Chapter 113: Statue
Once he came to the end of Green Hill, which was now fully colored, Sonny found a frozen white statue that looked like Miles. Then as Sonny approached it, the statue assumed the same colors Miles had including his medium-length blond hair, blue eyes, orange-and-white polo T-shirt, and khaki shorts. But what surprised Sonny most of all was when the statue moved and rubbed its eyes.
"Sonny," the statue said wearily.
"Miles," Sonny exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"Huh?" Miles looked around the area in confusion. "Isn't this Green Hill?"
"Yeah, but it's different from the one we're familiar with," Sonny answered.
"How do you know that?" Miles then suddenly started to shiver.
"What's wrong, Miles?" Sonny asked.
"I feel…empty somehow."
"Weird, I felt the same way when I woke up." Sonny looked across the white space before him and Miles. "This may sound crazy, but I think we're in Sonic's mind."
"You mean the part of your mind that's controlled by Sonic?"
"Exactly, and the reason I know is because this is what it looked like when I talked to Sonic for the first time."
"After you collected the Chaos Emeralds to save me and Amelia from Dr. Eggman?" When Sonny nodded, Miles said, "But if that's the case, how is it possible for me to exist here?"
"I thought maybe you'd know the answer."
Miles shook his head. "Maybe Tails knows something we don't."
While Sonny shrugged, Miles closed his eyes and concentrated really hard. But after a few seconds, Miles blinked and looked baffled.
"That's odd," Miles said after a pause. "I don't feel Tails' presence at all."
"Do you remember anything after you got sucked into that shadow monster?"
"No, except the sensation of being separated from my body and floating through an endless void until you woke me up."
"Miles, you were frozen like a statue when I got here."
"Huh, this is all so puzzling." Miles then noticed a nearby structure which looked like a chemical factory. "Let's go explore that place. It doesn't look familiar to me."
"Good idea," Sonny responded and ran towards the chemical factory with Miles jogging behind.
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"Found anything interesting?" Sonny shouted up to Miles who was standing at the top of a metal track next to a vat where pink liquid was being dumped from a nearby sewer.
"Nope, just a bunch of robots that seem really interested in killing me," Miles said running down from the top of the track as several metallic creatures appeared.
Some resembled wasps that tried to attack the boys with stingers, others resembled ladybugs that fired gunshots, with floating centipedes bringing up the rear whose bodies were electrical.
"What are we going to do?" Miles said nervously. "We can't fight against these things without Sonic and Tails."
"Not entirely," Sonny said and spun into the air landing on top of the robots' heads which broke apart and released tiny birds in the process. "I've still got my super-speed, but it's not as fast as Sonic's."
"Then that means my superior intellect must be intact as well," Miles said and walked over to the robot remains. "I'm going to try building a pair of artificial tails for me to fly around in using these parts left over from the robots. You go on ahead and bring back anything that might clue us into where we are."
"Okay, but don't you want me to stick around in case more robots show up?"
"I'll be fine," Miles replied as he started pulling wires out of the robots' bodies. "I could always hide if I need to."
Feeling a little nervous, Sonny explored the rest of the chemical plant until he came across a frozen statue that looked like Amelia. Like Miles, the color suddenly returned to her face, her hair took on its normal shade of light pink, and then her dress became magenta pink once more. Her bright green eyes blinked for a moment, and upon seeing Sonny standing before her she collapsed into his arms and embraced him.
"Oh, Sonny," Amelia said weakly. "I never thought I'd see you again."
"What happened?" Sonny asked.
"After I got sucked into that…thing, my body just went numb and I couldn't see anything but pitch blackness until you suddenly appeared in front of me."
"Is Amy still with you?"
"What? Of course she is!" Amelia closed her eyes but then opened them again. "Or, at least I thought she was."
"She's not inside you?"
"No, what about Sonic?"
"He's gone too, and so is Tails."
"Then you found Miles?"
"In Green Hill, but it was different somehow."
"In what way?"
"Well, it had robots shaped like insects crawling around the place and when I destroyed them these weird birds flew out."
"Odd," Amelia said though she sounded anxious. "Where's Miles now?"
"Back that way," Sonny said and picked Amelia up in his arms. "I'll take you to him."
Amelia held on tight as Sonny sped down through several corridors made of metal, over spikes that came out of the floor, and across bridges that curved inward. Once they got back to the place next to the sewer, Miles was flying with a pair of metallic tails that looked exactly like the ones Tails had which was controlled through a remote control attached to a metal belt wrapped around his waist.
"What do you think?" Miles said as he landed in front of them.
"Pretty cool," Sonny replied giving Miles a thumbs-up.
"Now let's see if I can carry someone with these," Miles said and grabbed Sonny's hands.
Before Sonny could object, Miles pressed a button on his belt and the tails started spinning to the point where they were airborne. As they flew around in circles, Sonny noticed Miles had piece of metal strapped across his forehead that blinked every time they moved. Then after a while, they started to lose altitude and so Miles was forced to land with Sonny intact.
"What's that thing on your head?" Sonny asked.
"It reads my brainwaves and tells the tails which way to fly through this wire that runs down my back," Miles said pointing to his back. Then he pointed to the two buttons on his belt and said, "The button on the right turns on the tails, while the one on the left turns them off."
"Sweet!" Amelia said. "You really are smart, Miles."
"I know, though I always assumed it was because of Tails," Miles said sheepishly then he gasped. "Speaking of which, I saw this weird thing running all over the chemical plant that gave off a blue blur as it ran."
"Blue blur?" Sonny said excitedly. "That had to have been Sonic."
"I thought the same thing, but he looked a lot smaller than I remembered," Miles replied.
"Which way did he go?"
"That way," Miles said pointing back the way Sonny and Amelia just came from.
"So we must've just passed him," Sonny said and picked up Amelia again. "Come on!"
Sonny took off immediately up the track with Amelia in tow.
"Hey, wait up!" Miles said and turned on the metallic tails which spun furiously as he commanded them to follow Sonny and Amelia.
To be continued…