Sonic Returns

Chapter 5- Trapped!

Sonic and Tails popped out of an open warp ring, touching down on the grassy surface of the little planet. The two mobians took off down the track of Palm Tree panic, with Tails flying after Sonic, as they raced forward.

"So this is the little planet, huh?" Sonic asked, looking around at the beautiful scenery. "I remember seeing this place hanging in the sky from South island when I was a child."

"The little planet is unique as a moon, in that it orbits inside mobius's atmosphere." Tails explained. "Until the development of warp rings, the only way to reach it's surface was by extreme gear, or when the little planet comes close to mobius once a year over never lake."

As the took looked around at their peaceful and tranquil surroundings, an uncertain dread began to grow in both of them.

"Uhhhh, Tails?" Sonic asked, looking over his shoulder. "Doesn't everything seen a little too quiet to you?"

"Yeah, I noticed that." The two-tailed fox agreed. "There aren't any of Eggman's robots anywhere, it's actually really creepy."

"It is kinda weird." Sonic shivered. "Maybe we got here before eggman?"

"I don't know... maybe." Tails pulled out his tracker. "Anyway, I seem to be picking up the chaos Emerald's signal from the cavern ahead."

The two mobians went through several loops, and came to a large cave entrance. Sonic and tails peered into the darkness, unable to see or hear anything from the inside.

"Whoah, what is this place?" Sonic asked, looking over to his friend. "It looks like something out of a bad horror flick."

"This is the Quartz Quadrant zone mine, the darkest and creepiest place on the little planet." Tails replied, looking at his scanner. "And the emerald's signal is coming from inside."

Tails pulled out a flashlight, and the two slowly made their way inside. Huge quartz crystal chunks were sticking out of the floor and ceiling, with water dripping off of the crystal stalagmites. The steady and constant trickle was the only sound that permeated the cavern's darkness. Sonic noticed several mine carts, tracks, and mining equipment scattered throughout the cavern.

"What, was somebody digging for something down here?" Sonic asked, picking up a pickax and inspecting it. "Looks like there were some very busy miners in this cave."

"A mining firm came up here from mobius, to dig for the quartz gemstones buried here. We are really lucky the mobian miners never found the chaos emerald down here." Tail's ears immediately perked up. "Wait, did you hear something? "I don't think we're alone down here-"

He had barely finished his sentence, when something knocked the flashlight from his hand. Everything suddenly went dark, and the cavern with filled with the sounds of grunting and struggling. When the lights came back on, and the pair of mobians were all tied up, and surrounded by a swarm of spiny urchin-like badniks called orbinauts.

"Aww maaan!" Sonic groaned, rolling his eyes. "I can't believe they got us!"

"I can't believe they managed to set a trap for us." Tails replied, trying to struggle against the ropes. "Eggman's robots have never been this intelligent before."

Then, a trio of comical-looking robots came out of the shadows, and the two mobians didn't know wither to be worried or laugh."

"Well, well, well... looks like we got the hedgehog, and his little fox buddy." Grounder chuckled. "Duhhhh, looks like we outsmarted youse!"

"Yeeaaah! you got you good!" Scratch clucked triumphantly. "Ha-ha-ha-haaaa!"

"Ooooh, this is poifect!" Coconuts chuckled gleefully. "Dr. Robotnik will give us a promotion for sure!"