Back to Chapter 70

“Chief Kordon, the ritual was unsuccessful. The gods’ tempers have not been quelled”

“…then all is lost”

The people of the Hill Top tribe were a proud, indigenous folk untouched by the march of modernisation. They still held close the values and traditions of old and, so far, had been rewarded for their faith with a quiet, peaceful life. However, Chief Kordon, the spiritual leader of his Mobian eagle brethren, was now faced with a crisis of faith. Everything the Hill Top tribe had tried to calm the gods had failed- and now hope seemed lost.

Chief Kordon sighed, “Prepare our people for evacuation. We may lose everything soon. To be forced to begin anew is a challenge we may have to face together as one”

“Why are we being punished, Chief?”

“I do not know… perhaps we have angered the gods in some way. I wish I knew. The gods are not like you or I, they do not always behave how we might. They have their own reasons. But it seems they now turn their mighty wrath on us, their loyal subjects. If only our prayers would be answered…”

***

At the foot of the Hill Top Zone, Sonic and his friends began an arduous mountain climb. Sally and Sonic were well-versed enough in climbing that they had little difficulty scaling the rocky terrain, while Tails was able to fly over the tricky path. Porker and Rotor weren’t having as much luck, however.

“I wish Dulcy were here,” Rotor admitted, “She’d be able to fly us to the top of this mountain range in no time”

Sally smiled, “She’d probably love it here. Dragons do like a good volcano”

Porker gulped, “Did you say… v-volcano?”

“Yeah. Oh, I mean, don’t worry, it’s not active! Hasn’t been for centuries”

Sally and Sonic pulled themselves over a ridge and took in a look at the scenery. Tails, joining them, spotted something unsettling, “So… when you say volcano… you meant that one there, right?”

“The mountain with the smoke pouring out the top? Good eye, Tails…” Sonic responded, sarcastically, “Sorry to disappoint you, Sally, but I think your information’s outdated. That thing’s looking angry”

Sally was suddenly serious, “Then we need to be quick. Sonic, I’m sorry to ask this of you but is there any chance you could scout the area? There’s a settlement based on the volcano and if that thing goes up they’ll have no chance”

“You got it, Sal. Tails, you’re with me”

Sonic raced off at speed towards the volcano, with Tails not far behind.

***

Panic and dread gripped the Hill Top tribe. Parents rushed their children, anxious to get them to safety. The tribe’s warriors prepared a defensive barrier around the settlement, knowing in the back of their minds that it was futile and wouldn’t hold back the flow of molten lava. The holy men and women continued to pray to the gods, hoping to calm them.

Chief Kordon looked on at his people, despairing with heartbreak, “All hope for our home is lost…”

The Chief became aware of an unfamiliar voice calling out, “Look, Sonic! That village must be the place Sally was talking about”

Chief Kordon turned to see a blue hedgehog and a twin-tailed fox dashing towards him. He raised a hand, as if to stop them, “My friends, you must turn back now. The Mountain of Destiny has become active. Soon it will erupt and this whole area will be destroyed. The gods are angry with us! Please, for your own sakes, get yourselves to safety”

“Relax, pops,” Sonic replied, “We’re here to help you. I don’t know anything about your supernatural mumbo-jumbo but we’ll check things out”

Tails shot Sonic a look, “Sonic be nice!”

“No time for that, Tails. A volcano lays dormant for centuries and then kicks into gear at the same time Robotnik makes a move on the island? That’s a little too neat for my liking. It’s got his greasy fingers all over it. Let’s go, kiddo!”

The two made a dash up the smoking Mountain of Destiny, knowing all too well that if it blew its top they’d have to beat a hasty retreat in the opposite direction. The heat grew to astonishing levels the closer to the top of the volcano the two climbed. Tails wiped his brow, “Sonic is that… a fireball?”

Sure enough, a ball of fire was hurtling towards them. It seemed to be moving with rather more precision than one would expect from a blob of burning air, however. As it drew closer, Sonic realised the reason, “It’s a Badnik! Looks like an Orbinaut, except instead of spikes it’s got- yipe!” The hedgehog was taken somewhat by surprise as the Badnik flung one of the fireballs circling it at him.

“Watch out, Sonic!” Tails exclaimed.

Sonic resisted the urge to roll his eyes, “Thanks, little buddy, I thought I might…” The Badnik hurled another fireball, then another. Sonic grinned, “You see the thing about Orbinauts, Tails… is they do like to throw things at you, but once they’ve done that…” The Badnik threw its final fireball. Its eyes blinked. It seemed to realise it had made an error in judgement. Sonic continued, “They’re completely defenceless. Care to take this one?”

“You got it, Sonic!” Tails responded with glee, leaping towards the Badnik and shattering it, freeing a Mobini.

“Nice work,” Sonic dusted off his gloves then peered upwards at something which caught his eye, “Looks like there’s an opening in the volcano up ahead. Let’s go check it out”

The two friends clambered up towards an opening in the volcano that had clearly been manmade. It didn’t take much brain power to work out who’d made it. They stepped inside into a dark cavern.

“It’s boiling in here!” Tails noted.

“Yeah, funny that. Volcanoes are usually so cool”

“Sonic, in front of you!”

Tails’ warning came just in time as Sonic stopped half a centimetre short of having a spiked cone launched up his nose. He looked down at the floor and saw where it had come from- a crab-like Badnik which, now that its sole projectile was lodged in the ceiling of the cavern, looked like little more than a round ball on legs.

Sonic raised an eyebrow, “Has he got a surplus of red spheres or something?” He gave the Badnik a kick and it split open, freeing its prisoner, a small Mobini bird which flew outside to freedom.

“Sonic, check it out,” Tails pointed, “There’s a cable car here”

“Something tells me the tribe folk didn’t build that. Let’s hop in” Sonic clambered into the cable car, suspended on a single length of rope, and it slowly began to descend.

Tails was disbelieving, “You’re not going down there, are you?”

“Got any other ideas?”

“Well… no” The fox flew slightly above the car. Tails squinted as he peered at what lay below- the very heart of the volcano, “Sonic, I think I saw something move down there”

“Are you serious?” Sonic smirked, “Tails, that’s molten lava!”

Without warning, a huge mechanical dinosaur Badnik burst from the lava with a roar, slamming into the underside of the cable car and tipping Sonic out.

“Sonic! You’re falling!”

“Worse than that, buddy,” Sonic replied, “I was just wrong about something!”

Tails swooped to grab his friend, catching him by the hand, “S-Sonic… the heat… it’s too much to bear… I can’t lift us free”

“Don’t worry about that… I don’t need you!” Sonic growled.

“Huh?”

Tails looked down and his eyes almost popped out of his head. Gone was his best friend, the cool, blue hedgehog. In his place was a golden yellow grinning imitation of Sonic, a demonic grin on his face and red swirls for eyes. This golden Sonic had turned his attention from Tails and towards the dinosaur Badnik, which Tails took as the opportunity to fly over to the ledge where the cable car should have landed.

Sonic- or whatever this changed form of Sonic was- roared at the Badnik, “Alright, ugly! This is where you get yours!”

At astonishing speed, the supercharged hedgehog flew into the Badnik’s mouth and tore it apart from inside. It was a fortunate thing the Badnik was already submerged in lava and unsuitable to house a prisoner as Sonic currently wouldn’t have cared to rescue them. “That’s what you get for not chewing your food properly!” Sonic growled.

From nowhere, a reinforced modified Egg-O-Matic not unlike a submarine exploded from the lava. On its front, a monitor screen showed an image of Doctor Robotnik, “Enjoying the view in the Hill Top Zone, hedgehog? I see you got past my Sol, Spiker and Rexon Badniks. Hope it’s not too hot to handle!” A flamethrower atop the machine spat a burst of fire at Sonic, who promptly shrugged off the attack as if it was no more than a more annoyance.

“Oh?” Robotnik tilted his head, “How intriguing. No matter- my seismatron is reaching its critical state. Any moment now, the earthquake caused by the machine will cause a chain reaction that sees this volcano blow its top! The surrounding area will be completely wiped out- taking you along with it!”

Sonic roared and wrenched the submarine in two. There was, of course, nobody inside as Robotnik certainly wasn’t going to spend time in a volcano’s core if he didn’t have to. The two halves of the machine flopped into the lava. The video screen began to lose its connection as Robotnik took one last opportunity to gloat, “It’s too late to stop now, spikeball. Even you’re not fast enough to escape this time. And, by the way, I preferred you in the blue” The video fizzled and cut off before the monitor melted into the lava below.

“Sonic! Over here!” Tails called, hoping to appeal to his friend’s good sense- if any remained, “I think I’ve found what we’re looking for”

Sonic whipped round to the source of Tails’ voice and moved at almost imperceptibly high levels of speed towards it. Tails gasped but stood firm, hoping the Sonic he knew was still inside, “I’ve f-found this machine, Sonic,” he motioned at a large orange machine with tendril-like appendages burrowing into the mountain. The machine gave off intense vibrations and hummed almost deafeningly loudly. This was almost certainly the seismatron. Tails turned to his glowing, golden friend, “What are we going to do?”

Sonic bared his now jagged teeth in a sadistic, twisted grin, “You can do what you like, you little whiner! I’m going to destroy everything!”

“Oh dear…” Tails gulped.

The seismatron gave a horrible grinding noise and a display pinged up on screen: TIME TO DETONATION – 00:30s.

“Thirty seconds? I’m outta here!” Sonic snarled. Tails snatched at Sonic’s leg as the hedgehog took to the skies towards the rim of the volcano, “Let go of my leg!”

“You must be joking!” Tails blurted.

As soon as Sonic cleared the edge of the volcano, he hurled Tails off him, “Time to take care of you, you little creep!”

“Sonic, don’t you remember me?” Tails begged as he regained his positioning in the air.

Suddenly, louder than anything Tails had ever heard before, the volcano erupted with planet-shattering force. Tails felt his heart skip what he thought were several beats as the shock of the situation sank in.

At the foot of the mountain, the Hill Top tribe watched on in shock and misery. Chief Kordon lowered his head sadly, “It is over. Nothing can be done now”

Sonic, rocketing through the air, rounded on Tails, “Say your prayers, fuzzy!”

“Sonic you’ve got to stop the volcano!”

“Let them die! What do I care? They’ll all get crushed by me anyway, this just saves me the time!”

Tails knew the hedgehog in front of him wasn’t the Sonic he knew. But he wondered if- just maybe- some of Sonic’s famous ego had survived, “Oh, well… I mean, if you can’t do anything…”

Sonic stopped for a millisecond, “Who said ‘can’t’? Watch this, pipsqueak!”

As the lava erupted in a geyser of orange high into the sky, Sonic hurtled around it at blistering, unimaginable speed, wrapping the flowing liquid in a cocoon of his own motion. Tails watched on in amazement, “He’s acting like a giant fan to cool the lava. Amazing!” Tails sighed. There was a pretty decent chance he was about to get blasted to smithereens by his friend. But at least they’d rescued the Hill Top tribe.

As steam, smoke, ash and dust kicked up an enormous cloud surrounding the top of the volcano, something shot towards Tails- something blue and friendly.

Tails rushed towards his friend and gave him a huge hug, “Sonic! You’re you again! You’re not still mad at me are you?”

Sonic cocked an eyebrow, “Was I mad at you? I’m sorry, buddy, the last thing I remember was you trying to carry me inside that volcano. I panicked and then… nothing. The next thing I know, here I am. Fill me in, buddy, what happened?”

“I’ll tell you about it on the walk down the mountainside,” Tails smiled, relieved.

***

Arriving back at the site of the Hill Top tribe, Sonic found the rest of the Freedom Fighters were already there in waiting. Sally led the rest in a round of applause for their friends.

“Oh, stop, now, really…” Sonic smiled, “Well, okay, if you insist, just a little more…”

Chief Kordon stepped forward, “Sonic the Hedgehog and Tails, our people owe our lives to you. You saved us all today. Mere hours ago, I feared my prayers for help had gone unheeded. But now I see the gods smiled upon me after all- and sent you to our aid”

Tails nudged Sonic in the side. Sonic smiled, “Think nothing of it, Chief. And I’m sorry about that mumbo-jumbo crack earlier”

“Like you said,” the Chief cracked a smile, “Think nothing of it”. The two shook hands. “Our people will make a great totem in honour of you to remember this day forever”

“Ah, yeah, about that…” Sonic cleared his throat, “I think I might have taken care of that for you already…”

Sally crossed her arms, “Sonic, what did you do?”

“Well…” Sonic grinned sheepishly.

Sonic peered skyward to the tip of the mountain. The cloud of dust and smoke had begun to clear and something was coming visible through it.

Sally shook her head, “I don’t believe this”

Tails gasped, “Sonic, that’s amazing! As you cooled the lava, you formed it into…”

Sally shot Sonic an unimpressed look as the shape became clear, “A fifty foot statue of yourself”

Sonic shrugged, “I think it’s a pretty good likeness! And now even a non-believer has something to admire in this Zone!”

On to Chapter 72