This chapter is a little shorter than the other chapters, cause I wanted the end to be at a specific point.
But hey! I gave you as much as I could. Enjoy!
...
Consciousness returned slowly. Not that it was much different from being asleep; the same numb feeling lingered in Sonic's head.
Still; the blue hedgehog forced his eyes open and blurrily stared at the red distorted sky.
Cyber space? What was he doing back in this glitchfest?
"Finally, you're awake."
Even through the haze; he recognized the voice. Sonic shut his eyes and rolled over. "5 more minutes, dad."
"You do know you're about 3 seconds away from the edge, right?"
The blue hedgehog's eyes snapped open and he scrambling away from the drop. "Geez, Shadz! Why'd you let me get so close to the edge!?"
Shadow scowled at him. "Why did you extract ancient data without telling anyone or something to protect your mind?"
Sonic held up a finger; ready to argue, but paused. "I didn't extract any data, what are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb, faker. Silver runs over with you floating, unconscious, beside him; a map extractor spot is dead..."
"Wait, wait; I was unconscious? And seriously, what are you talking about?"
Shadow opened his mouth to respond, but his rival continued. "Look, all I was doing was cylooping around a field and..."
"When did you learn cyloop?" The black hedgehog demanded.
"Well..." The Blue Blur frowned. "I feel like these are a lot of accusing questions, Shadz. Maybe you should do some explaining."
"Answer the question, hedgehog."
"Alright, alright; geez." Sonic rolled his eyes. "So, there's this giant koco somewhere who, like, watches over all the other koco, or something. So when Silver and I brought them back to him, he explained the move to us as thanks."
Shadow put a hand to his forehead, "And did this koco also explain how the cyloop is more than just a fighting technique?"
"Uh...noooo. Care to explain?"
The black hedgehog turned. "Come on, Silver and Blaze are probably worried about you."
"Hey! It's your turn to explain what the heck happened! And I'm not leaving til you do."
Shadow sighed in annoyance, "You must've accidently activated a map spot, and your mind couldn't handle the overload of information, so you passed out. The End transferred the data to my mind because I have this," He held out the device on his wrist. "To help me handle the excess information."
"No fair!" Why is The End constantly favoring you?"
Shadow considered this, then realized. "I honestly don't know."
...
"Sonic! You're okay!" Silver exclaimed, running over and giving his friend a hug.
"Of course I'm okay, what else would I be?"
"You were gone for an entire day." Blaze said; joining the embrace.
"A day!?" Sonic shot Shadow a look. "Why didn't you tell me I was out for an entire day?"
"You never asked."
The blue hedgehog huffed, "Very mature, Shadow. But now that I'm back, we can continue collecting the emeralds! Have you guys freed the red ones yet?"
Silver shook his head, "I taught Blaze how to do cyloop, though."
"Nice." Sonic complimented; ignoring the furious black hybrid behind him. "Does your loop spark with embers?"
The violet cat shook her head, and took on a worried expression. "My cyloop is literally made of fire. I'm honestly scared to use it again."
"She's already burned through a bunch of the field." Silver gestured at a very large, very burnt, patch of ground.
Blaze looked down in shame, "It would've spread even farther, if Silver hadn't put it out with the water around the island."
"It's not your fault," The grey hedgehog assured his friend. "Remind me to tell you about the first time I used telekinesis in a populated area."
"Ooo, I gotta hear that." Sonic grinned.
The princess didn't look very convinced, so the blue hedgehog added: "Don't worry, Blaze; we've got your back. Even Shadow, right Sha..."
The black and red-striped hedgehog was already making his way toward the sparse brush concealing the river and red emeralds.
"Hey! Wait up!" Sonic ran after his rival.
"We better not let them get too far ahead." Silver said; putting a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Are you ready to get going?"
She nodded and they followed the speedy hedgehogs to the vault. Blaze put the key up to the bubble and they both vanishing; freeing the chaos and sol emeralds.
Holding the red sol emerald in her hands; Blaze felt a reassuring calm wash over her. The sol emeralds always knew when she needed a confidence boost.
Shadow wandered away from the group and toward the large koco resting on a rock near the stream. "Are you the koco who taught Sonic and Silver cyloop?"
"Hmm?" The elder koco turned to the black hybrid. "No no, my young hedgehog ; I simply explained the technique to them. The young heroes taught themselves."
"So you explained the technique but conveniently left out the other ways it can be used?"
"I assumed they already knew. They mentioned how a friend of there's had mastered the cyloop, and I figured he'd explained it's use already."
"Why would I explain how the cyloop can activate ancient ruins? Doing so is dangerous if you don't have something to protect your mind."
"Dangerous?" The koco asked in surprise. "Not at all. The first upload of data to your mind is certainly disorienting, but not dangerous. Where did you hear something like that?"
"The End explained it to me when he gave me this." Shadow held up the device.
"The End!?" The Elder koco lost his composure for a moment. "Tell me you are joking, young hedgehog."
"I'm afraid not." Silver said, joining the conversation. "We need his help to rescue our friends."
"I see. But be careful, young heroes; The End is a treacherous being. You're sure this is the only way to help your friends?"
Sonic stepped over. "Pretty sure."
"Then I will help you in any way I can. Have you heard of the Phantom Rush trick?"
"No." Sonic looked to Silver, who shook his head. "I don't think we have."
Elder koco nodded, "The Phantom Rush is a high-speed technique you, Sonic, should be able to master easily."
"Alright!" The blue hedgehog cheered. "So how does this one work?"
"The move is simple; you attack your foe quickly in multiple directions. If you go fast enough, your energy will build and you'll be able to strike as if there were multiple Sonics attacking."
"So...basically I do what I always do; except I draw from my 'well of energy' to make my attacks more powerful? Okay!"
"I wish the four of you luck on your quest to help you friends. And if you ever find more of my koco..."
"We know where to find you." Silver finished.
Blaze walked over. "So...what do we do now?"
"We should go check up on Amy." Sonic suggested. "Maybe she's found another portal ruin or vault."
"I think she headed off in that direction." Silver pointed. "Let's get going."
Blaze followed her floating friend across the stream; Sonic and Shadow trailing behind.
As they neared the ordinary tower nearby, Silver powers shut down and he fell from the sky a split second before the most enormous robot Sonic had ever seen in his life appeared out of nowhere.
It seemed to glare down at them intimidatingly.
Blaze sped up and caught Silver, "You alright?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"What is that thing?" Sonic asked. "It's huge!"
Shadow's eyes widened in realization. "I think that's a..."
A small, red figure materialized next to the robot's head and signaled to it with a red orb.
Before any of the mobians had a chance to blink, the figure teleported in the air in front of them. It was a young girl with white hair, black clothes and a red glitch surrounding her.
"Leave. Now." She demanded.
"Who are you?" Sonic asked. "Are you trapped just like Amy? Do you need our help?"
"Sonic." Shadow warned, not trusting this girl.
"Do not attack the titan." She warned.
"We have to." Silver answered. "We're going to rescue our friends."
Sonic and Shadow ran at the titan, followed closely by Blaze. Silver remained behind; hoping he could be useful by warning them about attacks.
The girl floated closer to him. "If we are fortunate, your friends will perish at the titan's hands." Her hand lit up with a red glow as she signaled to the titan.
"What are you doing!?" The grey hedgehog shouted.
The titan stomped on the ground sending Sonic, Shadow, Blaze, and a lot of large boulders into the air.
Blaze quickly shook off her surprise and started leaping on the rocks; nearing the titan. Shadow and Sonic used their homing attacks. When they were close enough; Blaze unleashed her fire, Shadow shot a torrent of chaos spears, and Sonic spin-dashed at full speed toward the robot's head.
When the blue hedgehog bounced back, he gasped in surprise to see that nothing they did had even left a scratch.
"HOW!?" Shadow shouted.
The titan reached out and grabbed Blaze; who struggled in it's grip. The mech threw her as far as it could behind it.
"Blaze!" Sonic and Silver shouted when the Blue Blur landed.
Shadow ran at full speed at one of the titan's legs. "CHAOS BLA..!"
The titan kicked him away, sending him shooting through the air.
"Shadow!" Sonic shouted. The blue hedgehog growled and launched himself at the enemy; racing up it's leg and back to it's head, where he tried more useless spin-attacks.
The titan's hand engulfed him and the robot threw him across the island, just like it had Blaze. Sonic collided with two, tall ruins before crashing into a cliff.
He groaned as he fell down onto something metal, instantly falling unconscious.
...
Sonic sat up with a start as he returned to the land of the living; gasping for breath. "So that's why The End wanted us to collect the emeralds first. We aren't gonna be able to take that thing out the classic way."
"But more than that, we'll need a lot of luck."
...
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! School starts next week, so I won't be able to update as often, but I promise I'm still writing over here! See you in the next chapter!