A/N: First story! Well, first thought out story. Anyways, read it and tell me what you think. I know that the beginning might be kind of dull, but it'll pick up when the plot begins to round out. Takes place about a month after Lost World.
Chapter 1: Hedgehog of Unknown
The wind blew softly from aloof the tree I was relaxing in. I felt the branch sway peacefully. A faint scent of wet grass blew over with the wind. It was peaceful, but like most peace, it never last.
"Hey Faker!" an all too familiar grumpy voice yelled from below. I jumped down from the tree and landed in front of the classically irritable Shadow.
"What?" I asked in a similar tone. He and I didn't usually get along, and this was no exception.
"Humph, this is the thanks I get for bearing important news. Listen up because I'm only going to say this once. Eggman's kidnapped some of your pals."
"He did what?" I cried out. Shadow grimaced from my shout.
"He captured your friends and is holding them for the ransom for the price of the seven chaos emeralds. I was on a mission for G.U.N. to see why Eggman's been too silent after his recent defeat." That made sense. Even if Eggman was trying to work under the radar, if you looked, you could pick up on small signs. But as of late, there's been nothing. I'd almost forgotten about that crazy inventor since the whole Zeti incident.
"Do you know exactly who he's got?" I asked.
"He's got Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese. I had Rouge scout the place, but I lost her signal. I think she too got captured in the process of getting info for me."
"This isn't good." I thought for a second, assessing the situation. 'I know I'm not just going to hand over the Chaos Emeralds, and I also know that I can't fight Eggman alone without putting my friends at risk.' In a low voice, I asked with strain, "Do you…think you could possibly…help me…?"
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Shadow said with a small grin. "You're asking me for help?"
"Yes, I am," I replied, swallowing my pride. "What Eggman is doing worries me a little as he's really crossed the line. And I'm not just going to hand over the Chaos Emeralds. If I fight him alone, I would really be putting everyone in danger."
"It's not like I have a choice. G.U.N has already asked me to take out the Doc if he's been up to anything dangerous to everyone."
"Thank you, Shadow." With that, we ran to Tail's Workshop and grabbed the two Chaos Emeralds that were there. Then we headed over to Angle Island and grabbed the two that were there. Then we ran over to G.U.N.'s Headquarters and grabbed the one that was there. Finally, we headed over to the Chaotix's Headquarters and took the two from there.
"I have to ask, Sonic. Why are all the Chaos Emeralds in these places? I know I found the one that was back at G.U.N, but why the location of the others?" he asked when we grabbed the last two.
"Since it's been a while since Eggman's gone after the Chaos Emeralds, we decided the best thing to do was to split them up in different places. Good call we made there too." Shadow gave a small nod at the logic. After that, he led me to where Eggman was located, which was Green Hill Zone. "Ah, it's been a while since I last felt the wind here."
"We can reminisce later. Let's just take down Eggman." We were about to teleport to the ship, but my eye caught something. "Hey, is that…?"
"I think it is," I replied. I blasted off with my Sonic Boost and made my way over to the gray hedgehog know as Silver.
"Hey Silver! What are you doing here?" I asked in a light tone. I saw him deep in thought and it took him a second to notice me.
"Hm? Oh, hey Sonic," he said in a static tone. "There' a bit of a problem."
"How so?"
"In my time, there have been these…time holes that have appeared. When you look through them, you see what I assume to be a destroyed version of what it's in front of, like a paradox. You can't go through them though. They're like windows." This confused me a bit, as I thought everything with Silver's future was fixed so long as we were doing our jobs.
"Didn't we fix everything?" I asked, expressing my concern.
"That's what I thought. I've heard a bit about what you've done through some old text, but they've never affected the future. What's creepier is that they just stopped expanding and appearing at some point, like they were waiting."
"Waiting for what?"
"Waiting to see how the events in the past are to play out." I just had a small chill up my spine as he said that. It made me worried that Eggman was going to unleash total chaos.
"That's quiet troubling," Shadow commented as he approached us.
"Yeah, and even more is that when they were examined, they always point to this day around this time. So whatever is going to happen today is going to be significant and deciding of the future."
"Then let us proceed with caution." We nodded and Shadow used Chaos Control to teleport us to the haul of the ship. Everything was as it usually was, including the large mass of robots and guns at the ready. Feedback could be heard as an intercom was turned on.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't the little trio of blue, black, and white," Eggman mocked. "I was hoping you would resort to attacking. That means I get to try out my new arsenal of weapons on you annoying little freaks and get the Chaos Emeralds!" I saw even more guns, cannons and machines that I didn't know what their purpose was, except to kill us of course.
"I'm touched that you would make so many toys for us to break," I mocked. I ran in place for a couple seconds. Then I ran at top speed toward the weapons, tearing through them as I rolled into a ball. Shadow came up from behind and released a couple of Chaos Spears. After that, rocket launchers popped up behind us and launched their ammunition. Just as they were about to hit, a thin cyan aura appeared around them and they flew right back at their senders. When the explosion sounded, all three of us split up and started to attack the robots. Bouncing off and rolling through a few, I looked over and saw Silver and Shadow fending them off with ease.
"Something's not right here," Silver quietly commented when we were back to back. "These robots aren't doing much other than the occasional swing. Other than that, they just sit there." He was right. That was strange. Even if Eggman's robots stink, they still fight back. These haven't done a thing to protect themselves. Just then, a large energy cannon popped from below us, fully charged. Silver and I dove to the side as the blast headed straight for Shadow. He just held a hand out and when the beam made contact, it split around a red energy shield. I curled into a ball and rolled at it while Shadow did the same. We collided in the machinery and used each other to bounce back out. It crackled and popped before exploding.
"I don't understand what's going on," Shadow commented. "Eggman may not be the best robot designer, but this is just saddening." A red light appeared in his hand and he fired it up at the bridge, a large hold appearing once the light died out. We all made out way up to the bridge and we all jumped into the hole. There we found Eggman sitting smugly up on a metal throne.
"Well, it took you all long enough," he stated gruffly. "I expect more from the three of you, but beggars can't be choosers."
"When we're done with you, you'll be begging us for mercy!" I threatened. Jumping up, I attempted to do a homing attack, but was blocked by a barrier, knocking me back.
"Nice try, Sonic, but there's no way of getting to me from behind this barrier." I go up with an annoyed look. "Now, since you all aren't going to hand over the Chaos Emeralds, I'll take what I want by force!" He smashed down a button and the barrier could be seen as a blue shield. It began to close in around us, attempting to trap us.
"Like this will work," Shadow said. We summoned chaos energy from the emeralds and made a move to teleport out of the sphere. Unfortunately three things happened that set the stage. The sphere exerted a charge that electrocuted all of us, draining the energy of the Chaos Emeralds through us. We also couldn't cut our draw of power from the Chaos Emeralds. After a bit of concentration, the three of us went to teleport out. The problem was that the three of us went to go in different directions. Since we were linked with the Chaos Emeralds, that didn't work out well and it caused the sphere to explode from the tension of the splitting energy, causing a chain reaction around the base. I thought I saw two figured-shaped shadows go flying out over opposite sides of the ship, but I didn't pay any mind to it. Not wanting to waste any more time, I used what little power the Chaos Emeralds had left to increase my speed and run through the ship looking for my. Silver and Shadow followed and once we found them, used Chaos Control to teleport away from the destroyed ship, hearing the angry cries of the doctor's failed attempt to defeat us. I saw him escaping the scene in his personal hover craft from the smoke of the wreckage.
Once we were on a nearby cliff, I collapsed to my knees. "Why…am I so…tired?"
"I think…that thing…took some of…our natural body energy," Shadow said, breathing deeply too. "I…can barely…focus…" I looked over and saw Silver completely conked out. I surveyed my friends and saw all of them were fine other than them being knocked out and handcuffed. I was able to push myself off the ground and take survey of the surrounding area. As I went to turn away, something caught my eye over to my left. Running over there, I saw it was a hedgehog whose fur and quills were yellow. The quills themselves were slightly shorter than mine and he had three small ones jutting out from his forehead like a tail. His arms, mouth and torso were a light tan. He was also wearing a gray elbow length jacket that was loosely held together by three buckles. He was wearing a mahogany pair of gym shorts and a brown belt with two satchels that reminded me of a friend's satchel belt. His gloves were fingerless and colored light gray with blue padding on the fingers and palm and golden cuffs. His shoes were a solid red and the toe end tipped with a cyan color with a golden buckle like mine that held a black strap. The soles of the shoes were outlined with red and the inside was white.
"Hey, wake up," I said while lightly shaking him. His moaned and mumbled incoherently. "Come on, wake up." His eyes slowly fluttered open. When they did, he jumped up and back into a hostile stance. His violet eyes surveyed me with an unexplained anger. He ran at me at a fast speed that caught me off guard as I wasn't completely prepared for the attack. His fist connected with my jaw and I felt him kick my side. After that, he grabbed one of my quills and threw me over his shoulder. I rolled away as his heel sailed to the ground where I lied. "Whoa, wait! Calm down! I'm not your enemy!" I cried. He stopped attacking me and looked at me with confusion.
"Who are you?" he asked. I was about to answer when suddenly, he cried out and fell over. I saw Shadow holding out his hand behind him.
"Hey, there was no need to do that!" I said with anger. Shadow just brushed it away.
"He was attacking you. I took the only action that I could since you weren't going to take it." I glared at him before letting it drop. I looked back at the hedgehog on the ground. "Well, at least he doesn't seemed to be harmed very much. Let's go get the others and head to Tail's Workshop."