Back to Chapter 11

Sonic and his friends spent the next several weeks honing his skills and exploring the nooks and crannies of the Green Hill Zone. In time, Sonic had become something of an expert at climbing and leaping and he took every opportunity to improve his speed with a little help from Johnny. He didn’t quite manage to grasp swimming as strongly, but at least he didn’t feel completely panicked in the water any more, so that was a strong foundation as far as Tux and Joe were concerned.

One glorious Saturday afternoon, it was Sally’s turn to pick the group activity. Sonic, Johnny, Porker, Flicky, Chirps, Joe, Tux, Rotor and Antoine stood in a circle to listen to her make her royal proclamation.

“Alright, gang,” she started, “We’ve all worked hard recently building our exploration fundamentals. Sonic in particular has given it his all”

Sonic took a cheeky bow, “Thank you, thank you”

“I say it’s time we put these skills to the test,” Sally continued, “with a game of hide and seek. Sonic, you’re ‘it’. We’ll give you until the count of one hundred- count slowly, you’re a bit quicker on your feet than the rest of it. You’ve got thirty minutes to find us all, or we win- and lunch is on you!”

“You’re the boss, Sally!” Sonic gave a salute and covered his eyes with his hands, “One… two… three…”

The rest of Sonic’s friends ran off as fast as they could in every direction. Of course, Sonic could leg it from one end of the Green Hill Zone to the other in a matter of minutes. The real challenge would be working out his friends’ hiding spots, knowing what he did about them and their abilities.

“…ninety-eight… ninety-nine… one hundred!” Sonic removed his hands from his face, “Here I come, ready or not!”

Sonic reared back and prepared to put on a burst of speed when he spotted something unusual sticking out from behind a rock. It looked, he though, distinctly like a pig’s curly tail.

“Wow,” Sonic uttered sarcastically and strolled over to the rock. Sure enough, there was Porker Lewis, sat behind it. Sonic gently tapped Porker on the shoulder and rolled his eyes, “Found you”

“You sure got me, Sonic,” Porker admitted.

“Porker, I thought you were supposed to be the clever one. This rock is about five feet away from where I started”

“Yeah but it covered me up pretty well, didn’t it?”

“Your tail was sticking out”

“Was it really?” Porker didn’t seem all that surprised, “Well, I never”

“Come on, Porker, someone as smart as you and this was the best you could do?”

“Of course it wasn’t”

“Eh?” Sonic was confused.

“But it bought everyone else time to find somewhere a bit better to hide from the speed demon. Mine’s a double-dog with extra sauce, please,” Porker grinned.

Sonic realised he’d been had and sped off as Porker yucked to himself with delight.

Sonic tried to think about what might be a good hiding spot for his friends. He headed to the sprint course, hoping to find Johnny at his usual haunt. Arriving at the track, Sonic found the place deserted.

“Rats!” Sonic exclaimed to himself.

“See, Johnny! I told you he wouldn’t find us here!” Chirps voiced squawked out.

Sonic turned to the source of the noise, the bleachers surrounding the track, and happened to spot two pairs of eyes reflecting the light back at him. One of the pairs of eyes looked thoroughly unimpressed with the other.

“You’re not very good at this, are you, Chirps?” Johnny asked with some exasperation.

“Alright, you two, out you come,” Sonic crossed his arms and smirked.

The rabbit and rooster slid out from their hiding spot and, knowing outrunning Sonic wasn’t an option, duly allowed him to tag them.

“How many’s that?” Johnny asked.

“Just three,” Sonic answered, “you two were the first I found after Porker’s diversion”

“Well let’s hope the others didn’t hide with blabbermouths, eh, Chirps?” Johnny eyed his friend.

“I can’t help it if I get caught up in the excitement sometimes,” Chirps shrugged, “Besides, it’s ten-on-one and maybe I like to cheer for the underdog, did you ever think of that?”

Sonic dashed off once more as Johnny and Chirps trudged their way back to the start point.

Sonic’s next destination was the river. He was sure Tux and Joe would be nearby, particularly as Joe was hardly likely to have made a hiding place in the trees. When he arrived, Sonic spotted another familiar sight- Rotor’s baseball cap, peeking out from a bush.

“Found y—” Sonic screeched to a halt as he went to tag Rotor and found the cap without its wearer. “Clever, a decoy,” Sonic remarked.

Sonic turned to face the river and concentrated. The water was calm and still. That was going to make his task a little easier, however. Sonic focused, squinting with concentration.

There!

Sonic spotted bubbles emerging from the water. That had to be one of the guys! Sonic rushed to the water and, quite without thinking, dove in. It never occurred to him that he’d leapt underwater without his rebreather, Sonic was running on pure competitive spirit now.

Sonic’s eyes refocused under the water- there was Joe, reclining on a muddy underwater bank, eyes shut as if asleep. Sonic swam up to him, poked him in the stomach and, when his eyes opened, gave him a little wave. Joe shrugged and swam up to the surface.

Finding Tux would prove tricker as he was such an expert at finding underwater air bubbles to stay submerged for longer. Sonic reasoned this made it likely Tux would be at the bottom of the river. Swimming downwards, Sonic’s suspicions were confirmed as he spotted Tux’s crest waving in the water. Sonic forced himself to push harder and swim with all his might to the bottom, where Tux allowed himself to be tagged before giving a little bow and swimming upward.

Sonic thought for a moment- Rotor’s hat meant Rotor had to be around somewhere. Sonic looked around the area and felt the water move around him. Almost imperceptibly, the water current was being drawn in short bursts in one direction- Sonic turned his head to see Rotor swimming away. Sonic attempted to apply a burst of speed but found he couldn’t get any traction at the bottom of the water. Rotor was getting away and Sonic couldn’t allow that.

Suddenly, Sonic became aware of another problem. He’d been submerged for some time now and he was suddenly finding his chest felt rather tight. He’d have to find some air soon or make his way back to the surface. Sonic turned back to where Tux had been, surely the penguin would- no. No sign of oxygen where Tux had been.

In truth, the aquatic friends had rather hoped Sonic would try to pick them off one-by-one when he inevitably made his way to their obvious hiding spot. They didn’t anticipate Sonic’s sense of competitiveness leading him to try and tag all three of them in one go. And now Tux and Joe were out of the water, unable to see Sonic on the riverbed as Rotor sped away, his upper-body strength pushing him onward.

Sonic clutched at his mouth and nose, trying to hold the air in his lungs inside. Suddenly, the panic of the situation dawned on him and Sonic became instantly fearful. He’d been stupid- so stupid! How could he have leapt into the water without his rebreather?! And now he was going to—

Sonic bent his knees down and pushed off the riverbank as hard as he could, but he found he didn’t quite have the strength to get much lift. Sonic kicked his legs as best he could but in the panic he ended up kicking them wildly and not particularly moving anywhere. Air bubbles spat at ferocious pace from Sonic’s mouth now, making him appear to be foaming.

Taking Sonic by surprise, Rotor practically collided with him, holding Sonic tight in his arm while forging to the surface and bringing Sonic to air. Sonic gasped deeply, filling his lungs with fresh oxygen.

“Rotor… you…” Sonic spluttered.

“Yeah, well, we didn’t anticipate you being in the water as long as that,” Rotor admitted, “It was our fault. Sorry, Sonic. Anyway, looks like you tagged all three of us now”

“I think you tagged me, buddy,” Sonic clambered out of the water and shook himself dry.

“Well, either way. As much as we want you to be over your fear of water, Sonic… a little fear of it isn’t unhealthy, you know? Go easy next time instead of charging into danger”

Sonic rubbed his eyes and took stock of who remained. Flicky, Antoine and Sally. Sonic figured Flicky, who liked to showcase his flying skills, would head up high so rushed off to the mountains.

Sonic arrived at the mountains in due course, waving a good morning hello to Dulcy as he rushed past her and Sabina, surprising both of them with his speed. Sonic peered up and, sure enough, there was Flicky, seated on a ridge of a cliff-face.

“Come and get me if you can,” Flicky waved.

Sonic put into action the lessons Sally had taught him, pushing himself up the cliff and distributing his weight so that the motion was practically effortless. After a minute or so of climbing, Sonic was in reach of Flicky.

“Oh, now, Sonic,” Flicky tutted, “You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?”

To Sonic’s amazement, Flicky bounded off the ledge and took flight, waving a cheeky toodle-oo at his friend. There wasn’t much Sonic could do now- unless…

Flicky flew straight away from the mountains, laughing to himself. There was no way Sonic would be able to tag him now. He could practically taste lunch already.

“Going somewhere?”

Flicky, startled, turned his head to see Sonic in the air behind him- riding atop Dulcy’s back.

“That’s cheating!” Flicky protested.

“Right, yeah, ‘cause I can fly, can’t I?” Sonic shot back, “Hold steady, Dulce, I’m gonna jump”

“Oh boy, be careful,” Dulcy replied, “I don’t want to have to divebomb to catch you if you miss!”

Sonic bounded from Ducly’s back onto Flicky’s, who yelped with surprise.

“Gotcha!” Sonic announced as Flicky slowly descended to the ground, unable to keep soaring while holding up Sonic’s weight.

“Yeah, yeah…” Flicky grumbled, thoroughly outsmarted.

Flicky landed gently on the ground and Sonic clambered off. Moments later, Dulcy slammed into the ground less than gracefully.

“What’s that you say about school, ma?” Dulcy burbled in a daze.

“I’ve got to be the last one, right?” Flicky asked.

“Nope. Two to go, Antoine and Sally. You stay with Dulcy. Don’t worry, her head’s harder than you’d think. I’m going to go make sure lunch isn’t on me!”

Sonic sped off in the direction of the forest Sally had been training him in. Surely this was the logical place for her to hide if this was designed to test what he’d learned. The only problem was the trees were so dense and the covering so thick Sonic had no real way of knowing where Sally would be.

Sonic raced through the forest, hoping to find a sign of Sally’s whereabouts. Deciding rushing about would do him no good, Sonic paused for a moment to think.

The forest was quiet, serene. Sonic had to try and work out where Sally might be hiding with no clues to guide him. Suddenly, Sonic’s ears twitched at the sound of a twig snapping. Sonic sped in the direction of the noise- and there, sure enough, was Antoine, back against a tree trunk, two halves of a twig beneath his boot.

Sonic placed a hand on Antoine’s shoulder and smiled, “Stand down, soldier”

“Zut!” Antoine dratted himself, “Ah, but you will not find ma princess so easily!”

“Really?” the corner of Sonic’s mouth upturned, “Antoine, you’re a royal guard, right?”

“It is an honour to serve, oui,” Antoine nodded.

“And I get the feeling you’re dedicated to your job, right?”

“But of course! I would do anythink to—”

“So say Sally got separated from her friends, you’d consider it your personal responsibility to be nearby, right?”

“Well, that is true, oui…” Antoine realised Sonic had him figured out.

“She’s up this tree, isn’t she?”

“Oui,” Antoine nodded, a touch irritated.

“Mercy buckets, Ant,” Sonic gave Antoine a daft salute and started bounding up the tree.

“Just one more to go!” Sonic said aloud as he leapt from branch to branch. The covering began to thin out as Sonic reached the treetops with relative ease. Sure enough, he spotted Sally’s blue shoes up above.

Sally, hearing the rustling of the branches beneath her, prepared herself. Mere moments later, Sonic peered up, just a level below her.

“Not bad, Sonic,” Sally complimented him, “But you haven’t tagged me yet!”

Sally hurled herself fearlessly at the next tree and Sonic realised he still had work to do. Climbing to the highest branch of the first tree, Sonic put into action the things he’d learned from Sally and flung himself in her direction. Sally continued her escape and Sonic, unable to get up to speed in such a scenario, was forced to follow her to the next tree, then the next, then the next.

“Mmm,” Sally taunted Sonic, “I can just taste it now- a delicious spaghetti dinner, all the better for being paid for by Sonic!”

Sonic frowned and took a step back. He rushed to the edge of his branch then leapt, foot first at Sally’s- before slipping off it.

A split-second later, Sally’s hand snatched at Sonic’s arm and held him up.

“Sally… you…” Sonic uttered.

“Well, you can’t pay for dinner if you’re a splat, can you?” Sally smirked.

Sally pulled Sonic level with her and he proudly crossed his arms, “Well, unlucky for you, I’ll not be paying for dinner anyway- I found you all!”

“Oh, I find that very hard to believe,” Sally chuckled.

“All true! First Porker, then Johnny and Chirps, then Joe, Tux and Rotor, followed by Flicky and Antoine and now you. I win!”

Sally gave a conciliatory suck of air through her teeth, “Sorry, Sonic, you don’t win until you’ve found all of us”

“That’s what I did! I found all nine—” Sonic stopped. What had Chirps said back at the track?

Ten-against-one.

Ten?!

Then who was the--?

Sonic looked down at Sally’s leg.

Sally’s bare leg.

N.I.C.O.L.E.!

Sonic’s eyes widened as Sally looked at her watch, “Only twenty seconds left! Better be--” but Sonic was already gone.

Sonic raced around the forest at high speed in pursuit of his target. He checked every tree he could, looked around every trunk at such inconceivable speed he was little more than a brown blur. Something glistened in the corner of his eye- the light shining off N.I.C.O.L.E.’s casing!

Sonic ran as hard and as fast as he could towards the computer…

…just in time to see a timer on her screen reach zero.

“Sorry, Sonic,” N.I.C.O.L.E. commiserated, “But if it’s any consolation, AIs don’t eat so you won’t have to pay for my meal!”

***

Sonic handed over the money to Uncle Chuck- the exact money he’d spent the last week earning helping out at the diner. All of his friends looked very pleased with themselves as they tucked in to their meals.

“I hope you choke on it,” Sonic huffed grumpily.

“Oh, now, Sonic, don’t be like that,” Sally smiled, “Sometimes there’s no physical skill that can overcome intelligence! That’s all part of your training too, you know. Learning to think on your feet”

“Yeah, well…” Sonic couldn’t think of a clever retort, “Poo with big bells on”

“Still, nine out of ten,” Porker acknowledged as he bit down on his saucy double-dog, “That’s pretty good going!”

“Yeah, even in the face of a team advantage like that, you have to admit Sonic did well,” Johnny agreed.

Suddenly, an idea hit Sonic.

“Hey, now there’s a thought- ten-on-one, but I bet not one of you could tag me! I’m too fast for you!”

Sally rose to the challenge, “What’s the wager, Sonic?”

“How about if one of you can tag me, I’ll pay for your evening meal too! I’ll even give you extra time to make up for how fast I am- two hours instead of thirty minutes!”

“Oh, I know we can think of a winning strategy in two hours!” Sally beamed. Alright, Sonic, you go hide- we’ll count and be right after you”

“Good luck,” Sonic grinned, “You’ll need it”

Sonic sped off and left the others behind.

Now he just needed to find a good hiding spot. Sonic looked around the Green Hill Zone and pondered where he might find a good place to hide. Those loop-de-loops were sort of interesting, Sonic noticed. There were certainly a lot of them- weird ancient architecture, perhaps.

Sonic’s curiosity got the better of him and he found himself barrelling towards one of the loops, running up it at speed and allowing centrifuge and his own inertia to carry him up towards the top of the loop and back down again.

Sonic was delighted- this felt exhilarating!

For a few seconds.

Tripping over one of his untied laces, Sonic ended up hurtling down the loop and tumbling into a ball as he did so. With not inconsiderable force, Sonic ploughed into a nearby wall. Rather than being knocked for six by this action, however, Sonic found it was the wall that broke away.

Shaking himself off, Sonic stood up. He realised he was in a tunnel. Now this would make for a good hiding place!

Sonic walked a few paces forwards and the clanking beneath his feet made him realise he was walking on metal plating.

“That’s a bit odd…” Sonic mumbled to himself.

Sonic kept on pushing ahead down the tunnel until, eventually, he came across a metal ladder built into the wall. That definitely wasn’t a naturally occurring feature.

Unable to help himself, Sonic placed a hand on the ladder and pulled himself up, completely unaware he was about to change the entire course of history.

At the top of the ladder was a hatch. Sonic turned the handle on the hatch and lifted it.

Sonic peered through the hatch and was amazed by what he saw. Machines, computers, blueprints, tools, pens, pencils, clocks, diagrams, drawings, documents, filing cabinets, wires, cables, cogs, screws, nuts, bolts, pipes, screens, keyboards, handheld terminals, test tubes, Bunsen burners, litmus paper, petri dishes- you name it, if it was vaguely scientific, it was probably in that room.

“Where am I?” Sonic pondered aloud.

“Well, well, look who’s dropped in!”

Sonic turned to see a human being standing right in front of him. Sonic blinked as he realised he recognised the man from the photograph Rotor had shown him- he’d found the hidden laboratory of Doctor Kintobor!

“Erinaceus Europaeus!” the doctor exclaimed.

On to Chapter 13