Chapter 18: Exploration

Near the docks, Miles led Sonny and Chuck to a small warehouse that lay between two larger ones. He then took out a key and unlocked a side-door, motioning Sonny and Chuck to follow. After they did, Miles locked the door behind them and turned on a nearby light-switch. Inside the warehouse was a yellow and red biplane with a single seat and 'Sonic' painted along the side in bold white lettering.

"Well, what do you think?" Miles asked, trying to hide his excitement.

"I think it's awesome," Sonny responded after a brief pause. "Did you make this yourself?"

"No, I found it in a junkyard back on South Island," Miles answered. "All I did was fix it up, give it a paint-job, and insert a new engine into it."

Miles then walked over to the front of the plane. Sonny and Chuck walked over and beheld a glass cap over the tip of the plane's propeller, revealing the Yellow Chaos Emerald inside. Next, Miles lifted the cover to the plane's engine, showing a series of wires that connected it to the Chaos Emerald.

"Where did you find the Chaos Emerald?" Chuck asked.

"At the beach a few days ago," Miles said. "I was originally going to give the plane a regular engine, but then I decided to see what would happen if I attached the Chaos Emerald to it. So I did, and the engine ran for hours."

"Then the reason why Dr. Eggman wanted the Chaos Emeralds in the first place is because they can provide an unlimited energy source," Chuck guessed.

"Exactly," Miles replied. "Now I haven't flown this plane yet but I was thinking of taking it for a test flight Saturday morning, and you're welcome to watch."

"Sounds good to me," Sonny said.

"I've found all the Master Emeralds shards I could from this city, so why not?" Chuck replied.

"Then it's settled," Miles announced. "We'll meet here tomorrow at 6 AM."

###

The next day, Sonny and Chuck met up in front of the warehouse just as the sky turned bright-orange.

"Where's Amelia?" Chuck asked.

"I tried calling her, but I got was her voicemail," Sonny said.

Chuck scratched his head. "But at least you have her phone-number. Wish I thought to ask Tia for hers."

"Now who is this 'Tia' you've been muttering about? Is she your girlfriend?"

Chuck blushed slightly. "She's…a girl I met while I was looking for Master Emerald shards."

"Is she cute?"

"Um, sort of."

"Well, if you see her again, maybe you should ask her out?"

"But I don't know where she lives, or anything about her for that matter."

"You know her name. Look her up in the phone directory when we get back to Station Square."

"Hey, guys," Miles said as he approached them from behind. "What were you two talking about?"

"Chuck was just telling me about a cute girl he met in town named Tia," Sonny answered.

"Sonny!" Chuck whined.

"Oh, so that's who Tia is," Miles said snidely. Then he turned to Sonny. "So I take it Amelia couldn't come?"

"Since when did it become my job to talk to her?" Sonny snapped. "I couldn't reach her."

"Huh, that's weird," Miles shrugged. "Anyway, let's get moving."

"Do you have a pilot's license?" Chuck asked as the three of them went inside the warehouse.

"Sure, I do," Miles replied. "Otherwise, I wouldn't try doing this in broad daylight."

Sonny then jumped up onto the top wing of the plane and stood there. "Have you thought of a name for the plane?"

"Yes, I did," Miles replied as he got into the pilot's seat. "What do you think of The Tornado?"

"I like it," Sonny said.

"Same here," Chuck added as he got up onto the top wing of the plane and stood next to Sonny.

"Hey," Miles said, looking up at Sonny and Chuck. "I didn't say you two could come along. If anything goes wrong—

"Relax, Miles," Sonny said. "I have a feeling that you'll do fine."

"Yeah, and something about riding a plane like this feels familiar," Chuck added.

"I feel the same way," replied Sonny. "Must be because Sonic and Knuckles must've ridden planes in this fashion before."

"All right, but hold on tight," Miles said as he pushed a button that opened the warehouse doors.

In a few minutes, the three boys were flying along the beaches near Station Square at top speeds. While Miles kept the plane steady, Sonny and Chuck were holding onto the wing for dear life. Then blue and red auras surrounded the two respectfully, and Sonic and Knuckles emerged. While Knuckles decided to lie against the tail of The Tornado, Sonic stood on top with his arms folded while the wind blew through his air.

"Hey, guys!" Miles shouted, looking at his radio-shaped Emerald Detector which he took out of his pocket. "I'm detecting a Chaos Emerald to the Northeast! Should we go check it out?"

"Lead the way!" Sonic said, giving Miles a thumbs-up.

Miles nodded and banked The Tornado in that direction.

###

Eventually, The Tornado was flying over a tree-lined valley containing ancient stone ruins that were in a similar fashion to the altar on Angel Island. However, the place was also crawling with Dr. Eggman's robots who immediately spotted the plane and shot lasers at it. Miles managed to dodge most of them, and landed The Tornado in a circle of trees that lay out of the robots' sight. Sonic and Knuckles got off immediately, while Miles followed.

"You stay here, Miles," Sonic said. "Someone has to watch the plane while we're gone."

"Okay, but you'll need the Emerald Detector," Miles said, tossing the radio-shaped device to Knuckles who barely caught it.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Knuckles said in concern. "Because I could stay behind and you could go with Sonic."

"That's not a bad idea, Knuckles," Sonic said. "If you're okay with it, that is."

Knuckles shrugged. "Sure, I don't mind."

"All right, then," Miles said as he transformed into Tails. "Let's do this!"

As Tails carried Sonic with him over the trees down toward the ruins, Knuckles stood with his arms folded in the shadow of The Tornado. As the day wore on, he grew tired and decided to rest against the wheel of the plane. Just before his eyes closed, Knuckles thought he saw Tia walking towards him.

###

In the ruins, Sonic and Tails fought their way through hordes of Dr. Eggman's robots while still trying to locate the Chaos Emerald. But it seemed as they got closer to the source, the more robots there were. Eventually, they found themselves at the entrance to a large square-shaped pyramid located in the center of the ruins after running up a steep flight of stone steps. There, Dr. Eggman stood holding the Purple Chaos Emerald in his large hands.

"Welcome to Mystic Ruins, Sonic," Dr. Eggman said as his escort of robots pointed their lasers at Sonic and Tails. "I see you didn't like my welcoming committee."

"Not really," Sonic replied.

Before Dr. Eggman could respond, Sonic jumped into the air and curled up into a ball. He spun mid-air so fast that he crushed every robot he hit. Once all the robots surrounding Dr. Eggman were finished, Sonic walked up to Dr. Eggman and held out his hand.

"Now if you don't want to end up like your robots, I suggest you hand over the Chaos Emerald," Sonic said sternly.

"I don't think so," Dr. Eggman said, clenching the Purple Chaos Emerald tightly. "Chaos!"

Out of the pyramid appeared Chaos, who was now taller and bigger than Sonic with more apparent organs and bones showing beneath its watery flesh. Dr. Eggman then tossed the Purple Chaos Emerald at Chaos, which once again absorbed the Emerald. There was a flash of light like before, and Chaos had now grown significantly with a huge upper-body and bulking arms that were liquid on the outside but solid bone on the inside. Sonic immediately charged at the monster, but Chaos managed to block him with one of its arms. It then flung Sonic back down the stone steps, forcing Tails to fly down to catch him. Meanwhile, Dr. Eggman got into his Egg Mobile, which was parked next to the pyramid's entrance and he flew away with Chaos disappearing in a puddle of water.

"Eggman!" Sonic shouted, once Tails caught him mid-fall.

"We'll catch up to him in The Tornado," Tails said flying towards the trees where the plane was parked.

To be continued…