I had underestimated how many robots would be in the city. There was at least one on every block, watching for something. Whether it was Wily making sure no one interrupted the search, or trying to keep a curfew for the people still living inside, I couldn't be sure. I felt bad for the people inside the city, though, knowing they were living in fear of what was happening. I just hoped that if they were forcing them to stay, they wouldn't put them into any danger.
It wasn't just Wily robots, either, which were each unique in their own way. Several more of Eggman's robots roamed the city, walking around buildings or looking for the shards. If they were looking for the shards, though, they obviously had no clue what they were doing.
I sped past the twentieth building, nearly getting noticed by some weird blue woman robot holding a trident. I was barely able to dart across a nearby alley, then hide behind a large plant before getting spotted by the robots on the other side. There were three of Eggman's robots, turning in various directions as if they were looking for something small, fast, and blue.
"Sonic," Dr. Light said in my ear, making me jump. The robots looked at each other as the plant rustled. "Get on top of the building your under."
I nodded even though he couldn't see me, but waited for the robots attention to move away. For a few minutes, they just stood there, turning slowly. Eventually they realized it must have been some sort of error in their systems, and went back to going down the streets. Once they were all turned away from me, I dashed back into the alley I had run through, sprinting up the side of the building until getting to the top. I sighed with relief. There weren't very many robots up on the buildings, but the structures were all sorts of sizes and distances apart, so jumping or running up them was a chore.
"Do you see the big glass building in front of you?" Dr. Light asked.
"You mean the one I broke?" I whispered, holding back a chuckle. The building hadn't been repaired, and I suddenly remembered crashing into it and somehow not getting killed. It wasn't far away, but getting to it would probably still be a chore. "Kind of hard to forget."
"You need to get inside," Dr. Light replied. "That's where you need to go."
"How?" I asked, still speaking softly. "Running on glass is like running on ice. Do you think there'll be robots by the door?"
"I don't know," Dr. Light explained. Very helpful.
"Well, only one way to find out," I said, running and jumping onto the next building. I rolled as I fell, trying to keep from landing on my feet wrong. There was one more building in front of me, but there was a street in between me and the structure.
I looked around, the glass building taunting me. If I could get onto the next building and jump off, I could possibly leap into the hole I had made originally. But that was a big 'if'; the street was swarming with robots, probably all on high alert for me.
With a sigh, I decided to go around and see if I could run up the building from a different angle. The first side I went to was also very busy with robots. I had to carefully run to the other side, and was lucky enough to find that it was completely abandoned. Deciding to not overthink it, I ran up the building, finding that the hole was far away, but not too far away. With the perfect jump, I could just barely make it.
I walked to the edge of the building, watching the robots walk along the street that separated me from the glass. It made sense that there were so many robots around this part if Dr. Light was right, but it made things tough. I wondered if we were too late, and the robots had already gotten the shard. I shook my head and waited, thinking that the robots would never disappear enough for me to get through the hole.
Then, for just a split second, I saw my chance. I ran to the other side of the building trying to get as much of a running start as I could. I leaped off the other side, curling into a ball as sailed over the street.
I flew through the hole perfectly, landing on my feet as I got inside. The structure was abandoned by robots. It was almost completely dark inside, the only source of light being the moon and a fallen lamp. Even though the building was made of glass, I didn't think the robots would be able to see me. The windows were nicely tinted. I saw the hole in the ground that Mega Man had almost fallen through, wondering if that was where Dr. Light wanted me to go. Broken tile and wood was still scattered around from the hole, proving that no one had really been inside since Proto Man.
"You need to find some sort of secret entrance under the building," Dr. Light said.
"This hole isn't a good short cut?" I asked.
"I have no idea," Dr. Light replied.
"Then let's find out!" I said, jumping into the hole. I heard Dr. Light groan, rethinking the whole mission. But, hey, he didn't expect me to search every square inch of the building looking for a stairway, did he?
I only fell for about four seconds before hitting the ground. I reached into the pack with the shard, taking out a flashlight. I turned it on, shining it around so that Dr. Light could see what I was in. It looked like something that was made well before the modern city above, stone covering the floor and walls. The details on each stone were unique, everything from carvings of people to more modern lines and swirly designs. The ceiling was open above, stretching up to the hole I had jumped through. Whoever had built the building above had known about these ruins, trying to cover them up.
"I think we found the place, Doc," I said, still marveling over the stones. "It's incredible. Reminds me of the Mystic Ruins. Hopefully, though, they aren't the same."
I thought that would get a reaction from Tails, but he stayed silent.
"Go to the right," I heard Dr. Light say, nobody commenting on what I was seeing. Maybe only Dr. Light could talk to me, and he had expected something like this. "And save your energy. You're still a long way from the shard."
"Why didn't we come in someplace closer to it, then?" I asked.
"I wasn't sure there was another way to get into these... ruins," he replied. "I knew there was an entry point in this building. The shard is at the center of the city, and getting any farther without robots seeing you would have been difficult."
"I guess that makes sense..." I said, walking in the direction he told me to. I kept the flashlight out, but as I walked further, I noticed that the walls were glowing with the same green as the shards. It was the same color as the Master Emerald.
After walking long enough for me to get seriously bored, I started jogging, still running in the same direction Dr. Light had said. There had only been a few places to turn, but since I had heard nothing in my ear, I kept going.
"So..." I said, trying to find something to do. "Where are these traps you talked about? And what will they be? A boulder trailing after me when I step on something? Arrows that come out of the wall?"
As I said that, I heard a click that made me pause. Instinctively, I took a few quick steps backwards, then yelped as green lasers starting coming out of the walls. I fell back, barely missing the beginning of the shots. I noticed that they didn't go far up the wall, as if they wanted you to get hit painfully and fall, then get killed. I resisted shivering as a chill traveled up my spine.
Taking a few more steps back, I started running, dashing up the wall above the lasers. Without warning, however, the shots starting moving, aiming at me. I had to move all over the place to avoid getting hit, but the lasers started shooting in front of me, as if they could guess where I was going. This wasn't some sort of primitive caveman technology.
I went higher and higher up the wall, but they still followed me. The glow of the stones was running out, and I was about to get fried. I looked to the side, noticing that all of the blasts were trained on me. I had to change things up, so I slowed down and jumped, almost slipping off the other wall. Putting on the speed, I noticed that the shots ended soon - but so did the walls and floors. I was about to panic when I saw something super familiar; a grind rail had been placed at the end of the floor, just begging for me to ride it.
At the last second, I jumped off the wall and landed on the rail, balancing myself. I crouched in order to gain speed, whooping as I raced along loops and steep slopes. I usually crouched in order to keep up speed, but there were some wild curves. All around was darkness, no glow of the stones anywhere around. Even though my stomach dropped with every decline, I wasn't nervous about falling. I had ridden way more treacherous rails. Like those ones in space.
After a while, I saw that the rail ended, wanting me to jump off at the end in order to reach the other part of the ruins. I hopped off the end of it, my feet barely connecting with the edge. I waved my arms wildly as I regained my balance.
As I started walking, the walls glowing again. I realized that there was something off about this place. I wasn't sure someone without my speed could have made it through the first two obstacles. Mega Man might have been able to do the rail, but I didn't know how he would have dodged all those lasers. Maybe the people who made the ruins really didn't want anyone getting in. Or maybe they were just trying to find the right person. This place called for speed.
"Hey, doc," I said, once again trying to pass the time as I walked. "How's that Chaos Energy doin'?"
"It hasn't done too much, Sonic," Dr. Light said. "It went a little haywire when you were going through the lasers."
"That's good..." I replied, but I hadn't really heard what he said. I had come into a big room. The glow of the walls seemed harsher, but there was less of it. I walked into the center of the room, which was nearly black with darkness. But there seemed to be nothing in the room, so I walked straight toward the other hall.
I mean, I probably should've expected something as I walked to the other entrance.
A group of robots started lining the walls and entrances of the room. They were spaced out pretty far, but there were at least twenty, with one blocking the way forward and back. Because they were all in front of walls, I could see them pretty well. They looked more like people wearing a shiny metal purple armor, the backs of their heads having two spikes that extended back at least a foot. They looked menacing, to say the least.
"Uh, hi!" I shouted, inching toward the one in front of the way forward. "So, I'm trying to find this special shard. Are you gonna let me through?"
The robots didn't move, and I wondered if they were so old that they didn't work properly anymore. I walked a few more steps, making sure no one was following me. They were all as still as statues.
As I started to speak again, though, the one in front of the hall raised his hand, a net flying at me faster than I could react. It wrapped around me, throwing me across the room. I was about to spin dash when electricity sparked all over it, making me scream.
"Sonic, get out of there!" I heard Tails yell in my ear, not even trying to hide his panic.
Slowly, I got to my hands and knees and made a spin dash. The net tore apart, but I still winced as sparks occasionally ran across my body. All of the robots had their arms pointed at me, ready to shoot more nets or something.
I stood still, ready to jump at the smallest sight of movement or sound. For a few minutes I just stood, waiting, getting antsier by the minute. I would about to do something when I heard a whoosh, jumping up just before the net would have wrapped around me. After that, though, there were nets exploding all around me. I ran to a wall as soon as my feet hit the floor, scrambling up it and across the ceiling. Even through all that running, though, I got hit by another net, my head hitting the floor. Even though I was dizzy, I got free of the net as fast as I could, then sprinted toward one of the doorways. I didn't know if they would follow me, but I also couldn't tell if I had gone backward or toward the shard.
After running for a bit, I stopped to catch my breath. I sat against a wall, watching to see if they would follow me. "Sonic," I heard Rock in my ear. "If you need to come back, there's no-"
"I'll figure it out," I said, trying not to let my frustration be heard. "I just need a second."
The truth was, I had no idea what to do. But I wasn't ready to just give up yet. At least I hadn't had an incident from the Chaos Energy. That could have made everything a lot worse.
I stood up and stretched, still not sure what I was going to do. I was overwhelmed by numbers, but these weren't any of Eggman's robots. They weren't flimsy and they had those stupid nets. It would take more than speed, but I couldn't get close to any of them. I sighed angrily, then started to speed off. Maybe I could just run past them. But right when my feet were about to start moving, I was suddenly stopped in my tracks. I couldn't move an inch, and my stomach dropped. What now?
"Sonic!" I heard someone calling from behind me. "I thought I'd never catch up to you!"
It took me a moment to place the voice. "Silver? Is that you?"
Silver stopped his telepathy, letting me move around again. I looked behind me to see him running toward me, out of breath and slow. "Yeah! I've been looking for you ever since you and Sally and everyone disappeared from Mobius. I saw you creeping around the city out there, and I decided to follow. I would have said something to you, but... you were too fast."
I chuckled, trying to rein in any hard feelings toward him. He was always just trying to do what he thought was best, and he was a great ally, but... he could be as gullible as Knuckles at times. Even if he was a time traveler and could tell what the future held, he still had gotten all of us into a lot of trouble a few times.
"Silver," I said, "you're sure you weren't followed?"
"I-I'm pretty sure," he replied, looking back. "I don't think anyone noticed me."
"Then you came just in the nick of time," I said, bumping his fist with mine. "There's a big group of robots I need your help with."
"What's here that you need so badly?" Silver asked. "This place looks nothing like the city above."
I started walking, hoping he was following. My feet itched to run, but Silver would never be able to keep up."You know Eggman's here, right?"
"I would have been surprised if he wasn't, considering all the robots outside. Though some of them did look strange..."
"Well, they weren't all his," I explained. I told him about Wily and Mega Man, and all the people we had run into. And Eggman's fun experiment. By the time I finished, the robots were in view.
"Sounds like you've been through the ringer," Silver commented.
"It's... been tough." He didn't seem surprised at what I had told him; I wouldn't be surprised if he had been to Mega Man's world before in his adventures, or at least seen it. "But I'll fix this mess or die trying."
"So these shards are really important?"
"We just know that we can't let Eggman get them all," I said. "I'm not sure anyone knows what they do, really."
Silver pointed ahead. "Are those the robots you mentioned?"
"Yep," I answered. "If you could even stop just half of them, I should be able to get them pretty quickly."
"I'll probably be able to get all of them, but you'll have to work quickly," Silver said. He looked pretty confident.
"Please," I said. "Quick is my middle name."
"Yeah, so is fast, hurry, and smooth."
"You know it," I grinned. "Stay in the hall so they won't be able to surround both of us."
I took a step forward, but stopped when I heard Dr. Light in my ear. I had almost forgotten I had something in my ear telling me where to go. "Sonic, you might want to wait on this ambush you're planning. The Chaos Energy is flaring up."
I paused, looking back at the robots, then Silver. "It'll just take a second. I don't want them to come out and ambush us instead."
"Who are you talking to...?" Silver whispered, carefully watching the robots.
"It's Mega Man's creator," I said. "It's nothing to worry about. Let's go!"
Before anyone could stop me, I ran toward the robots, making Silver follow. I nodded at him, and he nodded back. After a few seconds of breathing, he raised his hands, outlines of turquoise surrounding each of the robots. "Go!" he shouted. I started spin-dashing into the robots, but it turned out it took a few hits to knock them apart. These were definitely not Eggman's robots.
I had smashed through about three quarters of the robots when I felt dizzy. My head was throbbing, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground. I felt something shatter in my ear as I had fallen, and realized I had broken the communication device. I saw Silver straining as he kept the rest of the robots frozen. There were still at least eight robots.
I took in a deep breath, jumping toward the next robot and kicking it in the head. I ducked as a net whizzed past my head and sidestepped to avoid another. I dashed in to three more before Silver smacked the others in to each other with his telepathy. I turned and gave him a thumbs up, but he definitely looked tired.
"I saw you take a fall," he said, rubbing his temples. "What happened?"
"Nah, I just tripped," I answered. "A small surge of the messed up energy I told you about. I'm fine. But what about you?"
"I'll be fine," he said. "Let's just start walking. It'll help the headache if I keep going."
"If you say so," I replied. I was relieved to finally go down that hallway I'd been trying to cross for what felt like hours. "Let me know if you need a break."
"I-I'll be fine," he repeated. He followed me as I started walking, and was able to keep up even though I was moving quickly. I wanted to find the shard and get out.
With nobody to guide us, I wasn't sure we would find the shard. But at least I had someone else to help me. Even if he was a little sick - he was good company.
It felt like forever had passed when Silver said anything. It felt awful going so slowly. "Do you even know where we're going?"
"I have a... general idea," I replied.
"So... you don't actually know where we're going."
"Sure I do! We're going to the center of the city and looking for a green glow-y shard! Do you think we could go a little faster, though? I don't want Dr. Light sending Mega Man after me."
"Yeah, a little bit. I can fly behind you and try to keep up."
I smiled and started to run lightly, watching to make sure Silver could keep up with me. He was looking a lot better, but I didn't want to make him work too hard.
Eventually, we came to a halt. There was a huge gap between us and the next part of the floor. Looking down, the pit had no end. Everything down there was black, but I wouldn't have been surprised if there were spikes waiting to stab you at the bottom.
"I'll just run along the wall, and you fly," I said.
Silver glanced at me, hovering a bit above the ground. He looked uneasy. "It can't be that easy."
"Well, it could be," I replied. "It's just like the rail back there, except... without a rail."
"Um, if you say so. I'll go fly out and see if it's really that easy."
He flew out over the pit slowly, with a hand out, as if he really was expecting something to happen. I tapped my foot as he flew, rolling my eyes. It was a waste of time.
But then he stopped. He was holding his hand in front of him, like it was touching something. He flew around it, waving at me from the other side. I sat with my legs dangling over the pit.
After a little more investigating, he came back to rest. "There are some invisible walls perpendicular to the the walls you would run on."
"I can jump to the other side when a wall's about to hit me," I offered. "But how will I know when there's a wall?"
"I think I can light them up," Silver said. "It'll be a lot easier than carrying you all the way across, but it's pretty long."
"I'm ready when you are," I replied, stretching my legs.
"Sure," Silver flew out over the pit. "Stay high - I can't light the ones far down." Before long, a bunch of random panels lit up. They had no pattern; some were high up the wall, some were lower, some were close together, and some were very far apart. It was complicated, but it didn't look like it would be too difficult.
I started running, trying not to go too fast. Sometimes I had to make a sharp turn to get above a wall, or slide down in order to get under. Jumping across was hard - the walls were further apart than I thought.
After a bit of running, the lit walls suddenly disappeared. I was about to yell to Silver when they came back. I nearly ran into a wall, leaping wildly to the side instead. My stomach dropped, and I was sure I was going to miss the wall. I barely caught my momentum, but was able to start running again.
Eventually I saw Silver, watching me wall jump and run with his teeth gritted. The lights on the walls were starting to flicker, and I realized I had to hurry. My legs felt a little rubbery after all the jumping, but I strained forward. It was harder to know when to jump when the walls kept appearing and disappearing.
"Hang on!" I said, jumping once more to the other wall. After that, I sprang forward, catching the ledge Silver was standing on. I swung for a second, then hoisted myself up onto the ground and caught my breath.
"That was a lot more work than I thought it would be," Silver said, resting on the ground. He had dark circles under his eyes, and I doubted he had gotten any sleep recently. How long had he been searching for us? A day? Two days? A week?
"Can you walk?" I said, offering a hand. "I'll help. We can go slow, we just have to keep moving."
Silver nodded, taking my hand. I wrapped his arm around my back, helping him along. He leaned against me for support, but was able to walk for a while before falling asleep.
"Man, I should have thought of something else with the robots..." I muttered to myself. "Hopefully nothing else goes wrong..."
It felt like I was walking forever, and I was getting tired. Silver wasn't light, but I couldn't just leave him behind. I just hoped we hadn't been in the ruins for as long as it felt. I really, really didn't want Dr. Light to send Mega Man in.
I thought about leaving Silver and going on ahead to see what was there, but decided not to risk it. This place wasn't too crazy, but after what Silver had done, I didn't want to feel guilty going on then coming back and finding him gone.
After a little while longer, I put Silver down and leaned against a wall. I rolled my shoulder and stretched my neck, leaning against the wall. I should have brought food with me, but all I had was the shard.
I took a few more minutes to rest, then grabbed Silver and started off again. I started off at a light jog, anxious to get out of these ruins. Who knew what sort of surprises were still in here?
Just when I was about to take another break, I saw something glowing with a green shine. Excited, I hurried ahead, hoping it was the shard. When I got close enough, I smiled, realizing it really was the shard.
"Finally!" I shouted, stepping in to a small room. The shard was on a pedestal perfectly sculpted for it. Half of it was sticking out, the other half inside the pedestal. I shouldered my backpack off, grabbing the fake shard out of it. I juggled the fake shard in my hand, wondering if some sort of trap would activate when I took the real shard. I looked back at Silver, then traded the shards before I could change my mind, shoving the real shard in my sack.
The ground started to shake, but before I could get us out of the room, the ceiling above crumbled, leaving us stuck. I grabbed Silver, noticing something out of the corner of my eye; the wall on the other side had disappeared, revealing a set of narrow stairs. Without missing a beat, I ran up the stairs, trying to keep my balance with the rumbling ground.
I stopped just in time as a large part of the roof collapsed in front of me, falling through the stairs. I jumped over the gap, resisting looking down the hole. Instead, I kept going, jumping up the stairs two at a time.
It turned out that the stairs weren't all that high; it only took me a minute to get to the top. It was comforting being on solid ground that wasn't threatening to crumble under me. I shoved Silver off, noticing something out of the corner of my eye. I took in a breath, backing away. We were in the middle of the city as Dr. Light had promised, but it was deserted. Except for Shadow, looking menacing and pointing a Chaos Spear at me. "Give me the shard, and I won't kill both of you."