Chapter 1: Eggman Returns

Fast, that is the adjective to describe Sonic the Hedgehog. Some call him "the blue blur" because that is all they see as he runs past them. Speed is his way of life. Adventure is his true love. That's how this story begins: adventure.

Just a week earlier, Sonic and his friends had defeated a horrible monster of darkness known as Saturn the Hedgehog. Saturn had stolen the mystic jewels known as the Chaos Emeralds and used them to become Infinite Saturn and increase his power to a level of infinity, but he was defeated by Sonic when the Emeralds' positive energy rejected his evil heart and destroyed him.

During the incident with Saturn, the world believed Sonic's nemesis, Dr. Eggman, to be dead, but in reality, Eggman was hiding out in a secret bunker underneath Metropolis's clock tower until the situation subsided. When Saturn was killed, Sonic and his friends investigated the bunker, but every trace of Eggman was gone. Sonic was now with his best friend, Tails, searching for leads on Eggman's whereabouts, but that did not stop Sonic from taking some time off.

Now, everything seemed well. For the first time in a while, Sonic was relaxing. He sat quietly in a park in Central City with a plate of three chilidogs in his right hand. He consumed one; then he licked the residue off of his white-gloved fingers.

Just as Sonic was about to eat his next chilidog, Tails arrived on the scene carrying a small suitcase. "Sonic!" the young fox exclaimed. "What are you doing?"

Sonic ate the chilidog. He responded to Tails with his mouth full, "Isn't it obvious? I'm eating chilidogs. What are you doing?"

Tails answered, "I'm wondering why you're slacking off when we're supposed to be finding Dr. Eggman. The longer it takes, the more time he'll have to plot his next scheme."

Sonic consumed his final chilidog. "It doesn't matter. Eggman's plans never work. Besides, I've got the Chaos Emeralds now, remember? I can become Super Sonic whenever I want. None of his robots have ever been able to beat Super Sonic. Nobody has."

Tails said, "That doesn't give us an excuse to get cocky. Who knows what Eggman's got up his sleeve this time around?"

Sonic finished licking the chili sauce off of his fingers. "Who cares? We'll just find Eggman and stop him like we always do." Sonic smiled and gave Tails a thumbs-up.

Tails sighed, "Do you even remember why we're in Central City?"

Sonic said, "Of course I remember. Those snobs at G.U.N. have their headquarters here. We're here to check if they can help us with the whole finding Eggman thing, right?"

Tails said, "That's right, and while you were eating chilidogs, I was at G.U.N. headquarters asking if they knew anything about Eggman since he disappeared."

Sonic smiled, "See, Tails? I knew I could take some time to myself and my chilidogs with you on the job. That's why we make such a great team! So what did G.U.N. have to say?"

Tails answered, "Well, they suspect Eggman is north of South Island."

Sonic asked, "Really, what makes them think that?"

Tails held up a newspaper titled, "Dr. Eggman & Robots Seen Alive North of South Island!" The newspaper's cover page showed a picture of Eggman in his Egg Mobile surrounded by a small army of Egg Pawns on top of a gigantic, narwhal-shaped aircraft.

Sonic tossed his plate aside. "Ah, that would do it. Well, I guess we know what we're doing for at least the next day or so. C'mon, we're heading north!"

Tails hesitated. "Um, Sonic, there's kind of one more thing."

Sonic looked at Tails. "Yeah, Tails, what is it?"

Tails said, "Well, G.U.N. decided to send someone with us to help foil Eggman."

Sonic looked confused. "So who are they sending?"

Just then, part-time secret agent Rouge the Bat flew down from a tree in the park. She landed right next to Sonic and said, "Me."

Tails added, "Her."

Rouge continued teasingly, "I'll be tagging along to make sure you boys don't get hurt out there. The Commander of G.U.N. chose me for this assignment personally."

Sonic sighed, "Fine, I guess we can take Rouge with us. At least it's a friend of ours instead of some boring agent."

Rouge chuckled, "I'll be happy to accompany you."

Tails said, "Okay, guys follow me!"

Tails started walking away from Rouge and Sonic. Sonic asked, "Where are you going?"

Tails looked back at Sonic. "Don't you remember? I have a workshop here in Central City."

Sonic said, "Oh yeah, let's go then! C'mon, Rouge!"

Rouge followed the blue hedgehog down the streets of Central City until they arrived at a small workshop with a closed garage door. Tails typed a code into a keypad on the wall, and the door opened. Inside, there was a large machine covered by a dusty, white blanket. Tails lifted the blanket from the machine, revealing Tails's red biplane, the Tornado. Tails grinned with pride. "We'll use this to take out Eggman's airship."