P.R.O.J.E.C.T. Sonic: Part One
by Shayne Thames
Author's Note:
This is basicly an adaption, a rewrite, AND a new series all the same. The adaption is from Sonic Pocket Adventure, while throwing in the characters from Sonic Underground. This story takes place sometime before Sonic met his siblings. I was planning on having Manic replace Tails' roll, but I think I'll let NetRaptor help me out on this story. I was also thinking of having a set that of a Star Wars scene. After all, magic and technology in a future is that of Mobius. Think "Watto's" from Episode One when I mention Manic's Workshop. Anyway, enjoy.
Prologue: "New Beginnings"
The hanging bells rang out, announcing the visitor's presence to the shop. Manic, the teen green hedgehog running the shop, continued wielding on his masterpiece.
"I'll be with you in a minute!" he called. "You're welcome to look around!"
"Thanks, man. I'm just looking for some parts."
Manic slid out from under the craft he was working on. A thing of beauty it was. All it need was some paint, some fuel, and it was ready for takeoff!
At last, he stood up to greet his customer. Getting a look at the guy, Manic had never seen him before. Only those from Manic's Thieve's Guild and from the Robotropolis Underground resistance knew of the workshop, so the boy was was either an apprentice of one of the guys, which was highly unlikely since he knew almost everything; or he was one of the resistance's trainees.
"Can I help you?" Manic asked, getting a good look at the teen. The boy stood about 3'3", which was about Manic height. It was a blue hedgehog with emerald green eyes and red sneakers.
"Yea, I'm looking for some parts that are on this list here," he said, showing Manic the list.
Manic scanned over the list reconizing the parts. He looked up at the boy. "You one of Sir Charles' rookies? Only Sir Charles Hedgehog would be asking me for these parts."
"Sir Charles is my uncle," he said, matter-of-factly.
"Hmm, nephew huh? No kiddin'?" Manic asked.
"Oh, my name's Sonic." he said.
"Name's Manic. Now, let's see about getting these parts for you,"
Manic said, pulling out a paper bag and heading towards the back room.
Sonic got a glimps at the vehicle that Manic was wielding on a minute ago.
"You did this?" Sonic called.
"Yep," Manic said from the back room. Sonic whistled. "She is a beaut!" Sonic said, inspecting the hull. "Stealth metal!"
Manic came out with a budging paper bag. "100% stolen material. I got this from Robotnik's scarpyard, and then some."
Sonic inspected the likeliness of the bi-plane flying. "What are the specs on this thing?"
"Well, she's 5.7 meters wide. The depth is ABOUT 3.7 meters, and her height about 2.1 meters. The main engine has air cooling, twin Star, 12 cylinders, and 480 horsepower."
Sonic whistled again. "Is she fast?"
Manic patted the wing. "I haven't tested it yet, but the SUB-ENGINE is my custom jet engine, which I was recently installing. The main engine was tested at 280 MPH, but with the sub-engine installed, I'm hoping
she'll travel to the speed of sound."
Sonic took the bag of parts and stowed them in his backpack, then proceeded to pay Manic.
"Half-credit, dude. Resistance members get special pricing on stolen parts."
After paying Manic, Sonic turned his attention back on the plane.
"So what's her name?" Sonic asked.
"Well, her main engine is quiet and fast, like the wind. I was
thinkin' about calling her "The Tornado". Whatcha think?"
"'The Tornado," Sonic murmered. "It's a good name for it."
Sonic proceeded to leave the shop when Manic called.
"Hey Sonic?" Manic called. Sonic turned.
"Yea?"
"You tell Sir Charles that if he needs a pilot and a plane, that
Manic Hedgehog is availible for the job."
Sonic nodded. "I'll be sure to tell him that," he said and walked
out. He only walked down the path a few meters when he realized what Manic
said. What Manic HEDGEHOG said.
The resistance hideout was in an idle sector, on the edge of
Robotopolis City. The facility was pretty huge, so it was often used as a
shelter for the homeless when things REALLY got rough on the outside.
Childrens ophanages are more than often raided, and the kids are often
hurt in the process. Others take their time to hide the children in a spot
called "Santcuary".
Sonic marched into the war room to find his uncle talking to Ali.
Ali was a mysterious character, always checking up on Sir Charles' cause
to freedom. Ali has proven to be real cool thou, and even though Sonic
knows VERY little about her, she's helped him out when he needed it the
most. And they were making such a commotion!
"Unc-" Sonic started.
"Sir Charles, you need to send only your strongest fighters to Neo
South Island. Only they can retrieve the plans for Robotnik's new air
fortress!"
"Uncle Chuck!" Sonic piped up.
Ali and Chuck shut their mouths.
"Yes Sonic?" Uncle Chuck called.
"I got the parts," Sonic said, holding up the sack.
Uncle Chuck looked relieved; Ali was alarmed.
"Charles, you sent him to Farrell's?" Ali asked Chuck, concern
knotting her throat.
"Well, what's wrong with that?" Chuck asked.
"Hey, Uncle Chuck? Know who 'Manic' is?" Sonic inturrupted.
Uncle Chuck paled at the name; Ali glared at Charles.
"Uncle Chuck?"
"Manic...." Uncle Chuck swallowed. Then he shook his head and took
the sack of parts. "Forget him, Sonie. Forget you ever saw or met him."
"But Uncle-"
"Go on, Sonic! I have to talk to Ali. Now go!"
Before Sonic could get a word in, Uncle Chuck escorted Sonic out of
the room, closed and locked the door, leaving Sonic with unanswered
questions on his tounge. He glared darkly at the door.
"If you're not going to give me answers, then I'll have to find them
for myself."
****
Ali contunied glaring at Sir Charles.
"Chuck, that was a dangerous radical. I don't want Sonic nosing
around too much like this. He's already gained supicions, and if he finds
out before the time is right-"
"Don't worry, Ali. I'll talk to him." Chuck said. Ali put up a hand.
"AH! No. WE'LL tell him, alright? I just want to get in a few keywords as
is. Also, the aristocrats are another dangerous radical for such events."
Chuck nodded. "I understand."
Together they approached Sonic's room, and Sir Charles knocked on
his door.
"Sonie, it's Uncle Chuck."
"And Ali."
No one answered.
Ali and Chuck looked at each other and walked in. No one was there.
The two looked at each other with concern. Sonic ran off to Farrell's.
Giovanni, a rat thief, was running the shop when Sonic came in,
determined to get some answers.
"May I help you?" Giovanni asked.
"Know where I can find Manic Hedgehog?" Sonic questioned.
"In the back, past the work area."
"Thanks," Sonic said, and mustering up his courage, approached the
back with anticipation, his curiosity ready to dance out. He passed by the
plane Manic had built on, just over 6 hours ago. A thick coat of red
metallic paint shined on the skin of the plane, and the letters "TORNADO"
was strewed beautifully across the wingspan. He knocked at the door when
he finally came upon it.
Manic opened the door and was suprised. "Sonic! Man, what's up?"
Sonic came in and closed the door behind him. "You alone?"
"Yea? Why?"
Sonic peeked out the door and slammed it shut. "I just hope Ali
didn't follow me..."
"Yo, Sonic, you okay?" Manic asked.
"Not really. Mentioned your name and Uncle Chuck and Ali go nuts,"
Sonic murmured. He sobered up and looked at Manic. "Think I can ask ya a
few questions? Somethin's up around here, and I don't like how Ali and
Uncle Chuck are reacting."
"Yea, sure. Go ahead," Manic said, wondering what the heck was going
on.
"What were your parents like?" Sonic asked.
Manic bit his lip. He was prepared for everything but that.
"Manic? Man, listen. It's very, VERY important that you tell me. I
think I may be onto something here, and I can't figure it out until you
help me here."
"My parents," Manic said, taking a deep breath. "I never knew them.
I was raised by Farrell, and the guild was like my family. But...."
"But...?"
Manic gulped. "He did mentioned that one night 14 years ago,
Giovanni had seen where a strange woman had set a basket on the steps of a
peddler woman's home. Giovanni stole the basket and brought it to Farrell.
I was in the basket."
Sonic's stare was vacent.
"What about you, Sonic?"
Sonic shook his head clear. "As far as I could remember, I was
raised in the mountains with my father, Jules. One night when I was 5,
SWAT-bots found and destroyed our home. My father dissappeared, and Uncle
Chuck found me. I often wondered who my mother was, or what happened to my
father, but my Uncle Chuck was quiet about it."
Manic bowed his head. "That's sad."
Sonic looked at Manic seriously. "I guess since you were found, you
don't really know when you were born?"
Manic shook his head. "No..."
Sonic sighed. "You never knew your mother OR father, and was
abandoned by a woman. I only knew my father, and never knew my mother."
"Wow! Man, what a coinidence!"
Sonic shook his head again. "I dunno....I just have this feeling..."
A slam from the other room made both of them shut up.
"Giovanni, where's Farrell?" asked a familiar voice.
"Aw no, it's Ali!" Sonic moaned. Manic covered his mouth.
"Ali, what a suprise!" said another voice.
Farrell, Manic thought.
"Farrell, we have a problem, and we need you to keep Manic away from
the shop a few days. Robotnik's on the move again, and just tonight, one
of our freedom fighters was this close to discovering Manic," Ali said.
"Something's going on in Neo South Island, and I don't need Sonic nosing
around here trying to find out about Manic OR the plans. At least, not
until the time is right."
"Well, I'd be happy to oblige, but what plans are you talking
about?"
"The Queen's plans for Sancutary," a new voice spoke up. Uncle
Chuck. "She hid the plans in Neo South Island, and Robotnik's looking for
her AND the plans there. And we can't risk sending Sonic in there in fear
of what Robotnik and/or the plans might reveal. But until we can retrieve
the plans, we need to keep the boys seperated and OFF Neo South Island."
While they were talking, Sonic looked at Manic.
"The Queen has plans for Sancuary?" Manic asked.
"Yea, but we can't let Robotnik find those plans or Sancuary is
doomed!" Sonic said.
Manic snapped his fingers. "Hey, doesn't the queen know everything?"
"So I'm told. What's your idea?" Sonic asked.
"How about if we go retrieve the plans, and when we give them to
her, she can tell us what happened to our parents!"
"Manic, I like the way you think!" Sonic said. "But how are we gonna
get to Neo South Island?"
Manic smiled. "Can you say 'Tornado'?"
Sonic smiled back.
Back outside, Giovanni spoke up.
"We have a problem. Sonic's already here."
Ali stared at him. "I was afraid you'd say that. Where is he?"
Giovanni pointed to the back. Ali, Chuck, and Farrell approached the
back door and tried to open it. Locked!
Chuck pounded on the door. "Sonie! Come out right now!"
No answer.
"Farrell, can you get this door unlocked?" Ali asked.
He sighed. "I'll try, but he custom designs all his locks so that it
makes it hard for a thief to break in."
Farrell took 3 minutes picking the lock. When the trio busted down
the door, they were in for a suprise. No one was in there.
The sound of an engine made them turn heads.
Manic's plane was rolling out the workshop garage door while Sonic
looked up from the door and smirked.
"Sorry we can't stay and chat, Ali, but Manic and I have places to
go and plans to find!"
And with that, Sonic leaped onto the plane's tail end, stapped his
feet down, and Manic took off.
Ali, Farrell, and Chuck tried to run after the plane, but it was too
late, the plane was too high up. "See you guys soon!" Sonic called as the
plane flew out of sight.
"What do we do now, Ali?" Chuck asked.
"WE aren't doing anything. I'M going after them," Ali said, glaring
darkly into the sky. And so the great Sonic Adventure began.
Chapter 1:
Neo South Island: "Fire and Water"
The beautiful red biplane graced the skies over the Emerald Sea.
Manic called to his passenger on the wing. "How you doing up there, buddy?"
Sonic's breath was taken away by the view. The sun was up and
heading towards noon time hour. He looked back at his new friend and gave
him the thumbs up. Suddenly, an updraft caught the wing and jerked up,
causing Sonic to lose his balance and crouch on the wing.
"Whoa! What an updraft! Manic, be careful!" Sonic called.
"Sorry, Sonic! I wasn't expecting an upward sea breeze. I know much
about Mobius' geo-thermal patterens, and Emerald Sea is pretty calm!"
"How is it that you know about thermals?" Sonic asked.
"I'm an air surfer on the sidelines of my main job. It's like a
hobby. And to ride thermals, you gotta KNOW thermals. And dude, this isn't
your average thermal."
"Could it be the jet stream?" Sonic called.
"Negitive. The mobian jet stream runs around the Tropic of Caterius.
We're too far south for that."
An inditintive noise carried to Sonic's ears. Manic may have the
knowlege, but Sonic has the hearing. As first it sounded like an increase
to the engine noise. But then it began to increase in frequency.
"Manic! Something's approaching from under us!" Sonic yelled.
"What? I can't hear you!" Manic yelled back. He looked down, and saw
a gigantic airship make it's way under the tiny biplane. The huge intake
fans that keep it in flight was what was creating the sudden updraft in
the thermals.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Sonic yelped.
"I DUNNO, BUT WE HAVE TO GET FROM OVER IT!" Manic called back. "HANG
ON!!!"
Sonic didn't catch what Manic said. Manic pivoted the plane to an
angle and started breaking away. An updraft from the airship caught Sonic
by suprise and flung his body off the plane like a leaf.
"SONIC!!!" Manic cried.
The sudden action had rendered Sonic into a state of shock. As the
mighty airship passed from under him, he felt himself go into a freefall.
Sonic looked up at the plane, at Manic, with pleading eyes that said only
one thing: Help me.
"Hang on, buddy!" Manic called, and going into a loop-de-loop,
started diving to level out where Sonic was. Sonic dropped just behind
Manic.
"You okay?" Manic asked his friend.
Sonic nodded slowly, trying to breathe. "Yea....yea...I am now,"
Sonic finally said.
The two watched as the ship pulled ahead, seemingly towards a
tropical island.
Tropical island?
"Manic, I think Neo South Island is ahead!" Sonic pointed out, the
engine noise from the other aircraft dying out in the distance.
"Yea, and I think that was one of Robotnik's aircrafts too," Manic
said.
"Robotnik? Then how come we weren't blown out of the sky by him?
Surely he would of seen us."
"Steath metal, remember? I always keep 'Botnik's radars in mind when
I was building this baby."
"Manic, you would make one HECK of a freedom fighter." Sonic smirked.
"Thanks. I'll sign up when we get back," Manic smirked back.
Sonic playfully punched him. "Keep moving, Buster," he laughed.
The two were quiet for a time. Neo South Island was only a matter of
minutes away, and Manic and Sonic were eager to find the Queen's plans.
Manic finally found a place to land after searching a few minutes. A
strip of beach was clear enough to land on. The landing was soft, and
immediately Sonic hopped off and kissed the sand. Manic couldn't help but
laugh at the silly scene as he unhooked his belt and hopped out of the
pilot seat.
Sonic groaned. "Manic, I'm not flying again for a LOOONG while."
Manic laughed again. "Aw come on! Remember the old saying? 'When you
fall off your streaking pasha, just get back on!'?" Manic started helping
Sonic up.
"Manic-" Sonic started to speak but was silenced when the airship
that they had passed over flew by.
"Sonic," Manic spoke quietly, as the shadow passed over them.
"Whatever Robotnik is doing here, it's not good."
"No duh, genius," Sonic muttered, standing up. They watched as the
ship passed.
"Sonic, I don't know what's going on here, but we have to find those
plans, and fast."
Sonic nodded. "Let's go."
*****
"Sir, I'm detecting lifeforms just on the beach of the island," a
young female artic fox with blond hair reported, watching the monitors. Her
boss, a fat, egg-shaped overlander with a red mustashe and a bald head came
over to see what his assistant was talking about. On tghe screen, he saw a
blue and a green hedgehog hedgehog running down the beach line.
"It's that impudant hedgehog, Sonic!" he growled, slamming his fist
against the console. "Radio Gora and tell him to send out the Spiky
Spinners. I want that hedgehog destroyed!"
"Yes sir," she said and pressed the little red button on the console
to transmit the message.
Robotnik turned to think. There was one other thing on his mind. His
ship was on the way to the Secret Plant where he has created an enhanced
Robotisizer. "Do we have a subject to test the new biorobotisizer on?" he
asked his assistant.
"No sir, we have no new prisoners on board Areowing," she said.
"Might I make a suggestion, sir?"
Robotnik turned to her.
"Don't destroy the hedgehog, but weaken him so that he'll be easy prey.
You take him and use the biorobotisizer on him. If he dies, he's one less enemy to worry
about. If he lives, you'll have a new commander."
Robotnik smiled evilly. "I like it. Carry on."
*****
Sonic stood perfectly still next to a palm tree.
"Sonic? What is it?" Manic asked.
"Shhh....I hear something coming," Sonic said.
Both boys got into a fighting stance and waited for whatever was
coming over the nearby sand dune.
They nearly pounced on their preditor before they relized what
happened. The orange fox screamed. The two hedgehogs screamed.
"Who are you?!" the fox yelped.
"Are you a Robotnik spy?" Sonic growled.
"Robotnik?! Where?" There fox cried and ducked.
Sonic sighed and tapped on the little fox's head. "He's not here,
thank goodness. What's your name, kid?"
"Miles Prower," the fox smiled.
"Hey Miles. I'm Sonic, and this is my good buddy Manic!"
Manic waved.
"Cool. You can call me Tails," Miles said.
Manic's eyes widened.
"Why's that?" Sonic asked. Manic tapped his shoulder. "Ever seen a
fox with 2 tails?"
Sonic glanced between Manic and Tails and saw what he meant.
"W-whoa!"
Tails smirked. "Don't mind me. Are you guys with the resistance?"
"I am; Manic here's in training," Sonic said.
Manic looked at Sonic wierdly. "I am?"
"Cool! I live with a band of rebels called the Aquatic Relix Freedom
Fighters. What about you?" Tails asked.
"Robotropolis Freedom Fighters. My Uncle's the leader there," Sonic
said.
"Whoa, cool!!!" the fox said. He was quite impressed.
"Uh guys?" Manic called, looking up.
"Yea?" Sonic asked. He looked up just in time to duck a spiked black
orb.
"YIKES! What was that?!" Sonic yelped.
Tails looked up and growled, seeing a black orbunaut with 5
remaining spiked orbs orbiting around it. "Aw man, it's a Spikey Spinner!"
"A what?" Manic asked, ducking another orb. It hit the palm tree
behind him and exploded on contact.
"A Spikey Spinner. One of Gora's henchbots!"
"Who's Gora?" Sonic asked.
"I'll explain later. We need to take out that spinner first!" Tails
said.
Sonic nodded. "How?"
"Take out the main orbunaut head," Tails called. Sonic glanced at
the head and saw where the eyes were. He nodded to Tails. "I'll take it
out with a Sonic Spin!"
"A Sonic wha-" Before tails could finish, Sonic curled up and
started spinning like a saw blade and bounced into the spinner. The main
head exploded, along with the 4 remaining orbs. Sonic was blown to the
ground. He rubbed his head. "Man, I won't do THAT again!"
Tails and Manic laughed as they helped Sonic up. "You okay?"
"Yea, I'll be fine," Sonic said.
"I think we better take shelter in the Palm Forest. Where there is
one Spikey Spinner, there's usually a whole herd of them." Tails pointed
out.
"Good call, Tails," Sonic said, and the three friends walked into
the shelter of the Palm Forest.
*****
In the meantime, a small ship made its way towards the island. On it
was Ali.
"When I get my hands on those boys, I'm gonna wring BOTH their necks
for this," Ali growled. But then her face softened and she gave a long
sigh. "Oh Sonic...Manic....if you could only know....but now isn't the
best time....I don't think anyway....or what...?"
"They are supposed to find out for themselves," a new voice spoke.
Ali looked up as a green magic swirled and the cloaked, big snouted figure
appeared. Ali immediately greeted the figure in a formal manner. "Oracle
of Delphius."
"Ah, my old friend. It is nice to see you again," the oracle greeted.
"What did you mean by what you said?" Ali asked.
"Time doesn't matter with the prophetcy. But everything the children
must do, they must find themselves. There's no need to interfere and TRY
to hide the truth from them."
"And what about me?" Ali asked.
"You may assist them as you have been doing for these past 14 years.
But you mustn't tell them what you know. But, I will say this; Sonic and
Manic WILL be needing your help. I sense troube in the not too distant
future; water, earth, ice, life, wind and fire all play an elemental ploy."
And with that, the oracle was gone, leaving Ali to land the boat on
the island. But then an explosion from the Palm Forest caught her
attention.
*****
A horde of 10 Spiky Spinners were throwing their spiky bombs at
Sonic, Manic, and Tails."
"Tails! Run up ahead to your village and warn the others. We'll
catch up with you!" Sonic called.
Tails nodded and called back. "Aquatic Relix is about 5 miles east
of here!"
Tails twisted up his two tails and flew into the air like a
helicoptor, and off to a distance.
"Whoa! I didn't know he could do that!" Manic gazed.
"Manic, split up and head north. Those Spiky Spinners will be easier
to deal with if we broke the team up a bit!" Sonic called.
"Good idea!" Manic said and started running in one direction, deeper
into the forest. Sonic ran in the opposite direction and headed back
towards the beach.
*****
Sure enough, the plan worked. 5 Spiky Spinners whizzed off north
after Manic. The other 5 went after Sonic. Manic dodged between the trunks
of the palms and dodged the spiked balls. When a spinner ran out of spiked
bombs, Manic jumped them, and wacked them with the hard stem of a palm
fron. The spinners exploded on contact, sending Manic flying. The blow to
his head rendered him unconcious. Unknown to him, when one of the spiked
bombs smacked a tree, it exploded, and a few cinders fell onto some dry
palm fron leaves. The cinders started smoking.
*****
Sonic weaved in and out of the trees, making his way to the beach.
Some of the orbunauts were dumb enough to try and weave the trees as well,
but only collided with the trees and exploded on contact. When Sonic
reached the beach, Sonic looked back and saw where all the Spiky Spinners
were destroyed. Sonic smirked and shook his head. "No brainers!" he
laughed, and wondered how Manic fared.
"Well, I better go find the little bugger," Sonic said. A blue glint
caught his eye.
"Eh?"
*****
Ali approached the forest the moment she saw the smoke. Sensing
trouble, she went to see what the problem was. When she got into the heart
of the forest, she gasped. The area was ablaze! And an unconcious Manic
was in the ring of fire. Grabbing a large branch, she vaulted across the
ring and ran to Manic.
"Manic!" she cried, shaking him. "Manic WAKE UP!!!"
He didn't stir.
"HEEEELP!!!!" she cried out through the blazing inferno.
*****
Sonic gazed in awe as he saw a pedestal standing in the sand. A
water drop with a diamond shape around it was engraved into the pedestal,
and on top of it was a BEAUTIFUL blue emerald.
Almost hypnotysed by the emerald, he couldn't help but touch it. He
felt this tingly sensation when he dared himself to hold it. It was an
almost POWERFUL sensation.
That's when he heard the cry.
"HEEEEELP!" a familiar voice cried. Sonic couldn't place the voice,
but saw trouble the MINUTE he saw the flams lick the treetops near the
center of the Palm Forrest.
"Oh MAN! MANIC!" Sonic cried. "What'll I do??"
As if answering his question, the emerald started glowing a bright
blue. Sonic stared into the heart of the glowing stone as the light
reflected in his eyes. He could feel the power growing inside him. He
gasped as he felt a burst of power surge through him. It...it was
wonderous! He gripped the stone and held it high in the air with both
hands. He felt himself levitating off the ground.
And the sky grew dark with storm clouds.
*****
Ali shielded herself over Manic to protect him from the fire. She
had come this far, and was NOT about to lose him OR Sonic.
Her ears pricked at the sound of thunder.
"Wha-?" She looked up and a dab of water snipped her nose. More
dropplets fell as the sudden rainstrom started drowning out the fire like
magic. The rain continued to fall as Manic stirred awake.
"What-what happened?" Manic mumbled, sitting up.
"Manic, are you alright?" Ali asked.
Manic nodded and looked at her. "Hey...hey aren't you that lady Ali?"
Ali nodded. "Come on, we better find Sonic."
"Okay," Manic said and stood. "When did it started raining?"
*****
Sonic was sure the emerald spell zapped the strength from his limbs
as he felt himself go limp and dropped into the sand like a potato sack.
Sonic never payed attention to the ship that landed nearby. He fought
unconciousness as he saw Robotnik and some lady assistant approach the
seemingly lifeless hedgehog.
"This is excellent, my dear!" Robotnik spoke to the fox. "Bring him
aboard and we'll take him to Secret Plant. I have a few....tests....to run
on the boy."
"Yes sir," she spoke, and lifted up the hedgehog, who finally
shedded the last bit of conciousness. No one saw the blue emerald as it
melted and melded into Sonic's body, him soaking up the emerald water
elemental energy.
Manic and Ali watched in horror as Sonic was carried aboard the
airship, and it rose into the air and took off.
Chapter 2:
Secret Plant: "Unearthly Elementals"
Robotnik's assistant apporoached the doctor, holding a clipboard with
documents. She handed it to him. "Sir, reports show the the
bioroboticization project was a complete sucess. The subject's CPU is
installed and intact. The hands and lower limbs were robotisized for
external port connections and weapons."
Robotnik chuckled as he glanced as the reports. "Is he ready for
orders?"
"He is not activated yet, but he is ready, sir," she said.
"Excellent, my dear! I shall attend to him immediately!" Robotnik
laughed.
"However, sir, there's one more thing," she frowned. Robotnik looked
upon her.
"What is that?"
"His free will and personality are still intact. The biorobotisation
wasn't able to remove it, but it was able to lock it away unaccessible. It
shouldn't be a problem unless someone reprograms him."
"Very well. Carry on," Robotnik said and walked into the next room.
Secret Plant was an old abandoned factory that was discovered by Dr
Robotnik some time ago. He refitted the factory to study and test his new
biorobotisizer. Biotechnology was theoried to be an advantage over normal
techonogy, as the biorobotisized subject is more senent and far deadlier
than a normal robot. Strength, speed, everything that a robot was, bios can
be better. In various areas around the plant was a type of feul to keep it
running called Mega Mack (Mega Muck). It was a pinkish substance, and few
unlucky fools who tasted the substance claim it has the most wonderful
flavor to it. This was before they became sick and died.
Robotnik approached his new accomplishment. Sonic layed on the table,
and he looked asleep. He would also APPEAR normal if it wasn't for the
metal glove-like hands and metal boot-like feet. But Robotnik knew that
inside, Sonic was now a bio-enchanced computer. His robotic brain was like
a CPU, and his veins wires. Robotnik took the precation and installed a
filter to keep the subject's bio-parts from suffering from lead poisoning.
Sonic finally stirred, activated. His gazed came upon the Doctor.
"Master Robotnik; overlander." he said in an eerie robotic voice.
"Greetings Sonic," Robotnik cackled. Sonic sat up abruptly.
"Location unknown."
"You are in the Secret Plant on Neo South Island." Robotnik said.
Sonic was quiet for a few minutes. On the inside, his free will was
screaming to break free of the programming. His personality, on the other
hand, was much quieter.
Both were interupted when Robotnik's assistant walked in.
"Sir, intruder alert on south entrance."
Sonic gazed at the assistant and idenyifyed her.
"Sophia Snow; mobian artic fox."
"Er, yes," Sophia said, dumbfounded.
"I'll send Sonic here to take care of the intruders," Robotnik said,
eager to test out his first bioroboticized subject.
Sonic bowed in response. "Right away, sir."
*****
Sneaking into the plant was hard enough for Manic and Ali. Finding
Sonic was a whole new story though. Manic and Ali wandered the plant for a
while, coming upon pools of this pinkish substance every so often. Gaps in
the floor forced the two to catwalk on the pipes overhanging in the air
above.
Suddenly a monkey-like robot jumped onto the pipe in front of them.
"You ain't going no where! Nope nope nope!" it cried.
"Who are you?" Ali asked.
"I'm Kiki. One of Doc Botnik's best henchbots. Got anything to say
about dat? Huh huh huh?"
"Yea. I think you're an idiot!" Manic said and punched Kiki off the
catwalk. He crashed into the floor and stood up, shaking his fist at them.
"Ooooh! I'll get ya for dat!" he yelled and pulled out a bomb with a
sizzling fuse. "Take this!"
Before Kiki could toss the bomb, a metallic hand squeezed the flame
of the fuse, smothering it out.
"Hey! Wot da-" Kiki cried turning around.
"I'll handle this," a metallic voice growled.
*****
"Man, that was easy!" Manic laughed. practicly running down one of
the thicker pipes. Ali ran after him. "Too easy," she pointed out. Manic
stopped. "Yea, you're right," he said supisiously.
"It was a warning," Ali said.
"A warning? About what?" Manic asked.
A laser blast corrupted the pipe ahead of them. They gasped and turn
their head to see who did that.
Below was a familiar blue hedgehog. But his arms and legs seemed to
be covered in metal.
"A-aw no!" Ali cried.
"It's Sonic!" Manic gasped. "But he's been parcially robotisized!"
"And he's under Robotnik's control!" Ali sobbed.
Sonic apporached them with an emotionless face, and prepared to fire
again.
"DUCK!" Ali cried. Sonic fired. The blow from the shot knocked Manic
into one of the Mega Mack pools.
"MANIC!" Ali screamed.
Sonic crouched, then propelled himself high in the air, leaping on
the pipe where Ali was.
"Sonic..." Ali whispered. "Sonic, please don't do this..."
Sonic's free will was on the verge of busting out.
Sonic grabbed Ali by the arm.
"YEA! Get'em, Sonic!" Kiki cheered.
Ali gulped as Sonic clicked the gun on his other arm. He started to
aim at Ali, his face cold and emotionless.
"Yehaw! Do it!!!" Kiki yelled.
Sonic aimed at Kiki and fired. The robot exploded.
"Let's go get Manic," Sonic said, his voice a bit softer but still
robotic. Ali nodded in quiet fear. Sonic shot a grappling hook to the
center room cieling, it wrapping around the smaller pipes that lined the
cieling.
"Grab on," Sonic commanded. Ali wrapped her arms around him and he
leaped from the main pipe. Ali screamed as Sonic reached down and grabbed
Manic's hand, pulling him from the Mega Mack. They swung to the other side
and landed.
Manic tembled and convulst, coughing and spasming.
"What's wrong with him?!" Ali asked.
"Mega Mack poisoning. Deadly toxin." Sonic droned.
"Is there a cure?" Ali asked. Sonic didn't register what she said.
He was looking around. He could feel a type of energy around. Then he saw
it. On a wall was a glowing green symbol. A leaf with a diamond shape
around it.
"Sonic.." Ali asked. "Did you hear me?" She touched his shoulder.
Sonic whirled around. "Please reinstate question." he said, uncertainty in
his voice.
"I asked if there's a cure for Mega Mack," she said.
Sonic glanced at the wall, and for the first time since his
biorobotisizion, smiled.
"Affirmative," he said, walking to the wall. He pressed his hand to
the symbol on the wall and a panel slid away, to reveal a green emerald.
Sonic removed the emerald and held it in his hands. He could feel its
power run through him. He came back (Ali amazed) and placed the emerald on
Manic's chest. Manic started glowing a soft green color.
"What's it doing?" Ali asked.
"Converting the toxins in the Mega Mack to harmless plant cells,"
Sonic said knowingly.
Soon the emerald light died away and Manic's spasming ceased. Soon
Manic woke up.
"Ali.....Sonic?" Manic gasped, gazing upon his friend.
"Do not be afraid," Sonic said, his eyes lowering.
"Sonic....what...what happened to you?" Ali finally asked.
"Request to hold question until we reach destination Aquatic Relix?"
he asked.
Ali nodded. "Alright." Sonic turned to Manic.
"May I request a favor?"
"Sure Sonic, what is it?" Manic asked.
"When we reach destination Aquatic Relix, can you unlock my
personality program? It is unaccessable and is what is keeping my from
talking normal."
Manic nodded. "Sure buddy. I can do that."
"Now I suggest we take our leave before Dr. Robotnik finds us," Sonic
said. The friends agreed and proceeded to leave Secret Plant.
*****
Dr Robotnik was watching everything on monitor. He growled. "So Sonic
may have broke the programming, but I will make sure that he is BANISHED
from this place!"
He pressed a transporter button.
*****
Manic, Ali, and Sonic felt a tingly sensation.
"Hey, what's going on?" Manic cried.
"Transportation!" Sonic yelled. And they dissappeared.
Chapter 3:
Cosmic Casino: "Ice Cold Supicions"
The three friends landed on a platform. Everything was dark, all
except the stars above them.
"Where are we?" Ali whispered, looking around.
"Determining..." Sonic said quietly, scanning the area.
Hearing Sonic talk like that sent a shiver down Ali's spine. Sonic
spoke again.
"Location: Cosmic Casino. Situated 1.5 miles above Neo South Island."
Ali had this bad feeling. Sonic looks like he was parcially
robotisized, but he acts like a fully robotisized robot. It scared her
deep inside. What has Robotnik DONE to him?
"So, ah, what do you, um, suggest we do? Is there a way back down?"
Manic asked.
"Negative. Suggesting one option; explore for possible escape routes."
"Um, agreed. Agreed...let's...look around," Ali said uncertainly.
Suddenly, the lights flooded on, revealing a small hallway to a VERY
large room. Lights, music, everything came to life. It was like one giant
amusement park.
"WOW! Look at this place!" Manic breathed.
The three approached the huge room where bumper cars were lined up,
ready to ride. On the opposite side of the room was a huge steel door. They
looked up at the door.
"So, how do we open this?" Ali asked. Sonic scanned the room.
"There are instructions posted next to the door," Sonic pointed.
Manic went over and read them.
"All riders must be seated in bumper cars before gate opens," he said
aloud.
Ali glanced back at the bumper cars.
"Well, it's worth a shot," she said, sitting in one of the cars.
Manic followed lead.
Sonic got in, and hooked up a wire from his arm to the bumper's
systems.
Manic looked at Sonic. "Whatcha doing?" he inquired.
"Establishing commlink systems between vehicles," he said.
"Good call, Sonic," Ali said, flipping on the systems.
The steel door started to open.
"Here we go!" Manic cheered, taking off.
"Hey! Wait up!" Ali called, taking off after him.
Sonic held back a moment. "Downloading mission goal," he droned. He
cracked a smile as he ran the numbers through his CPU. "Goal understood.
Proceeding..."
*****
Ali and Manic were having fun, racing each other on the long couse
that was beyond the steel door. Manic attempted a few stunts on the slopes
of the course, his car jumping high into the air and back down.
Sonic was gaining on them. He calcuated the best way through the
couse as fast as possible, and was catching up fast.
Manic saw Sonic coming up and talked into the comm.
"Well hey there bud. Decided to finally catch up with us?"
"Affirmative," Sonic replied.
"Hey, look man....for what its worth, thanks for saving my life."
No reply.
No one said a word for a few minutes, and Sonic ended up passing the
both of them.
At last, they reached the end of the line, where a roller coster was
waiting to take them from the bumper cars to the main area of the park.
"Oh....no...nonono...I really don't care for roller coasters...all
those loop-de-loops and stuff." Ali said, backing up.
"Downloading floor plan of ride," Sonic said, hooking up his arm to
the system's computer. "Do not worry, Ali. This ride is of your
expectations."
"It is?" Ali asked, amazed. Sonic unhooked himself from the computer.
"Affirmative."
Sonic helped Ali into the car and sat next to her. Manic sat behind
them, and the coaster took off. Ali enjoyed the wind blowing her face, and
often glaced at Sonic to see if he was having fun. But every time she sees
nothing but the same cold emotionless look. Without his personallity files,
he knew no feelings.
Almost as soon as the ride had started, it was over. They got off and
found themselves in a huge playroom of sorts. Slot machines, card tables,
EVERYTHING was here.
As if hypnotysed, Ali and Manic ran out to try stuff. As if in a
drunken manner, they were having fun.
Sonic hung back, detecting something VERY wrong about this. They were
having fun, yes, but never acted in quite this manner. Ali fell down, too
weak to move. Same with Manic. Something was draining their energy!. Sonic
scanned the room for anything that might be causing the problem. Then he
saw them. 5 Bladed Spinners, blue orbunauts with razor sharp whirling
blades, were cloaked and were transmitting supersonic waves to weaken the
mobians. Sonic quietly loaded his write gun and pointed it at a Bladed
Spinner and fired.
That was a wake-up call as Ali and Manic looked around as 4 Bladed
Spinners appeared.
They were too weak to move and the spinners proceeded towards them.
Sonic reloaded and fired again, missing the second spinner. It hit the far
wall and exploded, revealing a gap in the wall. The other 3 spinners came
to gether and started to electicfy, trying to zap Sonic. He dodged and
leaped over to the other side, where a purple glint caught his eye from
the wall.
Thinking fast, he ran in to find what he thought he saw. Sitting on
top of a pedastel, where a symbol of a snowflake and the diamond around it,
was the purple emerald. Sonic took it in his hands and ran out, blasting
the second spinner. With his back turned, the three other spinners started
to elecrify.
"SONIC, LOOK OUT!!!" Ali screamed.
Sonic turned head and saw it, too late. It smacked him hard in the
chest sending him flying into the far wall.
His systems fried, he was unable to move. His entire body was
off-line, and all he could do was think and talk. He still had the emerald
in his hand, and the spinners were preparing to finish him off, when the
emerald started glowing in his hands.
As strange as it sounded, it started snowing in the room, freezing
the remaining spinners. With the spinners finished off, Ali and Manic felt
their strength returning. They stood up and ran to Sonic, who had asorbed
the emerald's power.
"Sonic, are you alright?" Ali asked, kneeling next to him.
"My....systems are down and off-line..." he admitted weakly.
"Your systems...you mean you can't move your arms or legs?" Manic
asked.
"Negitive. My whole body is shut down," he said. Ali and Manic looked
at each other and gasped. Ali lifted Sonic up in her arms. "Don't worry,
Sonic, we'll help you," she whispered. Sonic rested his head on her
shoulder as she carried him out of the building.
The three walked on through the park, which seemed to have shut down
after the encounter with the Bladed Spinners. When they approached a dead
end (It was an unrailed drop), they sat down to rest.
Ali gazed into Sonic's cold face.
"Sonic, will you be okay?" she asked.
"Affirmative," he whispered. "Something is apporaching us," he
announced.
They looked up to see a large siluoette approaching them from above.
A fairly large griffion landed near them.
"Hey, I'm looking for Manic and, ah, Sonic?" she called.
"That's us," Manic said.
"Hey, no wonder you guys never showed up at Aquatic Relix. You been
stuck up here! Tails said that you guys would be coming, but when you never
showed up, Tails asked to send out search parties for you guys. It's very
dangerous on Neo South Island, after all," she said.
"What's yoour name?" Ali asked.
"Oh, I'm Gryph. I'm a member of the Aquatic Relix Freedom Fighters.
Come on, you guys can ride on my back and we'll head down there!"
The three agreed and got onto Gryph's back. She let out a screech and
took off, heading downwards towards Aquatic Relix.
Chapter 4:
Aquatic Relix: "Life Underground"
A small rainstorm stirred the night air whenever Gryph landed in what
looked like the ruins of an ancient city, half sunken in water.
"Welcome to Aquatic Relix, Freedom Fighters," Gryph said. "I know it
doesn't look like much, but it's really a great place to be in."
Ali slid off Gryph's back, and reached up while Manic handed Sonic to
her. Once Sonic was off safely, Manic got off.
"So where to from here?" Ali asked. Gryph nodded in the general
direction of a sheltering corridor, litted up by fiery torches.
"Well, we'll be walking down this tunnel for a while, and we'll reach
the old Water Dragon Tavern. That's where the freedom fighters usually hang
at," Gryph said.
"Well, let's go!" Manic said and took off ahead of everyone.
The group was quiet for the first few minutes, walking down the
corridor. Gryph attempted to make coversation.
"So why ARE you guys here, anyway?" she asked.
"Well, the boys took off to find the plans for Santuary up in the
Great Forest, and I tried to go after them, because retrieving the plans
was too dangerous for a couple of boys like them. But after I arrived, I
just...kinda got swepted into the adventure," Ali said.
"You're lying..." Sonic suddenly spoke. Ali looked down at him. "I do
not know why, but you seem to care about Manic and me more than anything
else at all. You have always been like a guardian angel, Ali, but I feel
you are something more...something closer," he whispered.
Ali felt guilty just then. All she had been hiding, everything she
kept from him, and Sonic had to find out the hard way. Growing up without a
mother, a brother. A sister, a father...he must of been very lonely as she
was. And now looking at him hurt her more than ever. He was robotisized,
beatened, and soaking wet. She bowed her head, hating herself.
"We have the scrolls," Gryph announced. The two stopped walking and
stared at her. "What?"
"You guys have the scrolls, the plans?" Ali asked.
"Yes. The Queen gave them to the leader of the Aquatic Relix Freedom
Fighters just before the band came together. She locked it up in a wooden
box with the Life Emerald-"
"The Life Emerald...as in the Neo Chaos Emerald?" Ali inquired.
"Yea. Six emeralds that were scattered across Neo South Island-"
Gryph informed.
"I have three of them," Sonic said.
Now it was Gryph's turn to stare as Sonic. "You do?" she asked.
"Yes. Water, earth, and ice," Sonic said.
"Well I'll be," Gryph chuckled. Then she straightened up. "Well,
we're here," she said, pointing to a stone door with the symbol of a dragon
wrapped in a circle, trying to bite its tail.
"An old mobian symbol, meaning 'eternal life'," Sonic identifyed.
Gryph nodded. "Yea, this is where we hang out," she said, opening the
door.
Inside, freedom fighters were laughing and having good time. Some
even waved at Gryph when they came in. The tavern was old fashioned, with a
great fire roaring, and stone tables and countertops about with wooden
chairs and stools, with a woven rug in front of the hearth.
"Hey, is there a table somewhere we can get Sonic onto? I need to fix
his systems," Manic said.
Gryph looked around, and saw where every table was taken. She
shrugged, getting an idea. She wandered over to the counter and saw it
lined with cleaned glasses. She swiped them over to one side, the ones on
the end shattering on the ground.
"Hey hey hey HEY! I just washed those!" a familiar voice cried. Tails
popped up from behind ther counter, with a wash rag and a dirty glass. "If
I have to be dish boy, I don't want you guys breaking these things!"
"Sorry, kid. We need the space," she said.
"I don't care if you need the space, you just broke those glasses
over there and I ain't cleaning it up!"
Gryph started jabbering in some griffion launguage, and Tails started
chewing her out back in mobian. Manic covered his ears and shouted "HEY!"
Both of them shut up.
"Hey Manic," Tails waved.
"Tails, can we use the space? Sonic's in bad shape."
Tails looked at Sonic. "Uh, sure."
Manic lifted Sonic from Ali and layed him on the counter, where he
layed there, body lifeless and only his eyes and mouth moving.
Tails peered at him. "Sonic..? Is that YOU?"
"Hey kid," Sonic said quietly. Manic sat on a stool and opened up a
compartment on Sonic's arm, revealing a mess of wires.
"Hang on, I wanna try to access his personality files. DOES ANYONE
HAVE A COMPUTER?!" Manic screamed to the room. The entire tavern shut up
and all slowly turned their heads to look at walrus with a yellow cap.
"Rotor Walrus," Gryph announced. "We need ya for a minute. Come on
over here, buddy!"
Rotor shrugged and stood up, walking over to the group.
"Hey Gryph, what's up?" he asked.
"Rotor, I'd like to introduce Ali and Manic Hedgehog. The one on the
counter is Sonic. Manic, explain to him what ya need," Gryph said.
"Well, I need a computer to access Sonic's personality files. Think I
can borrow yours for a few?" Manic asked.
"Sure," Rotor said, pulling out a hand-held computer and handed it to
Manic. "Uh, her name is NICOLE, and she's voice activated."
Manic inspected the device. "Pretty nifty piece of machinery," he
commented, opening up the computer.
"NICOLE, register new user voice file!" Rotor commanded from a side.
"Waitng for new voice pattern," she flately replied.
"NICOLE, this is user Manic Hedgehog," Manic said.
"Voice pattern saved," NICOLE said.
Manic hooked up some wire between Sonic's arm and NICOLE.
"Nicole, can you gain access to the personality files?" Manic asked.
"Processing..." NICOLE replied.
Tails looked at Sonic. "So what happened anyway?" he asked.
"Hold on," Sonic said. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt a tiny
jolt. Then he opened them, and blinked a few times.
"Proceedure complete."
"Thank you for that news flash, NICOLE, but I coulda told them
myself," Sonic replied sarcasticly.
"Yep, he's back to normal," Ali sighed.
"Bout time, too. I thought I was gonna fry my CPU waiting," Sonic
said. "Manic, can you PLEASE get my body back online?"
"Alright already! I'm working on it!" Manic complained. "NICOLE,
switch to manual."
"Manual mode initiated," NICOLE said. Manic started working on the
downed files.
Rotor, who was watching over Manic's shoulder, was impressed.
"Gosh, for someone who was partly robotisized, you sure have a lot of
systems-" Rotor started to comment.
"I'm not...partly robotisized. Guys, I have to warn you. Robotnik has
this new machine...called the biorobotisizer. I may LOOK partly
robotisized, but inside, I'm.....I'm nothing but wires and metal," Sonic
said quietly. "It's supposed to be worse than the original Robotisizer.
Deadlier robots. I was able to shake off Robotnik's hold as you could
see..."
Sonic felt another slight jolt, and could feel his right arm again.
He lifted it up and moved it around a bit.
"Well, at least got your arm working," Manic sighed. He looked
bushed. "Your systems are totally fried."
Sonic patted Manic's back.
"It's okay man. You at least tried," Sonic said. Manic stared at
Sonic strangely.
"You know something, don't you?" Manic asked.
Sonic smirked. "I fished out some info from NICOLE while I was
waiting, and I found something interesting," he explained.
"Like?"
"Well for one thing-" Sonic started.
Suddenly the stone doors bursted open, and a bird-like trill sounded
out.
The whole room was silent as an enormous creature strided in, its
long stiff tail swinging weith every step. The green eyes of the creature
scared the heck out of Manic. He ducked behind the counter.
Sonic gazed up in quiet fear as the creature approached him. It
seemed to be a velociraptor, one of immense size.
Suddenly a smaller creature popped its head up from behind the
raptor. Sonic could see the details of what was a female white hedgehog, as
she smiled warmly.
"Hi!" she piped up. She got off the creature's back.
"Man, terrible night, huh Slasher?" she asked.
"Oh, you said it, Shalita," Slasher replied.
Shalita peered at Sonic.
"Aw, the poor thing," she cooed, running to him. "You okay?"
Sonic smiled weakly. "I will be. Hey Manic!"
Manic peeked from behind the counter. "Coming," he called, coming
back, but keeping one eye on Slasher.
"Hey, it's okay! She won't bite!" Shalita said.
"Yea. After all, we're all freedom fighters here, right?" Slasher
asked.
Seeing Shalita made Ali uncomfortable. Her eyes darted from Sonic to
Shalita and back again. Slasher could sense the uneasiness between the
three. She turned her head to the room and let out a screech to have
everyone shut up once more.
"Alright, party's over! Everyone but the core fighters leave!"
Not wanting to cause any trouble with the lady, everyone but Sonic,
Manic, Slasher, Shalita, Ali, Tails, Rotor and Gryph left.
Ali eyed Slasher. "You know-" she started.
"Save it!" Sonic barked. She shut her mouth as Sonic looked at
Slasher. "Thanks."
"Sonic-" Ali started.
"Look! I wanna know what is going on, and I demand an answer. NOW,
Ali," Sonic growled. Then he put in a sarcastic tone. "Oh wait. My mistake.
I demand an answer now, YOUR HIGHNESS."
Ali was stunned. He figured it out. He finally figured it out. The
Oracle was right, he needed to find out on his own, and he did it.
"I ran a profile check with NICOLE's help, and yours matches Queen
Aleena. Only Shalita here knows this, but hasn't said a thing yet, but
NICOLE told me that she belongs to Shalita, and that Shalita is the leader
of the Aquatic Relix Freedom Fighters. Now, as Gryph told me, Aleena
entrusted Shalita with the plans for Sanctuary, and I kind of figured it
out from there..." Sonic explained quietly.
Shalita mouthed to Gryph. "You have a BIG mouth."
"Sonic...Sonic..." Ali started to say, but was left speechless.
"Please...Ali...all Manic and I wanted to know was who our family
was. We wanted to help stop Robotnik too, but we also wanted to find you.
We thought you could tell us..." Sonic said quietly.
Eyes turned on Ali as she tried to figure out what to say. Was she
allowed to tell them what she knows? She avoided eye contact and looked
around the room. To her suprise, see saw the image of the oracle in the
mirror in front of her. He nodded his head in approval and faded away.
She smiled a bit.
"Ali? Ali...Ali, please..." Sonic begged.
Ali looked down at Sonic and sat on the stool next to him, and held
his working hand and rubbed it affectionately.
"Manic, can you please sit down next to me a moment?" Ali asked.
Manic nodded quietly and sat next to her. The others left them some
breathing space, but were all still within ear shot of them.
Ali sighed and looked at Sonic quietly.
"Ali....are you Queen Aleena?" Sonic whispered. Ali nodded tearfully.
Manic's lip trembled.
"Sonic's my brother, isn't he?" he asked. Ali nodded again.
"Ali," Sonic spoke again. Ali turned her head sharply to Sonic and
caught the look of his eyes. Tears were welling up deep, and as much as he
tried to hold them back, he couldn't any longer. A single tear slid down
his cheek ans to the side of his head.
His voice cracked as he whispered softly. "M.....Mom....?"
Ali couldn't take it any longer. "Oh SONIC!!!" she cried, resting her
head on his chest, with her arms folded in front of her.
Manic's eyes watered up as well. "I...I don't believe it..." he
whispered. He gave his mother and brother a big hug. "I finally have a
family..."
Ali kissed their foreheads. "Oh my boys," she sobbed, over and over.
The three were there an extra long time.
"Isn't this so sweet, Slash?" Shalita asked, tears in her eyes. "A
mother reunited with her children."
"Yea, it is, Shalita," Slasher said, patting her back.
"Sonic," Ali started, calming down. "From now I promise I'll never do
anything like this ever again."
She looked at the others. "Not a word of this is to leave this room.
Robotnik is not to know that the royal family is alive and well-"
"You did it to protect us, didn't you?" Sonic inturupted. Ali looked
back and nodded.
"Your highness," Shalita called. Ali turned her head. Shalita held
out a wooden box with the symbol of the dragon on it. This time it had a
diamond shape around it. "Here are the plans you gave me."
Ali held the box and opened it. Along with the plans was the Life
Emerald.
"Can we see the plans?" Sonic asked. Ali nodded. She pulled out a
scroll and opened it, showing what was to be a map of the new area formerly
known as Sanctuary. Steps were to be carved into the trunks of VERY thick
trees. they had to be 10-20 feet around! Near the middle-top of the trees
were large supported platforms with what looked like large treehouses. At
the base of what looked like the biggest tree of all was a large stone
door, and near the middle-top of THAT tree was one of the largest
treehouses to be built. Wooden bridges, both stiff and slacking ones, were
strewen from tree to tree.
"Well, as you know, Santuary is in what used to be an active sinkhole
in the middle of the Great Forest, which hid the place from radar for a
few years now. But seeing how it's the ONLY safe place in the area, I
figure, 'Why not transform it into a village?'" Ali explained.
Sonic scanned the plans. "Yea, you really thought through on this...
Mom," he commented, trying NOT to call her 'Ali'. "Have you come up with
any names for the village yet?"
"Well, I was thinking of calling it-" Ali started. Suddenly the stone
doors were knocked over by an explosion. A red orbinaut with fiery flames
surrounding it floated into the room.
"You are under arrest by order of Dr Robotnik!" he said.
They all stared at the robot, then started laughing their heads off.
"You?! Against all of us?! You MUST be joking!" Gryph laughed.
The robot got mad. "Who said it was JUST ME?"
Suddenly a WHOLE army of SWATbots appeared behind the robot, who was
Gora.
They gulped.
"ATTACK!!!" Gora screamed.
"Guys, Sonic is a sitting duck out here! We have to protect him!"
Manic said to the other.
"Leave it to us, Manic!" Shalita said, getting onto Slasher's back.
"Come on Slash! Let's scrap some bots!"
Slasher let out a cry and ran forward, headbutting SWATbots over.
Shalita pulled out a laser and started shooting at Gora. Gora dodges the
blasts and shot a fireball at her.
"DUCK!" Shalita cried as Slasher lowered herself.
Sonic thought fast and loaded his wrist laser, and fired at Gora. It
smacked him right on target. Gore started crackling with electricy and
glared at Sonic. "You will pay for that!" he growled and fired at Sonic.
Everything was in slow motion for Ali. Everyone had joined the fight,
and no one, not even she, was close enough to reach Sonic in time.
"SONIC!!!" she screamed.
The ball of fire was closing in on him. To him, it seemed like an
eternity for the fire to reach him, and he couldn't move.
"Mom..." he whispered, and then, he closed his eyes as the fireball
slammed into him. The blow knocked him off the counter and on the stone
floor.
Ali turned to Gora, her eyes blazing with pure hatred now.
"That...was the LAST mistake you'll EVER MAKE!!!" she screamed. And
like that she was on top of him, beating and pulling out wires wildly. 40
seconds after Gora was LONG dead, she started taking down SWATbots left and
right. Slasher and Shalita took out a few bots that were FAR from Ali. The
rabid hedgehog was enough to scare the heck out of EVERYONE in the room.
"Man, what an adrinaline rush!" Slasher whistled.
"Do NOT get on that woman's bad side," Gryph added.
When the army was destroyed, Ali dropped to her knees, lost of
energy. She crawled over to her son and gazed at him again. He was laying
on his side, half curled, fallen from the blast. He did not move. His
systems had fried beyond the point of repair, his metal hands and feet were
blackened from the blast.
Ali cradled Sonic in her arms, and slowly rocked him back and forth,
and slowly sang to him a lulliby she had sang when he was only a tiny
infant. Her voice was sad, and cracked every so often.
Manic started crying all over again and buried his head in his arms
on the counter. Slasher went over to try and comfort him. Everyone else
bowed their heads.
Shalita got an idea and pulled out the Life Emerald.
"Ali, what if we tried this?" she asked, placing the emerald on
Sonic's chest.
Ali gazed at Sonic in amazement as the emerald energy asorbed into
him. He glew for a moment, but it faded away. Nothing happened.
Ali started crying all over again and everyone closed their eyes.
"All systems online and active," a voice murmured.
A chorus of gasps sounded as they gazed at an active Sonic, who was
looking about the room with bright eyes.
"SONIC!" Ali cried, hugging him.
"Hey Mom," Sonic smiled, hugging back. He got up on his feet and
streched.
"Man! I thought I was fried there! What happened anyway?" he asked.
"Gora fried you, and you went off-line, falling to the floor! Then Ma
went berserk-o on the bots. But Shalita got this idea and used the Life
Emerald on ya, and you came back!" Manic explained.
"Sonic, are you alright now?" Ali asked.
"Running systems check," Sonic announced. He smiled, pleased with the
feedback. "All systems checked and in the green!"
Everyone cheered and laughed.
"Y-you know-," Shalita laughed, trying to be serious. "All those
robots taken out, but Robotnik knows where Aquatic Relix is now, and I was
thinking-"
"Hey, yea, we don't have a place to crash no more," Gryph pointed out.
"That's where the plans for Santuary come in-" Ali started. "I can
modify them to fit your needs and we can all band together with the
Robotropolis Freedom Fighters and become a NEW band!"
"One problem," Sonic called. "Those robots stole the plans." Everyone
shut their mouths and stared at him. He pointed to the empty box where the
scrolls were now missing.
Everyone heard the roar of an engine and they ran out to see what it
was. Robotnik's air fortress flew across the night sky, with the answer
obvious to everyone's minds.
"Manic," Sonic growled. "Get the bi-plane. We're going after him!"
TO BE CONTINUED
