Chapter 40

Sonic, looking up at the sky, realized something. The storm stretched to as far as the eye could see. It touched the bottom edge of the horizon. It was growing rapidly. "The storm..." Sonic said. This got Tails and Sonja's attention, while no matter what, Pico's attention always looked to be focused on something new as he looked around and sniffed the clean air.

"Whoa, it's growing super fast!" Tails exclaimed. He stepped back. "At this rate, it'll swallow all of Mobius!"

"And then everyone will be sucked up into it," Sonic added.

"Whoa, whoa, what are you two talking about?" Sonja asked. She looked over to them. "Are you saying the sky isn't always like this?"

"No. Usually the sky's blue... or black... whatever!" Sonic exclaimed. "That storm appeared the other day, and lately, it's been sweeping everything up with it." Sonic paused and looked as a chunk of mountain was swept away. "Ground, plants, animals... people... if it spreads all the way our whole planet could be stripped clean!"

"Oh geez..." Sonja mumbled. She held Pico away from the storm and tucked him tight into her arms. Sonic thought this baby must have something special to him, that thing running through even his own veins that made them impervious to the storm. "Well, how do we stop it?"

"We're thinking the person who is behind this is also behind that," Sonic stated. Tails nodded shortly after. "If we can stop their under-boiled plan, we could also stop that."

"So, what are we waiting for?" Sonja asked, out of concern for Sonic and Tails, or Pico (Sonic couldn't tell). "We need to find them!"

Sonja dashed off with Pico. Sonic and Tails followed, soon passing Sonja. She had to speed up to catch up. They ran through the path, not seeing a single animal in their way. Sonic and Tails would spin through branches in their way, while Sonja had to slide under.

Then, they saw as a branch snapped off of the tree and flew up into the sky. Then, the whole tree was uprooted! They felt the ground they were standing on detach from the surrounding ground, much to Pico's trumpeting dismay.

"The storm's carrying the ground!" Sonic exclaimed. "Jump!"

Sonic, Tails, and Sonja along with Pico all jumped off of the small island of land with a running start. Sonic Drop Dashed forward while Tails and Sonja flew above him. He jumped up and latched onto Tails' hands as the ground below him was swept away too, revealing below it a pool of splashing magma.

Tails holding Sonic, and Sonja holding Pico, the two fliers carried their friends over the ever-changing landscape. A huge chunk of land flew into their path. Everyone yelled, and the two fliers dived down, and under the rock. It was a storm of branches, trees, rocks and ground as they flew through the landscape that was being taken away into the storm. It seemed the storm had not only grown in size but also in strength. Soon, the whole forest would be swept away.

Sonic jumped out of Tails' hands and kicked away a large rock. Tails caught hold of Sonic again, and the group found a patch of stable ground. They decided to land on it, as the two fliers were very tired.

"What are we supposed to do?" Sonic asked. "The storm is too big! We need to find a way to escape!"

"I don't know!" Tails exclaimed. "You'd have to be some sort of genius to find a way out of here." Sonic kept running as he looked over to Tails worriedly. But Tails didn't seem too unhappy. Strange.

They kept running along the path. For a long time. Some of the ground was flying up from beneath them. But then, Sonic stopped. He smelled smoke. And where there's smoke, there's fire.

"Guys, stop..." Sonic whispered. "There's a fire nearby. That means there's either someone camping out, or someone set the forest on fire." Sonic didn't like either possibility.

"Well if there's a camp, there's food and materials, right?" Sonja asked. "I don't need to eat, but you, Tails, and Pico do, right?" Sonic nodded.

"It's been forever since we've eaten, right Tails?" Sonic asked. Tails also nodded with a smile. Pico was beginning to cry and squeal. The poor baby also wanted food. He looked ready to eat the grass. "I guess... it's best if we try to locate a camp. But we need to be careful in case it's a forest fire."

With that, the group ran off with Sonic in the lead. His sense of smell seemed stronger than usual, with his nose shaking and wobbling. He sniffed the air, looking for the source of the fire.

Continue to Chapter 41