Chapter Two:

Racing to the Besieged Village

A soft gust of wind blew through the trees, making the leaves shudder in rhythm with the blades of grass on the ground below. Nature was at peace, undisturbed and pristine as it could be. Blue Flickies nested in the treetops, looking after the eggs, and squirrels sought out acorns.

Up above, the sun shone across the bright blue sky over the world, its rays breathing life into the plants and the other life forms below. A bumblebee flew around a flower patch, gathering pollen for its colony, aware of its surroundings. Everything was in perfect harmony as it all was supposed to be, there was nothing that could ruin this, absolutely nothing.

WOOSH! A blue blur streaked through the grass land, generating a sharp breeze that shook the bushes and rattled the flowers, nearly startling the birds and the other animals.

Even though the nearly strange blur was hard for some people to make out, this was not a freak of nature. That blue breeze, that rushing force of energy, it was none other than him, the fastest thing alive and that thrill-seeking blue streak himself; Sonic the Hedgehog, fast as the wind and ever confident in himself as he was with his heroics and skills.

Sonic tore across the grassland with a grin, enjoying the peace and the breeze as it blew on his green-eyed face and flowed through his rippling quills, his arms were spread out like wings and his legs were like airplane engines, moving so fast until his shoes were spurring up dust as he ran.

He was fast, faster than the speed of sound, and free, free as the wind. Nobody could slow him down; no force of evil could ever stop him in his tracks. Sonic whooped as he raced to the top of a mountainside and dashed down the slope. He whizzed past a tall oak tree, jumped over a log before running through a loop-de-loop, feeling the thrill, and then the hedgehog leaped over a rock that appeared in front of him.

And in the space of that moment, gravity didn't even matter to him. Sonic flew through the air and performed a couple flips before landing back on solid ground perfectly on his feet without even a scratch or anything worse than a scratch.

More adrenaline raced through his veins, filling his eagerness to find more fun and exciting adventures out there. Sonic blasted off again, running at a faster pace than ever before. This felt so exhilarating, even thrilling. He could do this all day, Sonic could run for hours and hours without even getting tired, the speeding hedgehog could just run and run forever, maybe for the rest of his life too.

Feeling more delighted than ever, Sonic let out an exuberant holler of excitement and dashed in circles around a pair of very tall oak trees before dashing away across the lush mountainside.

Without even stopping in his tracks and breaking a single sweat, the hedgehog ran all the way to the top of the highest of mountains and then dashed down the cliffside. He jumped over rocks and ran through the trees, disturbing a few leaves from their spots in the branches and rolled up into a ball, spin-dashing right through a log before zipping across a lake.

His fast-moving feet smacked the watery surface, creating ripples and causing a small bit of water to spray in various directions. Sonic moved so fast; the water hardly touched him. BWOOSH! He broke into a boost, running even faster, and ran across a sand dune back onto dry land.

"WOOOOOHOOOOO!" The hedgehog cried excitedly, "YEAH-HA! WOO!"

Adrenaline raced through his veins, filling his legs and giving him a large boost of speed energy. Sonic ran to the top of a hill and stopped near a tree for a short rest. Green and blue Flickies flew past, one landed on the speedster's shoulder and tweeted gently, Sonic understood what the bird was saying.

"Yup, today sure is a nice day." He agreed, "No world-ending threats and no super-villains or any drama to deal with. A perfect day to be fast and free as the wind, living my own way..."

KA-BOOM!

Just when nobody expected it, a faint but loud explosion shook the countryside and animals scurried. Even from far away, Sonic could see it. He stood up, wondering what was going on.

'Ok, either someone had a demolition accident or somethin' isn't right?' Sonic thought. Another explosion went off, one that was stronger than the last as leaves fell from their spots in the branches. Sonic frowned and crossed his arms, keeping his eyes and ears open for the next explosion.

His suspicions and concerns were growing by the minute, every instinct in his body was warning the hedgehog that trouble was afoot not far off and malevolent forces were up to no good.

KA-BOOM! A third explosion shook the mountains and a beeping sound reached Sonic's ears, he pulled out the Miles Electric to see that someone was contacting him; It had to be any one of his friends. Sonic tapped 'reply' and answered the call.

"Sonic! Are you there?" Tails' voice cried over the sounds of electronic static, "We got trouble!"

"I read you, Tails." Sonic replied, "Just when I was hearing explosions too."

"Well, that's because Eggman's just launched a full-on, all-out attack on Furtree Village. This attack is way bigger than we thought it was going to be, we're trying to handle the situation and fend off the invading robots, there's so many and we're barely able to make progress."

"Hang on, Tails! I'm on my way, hold the fort until I arrive."

"Just hurry, Sonic! We don't know if we... I gotta go, EGG PAWN INCOMING… *ksshhhhh*"

The Miles Electric's communications system turned to complete static and the call ended, severely concerning Sonic. He was already worried with the news that Eggman was attacking a village, but with the scale of the attack and how the call suddenly ended, Sonic was concerned for his buddy and the rest of his friends. If everyone, including Tails, was about to get hurt, then he had to move fast.

'No time to waste...' Sonic thought, clenching his fist as he heard another distant explosion, 'I better hurry before something real bad happens to Tails.'

Without another word or a second thought, the hedgehog dashed across the landscape at high-speed, sending grass and leaves everywhere while causing a few animals to scatter. He raced past trees and maneuvered around rocks until the greenery became replaced by the rocky terrain of the mountains.

A shadow loomed over and Sonic looked up to see a ship overhead, a hatch opened and a trio of Egg Pawns dropped out, the doctor had predicted that the speedster would be speeding towards the town and was deploying his robots to delay Sonic.

"Hate to break it to you, guys..." The heroic blue hedgehog quipped sarcastically, "But this is rush hour!" He curled up into a ball and launched himself at the robots, smashing them all and freeing the Flickies stuck inside.

The hedgehog zipped up the rocky slopes, dodging a boulder that had just rolled down from the peak up above. KA-THUNK! An Egg Hammer emerged and smashed a chunk of the hill, sending debris flying. The robot eyed the speeding blue hedgehog menacingly, glaring at Sonic in a cold manner.

A very confident Sonic flashed a snarky grin and raced between the robot's legs, smashing its joints and knocking it over, the robot fell and its head popped off as sparks flew everywhere.

He ran under cliffs and dashed across steep slopes, Sonic was bristling with confidence, concern and mad energy. He had to get there in time, no distractions or delays. The hedgehog could see the village ahead, smoke was rising into the sky and Sonic could hear the sounds of battle unfolding. While he was sure it wasn't too late, the question still remained; How big was the scope of Eggman's attack?