Bab 35: Collapse
"Found you, bush-brows!" Sonic shouted, running up to Warlord Pachacamac. The echidna was floating around in some kind of jet-powered pod with a drill attached to it. Sonic didn't recognize the mech, so it was probably Knuckles Clan tech. Upon hearing Sonic, Pachacamac turned the Drill Pod around.
"'Bush-brows'?!" Pachacamac roared, irritated. "Brash little hedgehog! I'll destroy you and all that remains of this Babylonian wasteland!" He nearly smashed the controls of the Drill Pod.
"Wait--- Babylonian?" Sonic asked, shocked. All the bravado and snarkiness left him. And right when he felt he was getting more comfortable calling out rotten tyrants on their nonsense. Pachacamac drove the drill into the ground, and began to shake the surrounding area. Everything began to crumble around Sonic.
"Yes! According to the legends, you were raised by one of them. This Marble Garden is an ancient Babylonian burial site," Pachacamac stated. "How fitting that the last living memory of their weak civilization will be buried in this Zone's ruins!"
As a tremor coursed through the veins of Marble Garden Zone, Sonic ran off to find his friends. Even though Pachacamac was sitting there comfortably, laughing and watching as Sonic fled. Sonic knew protecting those he cared about took priority over beating up some egotistical echidna. As he blasted through the collapsing Marble Garden, he kept calling their names. But nobody was there to hear him. "Shit… why did I run off like that?" Sonic scolded himself. "Tails! Amy! Doc! Where are you?!" No response.
Eventually, Sonic felt himself getting lost. Time was running out before Pachacamac drilled the entire place into dust. Sonic could feel the tremors getting harsher as sinkholes opened up at every turn, revealing a lake of sloshing mud that Sonic knew he'd sink right into if he fell. His heart was racing as fast as his legs as he zoomed through collapsing buildings, swerved around tight turns, and jumped over newly-made holes in the island. His friends could be anywhere. Or maybe not. What if they were already gone?
As Sonic looked all around for anybody in a spot he thought he recognized, something suddenly called out to him. "Fear not, child of Babylon," a voice consoled him. It was a familiar voice, but Sonic did not know why. He felt… like it had been a very important voice to him a long time ago. It seemed to be coming from an owl statue at the back of the room. It had large, thick stone wings that created a roof over the owl's head. "I will guide you to those that you seek. Come forth, now."
Sonic apprehensively walked forward to the owl statue until he stood directly under its towering figure. "Who are you?" Sonic asked. "And how do I know I can trust you?" Sonic paused. "Why do I… feel like I can trust you?" Sonic held his fist to his chest. Suddenly, the building's ceiling caved in. Sonic ducked for cover, until the rubble had finished falling. He was unharmed. He looked up, and saw that the owl statue's wings had protected him from the falling debris. Sonic stood there, wide-eyed
"We were friends, once," the voice said again. "But now is no time for reconciliation. You must leave this forsaken place, before you too are buried here as I was. But I expect us to meet again soon." Sonic heard a chiming sound to his left. He looked over, and saw a trail of large golden rings. "Follow the Ring Chain, it will lead you to your loved ones."
Sonic nodded, before running into the Ring Chain. The ground collapsed behind him, as the owl statue that saved him went falling into the murky abyss below Marble Garden. Sonic didn't look back. Every ring that he ran into disappeared into a golden sparkle. Every ring that he ran into seemed to make him run even faster somehow.
Sonic swiftly made it to the end of the trail of rings. He turned the nearest corner, and saw Tails and the others. "Sonikku! There you are!" Amy exclaimed, her loud voice still audible even with the noise of the entire garden falling apart.
"How do we get out of here?" Tails asked, panicking. Sonic looked all around. Until in the distance, he spotted a Spinning Top sinking down into the mud along with the ground it was docked on.
"Over here!" Sonic shouted. He ran forward, pulling Amy and Robotnik with him. Tails was able to keep up just fine. The ground suddenly fell apart around Sonic, forcing him to run along the wall. When the ceiling started caving in, he jumped between walls and off bits of falling marble. The Spinning Top was about to be submerged in the mud. At the last second, Sonic dove off the cliff, falling into the mud lake.
Sonic felt time slow down. He locked his eyes onto the Spinning Top, watching it intently as the bottom of the blue ancient machine dipped into the mud. Sonic then Homing Attacked into it in a split second, landing atop it. He continued to run, and Tails followed onto the Spinning Top as it began to soar into the sky with Sonic's running powering it. The four fugitives flew into the air aboard the Spinning Top. They looked down at the collapsing Zone as they took the last ticket out of Marble Garden.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone