Back to Chapter 89

The crusher sailed through the air with all the grace of a badly-packed box of pots and pans falling down a flight of stairs. Sonic, Mighty and Ray barely had enough time to dodge as it slammed into the ground and took out one of the columns holding the platforms up. That, it seemed, was the intent. As a chain reaction, the floor began to give way beneath the feet of the three enemies of Robotnik, forcing them once again to run for their lives.

“Guys, let’s hold hands!” Sonic called out.

Mighty raised an eyebrow, “I’m flattered, Sonic, but you’re not really my type”

“I’ll try anything right now if it’ll get me out of here!” Ray squeaked.

Sonic shook his head, “No, not like that, Mighty! I’m not after a date, I’m after getting us to safety! Come on, gimme your hands!” Mighty and Ray stretched out their hands. Sonic didn’t look back, “Just let yourself go limp. The last thing I want to do is run off at superspeed only to find I’ve popped your arms off”

The others obliged and found themselves being propelled forwards at hundreds of miles per hour. It was only by the fact Sonic was creating a slipstream with his own speed that they were even able to breath. Ray shivered as he watched the floor crumble and crack beneath them, collapsing away behind them. Sonic was widening the gap, though. Ray felt pretty grateful as any lesser Mobian with Sonic’s powers might have made a run for it by now, but he’d been doing everything in his power to keep his friends safe.

Ray felt awfully powerless. Mighty had his strength, Sonic had his speed. What did he have? Catching the wind to fly, sort of? It hadn’t eluded his attention just how frequently the others had had to save him. And they both had much greater stamina than he did! Mighty and Sonic just didn’t seem to tire, but Ray felt his legs throb. This was the first time he’d been able to calm down for ages- and, even then, it was thanks to Sonic. Ray hoped he’d be able to repay the debt some day.

Of course, he needn’t have worried- Sonic did things not because he wanted something in return but because they were the right thing to do. And right now, the right thing to do was to keep his two new friends alive. Up ahead, Sonic saw the path leading to a muddy landslide. This was going to be tricky, especially with two passengers. He had to go for it, though- what choice did he have? The alternative was to fall with the crumbling ground- the quick route back to the bottom of what was left of the Trap Tower. Sonic didn’t much fancy that particular one-way trip.

Instead, he ran at the landslide and hit it with such force from his feet that he didn’t slip or sink. The consistency of the mud was such that we here on Earth- and, indeed, smart people who’d read Doctor Kintobor’s notes- would recognise it as a Non-Newtonian Fluid, sort of between solid and liquid. In essence, the harder the force you impact upon it, the harder it resists. And at the speed Sonic was moving, he was able to run along the landslide as if it were normal, if muddy, terrain. He was, of course, terribly thankful for the dirt-repellent technology built into his shoes.

Using the landslide, Sonic crossed over onto another path which saw him running back the direction he came. Not that he was afforded any time to relax, of course, as boulders began to roll down the landslide, following the fleeing animals along the new path.

Before too long, the path came to a corner leading away from the Trap Tower. As the boulder crashed over the edge into the depths below, Sonic turned the corner, holding onto Mighty and Ray as tightly as he could manage to as not to fling them over the edge or, worse, allow their weight and momentum to drag all three of them off. It was pretty tricky stuff, Sonic rarely had a “passenger” and he’d never tried carrying two before.

Sonic barely had any time to reflect on all this before he accidentally stumbled onto a catapult trap Robotnik- or, at least, one of his robotic minions had placed- with all three animals hurtling through the air. The walkways they landed on looked even more unsteady than the previous two, forcing Sonic to persevere and keep his friends moving forwards.

Huge chunks of the path were missing, meaning Sonic had to change direction at an instant’s notice, sidestepping left and right and back again to avoid the holes. The walkway came to an incline and Sonic put on an extra burst of speed to climb it.

“Path’s narrowing up ahead, guys, hold on!” Sonic called out to his friends.

WHAM!

Sonic came to a sudden stop, losing his grip on the others, his head stuck in… wood?!

Sonic had run face-first into a painting of a walkway, daubed on a huge wooden sign. Mighty and Ray looked up. The sign bore the slogan “WELCOME TO LANDSLIDE LIMBO ZONE – ENJOY YOUR STAY (it’ll be short!)”

Mighty pulled the struggling Sonic out of the boards. Sonic looked dazed and confused and in no real state to carry the others along.

“My turn to carry you, Sonic,” Mighty said, “just until the world stops spinning, at least. Ray, are you okay to run?”

“I-I’ll be fine,” Ray insisted.

As the ground crumbled, Mighty and Ray found outrunning the collapse was much harder when you weren’t able to travel at supersonic speed. Nevertheless, they pushed on, eventually coming to solid ground in the form of a hill.

As Mighty ran up the hill, he squinted as bright lights appeared. But lights can’t roll down hill. Well, of course, that is unless you drop a big lamp down the hill. These lights were definitely not lamps. “Fireballs?!” Mighty exclaimed, “Is he having a laugh?!”

Ray managed to leap over the fireballs somewhat nimbly. Mighty, less agile, was forced to find gaps between them and run further up the hill. Eventually, the three animals came to the top of the hill. They found themselves barricaded in on their sides by an electric barrier. And in front of them was a huge machine.

“You shall go no further!” the machine roared, “Mighty Robotnik programmed me to defend the entrance to the Wild Water Way and that is precisely what I shall do!”

Huge flamethrowers shot out tremendous jets of flame, penning the animals in further. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a pair of mechanical arms reached out and shot huge circular sawblades at the three Mobians!

Mighty glared at the machine, “Buddy, I don’t know how to tell you this- but that decision is out of your hands”

Mighty waited for the machine to hurl another circular sawblade and, standing his ground, grabbed it out of mid-air. Swinging it back like a flying disc, Mighty aimed the blade to precisely cut through one of the arms before dashing forward and ripping the other one off.

“Now, I’m no robotics expert,” Mighty admitted, “but I reckon this glowy thing sparking with electricity on your front is probably your power core. Would that be about right?”

“No! Please! You can’t!” the machine protested.

“I think you’ll find I can, actually,” Mighty corrected the robot before throwing a huge punch at the glowing power core. Shattering into pieces, the core set off a chain reaction of sparks on the machine, followed by explosions which tore it apart, revealing a huge pit underneath.

Sonic was impressed, “Nice work, pal. Couldn’t have done it better myself. Just don’t tell my other friends that, of course”

Mighty smirked, “Of course”

Ray was astonished. He’d have never made it out of this Zone alive. He owed his life to these two. He sighed.

Sonic peered over the pit. Water glistened back up at him, “Great. I’m feeling alright now though I almost wish I wasn’t. I’m not too keen on the wet stuff, I’m afraid…”

Mighty gave Sonic a pat on the back which was a little harder than he’d realised, “We’ll get through, mate. We have so far, anyway”

“On that we agree. Ready, Ray?”

Ray joined the others at the rim of the pit, “Ready”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

The three friends leapt down into the pit and the next challenge Robotnik had created for them.

On to Chapter 91