“You’re not leaving me behind! My bike is still on your ship!” Fang screamed at Zooey as he clung onto the railing of the Skyskipper’s main deck as the ship took to the skies. She naturally had no way to hear him as she had taken to the helm as soon as Mighty had gotten her to the airship. Lacking Sonic’s speed, Fang had barely made it to catch the rungs of the boarding ladder. He was only now pulling himself onboard and did not like the look of the view he was afforded for his efforts. “Maybe I’ll just hold up the fox dame and have her make me a Ring Gate to somewhere safe.”

     The sweat drop that ran down the side of Fang’s face showed a great deal of control in the treasure hunter as the encroaching might of the Battle Kukku Armada was terrifying with their cannons firing and countless rocket powered pods flooding out into the skies.

     At the speed of sound, it was easy to put enough distance between oneself and the looming threat of the sky pirates, yet Gill still stopped long enough to look back as he weighed Zooey’s camera in his hand.

     “Maybe running wasn’t the best idea. That’s twice now the threat of these pirates has forced me to run. Surely the lot of them lads and lasses think Mach Frog Gill Bradly a right coward. It’ll be hard to get back into their good graces should they manage to escape. What are they thinking anyway? No possible way they’re in their right minds.”

     “I’m really getting upset with boys always getting into fights,” Rosy complained to an unprepared soldier as she landed on the rim of his pod well beyond Gill’s sight.

     Reaching for his gun, the soldier jumped as Rosy punted it away leaving him defenseless should she turn on him. And she did, to which his hands shot straight up in surrender. Fortunately for him Rosy was not one for violence before words.

     “I don’t know what bad choices you’ve made in your life to end up being a pirate, but it’s not too late to better yourself and actually help someone for a change. I promise you it feels really good and is better than any treasure. I should now. I used to be a treasure hunter myself before I became an adventurer.”

     The soldier simply stared at Rosy with gaping beak disbelief and aimed to shake her from his pod as he reached to push the control stick for a dive. Rosy’s red slipper clad foot stepped right onto the control stick and forced it to stay where it was no matter how hard the soldier pushed. Looking up he saw her face red from the force with which she puffed up her cheeks in frustration.

     “You don’t have any girl pirates with you at all do you?” Rosy huffed trying not to get too angry. It was hard to do however as the explosions above her grew more intent, Sonic and Tails getting further and further away from her.

     ‘Ooh~! It’s so frustrating!’ Rosy complained to herself watching them while the poor soldier was left helpless and desperate to be rid of her. ‘I know Sonic doesn’t like waiting, but fighting isn’t the answer!’

     Before the first shots had even been fired from the Battle Kukku Armada Sonic had Tails take him into the air and the two of them where now desperately tearing through the fleet of flying airships attempting to bring down enough and cause enough chaos for Zooey to get the Skyskipper to safety. Mighty and Fang had gone with her and Gill being uninvolved had run. Rosy only managed to get to where she was as Doctor Fukurokov had ordered her captured alive so he could kill her I front of Tails. Fortunately for her, for as flat as the endless prairie had been, she had been spending plenty of time running with Sonic and her reflexes had improved quite a bit. She was still clumsy using Sonic’s speed, but she was fortunate enough to get to the current attack pod before getting stuck. Her and the soldier both who she turned her attention back to.

     “Okay, how about we make a deal?” Rosy attempted bartering with the soldier who would not have likely given her room to negotiate if the sudden explosion of an airship behind him had not drawn his attention towards Sonic and Tails’ trail of destruction. It was the opportunity Rosy needed and she pounced on it with her surprise fading faster than the soldier’s.

     “See, we both want Sonic to stop attacking your ships, so maybe you could help me out and get me too him.”

     Again, the soldier’s beak hung open in shock, but Rosy simply pressed her pointer fingers together hoping to appeal to the soldier rather than scare him. “Come on, it couldn’t be that bad helping me. I’m not the one destroying your fleet. And Sonic will destroy all of it too. I’ve seen him in action and he’s so cool~♥”

     Rosy had not intended too, but she caught herself starting to fangirl just a little as she had an opportunity to praise Sonic. It was the worst possible situation to do so in and she blushed with embarrassment at herself. Her fangirling though seemed to finally get through to the soldier and he gulped loudly. Rosy puffed her cheeks up frustrated at the soldier and complained to herself. ‘I really don’t understand boys at all some days!’

     Rosy’s complaints aside, she was soon en route to catch up with Sonic or cut him off at least. From the bridge of one of the leading airships Doctor Fukurokov watched the scene in total disbelief. “What mutiny is this!

     “All ships! Fire on the mutineer!” Doctor Fukurokov screamed into a radio with seething rage! “We’re so close to having our revenge! I will not be denied for a mutineer!”

     Most of the Battle Kukku Armada agreed with Doctor Fukurokov and turned their guns on their fellow, ignorant that he was simply trying to stop Sonic and Tails. The sudden shift in focus was not missed by Sonic or Tails, and both stared in shock at Rosy’s approach through the crossfire.

     “Rosy!”

     “Leave her to me Tails!” Sonic immediately took ownership of the situation and dashed off to rescue Rosy. Not before giving Tails something to focus on. “You just give these bird brains a reason to forget about us!”

     “R-right!” Tails stammered out his agreement before putting his namesakes to use plowing a course of destruction through the air fleet. It was a task that proved much easier in the blue skies than the raging storm he last tried to challenge the armada in.

     “You know kid, you may be a rascal, but this is just a bit much,” Sonic criticized Rosy as he landed on the pod and scooped her up in one motion.

     “S-Sonic!”

     “The one and only,” Sonic smirked at Rosy’s surprise. “But now I need to figure out how I’m going to get you to safety. I know, open your emergency Ring Gate and I’ll just toss you through to the Skyskipper. You don’t have any reason to be here.”

     “You’re wrong!” Rosy shook her head at Sonic who looked at her quizzically.

     “Look kid, this isn’t the situation for you to be trying to keep up.”

     “I’m not Sonic. I’m trying to get you to wake up the Rings! My cards told me you’re supposed to be doing so now, but you and Tails just had to come get into another fight!”

     “Well, I didn’t start this one,” Sonic attempted to defend himself and Rosy puffed up her cheeks at him. “You’re not going to buy that, are you?”

     “Of course not,” Rosy confirmed for Sonic. “Everyone needs to get away, that includes you and Tails! But we need way more Rings than we have for the Skyskipper until you wake them up.”

     Looking down, Rosy hoped she was not undermining Sonic again. She had his full attention though and she continued making sure to assure him of her belief in him. “I know you’ll beat these mean old pirates Sonic, but the Skyskipper isn’t as fast as you are. Zooey will be in danger and if we lose the ship… That’s why! That’s why you need to wake up the Rings! I know we don’t know what will happen, but please Sonic, only you can do this!”

     “When you put it like that kid,” Sonic rubbed his nose as he stepped onto the pod’s control stick. Unlike Rosy who only countered the strength of the soldier attempting to pilot it, Sonic held nothing back and forced the pod into an immediate dive. “Just this once we’ll try things your way. You said just link everything up like I’m trying to use my Light Speed Dash, right?”

     “Yeah!” Rosy cheered having finally gotten through to Sonic. She was two for two now since chasing him into the Armada and soon in freefall in his arms as he leapt away from the plummeting pod. They would have been sitting ducks, but Sonic opened a Ring Gate and the two fell through as the massive golden loop appeared in the air below them. And unlike those made by others, Sonic could use his ability to make Ring Bonds to force the Ring Gate to take him where he wanted even without a pair of Ring Gate Beacons.

     The location Sonic chose was a grassy knoll in sight of the decimation Tails was causing to the airships in case he needed to warp back, but with Rosy’s eyes on him he focused on the task before him. Setting her down he knelt beside her and let a Ring from those he carried form in his hand and laid it on the ground. Placing his hand in the center of it and watching it start to float like an unusual bracelet he looked back up at Rosy who held her hands up while fidgeting with nervousness and excitement.

     “You know I’ve never done this before, right?”

     “I do, but I know you can do it even without my cards telling me.”

     “Heh, your faith in me is something else kid. Guess I better not disappoint you. Here goes!”

     Closing his eyes, Sonic reached through the Ring with his consciousness and sought out the Ring energy in the ground below his feet. He did not feel the Rings he needed to reach but remembered that Rosy had described them as sleeping. “Time to wake up guys. Rings shouldn’t be sleeping this long. You’ll miss all the fun.”

     As he spoke gently and smiled, Sonic forced the image of the Ring floating around his wrist forward into the earth and it began to dissipate into motes of golden light. He had connected with the prairie, and for a moment he shared his ability to rematerialize Rings held in his body with the earth he tread. There was a moment of resistance, a push back which presented itself with the spontaneous blooming of the same flowers that powered the golems they found in the various ruins. But as the flowers reached for Sonic, a Ring he did not realize he had collected and not just touched flared to life.

     “The Red Star Ring!” Sonic and Rosy shouted in surprised unison.

     Spinning into being around where Sonic’s hand touched the ground, the red motes of light that left his body seemed not to stop and the Ring floated up into the sky, growing and growing. There was no one who did not see the brilliant red Ring as it rose well above the clouds. Doctor Fukurokov and the Battle Kukku Armada. Tails desperately trying to accomplish in one go what he had before. Zooey, Mighty, and Fang aboard the Skyskipper. Even the wandering nomads who they had met for just a little while.

     “So, the Red Star Rings really are real…” Gill breathed as he stared up at the massiveness of the Ring. Then before all of their eyes it pulsed before disappearing in a flash.

     A shock wave of Ring energy tore through the endless prairie, Rings springing to life all about, the entire landscape giving way to reveal lands long lost beneath the prairie. Towering mountains and ancient ruins. Running rivers and even the ocean and lands beyond were all revealed. But with the prairie vanishing, so too was Sonic and Rosy’s footing.

     “Sonic!” Rosy cried out reaching for Sonic. Whatever he mouthed back at her was lost however as the massive surge of Rings gave birth to Ring Gates everywhere to redirect the sudden and uncontrollable surge of Ring Energy. Floating islands appeared for a moment and swirled away from Sonic and Rosy, a storm of Ring Shifts below them cycling the world as though it were a spherical slot machine. The weather tore and shifted as wildly as the lands, and before Rosy realized it, she fell through a Ring Gate

~~~~~

     There was one set of eyes that dwelled within the endless prairie that did not see the spectacle. Deep underground and home to water channels that carried light into the depths, one ruin trembled as the long lifeless eyes of an echidna statue came to blue glowing life.

PRISON PRAIRIE · CLEARED

Ring Burst, End