Back to Chapter 87

Sonic led Mighty and Ray through the door of the huge metal tower. He stopped for a moment and took a look around, “Alright, guys, let’s just catch our brreEAAA--!!”

The three friends eyed a enormous crusher, rolling towards them, its segments pointing out and ready to squash them into something resembling the insides of one of Porker Lewis’ particularly messy jam sandwiches. Needless to say, all three took off at speed in the opposite direction.

Ray’s heart was in his mouth, “I’m…” he panted and gasped, “I’m… not… having… a very… good day!”

“None of us are, buddy,” Sonic replied, “but we’ve got no choice but to keep running unless we want it to be our last day!”

“Cheery, isn’t he, Ray?” Mighty rolled his eyes.

“Heads up!” Sonic called out.

The others looked forward, taking note of what Sonic had seen. A small ramp over a huge drop lay ahead. There was no telling what was at the bottom of the drop- probably not a comfortable cushion- but on the other side of the gap was another walkway running crossways to the one the trio were on.

“Ready to jump?” Sonic asked.

“Looks like we don’t have much choice…” Mighty noted.

“Any chance we could just have a lie down?” Ray wheezed.

Sonic shrugged, “Sorry, pal. Jump!”

The three came to the edge of the ramp and leapt with all their might over to the other side. Sonic and Mighty watched as the crusher fell into the depths below.

Ray’s legs wobbled as he battled exhaustion, “Sorry, guys. I just need to—”

With a huge crack, another enormous crusher burst through the wall and began rolling along the walkway.

“Oh you have GOT to be kidding!” Sonic chuntered.

The three heroes commenced running again, despite their legs crying out with aches. Sweat began to pour from Ray’s forehead.

Along the sides of the walkway, large orange circles ran parallel on either side at regularly space intervals. Sonic was already pretty wary, recognising Robotnik had almost certainly got plenty more up his sleeve in this tower. Knowing all too well Robotnik never did anything by accident meant the circles gave him cause for concern.

Sonic was, of course, right to be worried. The circles rose from the floor, revealing they were, in fact, the top part of a contraption. Revealed inside were red poles with a ring of yellow around them. Sonic knew a super-deadly red-and-yellow pole would be a pretty wet sort of trap for Robotnik. And he would be right. With a hum, the contraptions buzzed into life, with electricity sparking all around them. Knowing it would be a waste of energy to tell his friends to stay away- after all, who really needs to be told ‘Hey, don’t touch the really obvious electrical death trap!’?- Sonic kept moving forwards. Sure enough, the other managed to avoid the traps with relative ease.

Sonic screeched to a halt as he saw what lay ahead- huge metal beaters were slamming repeatedly against the floor. As if that weren’t enough, the sides they were striking with were absolutely teeming with spikes, which had been hitting the floor with such force they’d created a hole.

Sonic was concerned, “Guys, are you going to be able to get through here at speed?”

“No need,” Mighty shook his head, “You do your thing, I’ve got a plan”

Sonic nodded. Putting on a burst of speed, he whizzed through the traps with no trouble, with none of them coming close to making contact. So far so good. Having made it past the last beater, Sonic turned back in time to see Mighty’s plan in action. He was wrenching the beaters out of the floor to allow himself and Ray to get down the path. More than that, when time allowed it, Mighty was hurling whatever beaters he could toward the crusher, momentarily slowing it down each time.

Once Mighty and Ray were past the final beater, the trio were reunited. They turned a corner on the walkway, satisfied that the crusher couldn’t do the same.

Of course, their jubilation was short lived as a third crusher rolled in behind them.

“What is this guy’s problem?!” Mighty shouted.

“Trust me, you don’t know the half of it!” Sonic replied.

The three panicked mammals ran on despite the effort it was beginning to take. Behind them, the crusher rolled over storage crates Robotnik had strewn about in an attempt to trip the animals up. The crates exploded into thousands of pieces just as the electric poles had under the previous crusher.

“Oh no,” Sonic gasped.

“What is it?” asked Ray, almost not wanting to hear the answer.

“Up ahead- behind that metal mesh wall, barrels and barrels of oil!”

Looking about frantically, the three friends tried to find a way to avoid their fate.

“Look! Just off to the side!” Mighty pointed. Metal railings like a ladder reached up to the top floor of the tower. It was faint, but daylight trickled in from the outside.

“You up to the climb, Mighty?” Sonic asked.

“You’re asking if the strongest person on the planet has upper body strength to climb those railings?”

“Fair point. Ray?”

Ray smiled, “Flying or not, I’m still a squirrel, Sonic- and we love a good climb”

“Well now,” Sonic grinned, “if squirrel pride is on the line, let’s see how well Princess Sally’s training paid off, shall we?”

As the three drew close, they leapt up onto the railings and pulled themselves up. The crusher rolled underneath them, through the metal mesh wall and into the barrels of oil, spilling it everywhere. Sonic could have sworn he spotted the Oil Ocean Zone logo on the barrels. As the metal scraped and grinded along the metal floor, a spark kicked up and ignited the oil. The fire spread quickly and began to rise. The friends had no time to watch, lest they became chargrilled mammals.

As the three friends climbed higher, Ray spotted something unusual on the walls behind the railings, “What are those orange blinking lights?”

As if to answer his question with a particularly loud BOOM, one of the lights detonated, hurling railings into the fire below.

“Any further questions?” Sonic enquired.

The trio forced themselves higher and higher, having to navigate not just vertically but horizontally too in order to avoid the explosives detonating. All the while, the flames below rose higher, threatening to scorch the soles of the animals’ shoes.

After what felt like an eternity, the three animals reached the top. The door lay ahead. The ground began to shake.

“Let’s get out of here, guys,” Sonic suggested. As they rushed across the walkway, they triggered a pair of traps. The first dropped another rolling crusher onto the walkway and the second activated a pitfall floor trap. Unfortunately for Robotnik but very luckily for Sonic, Mighty and Ray, the three of them managed to get out of the door to safety before the floor could give way, meaning they never so much as saw the crusher as it fell into the fiery oblivion below.

Outside, Ray panted for breath. The three were stood on a loose, dirty path suspended in the air on columns of dirt. It did not look especially safe.

With a loud crash, something else that didn’t look safe burst out of the Trap Tower as it crumbled to the ground- one final rolling crusher trap launched itself through the air towards the trio of panicked friends.

On to Chapter 89