Act 2-4 Aquatic Ruins

Tom ran for his life while holding on to Tails, as two big guards ran after them. Tom gives the emerald to Tails.

Tom: "Keep it safe."

People around them took their eyes away from their games, with some women shrieking in shock. Tom aimed himself towards where he entered the casino, however there were two more bulky guards. Knowing that alone he wouldn't make it out of there, he looked to the side to the curious Sonic, who said with a thumbs up:

Sonic: "Got it. Operation Safe Passage is ready to go."

Sonic vanished from his seat making it spin crazilly, as he approached the guards at the entrance. With unimaginable speed, time seems almost frozen while Sonic tries to punch the guards. Like a blue hurricane of lightning he punches the guards in every direction to no effect.

Sonic: "Oww! These guys are tougher than robots. I wonder how that knuckle headed echidna does it. Oh well, if punches don't work, then I'll beat them with a dash.", Time moved once more, as Sonic jumped and twirled into a ball.

Guard:"What the..."

The guards noticed him, but it was already too late as he homed in on them, knocking both men aside. Sonic bows down and jokingly shows Tom the way. As they leave the casino, where they think trouble would end, they only encounter more resistance. The doors out of the hotel were shut, as several guards stood around them. Tom and Sonic stop in the center of the entrance hall, not knowing where to go. Tails leaves Tom's arms and lands besides Sonic, trembling when asking:

Tails: "So what now?"

Announcer: "Now you stay put."

The man that had told Tom about the emerald appears from behind, clearly angry.

Announcer: "How dare you steal our most valuable property? And what are these horrendous creatures?"

Sonic: "I'm an hedgehog, and he is a fox. And we prefer to be called either cute or cool. Horrendous fits your description a bit better.", The announcer grunted.

Tom: "Besides, is someone who steals from a thief really in the wrong?", Tom takes out his wallet, showing his police badge. "This emerald is an ancient artifact. Whatever way you got it, it clearly wasn't legal."

The announcer approaches Tom, and takes a closer look at his badge. With a chuckle he comments:

Announcer: "A police officer from Green Hills? You can't get much smaller than that. Heh, and to think you actually scared me there for a second. Guards, get the emerald back and make sure you make them pay for dirtying it with their filthy rural hands."

The guards started slowly moving towards them, already in a circular formation. Tails suggested while trembling:

Tails: "We need to p-power through to the exit, there's n-no other way out."

Tom: "No. Sonic, Miles, we need to get my wife and daughter out of here with us, okay? We're not leaving them behind."

Tails: "But...", Sonic grabs Tails arm to calm him down and says with an excited smile.

Sonic: "Come on, buddy. It's time for magic.", With a pack of cards in his hand, he looks at one of the guards and asks. "Want to see a magic trick?", He takes out a three of spades. "See this card? Now look inside your jacket pocket."

Time freezes as Sonic places the card inside the guard's pocket and moves back to place. Dumbfounded, the guard realizes the card is there, and claps at the splendid display before realizing what he is meant to be doing.

Guard: "Wait, what am I doing?"

He tries to throw himself at Sonic to grab him, however he only hits the floor. Tails, with the emerald in hand, hits it against the back of the guard's head, knocking him out.

Tom is seen struggling, as he seems to be fistfighting some of them. He hits one in the face however another one catches his arm, and even with kicks he doesn't seem to be able to get away. Tails approaches them and says:

Tails: "Isn't this what you want?", Tails says showing the purple emerald. "Want to see a magic trick?" With super speed, Tails places the emerald elsewhere before the guards notice and goes back in position. "See? Now it's gone."

The guards act shocked, as Tom sees his chance to get out of the hold with a couple of well placed kicks and punches. The path to the stairway, seems to be clear, as Tom runs towards it. Tails goes back to pick up the emerald, shouting:

Tails: "Sonic!"

Sonic looks to the side as a guard is stumbling on several numbered balls Sonic was throwing at the ground beneath him. He runs towards Tails as they head to their room. The door is unfortunately locked, as Tom tells his wife:

Tom: "Open it!"

Wife: "Coming."

Tom's wife slowly goes to get the key and open the door. Tom, Sonic and Tails look to the side, as several guards are approaching angrily.

Sonic: "Open the stupid door, Pretzel Lady."

Wife: "Hold on... Ah, there we go."

The door unlocks just when it seemed like the guards were going to catch up. Sonic grabs a ring telling it before throwing:

Sonic: "Rome."

A portal opens as they all hurriedly enter it. Thankfully, the ring dissipates before any of the guards is able to get through. Sonic, Tails, Tom, his wife and daughter all look around in shock. They were now in broad daylight in the center of Rome. On one side they could spot the Coliseum, on the other the Pantheon. The daugther exclaims:

Daughter: "It's daytime already?"

Wife: "Different timezones I guess.", Tom sighs.

Tom: "Couldn't you have been a bit more precise when giving the ring directions?"

Sonic: "We didn't have enough time."

Tom: "What? You were... too slow?", Sonic grunts.

Daughter: "You're too slow, you're too slow.", Sonic starts grunting louder.

Sonic: "Oh yeah, I'll show you. Tails, in which direction is the emerald?" , Tails looks down at his gadget.

Tails: "Right there.", He says as he points his finger forward.

Sonic: "You guys enjoy the family trip. We'll be right back."

Tom: "Wait, Sonic!"

Tom tries to stop him, but it's already too late. Sonic and Tails leave at incredible speeds towards the emerald's spot. Tom's wife puts her arm on his shoulder:

Wife: "You want to go too, don't you?"

Tom: "No. I can enjoy a trip with you girls. Rome is too beautiful to just waste the opportunity."

Wife: "Come on, I know you were actually having fun. Go after them, I'll stay around here.", Tom looks at her with a sad smile.

Tom: "I shouldn't have brought you to this mess. I'm sorry."

Wife: "When else would I be able to visit Las Vegas or Rome?"

Daughter: "Yeah, daddy. This has been the best vacation ever!", Tom looks at them with a smile, and then back at the direction where Sonic went. He then realizes:

Tom: "I'll never reach them in time."

Wife: "Here.", She gives him some money. Tom seems surprised. "You were not the only one playing games at the casino, you know?"

We cut to Sonic and Tails who seem to have arrived at the emerald spot. They walk on grass, as there seem to be ruins, broken houses and some stone pillars of an older civilisation next to the shoreline. Sonic runs around to try and find the emerald, however there seems to be none.

Sonic: "Are you sure it's around here?"

Tails: "My radar doesn't lie. It should exactly on the spot I'm standing o...", Tails gets interrupted as the emerald he is holding start shining in a strong purple glow. Tails drops due to the surprise, as Sonic picks it up.

Sonic: "This really has infinite power within, huh. Why is it shining so much? It seems to shine even more when it's closer to ground."

Tails: "It must be responding to the other emerald's energy signature. I guess this means it's underground."

Sonic: "It would be really nice to be able to dig like an echidna."

Suddenly an arrow comes flying through the hair, grazing Sonic's face. Sonic looks to the side as several echidna seem to be approaching.

Sonic: "Speak of the devil...", He and Tails begin running around avoiding the barrage of arrows coming their way. One of them passes above Sonic's head, sticking to the stone pillar behind him. With a flip, he jumps on the arrow and goes above the pillar, hiding behind it. Tails hides behind a ruined house next to the pillar, telling Sonic:

Tails: "There's an energy signature coming our way."

Sonic: "Robotnik..."

In a semi-spherical pod, Robotnik shows up alongside a good amount of echidnas.

Robotnik: "Sonic... you're always around to interfere with my plans. Too bad you haven't stopped anything yet."

Sonic: "Well, I'm surprised, Eggman. Seems you've learned to trust in something more than robots."

Robotnik: "Oh, these echidnas? They're just tools at my dispos...", Several echidnas turn their eyes on Robotnik. "Cough... I mean, we have a mutual goal, killing little pests like you.", Tails looks at Sonic and nods with a smile.

Tails: "It really looks like you're just using them for your own gain. No different than puppets under your fingers.", Sonic and Tails snicker, however...

Echidna warrior: "We don't mind. Like he said, we're after a common goal. Plus, our leader Knuckles agreed to this partnership, but we'll let him tell you that personally."

Sonic: "What do you..."

The pillar Sonic hid behind began crumbling towards him. Knuckles broke it with a single punch, and was pushing towards Sonic. The hedgehog got away and kicked Knuckles, however the echidna grabbed his leg, and hit him against the ground. Tails while shaking tried to save him, flying to him and rotating his tails on Knuckles' face. The echidna leader dropped Sonic and fell back, as Tails said:

Tails: "I have an idea. Let's hide. Now, just like the casino.", He eyes Robotnik. "You want this?", He grabs the emerald off Sonic's hand. Robotnik seems highly interested. "Then get it.", Tails throws the emerald up, as Robotnik's gaze follows it.

Tails nods at Sonic, who quickly gets up and runs towards Robotnik, who's too focused on the emerald to turn on super speed. Sonic grabs his radar, and breaks, as Tails flies after the emerald, before any gliding echidna catches it. Several arrows chase after him, but with their supersonic speed they are able to run away from everyone's focus and hide behind a crumbled house. Robotnik pushes on his own mustache angrily.

Robotnik: "That stupid yellow fox. They broke my radar so I couldn't find them when they hide. I don't want to aknowledge their intelligence... so I won't. Echidnas, look around the area. Theirs wasn't the only emerald. There must be another around here."

Tails is shivering behind the crumbled house.

Tails: "What do we do, Sonic? They will find us eventually."

Sonic: "Don't worry, buddy, you did a really good job. If that Eggman is as smart as he thinks he is, he will realise it's underground. We may not be able to dig to the emerald, but he is, and when he does, we'll catch the emerald before he has a chance to react. Meanwhile, we'll deal with any wandering echidna. Are you ready?"

Tails: "Yes, let's do this."

Sonic and Tails waited for their opportunity.

__________

Author here,

I'm sorry this one took so long. I wasn't sure what to do in Rome. At first, I thought about Hydrocity, but that's more Venice than anything, so I already screw myself over there. Then I planned with Flying Battery, but realized it would be odd for an emerald to be in air, although I might write an Alternate act 2-4 eventually. You guys tell me what zones you would have liked to have seen, since after this one there's only one new zone left, and you can probably guess which by the story synopsis.

Leave a comment and/or a review if you're enjoying it, and share it around. Thanks for reading.