"Sonic, do you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Tails." Sonic responded, using two fingers to press the tiny device that was clipped on his ear further inside the orifice. The object vibrated slightly and started to crackle with static, muffling the so familiar voice that was echoing through it. For a moment the cobalt hedgehog wondered if it was going to electrocute him or anything similar. "Ok, maybe not that clear."
Rubbing his ear slightly, Sonic started to walk and survey his surroundings to distract himself from those annoying sounds the earpiece emanated. Huge, almost legendary trees could be seen rising from the very ground he stepped on, their massive trunks supporting uncountable branches that drew intricate patterns high above, spread wide as if they wanted to hold the very sky in their embrace. Due to the almost never ending blanket of leaves, the whole area was also covered in a not so dense, yet mysterious darkness, even if the sun had yet to take hours to even approach the horizon line.
The various shades of green and brown of that ancient looking forest made a strong contrast with the hedgehog's royal blue fur, and he smiled weakly as the sounds of birds chirping around reached his free ear. Sonic had never really gone to that place before, even if he usually spent hours running around every day just to explore the world he lived at. This made him curious, it wasn't easy to miss such a huge area. He could count many places he discovered in his trips that were completely unknown to people and which he would visit every time he wanted some peace, but those were in very secluded areas, their secrecy was plainly understandable.
Thinking about that, he couldn't help but notice what a nice new resting place that one would be, a peaceful piece of land where an adventurer hedgehog could just relax and take a nap after a good run. Sometimes it was great just to stop and spend some time thinking and nothing else, to just slow down… as ironic as it sounded for somebody like him. It would be surely perfect.
... If only that very forest wasn't the source of his newest problem.
Sonic sighed. He could remember perfectly well how, nearly a week ago, he approached her house and knocked on the wooden door. He was feeling quite nervous that day while he waited... And waited and waited. It didn't take long for the nervousness to turn into confusion when he knocked a few more times and still no response came. Confusion that turned into worry and then anger when he kicked the door down and faced a destroyed living room, with pieces of furniture spread all around along with various burnt holes on the floor. It was as if a tornado had paid the place a visit, but the huge gaping hole on the wall across the hedgehog told him otherwise.
With his speed he searched through the entire wrecked up place, calling for her name the whole time, and yet the only response he got was the sound of a weak breeze that entered through the massive hole. It hadn't taken Sonic long for realization to hit him like a brick.
Amy Rose had been kidnapped.
Not that this wasn't something common. Every now and then Eggman would at least try to kidnap a friend of Sonic's to lure him into a trap, Amy just happened to be the victim in 99% of the cases… Something to do with the classic damsel in distress concept, he supposed, as if the whole world domination speech didn't make the mad scientist sound cliché enough. It took Tails quite a while to track down the old man's whereabouts and only that morning he managed to pinpoint the exact location of Eggman's new base. It seemed that the Tornado X had identified irregular chaos energy spikes coming from somewhere in that large forest, but something was causing interference in the system whenever it flew too close to the location of the base. It wasn't wise to fly over that suspicious area in that situation when the plane could simply be taken down from the sky by whatever was causing the interference.
And thus Sonic's mission was decided. Nothing new about it, though. It was left to him the duty of running through that labyrinth of trees, avoid as many traps as possible, find the hidden base, free Amy, kick Eggman's butt to the other continent, destroy whatever robot that crosses his path in the way out, explode the entire place and come back home with a safe and sound Amy in his arms.
Piece of cake.
"Hey, Tails, the interference is getting' stronger, I bet I'm close!" Sonic said, twisting the microphone attached to his earpiece to an angle closer to his mouth. More static echoed in his ear, making him cringe slightly, followed by the crackling voice of his young friend.
"Okay, Sonic. According to my readings, just run a few more kilometers to the left and you'll get there in no time."
Finally! It seemed he could have some action after all. "Sure, buddy!" Turning to said direction, he sped off, marking the area with his famous temporary blue blur.
The almost tangible silence of the forest was finally broken by the thunderous sonic boom. It was a short run for Sonic, but he enjoyed it nevertheless. He couldn't wait to get this situation over with… Well, not that he didn't enjoy beating Eggman and ruining every plan of his, it was actually a hobby to him! After all, if it wasn't for all those failed world conquering plans, Sonic would have drowned in boredom long ago, they even served to give him some laughs. But that specific new plan had already tired the blue hero… spotting the base had taken him and Tails far longer than normal and all the searching certainly wasn't fun at all.
With that, he didn't think twice before going at full speed ahead, ready to destroy any machinery in his way and put an end to that mess, or at least to go back home in time for a nice chilidog. The speedster cut through the green land, creating trails and raising dirt as he dodged the countless exposed roots in his path. He couldn't help but smile at the feeling of the wind blowing through his quills, he felt unstoppable!
… Too bad he didn't see the force field, though.
Everything happened so quickly, not even the fastest thing alive could react. First Sonic felt his body slam against something solid… or that at least felt solid. His pained grunt became a piercing scream once the electricity came. The currents ran through his entire body like a snake suffocating its prey, covering each of his limbs and raising every quill and hair. Time even seemed to slow down when his ears started ringing at the touch of the tendrils of energy, making the mere few seconds long torture last minutes to him.
Suddenly the same electric force that kept him still in that wall rejected his body, letting out a loud crackle and throwing him meters away from the field. As a result, Sonic's back slammed harshly against one of the many thick trunks that surrounded the place. He was panting and cursing under his breath the moment his body made contact with the ground, a dull pain covering every single muscle of his, specially focusing on his spine.
"Oookay… I think I found it…" Trembling slightly, he stood on his hands and knees, trying to understand exactly what the heck had just happened. He could feel a steady buzz in his ears as he brought one of his hands to rub his face, but this move only made him groan more in annoyance once he spotted the new red stains on the white glove. Great, now his nose was bleeding. Sonic checked his ears and mouth to make sure they didn't have the same consequence and then tried to stand up fully. Some of his quills were still bristled from the shock, and the sight of such messy appearance would have been comical if not for the painful situation the young hero was in.
Once he recovered fully his balance, Sonic looked around in search of whatever had almost fried him. He was expecting to see an immense, glowing energy shield. The kind that would let out constant sparkles of electricity along with meaning crackles to show off the danger it meant. Maybe it could even be surrounded by some sort of trap to reinforce the dramatic feeling… What about some robots?
Instead, though, he only saw more grass and trees, a sight he was quickly growing tired of. No noise, no sparkles… not even a single groan of a gear. The only evidence of the hidden danger in such an innocent looking place was Sonic's slightly smoking fur, which smell made him flinch a little. "The heck? I don't like the looks of this. I'd better call Tails for some hin- What? Where's my microphone?!" He touched his cheek and ears, noticing the missing set. After taking a look at the ground around frantically, he finally found it, but groaned in frustration at the sight. His only way to get in contact with Tails was now a pile of smoking metal not too far away from his feet. It must have fallen from his head after the shock. Great.
"Oh, c'mon, you gotta be kidding me, Eggman!"
Growling quietly, the cobalt hedgehog took a deep breath and walked forwards slowly. His ears kept twitching in every direction in search of any suspicious sound. Whatever had electrocuted him wasn't there for nothing, Sonic knew it from experience. It probably had been one of those classic traps to slow him down enough so some crazy creation of Eggman's could get him. It wouldn't be a surprise, the old man had used this trick several times before and, as usual, failed miserably... But no matter how much Sonic focused on his surroundings with his ears or eyes, nothing abnormal approached his location. No shiny metallic parts crossed his sight, no sounds of engines or gears reached his perked ears, no smell of oil touched his nose... Nothing. He frowned, even turning around several times to check if any threat had been sneaking behind him, but there wasn't anything there either.
The entire forest was just so quiet and peaceful...
Way too quiet and peaceful.
Suddenly, Sonic felt his skin crawl with static and his fur starting to stir again, it made him stop dead in his tracks. Narrowing his eyes, the hedgehog crouched down and picked a small rock from the ground, then, observing the forested view before him with a glare, he threw the object forwards with all his might.
The moment the rock was suddenly stopped in midair and covered with currents of electricity, he could swear he saw the area in front of him sway for a second. It was as if he had thrown the rock in a mirrored lake instead of thin air. Then a loud, familiar sharp crackle echoed in the place and Sonic had to step aside as quickly as he could to dodge the rock that flew in his direction at breakneck speed.
"Electric camouflage force field? Eggman is surely improving. 'Bout time he got some new challenge for me." He stepped closer to the invisible wall, feeling his fur and quills standing even more. "Wait, maybe I could use my body like a drill and dash through the ground to get out at the other side of this thing..." Sonic murmured to nobody in particular, analyzing his surroundings.
But then it's Eggman the one he was talking about. A crazy man obsessed with robotics and machinery... He could very well have built the whole base underground and thus making the very ground the royal blue hedgehog was standing on be actually made of titanium. Sonic seriously didn't want to bang his head against a floor made of pure metal. Exploding robots were ok, cutting through titanium floors? Nope.
"Man, if only I could contact Tails..." He groaned. "Well, this only leaves me with one option... Lucky thing that I've been practicing lately, at least. I may still be rusty on this, but for now it'll do." Reaching his back quills with his right hand, he took out a polished, deep red gem. It soon recognized the hero's touch and greeted him with a weak glow on its surface, letting a parcel of the power locked deep within run through his arm while heating up slightly. Sonic took in a deep breath as the energy gave him a warm, pleasant sensation for a second.
He was hoping he wouldn't need to use the chaos emerald when he took it with him earlier that day, but it seemed his expectations were wrong. With Tails out of reach and an annoying force field ready to fry his very spiky self at the mere touch, it wasn't as if he had better options. With this, Sonic tightened his grip on the crimson jewel and closed his eyes, emptying his mind from ordinary thoughts and then focusing on the mission he had in his hands, specially on a certain pink hedgehog.
In a matter of seconds, the peaceful silence of the dense forest was broken by two simple, yet powerful words.
"Chaos Control!"
Several meters underground, a large circular chamber could be found. Its metallic walls were covered with various monitors, some displaying incomprehensible data that was constantly moving, others showing different environments either filled with trees or robots. Most of the space in the room was filled with uncountable machines and devices of different shapes against the walls, the floor almost no longer visible under the thick layer of cables connecting them. A few of the cables even would let out a sparkle of electricity every now and then, adding some kind of tension to the atmosphere. Anybody with a sane mind would surely think twice before entering that place.
Soft beeps and weak groans of gears also filled the room as two small robots moved around it, doing their respective functions. One was red and round shaped, busy while typing on a panel, and the other was yellow and resembling a cube, doing god-knows-what with the cables of a machine. Every few seconds the latter would let out a robotic groan, probably from a shock given by a cable, but its partner didn't seem to notice. However, somebody else surely did.
"Cubot, you stupid piece of junk! Can't you stop your whining for a moment? I'm trying to focus here!" In front of the biggest of the monitors, closely observing its screen, stood a very known, round figure. He stroked his long auburn mustache slowly and frowned behind the dark glasses that never left his face, his reddish nose wrinkling in annoyance. He had been standing there for quite a while already, paying so much attention to the footage in front of him that he didn't even turn around to look at the robot when those words left his mouth.
"My bad, boss!" The minion said, raising his hands in a defensive gesture. "But these thingies are hard to fix, they won't stop shocking me!"
"This is why a robot is doing this job, not me." Finally turning around, Eggman continued, distorting his face into a deep scowl. He certainly wasn't in a good mood today. "Orbot, report!"
Hearing that, the red robot moved away from the panel and towards the man. He would have gulped, but he wasn't programmed for that. "The machine seems to have finished analyzing the sample we collected from the girl, Doctor. According to the results, the connection can be successful! We managed to get enough energetic readings from her body for the machine to recognize the other dimension's energy signature and make a path to it…"
"… But?" Inquired the scientist, walking towards the panel in front of Orbot to check the information he was talking about.
"Well, we obviously don't have enough chaotic energy to make the connection. Don't you remember how the first portal was made?" Eggman crossed his arms at that, rewinding the events of that unforgettable day in his mind. He could remember perfectly how his so despised blue enemy had invaded his base to rescue that annoying rabbit girl, Cream, and her pet chao, only to end up messing one of his machines up and causing a massive chaos control that teleported everybody to another dimension.
Groaning, Eggman assumed a thoughtful pose. "So we still need all the chaos emeralds to make this work? I'm already using four of them to power this whole thing up, I thought they would be enough since the objective isn't opening another portal!… well, at least not fully."
"Just making a connection to the other dimension still requires lots of energy, Doctor. I thought you would have figured this out, given how intelligent you're supposed to be." Orbot pointed out in his monotone, robotic voice. Always the one to criticize Eggman, of course.
"Shut up, you insolent bunch of screws! Do you want to become scrap metal?!"
"Honestly, Doctor, I would think twice before even considering doing that. Remember that I'm very useful."
"Oh, really? Give me an example."
"Who managed to fix Cubot's voice chip definitely?"
Almost ten long, agonizing seconds of thick silence went by before the man's voice echoed in the room again, the irritation very noticeable in it. "You know what? Just go back to the control panel and run another scan to check if all the seven emeralds are really needed for this. I also want you to check our hostage's vitals, I noticed that her brain activity has intensified a bit recently and I certainly don't want that girl waking up."
If he could, Orbot would have rolled his eyes. "Of course, Doctor."
"And you-" Eggman turned towards the yellow box shaped robot, who had been awfully quiet during their short conversation. Just then he noticed Cubot was finally done rearranging and connecting the cables. "-bring me a cup of tea, all this work left me thirsty."
"'All this work'?! Orbot and I did everything while you just stood there watching the-" When he noticed the scowl on the doctor's face, he quickly stopped in mid-sentence and brought a hand to his yellow forehead. "I-I mean, yes, sir! Tea express on the way!" With that, Cubot finally left the chamber.
Eggman took in a deep breath and rubbed his face with a hand. "Idiots."
If he analyzed every single plan he ever made up to make his so dreamed Eggman Empire come true, this newest one surely wouldn't be the craziest, but was easily becoming one of the most difficult, exhausting ones. He had been working on it and making endless, mostly fruitless researches for months, and even with that he found himself needing to capture a victim to confirm his theories.
Amy Rose was the chosen one, of course. From experience alone the scientist knew very well that the famous pink hedgehog was the easiest target in his list. Catching her off guard in her own house turned out to be a piece of cake, just like all the other times he had captured her. This time, though, he didn't want to use her as bait for the blue hero, what was quite a surprise considering the style of his usual plans. This time the girl played a very important role in what he spent an eternity researching and plotting, she was finally something truly useful and required in his little secret project…
Thinking about this, Eggman let out a low, hoarse chuckle and walked to the center of the large room. There, a circular black base rose from the floor. Its dull surface was decorated with a large variety of buttons and switches, several of them even glowing, resembling a machine from some sci-fi universe. The tubes that came out of it and dove into the ground only reinforced the impression while an unknown transparent liquid ran through them. The base, though, supported a large vertical tube of thick glass that reached three meters of height before disappearing inside a huge cylinder of steel, which was surrounded by uncountable cables of different colors.
That same transparent liquid filled the glass tube, moving within its confinement in lazy streams as it surrounded a small, curved pink silhouette inside. With the tips of his fingers, the man touched the cold surface, also checking on a monitor on the top of the black base from the corner of his eye. It displayed a steadily moving heart line, emitting a soft, constant beep that kept him aware of young girl's conditions. Even given the current situation, including that eerie feeling of that all being part of a sci-fi story, the pink hedgehog looked rather peaceful as she floated there. Her body was curved into a fetal position, her eyes were closed and her expression was serene… if it wasn't for the air mask tied firmly to her muzzle or the dozens of wires connected to her body, anybody would say she was merely napping.
It wasn't a surprise that Sonic was taking such a long time to spot the scientist's base and save her. With Amy not being just a bait in his plans this time, Eggman needed time to get what he wanted from her, to do his research. With that, he made sure his base was very well hidden instead of making it actually easy for the enemy to go after him, it could take even more weeks for the blue hedgehog to finally find him. That thought alone made a wide, shiny smile cross the man's lips.
But well, it didn't last long.
Suddenly, a loud alarm blared in the room. Emergency lamps then covered the place with a bright red light as the walls vibrated with the sound. Eggman quickly ran to the control panel, typing on the keyboard at a speed that even Sonic would be jealous of. In fact, speaking of him, soon an image appeared on the biggest monitor in the room featuring the speedster himself, a sight that made a growl come from deep inside the man's throat. "Oh no, no and no! It can't be! I thought that stupid hedgehog would take longer to find us!"
"Doctor, he must have tracked the waves of chaotic energy your machine released during the experiments." Orbot said, checking on the data displaying on various screens. "Even with us creating that interference to keep them away, it didn't cover up the energy signatures."
Eggman rubbed his face with a hand in exasperation, still watching the screen. He could see the forest background as a blue blur crossed it at full speed, rising dirt and moving tons leaves in his way. He kept watching the monitor with irritation until it switched cameras… displaying Sonic hitting the invisible force field that protected his fortress and getting electrocuted. As satisfying as the scene was to him, he knew it only meant the speedster had officially found the location of the base.
At that moment, Cubot finally returned to the chamber, a trail with a small cup of steaming tea carefully held between his small mechanical hands. "Here's your tea, doc! I even put some more sugar 'cause I thought the news must've stressed you up even more, how 'bout it?"
"Just give me this already, idiot!" In the blink of an eye, Eggman snatched the cup out of the tray and took a long sip. His mind was racing with various thoughts and strategies, so much his head started to ache slightly. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the screen, observing a pained hedgehog struggling to his feet. "Orbot, other than the problem with the chaos emeralds, the machine is now fully functional, right?"
"Correct, Doctor."
"So we no longer need the girl." Suddenly, a smirk crossed his face. "Cubot, send the Egg-Squadron A to the surface to intercept the hedgehog and Egg-Squadrons B and C to the second and third floors. Orbot, lead D to get the machine to the EggCarrier and prepare the fleet to take off. I'll handle things here and keep that rat busy."
Once again placing a hand on his forehead, Cubot responded "Sir! Yes, sir!" and rushed out of the room. Orbot on the other hand approached his master.
"Doctor, what about the girl?"
"We have already collected all the information we need, that pink brat is no longer of our use. Let Sonic do his part and rescue the damsel in distress." Behind the dark glasses, his eyes moved to the screen once more. He watched with interest as Sonic took out a shining blood red jewel from his back quills, a sight that made his smirk grow wider. "Besides, this way the blue rat has a motivation to come here and bring me a small souvenir, don't you think?"
Hey there, guys. Welcome to my first fanfic!...
... well, at least in English.
I used to write Teen Titans fanfics for a brazilian site, but over four years ago I stopped this hobby to focus on several personal projects of mine. So I'm not only super rusty on writingfics after not making any for years, but I've never written a full story completely in english before either! Awesome! This means you'll have to be very patient with me because even though people used to like my writing style in portuguese, converting it to another language SUCKS. ¬¬'
But oh, anyway, back to the point: the plot for this story is the result of a weirdly-random-as-hell idea I had one day, but it will take quite a while for it to be revealed. Even though I've already got several chapters finished, I can't guarantee really fast updates either because I've just started university, but I swear I'll try my best ^^'.
Also, to those who don't get the title, the hedgehog dilemma is an analogy used to explain introversion, based on how hedgehogs can't mate or snuggle to one another for heat without getting pierced by their quills. Basically, it refers to when two people can't get close to each other without getting hurt. Here, the title stands for both this and… something else that will come later in the story.
So, well, see you in the next update! I hope you can bear my writing as I try to get used to this. XD
~*Night