DISCLAIMER; I do not own any Sonic character or any related terms. All characters used and certain mentions © SEGA/SONIC TEAM

The only thing I can claim right is the general idea and Tempo the Dog.

A/N: This is an idea that's been lingering in my brain for the longest time, which was to combine music into an adventure Sonic the Hedgehog could embark on. Reviews are helpful; I need all the feedback I can get in order to see if this is appealing or not. For now, I hope you the beginning of SONIC S O U N D W A V E.

Prologue

"Sonic!" shouted a young, twin-tailed fox; obviously exasperated. "Eggman has collected all of the Chaos Emeralds! We have to move!" he jabbed a finger rapidly against a small device that located the emeralds, which beeped endlessly. The cobalt hedgehog in front of him shook his head in a daze.

"There's no way he could've gotten them all that quickly," he muttered in disbelief, "Tails is right! We've got to get to him now!"

"Well, let's go! It beats standing around and complaining!" a red echidna perked up rashly. They all hopped into a plane, where the fox addressed as Tails managed the controls. Both the echidna and hedgehog stood on the wings of the blue-and-yellow plane, nodding towards the fox to proceed in takeoff.

"Alright guys – to Eggman's base!" Tails announced, the plane lifting into the sky and flying away.

CHAPTER ONE

Sonic jumped off the wing of the plane, diving down towards one of the flying robots that targeted him from above. He began spinning quickly in a tight ball, dashing into the robot as if a piece of paper. The aerial robot crashed onto rough land, where Eggman's base could be found. The hedgehog landed on the ground, kneeling down in the process.

"Down here, guys!" he called, the plane 'Tornado' beginning to land beside Sonic. The red echidna, Knuckles, glided down to his side and asked, "We're heading in, right?"

Sonic smirked. "Well duh! Though I think I might need you and Tails to help out with the direct fleet," he stated, "I'm heading for the core before Eggman can do anything with the Chaos Emeralds."

Tails nodded, listening into their conversation. "You better hurry, Sonic, these robots are coming by the dozens!"

"Right!" Sonic exclaimed, "You two take care! This shouldn't take long!" he remarked as he bolted inside through a crowd of robots, all of them taking aim towards him. Knuckles began punching his way through while Tails, inside the Tornado, started launching missals.

"He better get to Eggman quick!" Knuckles grunted as he fought, "He always has something up his sleeve."

"We're going to have to trust him, Knuckles," Tails replied, struggling to aim properly with the robots' numbers growing, "He'll pull something off, I know it."


Sonic pushed his way through several backup forced, either hopping over them or fighting them directly. To his benefit, they increased his willpower as the cobalt hedgehog advanced forward quickly. "Huh, this is a lot," he thought to himself, finding this base much more complicated compared to his previous intrusions.

Sonic, soon thereafter, arrived at a large set of silver doors- which obviously gave away the entrance to the main control room. "He never changes, does he?" he commented to himself as he broke them open. He quickly spotted Eggman typing several commands into a computer, which sent signals to the emeralds that sat in individual columns protected by a layer of thick glass.

"I'm afraid you're too late, Sonic!" the man bellowed, "The emeralds are already in my control."

"If I had a nickel for every time we've been in this situation, I'd live in a mansion!" Sonic chortled sarcastically, crossing his arms. "Just what do you think you're gonna do? Vanquish me?"

"I don't have time for your child's play, Sonic; I'm too busy opening a portal!" he stated loudly, dramatically pressing a bright red button. The energy emitting from the emeralds began channeling through small, transparent pipes towards two, large arches.

"A portal? That seems a bit familiar, don't you think?" the hedgehog said, rather puzzled, as he stared at the machine.

"Hohoho!" Eggman laughed, "I'm afraid this portal is much different!" A bright violet aura began gathering between the arches, a large mass of energy sucking up nearby objects. To Eggman's surprise, the emeralds themselves began disappearing, their energy causing a huge disruption in the system.

"Wha?" Eggman shouted, "What is this?" The man shot up from his chair and chased after the energy, inside the portal.

"Eggman?" Sonic yelped, watching as Eggman's figure fell deeper into the portal, soon vanishing from plain sight. Tails and Knuckles approached the hedgehog from behind, both of them visibly shocked.

"Sonic? Where's Eggman- and what is this?" Knuckles demanded, clenching his spiky fists.

"He just threw himself into this portal! He used the emerald's power to function this thing, and they just disappeared once the portal opened up!"

"H-How is that so?" Tails stammered, "That's never happened before! This must mean that the emeralds have overpowered the mechanics of this machine; who knows where they'll end up!" he assumed.

"I guess we won't know until we take a chance!" Sonic replied, "C'mon! Let's go!" Sonic called as he rushed inside the portal. Knuckles and Tails quickly exchanged glances before following him. After the last two entries, the portal weakened and the violet energy faded, the possibility of their return becoming indefinite.


The portal led them into a flurry of warps and floating debris, eventually landing them in a bleak, colorless setting. Sonic landed on his feet while Knuckles clumsily landed on his bottom- as well as Tails. "What is this place?" the fox asked, shivering.

"I dunno… it's kind of creepy, though, I'll give you that." Sonic replied.

"Why is there no color?" Knuckles blurted, "I can't even see the colors on you, Sonic, and that's hard to miss."

"That's easy to explain; where there is no light there is no color, it's a simple fact." Tails explained.

Sonic began walking around, staring at the floor and his surroundings. The entire area seemed to be filled with connecting lines and orbs. He wondered why Eggman's portal would lead them to an eerie place like this. The hedgehog felt his foot tap against an object; three to be exact. Sonic crouched down and picked up seemingly gray headsets, with an attached microphone to the side. "Don't people use these in concerts?" he asked aloud, turning to Tails who glanced at them.

"Uh, yeah! To sing, I guess… here, let me see." The twin-tailed fox took the headseats as Sonic handed the other one to Knuckles. "Yup! This is definitely a head and microphone set… that's strange. Why would these be found here?"

A sudden flash of lights caused the trio to jump in shock. Colors began flittering before their eyes, which was quite dizzying. Music began playing loudly over their ears, which was close to deafening to the naked ear.

"Sonic!" Tails shouted in pain, "What do we do?"

"Urgh! Put these things on!" he yelled back, putting on the headset quickly. Oddly enough, the music's volume became bearable, and an immediate shade retracted from them. Sonic took a clear look at the world around him now.

The lights were beautiful as they strode in different directions, flashing as if it were an electric-light show. Sonic noticed it created a path for them to run, and the music he heard earlier was on a sudden pause.

"Hey, guys, I think this microphone is to communicate!" Tails exclaimed, "This is so weird!"

"I'll say," Knuckles mumbled, "This is so weird! Why is this place full of lights and music?"

"It's pretty cool if you ask me!" Sonic chuckled, "Let's take a whack at that action, huh?" he gestured towards the path of red lights ahead of them.

"Well, if it means getting out of here, let's do it!" Knuckles replied, punching his fists together.

"Alright then!" Sonic dashed off, leaving the two to follow close on his trail. The music that was paused earlier began playing again; its rhythm quickening as Sonic's speed outranked the current frequency. Waves of light became visible as he ran, distracting Sonic momentarily.

"This place is… different," Sonic commented through the mic, "I think it knows the pace I'm running at!"

"Yeah, it seems the faster you go the music's tempo quickens, too!" Tails' voice responded, "Try moving slower!"

Sonic nodded as his previous break-out run turned into a jog, the pace of the song gradually slowing down. "Neat!"

The three friends ran for a while, looping around to what felt like a dark roller-coaster. Sonic eventually came to a stop once he heard the music finish, both Tails and Knuckles catching up by his side. "What happened?" the blue hedgehog asked, taking off his headsets. A gleam of light peered in front of them, and a golden, glowing key became visible through a faint mist. The key was shaped like a quarter-note, and it spun around slowly.

"It looks like a key or something!" Sonic stated slowly. He reached a hand to the key until another hand snatched it up abruptly, a familiar laugh echoing inside the area.

"Ohoho! Finders keepers!" Eggman's voice chortled, "See you!"

Sonic and his friends immediately chased Eggman, who could barely be seen. To their surprise, the area seemed to have an opening, a small thumbnail view of a city coming into view. "So this was a cave?" Knuckles asked blatantly, "That doesn't make sense!"

Sonic slowed down as he exited the supposed cave. The trip, upon exiting, arrived in a city of lights and sound. Everywhere they turned to was full of colorful lights and pumping music. The hedgehog groaned as he realized the loss of sight on Eggman. "Great," he muttered flatly, "He can be anywhere, now."

"Maybe some people here can help?" Tails suggested, "We might want to know what's up with this cave, though, and that key?"

"So; it looks like we have a couple of newbs here, huh?" a voice shouted out over the busy streets, the three of them turning to the caller.

"Who are you?"


Authors Note: Yo! Hope you like the beginning of this story! Please review and tell me what'cha think! Thanks!