Chapter 5 - The Fox, the Echidna, and the Hedgehog
Author's note: Hi readers, I am officially back after a short break. I received one review from Avimo, and unfortunately I wouldn't be able to update my stories in order, due to where they rank on my list of priorities. With some of them, I have no real motive to continue, while for others, such as "The Speedy Chocolatier Showdown", I am working very hard, because I don't like to keep people waiting for long either. Now, on with the story!
In a split-second, I had gone from being in a room to grab the next key, to grinding on a vine hundreds of feet in the air above a massive rain forest! I didn't dare to look down at all the trees below, since I knew that the landing would not be soft at all. Thankfully, I reached solid ground a few seconds later and zoomed past some robots, who paid no attention to me. I wasn't sure how I did this on my own two feet, but I somehow had enough speed to make it through a full vertical loop, as well as three corkscrews, without stalling or falling off! I screamed in terror as I flew off a jump, sailing into the air with absolutely nothing below me!
Thankfully, I landed on a solid platform, where I saw an ENORMOUS green frog! There were two steps that led up to where the frog was, so I jumped over them, and when I passed the frog, it started to rain. Normally, I hate getting wet, but the rain was a good thing since it caused several bouncy plants to grow. I decided to leave my fears behind, and I bounced across the plants until I landed on a vine that spiraled downwards, grinding on it until I reached the end.
When I flew off the end, my arms were flailing, trying to grab onto the nearest object, which happened to be a swing made from ivy! I pumped my legs forwards and backwards to swing as high as possible, and I let go once I reached the highest point, landing gracefully on the ground where another frog was croaking.
Just like before, the frog began to summon rain, and to my surprise, fruity bouncers sprouted right in front of me in less than a second! I jumped onto the first one, and it was so bouncy that it sent me nearly a hundred feet into the air! I landed on the next one, and I gained enough height to reach the next platform.
On this platform, there stood a strange-looking, orange anthropomorphic fox. He had big blue eyes and a friendly smile, white gloves on his hands, red-and-white shoes on his feet, and...two tails?
There was also a platform located a very far distance away. Surely this fox could somehow help me.
"How...how am I supposed to get over there?" I said timidly, unsure if he could talk, let alone understand me.
"Let me give you a lift, friend!" he said in a cute voice. He gently took my hands, and much to my surprise, his tails began to rotate like a helicopter rotor, taking off into the air while I dangled below him. The fox helped me over the deadly void before making a smooth landing beside another frog.
We jumped to the land on our left, and we flew forward until we saw another bouncy fruit on the ground. The fruit bounced us high into the air, high enough to reach the next platform, where yet another anthropomorphic creature stood. This one was an echidna who had red fur that covered most of his body, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, and violet eyes. He had seven dreadlock-like spines around the sides and back of his head. He was wearing large, white, mitten-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and two spiked knuckles on each hand, as well as red and yellow shoes with grey, bolted steel plates on top.
"Grab onto me," the echidna said in a gruff but friendly voice. He punched a red thing that resembled Captain America's shield, and it swung around and launched us forwards. Suddenly, a small blue hedgehog took my right hand, and we were whipped down a giant slope and into another massive loop! The world spun around me as we whipped through more corkscrews, and then up and down several small hills before reaching yet another frog. Another bouncy fruit appeared, launching us into the air once again, and then a spring brought us to even greater heights! We jumped from platform to platform, taking out several robots along the way, and then the echidna punched another one of those red things that sent us flying forwards.
After some more jumps, we came to a tall, white flower situated on a small platform. The blue hedgehog ran around it in a circle at a very high speed, causing a tornado that lifted the flower off the ground! We all grabbed onto it, and the flower carried us through the air. As we flew high above the ground, I couldn't help but think that my new teammates looked somewhat familiar...
The flower began to drift lower and lower, and we landed on an enormous platform with a golden, turtle-like robot standing guard. The hedgehog spun around again, and the tornado that he created launched the robot high into the air! It landed back onto the ground, inverted, and together we attacked its vulnerable underside until it blew up.
The fox helped us to fly up another cliff, and before I knew, it, we were sailing through the air with the help of another flower, flying straight towards the biggest mushroom I've ever seen in my life!
"Wow, I've never seen a mushroom that big before!" the fox noted.
"Hang on!" the hedgehog cautioned. "This flower is heading straight for that mushroom!"
The flower began swaying violently from side to side, and the wind diverted us to the right just before we would have crashed into the giant fungus. We were whisked all the way around the humongous mushroom, only to drop onto another platform. Together, we destroyed the robots and navigated some more ivy swings, flew to the next platform, and then the red echidna punched another one of those red things. It sent us flying through the air, and we landed on a track with a double-loop, banked turns, and corkscrews, getting more dizzy with each one. After jumping on some more bouncy fruit and taking out more robots, we were grinding another ivy rail, while it was growing, and then we flew off the end and landed on a large, grassy platform.
"Yeah! We did it!" the fox cheered, giving us all a high-five. I was panting furiously, trying to catch my breath after all this action.
"May I introduce myself," the fox said. "I'm Miles Prower, but most people call me Tails."
"I am Knuckles," the echidna said, punching the air with his fists.
"And I'm Sonic!" the hedgehog said, doing a backflip in midair. "Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive!"
"Now, don't get too cocky," Knuckles reminded him.
"I thought you three looked familiar!" I exclaimed with delight. "I'm a huge fan of you guys, and all your other friends! It's so nice to meet you all! Thanks for helping me."
"No problem!" Tails grinned. "We're all a team, and we'll do whatever it takes to help you along your journey!"
"If you need a speed boost," Sonic said, "that's what I'm here for."
"And if you need a little more power to defeat those pesky enemies, you can count on me!" Knuckles smiled.
"And if there's any perils that you cannot cross on foot," Tails said, "I'm here to give you a lift!"
"You're so kind," I said with a grin. "Now that we're a team of four...hey, we could call ourselves the Fantastic Four! Wait, no, that's not right. Whatever, I'll think of a cool name for our team eventually. Let's carry on, shall we?"
"Okie dokie!" Tails said cheerily. We formed a train of sorts, with Sonic at the front, Tails behind him, me behind Tails, and Knuckles at the back. Together, we went to the end of the platform, where the elegant front door of a mansion made itself known. Sonic opened the door, and we went inside.
I was expecting a grand entrance lobby, like what you'd find in most mansions, but instead there was a wall of spikes in front of us, and the two walls that flanked us were also covered with spikes!
"How are we supposed to get through there?" I wondered, a look of both confusion and fear on my face. "There's no door!"
"Let me look," Tails said, flying towards the spiky wall in front of us. He brandished a flashlight and turned it on, and its beam of light revealed a section of the wall that looked different than the rest. He then took out a screwdriver and began poking at the seam, and the section of the wall swung to the side. "I knew it! It's a hidden door!"
We went through the door and into a bathroom. There was only a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub.
"We're trapped!" I cried out. "Now what?!"
"We'll just have to go down there," Tails said, pointing at the toilet.
"First skunks, then butts, and now a toilet?" I moaned. "Don't you know where toilets lead to?"
"Of course," Knuckles smirked. "To the sewer."
"No way," Sonic said with disgust. "I am not going down there!"
"You have no choice," Tails told him. "Just suck it up, plug your nose, and go. That's the ONLY way we'll be able to move on!"
"Fine," Sonic grumbled, plugging his nose with his right hand while stepping into the toilet bowl. Tails reached for the flush handle and pulled it down, and Sonic was flushed away to who knows where.
"I'll go next," Knuckles said, fearlessly hopping in before flushing himself down. Tails did the same, and then I was the only one left in the bathroom.
"How can I fit in there?" I frowned, stroking my chin. I stepped inside the toilet bowl, worried that I was going to crack it with my weight, but the toilet never budged. I saw a candy that looked like a Tic Tac on top of the toilet paper dispenser, so I ate it and I instantly shrunk down to the size of Tails.
"Here goes nothing," I said, and then I pulled the handle to flush myself down. The bathroom seemed to swirl around me, and I was sucked downwards in a torrent of rushing water, through a narrow tunnel filled with twists and turns.
"WOOOHOOOOOOO!"
Seconds later, the slide spat me out, and as I returned to my normal size, a pair of skis immediately shimmered below my feet. I realized I was now gliding down a black-diamond ski slope, narrowly missing pine trees while traveling at breakneck speeds. I saw Tails far off in the distance, and I was sure that Sonic and Knuckles were even further ahead.
Suddenly, the ground started to rumble, and I noticed that the snow around me had started to turn a nasty shade of brown. I looked over my shoulder, and my heart almost stopped.
It was a crapalanche.
A big, brown, ugly, smelly, deadly crapalanche.
And it was bearing down on me. Very fast.
Just before the brown mass would have buried me alive in a pile of sewage, Sonic zipped up the slope to where I was, and together, we barreled down the mountain at the speed of sound, far away from the crapalanche.
Just as I was starting to feel safe, I realized that we were nearing the edge of a cliff!
"Sonic!" I screamed. "You know that's a deadly cliff in front of us, right?!"
"Yeah, I know," he said coolly. "I've jumped off cliffs before, many times!"
A split-second later, we were sent flying over the edge. Sonic was whooping with joy as we fell downwards through the sky, doing somersaults and other tricks in midair.
But then, I saw what was below...a raging, brown river of sewage!
"We're gonna drown!" I moaned, covering my eyes. Much to my surprise, Sonic was doing the same. "You can't swim?"
"N-no," Sonic answered, with a look of fear on his face.
We landed into the river with an enormous splash, and since I was a strong swimmer, I was the one pulling Sonic along this time. The poor hedgehog retched and reeled, but I was determined to help both of us survive the river. Suddenly, Sonic spotted a log nearby.
"There's a log over there!" he cried with delight. He curled into a ball and jumped onto the log, and I dragged myself onto it as well. We stood up, hanging ten on the log as it floated down the river, which was becoming even wilder.
I was having the ride of my life, surfing on the log with Sonic, but then I began to hear a loud roar off in the distance. We were headed towards a raging, lethal sewagefall!
"Holy crap!" I screamed, trying to point the log away from the sewagefall, but to no avail. The log suddenly twisted around and a pair of jaws with razor-sharp teeth tried to chomp at me. "It's a poopigator!"
"Hang on!" Sonic commanded, and he took a gigantic leap, far away from the poopigator...but then a powerful gust of wind blew us through the air and over the sewagefall!
"NOOOOOO!" we screamed together, fearing the worst...that is, until Tails grabbed us with his hands and safely brought us down to the ground.
"Thank you once again for saving my butt, Tails," I panted. Knuckles walked up to us and smiled.
"You should also thank me," Knuckles added. "I was the one who scared away the butthead sharks and snapping turdles before they could ambush you guys."
"Hey!" Tails called out, pointing towards the next door, which looked like it could belong in a futuristic spaceship. "This door leads to the Main Chamber. I bet the main computer or control center is located in here."
"Anything is better than whatever crap we just went through," Sonic groaned, and I laughed. "What's so funny?"
"It was crappy, both figuratively and literally!" I replied, slapping my knees as I continued laughing. Once I regained my composure, I said, "Now that we survived this, we as a team of four can do literally anything together. Let's go."
The next door automatically slid open, and we all went inside at the same time before it closed behind us.
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! While reading it for the first time in many years, I forgot where I could have come up with all the hilarious toilet humor in the second half of this chapter. After a bit of Google searching, I found that it came from the books "The Day My Butt Went Psycho" and "Zombie Butts from Uranus" by Andy Griffiths, so I must give a shout-out to his works. And what do you think of the inclusion of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles? (Speaking of which, the first half of the chapter is actually the level "Frog Forest" from Sonic Heroes.) Please feel free to review, and stay tuned for the next chapter!