- Chapter 8 -

Tundra of Terror

Sonic was struggling against the wind, trying to run through the icy tundras of the Frozen Zone.

"Should've asked Omni to send me home first," he muttered. "This is not a place to go without flannel PJs."

He shook his head. "Okay, gotta focus. If I were an evil scientist bent on world domination in the middle of a frozen tundra, where would I be?"

It wasn't long before he heard fearful screaming and what sounded like lasers blasting.

"Experience has taught me that where there's blaster fire, there's trouble." Sonic remarked before running in the direction he heard it from.

-X-

He soon found himself in a village dotted with igloos, people in parkas being tormented by Swatbots aiming their lasers at the people. An older man, clearly the village elder, stood before one of them, a modified bot with a green torso, kneeling with his hands clasped in a begging position.

"Please!" the man pleaded. "Leave us alone! Have mercy!"

The Swatbot just shook his head, his voice carrying a hint of cruel amusement. "I'm afraid that my programming has left me cold to your pleas of mercy."

He aimed an arm cannon at the elder, firing a blue beam that froze him solid. Sonic came to a stop on a nearby cliff, seeing the destruction the Badniks were causing.

"You were warned to bow down to Dr. Robotnik's demands!" the Swatbot ranted. "And since you won't, this is the price!"

"No!" Sonic shouted before jumping down and running.

He charged at the Swatbot, rolling into a Spin Dash before knocking him down.

"I heard of robots being cold and heartless, but you take the cake!"

"Of course the hedgehog would come sticking his spines into your business up here," the Swatbot leader spat, more annoyed than surprised.

"You hurt innocent people, I make it my business!" Sonic shot back.

The Swatbot squad all aimed their guns at Sonic, who just rolled his eyes.

"I've been busting you bots up all day," he deadpanned. "You really think you can stop me?"

"Maybe. Maybe not," the leader admitted. "But six meters of solid ice definitely will."

They fired at Sonic, who sped out of the way of the ice. A fight ensued and Sonic managed to smash through several of them. Eventually, the leader decided to cut his losses and make a break for it. Sonic was about to chase him, before the leader turned to face him.

"Let's see how cold you can be, hedgehog," he mocked. "You don't have much time left to thaw the Elder. So, what will you do…? Chase the villain, or save the old man?"

Sonic looked at the robot, then at the frozen elder. With a growl, he sped back to the elder, rubbing his hands together on the ice as fast as he could.

"Just as I thought," the robot gloated before fleeing, leaving Sonic to focus on his work.

"Okay, friction makes heat," he muttered to himself. "Super-speed makes super-friction.

That means…"

The ice slowly thawed, the man collapsing.

"Yes!" Sonic cheered. "Uncle Chuck's boring science lectures finally pay off!"

He held the elder up. "C'mon, let's get you inside."

-X-

Sonic led the elder into his house, setting him near the fire.

"You okay?" he asked him.

"I'm damned cold," the elder remarked. "But I'll survive."

"Sorry I wasn't fast enough to stop it. Ice is tricky to run on."

The elder waved a hand, dismissing it. "The important thing is you came."

"What exactly happened here?"

The elder's expression soured.

"That crazy human calling himself Dr. Robotnik happened. He was searching for something in the North Cave, and threatened us all with those ice gun wielding robots to help him look."

"North Cave…" Sonic muttered to himself.

"The doctor has most of the villagers there mining away for whatever he's after," the elder went on.

Immediately, Sonic frowned.

"He shouldn't have brought innocent people into this," he clenched his fist. "That just makes me mad…"

He turned toward the door, but stopped before opening it. He turned back to the elder with a somewhat hopeful look.

"Do you have a map to the North Cave?"

"I do." The elder stood up, going over to a chest to find it. "However, I must warn you. It gets colder as you go up. Try not to freeze."

"I'll try." Sonic replied. "But if you have a coat of a scarf you're willing to lend me, I won't say no."

-X-

It wasn't long before Sonic was back on the move, now wearing a blue and orange bubble jacket (1) to try to ward off the cold. He made his way up the mountain, and it wasn't long before he came across an ominous-looking cave on the side. The sounds of robotic whirring and pickaxes clacking reached his ears from within.

"If this isn't the place, I'll eat my sneakers." he said to himself.

He slipped inside, keeping to the walls as he crept deeper and deeper into the cave. It wasn't long before he came out over a massive mine-like area, seeing several of the villagers digging away with pickaxes and shovels while Swatbots and Troopers stood watch over them, weapons at the ready. One cracked a red energy whip threateningly.

"Faster!" he shouted.

The unfortunate villager whimpered, then tried to hurry up. Sonic seethed with rage at the sight, while off to the side, the Swatbot leader Sonic fought off just watched. One of his subordinates stood next to him.

"Report," the leader ordered.

"So far, nothing," said the subordinate. "Is the doctor sure there's a Chaos Emerald somewhere around here?"

"It's not our place to question the doctor," the leader shot back. "If he says there's an Emerald here, there's an Emerald here."

Off to the side, a child was working. Unfortunately, the child began to waver from exhaustion, and soon, she collapsed altogether. The whip-wielding Swatbot immediately stormed over, raising his weapon.

"Get back to work!" he roared. "Stop lazing around!"

The child's mother quickly ran over, hugging the girl.

"Can't you see she's exhausted?" she pleaded. "She's just a child!"

"Oh, you want some too?!" the Swatbot raised his whip, preparing to bring it down, only to find it suddenly gone from his hand.

"HEY!"

The bot turned, seeing Sonic there, whip in hand.

"Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight back?!" the hedgehog spat.

The Swatbot recoiled. "The hedgehog?!"

He slammed his hand on a button on his wrist, and a Klaxon sounded as the Swatbots and Troopers all dropped what they were doing, droning the words "Hedgehog, Priority One" as they turned to face Sonic.

"Well, glad to know I left such an impression," Sonic deadpanned before curling into a ball and Spin Dashing at them.

He smashed several of them apart, but just as he uncurled, an ice beam fired, freezing his feet solid. The leader lowered his freeze ray.

"You may have the fastest feet on Mobius," he gloated, "but now... you're just a normal hedgehog."

He began to circle the prone Sonic as he went on.

"So Robuttnik thinks there's a Chaos Emerald in this cave, eh?" Sonic questioned.

"He doesn't think, he knows. Using the research left over from the ROCC incident, he's whipped up a little something that can reliably track them down."

That got Sonic's attention.

"The Chaos Resonator," the bot went on. "It emits an artificial Chaos energy signature that'll help us track the Emeralds, and serve as a homing beacon. With their power, the doctor will take over this planet. And once I deliver your frozen carcass to him, I'll be his new commander."

Sonic took in his words before chuckling.

"And what, pray tell, is so damn funny?" the leader demanded.

"You villains are all alike. You're in love with the sound of your own voice. You strut around smirking like a two-year-old who's just finished potty training. You can't resist laying out every detail of your descent into evil and your big, bad plan... and you get so into it you don't even realize that I've been vibrating my feet to weaken the ice the entire time you've been shooting your mouth off."

The Swatbot perked in shock just as the ice around Sonic's feet broke apart. He launched himself at the bot, letting out a yell before putting his fist clean through his chest. The bot sputtered and sparked, losing power and falling over with a hard thud, and the captives cheered, throwing aside their pickaxes and departing, many of them thanking Sonic directly before doing so. This left Sonic to explore the cave on his own.

Seeing a glint of gold behind a wall that had been chipped away, Sonic dealt a hard kick, knocking it down to reveal another Giant Ring.

"Will you look at that?" he noted. "Must be my lucky day."

Before he could enter the ring, however, it began glowing and spinning in place rapidly. Sonic blinked in surprise before the blue Chaos Emerald came flying out of the ring and zipped past him. Sonic hurried after it, only to find Robotnik, the Chaos Resonator in one hand and the Emerald in the other.

"Ah, Sonic," he greeted casually. "Your timing is inconvenient as always."

"You!"

Sonic immediately began running at Robotnik. The doctor, however, jumped back and off the cliff. Sonic skidded to a stop, looking down to see him slowly floating up in the Egg Mobile.

"Another day, hedgehog!" he gloated before flying away, Sonic glaring after him all the while.

"No!" he cursed. "Damn it!"

He punched the ice, dropping to his knees. After a minute or two, he slowly rose back up, clenching his fists in determination.

"You won this round, Robotnik," he spat. "But the game's not over yet."

Scrap Brain Zone

Robotnik sat before a capsule containing the other four Chaos Emeralds, placing the one he retrieved inside.

"The Resonator couldn't attract the last two," he mused, stroking his mustache. "Which means Sonic must have beat me to them."

A grin spread across his face. "And that suits me just fine. That little blue delivery boy will make his way here eventually. And when he does, I'll be ready for him."

The doctor threw his head back, laughing maniacally at the thought of prying the Emeralds from Sonic's hands at his final defeat.

Author's Note:

(1): Based on one of the unlockable costumes from Sonic Forces.

Oh, no! Robotnik's already got the other five Emeralds? This is bad…

Anyway, the Frozen Zone is taken from Sonic the Comic; Sonic stored the Chaos Emeralds there after the first time he fought Robotnik. North Cave, however, was mentioned in the Master System version of Sonic Chaos.

And to Void Reader, the Freedom Fighters will be formed at the end of this arc. This is an adaptation of the first game, where Sonic fought Robotnik on his own.

Please R&R. Until next time!