Sonic Returns

Chapter 3: enter the emerald hill

The very next morning, Sonic and Miles headed out into the back yard after a hearty breakfast, and prepared for their first adventure. The fox reached into his bag, and threw a warp ring into the air. As the ring expanded into a full portal, tails turned towards his new friend.

"Well, this is it." The fox took a deep breath. "Are you ready for this?"

"You got it, little buddy." The blue blur smiled, giving Miles a thumbs up. "Let's do it to it!"

"Wow, that was really corny." Miles cocked an eyebrow at him. "Where do you get those cheesy lines?"

"Sorry," The blue blur shrugged. "I've watched too many 90's movies and cartoons, I guess."

The fox rolled his eyes, and the two jumped into the portal together.

There was a flash of light, and Sonic found himself in familiar surroundings. A green gassy pathway, spiraling loops and tropical trees. Sonic felt a wave of sad nostalgia as Sonic gazed upon a landscape he hadn't seen in years."

"I don't believe it..." The hedgehog muttered, trying to keep his eyes from tearing up. "I'm home."

"The Emerald Hill zone... " Miles said, looking at the data on his tracking/data device. "A place of loops and spirals, much like your native South Island. This was as close as we could portal to the emerald's location, due to Mobius's erratic atmosphere."

"Yeah, there's only certain random spots on the planet you can warp to and from, I know." Looking ahead, Sonic saw several metallic shapes moving around on the path ahead of them "Uh oh, I don't think we're the only ones looking for the emerald..."

"Eggman's robots!They're here already!" The fox exclaimed, noticing the badniks swarming all over Emerald Hill. "Eggman must have found away to replicate the ring portals, and got his troops here before we did!"

"Well, we smashed those metal bugs back on earth, we can smash these uglies, too!" Sonic took a running stance. "Now, use your spin dash, just like I showed you last night, and try and keep up!"

The two mobians took off, sonic racing along the ground, and Miles soaring through the air. The hedgehog raced through the loops, bounced off bumpers, and jumped across gaps as he ran along the track. The bumpers and springs had been placed along these paths by mobian engineers to help their species to travel quickly, and Sonic reveled in being able to move so swiftly once more. Earth was such a flat and narrow place to travel by comparison, with obstacles to an open run everywhere. But here on his homeworld, Sonic was free to bounce, move, and spin to his hearts content, unhindered by earth's more simplistic landscape.

As Sonic came upon the badniks, he saw several snail-like robots crawling along the ground, and on the trees. Trying to avoid the shots coming out of their back shells, the blue blur smashed a dozen of the snail blasters open, and saw several terrified small animals pop out of their smashed remains.

"Hey Tails, there's little critters jumping out of these broken robots!" Sonic yelled up at the flying fox in surprise. "What the heck is going on?"

"Eggman is using small animals to power his robots!" Miles yelled back in horror, looking at his scanner. "Be careful breaking them open, make sure you don't hurt the creatures inside!"

Several buzz bombers dove at the two-tailed fox, firing lasers from their stingers. The two-tailed fox bobbed and weaved through the shots, destroying several of the bee badniks, and releasing several trapped birds into the air. But the last buzz bomber finally got a hit on one of Miles's tails, sending him tumbling out of the air.

"Help, Sonic!" The fox called out. "I'm falling!"

"Hang on, little buddy!" The blue blur replied. Jumping on a spring, he leapt into the air, catching Miles before he hit the ground. "I gotcha!"

"Thanks, Sonic!" The fox replied gratefully, as Sonic touched down again. "You saved my life up there!"

"No problem, pal!" Sonic set him down, after making sure he wasn't hurt. "Now stick close to me, and let's wreck these robots!"

The two mobians raced ahead, smashing snail blasters and buzz bombers as they went. Miles stayed not too far behind sonic, using his twin tails as a propeller to keep up. As they ran across a long wooden bridge, several mechanical fish leapt out of the water, taking them both by surprise.

"Sonic, look out!" Miles yelled, as the chompers just at them. "We're under attack!"

"Ahh!" Sonic exclaimed. "It's a feeding frenzy!"

The chompers bit as both mobians, trying to take a bite out of their flesh. The two quickly curled up into balls, and spin dashed off the bridge to safety.

"Man, I can't take much more of this!" Sonic gasped out, as he and Miles both tried to catch their breath. "How much farther to the emerald?"

"According to my scanner, it's just ahead." Upon hearing that, Sonic grabbed Miles's hand, and raced to a crater that was just ahead. "But, I think somebody already beat us to it."

There, in the middle of the freshly dug crater, several digging robots- blue construction robots on tank treads with drill noses, called burrobots- had already dug down to the spot the emerald was at. One of the burrobots picked up the shiny rock, then made a noise and pointed as he saw the two mobians.

"Uh oh, looks like we've been spotted!" Sonic exclaimed. "Well, it looks like there are only twenty of them in that pit, so it should be a fair fight!"

"Uhhh, Sonic?" Miles whimpered as he looked behind them. "I think we got more company!"

About twenty more snail blasters rolled up to the edge of the pit, trapping Sonic and Miles between them and the burrobots.

"We're trapped!" The blue blur yelled, grabbing the fox's arm, and diving into the pit. "Only one way to go!"

Wait, what are you doing?!" Miles cried out in terror. "SONIC!"

The snail blasters followed them into the crater, shooting lasers from the cannons on their backs. The whole pit erupted into a battle free-for-all; lasers firing in every direction, burrobots attacking with their drills, Sonic and Miles spin dashing left and right. The battle was so fierce, a mighty dust cloud was kicked up from the pit. The sound of laser fire, drilling and yelling mobians filled the air for nearly ten minutes, until all the noise finally began to die down. As the dust cloud finally cleared, the sight of a beat-up and scarred fox and hedgehog emerged from the pit, as small animals scattered in every direction.

"Well now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Sonic quipped, clutching the blue emerald.

"Grrrrr..."Miles just groaned, glaring at him.

"No sense of humor, huh? Okay, I'll admit that was kinda hard." He sighed, looking at the gemstone in his had. "So this is a chaos emerald, huh? I can feel the energy inside this thing... feels kinds like electricity!"

"All the emeralds are powerful, but they are quite dangerous, as well." Miles replied, taking the emerald from Sonic. "That is why the ancients scattered them, burying them in different zones all over the world, like this one."

"Well then, it's up to us to find them all, before Eggman does!" Sonic threw a warp ring into the air, and the two beaten and bruised mobians walked back through the portal. "But come on, lets head back home and rest up, Miles."

"Actually, Sonic..." The two tailed fox replied, a small smirk on his face. "You can just calls me Tails."