"And we're on!" Soar yelled.

"Hahahahaha… wake up, Sonic!" Shadow taunted over a loudspeaker.

Sonic woke up to find himself in a dimly lit dungeon room., upside down. Sonic's feet were cuffed together suspended by a rope on the ceiling. He examined the spike strip directly in front of his abdomen and tried to push himself away. Sonic slammed into a wooden beam just inches behind his body. He swung back due to the rope and suffered minor punctures to his midsection as a result.

"Welcome, Sonic, to your examination. I've prepared a series of games for you to complete. In this first test, you must only save yourself. You may see the sword near the rope. All you have to do is take it and cut the rope, and you'll drop gently to the pool below. Will you lean over the spike strip to free yourself? This is your first test. You have sixty seconds. Brave or grave."

The wooden beam behind Sonic started slowly to close in on him. He found the room exactly as Shadow had described; the spike strip in front of him, the katana on top of the spike strip, and the spikes as sharp as possible. He tried to squat, but the awkward positioning of his ankles in the ropes prevented this. Leaning back served him no better; the beam behind him prevented him from escaping uninjured.

Sonic was furious. "SHADOW! TALK!" He demanded.

"Yes, princess?" Came the mocking response.

"LET ME GO!" Sonic furthered his demands.

"Why should I? You've got all the capability to do it yourself, no? The board is closing in. Best to act fast. Brave or grave, Sonic."

Sonic looked at the sword resting on the spike strip. Tucking his stomach in, he reached over the board and grabbed the sword, taking eleven small punctures to the chest. He leaned sideways to begin cutting the rope holding him to the ceiling.

"This will be the sword I kill you with." Sonic threatened. The gears to the beam turned faster as a consequence for his threat; he had mere seconds to escape. He held the rope steady with one hand and sliced all the fibers with the other. Sonic quickly threw the sword as he plunged into the pool below. He had escaped. The pool was deep enough so he suffered no damage. Sonic quickly got out of the pool.

"You know I'm afraid of water." Sonic complained.

"Oh, I know." Shadow responded in turn, the location of the speakers more obvious. "It was just to make the game a little more fun. I've given you a medkit. Bandage yourself up and move on to the next room."

Sonic spotted an EXIT sign above a dimly lit door. He found the medkit just in front of the door, dried himself off, and bandaged his chest. He opened the door, but no lights were on.

"Welcome to your first real test, hero." Shadow mocked. "In the practice run, you saved yourself, but from now on, you must save as many of your friends as you can. Your first game should be beatable, and relatively harmless. Hahaha…"

Shadow remotely turned the lights on. In the first game, Sonic spotted…