Robotnik laid back into his chair with a scowl on his face, watching the live footage streaming on the multiple monitors in front of him. The stream was being broadcast from inside the robots that he had sent after Sonic, and to his dismay, it seemed they had lost track of him. He rewound the footage to the last image of the hedgehog and played it back.

The hedgehog(appearing as a blue blur to the camera) had collided with the fox and they had toppled over out of sight. When the robots tried to follow after them a strange reading had started interfering with their signals before the feed cut off into static. This meant that the robots had been deactivated.

For that to happen out of nowhere can only mean one thing. They are by THAT area.

Robotnik stood up furiously and started walking back and forth in distress. This was close to the worst case scenario. His plans were coming so close to fruition! And now that rodent had somehow gotten deeper into the Mystic Caves than he could have ever imagined. If he didn't act quickly the animal duo would find his project soon.

He marched over to a control panel nearby and started typing in commands. His fingers flying over the keys on one hand while the other hand hastily pulled switches and pressed buttons. Lines of code started scrolling up on the screen signaling that the commands he had sent out were being sent through. A nasty grin spread across his face.

I'll simply have to send the new models in to deal with this.

He began to laugh. Oh, how entertaining this would be to watch.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Sonic couldn't help but shout out as he and Tails free fell down deeper into the darkness.

"Tails! TAILS!" Sonic roughly tried to shake the fox awake. 'Need some flight right now buddy! C'mon WAKE UP!"

The fox however seemed to be knocked out cold as he showed no reaction to the hedgehog's pleas.

Sonic cursed to himself and looked down. Despite the speed they were falling at no bottom really seemed to be in sight. He grabbed Tails and drew him in close to his chest with his arms wrapped around him. He then pivoted himself mid-air so that his back was faced towards the wall. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes, putting all his focus into making sure the quills on his back were as hard as possible before hurling himself backwards into the wall. His quills sunk into the stone and started scraping downwards, leaving markings in the wall as he fell. His fall slowed down gradually until finally he came to a stop, his quills etched deep into the wall.

Sonic gritted his teeth as a wave of pain shot through his back and head. He ignored the pain and looked down. Still no bottom in sight. Alright then. I'll just have to keep hopping down until I see one. Easy. No problem.

He placed his feet on the wall and pushed off, prying himself out of the wall into another free fall, wincing as he felt another sharp pain in his back. He breathed in sharply and steeled himself for another lurch into the wall when all of a sudden he started feeling a strange pressure from below him. It started off small but the more he fell the stronger it got and his fall suddenly started to slow down until he was practically floating down.

What the hell? This almost feels like when I would fly using my Super form. But I'm normal right now. How…?

To his shock he noticed that he was shrouded in a bright blue aura of light. He also noticed a faint glow coming from inside of Tails backpack. The chaos crystals. As they floated down deeper Sonic also noticed green orbs etched into the walls glowing as well.

After a couple minutes of descending Sonic began to wonder when the bottom would appear when his ear picked up the familiar sound of rushing water. His heart dropped.

No…don't tell me

The light emanating from his body and the crystals suddenly extinguished leaving Sonic and the still unconscious Tails to drop like a rock. Sonic shouted out despite himself. They didn't fall for long before splashing into a shallow pool of water.

There was barely any time for relief however as Sonic realized that the water was slowly pushing him forward. He tried to get up but the current got stronger and he toppled forward as the water sloped downwards into a slide. Sonic gritted his teeth and fought to make sure Tails' head didn't fall under the water as they slid faster and faster. The slide suddenly fell out from under him and they crashed into the ground. Sonic took most of the fall landing on his back with Tails atop him.

Sonic let out a groan and got up. After Labyrinth and Hydrocity Zone Sonic was kinda hoping he'd never have to deal with a water slide again. He looked up and his mouth fell open in awe at the sight before him.

Despite being deeper underground the cavern they were in seemed to be the most spacious one yet. Sonic could only faintly see the ceiling with how high it was. A thin mist seemed to coat the whole area and through it he could see numerous brown stone structures like towers, bridges and statues(the statues were now indistinguishable due to their key features having eroded with time). Almost everything seemed to glow with power as within almost every structure there were multiple green orbs that shone brightly through the mist. Overgrown moss seemed to be everywhere as well as vines. Sonic turned and saw in the distance numerous waterfalls pouring out of the rock walls, the sound of the rushing water echoing through the area as a faint drone.

Sonic shivered. Not just from the faint chill that permeated the area but also because he felt that same slight pressure that he usually felt from chaos emeralds and crystals. Except this time it was hitting him from all sides. Something about this place's aura just made him feel heavier.

He heard a groan behind him and quickly turned his attention to Tails who was finally beginning to stir. "Tails! Are you alright buddy?"

Tails slowly sat up while rubbing the back of his head. "Sonic? Issat you?"

"Sure is. Are you okay? You sound tired."

Tails began to shake his head, then stopped, it causing him another ache in the head. "No no, I'm fine. Good to go." He shakily got to his feet before wobbling and falling back down. Sonic swiftly caught him before he hit the ground.

"Good to go huh?" Sonic remarked with a slight grin. Tails looked to the ground. "Sorry"

Sonic's brow furrowed. "Whaddya sorry about? It's my fault for crashing into you. I shoulda been way more cautious about where I was going. Now we're stuck here…wherever this is"

Tails finally looked up and around at the area they were in his eyes widening. "Woah…Sonic what is this place?"

"I'm not sure. It's like some kind of underground city or something."

"This is like that place on Angel Island! Remember? In the volcano?"

Sonic's eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh yeah! That palace place. It had the same kinda aura too."

"I wonder if this one had a master emerald too."

Sonic laughed "With the way Knuckles was guarding that thing like it was the last one on earth? No way!"

Behind his laughter however his mind started considering the possibilities. This place definitely had many ancient treasures to it. Who knows what hidden powers it contains? And if Robotnik was to get access to this place. Hell if he already knew about it…

We need to find him quickly and get him the hell out of this zone.

"Alright Tails. Let's figure out a way outta this place. You might have a concussion so it's too risky having you walk right now. Hop on my back I'll soften my quills for ya."

Tails grimaced as he let himself get hoisted up by Sonic. "Just let me run with you! It'll be faster."

Sonic grinned. "Aw c'mon! You think that a little fox weight will slow me down? Besides, after all the times you've carried me flying it's only fair."

Before Tails could reply he got into a starting stance. "Alright let's go!" he shouted before speeding on ahead.

Tails' head throbbed as he rested on Sonic's back, his arms wrapped around his neck. With every leap and sudden increase in speed a pang of pain would run through his head. However, he kept quiet about it, not wanting to worry the hedgehog anymore than he needed to.

At the very least the views from exploring this place were intriguing enough to help him ignore the pain for a bit. The architecture of the area despite seeming to be ancient had held up really well and was fascinating to look at. There were bridges seemingly made of gemstone that would glow when one walked across them, as well as walkways made purely of thick mossy vines. There even seemed to be some kind of basic piping system at play though as tubes seem to run throughout the area. Though it wasn't working properly due to the area being half flooded with water.(Much to Sonic's dismay)

"This place is amazing.." Tials remarked as Sonic grabbed onto a vine to swing across a wide gap between stone platforms. The gap was shrouded in mist but the light splashes of water that could be heard underneath was enough to clue them in to the consequences of falling.

"Yeah!" Sonic replied as he hit the ground running and launched up into the air again. "Great to run through too. Wish I found it sooner.'

"How did you find this place anyway Sonic? Last thing I remembered we were falling." Tails said this half distracted as he was simultaneously wondering how Sonic was leaping horizontally between stone pillars using just his legs.

"Oh yeah. It was actually really weird. We kinda just…floated down."

"Floated down?"

"Yeah everything started glowing. Me, you, the chaos crystals, and these orbs that were in the walls. And I just felt this strange energy. Almost like how I felt in my Super form. Next thing I know we were just floating down." He was now running across a wall in anticipation of jumping near a small stone temple he saw in the distance.

"Wow! You think the crystals did that"

"Nah '' He was mid jump. "I think it was more them reacting to what actually did it. I think this place has some kind of power. And all these green orbs have something to do with it." He landed next to the temple entrance and walked leisurely to it.

The gears in Tails' head started spinning. These orbs had to have some kind of chaos energy to them. Maybe they were made out of the crystals? And they made us float? Chaos energy can do that? Oh yeah that teleporter thing Knuckles showed us when we went to the Sky Sanctuary kinda made us float. Wow! So the crystals can be so much more than an energy source! They could help with flying and maybe force fields and…

His train of thought was broken by Sonic jolting backwards and making a retch upon walking through the entrance. He looked up and saw why. The temple was pretty much completely flooded with water. And damp moss was everywhere giving off a foul stench.

"I guess some places got it rougher than others down here" Sonic said with slight disappointment.

"Maybe there's another place we can look around in?"

"Yeah you're right. We're bound to find something if we check every building here."

Sonic walked back out through the entrance before immediately tensing up. Before Tails could ask him what was wrong he had suddenly hurled his body sideways. Not long after doing that the spot where he had been standing exploded. Tails cried out in alarm while Sonic turned his head upwards. A green laser was flying right towards them. He jumped backwards off of the platform grabbing onto a vine nearby and swinging up to one of the green gem bridges which was now glowing brighter than ever before.

"Ok what the hell was that?!" Sonic yelled out. He was turning his head eyes scanning the room when he finally saw the source of the attack.

The robot had a humanoid shape with the exception of its torso being incredibly big and round. An Egg Robo. However a key difference in its design was the blue-green wiring that ran all around its body. It seemed to be overflowing with energy as it raised its gun.

Sonic tensed and dashed as a large laser flew in their direction again. The resulting explosion was even louder than before, sending debris flying in all directions.

'Hang on tight Tails!' Sonic yelled as he dodged the rocks that flew by and ran headlong towards the bot. He jumped up into a flying kick to attack but before his foot could reach it was stopped short. The energy emanating from the robot had taken the shape of a spherical forcefield. For a split second it was like Sonic was suspended in the air with his attacking foot still resting on the shield before he quickly bent his leg and used the pressure from the shield to jump away.

"Oh great this one got shields…" Sonic muttered. "At least there's no electricity to worry about this ti-"

As if on cue the robot started crackling with electrical energy before zapping a bolt of green electricity at a speed even greater than its prior lasers. Sonic barely managed to dodge.

"I stand CORRECTED" Sonic managed to let out indignantly between huffs of air.

The Robo wordlessly began crackling again with energy. Sonic clenched his teeth. This was a more complicated badnik to deal with, and right now with Tails on his back that basically restricted him to attacking with his arms and legs. He had to figure out something quick.

Tails sensed the hesitation in Sonic's movement and hopped up off of him into the air with his namesakes whirring. Sonic turned around surprised.

"Hey! What are yo-"

'Don't worry about me! I'll just get in the way."

"But-"

Sonic was unable to finish his objection before another zap of electricity came flying. This time directed at the flying fox. Tails let out a yelp and swerved hard to the right, narrowly dodging it.

Sonic turned towards the Robo. "Hey," he growled. "Your main target is here."

He charged right at the bot, jumping into a spin attack at full speed. However, instead of tearing through it he simply ricocheted harshly off of its shield leaving the Robo unharmed. As he spun back through the air Sonic heard the dreaded sound of an electrical attack charging. He hastily grabbed onto a hanging vine and used it to swing out of the way in time. He felt the heat of the attack on his back as fell back to the ground.

Tails watched the scene play out from the top of a temple in the distance with baited breath and his fists clenched. Sonic seemed all but helpless against this foe. Every attack he landed was doing nothing because of the shield and all of the Robo's moves were deadly and keeping him on his toes. His heart ached as he thought about how all he was doing here was just sitting and watching.

His eyes scanned the scene desperately hoping to find any way he could assist in the situation. As the robo fired another charged laser at Sonic his eyes perked up with realization. He leapt up and flew in Sonic direction.

"Sonic! The robo's shield! It goes away in the instant it fires its attack. It can't defend and attack at the same time!"

Sonic's ears perked at the fox's yell and he turned to the incoming fox. Unfortunately the robo noticed him too and out of its back sprung out two rocket launchers which swiftly fired 4 missiles each. All directed towards Tails.

'Ah TAILS GET OUTTA THE AIR!" Sonic yelled as he ran towards the missiles to stop them. The Robo however wasn't having it and fired a rapid streak of lasers at the hedgehog, causing him to shift his focus back to not getting blasted.

Tails let out a shout as he tried to weave through the trajectories of the oncoming missiles. As he flew in between them they started to explode and they sent him crashing into a rock wall before falling down into the misty water with a splash.

"TAAAAILSS!" Sonic screamed in horror trying again to run to assist his friend when the Egg Robo once again halted him with a missile swarm of his own to deal with.

'Can. You. Just.." Sonic grunted zigzagging through the explosions and hopping on one of the missiles. "Screw OFF!" he finished as he forcibly changed its path towards the Robo and hopped off.

To his dismay it walked through the explosion like nothing. Its blue-green shield shining through the smoke of all the debris.

Great, so much for the ol' reliable 'redirect missile trick'

Sonic scowled as his brain raced for a way outta this mess. I gotta get to Tails and see if he's okay. He can swim but who knows for how long in his condition or if he's even able to right now.

The robo started charging its attack once more. 'Alright' Sonic muttered, 'At the very instant huh..'

Sonic took a deep breath and let all of his thoughts and feelings fall away. All of his senses were hyper focused on one simple thing. The passage of time. It was as if everything slowed down the way his eyes started taking in every piece of information by the millisecond. He could see the faint glimmer of light getting brighter in the robo's arm cannon, indicating that its laser was about to fire. He also saw how, as it got brighter, the shield around the Robo grew dimmer until it was no longer visible.

Now

The whole time Sonic was taking in this information he was also moving. It was almost automatic in how his legs carried him where he needed to be and in how he positioned himself for the attack. But at the same time he was acutely aware of his body and how he was moving it. A single second after the robo had started to fire its laser, Sonic was right beside it and rammed it with the strongest roundhouse kick he could muster. The bot was sent careening at a blinding speed through multiple stone pillars before finally coming to a stop as it crashed into a stone wall where it remained deeply wedged. The sounds of rocks crumbling echoed through the Zone and the only sounds coming from the Robo was irregular electrical buzzing before it exploded.

Sonic didn't even give his foe a second glance as he rushed over to where Tails had fallen.

"Tails! TAILS!" He yelled into the mist below, not even able to see the surface of the water the fox landed in. He faintly heard some coughing and spluttering.

"I'm ok." came the meek response. Sonic sighed in relief as he saw Tails slowly flying out of the mist and back onto land with him where he collapsed onto the ground with his head down.

Sonic came to his side placing a hand on his shoulder looking him up and down. 'Woah woah easy there buddy. How are you feeling now? How's your head? Did you break anything?"

Tails shook Sonic off his shoulder lightly while still looking down. "I'm fine. Bag got wet though."

"Here, hop back on my bac-"

"No!" Tails hastily stood up and shook his head more furiously this time. "No. I can walk on my own, I swear. Please?" A pang of pain shot through him and he tried to hide his wince.

Sonic sighed. "Y'know you don't have to play the tough guy shtick here Tails. I told you already that it's no problem for me."

"I don't need you to baby me."

'Baby you? I'm not babying you! I prefer calling it a heroic carry."

Tails simply started walking forward with a grimly stubborn look on his face and trying not to look like he was limping. Sonic gave another exasperated sigh before following suit.

"Have it your way I guess.." he murmered. He knew that once Tails set his mind on something it was hard to make him let up.

"Well in other news it seems the old man is on to us down here too." said Sonic. "And here I thought we were in a peaceful utopia."

Tails gave a weak laugh in reply. "I guess he must've found it while mining the caves."

"It's weird though…this place still seems untouched. Never fashioned him for one to preserve history"

Tails tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm you're right. Maybe he's saving it for something?"

"Better kick his butt before that happens then."

"So where do we go now Sonic?

"Hmmm. How about over there?" He pointed to a thick gemstone bridge which extended into one of the more foggy parts of the zone. There one could see the faint outline of a large cathedral.

Tails gulped, trying to shake the spooky thoughts invading his mind at the thought of exploring the empty building shrouded by mist.

Sonic gave Tails a sidelong glance. "Your not scaaared are you?"

"Of course not!" Tails jumped up and started flying ahead at full speed. "Race you there!"

"Hey! You got a head start, no fair!" Sonic exclaimed in mock betrayal as he chased after the fox.

They blitzed through the zone with Tails actually maintaining his lead due to him talking easy shortcuts through the air, leaving Sonic to do all kinds of parkour to keep up.

"You. are. So. LUCKY!. I. can't. Fly!" Sonic grunted as he hopped from platform to platform. Sometimes nearly losing his balance but never showing any worry.

Tails giggled "Hey I need some kind of advantage here!" He slowed to a stop as he finally arrived at the bridge leading to the cathedral. Up closer he could see it in more detail. Notably the large windows of colored purple glass which seemed to almost sparkle.

"Wow…" Tails looked up in awe. 'It's actually really pretty up close"

Sonic landed next to him. "Probably even prettier on the inside!"

They both ran up to the entrance where the doors laid already ajar.

"Woah" Sonic's voice echoed through the large empty hallways and chambers as they entered. The floors, walls and ceilings were all lined with ancient paintings and writings. The paintings depicted warriors in battle wielding spears and swords. Some showed them engulfed in a kind of green energy similar in color to the gemstones everywhere.

"Hey look over here!" Tails pointed over at a wall.

Sonic looked to observe it and saw many small drawings of what seemed to be simplistic stick figures. All in numerous body positions and stances with writings next to them."It kinda looks like it's teaching dance moves." Tails said with a laugh. He tried to imitate the postures of the figures, which ended up looking like a goofy makeshift dance.

Sonic chuckled at the fox before his eyes noticed one of the figures' postures and narrowed in focus. The figure was standing with its knees bent and one arm resting on a knee while the other was pointing straight down to the ground.

I recognise that stance

He could never forget anything from that fight. Knuckles had used that stance back in the other Hidden Palace Zone after Sonic had turned super. He'll never forget the surprising surge of power he felt from him afterwards.

He really ripped me a new one.

"I think we're gonna pay Knuckles a visit after we get outta here" Sonic stated. ""I think you were right, Tails. About this place having a connection to Angel Island. If anyone knows about this place it's probably him."

Tails stopped his dance and looked up at him excited. "We get to see him again? Alright!"

Sonic chuckled. Somehow he had the feeling the echidna would not match the foxes enthusiasm when they showed up.

They continued exploring the cathedral, eventually coming across what seemed to be a music chamber. There was a large organ in the middle of the room, fitted with large green pipes and a mix of purple and brown materials making up its palette. Arranged in a wide circle around the room were small green emeralds each perched on small stone pedestals.

"They look like super emeralds." Tails said in quiet shock.

"Nah they can't be." Sonic replied as he laid his hand on one. "Way too weak. Barely feel anything from em"

Tails felt them as well with a quizzical look on his face "So weird."

Sonic walked over to the organ and started gingerly pressing the keys. The sound of it gently echoed through the room before he started frantically smashing his fingers across it creating a deafening cacophony of noise.

Tails flattened his ears and looked over at the hedgehog turned musician. "Sonic I can't hear my own thoughts!"

"Whoops sorry." Sonic chuckled as he lifted his hands off the organ. "I'm more of an electric guitar guy myself anyway."

From the entrance of the room three electric blasts of energy flew towards the hedgehog. He swiftly threw himself on the ground out of their way as they collided with the organ and exploded, leaving one haunting echoing chord in its wake.

They duo looked up in alarm as three Egg Robo's identical to the one they fought earlier descended upon them.

"Y'know what, I'm not even surprised." Sonic said as he got up into a fighting stance. "The doc always loves copy and pasting. You things are getting a little too good at sneaking around though."

Tails got into a fighting stance too. His face more determined than ever. I won't be a hindrance this time.

As the Robo's charged the duo split off running in opposite directions.

"Be on guard for any tricks up their sleeves!' Sonic yelled across the room to Tails who nodded in response.

Sonic turned back to the Robo's. He already knew the key to beating them, but the timing was very precise. Doing it three times in succession with all of them firing would be tricky..

Two of the robo started shooting lasers rapid-fire at Sonic and Tails respectively while the third simply stayed in the air and fired small missiles everywhere. The result was chaos. Glass windows started shattering, pillars began cracking and debris flew everywhere. With all of this going on Sonic could barely keep himself from getting crushed under falling pieces of rock muchless retaliating against them.

Meanwhile Tails was swiftly dodging the shots from the Robo firing down at him. He took to the air and looking behind him saw that it was giving chase. Fortunately for him the falling debris of the building was hindering its aim and Tails was able to lose it in the chaos. A lightbulb went off in his head and he flew a little bit higher up and shouted in the direction of his pursuer.

"Hey! Get your dumb metal butt up over here!"

Its response was a powerful laser flying upward towards the fox which he sidestepped in midair and watched as it collided with the 3rd Egg Robo up in the air which had been too busy firing missiles to notice him hovering under it.

The laser penetrated its shield and exploded, leading Tails to cheer.

"I did it! I beat one of them! Sonic! Look! Look I-" he stopped his celebration as the smoke cleared and he saw that the impact simply left the robo smoking and making angry electrical noises. It was a little worse for wear but still perfectly functional.

Crap I thought that'd do it

Now he was sandwiched in the air between two angry provoked robots.

Not good.

The above robo plummeted down towards him as the Robo below him flew up. Tails hastily flew out from in between them leading to them almost crashing into each other. They were able to correct their course in time however and he found himself now with two pursuers.

At the other side of the room Sonic saw Tails' plight out of the corner of his eye and swore to himself. He scooped a small piece of debris up quickly and looked towards his own opponent Robo who was trying to get a lock on him with its laser.

'Yo Robo! Let's skip the boring part and just get right down to it, standoff style. How about it?'

The Robo simply made some clicks and lifted its arm to fire. Sonic gripped the rock in his hand and started quickly winding up to throw, his arm moving so fast it might as well have been a propeller. The second the Robo fired, Sonic launched the small piece in his hand as a projectile and it flew forward at a deadly speed. Blasting through the Robo's head dead center. As he had thrown it Sonic tried sidestepping the laser but was just a moment off and he felt a sharp hot pain in his left arm as the laser grazed him. He let out a gasp of pain and stumbled, grasping his arm and wincing heavily.

'Guess I used up all my close calls down here..' he said, his voice strained. He looked and saw the Robo had collapsed and immediately rushed in the direction of Tails and the other Robo's, who were now by the destroyed organ.

Tails ducked behind the organ for cover from the firing Robo's. His respite didn't last long however as the Robo's lasers pummeled the last of the organ into complete smithereens. As they lifted their cannons to the scrambling fox, a blue blur whizzed past them, scooping him up just in time before their lasers could hit.

With Tails now in his arms, Sonic rushed to the opposite side of the room away from the Robo's and placed him down. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah ... .where's-?"

"The other one? I took care of that bozo," he gestured to the fallen Robo before flashing a grin, "I know you didn't wanna be carried, but 2 on 2 is a lot more fair, eh?"

Tails returned a small smile and a nod before pointing behind Sonic in alarm, "Look out!"

Sonic turned and saw the Robo's approaching swiftly. He saw one of them was smoking slightly and didnt have its shield up.

"Well well well, a free hit? Don't mind if I do!"

With that he sprinted dead ahead towards the defenseless Robo. But as he ran forward, the one with the shield began crackling with electricity.

Oh great, I forgot they could do that

However to his surprise as the bolt fired it redirected away from him. Instead, it hit what looked like a piece of a metal organ pipe that had been thrown in the air by Tails.

With no time to spare, Sonic set his focus back on the Robo ahead and careened through its center with a spin attack, leaving a gaping hole in its chest before it exploded.

He turned back with a smile to Tails. "So THAT'S what you were by the organ for! Nice one!'

Tails beamed.

The last Robo started making angry beeps as its body started pulsating with more energy. Its shield dropped and out of its hand came a sword made of pure energy and coated in electricity. It lunged towards Sonic.

'Woah!' Sonic exclaimed as he dodged the swings. 'I guess you can teach an old dog some new tricks."

He quickly ducked and knocked it off balance with a leg sweep.

"Unfortunately for you, you can't beat a master!" he revved up a spin-dash and fired, slicing right through the Robo and leaving it in pieces.

Sonic uncurled and let out a small shout of pain as he crouched down holding his arm. He looked down and saw his injury was bleeding.

Tails ran to his side, "That was awesome Sonic! You wiped them out like it was nothing. I-," he noticed the grimace on his face, "What's wrong? Wait, you're bleeding!"

Sonic's expression changed to a thin smile. "It's alright." he said in a reassuring tone, "I've handled worse. Nothing a couple of bandaids can't fix when we get outta here."

Tails put his hands to his head, "Ahhh I shoulda brought a medkit with me!"

"Hey don't beat yourself up about it."

Tails eyes widened, "Wait hold on!" He took off his bag and, with the help of his teeth, ripped off one of the straps.

"Here hold out your arm."

Sonic stretched his arm out gingerly. Tails took the strap and wrapped it carefully around the wound, tightening it with a knot. "There, it's not the best but it should help slow the bleeding. I think."

Sonic stared at the fox in awe. "Are you kidding? This is great! Where'd you learn how to do this?"

The fox looked down bashfully, "I read it in a book somewhere, emergency medical procedures in a crisis or something like that…"

"Jeez you're like a sponge with this stuff, and a good thing too, this works great!" Sonic remarked as he stood up and flexed his arm tenderly. "Thanks buddy." he pulled him into a one-armed hug while ruffling his hair.

Tails laughed and playfully pushed away, "So where are we gonna head now?"

"Absolutely nowhere!" snarled a familiar voice from the distance.

The duo turned and saw Robotnik flying in through one of the windows that was broken during the previous fight. He laid in his classic Egg Mobile, which was now outfitted with a comically large trombone. On his face was a twisted smile.

Sonic snorted, "Never really took you for a musician Doc. Been getting your lessons in?" Tails giggled.

The smile was replaced by a frown. "You never fail to supply with your inane remarks hedgehog. This is not just any instrument. This is my specially calibrated 'Egg Horn 3000' outfitted with-"

"EGG HORN 3000" Sonic exclaimed gleefully, bursting into laughter with Tails following suit.

The scientist rolled his eyes at the pair as they continued laughing for nearly a minute. "Laugh all you want at my naming schemes fools! Simpletons like you wouldn't understand the genius mind behind them anyway."

Sonic wiped a tear from his eye, "The genius of being an Egghead?"

"It's called a motif rodent. A signature iconography to associate with my great name and genius. It may seem comical now, but I intend to make sure it is associated with fear and power. The day will come when the words 'Egg Empire' will be ubiquitous with all of the land!"

Now it was Sonic's turn to roll his eyes, "Whatever you say Humpty Dumpty. How about you tell us what the hell an old fart like you is doing in a lovely place like this?"

"That is none of your concern, rat. Simply know that I've come to make this your permanent resting place."

Tails couldn't help but shudder a bit at those words despite himself. Robotnik noticed the fox tensing up and his smile returned.

"We'll see about that!" Sonic declared as he launched himself towards the doctor.

Robotnik's smile widened as he reached down and pushed a button. The horn of his trombone perked up and suddenly a noise started playing from it, not the typical horn sound you would expect, but instead a distorted reverberated noise that penetrated the animals eardrums. Tails' ears flattened while Sonic stopped dead in his tracks, putting his hands over his ears.

"A nifty contraption is it not? But listen closely furballs, there is so much more to demonstrate!"

Robotnik twisted some dials on his control panel and out of the horn came what looked like a ring of energy, almost like the physical manifestation of a sound wave. It went right into Sonic, who was too distracted by the previous ear piercing noise to properly dodge, and sent him flying into the wall. The resulting impact left the wall behind him cracked and the wind seemingly knocked out of him as he fell to the floor in shock and pain, gasping for air.

Tails watched in horror "SONIC!"

Robotnik's laughter echoed through the hollow, wrecked chamber. "Sound is a powerful thing isn't it?"

Tails ran to the injured hedgehog, who was still struggling to get up. "What was that?" he asked worriedly.

Sonic groaned, "Ughh, felt like…my whole body was vibrating...feel like i'm gonna throw up.."

Robotnik laughed again, "Ohohoho! No more wisecracks now hmm? Yes extreme nausea and loss of balance can occur from my sound attacks! So please forgive me if you cannot find your footing!"

Tails looked up at the chortling man with fury. He noticed and looked back down on the fox with a sneer.

"What are you looking at fox boy? Care to do something about it? Gonna whip me with your extra tail?"

A pang of fear hit the young boy and he broke eye contact and looked back down towards Sonic shaking him slightly "Please Sonic…you gotta get up!" Sonic moaned in pain

"What a shame…it seems the great hero of Mobius only surrounds himself with cowards."

That last word echoed in Tails' head as yet another pang of emotion hit him. This time one of guilt and shame. He looked back up at the doctor with furious tears in his eyes. "That's not true!"

The scientist flashed a crooked toothy grin at him, "Not so easy to laugh at me without your blue buddy making jokes I see."

Tails plunged himself up furiously into the air, flying as fast he could towards Robotnik.

BWOOORM

Unfortunately Robotnik was ready and the familiar sound sliced through the air and caused the fox to destabilize and crash into the ground, writhing in pain from the sound.

"Before my final demonstration I have to thank you both for the performance you both gave off with my new Egg Robo models. It was quite the entertaining show to watch. And the data collected from it will surely be useful in improving the attack patterns and overall intelligence of the next batch. The powers this chaos energy grants my creations truly is incredible! A shame neither of you will get to see them conquer the world!" He cackled.

Sonic let out another groan, "...shud…up"

Robotnik floated up higher closer to the ceiling and pulling a lever pointed his horns upwards.

"The spectrum of sound truly is incredible, with these barely perceivable higher frequency sound waves…", he turned a dial, "...I can penetrate through solid material such as this ceiling. And with the added dexterity of control added by chaos energy…", he pushed some buttons and his Egg Mobile radiated with energy, "I can pick and choose which points of contact to target specifically with my waves! Even further above to the cavern ceiling beyond here!"

A rumbling and cracking sound started and began to grow in volume. Robotnik gave one lask sick smile to the incapacitated duo. "So long and good riddance." He promptly flew out the window.

Sonic opened his eyes wearily as he felt the entire place rumbling. Looking up with blurry vision he saw cracks appearing and widening in the ceiling above him. Groaning he began to stand up, ignoring the pain that was pulsing through his joints and muscles right now.

God he always finds some new way to make me feel like hell.

Looking ahead of him he saw what in his vision looked like an orange blob. Tails. He started lumbering in his direction.

A giant boulder crashed through the ceiling landing behind Sonic. He turned and saw it was now blocking the doorway from which they had entered. Great

The rumbling sound was getting to a deafening point. Sonic finally reached his fox friend and picked him up in his arms. Gotta get out of here before-

But it was too late, now the entire ceiling was collapsing, with boulders of varying sizes crashing through. All Sonic could do was throw his body over the fox and squeeze his eyes shut as all hell broke loose and rained down upon them.