- Chaos is a name for any order that produces confusion in our minds. -
George Santayana
Dawn
It was raining. Hard. The pavement of the street was covered by a film of slippery wetness. Very annoying on the long run, as annoying as the cold water drenching his fur, and the conditions weren't made any more enjoyable by his company.
Sonic cursed as he slid to the left, sidestepping through a group of robotic bodies. Barely missed by a shot of laser light, the blue hedgehog curled into a spin and came bounding down on the nearest machines. With a satisfying bang, the bots around him vanished from existence. The hedgehog turned around, only to jump and duck for cover. A small grenade zoomed over his head and exploded on hitting the wall of a small building. Sonic wasted just a second watching the black mark it left.
A second too much. He stiffened when a metallic hand grasped into his spikes and the robot it belonged to started to pull him closer. Sonic struggled, kicking the wet ground and trying to resist the force of the machine, but his feet had almost no purchase and right now the robot seemed to have an edge over him.
Metallic feet clamped on the pavement as a few more Eggrobos stepped up around the one that had grabbed the hedgehog, their hands holding small guns that didn't betray the strength of the laser they were able to emit. Sonic tensed in the robot's grip when the weapons were pointed at his chest.
"Now hedgehog, how do you think about that little deal right about now? Ready to negotiate with me?" Eggman's hovering vehicle slowly moved so Sonic could glimpse the scientist from the very edge of his vision.
Sonic shook his head and started another attempt to wriggle out of the robot's steel grip. "I told you already, I –" The hedgehog interrupted his speech when one of the machines surrounding him seized his feet to help hold him still.
Big mistake. Sonic's legs, able to push him to a top speed higher than the speed of sound, were powerful once they got good ground to move on and it mattered little if that was floor, walls or something else.
Like the chest armor of an Eggrobo.
Sonic kicked at the robot's hands that reached out for him, knocking it out of balance for a moment, planted his feet on the more or less flat torso of the machine and pushed for upwards-speed. His feet connected with the robot's face and its brow, sending it falling backwards, in the same time Sonic was turned head over heels.
The rapid and unexpected movement combined with the wetness of his blue fur was enough to make the robot lose its grip on him. Sonic's pushed off with his hands on its shoulders, back-flipping right over it, and landed smoothly on his feet.
Not wanting to give away the moment of surprise, Sonic directly leaped at the machines, curling up into a small ball of quills. Like a diamond saw he cut through the metallic bodies of his foes and stopped less than ten seconds later, for a moment standing still, surrounded by the small sounds of droplets of rain knocking on torn metal and plastic, quickly extinguishing the small flames that tried in vain to grow in charred circuits.
"Give it up Eggman, I smashed the last ones and I'll as certainly smash the next guys you send." Sonic wiped off the water running down his brow. "I'm not saying that I'm not enjoying the little party out here with you and your metal idiots. It's just pointless. I don't have any –"
"Stop babbling hedgehog and give me your Chaos Emerald!", Robotnik's voice bellowed from the small flying vehicle slightly above Sonic. The doctor was clearly upset.
Sonic gave an annoyed groan. "I don't have ANY Chaos Emeralds!", he shouted up at Eggman. "This is what I've been saying for three hours now!"
The blue hedgehog had run into Eggman more or less by chance this time. Or by bad luck. However you wanted to see it. Sonic had been bored anyway and so didn't really regret the possibility to get into a good fight. Well, the 'small fight' now lasted for three solid hours and, although too stubborn to admit, Sonic knew he was tiring. The good thing was Eggman seemed to be running out of robots to chase him. The last hours, consisting of Sonic zipping around too fast for the naked eye to see anything but a blue blur or leaping at the robots as a spinning ball of razor spikes, had taken their toll of the scientist's army of machines.
"You are not lying to me, hedgehog?" Dr. Eggman leaned half out of his flying vehicle.
Sonic rolled his eyes. "NO!" With the last sound of the word leaving his mouth, the hedgehog back-flipped straight into the chest of the slightly humanoid robot, in a way resembling his creator, that had sneaked up behind him while he had been talking to Eggman.
Robotnik watched the last fighting machine he had around here collapsing in a heap of junk and his fist slammed into the palm of the other hand. "Alright, I'll get my Chaos Emerald from elsewhere." He leaned forwards again, eyeing Sonic. "We'll meet again soon, you little annoying rodent, and then we'll see who's the one winning in the end."
Sonic casually crossed his arms on his chest. "Oh well. I think I've heard that one before. Do me a favor, will ya?" A broad grin of cockiness crept onto Sonic's wet face. "Before you come back for the revenge, build some robots that can take a bit more than these ones. Were lame."
"Aarrgggh! Just you wait, Sonic…"
The hedgehog turned around and ran off, hearing Robotnik's cursing echo through the rainy afternoon, but soon the sounds of splashing water out of almost black clouds swallowed up every other sound.
Behind a huge moustache a grin appeared on Ivo Robotnik's face. This was easy. For the laboratory of Mobius' best known university, this building had ridiculous security systems. He might as well have gotten the idea to get the Emerald they were keeping here earlier instead of messing with this stupid blue hedgehog the whole day long and losing ninety percent of his robots in the progress.
He took the violet jewel out of the glass box holding it and climbed back into his Eggmobile, with a smile ignoring the blaring alarm sirens in the big room when he left to return to his hidden base.
Only half an hour later, he entered one of his own labs with his new possession. Finally he had gotten his hand on an Emerald. He needed one to awaken the creature he was keeping here in suspended animation for weeks already, and it had always proved to be so useful. His last plans involving the idea of using these impressive powers for himself had led to nothing, but for once, that had not been caused by the nature of his plan, but by mere chance.
And a certain blue hedgehog, but this was not the time to bother about Sonic, as annoying as he might be. The thing at hand was far more interesting.
Robotnik inserted the Chaos Emerald into a console table and flicked a few switches. He slowly walked over to the glassy capsule as the Emerald started glowing. The creature twitched weakly, still not near a healthy condition, but it would be in a few days. Robotnik watched as droopy eyes opened halfway with a look of dazed confusion and the words came out as an almost inaudible whisper. "Where am I? Who are you?"
Robotnik winked one of his robots and the machine lifted the limp body out of the capsule. "Your friend. Don't worry. Relax."
Apparently the creature wanted to say more, but tiredness had already overwhelmed his senses and his lids sank down again.
Robotnik smiled. "Bring him to his room to rest." Until he would be ready to be the weapon he'd been designed to be…
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. No, horribly wrong.
Knuckles sat in front of the Master Emerald, his brow wrinkled by a deep frown. He had been sitting here for one day and two nights already, listening and focussing, not allowing himself more movement than breathing.
It had been around midnight and Knuckles had been peacefully asleep on the grass at the Emerald altar's bottom, when the guardian had been wakened up. By the utter feeling of wrongness. Wrongness concerning the most important thing in his life, and Knuckles couldn't possibly sleep if something was wrong with the Master Emerald.
There was no one on the Island. Knuckles was sure about that. He was alone. Alone with the giant green Emerald. Normally, that would have been a fact that was suited to calm him a lot. Right now, it wasn't. Not in the slightest.
Sure, there was no thief around, but still, there was danger to the Emerald. Knuckles KNEW. And it was a sort of danger he'd never experienced before, although he'd been guardian for his entire life.
Something was changing. Slowly. Creepingly. But without any way for him to stop it. The energy was changing. The very Chaos Energy itself. Knuckles had no clue why and how, but it was freaking him out.
He was the guardian. It was his job to save the Master Emerald from any kind of danger, and so he would stay here until he found a way to fight that new danger. The threat within…
Knuckles closed his eyes, letting his breath out with a sigh as he lowered his mind into deep mediation, straining his senses for the familiar energy.
And for what wasn't familiar at all.
