Embedded Files
Sonic was relieved to find the next locale he arrived at wasn’t another factory or industrial facility. Instead he found himself looking across a lake at what appeared a beautiful cathedral or perhaps a palatial mansion. He was happy to see it still standing, with signs of Robotnik’s influence surprisingly low. Still, the doctor’s forces had put up “under construction” signs, clearly intent on setting to work.
“That’s odd,” Sonic mused.
“What’s that?” Kintobor’s voice responded.
“Well, in every other Zone, the Badniks have been at work in the past. Yet here we are in the present- as far as I can tell, at least, with all this time hopping- and they’re only just getting to work.”
“Hard to say what the significance of the area is. Architecture suggests a cultural importance but it stands to reason Robotnik wanted to capture the Miracle Planet’s facilities first. An open area like this was probably less of a priority.”
Sonic glanced at what appeared to be a welcome sign, though it was written in an ancient language he couldn’t hope to understand, “Any hints?”
A beam emanated from Sonic’s watch and the Kintobor Computer scanned the sign. After second, Kintobor responded, “‘Welcome to the Stardust Speedway – Home of the Great Race’.”
Sonic took a look up at the sky. Night had fallen and the stars were out. It was a still a little bizarre seeing Mobius hang in the sky above him, “Well, I guess the skies here account for the ‘Stardust’ part. But ‘Speedway’?”
“Well, if there’s a race here, it stands to reason there has to be a racetrack.”
Sonic grinned, “Sounds like my kind of place!”
“Yes, I thought you’d like the sound of that.”
A roar of anger and frustration cut through the air. Sonic pivoted to see the Egg-O-Matic rise into view behind where he was standing- and in it its usual portly passenger, Doctor Robotnik. Robotnik looked furious.
“Alright, egg-features,” Sonic crossed his arms, “I’m getting tired of chasing you across this planet. There isn’t much of it left for you to run to so you might as well give up now. Where’s Amy?”
“Oh, I’ll tell you where Amy is, you snivelling spikeball!” Robotnik pointed off into the far distance, “She’s at the finish line of this special race track. The Stardust Speedway itself, now to become the setting for yet another great race- between Sonics.”
Sonic tensed immediately. Robotnik had to be talking about his metallic doppelganger. Sure enough, Metal Sonic burst through the ground, startling Sonic (though he did his best not to let on- no sense in losing one’s cool in front of your most uncool enemy, after all).
“I’ll make it simple, hedgehog,” Robotnik continued, his fingers passing over keys on his dashboard, “If you want your girlfriend back—”
“She’s not my girlfriend!” Sonic protested.
“If you want your girlfriend back,” Robotnik ignored him, “just win the race! You can call her the grand prize if you like!”
“As if I’d ever lose a race to this heap of scrap, lardo,” Sonic scoffed. “You’re on!”
“Egg-cellent,” Robotnik growled with a grin, “Oh, and did I mention? Second place gets a very different kind of reward!” He pushed a button on the Egg-O-Matic with a grubby gloved finger and a light flickered on beneath the craft. In seconds, it burst into a huge energy beam firing out into the ground, “Specifically, second place gets fitted for a funeral!”
Sonic looked ahead at the race track. It was narrow- incredibly narrow, in fact, barely wide enough for both racers. More than that, it was suspended in the air over nothingness. If he fell, he probably couldn’t expect a soft landing- or to survive. Of course, if he didn’t run, he’d definitely not survive. As Robotnik began to edge closer and Metal Sonic’s chest began to whirr, revealing itself to be a turbine, Sonic decided it was time for a burst of speed.
“I’ve been saving this one for an occasion like this. Hope you like it! It works kind of like my Spin Dash, only instead of building up a roll in place, I run on the spot like so-” Sonic began dashing on the spot, his legs becoming a figure-eight blur. “You like it? Got the idea from all that running on the conveyer belt a while back. I call it the Super Peel Out!”
Applying the slightest bit of pressure to the ground, Sonic shot off like a rocket. Robotnik roared at Metal Sonic, “After him! Destroy him by any means necessary!” On command, Metal Sonic zoomed towards his organic inspiration.
Sonic had managed to build up a lead. Of course he had- he wasn’t the reigning Green Hill Zone sprint champion for nothing! A roaring, whooshing sound filled Sonic’s ears. He risked a glance over his shoulder. Unbelievably, inconceivably, Metal Sonic was gaining on him- and fast. Had Robotnik finally done it? Had he truly created a Badnik which could match Sonic’s speed?
In an instant, Metal Sonic was on top of the real Sonic. Sonic looked forward at the track again. Hardly surprised, Sonic realised Robotnik had laid booby traps along the raceway. Spike jutted out from the ground. Metal Sonic began to crackle with energy and came barrelling at Sonic. Sonic managed to leap just in time as Metal Sonic careened past him, smashing through the spikes as effortlessly as if they weren’t there.
Of course, this meant Metal Sonic was now winning the race. Sonic knew if he lost the race, Amy’s life would be in jeopardy- as would his own. But, almost as bad as that, if word got out that Sonic had lost a race, he’d never be able to live it down, even if he was dead.
Sonic put on an extra burst of speed and tried to draw alongside Metal Sonic. As he came close to his target, however, Metal Sonic stopped momentarily and, hovering in midair, surrounded himself with an electrical forcefield. It only lasted a few seconds but it was enough to cause Sonic to hesitate and drop back. Metal Sonic pressed on ahead. A horrible ear-rending noise blasted out behind Sonic. Robotnik was catching up in the Egg-O-Matic. Sonic was horribly conflicted- he’d finally found someone who could give him a challenge in a race, but he also happened to be trying to get both Sonic and Amy killed. Sonic made a mental note to be less particular about his race partners in future.
With no choice but to press on, Sonic found his feet pounding against the ground once more. As he ran, the world shifted around him. The present, the past, a future that might come to pass and a future Sonic could not allow to come to pass, all colliding and weaving in and out of one another.
“Kintobor?!” Sonic exclaimed.
Kintobor responded, “My best hypothesis is we’re at a temporal flux point, so we’re feeling the effects of the time zones in a more pronounced manner than normal.”
“But why though?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Sonic, but I think the future is about to be determined based on whether you live or die here.”
“Couldn’t let me sit down before dropping that one on me, eh?” Sonic cracked.
“Well if you do that, you’ll definitely die…” Kintobor noted.
“True enough!” Badniks phased in and out of reality around Sonic. As the floor began to morph into an uncared-for metallic mangle, a pillbug Badnik rolled past, seemingly reaching out for something shiny and purple Sonic couldn’t make out. It blinked out of existence before Sonic could reach it. Or maybe it had would never have couldn’t possibly existed yet in the first place? This time hopping stuff was a bit much for Sonic, in truth. The ground suddenly seemed to become grassy and covered with vines. Flying Badniks- one seemingly modelled after a beetle, another after mosquito, swarmed towards Sonic. With no possible option to slow down, Sonic blasted through them with the tremendous force of a shotgun shell with a Spin Attack. As the world became a twinkling, starry beauty, the remains of the Badniks turned into blooming flowers as they touched the ground- only to be eradicated by Robotnik’s horrible energy beam.
In the meantime, Sonic had managed to draw level with his sinister shadow. He looked over at Metal Sonic, no small amount of contempt in his eye, “I suppose you think you’re pretty good, don’t you?”
Metal Sonic’s expression didn’t change. It might have been difficult for it to do so, considering the Badnik didn’t have a mouth. Was “it” the right word? Sonic supposed he’d always just worked on the basis the Badniks were male or female depending on their voice unit, but when things boiled down to the facts of the matter, they were all machines. Would it be right to ascribe “hes” and “shes” to a robot? Sonic decided it didn’t really matter, Metal Sonic was based on him so if Metal Sonic had a gender, it’d probably be a boy-hedgehog-robot. Sonic also realised he was wasting valuable microseconds contemplating this instead of focusing on the race.
“This unit is more than pretty good,” the horrible synthetic voice of Metal Sonic fired back, “This unit is superior to the original. This unit is, for all intents and purposes, the real Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Sonic’s eyes almost popped out of his head on hearing this, “Now hold on, pal, it takes more than just some nice spikes and speed to be the real me. For one thing, I wouldn’t go around kidnapping people or trying to have them obliterated with a huge laser.”
Metal Sonic’s response was cold, “A weakness which will hold you back. I have no such weaknesses. As stated, I am the superior being.”
Metal Sonic’s chest began to glow red and he shot a huge beam of energy towards Sonic. Remarkably, Sonic seemed to know the attack was coming and dodged with relatively little effort. He returned fire with a Spin Attack but Metal Sonic evaded every bit as deftly. The two tried more simplistic means of attack, throwing punches at one another as they ran towards the goal line, but both managed to block, deflect or avoid the strikes entirely.
“Well, how about that?” Sonic grinned, “Looks like Robotnik fed you too much data on me. Seems to me that you might know everything I’m going to do, but that’s not going to help you- since I know everything you’re going to do.”
Metal Sonic glared at Sonic, its glowing red LED eyes standing in stark contrast to the hollow blackness that surrounded them.
Sonic grinned and narrowed his eyes, “Strange isn’t it?” On some level, though he might not admit it, Sonic was enjoying this.
The goal line was drawing closer now. Sonic could see a few firefly Badniks hovering around the goal, lightbulbs in place of the tail lights a real firefly would have.
“The Hotaru Badniks mark the end of the line for you, Sonic,” Metal Sonic remarked, coldly, “Farewell, pathetic imitation hedgehog.”
As with many racing goal lines, a large “GOAL” was written above the line. Unlike many racing goal lines, a rather large entryway complete with blast doors had been installed.
“Sonic!” Kintobor exclaimed, “If you don’t get through those blast doors and seal them before Metal Sonic does, you’ll be fried by the Egg-O-Matic’s energy beam!”
“You know something, Kintobor? For once I’d actually worked that out myself.”
Sonic would need something pretty special to pull ahead at the last moment. What came to him next was risky- but, then again, so was getting blasted by a huge laser. In a fraction of an instant, Sonic curled into a ball, charged up a Spin Dash on the spot, released it, shot forward and, as his legs were coming over his head, he fired them into a figure-eight once more. The moment his feet touched the ground, Sonic launched a Super Peel Out which propelled him past the surprised Metal Sonic, towards the goal line, where he barrelled into the Hotaru Badniks, smashing them into pieces before skidding to a halt inside the entry way. Sonic slapped his hand down hard on the button on the control panel and prayed this wasn’t another trap. Luckily for him, the blast doors slammed down, blocking Metal Sonic’s path. Metal Sonic collided with the door. Robotnik screamed, unable to stop the momentum of the Egg-O-Matic in time. The energy beam blasted into Metal Sonic and shot the robot to pieces.
Sonic rushed on through the doorway, hoping Robotnik would be too preoccupied with losing his latest and most prized Badnik to chase him.
“Sonic! Over here!”
Sonic looked up to see Amy tied to a lamp post. For once, Robotnik hadn’t lied- she’d been at the finish line.
“Boy are you a sight for sore eyes,” Amy breathed a sigh of relief, “Come on, get me down from here!”
Sonic leapt up and cut through the ropes binding Amy with a precision Triple Spin, releasing her safely to the ground. Amy gave Sonic a hug, “My hero!”
“Knock it off, Amy! We’re not done here yet.”
“We’re not?”
“No way. Metal Sonic may be blown to pieces, but Robotnik sure isn’t. And now he’s broken his favourite toy, he’s bound to want to take it out on us.” The world shimmered between all four phases of time zone once more. “That’s strange,” Sonic remarked.
“What is?”
“I won the race, but the time zones are still in flux. That means…” The grim reality set in.
“It means what?” Amy pressed Sonic, seeing the concern on his face.
“It means I might still die here today.”
“Well not if Amy Rose has anything to say about it!” She unclipped her crossbow from her belt.
“Not if I have anything to say about it either, thanks!” Sonic forced a smile. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Kintobor, any idea where Robotnik’s likely to go next?”
“There’s only one place left we haven’t been, Sonic,” Kintobor replied. “Sending you directions now.”
Sonic’s watch pinged as directions appeared on the screen. Sonic glanced at Amy, “Think you can keep up with me?”
Amy raised an eyebrow, “Well, no, because I’m not an idiot, but I’ll do my best all the same.”
“Fair enough. Come on, pinky. And try not to be a pain.”
“Pinky?!”
“Well, you’re pink aren’t you?”
Amy paused, “Hmm… I kind of like it. It’s cute- thanks, bluey!”
“Alright, woah, it wasn’t meant to be—” Sonic grumbled to himself. How did she manage to be so exasperating? The two hedgehogs pushed onwards in the directions Kintobor had given them.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse