Back to Chapter 21

Following the hovercraft was easy enough as it left a trail of black smoke in its wake, exhaust fumes coughing out of the back of the contraption. Sonic thought it best to keep a sensible distance behind the craft at all times until he knew who- or what- he was dealing with. He may have been fast but Sonic was intelligent enough to recognise he needed the element of surprise on his side, as if it sided against him he’d not be much use against Robotnik as a robot.

The hovercraft turned to the left slightly and veered over a large body of water. Sonic frowned. There was no way he could follow over water. He’d have to hug the edge of the shimmering blue as best as possible, doing his best not to take his eyes off his target.

As it turned out, it was probably for the best Sonic had been separated from his mark. Before too long, another robotic creature rolled its way down a hill towards Sonic. This one looked like an oversized ladybird with a large rubber tyre in place of legs. It didn’t look as friendly as your average ladybird, however, with eyes scowling in Sonic’s direction as two sharpened protrusions on the front waggled up and down, evidently keen on either grabbing Sonic or piercing him.

Sonic faced the robot, “And what do they call you? Vera?”

The creature picked up speed as it raced towards Sonic, “This unit is designated Moto Bug, servant of the glorious Robotnik- long live the doctor!”

“Yeah, right!” Sonic snorted as he leapt deftly over the charging Badnik.

The Moto Bug skidded and screeched as it spun on the spot, turning back towards Sonic. As Sonic rolled out of the way of another charge, he failed to notice another robot clanking its way up from the shoreline of the water in a side-on attack. The crab-like robot’s googly eyes bounced around like ridiculous deely-boppers affixed to its torso. Inching closer towards Sonic the machine flexed its pincers.

“As much as I’m having fun playing chase with you, I’ve got places to be,” Sonic announced to the Moto Bug, hurling himself high into the air and landing with his full weight in a Spin Attack on the Moto Bug’s back, cracking the casing open and freeing the small rabbit inside.

“Thank you, thank you so much,” the young rabbit blurted.

“Don’t mention it, kid,” Sonic smiled, helping the rabbit to their feet.

Sonic couldn’t help but notice the rabbit was a touch familiar.

“You haven’t seen my cousin Johnny Lightfoot have you?” the rabbit asked, confirming Sonic’s suspicions, “Only, he lives around here and I thought I’d be safe hiding here with him until that robot grabbed me and put me inside itself!”

“Sorry,” Sonic shook his head, “I’ve been looking for Johnny myself, and a few more of our mutual friends. If I see him, I’ll be sure to—”

“Look out!” the rabbit pointed behind Sonic.

Sonic spun on the spot to see the crab robot, its pincers open, firing laser bolts from both mechanical claws. In one motion, Sonic picked up the rabbit and dashed out of the way of the laser blast, narrowly avoiding becoming fried hedgehog.

Sonic hid Johnny’s cousin among some nearby bushes, “Stay here, don’t move until it’s safe. And when it is safe, consider staying here anyway until the trouble clears”

“R-right,” the youngster replied.

“Alright, I reckon I can guess your name no problem,” Sonic smirked at the new robot, “Shelly? Sheldon? ShelTON- with a T?”

“You may call me Crabmeat, hedgehog!” the robot barked, “Though you may as well not bother learning my name as it’ll be the last thing you know!”

With surprising speed, the Crabmeat fired another double volley of laser fire. Sonic, caught off-guard by the robot, only narrowly managed to dodge.

Stupid, Sonic admonished himself internally, Don’t agitate them before you’ve got them sussed!

Sonic fired a glance over his shoulder. Good, Johnny’s cousin hadn’t moved. Admittedly, they could have been rooted to the spot with fear but the crucial thing is they weren’t in the firing line. Sonic’s speed and Spin Attack had proven effective so far, so Sonic was half-confident he’d be able to take down the Crabmeat, though he didn’t imagine a tiny rabbit like that would be able to hurt a metallic attacker so easily.

Sonic had to wrap things up. He ran the risk of losing the hovercraft and its pilot if he took too long. Sonic watched intently as the Crabmeat opened its pincers and began charging an attack. Now was its chance- it couldn’t use its laser blasters while walking! Sonic rushed forward and, playing it safe to avoid the pincers, rolled into a ball as he moved, smashing into the Crabmeat’s face and obliterating it.

A tiny Mobini Flicky bird hopped out of the machine. The bird looked up at Sonic and tweeted a confused tweet. Then, as if recognising a friend, it waved its left wing at Sonic. It was the same bluebird Uncle Chuck had helped with the Roboticizer.

Sonic led the Flicky bird over to the rabbit, “Hey, kid, you two should stay here. It looks like there aren’t any more robots. Little guy, if you see anything coming, give Johnny’s cousin here a heads up with a tweet, got it?”

The bird chirruped acknowledgement.

“Where are you going, mister?” the rabbit asked.

“I’ve got to follow that hovercraft. It’s going to lead me to the guy behind all this, I just know it. Stay safe, kid”

And, with that, Sonic put on a huge burst of speed that shook the bushes.

***

It didn’t take Sonic long to find the hovercraft. It had come to a stop and its pilot was talking to someone, though Sonic couldn’t see anyone.

“We’ve found one, sir,” the pilot said in a nasal voice, “Around the mid-point of the Green Hill Zone”

“Excellent work!” a familiar voice replied. Sonic recognised this voice’s owner as Robotnik. The pilot must have been talking to him via a communicator in the hovercraft.

“I’ll send co-ordinates to a nearby unit to come and guard the location. Meanwhile, with your permission, I’ll move on to the next reported sighting”

“Very good,” Robotnik responded, “How are you finding the handling on the Egg-O-Matic I leant you?”

“The seat is perhaps a little large for me, sir, but the machine handles like a dream”

Robotnik laughed to himself, “I suppose the seat issue is to be expected, given your stature”

“Yes, sir,” the pilot responded, trying to cover up his hurt feelings at being called small.

“I’m on my way. If you find any more Warps of Confusion, let me know. They’re the secret to finding the Chaos Emeralds and my plan’s ultimate victory! Robotnik out”

The transmission ended. The pilot sighed a frustrated sigh then tapped a few keys on the dashboard of the Egg-O-Matic hovercraft. After a short pause and a beeping noise, the pilot put the machine in motion and headed off out of sight.

It was then that Sonic saw what Robotnik had been so interested in. Suspended in the air was a golden ring. Not the kind that were scattered all over Mobius, that were so useful as a power source. This one was big. Sonic decided he’d think of it as a Big Ring and worry about naming convention another time.

The Big Ring span on its axis in midair. Sonic squinted at it. Every so often, it looked like the middle of the ring showed an image. Rather than being able to dive through it to the other side, Sonic got the impression that if he leapt through this ring, he’d end up somewhere else- as with the Star Post.

Being a curious sort and knowing for certain that if Robotnik wanted the Big Ring he should definitely be denied it, Sonic walked closer to the glimmering circle. He reached out and, gingerly, touched it with his index finger.

Instantly, both Sonic and the ring disappeared with a flash, leaving no trace that either had ever been there.

***

The next thing Sonic knew, he was somewhere else altogether. And I do mean somewhere else altogether. This place was unlike anywhere Sonic had ever seen- in fact, unlike anywhere he’d ever imagined. Colours warped and morphed and melded and melted together and apart, creating shapes and abstract weirdnesses and nothing-in-particulars. This place was weird.

Sonic was vaguely aware he was somehow simultaneously falling, floating and not doing either of those things all at the same time. The rules of physics had not only gone out of the window in this strange place, they’d smashed the window and removed the window frame in the process.

For a moment, Sonic felt an element of panic amid the confusion. How on Mobius was he going to get out now, much less get back home? Come to that, where the heck was he in the first place? Suddenly, Sonic felt a gravitational pull drawing him down towards a planetoid that hadn’t existed mere moments ago. The planetoid bore a weird sort of checkerboard pattern in the exact way that planetoids don’t. Sonic landed softly on his feet and felt he was upright at least.

“WELCOME TO THE SPECIAL ZONE, TINY ONE,” boomed an impossibly loud voice. Sonic turned around. In front of him was a panda. A big panda- no- a huge panda- no- an impossibly ginormous panda. Well, he certainly wasn’t there before. The panda loomed over the planetoid, a sneering, crazed grin on his face. His eyes crackled with white energy which burned so brightly you couldn’t make out his pupils.

“Hey, short stuff,” Sonic waved, before catching himself.

Fortunately, the skyscraper-sized panda was amused and roared with laughter, “YOUR SENSE OF HUMOUR PLEASES FEIST! FEIST LIKES YOU, TINY ONE”

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief, “So, you’re Feist, right? I’m Sonic. Where am I? What is this place?”

Feist crossed his arms, “YOU HAVE ENTERED FEIST’S DOMAIN, THE SPECIAL ZONE. A DIMENSION THAT EXISTS BEYOND THE RULES OF SPACE, TIME, PHYSICS AND REALITY”

“Sounds like the queue at the post office,” Sonic shrugged.

“THERE ARE NO POST OFFICES HERE, TINY ONE. FEIST HAS NO REQUIREMENT FOR SUCH MUNDANITIES”

“Well, if you don’t send letters or have those kind of interactions,” Sonic formulated his response carefully, “what do you do for fun around here?”

“FEIST FINDS HIS AMUSEMENT IN CHALLENGING MORTALS TO TESTS OF SKILL”

“Listen, Feist, no offence, bud,” Sonic rankled slightly, “but I’m a hedgehog, not a performing monkey. So I hope you don’t think I’m being awkward when I say I’m not really in a test of skill sort of mood. To tell the truth, I need to find a way back home. There’s this real bad dude named Doctor Robotnik who’s trying to conquer Mobius”

“PERHAPS THIS ROBOTNIK WOULD BE INTERESTED TO LEARN OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS?”

Sonic paused for a moment, “...you know about those?”

Feist opened his palms and in an act of sleight of hand, what should appear in his mighty paw but the green Chaos Emerald, “FEIST IS THE TRUE KEEPER OF THE CHAOS EMERALDS”

Sonic was overcome, “How did--?!”

“WHEN THE EMERALDS WARP TRANSDIMENSIONALLY, THEY RETURN TO THEIR POINT OF ORIGIN- THE SPECIAL ZONE. ONCE HERE, THEY MAY LEAVE THIS PLACE BUT ONLY AT FEIST’S DISCRETION”

Sonic stared in astonishment at the emerald.

“SHALL FEIST ASSUME YOU ARE WILLING TO PLAY THE ROLE OF PERFORMING MONKEY?”

Sonic wasn’t quite sure what to say, “Listen, Feist... if I could get hold of these, I could use Doctor Kintobor’s R.O.C.C. and fix this mess. If I have to do one of your tasks, I’ll do it”

“FEIST KNEW YOU WOULD,” the mighty guardian smiled.

All of a sudden, Sonic found himself tumbling through the air once more as the planetoid disappeared in the blink of an eye. Sonic instinctively knew he had to curl himself into a ball, though he wasn’t sure how this knowledge came into his head. All around Sonic, bizarre visions of weird shapes and colours blurred together and apart, with fish and birds blending into one another and exchanging shapes.

As if it was the most obvious thing in the world, Sonic found himself suspended in a maze in the middle of nothingness and everythingness. Brightly coloured blocks shimmered in the light, reflecting off nothing in particular somehow. The whole thing didn’t make a deal of sense to Sonic but he was in deep now so there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Sonic felt himself being drawn through the maze as if by gravity, though gravity felt as though it was rotating around Sonic, pulling him in every direction almost at once. Sonic turned and twisted as best he could and hopped towards an opening, though he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to shift his inertia that way.

Sonic found himself in a sort of chamber full of crystals of different colours. Sonic could feel a great power emanating from the centre of the room and realised it had to be the Chaos Emerald. Sonic rolled and bounced into the crystals and they made bizarre plinking noises and changed colour before disappearing. Sure enough, each disappearing crystal brought Sonic closer to the centre and the power. In time, Sonic could see his suspicions confirmed- there was the emerald.

Suddenly, Sonic found himself rolling backwards and tumbling towards some flashing lights that read “GOAL”. Sonic realised this was how the test could be lost- he could grab the emerald or he could exit through the goal. Sonic wasn’t prepared to take that chance. Forcing his body weight forward with all his might, Sonic launched himself towards the emerald and with a mighty leap grabbed it. A victory fanfare sounded and the world span faster and faster and faster around Sonic, as if he was caught int a cyclone.

Then, Sonic was back on solid ground on the planetoid, with no ill effects. He looked in his hand. There was the emerald.

“YOU DID WELL, TINY ONE. THE EMERALD IS YOURS TO USE AS YOU WISH. BE MINDFUL THAT THE CHAOS EMERALDS CAN RETURN HOME TO THE SPECIAL ZONE AT THEIR OWN WHIM. THE EMERALD WILL BE ONE WITH YOU UNTIL YOU HAVE NEED OF IT. WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, THE KNOWLEDGE TO USE AND SEPARATE FROM THE EMERALDS WILL COME TO YOU. FEIST LOOKS FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN”

“Wait—” Sonic said. But Feist was gone. And so was the planetoid. And the colours. And everything.

Everything turned a brilliant, perfect white and Sonic felt his stomach turn upside-down.

On to Chapter 23