Meanwhile, a familiar, but well-known and lovable blue hedgehog roamed the speedy highway. Strange thing was he did not race the other vehicles, despite how much he cherished the thought. Instead, he sat up in a pine tree, "Ah—Ah—Ahchoo!" Finger rubbing nose, he sucked the air through a clogged up breathing hole, "Man this cold stinks." Another sneeze came out, "Hope this blows over before Eggman gets a whiff of this. Must be nice to smell anything at this point," another one came. If this keeps up, you'd think my brains would blow out.
Unbeknownst to him Eggman was parked nearby in one of his latest hideouts, plotting on using the highway to make business for himself.
"Doctor, how much longer?" Behind him, Decoe and Bocoe carried a large metal block. Growling at his overworked minions, he yelled, "Quiet you bag of bolts! One more word out of you and it's the junk heap for the both of you!" Standing upright, hands on hips, his finger pointed at the dirt patch before them, "Place it over there." "Yes doctor." "Now be careful with that. That is very fragile equipment that took me all week to make. Keeping quiet while making your tools of destruction isn't that fun you know."
Boecon buzzed over the overgrown refrigerator, "What do you plan on doing with this Dr. Eggman?" The lens set in his glasses reflected the sun's light and his face darkened as he said, "Stick around and you'll find out." Wrapped neatly around the lever's knob, his fingers dug into the plastic handle and eagerly pulled, excited about his next diabolical scheme being put to the test. The cars that were peacefully cruising over the hard cement were put to a sudden stop. Anything that touched it, suddenly could not remove their selves from the frozen surface. Encased in cold solid ice, nothing could budge.
Making his trademark weird Eggman laugh, he said reassuringly, "Let's see that speedy little fur ball stop me now." Looking across the highway in total satisfaction, he smirked, "As soon as his speedy sneaks so much as touch the icy highway, his feet will be permanently stuck to the floor like a fly on fly paper, hohohoho. Now back to business," he climbed into his eggmobile and pulled out a microphone.
Flying high over the unfortunate citizens, he said, "Greetings citizens of Station Square, soon-to-be citizens of the Eggman Empire, I have an announcement to make. Those who wish to be free to drive back home safe and sound must pay a fee." One man poked his head out of a car window, "How much?" "I would like to have your engines and doors if you do not mind." The people looked at one another, panicked. One said, "How are we supposed to drive home with no engine." "I have an appointment with the doctor in half an hour. Bobby is sick." "Can someone call a taxi?" "What are we supposed to do go on foot? We need to drive!"
With a wide creepy smile, the crooked professor said waving his finger, "Not to worry that has all been taken care of." Rolling his hand into a fist, he slammed it onto the red button in his mobile. Two tentacles popped out through slots in his machine to snag an old couple out of their car and threw them into a bush. The old man lifted himself up and went to support his wife back on her feet. The mad scientist looked at all the other people, who were next in line to be tossed out of their seats and into the dirt.
Where Sonic sat, still oblivious to everything because of his clogged ears, his pinky tried to rub the inside of his ear as he always did when bored. It suddenly felt colder than normal. Arms wrapped tightly around each other, he shivered, "I—it looks like I'm starting to get chills. M—may—ay—b—be I sh—should go—go for a run." Even with his bad hearing, the chattering of his teeth could be heard. Blowing hot air into his hands, he rubbed them together.
Standing up, he realized that he would never get anywhere by sitting. If he said he was going to run, he had better run. Shifting into ready position, he transformed into a blue blur and streaked across the country side. Lucky for him, he decided to not use the cemented path.
Along the way, he heard someone yell at him, "Hey Sonic!"
Skidding to a halt, wind blowing through his blue spines, he backtracked to the caller. Stopping on a dime, a grumpy cross-armed echidna stood in his way. The blue hedgehog smiled closing his eyes and held out his hand, "Hey Knux, what's up?"
The red echidna raised his eyelids and said, focusing on current business, "Did you see Eggman?" The blue hedgehog blinked for an entire interval, "Eggman?" "So you didn't see him, that figures. He just flew pass here laughing." "What is he up to?" His friend shrugged, "How should I know. Anyways…" Another explosive sneeze flew through his nose and Knuckles on impulse shielded his clean fur with his arm. Peeking past his arm to ensure the cost was clear, he said, "Caught a cold huh?"
A finger rubbed the bottom of Sonic's nose, "This stinks. How am I supposed to fight while I'm sneezing my head off?" "Don't be such a baby. It's not like you have never been sick before. Now come on, we've got Eggman to hunt." Arms hanging along his sides and eyes partly open, Sonic watched his confident friend walk away with a proud puffed up expression, "Lead the way…" The sarcastic sickly blue blur dragged his arms across the grass.
Knuckles stopped by a cliff, one hand clenched in an eager fist, "Come on Sonic, you're falling behind." He then turned around and saw a scraggly blue hedgehog that looked as though he had no sleep for days. The friendly nemesis looked at him in concern, "Hey you doing alright? You don't look too good."
The sleepy hedgehog looked up at his friend like one does when he is drunk and then swayed back and forth until he collapsed. Annoyed at their current situation, Knuckles felt fur tingle up his spine. The bad doctor was close and with Station Square's hero unconscious, the blue fuzz ball is vulnerable to attack.
"Mwahaha, why Knuckles how nice of you to drop by and oooh with a present nonetheless," the red guardian turned around to face Eggman holding both fists close to his body, the echidna was all set and ready for a fight. A growl emitted from the feisty Mobian's breath, "Eggman. What do you want?"
Down below, the street filled with cars and people frozen to the highway caught his naturally miffed attention. His eyes widened in horror at what happened to these innocent people and all no doubt for some stupid game. Eyes raging in anger, he snarled at the mad doctor, "What's the deal with all those people? You had better give a good explanation."
The scientist smirked menacingly. He had another sap to do his dirty work for him. All that was needed was a convincing sap story to make him believe that it is being done for the greater good. Knuckles gave another growl. The more time that he had spent on the surface, the better, he knew that smirk. No doubt he was planning on doing something dirty but what was still mysterious.
Still growling, he felt something touch his foot. Glancing down, he saw Sonic nearby. One eye peeked open and looked at him. It was not anger but trust. He felt confident that his best friend was going to choose right and not make a mess of everything.
Eggman next dramatically placed his hand against his temple, "It is terrible really. Parts of my ship have been dissolved through time and over use. Looking for a solution to my problem, I researched what would make a good supplement. Finally, I arrived at a conclusion. The humans in this world are fascinated with machines and technology is everywhere. Cars in particular become updated each approaching year and therefore provide the best material for my sophisticated machines."
The story sounded plausible, but before the trusting guardian gave in, he had a sinking feeling. If that were all that Eggman needed, then why did he not buy the items that he needed like a normal person. It was not as though none of the humans fell for him becoming a new man before. He then looked at the people on the side who were thrown out of their vehicles. There was no way a kind hearted man would do that. Eggman was trying to trick him again.
Infuriated that the same stunt was being pulled on him like a fool, his fists shook, "Eggman…" With a challenging face, he yelled, "you are going down!" The villain chewed on his four fingers, wondering what he should do. Once angered, there was no stopping Knuckles.
Angered, Knuckles leapt into the sky and Eggman made a retreat. Like a star lit in the sky, he was gone. Landing down, the echidna came inches to landing on the giant ice land. Sonic gathered up the strength he had left and slowly lifted his heavy weight. Feet on ground, he walked to the cliff's end to look at his friend. The lone guardian glanced up and saw his buddy lift his hand in a thumbs-up. He did well.
Sonic raced down, trying his best to not fall. He too stopped in front of the destruction. Knuckles looked down when he lifted his feet at the sound of rapid freezing. The chunk of dirt that was accidently kicked onto the road froze solid. He then looked at the hedgehog, "Uh, Sonic…" No chance was given to him to speak. A cloud of dust already replaced the speedy hedgehog. Great. This is just perfect. Anything that touches this ice freezes solid. What am I to do about all these people?