Back to Chapter 85

Robotnik arched his fingers. He took a deep breath. Okay. So he’d just lost his second artificial Zone in an attempt to take out Sonic and the other prisoners. That was fine. It was really no problem at all. None at all. The whole point of Robotnik Island was to wear Sonic down, to exhaust him completely until he couldn’t resist. There were plenty of Zones left on the island. And Sonic would eventually succumb to Robotnik’s death traps. And if he was going to succumb anywhere, Robotnik reasoned, it was almost bound to be in the Desert Dodge Zone.

Sonic looked skyward and squinted. The sun was bright in the sky with no cloud cover. He had no idea how Robotnik had managed to make his desert-theme artificial Zone mimic the weather conditions of a real desert but he supposed the heat was probably being pumped in from the Volcanic Vault.

“A desert,” Mighty mused, “Why do I get the feeling this won’t be a day at the beach?”

Sonic smiled, “Must be because I forgot my bucket and spade”

Ray’s ears twitched, “Do you guys hear that?”

There was a definite noise on the periphery of the trio’s hearing. A rushing wind was kicking up. Sonic thought long and hard. He’d never been to a desert before so this was all a bit new. He’d seen them before in magazines and books, obviously, he wasn’t a total philistine. But something seems odd to him. He wracked his brain as best he could. Something about desert and winds.

The noise grew louder.

Sonic turned. His eyes widened.

Four enormous sand tornados were moving towards the trio.

“We have to move!” Sonic barked. The others turned to see what he was looking at.

“Ray, mate, I’m sorry about this,” Mighty said “Get ready to do your flying trick”

“What do you—” before Ray could finish his sentence, Mighty had picked him up and hurled him skyward. Somersaulting in the air, Ray spread his arms and his membranes caught the wind current, allowing him to fly forwards along the path ahead, almost out of sight.

Mighty glanced at Sonic, “The fewer of us closer to the danger the better, right?”

“Yeah,” Sonic nodded, “You ready to run?”

“Not as ready as you, I’ll bet, but I’ll try to keep up”

Sonic grinned, “On this kind of terrain you might even stand half a chance”

The two took off at a sprint. Sonic was definitely at a disadvantage in trying to run on sand. He was still moving at a tremendous speed, of course, but nowhere near the rate he was used to. He’d been right, however, Mighty was managing to keep up fairly well. That suited Sonic fine as it meant he’d be able to keep an eye on his newfound friend.

Of course, he should have been keeping an eye on where he was going. The floor in front of him opened up in a circle, giving way and revealing a huge antlion-like Badnik below. Sonic realised he would only get one shot at escape and leapt towards the Badnik, smashing it and bouncing up back onto the slightly firmer land. The Mobini bird trapped in the Badnik gave a grateful tweet and flew away.

“Nice one!” Mighty was impressed.

“We’re not out of the woods yes, pal. But thanks”

A familiar voice shrieked out, “Guys! Help!”

As the two friends pushed on, they saw Ray, pinned down as a flying Badnik designed to look like a centipede loomed in the air above him.

“Ray!” Mighty shouted, “We’re coming, try to run for it!”

“R-right!” Ray replied, nervously. He ran away from the Badnik and suddenly found himself moving somewhat more slowly.

“Quicksand!” Mighty gasped.

“Mighty, help!” Ray shouted as he began to struggle.

The Badnik turned its attention to Sonic and Mighty, satisfied that the quicksand would finish off Ray.

Sonic looked over his shoulder. The sandstorm was fast approaching. He glanced at Mighty, “Think you can keep this guy’s attention?”

“Got a plan to get Ray out of the quicksand?”

“Buddy, there’s only one quick thing around here and it ain’t the sand”

Sonic sped underneath the centipede Badnik and towards Ray. Moving at astonishing speed, he kicked the sand up behind him as he moved closer to his friend, not allowing the sand to grab him. Managing to kick away the sand around Ray’s legs, Sonic pounded towards the other side of the quicksand pit and turned back to Mighty.

“Alright, ugly,” Mighty looked up at the Badnik, a grimace forming on his face, “Just me and you, one on one. What do you say?”

“Fool!” the Badnik’s robotic voice replied with a scoff, “You aren’t dealing with any old Badnik. I happen to be a Prime Badnik!”

Mighty furrowed his brow, “What’s a Prime Badnik when it’s at home, then?”

Sonic shook his head, “Oh, buddy, you just said the magic word. Mighty, a Prime Badnik doesn’t have a hostage inside it.

Mighty’s eyes narrowed as he smiled, “Well how about that?”

The Badnik charged through the air towards the armadillo, “Feel the power of Doctor Robotnik’s elite Badnik force!”

“Yeah. I don’t think so, mate,” Mighty grasped the Badnik’s head and stopped it dead in its tracks. Without a second moment’s thought, the super-strong animal began to spin around on the spot like an expert shot-put thrower. The Badnik’s face contorted in what seemed to be fear. With a growl and a huge heft, Mighty flung the Badnik behind him and it wheeled pitifully through the air into the sand tornados, where it was ripped apart.

“Nice work, Mighty!” Ray cheered and pumped the air with his fist.

“Not much time to celebrate, guys,” Sonic interjected, “That storm is drawing close. There’s a big metal tower up ahead. I’m sure it’s not safe but it’s safer right now than facing the same fate as that Badnik inside those tornados”

The others looked ahead down the path. Sure enough, a metal tower loomed ahead of them.

“I don’t see much alternative,” Ray admitted, “Let’s go for it, even if only until the storm dies down”

“I’m with you guys,” Mighty agreed, leaping over the quicksand pit and joining his friends.

The three animals headed onwards towards the tower, not knowing the dangers that lay within.

Robotnik clenched his fists as he watched live footage of the Desert Dodge Zone disintegrating in the sandstorm. That had been one of his best Zones and it had still failed to claim those three threats he found so sickening.

No matter.

The next Zone was much more in Robotnik’s wheelhouse. A whole mechanical tower filled with things designed to destroy pesky animals who dared to stand up to him. Desert Dodge Zone had been a great trap in and of itself- but the Trap Tower was absolutely teeming with specialised ways to obliterate Sonic.

Robotnik laughed at the thought. Loud and long and hard, echoing down the corridors.

He turned back to his computer screen and watched as Sonic and the others entered the Trap Tower.

On to Chapter 87