Episode 1: A Hero's Fans

Summary:

Following a battle with Dr Eggman and his latest robot, Sonic humours a couple of young fans. As he soon discovers, they are more than a little enthusiastic.

Sounds of crumpling metal and sparking circuits came from the typical peaceful coast of Bygone Island. A blue streak sped about on the sandy ground, smashing robots left and right as a red echidna, yellow fox, pink hedgehog and orange badger contributed to the battle. Typical for a Tuesday morning. Soon, the beach was littered with robot scraps and bits of debris. Smirking up at a moustached man in red, hand on the white cloth tied round his slim waist, Sonic waited for the usual line of defeat.

'Grr! I'll be back, Sonic!' growled the man. Said royal blue hedgehog merely continued to smirk lazily as the evil scientist flew back to his evil lair. The team dispersed to continue whatever they had been doing prior to the battle.

A half hour later, Sonic found himself speeding around the village out of habit. Weaving through the streets of people and leaping over the odd child or two, he ran at a steady pace. Spotting a group of kids imitating a familiar stunt, Sonic paused in his run to see what they were talking about. As he had seen, one of the boys was attempting to perform his spin attack but unfortunately could not, others laughing as the last boy of the group seemed to crudely imitate Eggman. Hearing all-too-familiar dialogue he had exchanged many a time with his enemy, Sonic was pretty sure the kids were playing pretend; one of them being him and the other being the evil scientist.

'Argh, I have been defeated again!' cried the lynx kit, pinching his nose to make himself sound like Eggman. He toppled backwards, landing with a heavy thump on the ground and Sonic couldn't help but chuckle at the display. Upon hearing his amusement, all five boys turned and stared in shock at the teen stood watching them.

'You're... Are you..?' The dull yellow kitten stammered, eyes wide with awe and disbelief.

'The one and only.' Sonic replied smoothly, smiling as the boys' faces lit up and swarmed around him. He watched as they bombarded him with questions and tugged at his wrists.

'Calm down, guys. One at a time.' He chuckled, ears twitching from the cacophony of young voices. Calming down, the group of five introduced themselves to the hero.

'I'm Rory', the orange wolf cub said, 'and these are my friends; Lennox, Swiper, Max and Patty.' Sonic watched as the kitten, weasel, lynx and lamb perked up as their names were called.

'Nice to meet you, guys. Anything you'd like to ask me?' Sonic offered, knowing they had plenty to ask. Lennox went first, his dull yellow tail twitching with excitement.

'How are you so cool?' The kitten asked with a wide smile. Sonic knew that question would pop up.

'Can't really say, to be honest. All I do is act like I usually do. If you see that as cool then, who am I to say anything?' He answered. The eyes of the children lit up once again and the brown lynx bounded up to the hedgehog.

'How did you learn to fight? Did you teach yourself?' Max asked, tail swishing and a toothy smile on his muzzle. Sonic paused, ears twitching uneasily. That was a question he didn't really want to answer lest it lead to delving into unwanted memories. But if he didn't answer, the kid'll be upset.

'No, someone else taught me. Someone I was pretty close to when I was younger.' Sonic replied wistfully, mentally sighing with relief as the boys seemed satisfied with the answer. The person, from whom he had learnt all he knew, had departed from the hedgehog's life when he was still a young kit. An accident that didn't need to happen. An accident he should've avoided. Swiper sprang from behind Max, energy coming off him in waves, snapping Sonic out of his thoughts.

'Can you show us some moves? Like your famous spin attacks?' He asked, jumping about on the spot and attempting to unsuccessfully imitate the move again. Sonic laughed lightly as the weasel pouted from where he landed on the ground, a little dirt on his muzzle.

'Alright. Watch closely now.' Stepping a little ways from the boys, Sonic prepared to show them his signature moves. Leaping up, he curled into himself, becoming a rapidly spinning blue ball before then propelling himself forwards. Sensing the approaching ground, he unfurled to land on two feet. He then followed up his mock spin attack with a series of sharp kicks, flips and twists he frequented during battle. The boys clapped, cheering loudly as the hero finished his demonstration.

Rory, awed by his idol's moves, began to talk at a seemingly break-neck pace, confusing his pack of friends. The wolf cub's gushing wan't lost on the hedgehog, watching with amusement and following the words with ease. Being fast really helped with people like this. Almost as if he had snapped out of a trance, the orange cub planted himself firmly in front of the hero, his eyes determined.

'We want to spend the day with you.' He stated, using a tone that left no room for argument. Sonic allowed a brief look of shock to cross his face before smiling down at the boy, that kind of determination isn't common in the village and he liked the look in the kid's eyes. A future fighter, heck, maybe even a leader.

'Sure. If I can handle Eggface every week, I can handle you and your little pack.' The teen replied with a confident smirk, watching as the little boys all started cheering and bouncing about. Noticing the little lamb shyly celebrating alongside them, Sonic strolled over to the child and bent down to his level, flashing the kid a gentle smile.

'Patty, is it?', he asked softly, 'You have anything you'd like to ask?' Sonic couldn't help but smile wider as the child seemed to become flustered, woolly coat puffing up. Shifting, Patty pulled out a picture of the hedgehog and a pen, holding them towards the teen with a blush on his little cheeks.

'C-can I have your autograph, please?' He asked quietly, gazing up at the hero with hopeful eyes. Sonic obliged, signing the photograph with his usual curling handwriting and adding a little quote for the kid before handing them back. The hedgehog would be lying if he said that the smile that appeared on the lamb's face made Sonic's heart warm with joy. He loved seeing people happy and smiling. And with that, the boys followed their hero as he went about his day.

Laughing as Sonic frequently had to save the same endangered baby - Chumley - from whatever new mess he found himself in, eating chilli-dogs at Meh burger, meeting the team (which lead to a brief moment of complete anarchy and chaos) and mostly messing about around the village be it simply relaxing or pulling a quick prank or two - Sonic himself didn't seem to get involved, he enjoyed watching instead. Rory and Swiper asked many times throughout the day about the many battles the teen had fought and Sonic gladly told them of several battles, both old and new. Admittedly, the more interesting ones as opposed to the small and boring ones for fairly obvious reasons. The boys wanted excitement. Tales of grandeur and awesomeness, not insignificant scuffles between both sides. As they sat on a wooden bench, he recounted a fairly old battle he had back on the Mainland; his team against a troupe of ancient mechs for a white crystal. The boys were on the edges of their seats as the tale escalated, the hero delving into the tale and recounting every memorised detail. But then, as if on cue, a loud clang of a large automaton's foot rang from nearby. Eggman was attacking again. Rolling his eyes, Sonic stood up and quickly gestured towards the bench, eyes focused firmly on the approaching threat.

'Get back.' He ordered. With little hesitation, they ducked behind the bench, peeking over the back of the long seat to see their hero staring up at the villain in the hovering aircraft. Lips pulling into a defiant smirk, Sonic shifts himself into a confident posture, hands on his hips.

'Yo, Egghead. What have ya got this time?' The teen called up, eyes bright with undisguised mirth. The hovering human ground his teeth in frustration and Sonic couldn't help but let out a low chuckle at the doctor's reaction. He had seen it numerous times but, to heck with it, the doctor's reactions are hilarious.

'It's EggMAN. I'm here to show you my latest robot. Behold, Crackerbot!' Following the direction of the man's outstretched arm, Sonic could see yet another behemoth of a machine. This one was a stainless steel grey with black joints and turquoise optics, steel hands much larger than his many other gargantuan robots. Crossing his arms, Sonic raised a brow at the villain.

'What? Is he filled with crunchy crackers?' His comment was met with soft giggles from the spectating boys. He had a reason for the thought. The robot's shape seemed attributed to that of a cracker as it was a perfect square, its face similar to a snail's in that it was perched atop the peculiar body. Maybe Egghead was hungry when he made it.

'No, the cracker part of his name refers to the sound heard when he breaks your bones.' Ah. That was a little unexpected. Sonic's ears twitched with brief unease, mildly surprised by the explanation before a smirk came to his muzzle.

'Right.' Springing into the air, he flung himself at the machine in the form of a large blue marble, crashing into the steel frame with the force of a cannonball. It stumbled a little from the impact before retaliating, swiping at the hero but missed due to Sonic's agility, the hedgehog dodging each attempt to capture him. The children cheered as they watched their hero dominate the battle effortlessly, the robot taking hit after hit from the teen. Quickly glancing over towards the boys, Sonic noticed Swiper acting oddly, Patty tugging on the weasel's shirt as if telling him 'no'. The hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts as the mech almost grabbed him, digits lightly brushing the hero's fur as the servo launched past him. Sonic shook off his brief surprise to knock the thing back, away from the children. As Sonic prepared to deal the determining blows, Swiper rushed out.

'Hey, Eggman! You're not as scary as people say you are! I bet you can't take us!' The weasel called out, a cocky smirk on the child's face. Sonic blanched at the kid's apparent recklessness, he had told them to stay back! Eggman, not willing to deal with the ego of a young child, ordered his robot to attack the weasel. His initial confidence changed to fear as Crackerbot advanced, towering above him. An elongated arm raised with a steel fist prepared to slam the child into the ground. Gritting his teeth with a huff, Sonic swooped down and snatched the kid up into his arms, leaping out of the way just as the automaton's punch created a low crater in the ground. Putting distance between them and the mech, Sonic placed the boy on his feet and flashed the kid a stern glare before speeding back into battle. I'd better end this quickly before the kid does something crazy again.

With a more rapid pace, Sonic lashed out at the robot's steel shell, kicks and spin attacks beginning to dent the sheets of metal. He wasn't about to let a child get hurt because he had decided to mess around a little. Daring to chance a glance towards Swiper, the teen mentally groaned in frustration as he saw the kid running out to join in again. Did he want to get hurt or something? His head snapped towards Crackerbot as it flung its large palm towards the boy. Using a homing spin attack, Sonic launched himself at Swiper, forcefully shoving the kid out of the way The behemoth's servo suddenly slammed into the hero's side and sharp pain shot through his body. He was flung a few feet away and landed roughly onto his back, feeling the breath forced from his lungs. Sonic lay still, winded with his eyes closed as Eggman's taunting rang out above him.

'How the mighty have fallen! Wasting your time by saving some foolish brat!' The doctor laughed, directing Crackerbot to grab the prone hero and crush his bones. Sonic stiffened as the scent of fear hit his nose, coming from the direction he had left Swiper. Sonic forced himself to relax and waited until he could sense the large robot looming over him. Just as Crackerbot was about to grab the hero, Sonic's eyes snapped open and flipped himself away from the offending servo. Taking advantage of the surprise, Sonic leaped up and spin attacked the metallic torso. The behemoth toppled back, falling onto its behind as Sonic proceeded to smash it until its optics dulled. Deactivated. Smirking triumphantly, he stood atop the robot's quadrilateral torso.

'Looks like your Crackerbot just got shelled.' Sonic joked, laughing as he saw a vein pop out on Eggman's forehead. The doctor must have hated the egg joke. But instead of calling in more minions, the scientist merely growled in frustration as he steered his Eggmobile back towards his evil island lair.

Leaping off the scrapped thing, Sonic dusted himself off, a hand lightly rubbing his side. Just a little bruise.

'Sonic!', Rory shouted, 'That was awesome!' His eyes were alight with undisguised awe and respect. The teen chuckled, his laughter dying down as he glanced down to see Patty gazing up at him with a concerned frown, little hand patting the hero's leg.

'Are you okay?' The little lamb asked, tears pooled at the corners of his doe-like eyes. Sonic blinked softly, smiling at the boy. There's no need to cry over me, kid.

'Yeah, it's just a little bruise. I'll heal.' He assured the boy, petting him gently on the head. Looking up from the lamb, he turned to Swiper who stood a fair distance away from him and the other boys. With a soft sigh, Sonic strolled over and knelt down, face-level with the guilty-looking weasel, hand on the child's shoulder to keep him from fleeing. Swiper kept his eyes fixed on the ground, lips pursed in a straight line.

'Swiper,' Sonic called softly, 'Swiper, look at me.' Hesitating, the boy forced himself to make eye contact with his idol. Sonic felt his heart tighten as he saw the guilt in the child's eyes.

'I-I'm sorry, Sonic. I know I should have stayed with the others but I-!' Before the kid could say more, Sonic shushed him and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

'You wanted to help, I know. But maybe, wait until you're bigger and much stronger, okay?' The teen advised, flashing the child a friendly wink. Swiper stared at him, pure admiration overpowering the guilt in his eyes. Straightening up, Sonic turned to the other boys as well.

'How about I get you guys home? Your folks must be worried about where you are.' His question was met with a series of nods and he was more than happy to. Sonic watched each of their parents thank him for looking after their kids before scolding them about going off on their own without telling anyone where they went, walking them into their respective houses. Shaking his head, Sonic strolled back towards the coast, hand no longer gripping his bruised side.

What a day.

Author's Note: This one was sat somewhere for a while and a few details were changed from the original draft. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this first instalment of Sonic Boom Rewrite.