The Assault on Cayona Chapter 1: The Early Bird, a sonic the hedgehog fanfic

Series 1: Heroes of Luxia

Episode 2: The Assault on Cayona

Hey, what's up everybody! This is Master of Heroes bringing you the second installment in the adventures of our heroes! Again, sorry for the long wait (for the 3 people who actually enjoy these ), yet never fear! I will always come back, until the story is told. So without further ado, let's meet some new characters, shall we? -MH

The sun beat down on the dry surface of the planet. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but an endless expanse of sandy, arid lands. The only respite was an occasional breeze as it traveled across the windswept terrain.

Across the planet ran several canyons, stretching like scars on the surface of the planet. Their shade and depth helped to provide a small rest in the otherwise blistering planet.

Here, in a small cavity inside one of the walls, a figure in dark armor stood out amongst the barren walls. However, the way the sunlight bounced off some walls, and the darkening background effect it created in the small cavity, helped keep the figure incredibly well camouflaged. The figure stood silent as stone, intently peering through the scope of the rifle it held. The elongated rifle featured a powerful scope that allowed him to see incredibly far. He adjusted the zoom of said scope, scanning the skies. For a long period, he did nothing but look back and forth across the sky. After a period of quiet, there was a whooshing sound overhead, and he aimed the rifle in time to see a fighter jet tear across the sky with its forward-swept wings.

"There we go...," he said softly, finally lowering the rifle. "Alright, Scott, let's go."

Next to the figure rested another, leaning back against the walls of their cavity. He groaned as the first figure nudged his black armor with the rifle. On their shoulder pads, each had the green-blue planet emblem of GEAR. He continued to complain as he stood up, dusting off his armor. He had been peacefully resting while his fellow trooper kept lookout. He sighed

"How come we always get stuck with these boring missions?" he whined.

"What are you complaining about? We've had nothing to do at base, they send us on a simple patrol, and you're whining about it?" the first figure asked incredulously.

"Mike, they sent us on a patrol to the other side of the planet. At six in the morning!" Scott complained.

"Scotty, it's as bright and hot as noon," Mike reminded him.

"Yeah, that helps," Scott mumbled sarcastically.

"Cheer up. This is our last sector," Mike reminded him as they exited the cavity. They trudged along the side of the canyon until they came to an area with less steeper walls and more rocks to stand on and grab hold of.

"Race ya down!" Mike yelled as he jumped down.

"You're on!" Scott replied, happy to have something to do. He quickly followed.

The duo slid down the walls, jumping and swerving to avoid rocks. Crouching lower, Scott gained speed until he triumphantly rolled down into the base of the canyon. Mike tried to land on a ledge, but as soon as he touched ground, the ledge shook violently, then collapsed.

"Whoa!" Mike exclaimed as he fell. Scott rolled to a side to avoid the debris, and when the dust cleared, he looked up. There, sitting among a pile of rocks was Mike, uninjured thanks to his armor.

"You alright, Mikey?" Scott asked him, holding out a hand and helping to pull him up.

"I'm fine, Scotty," Mike told him. The trooper stood up and dusted himself off before leaning down to pick up his rifle. As he picked it up and moved back up, he looked at the piece of the canyon that had given away and saw something that surprised him.

"Hey, look at this!" Mike told Scott. His fellow trooper looked at what he was pointing and noticed the same thing. There between the rock walls, was an exposed part of a pipe.

"Well, I'll be. What's a pipe doing here?" Scott asked.

"I'm not sure. Nobody lives near here, and the inhabitants of this planet don't really use plumbing," Mike remarked. He pulled out a small portable blowtorch, and cut a hole in the side of the pipe. Removing the piece, he looked in and saw not water, but wires.

"Electrical wires!" Mike realized. " Well then, this is not normal. People on this planet hardly ever use electricity."

"You think someone's near here?" Scott said, looking around nervously as he lifted his own rifle.

"Or something," Mike thought aloud. "Come on, let's go! The wires seem to be running this way!". He pointed to their right.

The duo continued their trek along the canyon floor until they came to a completely barren clearing.

"Let's keep going. We'll get a better view up top," Mike told him.

The two continued along into the canyon, then found a suitable point from where to once more climb up. They decided to travel by a ledge that seemed to stretch along the wall forever. As they progressed, they noticed things began to get quieter. This made Scott restless, and he began to jog ahead. He turned a corner only to bumb into a Stormer. The mech glared at him and smacked him with his arm, knocking him down and sending his rifle flying. He tried to grab his pistol, but by this time the mech had already taken aim at him. Before it could fire, though, there was a loud crack sound, and the bot fell back, a bullet ledged deep into it's core processor. Scott turned around to see Mike a couple of meters behind, crouched and looking up from the rifle's scope.

"Nice shot," Scott commented as he got up.

"Thanks," Mike smiled. "There may be more. Careful."

They both did so, and continued their journey until they came to the edge of the ledge, which overlooked a large clearing. Mike pulled out his binoculars and focused his view. He gasped. Scott followed his example and looked down, also gasping.

Down below was a massive complex of solar panels, and power plants. The panels were huge, and Mike counted dozens and dozens of them. Amongst the panels were also tall, silver buildings, looking technologically advanced and equipped with a strong armor. Perhaps most worrying was not the structure in itself, but the fact that around the complex were various of the strange half-mechanical, half-living creatures that had been attacking the GEAR-controlled planets recently. Very few troopers had survived to tell the tale of them. It appeared that they were not the only ones, however. Various of the smaller, wolfish creatures were there as well. Not only that, but the taller creatures were directing groups of Stormers, the white robots with yellow stripes that formedthe bulk of the invading force. One of the tall creatures stood atop a miniature podium and began pointing and signaling to a group of Stormers with it's blade arm. It spoke in a strange mechanical beeping, muffled buzzing, and near human sounds. The Stormers nodded, and went off to perform their various tasks.

"Well, well, well," Mike said, slightly breathlessly, "what do we have here?"

"I can't believe it," Scott commented. "How have our aerial patrols and satellites never detected this before?"

Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, scanning the area. He looked upwards and grunted.

"There."

Scott looked up for a moment and felt extreme vertigo. Above him was what appeared to be another canyon clearing, this one empty. It was when he looked around and saw that there were small machined around them in the canyon walls, throwing up light, that he understood what was happening.

"Holograms," Mike explained. "Those machines create a nearly perfect hologram. Not only that, but my scope is detecting a wave of cold being emitted from them. They're masking themselves on visual and infared."

"So what now?" Scott asked, looking down nervously.

Mike sighed an stood up. He began to walk back the way they had come, Scott behind him. As he walked away, Scott saw him pull out a secure communicator, much safer than their personal comms.

Mike clicked on the device. "Delta-Four-Foxtrot, this is Eagle-Eye. Wait till you hear this..."

And, voila! A new adventure starts! For those of you who liked this chapter, don't worry, Mike and Scott will appear occasionally from time to time. I'll try to upload another chapter before school starts. Read and review!

DISCLAIMER: Sonic and all other UNORIGINAL characters, locations, etc. DO NOT belong to me. They are property of SEGA.