CHAPTER 3-1
-When Geeks Attack-
When the background was being drawn, not much could be seen except for a flat ground, but as soon as everything was colored in, everything looked pixilated. It was almost like a huge 8-bit world, but that really wasn't the case here. There's the green grass and the dirt below it, along with some pixilated bushes as well. It's almost like Lineland Road, but it wasn't so pixilated like this place.
The yellow door appeared and out came Chopper and Kirby. They looked a bit confused when they saw this whole world. It felt so…strange to them.
"What the heck? What kind of world is THIS?" Chopper questioned, looking up at the pixilated clouds and the sky. "It reminds me so much of…when I was four. The background back then felt so weird compared to what it is today."
"Poyo, (I can agree with you on that,)" Kirby nodded. "Poyo. (It kinda reminds me of back then as well.)"
"So this is where that door leads…" Tippi trailed. "I suppose the next Pure Heart must be nearby…"
"Wait, it's nearby?" Chopper questioned.
"Hmm… This is odd… I can feel it nearby, but where could it be…" Tippi pondered. "Well, I'm—AAACK!"
"HUH?!" Chopper noticed a long, sticky pink tongue grab Tippi out of nowhere. "What in the world was THAT?!"
"Poyo! (I have no idea!)" Kirby shrieked.
"Ner-herrrr herrr herrr herr!" a geeky voice chortled, making Chopper and Kirby shiver in fear. No… It couldn't be THAT kind of voice, was it? The voice that sounds like…someone who's…a geek.
A green chameleon wearing spiral glasses, a yellow T-shirt with a Mushroom and star on it and a belt filled with many gadgets appeared before their very eyes. Chopper and Kirby shivered, yet they got in a fighting stance.
"I knew it! …A nerd!" Chopper shouted.
"HI-TECHNICAAAAAAAL! I caught a super-rare pixilated butterfly! And it looks exactly like Francine!" the nerdy chameleon said in a nerdy voice. "My friends at digibutter. nerr are going to freak when they get word of this find! I must bring it home. I can't miss this week's episode of 'Grodus vs Gemerl Affairs'! No way am I going to entrust my digital Recordomeow to tape an episode so epic. This is so hi-tecnicaaaaaaal!
"Give Tippi back, you geek!" Chopper tried to jump on him, but he disappeared before his very eyes. "No! Tippi! She's…gone!"
"Poyo? (Now what're we going to do?)" Kirby cried.
"Whoa-ho-ho! A kidnapping! It's Game Over for that Pixl now… It's such a shame that that geek has to go nab another butterfly… Is he seriously into butterflies or something?" the voice that whispered to itself sounded like a Pixl voice, which got Chopper and Kirby's surprise. It was coming from one of the bushes.
"Hey… That voice sounded like a Pixl! …But from who?" Chopper walked over to one of the bushes and he shook it until a Pixl shaped like a spiked ball came out, frowning at the two heroes.
"Who are these two? A friend of the butterfly girl that got nabbed?" the Pixl questioned.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Chopper asked.
"Oh, me? Well…er… My name's Barry. I'm not one to go talking to people, but since you found me out, I guess I'll have to talk to you. So, you're friends of that butterfly girl, right? Well, that's a pity. That geek that grabbed her? Francis. Basically, the nerd to end all nerds."
"Poyo… (Yeah, he seems like a nerd for sure…)" Kirby agreed.
"Plus, he's got this thing for butterflies! And, well, all things nerdy, too. If he gets his sweaty mitts on something he likes, there's no getting it back. He collects stuff and keeps it in his big fantasy fortress. It's like geek paradise."
"So, where can we find Fort Francis anyway?" Chopper asked. "I'm pretty sure someone of your intellect can tell us where that place is."
"Whoa now, you want to know where Fort Francis is? I mean, come on, look, nobody likes having their butterfly kidnapped by a geek, but it's dangerous! You might possible get…geekified."
"Geekified? I'm pretty sure we can handle that place. Trust me, I've been through worse situations than THAT. I mean, I had to TRAVEL THROUGH TARTAMOS! I even took down an entire species, for that matter! …But just barely…with friends."
"Still set on it, eh?" Barry raised an eyebrow. "What a tender moment. I think I got something in my eye here. Listen, let me give you some travel tips. You listening? Good. All I got for you is three critical tips, so remember all of 'em!"
Barry cleared his throat. "Here's your first tip! A bunch of no-class jerks are holed up in this castle up ahead. It ain't gonna be easy getting past 'em. But here's the juice: it's an old castle. You do your thing with that red X mark, and maybe something will happen for you. Now for my second tip! If you somehow pass those clowns in the castle, you'll see an ocean. Can't miss it. A scaaarrry sea monster lives there. The beast is huuuuuuuuuge. And cranky. But if you attack its red flipper thing, something good is bound to happen. And here's the last tip! Once you swim your way through that ocean, you'll see a path that takes you to a humongous tree. The path is long, but it shouldn't be tough. Also, there's a huge gorge on the other side of the tree. There's no jumping across it! Look for the red wind and do something with it. Then you can get across."
"All right, that sounds like good advice," Chopper smirked.
"Oh, and just to remind you… I think I'm gonna have to tag along with you. Yeah, I know it sounds a bit…strange, but I think it's best. Plus, I feel like I'm getting the 'hero instinct' coming from you two. Perhaps I can be of good use to you."
Barry circled around Chopper and Kirby and they both held him up as soon as he was above them.
The Superguarding Pixl, Barry, has joined your group! Using his ability, you'll be able to deflect any attacks sent straight at you! …Or you can simply strike an enemy from close by with his ability!
"All right, so now that we've become friends… I think we need to go look for your, er…girlfriend, right?" Barry looked up at Chopper, who gave him a glare while he began to blush.
"Tippi isn't my girlfriend, you know…" he retorted. "WHY does everyone think that any girl in my group is considered to be my girlfriend? First Bow, then Vivian, and then Heartsy! Gimme a break!"
"Poyo. (Well, there's not much else to do now. I think we ought to get going, then.)" Kirby suggested, making his way over to a small gap leading down to a bottomless pit ahead.
"This should be easy," Chopper smirked as he jumped across the gap and over to some hills with some Motobugs moving around. They would have to jump up these, since there's a tall pipe in their way.
"These guys should be easy to beat," Chopper said with ease as he stomped on the Motobugs. Kirby, on the other hand, inhaled a Koopa on one of the hills and spat it out at the Piranha Plant at the top of the pipe that popped out, defeating it instantly.
When they made their way to another bottomless pit, they noticed two red pipes on each side of the edge. "Poyo… (Well, there's no way we're going down there, that's for sure…)" Kirby trailed.
"Hmmmmm… Let's see what's around here." Chopper flipped into 3-D to find a yellow arrow block right by the pipe. He hit it to bring it to 2-D, then he flipped back. "Let's see where this leads."
Chopper jumped onto the top of the pipe to find another block. After punching it, a ladder was drawn for them, allowing them to climb up to a platform with a red door. Now they knew where to go…
Walking into the next area, they noticed that there were these large gaps and even some small little grassy spaces that looked tough to jump over. But the interesting thing there was the yellow ? right next to the door.
"Poyo? (What's in here?)" Kirby wondered as he hit the block. To their surprise, a Mega Star came bouncing out.
"Holy crap! I'm getting this one!" Chopper rushed straight for the Mega Star, but Kirby pushed him away and grabbed it first, transforming into Mega Kirby.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Chopper shouted, almost about to swear for missing the Mega Star. But, he had to follow Kirby through the area as he destroyed everything in his path, from Motobugs, Buzz Bombers and Koopas.
"Wow… This does seem to be a bit of a bigger place to use the Mega Star…" he stated, looking up at the atmosphere.
"Too bad I don't have one of those…" Chopper whimpered, jumping across the bottomless pits to follow Kirby. After he smashed through a pipe, his Mega Star ability wore off, bringing him to a red door.
"Poyo… (Aw… I was hoping that I would be able to use it longer…)" Kirby wailed.
"Don't worry, we'll find one some other time…but that one will be mine," Chopper smirked as they walked into another area. They weren't all the way to the left this time, but they were in the middle. There were a TON of blocks around here, too.
When they landed on the ground, a Koopa was caught off guard and ran to the right, hitting a ? Block to get a Mega Star from it.
"Wait… Now a KOOPA can use something like that?!" Chopper gaped, seeing how big the Koopa turned out to be. It was an 8-bit kind of Koopa, just like in the original Super Mario Bros. games.
"Poyo…? (Uhh… What do we do now…?)" Kirby asked.
"The only thing we CAN do is RUN!" Chopper immediately turned around and fled from the Mega Koopa. Kirby did the same thing, even though it wasn't easy for him to get away from the Koopa.
"Let's see what's in here," Chopper managed to find another ? Block, and luckily, a Mega Star came out. THIS time he was the one to get it, and with that, he was able to turn into Mega Chopper.
"YES! Now I've got the Mega Star! …But will it actually do anything to the Koopa?" Chopper took a couple of steps toward the Mega Koopa and, to his surprise, he knocked it away. He then proceeded to the right, destroying everything in his path until he turned back to normal and found a blue ! Switch and a sign.
"Poyo? (What does the sign say?)" Kirby questioned. He decided to be the one to read it, but it looked extremely confusing to him.
sepip der eht eewteb ni llaff
"What the heck? Those words look backwards…" Chopper tried to get a closer look at it. "Well, if you unscramble the words, or read it backwards here, I think it says, 'fall in between the red pipes'. Yeah… I think I remember there being two pipes back in that other area."
"Poyo! (Then let's go there!)" Kirby suggested after hitting the blue ! Switch, making a platform appear at the red door. Now they were ready to leave this area.
Over by the red pipes-
"All right, so basically we have to climb down this ladder and go down that pit between the red pipes. I think that's all we have to do." Chopper explained, looking down at the pit from the door they just came out of.
"Poyo… (OK, that sounds pretty simple…)" Unfortunately, Kirby accidentally hit Chopper, making him fall down into the pit. "POYO! (CHOPPER! ARE YOU OK?!)"
"OOF! …YEAH, I GUESS I'M FINE! …BUT NEXT TIME, DON'T TURN AROUND WHEN YOU'RE CLOSE TO ME!" Chopper shouted from the pit.
Kirby shrugged and he floated down the pit. He noticed that he and Chopper were in this underground area, but it felt a lot different from the other ones. This one…seemed a lot like the underground area in World 1-2 in the original Super Mario Bros.!
"Heads, up, Kirby! We've got some Gloombas coming at us!" Chopper warned, pointing to the two blue Goombas that were walking their way. Luckily, Chopper finished them off with two stomps.
"Poyo? (Does all of this Goomba stomping caused genocide or something?)" Kirby questioned after exhaling a puff of air out and landing on the ground.
"I don't know… I think Mario's caused some genocide, that's for sure…" Chopper hit the ? Blocks that were right next to them. One of them contained a Mushroom for them to gorge down on.
They then jumped over the blocks that were piled up, ignoring the Gloomba walking between two of the blocks and made their way to two Koopas. Chopper immediately stomped on one and kicked it at the other, knocking it back over to a pipe where two Gloombas were near.
"Poyo… (That Koopa shell didn't defeat those Goombas…)" Kirby gawked. "Poyo! (If only Tippi were here, she'd be able to find some info on these guys!)"
"Yeah…" Chopper stopped when he saw a Piranha Plant pop out of the pipe. "Maybe it's time we used your ability, Barry! Maybe you can take care of these Piranha Plants!" Chopper found himself in a spiky shield when he jumped toward the Piranha Plant, defeating it instantly.
"My powers are mostly good for deflecting abilities," Barry informed. "It's kind of like Superguarding, if that's something you've done before."
"Yeah, I've done it before," Chopper used a spinning kick on the other Piranha Plant over by the next pipe, defeating that one and jumping over the other pipe that led up to a gap that led to some stairs.
"Poyo! (This should be easy!)" Kirby simply jumped over the pit and went up the blue blocks that formed stairs. He saw a couple of platforms moving down and also goes moving up. In between those was a platform with some blocks and a Koopa with a red shell and sunglasses.
"That must be one of Tipral's minions," Chopper stated as he stomped on the Koopa and kicked it off the cliff. "I'm betting that the ones without them belong to Bowser, while the others are Tipral's. It makes sense."
After they both crossed the platforms moving up, they came across a pipe that led them back outside in the Bitlands.
"We're back out? Interesting…" After taking a few steps, they both ran into two Koopas with soccer-like shells and even soccer shells. These guys are called Toopa Strikers, and boy, do they enjoy soccer!
"Poyo… (Uh oh… Looks like we have company...)" Kirby gaped as both of them got hit by two soccer shells.
"Looks like we're gonna have to fight back," Chopper pushed the shell off of him and then he kicked it straight at the Toopa Striker, knocking him back. Once he was flipped over, he beat him down with a stomp attack.
Kirby took care of the other Toopa Striker by inhaling him and spitting him out at the other soccer shell, defeating him instantly. This allowed them move on, defeating more Toopa Strikes, but then more Toopa Strikers appeared on a row of ? Blocks.
"This should be easy," Chopper knocked the Toopa Striker on the block into his shell by punching the block he was standing on. They kind of ignored the other one for now and moved on ahead.
"HAAAALT!"
On the fort was a Toopa Striker in blue called a Koopa Striker, which looked down at Chopper and Kirby as they stepped closer to a small, pixilated castle.
"Yeah, you two! This is our fort! And we don't like chumps like you two geekin' up the place! You're about to get flattened into a pancake, courtesy of my shell!"
The Koopa Striker turned. "Come on out, fellas!" With one whistle, a couple of Buzz Bombers, Motobugs and Hammer Bros. jumped out of the castle, getting into their fighting stances.
"YEAAAAHHH!"
"Come and get some, punks!" the Koopa Striker pulled a soccer shell out and he kicked it straight at Chopper, only to inhale it and spit it straight back at him, knocking him away and leaving only some Hammer Bros., Motobugs and Buzz Bombers.
"Those Buzz Bombers might be tough to get, since they're flying up high. I think you should grab one of the other enemies and throw it at that thing. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to hit it."
"Poyo! (Got it!)" Kirby used Thoreau's ability to grab the Motobug and throw it at the Buzz Bomber, knocking it down to the ground to allow Chopper to finish it with a spinning kick. He then deflected a hammer with Barry, sending it straight back at him instead.
"All right, let's see what we have up ahead," Chopper jumped off of the small castle and he found another one up ahead. This time there was a Bill Blaster that was firing Bullet Bills, but not at them.
"I think I could get something from those… Let's see!" Chopper inhaled the Bullet Bill and he suddenly gained a light blue, floppy hat. He was holding a bomb, which he threw straight at the Bill Blaster.
"Poyo… (I don't think that's enough to take it down… You're going to need more, Chopper…)" Kirby informed.
"Yeah, yeah… I know that." Chopper pulled another bomb out and tossed it at the Bill Blaster. This time he managed to destroy it, leaving a Buzz Bomber and two Motobugs on the castle.
When they got up on the castle, Kirby took care of the two Motobugs by using Barry's ability, while Chopper grabbed a bomb and threw it at the Buzz Bomber, blowing it up entirely.
"Ah! I see the red X over at the bigger castle! Hero, do you see it?" Barry glanced over at the larger castle filled with Hammer Bros., Motobugs and Buzz Bombers.
"I can see it all right… I'll do what you said before and blow it up." Chopper and Kirby made their way over to the larger castle. With one bomb placed in front of it, the whole castle began to explode.
"WHHOOOOOAAAA!"
All of the enemies in the castle began to fall from the sky, landing on the ground around Chopper and Kirby. They didn't seem too injured, which wasn't good.
"Oooooog… That hurt…" a Motobug moaned. "All right, listen here, you two! Nobody, and I mean NOBODY trashes our castle like that! I think you guys are gonna have to pay for that!"
"Pay for it? So… How much do we need to give you?" Chopper pulled out a couple of coins.
"Oh, shut it, you!" the Buzz Bomber snapped. "That fort was so cool! …But then you and your pink friend came and ruined it all for us! Try to escape all you want, but you're surrounded!"
Chopper clenched his fists and got in his battle stance, along with Kirby. "Listen here, you guys! We don't have time to fight you guys! We've got a Pixl girl to rescue. Seriously, it's important!"
"Hey! I get what you're trying to do!" the Motobug blurted out. "You're trying to rescue your girlfriend, is that it? Man… Boys sure do love to rescue their girlfriends, that's for sure…"
Chopper pulled a bomb out and threw it straight at the Motobug, making all of the enemies aim their weapons straight at him.
"Poyo… (You just HAD to do it…)" Kirby sighed.
But before they could get blasted, they heard a sound coming closer to them. It sounded like the sound…of someone dashing toward them in a ball.
Chopper's antennae sprung up as he saw a blue ball crash through all of the Motobugs and Hammer Bros. and jump over them to finish off the rest of the enemies around. The blue ball uncurled himself and was facing away from them.
"So, I guess you guys didn't expect me to come here, huh?" the blue hedgehog turned around, smirking at the two heroes while waggling his finger.
"Sonic!"
"Poyo! (Sonic!)"
"Chopper! Kirby! Man! I didn't expect to see you here!" Sonic gaped. "…Well, actually, I was told by some injured Koopa that you guys were roaming around here, so I decided to make my way here as well!"
"Sonic… How did you even GET here?" Chopper questioned.
"Well, it's kind of a long story… After that 'event' in that castle on your planet, I found myself in this strange place. It looked a bit peaceful…until our enemies showed up. I don't know why Tipral summoned them either. Afterward, I found myself in a dark world and then I somehow escaped before being brainwashed… But I'm glad that I'm somewhere safe. It wasn't a safe place out there… Anyway, what are you two doing here?"
"It's a long story too," Chopper warned. "And I mean it's a LONG story. It might take a while for you to understand the whole thing, but I think it might be a bit important, considering that we're in a BAD situation…"
A couple of minutes later-
"…And now we're trying to rescue Tippi from that nerd Francis," Chopper finished.
"Hmmmmmm… Sounds a bit interesting to me!" Sonic said with a surprised look. "So you need to collect twenty Pure Hearts to save the universe from The Void? That sort of reminds me of the Crystal Stars… But this time Tipral is the one that summoned it. Listen, Chopper… I don't think you can do this on your own. Oh, no. I think I'm gonna need to help you with this."
"Really? You're going to help us?"
"Well, I think it's best that we stick together," Sonic responded. "I mean, after that incident, we can't lose each other again. If we're going to stop Tipral, then we have to work together! C'mon, Chopper! I bet it'll be fun!"
"I suppose you're right on that, Sonic. It's best to stay together. …Welcome to the team!"
Sonic has joined Chopper's party! With him, he can run fast just like Chopper and even jump in the air with his Spin Jump. This allows him to hit any enemy above him without getting hurt… Or he could attack an enemy by using his Homing Attack. If he ducks, he can also perform a Spin Dash that is capable of knocking through enemies!
"So, how about we get going, huh?" Sonic suggested, making a pose.
"Huh? Sonic?!" All three of them were interrupted by a familiar voice coming from the right. They noticed Dr. Eggman hovering above the ground in his Egg Mobile. "…And not to mention that boy Chopper as well!"
"Eggman? What are you doing here?" Sonic questioned.
"I should be asking the same thing to you, my friend. To think I was the only one around this world… I can't even find my way back! But now that you're here, I have someone to toy with! …Better yet, I have THREE to toy with!"
"Sorry, Eggman, but I don't think you're going to do such a thing," Chopper objected, pointing to him.
"There's nothing stopping me, though. Allow me to introduce you to my ultimate weapon!"
Eggman pressed a button and a ball and chain appeared Eggman's Egg Mobile. "Behold! This…is my greatest creation!"
Sonic snorted. "That's it? That's the best you could come up with? Oh, come on! That's… That's just LAME! I mean, you had a huge robot back in Starlite Galaxy for Pete's sake!"
"Yes… Well… Er… This one has a powerful attack! Allow me to test it out on you!" Eggman pressed a button and the ball connected to his hovercraft began to come toward the blue hedgehog. But, since it was too slow for him, he simply stepped out of the way.
"Pbbbbth! I don't even need my speed to avoid this thing!" Sonic scoffed, forcing Eggman to press another button that made it go faster. "Whoa! …All right, now you're playing tough…"
"So, you three… Shall we get started? As soon as I'm done with you, then I can finally make my way out of here and back to my own world!" Eggman tried to hit Sonic once again, but he jumped out of the way and struck his floating device, making Eggman cringe from the damage it caused to his machine.
"Oof! You little…!" Eggman gaped, knocking Sonic away successfully with the giant ball below his Egg Mobile. Chopper immediately charged straight at Eggman's machine and fired Hommissile straight at him.
"Whoa… What's that thing you got with ya?" Sonic asked.
"This? This is a Pixl. They give you these cool abilities. Here. Why don't you try Barry? Maybe he'll be helpful." Chopper handed Barry over to Sonic, who gladly took him.
"Let's see what I can do with him!" Sonic managed to shield himself in spiked shield, protecting him from the giant ball. It ended up hitting Eggman's machine instead, causing some massive damage.
"Urgh… My machine!" Eggman wailed, pulling his blaster out and firing straight at Sonic. "That ball may be slow, but THIS isn't!"
"Poyo! (I got this!)" Kirby jumped in an inhaled the laser fired toward Sonic and then he spat it out at Eggman's Egg Mobile, stunning it and allowing Sonic to deliver a Spin Jump upon the mech.
"If only I can get him down to the ground, I could take him out with a Spin Dash…" Sonic grumbled, jumping once again to perform a Homing Attack on Eggman's hovercraft.
However, Eggman still had a trick up his sleeve. He managed to stun Sonic with one shot from his blaster, keeping him from moving for a bit.
"Oh ho ho ho ho! Now you're stunned!" Eggman cackled. "This should be easy…OOF!" Eggman got knocked back by Chopper's spinning kick attack. He then grabbed Sonic and pulled him away from Eggman.
"While Sonic's stunned, we gotta take care of him, Kirby," Chopper stated.
"Poyo! (Yeah, we got this!)" Kirby inhaled another blast that Eggman fired at them and spat it back out at his Egg Mobile, while Chopper managed to bounce off Kirby's head and land right on Eggman's head.
"Grrrrr! Get off of me!" Eggman swatted Chopper off of him by smacking him across the face with his blaster, leaving a red mark on his face.
"OWWWW!" Chopper cried, rubbing his bruised cheek. "That seriously hurt!"
"That's what happens when you try to jump on me, you fool!" Eggman scoffed.
"Urg…" The paralysis on Sonic ended up wearing off, allowing him to move again. "Yeah! Now I'm finally able to start moving again! YEAH!" Sonic charged straight at Eggman, curling up into a ball and striking him with one jump.
"I wish Tippi was here… She could give some information on Eggman…" Chopper muttered before firing Hommissile straight at Eggman's machine.
They could see all of the sparks coming from Eggman's machine, meaning that this fight was most likely going to be finished soon, until Chopper and Kirby got stunned by Eggman's stunner.
"This should be only between you and me, Sonic!" Eggman stated, lowering his blaster and grinning at Sonic.
"Chopper! Kirby!" Sonic gaped as he saw his two friends paralyzed. He turned back to Eggman, clenching his fist. "All right, Eggy! I think you crossed the line far enough! …Though you have done it a couple of times already…"
"Yeah, I know…and it feels so good!" Eggman pressed a green button and his ball began to spin around incredibly fast. "Let's see you get through this one, Sonic!"
"Oh, I will!" Sonic grinned as he looked at Barry. "C'mon! I think you'll be of good use here!"
"I'll make sure I give you as much help as you need," Barry assured, surrounding Sonic in a spiked shield as he rushed toward Eggman. With one jump, he managed to slice the ball in half and strike Eggman's Egg Mobile, blowing it up instantly.
"I HATE YOU, SONIC!" Eggman yelled as he flew far from here. Unfortunately, there was no talking to him, that's for sure…
"Whew… I thought for a second I wasn't going to pull it off!" Sonic sighed in relief, turning to Chopper and Kirby, who were able to move again. "You're a bit late, you guys… I already finished off Egghead."
"Egghead?" Chopper tilted his head.
"It's a nickname that I gave Eggman before, remember? That name is just… It's just perfect!" Sonic laughed. "But, anyway… I think now's the best time to get moving, yes?"
"Yeah… Too bad I rarely got a chance to use my bombs on Eggman, though…" Chopper grumbled, but he stopped once he saw a Star Block up ahead. "Oh, never mind! We can move on!"
"What's that?"
"It's a Star Block. It'll end the chapter for us! Just watch!" Chopper rushed over to the Star Block, punching it and breaking it. Sonic gazed at the twenty crystal-like stars that appeared as they circled.
"Oh… So that's how you end a chapter? Interesting…"
END OF CHAPTER
With Sonic on their side and caught up on everything so far, the three heroes became a great team. Chopper then stopped, as he stared at the blue expanse. The great, glittering waves of the Tile Pool stretched as far as they could see. Fort Francis was somewhere across the water - much to Sonic's dismay.
Yup! Now we have Sonic in the group! ...Too bad he's gotta go through some torture next chapter, if you know what I mean, people who played this game before...