Red Mountain: "If you can't take the Heat..."

[VolkinTH]

On Angel Island, there are many different kinds of areas. Grassy fields, frozen tundras...but one place sticks out from the rest. After all, he highest place on an island IS kinda hard to miss. This is Red Mountain: the harsh, rocky peak that contains dangerous magma-filled caves that could put Eggman's best bases to shame.

Perfect for the hardened adventurer.


Mighty the Armadillo grunted a bit as he pulled himself onto a stone ledge, far above the safe, forested ground. But such was for yellow-bellies. And Mighty, though a pacifist, is no yellow-belly.

Well, his skin could been seen as...oh, you get the point.

"Woo! Man, the folks at Station Square did not lie when they said this was hard work. This thing is huge!" The Armadillo panted as he sat down for a bit of a breather. ...But I'm going to reach the top. No matter what! He continued in his mind as he glanced at the wall of jagged stone behind him that stretched into the clouds.

Reaching into a backpack he was carrying, Mighty pulled out a water bottle and downed about half the cool liquid before putting it back, enjoying the peaceful surroundings.

[Alien-Child]

"Man I'm so exhausted!" Speedy gaps as he landed on a cliff a few meters above Mighty. Since Sally disabled his exo-suit, Speedy's speed is at normal, and he won't be able to take the train back to Station Square cause of his rep. So the Kukku has to take a ride back to a base the long hard way, and it's tiring despite his super-fast flying speed, especially after fighting all day too, he took a moment to rest.

[VolkinTH]

Mighty blinked upon hearing a voice. How could anyone be above him? He'd been climbing this thing all morning, so he knew that he'd gotten here before anyone else!

Frowning a bit, the Armadillo stood and used his Spin Jump to nimbly leap up a few areas on the mountainside just large enough for footholds.

Well, most of them were, anyway.

"Yow!" Mighty cried out loudly as one of the rocks gave way beneath his sneakers. Thinking quickly, he used his great physical prowess to slam his hand against the cliff, his fingers drilling into the stone and thus saving him for a rather nasty fall. Sighing in relief, the young adventurer resorted to using his strength to scale the rest of the way.

"Ngh! Knuckles is lucky! He doesn't have to--agh--actually use finger strength to climb!"

[Alien-Child]

"Uh/" Speedy heard sound from the side of the mountain. Slowly, the bird stood up and walk to the edge and saw an armadillo scaling the cliffside. Speedy already tired from the battle and the trip here, might as well be friendly. Sides, he doesn't know this guy. "Far way down, huh?"

[VolkinTH]

Mighty looked up at the bird and gave a friendly smile.

"Do I have to answer?" Within one more minute, he'd reached the bird on the cliff and was brushing himself off. "Hoo, boy. Be glad you can fly!" He smiled and extended his hand. "Hey, friend. Name's Mighty!" He grinned. Up close, Speedy would see that this Armadillo bore a resemblance to the well-known hero, Sonic the Hedgehog.

[Alien-Child]

"Speedy!" The bird said as he shook the armadillo's hand. Though Speedy didn't see Sonic, who was aware of the famous hero (*GASP!*) He did see a being similar, Sonic's metal double, Speedy shrugged this off, and look off at the distance. "So, you mountain climbing or you've got some reason to climb to the peak?"

[VolkinTH]

"Yep!" Mighty smirked. "I'm on a mission to be the first person to scale this mountain! And once I have, I'll be remembered in the record books!"

He fiddled around in his backpack before pulling out a black flag that had a red symbol resembling his head. He proudly held it in the air, grinning. "All will know that Mighty the Armadillo was the first great adventurer to climb the treacherous Red Mountain!" His pose looked rather dramatic and triumphant, the sun conveniently causing his red armor to shine.

[Alien-Child]

"AHH!" Speedy shouted as the light reflecting from Mighty was blinding him, "Hey buddy, let me put some shades on the next time you do that, yesh!"

[VolkinTH]

After putting the flag back, Mighty sidestepped out of the sun, grinning sheepishly.

"Um...heh-heh...my bad." He sighed and looked back towards his objective: the mountaintop.

"Well, nice meeting ya, little buddy! Take care!" And with that, Mighty proceeded to begin leaping up the mountain...

...but little did he know, he wasn't going ANYWHERE.

"EEEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Mighty suddenly screamed in pain as he hit an invisible forcefield. But it wasn't the wall itself that hurt him--it was the fact that the invisible wall was filled to the brim with an electric charge...

...and Mighty was taking all it it.

"UGH...GAAAAAAAAAH!" With one last cry of pain, Mighty shoved himself out of the electric field, sending the charred Armadillo to the ground next to Speedy.

[Alien-Child]

"Uh...what just happened?" Speedy asked in confusion.

[VolkinTH]

Mighty quickly sat up, shaking it off.

"Yowch! What was THAT?" He looked as far into the sky as he could, but the peak was blocked out by the clouds.

"Hm. That was...painful, to say the least." He folded his arms and exhaled. "It's safe to say there's something up there somebody doesn't want anyone to see. And I can't see where...whatever THAT was came from." He closed his eyes in thought before his ear twitched, signifying he had an idea.

He turned to Speedy. "Hey, little buddy, you didn't happen to see any caves on the mountain when you were flying here, did you...?"

[Alien-Child]

"1) don't call me 'little' and 2) Yeah I did, why?"

[VolkinTH]

"Okay, okay. Don't gotta bite my head off." Mighty said. "And, while there's a forcefield out here..." He paused, grinning mischievously, "...It'd be close to impossible to place one INSIDE the mountain. You see where I'm going with this...?"

[Alien-Child]

"Yeah," Speedy smiled, "In fact with that forcefield there, it got me interested in what's up there!" Speedy flapped his wings and hovered on a nearby path, "There's a cave down this way!"

[VolkinTH]

Mighty didn't need to be told twice.

"Alright!" With that cry of joy, the black and red critter blasted by Speedy down the path at a good 200 MPH.

"C'mon, Speedy! Keep up!"