Chapter 1:
Infiltrate Area 99
A young boy had went to bed around 10 PM after a long day of training after school. 'Sleep is good.' The boy thought as he changed to his PJ's and collapsed on his bed. A few hours passed, and right when he was about to enter a deep sleep a splash was heard outside. "Again?" The kid muttered out of annoyance since he was used to that sound, and decided to see about it again.
'This is just great. I had to land in water; didn't I?' The creature that splashed down in the pool thought before struggling to leave, but was having zero luck. As he sat there - wondering what he was going to do to get out of there the boy made it outside his house.
'Hmm? No one around. Last perv that broke into my house at least made it to the backdoor.' The boy thought as he recalled the last obsessed fan girl that wanted a piece of his dad before saying hello to a…unique bouncer. He got to the edge of the pool, and his sour mood went away. "That's no perv, but it does need help." The boy said before activating a device that his grandfather gave him from a friend.
"I hope Wildvine is up to the task." The green themed creature said aloud before shooting out his arms, with his fingers stretched out after that. Once the vine fingers were around the creature he pulled it to the surface. "This guy sure is weird looking." The plant stated at the human in appearance hedgehog.
"Thanks for the save." The creature said after coughing out some water before looking at his savior. "Who are you?" The hedgehog asked while taking a good look at the creature's appearance.
"I go by the name Wildvine, but most of the time - Christopher Thorndyke; you'll see what I mean once this thing times out." The plant creature explained before adding, "So, what do they call you?" The creature smiled and replied with:
"Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog." Nodding in agreement the two went back to his place to saw some logs. During the kid's sleep cycle he power down to his base form, but did not notice that since he was already fast asleep. A few hours past since then and the kid woke up, got dressed, and decided to give his mother a call.
"Oh, this picture has been a disaster, darling; a complete disaster. We've had to stop shooting because there have been torrential rain for days, so there's nothing I can do except sit and wait. I do not think I'll be back until late next week at the earliest, but I've had plenty of time to go shopping, and I'm sending you lots of wonderful presents sent. Oh, I hope you like them. They're coming on daddy's jet, so you should have them tonight." The mother stated as she explained her activities to her son with a joyful tone.
"That's great, mom." Chris said in a happy tone, but then decided to get to business, and felt a little nervous since he hadn't come up with a convincing cover story. "Well, mom, I did something that I know I'm not supposed to." He started off which caused the woman to become worried right from the start.
"Christopher, what happened? Are you alright?" The mother questioned and he was grateful that she really did care about him despite the distance between them.
"Yeah. I'm totally fine, but remember how you told me how I'm not allowed to go swimming at night, and how you wanted me to stay away from the adult pool…" The red haired human started to speak while giving a gracious nod to a raven haired man that came to the balcony he was on with a tray of food.
"Did you go swimming in the adult pool at night by yourself!" She exclaimed back while thinking of all the worst case scenarios for such a thing.
"Well, you see, not exactly." Chris said back before feeling the eyes of the strange visitor upon him causing the kid to look up at the blue creature from last night. "The good news is that there was no fan-boys this time when I made a sweep before bed, but there was a cat drowning in the adult pool, so I rescued it before it sank." The kid explained while keeping out his alien form and the true identity of the creature he saved.
"I see. It's all right. I'm not angry at you. You're so kind Chris. Goodbye." She said and her son kissed his phone as if kissing her goodbye which caused him to blush out of embarrassment since he didn't want any one else seeing him do such a thing.
"Was that cat supposed to be me?" The blue one questioned after landing from the roof to the stone railing of the balcony.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Are you angry at me? Perhaps I should have used a different animal, but it is the first one that came to mind." Chris said back and meant every word. "You see she wouldn't understand if I said I saved a hedgehog." The human explained to him.
"What do you mean?" The visitor questioned considering he didn't know what the animals of this world looked like.
"Because our hedgehogs are much smaller. Maybe this big at most." Chris explained while showing a rough estimate of how big he thought that they were which he accepted that much. "You're unique. You are much larger, and you can speak which reminds me: where and when did you learn to speak?" He asked the creature, and something told him that this visitor was not intergalactic like his transformations.
"I wonder…I don't remember something so long ago." The red/white shoes one commented back which the human understood since he doubted any human knew that detail of their lives. At that moment the phone in his hand rang again which he answered.
"Oh…Hello. Oh, dad…" Chris stated with a smile as he heard the voice of his father on the other end.
"Hi, Chris. Mom told me that a cat entered our pool last night? I'm sorry, Chris! That security's not good enough if a cat can get in so easily." The father said back which angered the hedgehog since he was listening in on the conversation.
"Don't be. No problem. I'm just fine. I shooed it away in no time. The poor thing panicked and hurried off when I glared at it." Chris explained, and was grateful that Sonic lost interest in the conversation since he was picking his ear with his gloved hand.
"I see." The father answered back calmly.
"Besides grandpa, Ella, and Mr. Tanaka are all here with me at home. But more importantly , your busy. Aren't you?" The boy informed and questioned since he did know of his father's working schedule.
"Yeah very." The father answered back and did not like that he was caught so easily, and by his own son no doubt.
"I'm really fine, okay? Oh okay. I'm hanging up then." The son said back since he wanted his father to return to his work as speedy as possible.
"I love you, Chris." The working man stated with a somewhat sad tone since he did miss his boy.
"Me too, dad. Bye." The boy said before hanging hp and giving his boy an embarrassed chuckle since the conversation did go on for a bit. "Oh, yeah, how about some chow?" Chris offered to his new friend.
"I am pretty hungry. What's on the menu?" Sonic questioned back while looking at the platter before him.
"Well, I checked out info for hedgehogs on the internet, but considering you're not an Earth hedgehog I thought you could have human food. Try a piece of bacon." The human said before picking up the plate of said meat, and presented it to him.
"Hmm! Not bad. Is the other stuff as good?" The blue themed hero questioned while taking a closer look at the plate.
"Let's focus on grub, and see if you've made the morning news." The kid said while taking the plate, and headed to a different room of the house. By the time he got to the TV room Sonic was already sitting on the sofa.
"What kept ya, slowpoke?" The speedster stated with a smile of satisfaction that he beat the one that lived in the home longer to his own Living Room. He ignored that, sat down the food, and turned on the TV. On the news was the speed demon's adventure the other night which involved an officer describing the size, two motorists describing his speed, and a zoologist explaining that Sonic was more machine than living being.
'More like an eating machine.' Chris thought after seeing his new friend down twelve pancakes, ten sausage links, and a gallon of Orange Juice, and was now munching on some pork rinds. At that moment a member of his family came in to see if his grandson was watching the news.
"Did you hear about it, Chris! A mysterious team that beat the S team appeared." The elder said before realizing the other creature between them causing them to glare at one another. Unable to think of a hero to intervene the kid grabbed the closest pillow and try to act as though there was nothing there.
"Hey, just what do you think you're doing, Chris?!" Sonic shouted out before finally able to force the pillow off of him, and he was mad that his new friend tried to hide him in that manner.
"Blue…looks to be a hedgehog." The grandfather muttered to himself as he looked at the creature and it was then everything came together. "Was it him?" The gray haired one questioned while getting a good grip on the visitor.
"No, well, uh…" The boy answered back since he hadn't tried to make a cover story should anyone see Sonic out and about. Before he could come up with a good answer his grandfather pulled a Phillips head screwdriver from his lab coat, and went to work.
"I wonder how he's made?" The elder said as he tried to locate a panel of some sort.
"Stop!" The blue one shouted out through his tickle fit, and was able to leap out of the situation before it became awkward.
"Don't run away!" The older man bellowed to the visitor while pointing his tool in the direction of the speed creature.
"Grandpa…he…Sonic is not a machine." The kid said and at that moment grandpa realized that he was an organic creature similar to one of his grandson's speed heroes. This realization caused a sort of awkward silence between the three which was stopped with a television broadcast.
"Please stay away. I'm scared." A timid voice said from the TV.
"Chao!" Another voice said in an equally scared tone from the boob tube.
"Please stay away." The first voice which seemed to be coming from a frightened rabbit on a billboard said while holding a strange light blue creature with a rain drop for a head.
"Cream and Cheese." Sonic shouted in realization after looking at the screen and saw two of his friends.
"Do you know them?" Chris questioned and immediately face palmed himself for saying such a stupid statement. Thankfully the speed demon was more concerned about his friends on the screen than the creatures around him to listen.
"So, I'm not the only one who came to this weird world. Okay, hang on!" The hero from another world said before dashing out of the door, and hung a hard right.
"Do you know where to go?!" Chris shouted from the entrance doorway while thinking, "How can this reckless creature still be alive?' He then watched as the speed creature came back and gave him a nervous smile.
'I think we can find out with one of my contacts.' Grandpa thought before issuing the two to follow him to his workshop where he decided to call someone. "Yeah, you're a great help. Thanks. Let's get together for a meal one day soon." He spoke to his contact after getting the needed news and hung up. "They seem to have been transported from the police to Area 99." The elder informed the other two.
"Area 99. I should have known." Chris muttered as he recalled the time he transformed into his red giant and the people at Area 99 thought he was a green giant; thankfully everything was worked out in the end.
"Area 99?" Sonic asked in a confused tone since he had never heard of this location.
"That's a military research facility. You see, The National Defense Force have war tanks, fighter plane, and weapons of war." Chris explained to the new guy, but all of that only sounded like a place his main foe would like to be.
"Something like Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed to the two which confused them a bit since neither one knew what he was talking about.
"They've been brought to military facilities to be checked out, I see. Maybe they think you guys are some sort of alien or biological weapons that had been developed in another country. What is in fact the truth? Huh?" Grandpa informed and then questioned to the humanoid animal to his right.
"I have no idea. So now that I know where they are, I guess I'll excuse myself." Sonic said to the older one before walking over to the open door.
"Hold on. If you're going to go through this then you might need some back up just in case you get caught." The young man stated since he was raised to be concerned for his friend's safety over his own.
"Why bother? I'm not such a klutz." The speed demon stated and was about to be on his way until the door closed right in front of him. "Just what do you think you're doing?!" The hedgehog shouted at them out of anger, but mostly looked to the younger one.
"I didn't do it! I swear." Chris said as he did a traditional hand sign of the boy scouts to prove he was being honest.
"I did!" The taller of the two said with a big grin on his face. Hearing this confused the both of them since he did not seem the sort to taunt a hero type. "This is quite interesting. I'm getting pretty excited." He explained while feeling his right bicep with his left hand.
"Not you too, grandpa." The young one commented since he couldn't believe that this elder would want to do something so death defying.
"You come along too. You're always saying that you don't want to be a bore like your dad, right? And that you want to give your transformations a real workout?" The father to his father questioned which embarrassed the shape-shifter.
"Agh, that's supposed to be a secret. Don't tell dad I said that." Chris responded with a hint of nervousness in his voice since he didn't want his father finding out what he really thinks of him.
"I know!" The grandfather said back before they all boarded his car, and drove off to this location.
"I can't be wasting my time riding something like this." Sonic commented as he sat in the back of the car that was going at a slow and steady pace.
"Now. Now." Grandpa said as he still seemed to be quite relaxed about this whole thing.
"This is it, right?" Chris questioned as he pulled the device his grandfather wanted from the glove box and showed it to him.
"Right." Grandpa answered back before looking back at the road.
"Put it on." Chris said as he handed Sonic the device and pointed at his own head as to where it was supposed to be placed.
"What is it?" The speedster questioned to them as he held the device.
"An infrared scope. I'm sure that Area 99 is full of infrared sensor traps. But, if you wear that, you can detect the traps." The elder explained which Sonic understood that it would give him an edge in that building.
"Thank you, I'm going on ahead." Sonic said after unbuckling, and leap over the side of the car before speeding on ahead.
"Time for a foot race with a pro." Chris said as he went for the wrist device, and slammed down the face.
"It's XLR8 vs. Sonic." The speed creature shouted before leaping out of the car and raced along side the left side of the road to keep up with him.
"They seem to be running at the same speed. Okay, then!" Grandpa shouted before happily accelerating to match up with the others speed. The location that they were going to was so well guarded that they were watching even their own worker's every movement.
"ID number F219563, match verified." A retinal scanner said after a scientist was done using in. Inside the room were the strange creatures that were put into their custody.
"Please let us out of here!" The rabbit creature said to them before seeing a camera looking right at her. "What is this place? What do you plan to do with us?" She questioned before looking to her left at the strange creatures that looked like Eggman.
'Strange. The rabbit seems to a normal rabbit judging by this thermal scan, but her friend is another matter. The scientists thought as they saw the images on the monitor before them
"Do you read me, Sonic?" Chuck questioned through a com link in the scope.
"Yeah!" He shouted back while racing along the road.
"When you get inside, go through the air vent. That should be a blind spot for security." The inventor of the scope explained before realizing, 'How is my grandson going to do that since that tail will probably get in the way.
"That's great and all, but do you know where Cream and Cheese are being held captive?" Sonic questioned since he still needed where his friends are.
"Of course I do. If you keep going in suspicious looking directions, I'm sure it'll take you to your destination." The elder explained with a big smile on his face.
'I just hope I can do my part.' Chris thought as he silently sped along; unaware of the conversation between the two beside him.
"Oh well, I'll work it out somehow." Sonic said back with a smile since he sort of liked that plan. With a simple leap the two started to race through the complex knowing that they probably saw that.
"Intruders. Verifying…" The computer system said as all of the external cameras were trying to locate the invaders. They saw their target and leap inside, and despite the length of his tail XLR8 was able to fit and slide just like Sonic.
"We're in the air vent." The blue speedster said and heard a good reply on the other end. Once they reached the bottom the heroes rubbed their tails thanks to the rough metal slide ride.
"What do you see?" XLR8 questioned as the two looked at the tunnel before them.
"Some blind spot this is…" Sonic muttered as he saw that there was no way through the laser barrier before them. After hearing that the partner had a feeling that this was a far as they could go before seeing that there was an air vent a few inches in front of them.
"Hey, check it out." The kineceleran whispered before pointing at the slitted hole which the hedgehog looked in and saw what he meant.
"I can handle that movement hands down." The speedster from another world commented before taking off the cover, landed in the hallway, and zipped under the slow moving cameras. "Piece of cake." He said after going into a hall and saw that none of the devices saw him.
'My turn.' The transformed human thought before doing what his fast friend had done - with the same result. They continued to evade the cameras which was confusing the sensors in the command center of their security greatly.
'I hope they are doing okay in there.' Grandpa thought as he stopped at the edge of a cliff that overlook the complex. As they continued to evade the cameras the scienttst were amazed at what they were seeing from their captives.
"This is scary." The young rabbit creature said as she clutched her friend closely during this latest test. Outside of the door were the rescuers trying to figure out how to get inside.
'This place sure looks suspicious. But how should we make it inside?' Sonic thought as he eyed the door.
'Too bad I'm not Fourarms or Cannonbolt. Those two could easily handle that door.' Chris thought as he looked at the door and knew that the retinal scanner would not let the two of them pass.
'If it's only me, I could handle it. But I'll have to bring Cream and Cheese with me, so I can't get too reckless.' Sonic thought since he had a feeling that his new friend could take care of himself, but the hedgehog knew that the other two could not. It was at that moment the two of them saw the lights start to turn off.
"Abnormality detected in the electrical system." The PA system announced as the lighter were shutting down. With that lapse of light the two of them broke in, broke the container, and hid out of sight, or at least they tried to…
"Sonic…" The rabbit cheered, but was shushed. Her companion happily hugged the one it knew.
"Cut it out…" The hedgehog whispered with a smile on his face since he was happy to see them. It was then the four saw the human's gaze were upon them, or at least in their general area. "We have to go? Are you ready?" Sonic questioned to his friend.
"Yes." She whispered back which caused the blue hero to take the creature, put it in her arms, and then guide her with XLR8 gently coasting behind them. The maintenance team discovered that several sophisticated paper planes had shorted out the wiring which they immediately got to work repairing.
'She's another unique creature.' Chris thought as he glided behind the three as they were racing in a hallway.
"Did you do this too, Sonic?" The young girl questioned as she kept up with this slowed down pace of her hero.
"No, I didn't, and neither did my friend. Just randomly happened." The man on point said to her with a smile to let her know that everything will be okay.
"You probably have the power to summon good luck." The girl said back with a smile since she truly believed in such a thing to be true.
"You think so?" The speed demon questioned back and wondered if that really was true. At that moment the power came back on which meant the cameras were now pointing at them.
"Could it be? I'm sorry, because I said something I shouldn't have." The young one said in an apologetic tone.
"It's got nothing to do with you." Sonic reassured her, and all of a sudden the cameras deployed some sort of laser looking weapon. "Shit! Let's go." He said and ran off while trying to avoid being shot.
"Sonic, is everything all right?" Chuck questioned since he heard alarms going off from the building before him.
"No problem." The hedgehog answered back while continuing to avoid the laser light show.
"Run." XLR8 informed before leaping up and smashing one camera, and then landed behind a different one. He then proceeded to give the machines some friendly fire to take down the rest of them. "I said run." The black/white armored one shouted to the three that were awestruck over what had just happened.
"Okay." The rabbit answered back with a nod and a smile since she had a feeling that this creature could be trusted. At that moment they saw that the door were closing before them, but with the speedster's speed factor that wasn't an issue until they ran into more laser cameras.
'They'll have to shoot me dead before they can harm them.' Chris thought as he stood before the three with his tail curled around them as a second layer of defense.
"What are those?" The rabbit girl questioned causing them to look beyond the cameras to see what she was talking about. They all saw several tiny planes that were attacking the cameras instead of them.
"I don't know what's going on, but now's our chance. Let's go." Sonic said before speeding off with the creature behind them. The paper planes were confusing and damaging the security system so much that it was shutting down.
"The laser surveillance cameras are out of control!" One of the workers shouted with a tone of great distress.
"You honestly aren't doing all of this, Sonic?" The girl questioned as they were racing up a flight of stairs.
"I told you, no! Neither of us are!" Sonic shouted back as they continued to run until one of the lasers cut away a section of stairs beneath the rabbits feet. XLR8 rescued her with a flick of the tail.
"We have to…" XLR8 started to say before seeing another laser do away with the rest of their path. "Figures." He muttered at this bad to worse situation. Sonic took his friend and then motioned for his new friend to follow, and after a few platform jumps they made it to the top.
"We're safe now. You were scared. Weren't you, lady?" Sonic challenged to the youngster before him.
"No. Thank you, Sonic, and…who are you?" The rabbit said with a pleased smile on her face, and then looked at the helmeted one.
"XLR8, but we are still stuck up here." The new speedster informed since he saw no exit door anywhere near them.
"I hear something." Sonic informed them as he took off the scope and placed his ear on the metal wall. "It's the sound of a plane." He added after recognizing the sound, and it was then it all clicked. "Oh, I see." He said with an all knowing smile.
"I wonder if it's just about here?" A pilot of an old fashioned biplane said as he looked at a domed building, and prayed he knew his mentor's way of fleeing as well as he thought he did. "Perfect calculation!" The pilot exclaimed as he saw four figures leap through the dome, and picked them up.
"Hi there!" Sonic shouted out once the four of them landed on a wing of a familiar air craft.
"Hi!" The pilot, a young fox creature, said with a wave of the hand.
"I see. So it was you, Tails." Cream said as she looked at another friend of hers.
"Hang on tight, so you don't fall off!" Tails said after giving the rabbit a friendly wink. With a smile of relief and happiness the grandfather started up his car and followed them. After a few moments they all made it to the Thorndyke home.
"As I said my name is XLR8, but I also go by…" The speed creature in black/white informed before a red flash of light changed him back to how he was.
"Chris. I just got to be friends with Sonic last night." The now human boy said to them while not bringing up how they met since something told him Sonic would not like that part to be let out.
"I'm Tails! I always hang around with Sonic. Right, Sonic?" The fox boy said to them with a kind tone to his voice while looking over to his old friend for verification.
"Sort of." The man in question said with closed eyes.
"I'm Cream and this is my friend, Cheese. Nice to meet you." The rabbit said with a bow which her friend did as well.
"Yeah, same here. It seems we'll become good friends." Chris said back as he bowed back to her. "He's my grandfather." The kid added while gesturing to the human behind them.
"Fantastic! I've never seen such a micron sized radio controlled planes before." The grandfather said in a completely awestruck tone in his voice as he looked at the device that gave them the edge in this rescue mission.
"Something like this is no big deal." Tails said while wagging his tails out of happiness since someone new was praising his work.
"That stealth mission may have been a success, Sonic, but it was also highly reckless. If it wasn't for Tails then the both of us could have angered the military." Chris said as he tried to explain just how bad that plan could have gone.
"Relax, it'll all work out in the end." Sonic answered back which was not what Chris wanted to hear, so he decided to drop the subject.
"No, well, this is really fantastic. Where did you learn all this scientific technology?" The grandfather questioned with eager eyes.
"Where? All I can say is that I learned it in the world that I came from." Tails answered back which was the complete truth.
"So, where is that world?" The Grey haired man questioned since he really wanted to know the location so much.
"I wonder? We were thrown into this world through a warp in space." The fox creature answered back as truthfully as he could since he had a feeling that this world did not have the same locations as theirs did.
"Hmm. Very interesting! Very, very interesting!" The older man said back with a miffed look on his face since this was informative, but he wished that it was close by in some way or another.
"My god." Chris muttered after a few more tries to explain to the speed demon that planning was key, not just gut instinct. Sadly the blue one just shrugged such news off easily.
"Uh, Sonic. If you, I, Cream and Cheese were all affected by the accident, could it also be that…all the others are here too?" The twin tailed one questioned back not that the boy wouldn't mind seeing the familiar faces again…except for one.
"The others who were there at the time were Knuckles, Amy, and…" Sonic stated as he recalled that fight, but stopped when he recalled the last one.
"Dr. Eggman!" The three shouted as one, and it was then Chris saw that the slacker expression of Sonic's was replaced by a much more serious one and the same for Tails. Unknown to them was that on an island in one of the oceans was the spire of their foe who had already gathered that they were no longer in their world anymore.
"Oh. So we were thrown into this world by Chaos Control, eh?" The villain questioned as he over looked the ocean before him on his monitors. "Oh well. I'll establish the foundation for the Eggman Empire in this world. Then I'll expand my territory to other worlds!" The vile one explained before laughing evilly at this new plan of his.