Hello. Justin Brett here, again. You know, I've always considered myself a Sonic fan, even though his latest outings haven't been so hot as of late. However, it doesn't have to be that way. While a lot of the stories and characters they introduced over the years haven't been that good, they have the potential to be. If they really sat down and thought about it, there's some definite potential there for a good writer to bring out. Someone like, oh, me?
I'm not trying to be conceited, but I do believe I can make a good, sophisticated plot out of the story and characters of Sonic the Hedgehog, much like Kojiokida's Sonic stories.
And without further ado, let's get to the first chapter of this thing.
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In this wide, vast universe of ours, there exist many alternate worlds, many of them very different from our own.
But some of them are much like our home world, of Earth.
One such world is a planet where animals walk, and talk like we humans.
A green planet, untouched by advances in technology.
A planet where a hero bravely battles a madman attempting to conquer his home.
This is the tale of this world. A tale of heroism, bravery, of evil and those that stand against it.
This is the tale of...
The New Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
Chapter One: The Fastest Thing Alive, Part 1
The planet of Mobius. A planet much like ours, but with many differences. It boasted the same combination of continents and oceans, but the geography of them was much different. Like earth, it had many animals of various shapes and sizes, who treated the planet as their home. But unlike earth, these animals stood upright and spoke, like humans. These animals were known as Mobians, and lived in their own societies and cities across the planet. They lived in peace, and at perfect harmony with nature. They had no real turmoil in their lives whatsoever.
...or at least that had been the case. Recently, though, their world had faced great turmoil. An invader from another world had arrived, and began destroying their home. He uplifted the trees in the forests, leaving nothing but craters. He dumped strange chemicals into the rivers and lakes, leaving them unfit to set foot in. Anything that was organic, he perverted and destroyed.
And in their place, he erected very different things. Where there were once trees, he erected towers of iron and steel, which belched black smoke into the air. They were a part of similar buildings, where sinister noises could be heard, twenty four/seven. These buildings released strange creatures, also made of steel. They roamed the land, pulling Mobians from their homes and dragging them away. The ones that were caught, were never seen again.
The person responsible for all of this was feared greatly throughout the land. He was viewed as a boogeyman by just about every Mobian, and his name was spoken of in hushed, fearful tones. He was known as the Master of Machines, the Lord of Steel, and dozens of other similar monikers. Speaking his real name was practically forbidden. No-one would ever willingly speak his true name...
Dr. Robotnik.
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The Great Plains of Mobius. Spreading miles across the largest continent on the planet, it was filled with hills, rivers, and small forests. However, as you progressed across it, things changed. The hills became dug up. The rivers became dirty, and polluted. The forests became nothing but stumps. And then finally, the very earth underneath your feet became steel, as you reached Robotnik's home base, Metropolis. A great many Mobians made this journey on their way to Metropolis upon being captured. It did little to raise their spirits.
But today, it was a journey made by a single, solitary Mobian. A hedgehog, to be precise. The only remarkable thing about this journey was that it was very...very...fast.
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Interspersed among the plains, there were guard towers built on the tops of hills. They were roughly twenty feet tall, allowing a clear view of any intruders approaching. At the top were placed several turrets, for shooting any intruders approaching.
At the top of the tower, two guards stood watch. Made of metal, they were jet-black in color, aside from their dome-like, antenna-adorned heads, which were painted silver. They stood roughly twice as tall as the average Mobian, and were equipped with wrist mounted lasers. They were known as SWATbots, and they were Robotnik's primary shock troops.
One of them was standing at the side of the tower facing Metropolis, while the other was standing at the opposite side. The latter suddenly leaned forward, the red screen that made up it's eye narrowing slightly. "Hm."
"Something wrong?" asked the second, looking back at him.
"Probably nothing. I thought I saw something on the horizon, but it's probably just a glitch in my camera."
"What does it look like?"
"Oh, just some sort of blue streak, heading toward us. It's definitely just a glitch, though. No Mobian can move that fast."
The other nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. After all, no Mobian can run that-"
Suddenly, a giant impact shook the tower, making it shake. The two robots stumbled, and then regained their footing as it stopped.
"What on Mobius was that?" One of the SWATbots asked the other.
Instead of answering, the other walked to the other railing and looked over. "That blue streak was no glitch. I see it too! We must report this to Dr. Robotnik!"
"You know, if it just smashed into the tower, how is it still standing?"
At that moment, an ominous creak issued from the tower's foundation.
"I hate you." Were the last words that came from the other SWATbot before the tower came down.
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The tower came down, smashing to pieces on the ground and making a large impact. The blue streak paid it no mind, continuing to run. At the speed it was moving, it was impossible to see it with the naked eye. If you were to freeze frame it, however, you would see a Mobian hedgehog. His fur and quills were an unusual color, blue. Like most Mobians, he wore little clothing, his only articles being a pair of running shoes he wore on his feet.
The Hedgehog's mouth was set in a grim line, and there was only one thing on his mind: revenge.
"You're going to pay. I don't care if it ends up taking me with you, but you're going to pay. I'm not going to let you get away with that...Robotnik!"
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Speaking of Dr. Robotnik. At the other end of the Mobian Plains stood Robotropolis, the base Robotnik had made for himself, at the cost of everything organic that had once stood in the area it took up. Physically, Robotropolis looked little different than the average city on Earth. But on Mobius, cities like that didn't exist, and so Robotropolis was a fearful sight for Mobians.
Well, to be fair, the average city on Earth wasn't filled almost entirely with factories designed to make killer robots.
Robotropolis stretched countless miles, surrounded on all sides by a massive wall with only one gate. In the actual city were roads, highways and turnpikes, all of which spiraled in and amongst skyscrapers and factories, the latter of which built SWATbots and other mechanoids, and the former of which housed them. Hey, they had to be somewhere when they weren't doing anything. The factory smokestacks constantly spewed out pollution into the sky, almost making a permanent cloud-line over the city.
In the center of it all stood a giant tower, stretching higher than any other building in the city. Robotnik's base of operations within the city. Within it, he plotted his evil schemes. Like he was now.
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Inside the citadel, at the very top, was the master control room for Robotropolis. Here, Robotnik could control practically anything in the city. And seated at a chair facing the citadel's front windows, was the man himself.
For all the fear Robotnik had inspired throughout Mobius, he was not of particularly intimidating stature. For one, he was extremely overweight, his girth seemingly only barely contained by the red, buckled jacket he wore over a pair of black, form-fitting pants. He wore a pair of especially shiny glasses over his eyes, and oddly, a pair of goggles were strapped on over his bald head. Under his nose - which was very large and hooked - was a large, red-haired moustache, the only bit of hair he seemed to have. All in all, not that scary. Especially with the pose he was now taking: leaning back casually in his chair, with his feet up on the console, and arms behind his back. But this only showed how much force he had in the world, to be scary with such an odd appearance.
"Snively." His voice was confident to the point of pompuousness.
In another part of the room, another man was sitting, this one busy tapping busily at the keyboard in front of him. "Yes, Ivo?" He said in a polite tone. This man was physically Robotnik's opposite in many ways. For starters, instead of being fat and wide, he was tall and thin. He wore a jacket similar to Robotnik's, only it was green. Unlike Robotnik, he had hair, colored silver and styled in a bowl cut. He wore glasses like Robotnik, but his were small spectacles. And he seemed to be very busy at the moment, something Robotnik was clearly not.
"What's the status on the samples we picked up earlier this week? They're due for processing today, if I recall."
Snively shrugged. "I don't know, I'm busy. Why don't you just ask the guards at the Holding Cells."
Robotnik frowned. "Well, who's guarding them at the moment."
"Scratch and Grounder."
"WHAT!?" Robotnik yelled. Snively clapped his hands to his ears. When Robotnik yelled, you heard it. "Who let them have guard duty? Who let them have any duties!?"
Snively shrugged. "You've heard them talk before, so I'm sure you know why we'd want to keep them far away. And even those two couldn't botch guarding locked cells."
"You'd be surprised at what my machines are capable of, partner." muttered Robotnik, tapping rapidly at the keyboard in front of his console. On top of the console, a large television monitor flicked on. Immediately, both Robitnik and Snively's ears were assaulted.
"And I say I'm his favorite, because he built me first!"
"And I say I'M his favorite, because he built ME second, and you're a complete pile of-"
"Shut up, both of you, before I show you my favorite TRASH COMPACTOR!" Robotnik yelled. Instantly, the two robots snapped to attention. Compared to the SWATbots, they looked...odd. The first resembled a giant metal rooster standing on two legs. The other resembled a mole with tank treads. Both of them were painted in bright colors, in deep contrast to the SWATbots' dark paintjob.
"Good morning, Dr. Robotnik, your megalomaniacalness!" Grounder said.
"You're looking very evil today, sir!" Scratch chimed in.
"Whatever." said the Doctor. "You're guarding the samples we collected this week, aren't you? What's their current status?"
"Status?" Scratch echoed, and looked to his partner. "Hey Grounder, what's their status?"
"Status..." Grounder scratched the side of his head. "Well, uh...um...you see..."
Robotnik leaned in, frowning. "Yes, what is it?"
"We don't know what status means."
Robotnik resisted the urge to punch the monitor. He could do the same thing with the genuine articles at a later time. "I mean, how are they? What are they doing at the moment?"
Scratch, um, scratched under his chin. "Well, they're pretty quiet, and they're not talking too much. I think getting caught took all of the fight out of them, buck-buck-buhahahahah!"
Robotnik smiled. "Ah, good. Well, I'll be sending a squad of SWATbots down there to ferry them to the Roboticizing Chamber. I think it's within your capacity not to ruin anything until then, isn't it?"
"Uh..."
"Forget I said anything. Just stay there, and don't do anything."
The robots saluted again. "Yes sir, Dr. Robotnik, sir!"
Robotnik cut the video feed and sighed. "Dumb-bots. If they weren't the first robots that I'd built, I'd junk both of them!"
"I didn't build them, so I could do it for you." Snively offered.
"Tempting, partner, but that idea will have to wait. With the number that we captured, it would be prudent to charge up the Roboticizer now." His fingers flew across the keyboard once more.
Snively adjusted his glasses. "Well, that city we raided was quite large. That structure most of them were hiding away in appeared to be some sort of castle, as well. Perhaps we picked up royalty."
"Ha!" Robotnik snorted, continuing to type. "I regret having to equate terms like that to these animals. They represent civility, sapience, and many other things that they simply don't have."
Snively shrugged. "If you say so, sir."
"I do."
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When the video feed ended, Scratch and Grounder looked to each-other. "Finally! I'm sick of guarding these rats! All they ever do is cry and moan, and I'm sick of it!" said Scratch.
"Uh, Scratch, they aren't all rats. There's squirrels, some chipmunks, wolves, and I think even a warthog. There's only a few rats, actually." replied Grounder.
Scratch was silent for a moment, and then smacked his face with a hand. "I meant rats in general, Grounder! As an insult!"
"Oooooooh. Well, I'm just glad we won't have to look at them while they're naked anymore. I don't know why they all have to go in the buff, but it creeps me out."
"Grounder, you know that we don't...ah, never mind."
A sudden noise caught their electronic ears, and the robot duo turned to the cages. There were eight of them, with four each on opposite walls. Each was packed almost wall to wall with Mobians, each of them very scared. As Grounder had said, the species of them varied wildly, but most of them were woodland creatures, albeit with a few exceptions.
What had caught Scratch and Grounder's attention was a baby squirrel Mobian, bawling at the top of it's lungs. An older, female squirrel was rocking the baby, trying to quiet it down.
Scratch stepped forward and rattled the bars of the cage, growling at the Mobians inside. "Shut that kid up! He's making my ears crackle!"
The elder squirrel shrank away. "I'm...I'm sorry...he's just scared, and..."
"Does it look like I care? Just shut him up, before I get Grounder to glue his mouth shut!"
"Leave her alone."
"Yeah, and then we'll leave you - huh?"
Scratch and Grounder turned to see who had spoken. The person responsible had been a young, yellow-furred Mobian fox, who unlike the others, didn't seem afraid in the least. Strangely, despite the cramped nature of the cages, no other Mobian seemed to want to sit near him.
"Oh yeah?" challenged Scratch. "Why should we, huh? And who are you supposed to be anyway, fox boy?" He took a step forward to the fox, and his optics widened in surprise. He smacked Grounder in the head, and pointed to the Mobian's backside.
"Hey Grounder, look! He has two tails!"
It was true: extending out of the fox's backside were two tails, lazily twirling around each-other. Tails looked around at them, and sighed slightly. Scratch, meanwhile, found this oddity a laugh riot. "Buck-buck-buhahahahahaha! Look at him! What a freak! How was he born like that? Buhahaha!"
"Huh huh, yeah." Grounded nodded. "Wait, why are we laughing?"
"Cause it's funny, idiot! Buhahahahahahaaaaa!"
The child was still crying slightly, but Scratch and Grounder seemed to have forgotten. Catching his eye, the elder squirrel mouthed 'thank you'.
The fox nodded. "Not quite the way I intended for that to work, but it'll do, I guess." He then looked around at the cell they were all in. "It won't do any good, though, if I don't figure out a way out of this cage. But there's not a whole lot I can do, since they confiscated everything I had on me before they threw us in here...c'mon, Prower, think! You're supposed to be smart, so think! Brains are supposed to beat Brawn, not the other way around!"
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While this was going on, a Mobian in another cage was thinking along the same lines. "Come on...come on..." The person thinking was one of the exceptions among the captured woodland animals. Instead of a squirrel or anything like that, he was a walrus. He stood a good head taller than any other Mobian in the cage, and with no offense meant, the same was true for wideness as well. Like the fox, he was currently racking his brain for an idea, any idea, and was getting some very odd looks from his fellow captives due to the manner in which he was doing so.
Smacking the sides of his head once more, the walrus let out a pitiful moan. "It's no use...my mind's all clammed up. It's because I'm afraid, and who can blame me? Nobody here knows what's going to happen to us, and we're all terrified! But if they get scared, it won't ruin everyone's chances of getting out of here! But if I get scared...aw, who cares?"
He looked across the jail's hallway to the cage opposite him, where the fox was sitting. "Compared to him, I'm useless, anyway. He's not scared at all, while I'm blubbering like the fat idiot I really am. Great, Rotor. You wanted to help people, and now you can't do anything. Stupid!"
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Regardless of what Dr. Robotnik thought, Mobius did have a monarchy. Several, in fact, but the largest was that established by the House of Acorn, which was created many years ago by Maximillian Acorn the First, as a peaceful end to a civil war raging through the continent at the time. The most recent king, Maximillian Acorn the Fourth, had disappeared shortly after the first appearances of Dr. Robotnik, when he had led a group of his warriors to defeat the invader, or die trying. He was missing, and widely believed to be dead.
But King Acorn had had a child. A girl, by the name of Sally. And Snively had been correct. Earlier that week, when Robotnik had crushed the kingdom's capital of Mobopolis (the name was just a coincidence) and captured every Mobian there, including Sally, and several other royal officials.
Sally was in the cell to the left of Prower's, and it was for this reason that the occupants of that cell were slightly calmer. Slightly. Despite being young, she was well respected, and thus she served as an example to her subjects. If she was here, everything would be fine.
This was a lie, of course. Sally was trying very hard to keep her subjects from seeing her biting her lip constantly, the way she kept fidgeting with her brown hair, and the helpless look she had in her eyes. It was hardly needed, however; if they did see something, they merely passed if off as a trick of the light: in this situation, the Mobians refused to see any fault in their leader, even as young as she was.
"It was hopeless. We Mobians aren't capable of fighting things like this. Robotnik's weapons are too advanced compared to what we had available. If we had tried to fight him, we would have all been killed. So I made the right decision...right, Father?"
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. "I suppose I'll always act like this; never able to decide if the decisions I make are the right ones...even when they should be obvious. Some ruler I turned out to be. I suppose this is the end of the Acorn blood-line...no. He's still alive. He has to be. Any moment, he'll come charging in here...
Like a hero."
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The blue hedgehog had made it the rest of the way across the Mobian Plains, and was now at Robotropolis' outer wall. SWATbots patrolled it in droves, but as fast as he moved, he was invisible to their eyes. Racing up to a boulder that had been scattered there by Robotnik's upheaval of the earth, he ducked behind it, trying his best to remain invisible despite his blue fur.
Poking his head around, he watched the SWATbots patrolling the top of the wall. When he was sure none of them were watching, he raced around the boulder and up to the wall.
Or as close as he could get, anyway. A few feet from the wall, the ground simply ended, the wall being surrounded by a moat of toxic chemicals. If he fell in there, he was done for. The only way across it was a bridge that led up to Robotropolis' main gate, but he wasn't stupid enough to think he could barge his way through there.
The hedgehog spied a small hole, set low in the wall. Quickly, he jumped, curling into a ball and sailing across the ooze. Landing on the edge of the hole's opening, he lost his balance for a moment, tipping backward. Luckily, an extremely unpleasant end was avoided when he regained his center of gravity.
Wiping his forehead, the hedgehog sniffed, at a burning sound. Looking down, he let out a yelp and jumped to the side. A line of the waste was trickling out of the hole and into the moat. The hedgehog scowled.
Walking along the edge of the pipe, he soon came to an iron grate stretching the passage, barring his way.
"That's gonna stop me." Crouching, the hedgehog adopted an odd stance: he drew his knees up to his chin, and curled his arms around his legs. Then, he began to spin. He picked up speed quickly, quickly becoming what looked like a spinning buzz-saw.
He then shot off like a bullet, tearing through the grate like it was made of paper. Somersaulting to his feet, the hedgehog continued running.
"You'll pay for what you did, Robotnik...or my name isn't Sonic the Hedgehog!"
To be continued...
In another hour, the citizens of Mobopolis will all be subjected to Robotnik's cruel masterpiece, the Roboticizer. The only one who can save them is Sonic, but will he be able to do it? Will he even want to? And what does he want revenge for, anyway? Will the Mobians be rescued, or are their collective fates sealed?
Find out next time, in The Fastest Thing Alive, Part 2!
Character Retrospectives
(This is where I'll be talking about the various characters included in this story, what their original character was, and whatever I may have made to them for this story.
Sonic the Hedgehog - The Blue Blur himself. In the Sonic games and the Archie Comic, he's a carefree, cocky guy who takes it upon himself to stop whatever evil is threatening the world at the moment. Perhaps it's because he's heroic, or because it's fun for him. Maybe he just has nothing better to do. Maybe it's all three. But either way, he's a hero. I didn't focus much on him in this chapter, but I will next time. I didn't change the core elements of his character, but I did add some things to it that may surprise you.
Dr. Ivo Robotnik - Yeah, I'd just like to say right here that I don't care if his 'real' name is Dr. Eggman or not, I'm going to be calling him Robotnik for the purposes of this story, on the grounds that Eggman is a really stupid name. I'm going to be writing Robotnik as a real villain: even when a different villain shows up, he's still going to be viewed as a serious threat. And while he might view Sonic as a worthy opponent here, he's not going to show any mercy towards him, either. The two are enemies, after all.
Snively - Robotnik's right-hand man from SatAM Sonic. Because every villain needs a sidekick they can lump abuse on when they fail. In this story, Snively isn't Robotnik's nephew, since, c'mon, he doesn't resemble Robotnik at all. Ostenibly, the two are partners here, but Snively usually ends up doing most of the work. In future chapters, he'll inherit his ability to be even more dangerous than Robotnik himself, in the right circumstances.
Scratch and Grounder - Robotnik's two incompetent henchmen from the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. I came up with them being Robotnik's first creations to explain why they act the way they do, and as a reason why Robotnik doesn't just dismantle them. They serve mostly as comic relief here, although there's a scene with them and Sonic next chapter where...heh heh, you'll see.
Miles "Tails" Prower - Sonic's science savvy sidekick from Sonic 2 and onwards, who usually joins him on his adventures. As you might have noticed, he's older than in the games - here, he's about as old as Sonic, and thus he'll be much more confident in this story. He and Sonic's relationship will also be a bit more complex than simply Hero and Sidekick, too.
Rotor - Uh, yeah. I honestly don't like Rotor that much. In the Archie Comics, he pretty much steals a large amount of Tails' character, by being the Smart Guy of the Freedom Fighters. Which would be fine, if he had a decent amount of character himself, but he's fairly bland. Here, he and Tails will have the same role, but with different personalities, and how they go about things.
Sally Acorn - The defacto leader of the Freedom Fighters, and successor to the House of Acorn. A lady of action, as well as one of many love interests that people love pairing Sonic up with. I'm not one for shipping, myself, but considering that list includes Elise, Shadow, and Tails, there are far worse romantic pairings. I'm basing her personality mostly off of the Archie comics, and whether there will be any changes to her character...well, I'm honestly not sure. We'll just have to see.
Well, that's it so far. Until next time, I'll see you.