with a fire pattern. An echidna runs towards Sonic. Before he can look at the walls, the echidna shouts out.

"Sire! I have received dire news."

"What? Where did you come from?" Sonic asks, but a voice comes from behind him and he jumps to the side.

"Quiet down, you! I am about to instruct some young men into the study of our savior, and you come-" an echidna spoke in long robes.

"The elders of Saliom were assassinated!" burst out the other one.

Suddenly, the mood changed. The priestly echidna took a step back.

"That... that does not concern us. We have no contact with them, no trade and..."

"The assassin committed suicide on site. He... bore the mark of Alastra."

"What?! Did our elders command someone to... Or are we being framed? This is bad. The Saliomans are the most blood-thirsty of us all..."

Before Sonic could say a word, the echidnas vanished like mist, and the paintings on the walls peeled away in a blur of white. He was left alone in the hallway again.

"These scenes, are they hallucinations? Is it something to do with this weird place? This building has to be from Old Mobius, but why is it here? Where is here, anyway?"

At the end of the arcade is a slightly newer room, with the Images of Mechanix becoming different from their original design. The scrolls have changed texture and aren't as worn and torn. A large one describes the general state of the world, its geography and details about the radiation. Another depicts calculations regarding the flow of energy from the radiation to non-toxic energy. A common phrase begins to repeat itself, although Sonic cannot read it. Smaller scrolls show portraits of small villages being created above-ground using the technology of the Images. The room ends abruptly; the rest of the building broke off.

Here, Sonic will need to wall jump across columns and jump on and through pieces of the building that have floated off. He'll come to the top of an isolated structure which apparently was not ripped from the main building. Moving down the wall's ledges and across its underside by means of jumping on small bricks, he will enter through a hole. The design is completely different, with blue and purple tiles and floating ribbons. It is very similar to Hidden Palace from Sonic & Knuckles.

He will have entered a room filled with smaller scrolls, covered in text. They are plastered all over the walls. There is then a large scroll with the schematics of a large machine taking up its entire length. It covers the rest of the room, but at the very end of the scroll, there are seven small gems described in little detail. A broken door blocks the next room.

As soon as Sonic spindashes through, white light flashes past him.

"This again! What am I going to see now..."

The room has seven columns surrounding a central pedestal. On top of one is a steady light that brightens the entire room. The walls were dark and covered with the same tile. On the pedestal is paper on which looks like a map of Mobius. Many cloaked figures stand around it.

One speaks, "Despite our diplomatic efforts with the new leaders of Saliom, they have declared war on us. They simply refuse to believe that we had no control over the assassinations and the assaults in their cities."

Another adds, "Similar to the Fere'nau leaders. With their elders killed as part of that explosion, they immediately suspected us due to their alliance with Saliom."

A third says, "The Angelics and the Migatchans are already at war. Ka'ralei is threatening us and have mobilized at their borders with both the Migatchans and the Saliom."

The first speaks again, "Despite our diplomacy, we have our Black Rock machinations and our troops fitted with the latest in Image technology. We are prepared to engage at any moment."

An echidna runs into the room from behind Sonic.

"We just received a report from Anazze. They captured a Fere'nau attack force after they assassinated their leaders."

The second yells, "Damn it! This is becoming the worst-possible scenario. The Seven Lands will never reunite like this... especially as this global war begins to explode."

The third quickly snaps, "We cannot worry about our species as a whole. Our own civilization is at threat; we can worry about educating and raising the lesser races when we take away their power to destroy us."

Their was a murmur of agreement.

"What did those peoples do, anyway? We rediscovered the Ultimate Being, Mechanix, and created Images in his likeness which are the foundation of this Second Great Age. We created this world. We are this world. Everyone else is inferior!"

Sonic gets angry again and walks forward, but white quickly floods past.

"What is this!? What's going on here?"

The room returns to its normal state. The room is brighter than before due to cracks in the walls that allow the Void's odd light to enter. The light from on top of the pillar had disappeared, however. High on the wall rests a mosaic. At the top is a lying figure of Mechanix. From his body, various Images are projected, the largest one being exactly the same from the one depicted in the scroll in the previous mission. It lies tangent to a large circle which takes up the rest of the space. Seven cities are exaggeratedly drawn, and above them, connected to the largest Image by rainbow-lines, are the seven Chaos Emeralds. On closer inspection, the seven pillars in the room have bas-reliefs of an Emerald, along with unique inscriptions and designs. On the pillar that Sonic saw the light from before are inscriptions that are very similar to those on the echidnas he saw throughout the building. On another pillar are inscriptions that are similar to those of Zaga's.

"This mosaic... So the Chaos Emeralds were created by the Old Mobians, using that machine, that 'Image'... This is getting more and more confusing. And they worshiped Mechanix, even though he caused so much destruction as they struggled underground? They even use these Chaos Emeralds even after they exiled the Black Emerald?"

Sonic looked at the mosaic.

"The Black Emerald was made from the Black Rocks using that machine in those space ruins, and the Chaos Emeralds were made using that big Image, wherever it is. The Black was made in the First Great Age, the Chaos in the Second... And where did the Black Rocks come from, though, and what were the Chaos Emeralds made from? Is this really a pattern, or am I thinking too much...?"

.

From there, Sonic will exit the room by spindashing through the broken door at the right of the room. He'll enter another room full of scrolls. A large scroll will be a large map of Mobius. Aside from the contrast between ocean and earth, it features no geography. Thin lines mark territory between various points scattered across the continent. On closer inspection, one island off-shore has a dotted-line arrow that travels across the entire map. It is exactly the same size as the Floating Island. Another large scrolls features a Chaos Emerald in the center and describes how the air flows into it. Behind the Emerald is a painting of a landscape. On the left of it, it is nearly completely white and has no life. On the right, it is brown with various shrubs and bushes covering the scene. As Sonic covers the rest of the room, seven scrolls will rest, each depicting a city in a different style of architecture and on a different landscape. Sonic recognizes one as Ka'ralei, which remains underground. Another one has identical architecture to the main building in the Void, and he supposed it was 'Alastra'. Another showed a city on the cliff of a mountain which Sonic recognized as the Hidden Palace. Each had a Chaos Emerald of a different color superimposed in each city's heart, with colorful lines being whipped into it from the environment around the cities. At the end of the room was a hole in the wall.

Jumping through, Sonic will land on more rubble from the main building. He will need to descend small platforms and make his way to the roof of a large section of the Alastran building. The roof will have very sharp angles and curves that will finally give Sonic room to speed up. As he dashes down a long, brick walkway. Suddenly, white floods the area from behind him.

.

In the background, there are explosions constantly bursting and rapid fire of various projectile weapons flying back and forth like a melee of needles. Soaring overhead are many projectiles of varying type: energy, fire, bullets, even rocks. There is a constant din of battle cries, death cries, and the screaming of gunfire. Ahead of him is an echidna in Image battle armor with a long line of echidnas in lighter armor, holding long, slender weapons.

The apparent leader cries out, "Remember the essence of warfare. The core of most weapons are Black Rocks, which only amplify the energy they are initially given. In every situation, if you can terminate the connection of energy from the source to the Black Rock, the weapon is rendered useless. Remember this we-"

Suddenly, an echidna far down the line yells, "Migatchan robots! They're climbing the castle!"

The creatures from Ka'ralei's ruins then appear, rushing over the wall and attacking the echidnas.

"If this is real... I have to help them."

.

Sonic rushes forward and spindashes through a robot, but he passes right through it.

.

"Aah! Just like those Chaos Emeralds from before. So this isn't real. Why am I seeing this, though? This is in the past, isn't it?"

.

He sees the echidnas falling in battle before him, as well as the robots who are ripped apart and broken down. He walks through their battle and far down the walkway. He turns around, still seeing them fighting.

.

"How come it isn't going away, though? Usually, by now..."

.

He starts to run forward towards a tower in the distance. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop as the battle rages on all around him, he bursts onto a floor just after a cannonball rips through the wall.

.

"Damn it! We can't hold our meetings here anymore, it's too dangerous," the priestly echidna in robes from before said.

Sonic looked back at the wall he jumped through. "So is this building the only real thing here? Maybe, in the normal world, the hole was always there. Maybe, if that's the case, then that cannonball actually was what caused it..."

"Let's move now. I've been seeing both Migatchan and Fere'nau robots well within our perimeter," another said. Several other echidnas in robes agreed anxiously. They began to quickly walk towards a spiral staircase. Sonic follows them.

"We have reports that Ka'ralei's Black Rock supply has sufficiently decreased. They have been withdrawing their forces. It is very possible that they will fall within a few days. If we attack now, we can secure their capital before any other land does."

Leaving the spiral staircase, they walk down a long and tall hallway. A large army had appeared in the mountains and slowly made its way towards the building. They shuffled forward in hurried steps, but with some collection.

"Boy, come here," one calls.

A hedgehog in dirty clothes quickly steps forward.

"Yes, sir?"

Sonic was shocked. "What? I was wondering where the hedgehogs were... but, is he..."

"You, unlock the cellar doors before us. Tell the commander we need a platoon to protect it at all times."

The hedgehog hesitated. "But, he's out on the battlefield right now..."

The echidna smacked him across the face. "That is an order from me. What, are you a traitor? Our elders were once killed because of disloyal brats like you. I am the leader, now, and I will not let myself get killed so easily, do you understand?"

"Yes, that's so, but what if I die? He won't kn-"

The echidna punches him and then grabs him by the cuff. "You do not understand. I can kill you if I think you are a threat. Nobody cares about a slave like you. Do you regret it? Do you want to die?"

The hedgehog mumbles through a bruised mouth, "No, but..."

The echidna throws him back to the ground and walks on. "Then do it, coward."

Sonic yells, "Damn you!" and spindashes at the echidna, but passes through him. "Argh... that's right, this isn't real... not right now. So the other species were their servants back then. And they treated them like this..."

.

As Sonic moves to catch up, they fade away in a wave of white. Sonic is suddenly sent back to the Void. Realizing this, he continues on. As he moves on, however, the white flashes again, bringing him back. The white flashes again, and he's returned. It happens every couple of ten seconds. As he moves on, he avoids the pits that have since appeared while making his way to the cellar. Soon he reaches the cellar, which is locked in the past but blown open in the Void. Entering it, he remains in the past and is locked from behind.

.

At the bottom of a long stairwell is a very small and cramped arcade where the leaders stood. Their cloaks were tattered and they looked disheveled.

One was pacing, and spoke frantically, "That was why. That was why. All those Black Rocks, combined... with their Chaos Emerald... no wonder, no wonder."

"Since Ka'ralei used the Chaos Emerald in warfare, every other country has. Even our general betrayed us so that he could use it..." another said slowly, sitting against a pillar.

"I regret going into this war so whole-heartedly. If it was only just a battle determined by who had more Black Rocks, then there wouldn't be so much destruction. Did you hear? Anazze doesn't even exist anymore. Do you remember that mountain range?"

The others were silent, expecting him to continue.

"It doesn't exist anymore, either! It's completely the opposite now. It's a valley. A valley! That was one energy beam, too. Just one from their damn war machine! Whose was it? Does it even matter? We're going to die."

"Our own citizens are dying for us, and here we are, lying in this cellar..." the sitting one said.

One spoke strongly, but not in an assuring tone. "Dying for us? Ha. They're fighting for their own lives right now. If they're even alive."

Another standing echidna walked towards him, angrily. "Hey, we don't need this. We're all at the brink of sanity and you're only pushing it."

"Oh? You think this will end, you fool? It's only beginning. Right now the Chaos Emeralds are in the hand of their separate countries. But soon, as casualties rise, as morale drops, people will want to end it sooner. People will get upset with the current brass. They'll get greedy. They'll fight each other to get the ultimate power: the Chaos Emerald."

"It's not going to turn out like that..."

"Bullshit. Do you think that's it, huh? It won't even end in anarchy. Someone is going to take one Emerald, and then use it to get another. And another. Do you know how much power seven Chaos Emeralds will bring? The person himself will be physically transformed with all that energy. That's why our ancestors separated them to begin with!"

"No, nobody will..."

"And what's the use of Images? They're just copies. That person will understand. The Images were made from Mechanix's design. It wasn't sheer coincidence that by his design they absorb the radiation energy... the chaos energy. Mechanix was created for that very reason. All of the Images are imperfect copies compared to the Ultimate Being."

"What are you thinking!? Are you implying..."

"Yes. That person will awaken Mechanix from his seal, that god. That god of destruction which nearly made us extinct during the Earthen Age. With the power of those seven Chaos Emeralds which were created from compressing the chaos energy all around the world into seven points, he will know a power that will be beyond anything we can ever imagine. And that person will control him, and control the fate of this dying world..."

The other man stepped forward. The other echidnas looked at him. They were all surprised. He took another step. "You have it well thought out... as if you knew such a person."

The ranting echidna cackled, and turned away from them. He began walking towards Sonic. Sonic didn't move, too irritated to bother moving.

"If I have met such a person? If I was waiting here in safety as he creates a new world? If I was absolutely dedicated to him?"

He walked through Sonic and up the stairs. Sonic turned around and watched him climb.

"If that is so, what would it matter? Wouldn't it be done with? Wouldn't everything already be in motion? Wouldn't fate be unavoidable? Wouldn't all the cards already be on the table?"

Sonic was shocked. He heard those words before.

The other echidnas crowded into the staircase.

"What are you doing? It's not safe to go out there!"

He didn't listen. "We're doomed to die, but from our ashes, we will be reborn in the greatest age. If I met such a man, there would be no way for him to be wrong. I would follow him completely, even if he told me to kill my own leaders..."

"What!?" They yelled after him as he opened the door to the cellar and went outside. Sonic quickly came after and saw that everything had changed. The horizon, in all directions, was bright red, burning, and the smoke blackened out the vast remainder of the sky. Large machines, obscured by the smoke, fired powerful beams and swept scythes across the ground. There were sporadic gunshots, but Sonic could only see robots fighting robots. He then realized that unlike the time before, the cellar wasn't inside. The building had crumbled into separate pieces behind him. He looked back to the demented echidna.

"...as if I'm the only one. There were others, willing to give up their lives... who were found dead with the mark of Alastra, with the mark of Anazze, of Ka'ralei..."

"What are you saying!?" the brave one from before screamed as he raced behind him.

Sonic then noticed one of the gigantic creatures had been walking towards them. It had many long legs supporting a large body, which was far above the cover of the smoke. It quickly made its way towards them. The echidna didn't notice it although he was looking exactly in its direction. He turned around, with a smile.

"This isn't a matter of country versus country."

It stopped. A cannon dropped from a compartment in its body and aimed towards them.

"This isn't a matter of clan versus clan."

There was a very deep humming that rumbled across the sky and through the ground. All of the echidnas began to shake from it and slowly backed towards the cellar.

"This isn't a matter of echidna versus every other species."

The cannon glowed with rays of light bursting from the cannon. Sonic was stunned by its size, but was slightly assured that it wasn't real to him. He looked back at the echidnas, though. He didn't want to see them die, despite their cowardice. He took a deep breath. Did this all really happen?

"This is beyond our simple mortality. This is beyond our time."

The cannon fired, and the blast quickly consumed the entire area in white. Sonic was surprised, but he knew he'd return back to his own time... even if he didn't know where he was. However, the white continued to stay. He turned around. The roar of the blast was long gone, but he still heard gunshots. He turned again and saw the shadow of a metal figure. The white started to fade and Sonic saw a burning inferno in front of him. The machine's parts were scattered far across the field. The blast had come from it exploding. He looked around and saw all of the echidnas thrown across the ground from the shock wave, but they were still alive. He turned to the metal figure, but it remained in shadow from the fire ahead.

"Sonic the hedgehog," a voice spoke.

Sonic jumped. He was surprised, but he felt he imagined his name. He kept on looking at the metal figure, the savior of those echidnas. However, it turned around. Sonic felt like it was looking right at him, but of course this is the past. But why...

"I have found you," the voice said.

Sonic looked back. Was that servant from before named Sonic, or...

The figure walked towards Sonic. Sonic backed up, but it moved with a definite pace. Sonic stopped and looked at it straight in its shadow-covered face. The light from the fire was so bright that it blinded him from seeing the details of this person. The figure stopped right before Sonic.

"Doctor Robotnik would like to see you."

Sonic finally recognized the figure. Just as he did, white floods past him. The figure did not disappear, however. Even as Sonic finds himself back in the Void, it stands before him.

"You have spent enough time in the past. Come, now, to the future."

The figure wisped away suddenly like it was made out of mist. They fly far away and as Sonic follows it with his eyes, he notices where it's going.

"What!"

A giant pitch-black vortex had appeared, ripping the buildings and structures apart as they swirl into its invisible center. Still surprised at just having noticed it, the building he stands on starts to rumble. His feet slowly slide as well. He puts his weight on his feet and gets composed. His destination is set.

.

In the final section of Void, Sonic will need to race through the remaining ruins as they fall apart while avoiding falling pillars and roofs that can crush him. The streamers in the background flash by faster than ever towards the vortex. The asteroid-like structures from Act 2 also fly towards it, and Sonic will need to take advantage of their gravity to stabilize himself as everything rushes towards the same point. He'll need to move even faster as bits collide and break, threatening to crush him at every turn. As he gets closer, the objects move faster. Right at the end, all he can do is jump to avoid being ripped up with the other scraps.

.

Fallen World [Act 1] (4/22)

As soon as Sonic enters the vortex, he appears in the sky flying at high speeds. The clouds are thick and very dark. He starts falling through them until he reaches a sloped hill. He hits the ground running and dashes down the hillside. The ground under him is black and covered with ash. The clouds remain overcast over the whole of his view.

He is apparently on a mountain that stands high above the surrounding land. Everywhere is dark and grayed out. There is no light. Sonic cannot see anything but rocks; there are no cities, no oceans, no vegetation.

The first quarter of the level will consist of descending the mountain. There are spires that jut out of the hills that Sonic can climb or avoid as he runs down. The geography of the ground is very irregular and angular. Some hills may burst upward and suddenly lose angle while others may just drop entirely.

As the hill slowly rolls toward the plains, there will be tunnels Sonic can enter that parallel the above-ground path. There's also floating platforms which Sonic can run and jump across if the bottom two paths are too slow. The level favors speed and with proper timing in jumping Sonic can move without stopping. Spires will also appear that will block Sonic's path unless he can jump over them or find a tunnel below them.

After covering the entire plain, Sonic will be at the foothill of another mountain range (specifically the one he saw at the beginning). There he'll meet a small, orb-shaped robot that has a klaxon in the glass dome that makes its lower half. As soon as it gets close, its alarm will go off and it will zip back and forth rapidly.

.

[Act 1 Boss]

Hitting the small robot once will free the power ring that was inside of it. However, nearby robots get alerted and fly onto the hill to confront Sonic. Sonic will recognize them immediately. They will all attack at once. There are ten Egg Robos, three Egg S-Robos, and four Egg A-Robos. After defeating them, an Egg T-Robo will roll in.

The Egg T-Robo is a large Egg Robo whose arms and legs fold over into a large shell. Its hands hold two large cannons and can freely angle them. The jet-pack remains uncovered.

- Proceeded by a five-second charge-up, it will fire its cannons in rapid, alternating succession. The beam is small enough that Sonic can jump or roll under it, but he will need to move fast to avoid every beam fired.

- Each cannon can also lock-on Sonic separately, such that when one is done firing, the other will trail Sonic with its cross-hair. Both attacks will last for 10 beams.

- It can also hover into the air using its jet-pack and will try to crush Sonic. By feinting, Sonic can race behind it.

The jet-pack is its only weakness and takes eight hits before it blows up and destroys the Egg T-Robo. Sonic can at most land three hits before the T-Robo spins around and knocks Sonic away.

.

[Act 2]

Sonic will run down the foothill and find a cavern that leads through the mountain. As he enters, he notices the walls are braced with a strange metal and is lit by dim flames. Moving further in, he will come across pits and highly angular rock formations. Some areas will be so narrow that he can only slide through them as a spinball. As he makes his way through, various robots will appear, all with power rings as sources. He will eventually come to the wet part of the cavern, where deep, purple pools will slow him down if he chooses to enter them. They all lead to a stream which Sonic can jump over using the cave's platforms. Halfway through, the stream will spill out into a deep lake and Sonic will fly out.

The sky has changed color, being lit up by a constant bright source far in the distance. The lake is polluted and filled with more robots. The water is dangerous to touch and Sonic can only jump over it using the small floating islands native to the area. As he moves on, he'll come across very tall and thick burnt trees which rise from the mire, although most are fallen and broken. Their branches curve wildly, sometimes into loop-de-loops that Sonic can run across. Regaining his speed, he will quickly find himself at the shore of the lake. There he is confronted by another robot.

.

[Act 2 Boss]

The robot is a tall biped with light armor on, wielding a sword and shield.

- It has a rapid succession of horizontal slices that Sonic will need to judge where to jump and where to roll.

- It also has a vertical slice that Sonic can avoid if he stays far enough away.

- Finally, with a few seconds of pulling back its sword, it will lock-on Sonic's position and stab.

- The robot will also thrust with its shield if Sonic is too close. It won't hurt him, but he'll be sent far back.

The robot can only be damaged during and immediately after an attack. After eight hits, its armor will break.

.

It will then throw away its shield and wield the sword with both hands.

- Its horizontal slice is replaced with a single, wide cut that will reach across the entire battlefield.

- Its vertical slice is then made rapid: its first downward slice is followed by an upward slice, then a slight charge-up period before it leaps in the air and lands a vertical slice into the ground. This charge-up period is when it calculates where Sonic is, so Sonic will need to dash under the robot if he left no room for himself to run.

- Its stabbing attack is also much more rapid, although it loses its targeting ability for an effective wall of piercing stabs.

- It will also have an attack where it cuts the sword upward from the ground so that a wave of flaming dirt is sent towards Sonic. He may make this attack several times, as well.

Sonic can land a hit at any time, and eight will finish it.

.

[Act 3]

Moving on, Sonic will immediately reach a city. It is abandoned and highly dilapidated. It is completely different from Grand City, but it also has no resemblance to any Old Mobian city. The architecture is much more fluid and curvy. Buildings are attached to each other by bridges and tunnels. Sonic will quickly find himself on the roofs of these buildings, leaping across gaps and running down the collapsing bridges. Due to the curvy nature of the buildings, Sonic can quickly find himself running up walls and even on the underside of bridges and tunnels. Loops, half-loops, and ramps will have him flying at high speeds, however even more robots are about which will create barricades against him. He will also enter some buildings for brief amounts of time which are highly compact and require quick reactions to maintain speed. The city as a whole shows signs of being once very beautiful, however everything is in ruins. Due to this factor, Sonic may find areas collapsing around him, so he needs to be quick.

At the end, Sonic will have reached the top of a toppled skyscraper. In the far distance, he can see that the source of the light comes from the top of a very tall mountain which towers above the clouds. The clouds even spiral around it menacingly, as if it wasn't even from this world. Surrounding it are the ashen fields from before, but glowing dimly with red scars that slice through the land. Just as Sonic fully takes the sight in, a robot will rocket into sight and attack.

.

[Act 3 Boss]

The battlefield is the angled top of the skyscraper, which basically consists of a sawtooth (/|/|/|) shape. The robot hovers above and is fully armored. Its shape is highly mechanical, and the top is a parabolic dome attached to a glass ring. The ring has a pulsing light which rotates within it, and the light changes color depending on the robot's action.

- When blue, the robot will open a compartment and shoot a large ball which will explode and scatter five smaller balls onto the battlefield which Sonic must avoid as they bounce around. After five seconds, they will all explode.

- When green, it drops several electric orbs which will quickly rush to the left (towards Sonic). They trace the outline of the battlefield, so Sonic must be ready to jump several times.

- When yellow, it will pull out four spike-balls connected by chains to its body. The first two will be swung towards where Sonic is. After hitting the ground, they will be dragged backwards until they're underneath the robot, then they will be pulled back. The other two will be simply launched at where Sonic is and then immediately returned to the robot's body.

- When red, the parabolic dome will shoot up, revealing its glass core. It will begin to charge up an attack, allowing Sonic a chance to damage it. Due to the sawtooth shape of the battlefield, he will have to spindash or collect enough speed and jump in order to get enough height to reach the hovering robot.

- After charging for ten seconds, it will fire eight beams from its core in all eight directions (up, up-left, left, down-left, etc.), and then rotate the beams 45 degrees clockwise. In order to remain unhurt, Sonic will need to move slowly up the angled ground in phase with the rotation.

After eight hits, the robot will go down in flames.

.

[Act 4]

Sonic will then leap off of the skyscraper and find himself running down a broken aqueduct-like structure (actually a walkway). After shortly reaching ground level again, he will enter the burning fields that surround the towering mountain. The ash has not yet settled, however everything is still charred. Ponds, forests, and even buildings can be seen, although they are all in a process of destruction. Nearly everything still glows from embers and small fires. It will be similar in design to Act 1, however the land is much more torn up, with much more tunnels, floating platforms, and irregular geography. There are also large craters that Sonic can gain speed in from the curves, and areas that burn with a white ember which hurt Sonic if he touches it. Robots will also be more present, which is partly a boon due to the rings they provide.

Halfway through, Sonic will come to a very large canyon that he will have noticed earlier, as it stretches far in a wide swath in front of the gigantic mountain. The mountain's base itself will begin to be visible, too. The valley is much too wide for Sonic to leap over, so he must descend the chasm using the ubiquitous floating platforms and the crags in the canyon's walls. The bottom is nearly entirely covered in white-hot fires, with lava even erupting in some areas. Avoiding the eruptions which block his path, Sonic must check his speed in order to cross the deadly bottom. He'll then climb the other wall for a short while before a robot suddenly attacks from the air.

.

[Act 4 Boss]

The robot has several rockets which keeps it stabilized in the air and also two extendable arms with large, sharp teeth gears on their ends.

- The robot will first strike at Sonic with its lower arm and by jumping on it, Sonic will gain a platform.

- The robot will then thrust its second arm above him and begin to move up the canyon wall.

Directly facing Sonic on the main body of the robot is a mechanical eye covered by a transparent shield. In both arms is a hole near the wall which Sonic can fall through (the lower arm) or wall-jump through (the upper) if he needs to.

- The robot will start its attacks by showering small laser bullets in a line from its main body down the upper arm. With proper timing, Sonic can run through the gap.

- As the robot accrues more hits, it will have the laser bullets fire in the opposite direction as well. After doing this, it will then fire a collection of the tiny laser cannons around Sonic's position so that he will have to run to escape the blasts. Every "hit" from a collection of these laser bullets will damage that arm. There is usually three "hits" per attack round.

- Another attack involves both arms, where several metal paddles or shot out of the arms at varying heights. There is a difference in height between two paddles in the same pair, such that Sonic can jump or roll through the gap. The paddles will move towards the canyon wall, and if Sonic does not move fast enough, he will fall through the arm's hole (or have to wall-jump on to the upper arm). The paddles will be re-shot so that Sonic has about a dozen hurdles before the attack stops.

- There are also two laser cannons mounted on a ring around the eye which will begin revolving before firing. Due to the lasers revolving, Sonic will not avoid the attack if he stays between the upper and lower arms.

If the lower arm is hit about nine times, it will slowly pull out of the canyon wall until the gear is completely removed. Then the entire body will rotate around the upper arm, and the lower arm will then pierce the canyon wall and function as the new upper arm. To avoid this, Sonic needs to get on the old upper arm before he falls.

- If Sonic is on the upper arm before this happens, the robot will launch three slow homing missiles at Sonic from its backside. If Sonic avoids them, they will hit the upper arm and cause damage.

Similarly, if the upper arm is hit about nine times, it will pull out of the canyon wall until the gear is removed, then whip around the lower arm, making the old lower arm the new upper. Although Sonic can just stand still and stay alive, if he stays too long, a paddle will push him into the arm's hole, forcing him to fall.

When one arm receives about twenty-seven hits in total, it will blow apart. The remaining arm will function as a lower arm and the paddle and laser shower attack will end. However, the homing missile attack will remain. The rotating laser attack will also remain, but because of its short duration, Sonic can simply wall-jump off the canyon walls to avoid it. Once the second arm receives twenty-seven hits, the robot will have reached the top of the canyon. Sonic then has a few seconds to jump onto the ground before the arm blows up.

The robot then floats above Sonic with its eye facing downwards. It will float left to right and keep its homing missile attack, as well as its laser attack (Sonic must then run to one side to avoid it).

- Additionally, it will open its shield, causing the eye to fall out. However, it is connected by a steel cord and will be swung back and forth like from the Green Hill Zone boss battle in Sonic 1. Sonic will only be damaged if he is standing as it swings at him.

As a spinball in any form he can damage it. Eight hits will cause a chain reaction from the eye to the main robot, causing it to burst apart.

.

The Apex [Act 1] (4/23)

Sonic finally reaches the great mountain. As he climbs, the angle will become steeper and steeper. Only a few, weak robots will harass him as he makes his ascent. At first he can run, but soon he can only jump in order to make it up. After breaking back above the clouds which spiral violently around the mountain, the slope will essentially be a cliff. Although there may be chasms that are flatter, for the most part Sonic will be needing to wall jump off floating rocks in order to reach a ledge. After a while, Sonic will have to wall jump several times in order to even make it to one ledge. However, at this point, he has less than ten ledges to climb before he reaches the summit.

The summit is brightened by the light source Sonic noticed earlier. He can hardly see it through the dense clouds, however. The summit's ground is completely flat, as if it was made artificially. In a short walk, Sonic will pass ruins that are both ancient and advanced, with the same architecture as from the city. Just as the ruins begin to form a coherent structure, they disappear. The ground is scathed, but in a manner that is subtly different from before. In the middle of the peak, Sonic will see the metal figure from the Void standing before him.

.

"Hello, Sonic."

Sonic looked back at him. He could see him clearly now. His body was very sleek, although covered in spikes. His eyes were completely dark except for the glowing blue iris. His body flowed like fire, even by simply standing. He held a very powerful presence. However, Sonic was not intimidated. He stared at him with ferocity.

"You remained in the Special Zone for too long, however now you can see Robotnik's grand design," he said.

"When did you gain the ability to talk? Mechanix," Sonic responded coolly.

"With all seven of the Chaos Emeralds, all of my abilities are unlocked. That was how I was designed," he answered plainly.

Sonic did not budge. "This is where the Black Emerald landed, wasn't it? It's where the portal led to... Robotnik already has it, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

There was a moment of silence. Sonic then said, "Back then you got the Chaos Emeralds, too. During the Second Great Age."

Mechanix moved his head. "You saw something in the Special Zone."

"How many people did you kill?" Sonic glared at Mechanix's cold eyes.

"I am not allowed to remember as Doctor Robotnik ordered."

Sonic took a step forward. "Shut up. How many people did you kill? Tell me. You can remember."

"I am not-"

Sonic yelled, "I don't care what Robotnik ordered! You're just a weapon. I'm sick of you and Robotnik running away. I'm sick of people dying. I'm sick of your meaningless killing."

Mechanix did not respond.

Sonic put his hand to his head and laughed. "Hahaha. I pummeled you how many times? Wasn't it four? You aren't even supposed to be alive. In fact, you have a very annoying tendency of not being dead. Haha."

Sonic looked at Mechanix with a smile. "I've followed you into space, across reality, to fight on an entire's world fucking grave?! I'm sick of this shit. I'll beat you down every time you revive. Does it matter how many times it'll be? You can't stop me. I'm invincible."

Mechanix moved his head again. "Sonic, even if you wish to destroy me, Doctor Robotnik's orders are in priority. You will die before I am destroyed."

"You can think for yourself, can't you? You can speak for yourself, at least. Why are you following him? He's nothing but a murderer," Sonic asked. He remembers all of Robotnik's Apocalypses. "He's a mass murderer."

"He revived me from my seal. I am programmed to follow whoever awakens me. That was how I was designed."

Sonic walked around Mechanix. "That's it, then. That's all you are."

He looked away. He was tense, but not angry. He looked into the clouds.

"Where are we?"

Mechanix responded, "This is an unnamed planet that rests in a very far galaxy from Mobius. It was home to tribal creatures which engaged in wars often, until the Black Emerald had landed. They built their civilization around it and were quickly advancing."

Sonic didn't move, in shock. Another planet?

"They would reach the technological and social status of Mobius' civilization within a century."

He looked at the dark clouds swirling before him. He remembered how everything was burnt to ash. He remembered how close to this mountain, embers were still burning...

"As commanded by Doctor Robotnik, the entire planet was to be destroyed."

Sonic quickly turned. "Did you do all of that?"

"Doctor Robotnik sent you here so that you may see his grand design."

Sonic then noticed the source of light behind Mechanix, hovering deep in the clouds. It was moving closer the entire time. The giant ball of light had suddenly entered the spinning clouds, and they moved even more erratically and violently. They swirled and slowly whisked away, and a shape began to emerge from the clouds. It was bathed in lights of varying colors, blinding Sonic as the cloud cover no longer obscured them. The clouds rolled off of it, and Sonic almost thought that it was a giant cloud itself. As the clouds uncovered its body, Sonic was continually shocked at how large it was getting. It would not stop increasing in size. Sonic could already not see the entire thing, as it was larger than his eyes could see, even from this distance miles away. As he got used to the brightness, he saw how complex it was. It had thousands of turrets, as small as a person to ones attached to the side that were a mile wide. It had tens of thousands of windows and a countless number of floors. There were several massive wings, and even larger engines that expelled jets of flame miles thick. It consumed the sky with its size, and the stars disappeared under its light.

"With the Black Emerald, he was finally able to power all systems. This battleship, the Eraser Egg, was tested here for its ability to destroy a world."

Sonic saw on the hull of the impossible ship an emblem of Robotnik's face.

"It succeeded."

Sonic then realized that the canyon he crossed earlier had the same diameter as one of the cannons on the ship. It wasn't the largest one. He remembered how the land was split and turned up on itself. He remembered how the skyscraper was toppled. He remembered how even the underground water was polluted. Most of all, he remembered how everything, every single thing that he saw, was completely charred.

Mechanix stepped forward. "Sonic, having you see this was Doctor Robotnik's order. Now that it is complete, his existing order remains to be completed. You must die."

Sonic could not respond.

.

[Act 1 Boss : MECHANIX LV. 5 [ 'GRANDMASTER' : ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ] ]

On top of the mountain as night battles against the light given from the Eraser Egg, as dark clouds roil and turn, their flows disturbed by its gigantic mass, the battle takes place.

- Mechanix will start out with a speed so high that it essentially is teleporting. However, as he takes damage he will slow down.

- His slice attack leads to a 20-slash combo that will give Sonic only a few seconds to recover his rings.

- He will attack bare-handed much more often, trying to hit Sonic and get him into a dangerous combo.

- His dash is instantaneous, so Sonic must estimate the proper time beforehand to evade.

- He can hover infinitely, now.

- He can fire his charged laser beam multiple times.

- His rapid-fire laser cannon can fire twice as fast.

- If he continually charges his beam, it will end up being so large that Sonic cannot avoid it. To stop it, he has to attack Mechanix while he charges (he'll never be too high in the air for this).

- He can hover in the air and fire lasers from left to right, which Sonic must stop between to stay unhurt.

- He can also fire a plasma ball that bounces off the ground if it doesn't hit Sonic. He will then whack it to send it at Sonic again with a faster speed. After a few whacks, it will just fly away.

- He also has a temporary impenetrable white shield that he can spread around himself, which he will often do (but not always).

After five hits, his movements will stop appearing to be instantaneous and will be around four times Sonic's speed. After five more, Mechanix will slow to three times Sonic's speed. After five more, two times. Only after ten more hits will Mechanix be only slightly faster than Sonic. Mechanix will take thirty hits in total before falling.

.

After defeating Mechanix, Sonic drops to his knees, exhausted. He gasps for breath. He looks up at the Eraser Egg, which is starting to move again. That gigantic warship was powered by the Black Emerald. That warship burnt down an entire planet. He defeated Mechanix with all the Chaos Emeralds, so maybe it won't be as overwhelming as it seems like.

Sonic then remembered the images he saw of Old Mobius when the echidnas went onto the surface for the first time after the first Great Age. It was completely white, scathed of any life, just like here. After the event that caused the entire world to be like that, the Black Emerald was exiled here. The power of that Emerald is beyond reckoning. It is only an amplifier of energy, but how many times does it amplify that energy?

Suddenly, a shadow loomed immediately before him. He gasped and jumped backwards onto his feet. Mechanix stood again, without any signs of damage.

"What?! I just defeated you! You shouldn't be standing!"

"You must die."

Mechanix walked forward and charged up his laser cannon. Sonic prepared himself, but then noticed that Mechanix's chest was slightly open. The Chaos Emeralds within glowed. He looked back at him fiercely, when a voice rang out from Mechanix.

"All preparations are complete. Mechanix, return to the Eraser Egg immediately, we are going to Mobius. We will leave through the portal in fifteen minutes, so hurry up!"

Mechanix had paused to listen, and in that time Sonic spindashed. As soon as the call was finished, he crashed right into his chest, forcing it open. The Chaos Emeralds spilled out and Mechanix skidded across the ground. He quickly grabbed them, and in an instant transformed into Super Sonic. He dashed to where Mechanix was and beat him down. Mechanix used his white shield, deflecting him, and when the shield disappeared he had already made it to the Chaos Emeralds.

They span around him and re-entered his chest. Energy burst from him and he glowed for a few seconds.

"I can repair myself, Sonic. You cannot win."

Sonic heard a large boom from behind him and quickly whipped around to see the air bending in front of the Eraser Egg's nose. It turned in a spiral and slowly grew larger.

"That must be the portal. I don't have time for this!"

He rams into Mechanix and flies off towards the battleship. This is Sonic's final chance to stop Robotnik!