UPDATE NOV. 01 2015

I am rewriting this entire story for my NaNoWriMo of this year. That means a complete rewrite, no copy and pasting of old content. My writing, style, and tone have changed considerably since this story was first published so expect to see new chapters and an actual continuation of this plot starting December. Till then, feel free to fav. or sub. to this story for updates and perhaps be not quite so harsh in its judging it. Better is on its way.

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, or any of the other character from this franchise. They belong to Sega and the people that created them. This is a work of fan-written fiction by Stari Zmaj studios and is in no way being used to make monetary profits.

Prologue: Glimpse of a Flashback

He was growing to hate this trip. The books had told him of an ancient sanctuary up on these plateaus, but so far he had only found a few ruins and no signs of life. Well no, that statement wasn't wholly accurate. There was plenty of life to be found, in particular of the avian variety. Birds with fantastic plumage could be seen all around and on all levels of the wood. This was by no means a tropical zone, but the bright colorful feathers of these avians were reminiscent of brightly colored rainforest birds. As a matter of fact, in this one little expedition he had already discovered, and recorded for posterity, six new species of paradise birds.

There were also the ruins. In the initial scouting expeditions they had been almost completely missed, but in his detailed search through the wood he had found many ancient stone structures. It was no surprise that the buildings had been easily overlooked, most of them were totally covered with shrub life and dirt to the point that initially they looked like nothing more then oddly shaped hills. Some seemed to even have been built and dug into the ground purposely by their makers. The structures had proved to be a wealth of information, especially those few that he had actually been able to enter. These showed a great technological advancement despite they're obviously ancient origins, technology that could almost stand on par with what was commonplace today.

Still, to the old scientist, the expedition was a let down. He had hoped against all hope to find some living individuals of these ancient cultures. The old books had said that this plateau had been a final refuge and safe haven. That many had fled to hide hear and live in peace. And that communications with these reclused people had continued for hundreds of years after the fact. But it seemed there was no one here now. A sour disappointment, especially after the scout reports had mentioned what could have been a few individuals.

Nothing, there was nothing here except animals and ruins. With a final glance at the thickly grown wood, and deciding that he had gone far enough of the main expedition routs for today, he turned to walk back down the path he had cut through the undergrowth…and froze. Right there on his trail, seeming as surprised at his sudden decision to turn around as he was at seeing it, was…something. At first he thought it was nothing more then a wild animal, but wild animals did not stand on two feet.

For a while the two stared at each other both waiting for the other to make the first move. The doctor couldn't help the smile that spread over his face, causing his overly long mustache to wave with the motion. "Hello…" he said in the most disarming voice he could manage. And with that one word it was gone. He blinked through his glasses, not sure whether he had even seen the creature move, only the rustle of a bush settling back beside where it had stood only a second before marking its passing.

Though the quick disappearance brought a frown at first, his expression transformed back into a smile soon enough. Well it seemed there was at least one person, of questionable intelligence, living here. It wasn't a human though which was no surprise since the books that had led him to this location had only ever mentioned humans in passing, they were far older then the human race. But it was a person never-the-less and a sign that this expedition and all its troubles would bear some interesting fruit if he could find them again.

And he would, he'd damned well make sure he would.

Published: February 5, 2007
Last Updated: December 13, 2007