Team Genesis Book 1
Chapter 9: Legendary Green Hill Zone

Over at a small diner in Central City, the gang was finishing up their breakfast when the waitress arrived.  She left a bill and left in a flash.  Rocco examined the bill.  “56 rings,” he said.  “You pay it Damian.”  Damian nearly choked with his juice when he heard Rocco.  “Wait a minute, why me?” he said.
“Cause I already paid for the motel and the food last night.  It’s your turn, and it’s just 56 rings.”
“Yeah, but where am I…..” Suddenly he remembered the 2000 rings the old man had given to each of them.  “I almost forgot about the old man’s money.  Though I wish I didn’t have to spend mine.”
“How come?” Alexis asked, taking a sip from her juice.
“Cause back home,” Damian started.  “I saw this awesome Extreme Gear selling for 2000 rings.  I’ve wanted to buy it for a while.”
“Can’t you run faster than those things?” Rocco joked.  Damian set 56 rings on the table before answering Rocco’s question.  “Yeah, but how can I do the awesome tricks they do on TV without a board?”  Rocco and Alexis chuckled.  You just never know why Damian would do anything until he tells you.  “Anyway,” Alexis said.  “We’d better start looking for the next emerald.”  She pulled out the cyan Chaos Emerald and the Emerald Radar out of her bag.  “Let’s see now.”  She activated the radar.  In a split second, the radar detected an emerald in their exact location.  “Huh?  There’s an emerald here?”
“Duh!” Damian exclaimed.  He picked up the Chaos Emerald and put it in front of Alexis’ face.  “Right here!”
“What?” Rocco said.  “The radar only picks up one emerald then?”  The group realized something.  Rocco took the emerald and placed it in his bag and closed it.  “Try now Alexis.”  Alexis took the radar and re-activated it.  After a few seconds, the radar now showed another emerald ten miles north.  “I see,” Alexis commented.  “This radar only detects the closest emerald.  And since the bag hides the emeralds energy, it allows the radar to detect a different emerald.”
“The old man sure gave us some crazy equipment.” Damian joked.
Rocco took a look at the radar.  “So the radar is just north of here.”  Rocco realized something else in that instant.  “Wait a minute.  That’s Green Hill Zone!”
“Well, what do you know?” Damian commented.  “The search for the emeralds will take us to the place Sonic found his first Chaos Emerald.  How awesome is that?”
“And I hear Green Hill is one of the most scenic areas in the world.” Alexis blissfully responded.  “This is going to be great!”
A big grin covered Rocco’s face.  “Then what are we waiting for?  Let’s go!”  The gang got up and headed for Green Hill Zone.  Once they arrived, they stood on top of a hill and looked around in awe.  The green rolling hills, the cascading waterfalls, the large rock formations, and the wide open blue skies.  It seemed to be so peaceful.  “This place is amazing,” Alexis commented.  Damian’s eyes then fixed on a rook formation that made a perfect loop.  Without thinking it twice, he took off at a moderate speed toward the loop.  Rocco figured Damian out and ran after him.  Surprisingly, Rocco caught up to Damian, which startled them both.  “I know I’m not running at full speed,” Damian said.  “But I should still be faster than you.  What gives?”
“Guess the emerald gave me some speed as well,” Rocco replied.  The guys took on the shuttle loop and went through it fully, stopping once they’ve reached the base.  “That was so tight!” Damian exclaimed.
“I know!” Rocco responded.  “No wonder Sonic spent so much time here.”  A bothered Alexis landed next to them.  “Thanks for waiting for me jerks.”
“Sorry Alexis,” Damian said.  “But it was a shuttle loop.  I just had to…” Before Damian could finish his sentence, a military turret popped up from the ground and began to shoot at them.  The gang reacted quickly and spread out.   Rocco took his sword out and jumped toward the turret, stabbing it from above.  He looked at the top of the turret.  It was black with a large white triangle insignia.  “Axel.”
“Axel?  Here?” Alexis asked.  “They must know the emerald’s here too.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Rocco responded.  “If it was, there wouldn’t have been such a well hidden turret.”
“Yeah,” Damian concurred.  “They would have just taken it and leave.”
“That means two things,” Rocco stated.  “First, Axel established some sort of base here.”
“So much for scenic Green Hill Zone,” Alexis pouted.
“And what about the second?” Damian asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Rocco responded, pulling the radar out of his pocket.  “The emerald we are looking for……….. They already have it.”
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Back at Axel Sector 2, a soldier at the monitors noticed the loss of signal from one of the turrets.  General 22 approached the soldier.  “What’s going on here?” he inquired.
“Turret 4’s signal disappeared.”
“Play back the security video.”  The soldier obeyed.  Rewinding the tape, the video revealed three teenagers at the base of a shuttle loop.
“It’s them!” 22 hollered.  He took a radio from his belt.  “21, they’re here.  Send the first dispatch group.”
“Right away,” 21 responded.  22 placed the radio back in his belt.  “The battle has just begun.”
An Axel dispatch group took off in air-bikes toward the location of the damaged turret.  Once their targets were on sight, they began to fire.
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“Looks like a party!” Damian shouted.  The gang took evasive action and knocked the soldiers off their bikes.  Rocco pulled his katana out and began to release fire waves.  Those left standing were attacked head on by Damian and Alexis.  In a matter of seconds, the gang took down the army of ten.
“Guess they know we’re here,” Damian commented.
“No kidding,” Alexis responded.  “We just figured out they were here by looking at the turret.  They must have put some sort of camera on it.”
“I have a feeling they knew we we’re coming from before that,” Rocco claimed.  “It’s probably a trap, and the emerald’s the bait.”
“So what do we do?” Damian asked.  “Spring the trap?”
“Precisely.”
“I hope this works dude.  As tempting as it is, I’d hate to risk my neck in something that won’t work.”
Rocco let out a cocky smile.  “Trust me, it’ll be better than you’d ever expect.”