Flickies chirped melodies as they fluttered from tree to tree. Chipmunks squeaked and skittered through the tall green grass. The hills almost seemed to shine an emerald green color as the sunlight streamed across them. Lakes sparkled under the morning glow and a slow gentle gust of wind blew through the area giving it a serene feel.

Sonic the Hedgehog closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of the scene before him. A smile graced his face as the earthly aroma of the environment greeted him and he felt a welling of giddiness build up within him. His smile widened as he exhaled while simultaneously getting himself in a stance prepared to take off. His eyes grew into sharp focus of the world around him.

Today was a day to run.

The scene around him exploded into a myriad of colors around him as he rocketed forward. Streaks of green, blue, and brown flew past him as he ran through the zone. His body sped up until he looked no more than a blue streak to any onlooker. He soon found himself surrounded by more streaks of brown. A forest.

Sonic ran as if there was nothing blocking his way. It was almost like a sixth sense in which he dodged the tall thick trees around him. Soon he began to jump from side to side landing on each tree for a mere instant before propelling himself off at higher speeds. His height increased until he found himself leaping through the branches. Through the blurs around him he saw a speck of white light, a clearing, and changed direction towards it. Soon he shot out of the forest and back onto the hills faster than ever.

On the hills he felt the ground beneath him drop steeply. He curled up into a ball and began to feel the world seemingly spin increasingly faster around him. Anticipation built up in his heart until he tore upwards against gravity. As he flew through the air he uncurled himself and spread his arms and legs far apart while enjoying the view below him. He hurdled forward whooping with joy.

As he began to descend he started to flip through the air. Faster he spun until he landed back on the ground sending an offshoot of dust in all directions. He stood up and looked back at the hill he had leapt off of not too long ago, which was now a considerable distance away, and grinned satisfied.

"Awesome."

As he surveyed the area he noticed some large rocky cliff sides in the distance. With a sudden look of determination he revved up his legs for a split second before taking off.

As the cliffs drew ever so nearer Sonic changed his direction so he was running parallel to them. Closer and closer he came to them until he side hopped right onto the cliff with all of his speed preserved and his world turned sideways.

Now at the point of no return Sonic blasted forward while slowly inching up the cliff walls. Soon he would reach the edge and-

BOOM

The world went from sideways to upside down to sideways again in seconds while Sonic hurdled through the air surrounded by chunks of rock. He rocketed himself to the largest rock near him and continued hopping rock to rock until he landed on the ground with rocks raining down upon him from all directions.

Everything slowed down as Sonic moved forwards through the falling debris weaving in and out of every falling rock until the downpour had finally stopped and all that remained in the air was dust.

Coughing and rubbing his eyes Sonic glanced up towards where the cliffside used to be. Its smooth walls were now piles of rubble and the animals that were resting on top of it were now scrambling frantically away. Not to mention all the irritating dust clouds.

Sonic scowled and clenched his fists. Whoever had done this had destroyed a beautiful landmark of the area. (And ruined his stunts)

And he only knew one person capable of doing this….

Gritting his teeth Sonic lurched towards the direction of the inciting blast

Throughout the rocky clearings of the landscape mechanical drilling could be heard. Sonic had to fight the urge to flatten his ears as he ran towards the direction of the sound.

In the distance there was a large mechanical drill working its way through a solid wall of rock. It had large wheels supporting its heavy frame with a large rocket on each side of the machine. Metal pipes outlined the robots body. Pebbles and dust surrounded it. Every few moments it would stop drilling and smaller robots would shoot from its torso, pick up the bundle of rocks produced from the drilling, and fly off into the distance. It would then return to its routine continuing with a rhythmic pattern to it.

Sonic narrowed his eyes as he slowed down and took cover behind a tree. The robot looked slow and clunky and not made for combat but he knew from experience that these contraptions always had some surprise in store. Nevertheless he didn't really have a choice in the matter.

Sonic stepped from behind the tree and started sprinting towards the robot.

"Hey Dust Breath!"

The robot stopped drilling and started to slowly turn around. It was too late though as Sonic curled up and smashed into the robot lurching it backwards and leaving a sizable dent in its side. Sonic bounced back and grinned at the robot.

"Not one for quick reflexes huh?"

The robot made some whirring noises before moving back and activating its rockets, shooting forward in the process.

Sonic yawned before sidestepping the robot with ease, curling up. and spindashing into its other side. This time hitting it hard enough to make it slightly tilt to the side. The robot now had a dent on each of its sides and was now making a bunch of frantic and angry clicks.

Sonic got into a fighting stance again.

"C'mon! You can do more than that! Give me some of that good robo action!"

The robot stopped moving and two hatches opened up revealing large fans that started blowing as fast as a plane turbine. The wind blew with enough strength that Sonic had to struggle to keep himself afoot and was slowly sliding back.

The robot then reversed the direction of its fans and the wind started blowing inwards sucking in the surrounding dust and debris. Sonic now had to turn away from the robot and run to avoid getting sucked into the fan's blades.

Soon the fans stopped and the harsh winds died down. Sonic huffed before looking up towards the robot

"Heh. See your not that tou-"

FWOSH

Dust and pebbles blew out of the robots metal pipes and covered the entire area. The dust was thick and had a strong oily smell. Sonic coughed and his eyes started to water as he backed away. His body was being pelted by pebbles and he couldn't see anything through the thick cloud. In the dust he could hear a drill coming closer at a frightening pace.

Crap

Sonic threw his body to the side as he felt the robot just narrowly miss skewering his body. He quickly did a couple of backflips until he was outside the dust cloud. Coughing and sputtering he tried to listen out for the robot to hear out its location. Ears perking up he dodged to the side again as the robot plowed out of the dust cloud while spewing more dust out of its pipes, much to Sonic's dismay

"Taking the dust breath thing a bit too seriously…" Sonic muttered as he dashed out the way of the incoming robot again.

The robot seemed determined to ram itself into Sonic as it tried again and again spraying thick dust clouds everywhere in the process. Unfortunately for the hedgehog each attack was getting closer and closer to hitting him. The surrounding dust was making it hard for him to focus on where each attack was coming from. He was thankful his ears haven't failed him yet, but he knew sooner or later he would trip up and pay the price.

As he dodged Sonic suddenly had an idea. He quickly grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ground and threw all of them in different directions. Listening hard he heard the sound of a pebble hitting stone. Sonic rushed to where he heard the sound and felt a stone wall with his hands. He then turned around and yelled.

"Over here, dust breath!"

He soon heard the sound of a drill getting louder. Waiting in place he tapped his feet impatiently until the sound was right upon him then dashed to the side once more. Smirking, he listened as the robot drilled straight through the stone. As it struggled to back out of the rock Sonic curled up and revved his strongest spin dash yet and tore straight through the robot, leaving a clear hole in its middle. After some electrical buzzing, the robot exploded, sending pieces of machinery flying through the air

Sonic let out a sigh then sneezed before looking off in the direction of where the robots that were collecting rocks went.

His job wasn't done yet…

It didn't take Sonic long to catch up with the flying robots in the sky. As much as he just wanted to smash them and get on with his life, Sonic knew they would lead him to the source of all his troubles right now.

After about 30 minutes of tailing the robots they finally stopped and lowered down into a valley. Sonic stopped and looked down to where they went.

He almost wished he hadn't

Below were dozens, dozens, of drill machines identical to the one he destroyed earlier. All drilling and spewing dust. Sonic groaned. He liked a challenge, but this? This was ridiculous. Sonic surveyed the scene further and saw that the smaller carrier robots were bringing and dropping the rocks in large containers. Below he saw that there were more of the smaller robots than the larger ones.

Sonic gritted his teeth. He knew if this drilling operation went on every mountain and valley would be ruined. But even he knew that taking on all these robots was suicide. He'd have come up with a strategy…

Then he remembered something Tails told him before about the robots.

Robots that advanced in such a large number require a lot of energy. So he'd need to have some kind of generator nearby as an energy source

That's right! An energy source! All he needed to do was find an energy source and these guys would be down in no time! Now if he just knew where it was…

Then he realized to his surprise that the generator was smack dab in the middle of the valley. Sure it was surrounded by robots but that wouldn't be a problem once he got to it.

After revving up a spin dash Sonic sped down the valley towards the generator while flipping through the air. He then curled up into a ball and rammed into it with full force.

ZAPP

"Phkzzzbzzkzzbb" was all Sonic could yelp as waves of electricity shot through his body. He landed in the ground with a dazed expression. It turned out the generator had an electric force field. And worst yet Sonic was now laying in the middle of a valley surrounded by deadly robots.

Whoops.

The robots exploded into a frenzy as they all rushed towards Sonic. Shaking himself out of his daze he leapt up onto a foothold in the side of wall up above and watched as the robots careened into each other becoming rolling balls of molten metal. While some were exploding others were ramming into the walls with such force that the wall Sonic was on was crumbling. With no time to spare Sonic leapt from wall to wall until he was safely out of the valley

Sonic looked down into the valley to see that rocks were raining down onto the robots. A cascade of rocks met with a barrage of explosions. The heat was so great that the ground under his feet began to burn. He quickly hopped back and waited until the sound of explosions were gone. He crept up to the edge and peered down.

The valley was now filled with nothing but rocks and broken machinery. Sonic wiped his forehead.

"Well I guess that sorted itself out..."

The sound of helicopter blades cut through the air causing Sonic to turn around. Behind him were 3 drill robots that were slightly smaller than their brethren. The core difference was the large helicopter blades propelling them in the air.

Aw c'mon! Sonic thought to himself as he got into a fighting stance yet again.

"Heh, I can do this all day! Bring it on!" he said more to himself than the emotionless robots.

It was then that the leading robot proceeded to shoot a missile directly at Sonic. He leaned and dodged out of the way as the missile exploded in the valley behind him. Sending molten rocks all over the place. Great.

"And that's my cue to leave. Cya folks!"

Sonic hightailed it out of there. Running fast enough to stay ahead of the pursuing robots but slow enough so that the robots could keep up. As he ran off Sonic's mind raced to figure out how this was happening.

This makes no sense! That generator should've been destroyed by the falling rocks! Unless... It was a decoy? But then where is the real one? Even if I destroy these ones there's no telling how many of these guys are here!

Sonic began to run faster. He would have to find the generator as fast as possible if he wanted to end this. In a flash Sonic seemingly disappeared and reappeared on the highest point nearby. He searched the area until he saw a generator. He launched towards it and just in time as a missile hit where he was standing an instant earlier.

Sonic gave the incoming robots a confident look. "Still trying eh? Well let's see if you can hit me after this!"

Sonic hurdled to the generator spinning at the speed of sound before smashing into its side.

ZAPPP

Sonic bounced back from the generator sparks flying, and landed on the ground with a thud. This time he wasn't dazed but angry.

"Alright thats it! I'm tired of these generators and these stupid force fie-"

BOOM

A missile struck the ground near Sonic and sent him flying through the air. He turned and glared at the attacking robots. "And you." he growled as he curled up and tore through the robot making it explode instantly. As he landed another missile was fired at him. Sonic's eyes widened as he realized something. He then landed on the missile and using all his strength changed its course in midair to the generator before jumping off in time to watch the missile collide with and utterly destroy the generator.

The 2 remaining robots proceeded to shut down and crash into the ground. Sonic landed and observed the scene before giving it a thumbs up. Grinning to himself he turned around. Now he was gonna go home, relax and get some shut eye befo-

"Stop right there you impudent rat!"

Sonic glanced behind him. Before him was the largest robot he had seen today yet. The robot had a large humanoid form except that it had drills instead of hands and wheels along the sides of its feet. The robot was a bright red color with yellow pipes jutting out of its shoulders. The most bizarre feature of the robot was that in place of a head was a red faced man sitting in an egg shaped mobile.

Sonic smirked.

"Hey Eggman. Why so red in the face? Got a love letter to give me?"

"Robotnik!" The doctor snapped, "Dr Ivo Robotnik!"

Sonic started to scratch his ear. "Sorry egghead but you're far from qualified to be any kinda Doctor that I've seen"

Robotnik growled and one of his drill hands suddenly shot out towards Sonic, who dodged it with ease.

"Woah there buddy! Calm down! I know you love to be a party pooper but parties already over." Sonic said as he gestured to the broken generator and robots.

Robotnik gave him a twisted smile. "You think this will put a stop to my operations? Fool. I have already gathered enough materials to build much more of my drillbots! Your stunt has done nothing!"

Sonic yawned. "Yeah yeah. Well I guess I'll just whoop your ass right here and get that all over with."

"You can try!" Robotnik snarled as he launched his robot forward.

"Try?" Sonic said with mock confusion as he circled behind the robot in an instant and attacked it from behind, sending it toppling into a nearby hill. "You wanna rephrase that?"

Robotnik let out a frustrated growl and started to fire missiles from the machine's hatchets towards the hedgehog. As the missiles approached the blue blur simply hopped from rocket to rocket before smashing into the mechanical behemoth's chest which sent it reeling. As Sonic landed he prepared a spindash before rocketing towards Robotnik once more only to be knocked back by yet another electrical shock.

Sonic glared up at the Doctor who was now protected by an electric force field.

"Hey! No fair!"

Robotnik grinned maniacally "I'll show you fair rodent." With that he pushed a button within the robot and dust started to spew out of the yellow pipes. "Try dodging after this!"

"Egghead egghead egghead…." Sonic said, shaking his head. "What did I say about rephrasi-OH CRAP!" he shouted as a drill attacked him from the side out of nowhere. Sonic had dodged but he had a slight cut on his side.

Robotnik cackled. "Shouldn't you know by now hedgehog? I'm a genius of the highest caliber! With this electric shield and my elusive dust clouds, defeat is impossible!"

The dust was spreading around the area and Sonic knew of no rocky cliffs nearby. Crap

Missiles sailed from all directions and with no clear direction to run Sonic simply ran forward hoping for the best. The explosions still sent him flying, and with all balance lost Sonic crashed into the ground. He could hear Robotnik coming closer and closer, cackling all the way. Double Crap

Sonic gritted his teeth. If he could just clear this dust he may have a fighting chance against Robotnik. Suddenly he had an idea. He started to run in a circle slowly but surely picking up speed. As he picked up speed he started to generate wind. Soon the winds were so strong that the dust was being blown away. Robotnik had stopped moving towards Sonic and watched the mini tornado the hedgehog created with fury.

Once the dust was clear he stopped running and looked triumphantly at Robotnik who growled in response.

"You may have escaped my dust but I am still invincible!" Robotnik said as he launched more drills and missiles at the hedgehog. Sonic smirked. "You may be invincible to me.." he hopped on one of the missiles and turned it to face Robotnik "..but what about to yourself?" he finished as he hopped off of the missile and started to run off.

"What?! No..NO!" Robotnik yelled as he tried to dodge but it was too late. A terrific explosion lit up the air and machinery was again strewn across the plains. He had been defeated.

Or had he?

"This means nothing!" Robotnik yelled as he flew from the wreck in his egg mobile. "I will be back! And you will pay!" He flew into the horizon.

Sonic gave a victorious smile. "See you sucker!" he yelled as he sped away. Sonic knew the egghead would be back to ruin his day again but now that didn't matter. He defeated him and shut down his drilling operations. A win if he ever saw one.

Except….

"Aw crap!" Sonic groaned. "I forgot I promised Tails I would test out his new invention today! I got so carried away that I completely forgot! Hope he forgives me…."

And with that Sonic took off at full speed towards home while a trail of happy flickies followed him.