Chapter 2: Green Hill
Green Hill park was a normal outdoor park. There were, well, green hills for kids to go wild on, lots of playground equipment, and since it was on the coast there was a steep cliff leading down to the beach. Most people were enjoying the fair weather on the new fishing pier built on the beach.
Upon reaching the park, Sonic took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and shook his head. “Man! It feels good to be out here!” he yelled.
Tails landed next to him. “Doesn’t look like much is happening,” he commented, scanning the horizon for killer robots and the like. Finding nothing, he turned to Sonic. “The emerald capsule is just over that hill,” he said, pointing. “I’ll go look around and make sure nothing’s gone wrong.”
“What makes you think anything has?” Sonic asked. “It’s a beautiful day; the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and—”
“And there’s an emerald here that Robotnik wants to get his hands on,” Tails interrupted.
“Killjoy,” Sonic muttered as he took of in the direction Tails had indicated.
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- *
A small metal building surrounded by barbed wire-topped fences contrasted sharply with the lush landscape around it. Security cameras watched the surrounding areas like hawks, and the GUN logo was everywhere.
I don’t get it, Sonic thought, Are they trying to attract attention? He pulled out his security card and swiped it through the card reader on the fence. The door popped open in reply. Please, he thought as he strolled up to the building. He performed the same trick on its door and ambled inside the dark building.
“Halt!” a guard yelled. The lights clicked on to find Sonic staring down the barrel of an assault rifle. “What are you doing here,” the guard snapped.
“Security business?” Sonic said timidly, waving his card.
“How do we know you’re not with Robotnik?” the guard said with skepticism.
At this point another guard chimed in. “Larry, it’s Sonic Hedgehog! Why would he be working for Robotnik?” The second guard, short and round compared to the tall, lanky Larry, came into view and grabbed Larry’s gun. “Besides,” he continued, “you’re gun isn’t even loaded.”
“The gun is always loaded, Bob,” Larry said matter-of-factly.
Bob rolled his eyes. “What do you need, Sonic?” he asked.
“Um…” The shock staring down a gun barrel was only now beginning to wear off. “The… Chaos Emerald. Yeah, the Chaos Emerald.” He turned to face Larry. “Don’t. Ever. Do that. Again. Okay?”
“Sorry,” Larry mumbled.
Bob walked back up with the blue Emerald. “Anything else?”
Sonic tossed the emerald from one hand to the other. Suddenly he seized the emerald in his left hand, swung his arm in an arc and yelled, “Chaos Control!”
Time froze for everyone but Sonic, leaving startled looks on Bob and Larry’s faces. “Sweet,” Sonic muttered. He turned to leave and slid his card through the reader to open the door.
Nothing happened.
Sonic mentally kicked himself. Time had stopped for everything, even the computerized lock on the door. He concentrated hard on the entrance to the park and muttered, “Chaos Relocate.” In a flash of blue he teleported away.
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- *
Tails was worn out from flying, so he was walking along at an easy pace. This is pretty nice, he thought. The birds are singing, the kids are playing, the robots are humming— He froze. He glanced behind himself and saw a crab-like robot with an oversized claw slowly making its way towards him. Tails waited for just the right moment, then he attacked.
In a flash Tails spun in a circle, bringing his tails around in a whip-like fashion. The connected with the robot, sending it into a nearby tree and leaving it smoking on the ground.
“Didn’t think I’d see one of these again,” Tails muttered, inspecting the robot. Suddenly, a plate on the head of the robot exploded outward and a small, orange flicky flew out.
It glanced down at its former prison, then looked at Tails. “Um…” it said, feeling awkward. “There’s a big robot down at the fishing dock, and.. um… bye.” It took off into the distance in a flutter of wings.
“Snap,” Tails muttered under his breath. “Where’s Sonic?” He scanned the horizon and saw Sonic on a distant hill. He waved, and apparently Sonic had seen Tails as well, for he waved back. Two seconds later Sonic appeared at Tails’ side.
“Man, I love this thing!” Sonic said, fingering the Emerald.
“Just be careful,” Tails said. “A flicky told me there’s a robot down at the fishing pier. Should we check it out?”
“How’d the flicky know?”
“A Crabmeat tried to pull a fast one on me. I gave it the what-for and the flicky popped out.”
Sonic rolled his eyes. “Eggman’s still using those old models? C’mon.” He grabbed Tails’ wrist and took off running towards the sea. When they came to the cliff, Sonic ran straight over the edge without stopping. He and Tails locked their wrists more securely, and Tails put his tails into motion. They flew like this for about ten seconds, then Sonic told Tails to drop him.
“Why?” Tails yelled back.
“Just do it!”
Tails reluctantly obeyed, ready to dive down and save Sonic from certain doom unless… Sonic aligned his feet just right and landed on one of the handrails to a flight of stairs going down the cliff. The metal strips on his shoes went to work, and Sonic “grinded” down the rail, gaining speed at an incredibly high rate.
“I know I could break my neck doing it,” Tails muttered, “but junk! I want a pair of those.”
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- *
There was panic and confusion on the fishing dock. Robotnik was driving a tank-sized robot up and down the dock, and the tank was wielding a mallet that was as big as itself. When the innocent bystanders saw Sonic and Tails coming, they gave them a clear path and cheered them on. Sonic, for one of the only times in his life, slowed down and walked through the crowd. The whole time he was raising his hands and behaving like the superstar he was. This continued until Tails forcefully dragged Sonic towards the dock despite the few people in the crowd cheering “Tails!!”
“Quit being such a ham,” Tails scolded.
“Aww, loosen up,” Sonic retorted. “This thing’ll be a cakewalk. Gimmie a lift.”
Once again Sonic and Tails took to the air. “Fly over it!” Sonic yelled. Tails did so, taking care to avoid the oversized mallet. “Now!” Sonic yelled, and Tails let go. Sonic fell straight for the cockpit dome on the tank, and at the last minute he went into a spin and shattered the glass dome.
He landed on what would pass for the hood and stared Robotnik in the eye. “I believe now is when you boast about how evil your latest plan is? I’m waiting…” He tapped his foot impatiently.
“Nice try,” Robotnik answered, mashing a large, red button labeled “Eject.”
Sonic jumped off the robot as the cockpit rose out of the tank and flew off. As it did so, the tank sputtered back to life and surged forward.
“Sonic!” Tails yelled from above. Sonic looked up, and Tails dropped the Emerald down to him. Sonic took aim and yelled, “Chaos Spear!”
The tank exploded in a blue and orange pyrotechnic display. The crowd answered in an enormous cheer.
“Don’t get started yet,” Tails said, handing Sonic the small phone. Sonic simply rolled his eyes and hit the speed dial.
“Hello?” Sally answered on the other end.
“Sal! Guess what we just did!”
“Let’s see: you shattered the cockpit, Robotnik got away, and you blew up the robot with Chaos Spear?”
“Yeah! It was— wait, how did you know?”
“Smile, you’re on TV. And you need to stop being such a ham.”
Sonic looked straight at Tails and continued to speak into the phone. “You and Tails are against me! I knew it!”
“Yes we are,” Sally replied sarcastically. “Now, your next stop is going to be a hidden GUN base that’s farther down the coast. You remember where Robotnik’s ground base was?”
“The pyramid?”
“No, the one before that.”
“Oh… The one with the huge aquarium and stuff?”
“Exactly. And when you leave, use a teleport or a timestop. I don’t want those paparazzi following you.”
“Right. Talk to you later.”
“Sure. Be careful.”
“Will do.” Sonic shut the phone. “Tails, let’s go!” he said. When Tails failed to reply, Sonic noticed that he wasn’t next to him. He finally found Tails at the edge of the crowd signing autographs. He waved to the people and walked back to Sonic.
“So, where to now?” Tails asked cheerfully.
“An old GUN base. And Sal said to teleport, so we won’t be able to sign autographs. Quit being such a ham.”
Tails just shrugged. Sonic sighed, grabbed his buddy’s hand, took the emerald in the other and yelled, “Chaos Relocate!”