Author's Notes: I had to edit a few things. Apparently some things about Chapter 1 was kinda fuzzy and dodgey at best. No worries though, I just hope this re-edited version is better. Let me know what guys think. Constructive Critisism is the pathway to a great Story.
Disclaimer: I don't think I need to say this but... Sonic and co. doesn't belong to me! They belong to the dudes and dudettes at SEGA.
Unlikely Bonds
- A Loss and a Gain -
by Cattz Salzarrotta
Somewhere in the vast and sandy beaches of Whale Island is an area known as Seaside Hill. This place was known for its cool breeze and sunny grass lands, but what made this vast field well known is its old but still beautiful temple ruins. People often visit these ruins for picnics and other outdoor occassions, it was a great place to relax. In the distance, a blue hedgehog races his way through the grass plains and makes his way to the ruins ahead, his speed was remarkable his movements was like the wind itself, the cooling breeze made quite an impression on his rather long quills and made them flutter sideways as he continued his journey towards the ruins.
His made his inside the ruins. The 'ancient' structure made any adventurer curious and eager to explore the grand temple. But this blue hedgehog wasn't here for that. He was here because he was in the need to be challenged. Although he enjoys the peace as much as the next person, he definately didn't enjoy staying put.
He would rather be running around and exploring the world, and these ruins were perfect for that. He kind of enjoyed the ruin's 'unique' structure, due to it being like a giant obstacle course. He originally never ventured this far within the ruins alone. But he was familiar with the place. Because a few years or so he and his friends went through these very ruins to find a way to stop a certain doctor's evil plan. But back then they only passed through the surface of the ruins, he never had the opportunity to visit the ruin's heart, but he had to admit... the ruins looked completely different from the inside.
The stones were more darker and the loops were steeper and certain platforms were no longer responding automatically like the ones before, the stone tiles were so rough that his red sneakers felt like they were wearing out from the friction. The eerie sounds, the crumbling walkways, made any who venture in regret going inside in the first place. He slowed down his pace a little as he took the time to take a look at his surroundings. He realized that he had reached the oldest parts of the ruins, everything just looked so old and so... breakable.
Just then a tile on the floor gave way. It felt like he stepped on a switch or something "Uh oh..." then the entire floor in front of him started cracking. Realizing that the floor might crumble, he started looking around for a way out... but it was too late... BAM! The floor exploded and started crumbling away at his feet.
With quick relfexes, the blue hedgehog jumped of the floor he was standing. But when he landed on another section of the floor, that to crumbled away "Oh man! Just my luck!" quickly reacting at the situation he looked around to see if there was a way out of this. After scanning the area, he noticed that the walls a little further down the hallway he was in were more compact. He quickly darted over towards that section of the ruins and with great ease our blue hero jumps off and started bouncing off and on the tight hallway in a triangular forward pattern.
As he continued his display of great agility, he saw a ledge on the right corner of the hallway's end. He worked his way towards the ledge and again with great ease he ends his feat with a spin ball towards the ledge and lands perfectly on the ledge's edge. Obviously pleased with himself he gestured his arms in an arrogant manner "Piece o' cake!" he said as he brushed of the dust from his arms and then continued his journey through the ruins.
The area he was on was pretty narrow, it would be impossible to run without bumping at the walls, so he thought maybe walking would be appropriate for now. The narrow path almost seemed endless, he had been walking down the narrow hallway for minutes! And he wasn't exactly the patient type.
"Come on! How long is this pathway! Seriously!" he said out loud. As he continued to stroll, he saw a light on the ceiling a few steps ahead of him "Finally."
The square opening was kind of high, so he paced himself for a high jump. He bended his knees and curled himself up like a ball and braced himself for a jump. With great leg strength he propelled himself upwards, but as luck would have it, he hit something along the way and fell right back down with a thud.
"Ow! Dude what the...?" he said rubbing the sore area of his head. As he looked up and surveyed the culprit of his induced pain he saw that there was an iron bar inside the opening "Would have loved to have known that earlier." he said out loud again as he stood up. He started to position himself for another jump. But this time holding on to the iron bar and then lifting himself up.
As he arrived at the top he found himself in a giant open room. The room was dome shaped and was designed to look like a Greek or Roman like palace. The tiles weren't just ordinary tiles either. They were smooth and totally different from the tiles from the outside or the inside of the ruins that he was in before.
"Its like being in Sally's palace..." he said out loud admiring the spectical. But as he focused more on what he just said, his fascination dissappeared, and was replaced by thoughts of the princess that he knew so well.
He smiled a little as he thought about Sally. It brought back some happy memories about living in the palace with her. But along with good memories... there were sad ones... at least one was...
He gave a big sigh as he sat down on the floor, he wasn't tired, he was just feeling a little sad... and sometimes sitting down helps you reminisce better. "Sally...". His memories of his long childhood friend were joyous. Each moment he spent with her didn't bring him any form of grief. He rembered when they were still kids that they were always together.
Always talking to each other about everything. There was a lot of good moments that they spent with each other. All but one that is... He drifted in his thoughts for a moment. But he quickly forced himself out of it as he was about to remember something painful. He shook his head violently as he reminded himself to forget about it. "I'm not to remember stuff!" he shouted to himself. And with that he stood up and went on roaming the giant room.
As he completely shook away what was doing earlier. He started to notice things he didn't notice when he first entered. He noticed that the air he was breathing was thin. He thought that maybe he was at the highest point of the ruins. Probably a tower of sorts. Another thing he noticed was that the room was devoid of any kind of valuables. Usually, these kinds of places have plenty of things lying around. Usually something like gold or diamonds. He also found that the room was more polished then the other parts of the ruins that he raced through... It was almost as if this room was untouched by time... It almost seemed beautiful even for its simple construction. But as he continued to admire the room's beauty, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was odd about all this.
He stopped for a moment and turned his focus at something that he should've noticed first but didn't. Across the room, probably the center, was an altar. He approached the altar slowly. He felt something odd about it...
"I wonder what's up with that altar?" He said as he continued to draw closer. "It wouldn't hurt to get a better look at it..." He said trying to get rid of whatever it was that was worrying him.
As he finally got near the altar. He noticed something on it. Something small and round.
"It looks like an orb of some kind?" He squinted his eyes and reached out with his fore-finger and poked the orb comically.
Nothing happened. It seems to be just a regular orb he thought. But as he reached out for a second poke his body involuntarily pushed itself forward and knocked over the orb.
"Oops..." As he was about to rush towards the orb and prevent it from breaking, an unknown force is preventing him from stopping the orb's descent "It's as if someone's holding me back..." He grunted as he struggled free from the unknown force. But it was too late...
The orb smashed on impact with the floor and a blinding white light shot out causing blinding our hero. As he recovered from the blinding light he looked around and tried to find out if the orb had a nasty surprise for him. He looked around frantically and glared at every corner of the room.
"Nothing seems to be out of place... except for the orb of course... oh well no harm done I guess." Realizing that it was probably just a plain old orb, he discarded whatever feeling of dread he had and started walking away. But as he did he remembered that feeling of being frozen in place. He stopped for a short second and then started eyeing out his body for any abnormalties "What was that strange feeling just now... my body wasn't responding correctly..." thinking that it was nothing to to worry over and blamed whatever he ate earlier, he shrugged it off and started walking towards one of the openings in the room.
Looking out he could see clouds everywhere and then looking down he could see the ruins down below. It looked like a miniature toy city from where he was standing "Whoa... I'm pretty high up..." as he continued to look down a mischievous smile formed along his face. And with that he jumped off and started running down the side of the tower. But unbeknownst to our blue hero a dark figure walked across the ledge our hero jumped off.
*---*
Sometime later our hero speeds towards Station Square for a much well deserved lunch. It was around one in the afternoon. It was just about time for lunch. Station Square was a great place. He made his home here ever since he got here a few years ago. He can't explain it for sure... but being here just made him feel very comfortable.
He eventually makes his way to the park and stops near his usual food stand "Three chili dogs and a soda dude." He said pointing at the vendor.
"Right away sir." the vendor replied and started to cook up some chili dogs.
As our hero awaits his order a familiar voice calls out to him from the distance "Hey Sonic! Sonic!" the voice said.
As our hero looks towards the direction from where the voice came from, he sees a little fox kid running towards him.
Sonic squinted his eyes and looked at the kid more closely... After confirming who it was, he gestured the kid to come over "Hey there little buddy what's up?" He said as the little kid approached him. Sonic's friend stops in front of him and takes a moment to catch his breath. Sonic's friend's face appeared slightly blue, which contrasted with his yellow orange fur.
His two tails were drooping downwards due to his obvious signs of fatigue, "I've *huff* been *huff* looking *huff* all over the place for you! *huff* Where have you been?" a hint of worry was on his friend's voice as he spoke.
Sonic smiled, he knew he'd worry about him, after all, he worry's about everything. Even during the World Gran Prix he couldn't stop lecturing him abou how the gear was like this and like that.
Sonic decides to ease his friend's worry "Sorry little guy I've been exploring the Seaside Hill ruins. Why, Did something happen while I was away?" he asked the still panting fox kid while turning to see if the vendor was down with his order.
Finally catching his breath Sonic's friend looks towards him with great concern. But Sonic didn't take notice. He was too busy reaching for his soda which the vendor placed in front of him earlier.
"Sonic! Every one of our friends have been abducted by a bunch of creeps wearing black and gold suits!" His friend shouts with worry in his tone.
The news made him knock over the soda. The soda fell to the ground near the vendor and making a rather sticky mess on the vendor's part. Sonic didn't even notice what he just did and just turned around to face his little buddy."What!?" The news was quite a shocker to him. Why now he thought. He wasn't expecting anything bad happening while he was gone. It's only been a month since the events in Babylon Garden. He wasn't axactly ready to deal with another problem so soon!
"When did this all happen!" Sonic still couldn't take the news, but Sonic's friend just waved his arms sideways towards him.
"It happened just a few minutes ago. And I think they're still after- oh no... there they are!" Sonic's friend said, but he changed words in mid-sentence as he saw black spots moving across the ground to his right.
"Oh man! I didn't think they'd get here so fast!" Sonic's friend said backing away slightly and placing his hands over his mouth in horror. As the spots got closer to them an arm burst forth from one of them and grabbed Sonic's little buddy.
"Sonic! Help!" Sonic's friend yelped as he struggled free of the hand's grip. Sonic was caught off guard by the sudden burst and outcry of his friend. After he recovered from his shock. He quickly jumped at the hand.
"Don't worry little buddy!" He said, trying to pry open the hand. As Sonic attempted to save his little buddy. Two of the other black spots moved towards him and morphed into humanoid creatures and started assaulting Sonic.
"Who are you guys?" he said as he was tossed to the side and off of the hand that gripped his friend. Sonic stood his ground in battle position and stared at the enemy in front of him. He definately never saw these guys before... They wore full body suits with matching gauntlets and greeves lined with gold. They also wore helmets that completely hid they're faces. The enemy kind of resembled a half bee half mantis-like creature. As Sonic prepared to kick the creeps butts his friend was being pulled into the black spot deeper and deeper.
"Tails! No!" Sonic rushed to his rescue but the guys in suits were blocking his path "Get off!". He yelled.
The suit guys were tough... Tougher than any enemy he faced before... But he wasn't going to let up for a second! But as Sonic faught the enemies in front of him. He didn't realize that Tails was already taken into the black spot and disappeared. Realizing that they couldn't keep up with Sonic. The suited dudes morphed back to black spots and disappeared as well.
"What?" Sonic said, shocked by their disappearance. But his shock quickly turned to dread as he realized that Tails was no longer with him...
He fell to his knees and struck his fist to the ground with great anger. "No... how could I let them get away with Tails..." He said, beating himself up over his failure to protect his best friend... But his anguish didn't last for very long. He stood up and clenched his fist as fire blazed in his eyes. He knew nothing of this new enemy. But he was sure that this new enemy was under the control of an old one. "This must be another one of his dirty works!" He growled and gritted his teeth. And in the blink of eye Sonic dashes away.
*---*
Knowing full well that a majority of the incidents that happen to him and his friends are caused by a certain mad scientist. Sonic rushes towards this individual's base of operations to get some answers and save his friends. Assuming that MeteoTech was still under construction from the previous adventure he had. He darted towards one of this individual's bases that was nearest to MeteoTech. Which was the desert base called Bullet Station. To his surprise however on his arrival at Bullet Station the base was in shambles.
"Whoa... what happened here..." Sonic looked on bewildered at the destroyed base with awe at the level of destruction. The base was in really bad shape... Sonic felt a little worried as his grip on his fist tightened.
"If he really is behind this... I hope that my friends are the ones responsible for this." Dismissing a dread that crept along his spine he hops on the nearest railway and grinds towards the base.
The pathway going towards the base was in pretty bad shape. Some of the railings weren't even connected anymore and Sonic had to switch from rail to rail more often then he used to.
"Oh man... if only this base had more running ground this would have been easier." He said in a lowered voice. Sonic wasn't one to complain but with things the way they are, he couldn't help it. Eventually making his way to the base Sonic enters an opening in the wall next to him.
The base looked horrible. It looked like the place was trashed by an army of some kind. And there was no way his friends could have done all this by themselves. Sonic placed his hand in a piece of what seems to be a wall next to him as he examined the damages.
"Judging from the dents I'd say a brawl happened here... and judging from the holes I'd say that it also involved gunfire..." He said feeling even more worried. He started looking around for clues in the hopes that his friends weren't involved in any of this. As he looked around more, he saw a trail of blood on the floor to his left just around the corner at the end of the corridor he was in.
"Didn't think bots were capable of bleeding..." Sonic said jokingly. But he was kinda worried about whose blood that was.
"I hope that blood isn't from who I think it is..." Sonic dashes towards the direction of the blood hoping to find some answers as whose it was and hoping it doesn't involve his friends.
The blood trail eventually led him to a giant hangar door. There was a giant hole on the right side of the door "The blood trail continues through..." he peeked the inside the hangar.
It was dark, he couldn't even see the blood trail anymore. The hangar though looked less damaged then the rest of the base. I guess the brawl had to end eventually... he said to himself silently as he entered the hangar.
The hangar still looked pretty bad. The place wreaked with the stench of oil and machine parts were scattered everywhere. The only source of light was from the other side of the hole Sonic went through. He needed to find a light switch. He started looking around the wall near the entrance.
He started feeling around for a light switch as he walked over to the wall "There must be a light switch nearby..." As he continued to feel around he noticed that there were bumps and dents on the wall. He didn't bother thinking what caused the bumps and just continued to feel around for the light switch. After feeling around the wall he eventually found the switch. Flipping the switch, the hangar lit up. And as it did he saw a wrecked up Egg Albatross from one of his previous adventures dangling from the ceiling with cables.
"Wow... I never realized how big that thing was." Sonic said walking up to the giant airship. Trying to reminisce on old times again he didn't notice that someone was in the hangar with him.
"Hey you! Wait... SONIC!?" Sonic turned around and saw a figure standing in the shadows. Apparently not all the lights turned on. The far right corner of the hangar was still pretty dark.
As the figure limped closer his visage became more and more visble, a slightly torn apart black pair of boots which were attached to a pair of black tights and topped over by a red lab coat with silver buttons covered this unknown individual's body. But the individual's identity was revealed as a large bushy mustache attached to a sharp red nose wearing a pair of dark lensed glasses came into view and Sonic immediately recognized who it was.
"Eggman!? What happened here!? But more importantly... what happened to you!?" Sonic said in aghast at seeing the Eggman's condition.
*---*
After applying first aid and a quick change of clothes Eggman looked liked nothing even happened to him. He adjusted his buttons and tightened his glove as he paced about the hangar. "I guess I should thank you for your assistance... so thanks..." Eggman said. Not the type to thank anyone but himself, he forced himself to thank Sonic for his services. Even though it left a bad taste in his mouth, he had to thank him. If it wasn't for Sonic he would have bled to death.
"Don't expect me to repeat those words anytime soon." he said as he took a broken down piece of metal on the floor and made a make shift chair for himself.
"Aren't you gonna tell me what happened?" Sonic asked, he came here thinking Eggman was responsible for his friends abductions but he was feeling a little doubtful that Eggman had anything to do with it. But then again this is Eggman we're talking about.
Sonic just waited for the doc's answer as he watched the doc cross his arms and showing no interest at the hedgehog's question. "Are you even listening to me?" Sonic said but Eggman just sat there being silent. Sonic was tapping his foot impatiently at the doctor.
"Hey! I asked you a question!" Sonic was getting irritated. Eggman still ignored his words. Sonic stopped tapping his foot and started clenching his fists. Seeing Sonic's annoyance the doctor nodded his head and cleared his throat.
"Alright, alright I heard you, I just needed some time to collect my thoughts." Eggman said. He was obviously just trying to annoy the hedgehog. Which was working and Eggman was well aware of that "Okay, first off I was attacked by some guys in black and gold suits..."
Sonic's temperment cooled down at the mention of the suit guys "So you were attacked by the same guys who attacked my friends..." Sonic said cutting off Eggman.
"Let me finish first!" Eggman said with a slight hint of anger in his voice. Sonic crossed his arms and rolled his eyes as he gestured the doctor to continue.
"Where was I... okay, these guys just busted in my base and started wrecking the place just out of the blue! Theen they started trying to abduct me. But they failed miserably! Mwuhohohoho!" he said as he gave his little annoying laugh.
Sonic couldn't stand that laugh. He can usually take hearing that laugh but now wasn't really the time for it. "This is serious! Stop laughing!" Sonic said stomping his foot to the ground.
"I have no obligation to listen to you!" Eggman shouted.
"That's it!" Sonic pounced Eggman and started pounding away at him. Which the doctor returned with equal zeal.
After what seems to be an hour of beating the snot out of each other. They slowly began to cool they're jets. Sonic started brushing off the dirt and grime that he got from the brawl and looked at Eggman.
"Alright... enough. We need to calm down and take this thing more seriously." he said to Eggman.
Eggman did the same and started polishing off his glasses "Agreed..." he replied. Afterwards Sonic continued his question to Eggman.
"As I was trying to say. Any idea why they were here and why they attacked you?" Sonic asked the disgruntled scientist.
"How the heck should I know?" Eggman replied in a sort of grumble.
After a while Sonic told Eggman what happened to Tails. Eggman pondered the idea and was seemingly intrigued by the situaion. "I see... if what you say is true... then that means that people other then your friends might have been abducted as well... What exactly did you do to make all this happen?" Eggman asking Sonic with his hand cupped on his chin.
Sonic did the same thing and started pacing the floor thinking of a reason. Several questions popped into his head as he did. Like, What could have caused all this? And why? Why my friends? And who are those guys in suits? Could it have something to do with what happened in Seaside Hill? Or is this even bigger then I think? Maybe... after a while of thinking he stopped and looked towards Eggman.
Thinking it best that he knew what happened today "It must have something to do with what happened at Seaside Hill."
"Oh really? What happened?" Eggman asked as he went back to his seat.
"I'll tell you later. Right now we need to find out what's going on. I hate to have to ask this but.... I could use your help Eggman." Sonic requested hesitantly.
Eggman rubbed his chin as he did not find the idea working with Sonic a viable option. Especially since he is his eternal nemisis. But he wasn't just going to sit down and let those suit guys get away with what they did! After all Eggman wasn't the kind of guy to let things go. And Sonic can vouch for that. Besides he was curious as to what happened at Seaside Hill... maybe he could take use this oppertunity to... nah! All I want is revenge on those suit guys! And I could always just beat up Sonic later! Eggman thought.
"I hate to say it, but very well." Eggman said as he stood up from his chair.
"But may I suggest we look around a bit to find out if any of our allies are still around and ask for their help." He continued. Sonic nodded and soon he and Eggman set off for Station Square.
*---*
It was a long way towards Station Square so Sonic and Eggman took the Egg Mobile to make the trip short and quick. Along the way Sonic explained to Eggman what happened at Seaside Hill. Much to the scientist's fascination.
"Intriguing... that orb could most probably be the source of all this. It must have been a seal of some kind..." Eggman stated and Sonic crossed his arms as he leaned on his seat.
"Whatever it was. I have a feeling that things are gonna get worse...". Sonic couldn't help worry about the situation. After all, look what those suit guys did to Eggman's base. Not even he could have done that so quickly without some help... Who could be behind this? Sonic thought.
Upon nearing the city limits both individuals were shocked to see the city in shambles similar to Eggman's base. They're jaws dropped at complete unison.
"What the...!?" Sonic said. He can't help but jump out of his seat at the sight he is seeing... the city looked like when Chaos was in the city from one of his previous adventures. It wasn't a pretty sight.
"We gotta do something!" Sonic felt he had to do something. His hero instincts were screaming at him to run ahead. But as he was about to jump off Eggman grabbed his tail.
Sonic didn't like the way Eggman just grabbed his tail. How dare he! As Sonic raised his fist about to clobber the doctor. But Eggman interrupted him.
"Hold on Sonic! Wait till we get there! You have to stay calm!" the doctor shouted at the angry hedgehog. Sonic let his arm down and yanked his tail off of Eggman's hand.
"But a lot of people could be hurt!" Sonic protested shouting back at the doctor.
"I know that! But going there alone won't change anything. I'll send my Eggbots to the city so just calm down!" Eggman said trying to convince Sonic.
Sonic knew that he couldn't face the suit guys alone... so he gave a sigh and yielded. Not wasn't very fond of agreeing with Eggman but he's got to grin and bare it if he was going to save the city... as they flew closer to the city his patience slowly dwindled.
"Can't this thing go any faster!" Sonic shouted at his supposed new ally and Eggman just rolled his eyes. Even though you can't really see his eyes you can tell he did so from the motion of his eyebrows and the light shining off his glasses.
"Your so impatient." Eggman said.
"Deal with it." Sonic said as he crossed his arms.
Sonic couldn't take having to sit by as the city was under this condition... it was really something Sonic couldn't contain... he shouted in his head the words 'hurry up!' repeatedly as he tapped his foot at supersonic speed.
Upon arrival on the scene Sonic immediately hopped off the Egg Mobile and got ready to dash off. "I gotta go see if anybody got hurt." he said and Eggman scrambled off his seat to get Sonic to calm down.
"Wait Sonic it would be safer if you stayed here and let my Eggbots handle this!" Eggman said tumbling over himself.
Sonic didn't have time for this! Each second that passes by could mean a citizen getting hurt! "Sorry doc but you know me, I can't just sit around doing nothing." he said. As Sonic was about to dash off, the building across the street blew up.
The aftershock made Sonic lose his footing "Oh man! What the heck was that!" Sonic said as he stopped for a second to stare at the source of the explosion and looked at the large shopping mall across the street.
That's near the coffee shop... but his thoughts were cut off as he saw someone falling from the building "Hey! There's someone in trouble!" in a split second Sonic rushed to the falling individual.
"This is turning out to be a bad day..." As he was nearing the area of the building that blew up he could see the body of the victim. The individual looked unconscious "Hold on I'm coming!" Sonic jumped off as he neared the building and managed to catch the victim in mid-air. He gave a sigh of relief as he landed carrying the victim in his arms.
"That was close..." As he looked down to see who it was he rescued his eyes widden. He knew who the victim was! "No it can't be!"
After finally parking the Egg Mobile. Eggman gets off and started looking around for Sonic. "Damn that blasted little rodent!" He cursed at the air. Eggman also took the time to call in to some of his Eggbots to fly over to Station Square to take care of the situation and survey the surroundings "Shouldn't be long now... but where the heck did Sonic go? Typical of him to just run off and be a hero." Eggman bent over and started setting up his radar system to keep track of his Eggbots as they made their way to the city.
All the while Eggman was talking to himself "Thinks he's so cool..." But he didn't have to look for too long because the blue dude with 'tude was already heading towards him "Ah, looks like he's coming back..." But as Eggman looked on he saw that Sonic was carrying something around his arms... Wonder what he's carrying? Could it be that guy who fell from the collapsed building? Eggman thought while scratching his head.
To be Continued...