An Art Trade on my DA account is a simple one-shot here. This is a semi-sequel to my story "A Letter" so you may need to read that to get some plot elements that'll be in this one-shot.
One other important thing before you read this, you need to get a bit into my head-canon for the Sonic series to understand some elements. So, in my head-canon, Sonic Underground takes place prior to Sonic 1, and the Robotnik that Sonic and co battle up until Adventure isn't the same guy as Eggman. You'll see it more so later on in this story.
I don't own Sonic, it belongs to Sega, Sonic Team, Yuji Naka, etc.
Sonic sat and read a comic books in his hammock, seeing it was about a duo of girls being sent out of their own magic filled world and into a superhero world. Sonic was interested by it as he turned a page and saw that the adventures would continue next month.
"Oh Darvel, may you never produce a bad comic…" Sonic smiled as he set the comic down and picked up a fruit smoothie. He began to slurp on it, when Tails had landed the Tornado by him, "Oh, hey Tails. What up?"
"Sonic, we need to get going! Eggman may be back in action again!" Tails informed.
"What?" Sonic gasped as he put down his fruit smoothie, "Where is he?"
"He may be in the Scrap Brain Zone. There was recent signs of the power being turned back on in there," Tails informed.
Sonic gave a nod and hopped up onto the Tornado, with Tails quickly firing up the engine and they took off.
"What do you think Eggman's doing in one of his grandfather's old bases?" Sonic couldn't help but ask as they flew.
"Dunno. Eggman must be desperate," Tails shrugged, "...hard to believe it's been three years since Eggman took over from what his grandfather was doing,"
Sonic began to lounge on the wing of the Tornado when a thought occurred to him, "Do you think if Buttnik didn't die in the explosion of the Egg Carrier, our world would be at peace now?"
Tails gave a shrug in response as they continued to fly, but they eventually reached the Scrap Brain Zone and Tails landed the Tornado next to where Scrap Brain connected to the Starlight City and they headed in.
"Odd to think that nobody's ever tried to dismantle this thing," Tails commented.
"Slippery metal floors, razor-sharp saws and grinding wheels… would you want to dismantle this?" Sonic retorted.
"Fair enough,"
The two wandered around a bit, Sonic using a Homing Attack on a few stray Badniks that had remained in the area, such as some Burrobots and a few Ball Hogs here and there. But for the most part, power looked to be off, so several of the death traps could be easily evaded or just gone around.
"Are you sure you read that the power was turned back on in here?" Sonic asked Tails as they got deeper into the base.
"I said there were signs of the power being turned back on, I didn't say it was turned back on," Tails reminded.
"Oh yea…" Sonic nodded.
The two continued to walk, but there was no indication of there being any life in the past three years. Several consoles were layered with dust and some Badniks were inactive due to having to be forcibly left when Robotnik had to abandon his South Island bases.
"Why do you think Robotnik did what he did? Roboticize more than 75% of the planet's population, cause a near hedgehog extinction, try a World Roboticizer… several times, and then unleash Chaos?"
"Who knows," Sonic shrugged as they walked along, Sonic kicking away an inactive Motobug.
"Sonic, please don't do that, you may reactivate something," Tails warned as he and Sonic looked around a bit more, before Tails saw the area seemed to be blocked off, "What's up with this?"
"Led to some waters that he was planning to use to wipe out all the South Islanders. Somehow I wasn't affected, so I pursued and stopped him," Sonic shrugged, kicking an offline Buzzbomber into the same spot as the he did the Motobug.
"Seriously Sonic, knock it off," Tails told him.
"I think I hear something past that wall…" Sonic informed as he walked over to where he had kicked the two broken Badniks and knocked the wall, "...hollow,"
"It's hollow? So that must mean the wall is fake," Tails realized as he took the Miles Electric and plugged it into a console, "Let me try and hack my way into the door and we'll keep going,"
"Or…" Sonic began as he kicked the door in, "We take the easy way in."
"...that works too," Tails said with a roll of his eyes, detaching the Miles Electric as they dove down deeper into the area.
"Power seems to be on down here," Tails commented, "Just barely…"
"Let's see what Eggman's up to and then stop him," Sonic added as he and Tails walked down the long stairs.
"So uh… have you found anything to do to pass the time?" Tails asked.
"Read comic books. The Darvel comic line is really good," Sonic commented, "I know you have your TV dates with Cream,"
"They're not dates!" Tails shouted.
Sonic chuckled a bit in response, "Sorry Tails, it's in the big brother contract to tease your little brother about crushes,"
"Then wouldn't that mean your older brother would do the same?"
"Alpha and I have hardly even had one conversation."
Before Tails could say anything, they saw the ground floor with an active computer console.
"Alright, let's see what's up," Tails stated as he flew over to the console and was about to type on it, when Sonic accidentally tripped a security alarm by stepping onto the first bit of floor after the steps.
-Mobian detected! Repeat, Mobian detected!- a computerized voice shouted as a part of the wall moved inwards and revealed some robots. They were large, bulky, humanoid, were colored mainly silver, and had green visors.
The robots scanned around for a moment, before seeing Sonic.
-Priority one: Hedgehog!- one of the five robots announced, firing a green energy blast at Sonic, before the other four followed suit.
"Been a long time since I've seen these things! Tails, see if you can figure out if Eggman's been here. I'll handle Buttnik's old flunkies!" Sonic informed.
Tails gave a quick nod and began to rapidly type at the keyboard to see how recent the last entry date was. Unknown to Tails and Sonic, somebody watched the two from behind what appeared to be a capsule similar to what trapped animals would be in.
Sonic charged up a Spin Dash and rolled between the legs of the Swatbots, before kicking one down and into another one. However, the Swatbots were able to get back up easily. Sonic evaded their blaster fight and kept it away from Tails as he worked.
"How we goin'?"
"Hang on, there's still some firewalls I need to get past!"
Sonic rolled his eyes as he kicked at a Swatbot's knee, causing it to lose its balance for a bit. It was able to regain its balance quickly, before Sonic jumped up and Homing Attacked its head. Sonic then saw it begin to malfunction a bit. Sonic smirked as he did it to the other four, before hurrying over to Tails.
"Well…?"
"Well… nothing. The last log date entry before about three days ago was about a few weeks before the Little Planet was due to return when a new Death Egg was built around it," Tails informed.
'And three days ago?"
"Not much. Certainly nothing to indicate Eggman's been here,"
"So… somebody else was dumb enough to come down here?"
"Not necessarily, but I will need a few more minutes to read through this,"
The Swatbots soon got themselves back in order, all glaring at Sonic.
"And Buttnik never used these against me why…?" Sonic muttered as he charged up the Light Speed Attack and struck them rapidly, but they simply didn't stop going.
Tails continued to try and hack his way into the info on the computer, but most of data was lost due to years of inactivity. Tails had eventually found info on something that made him gasp, before he turned to the capsules with a horrified look on his face.
"Uh… Sonic… we may want to break those capsules there…" Tails informed.
"Why's that?" Sonic asked as he rapid fired Homing Attacked one of the Swatbots.
"...there are Mobians locked up in them…" Tails stated, making Sonic stop his attack and hurry over to the computer.
"What?"
-Roboticized Enforcer Plan-
-Log Entry: 13148. The hedgehog has crashed the Death Egg again after getting the Chaos Emeralds from a fighting tournament. Metal Sonic 2.0 has proved to be viable, twice (during the search for the Chaos Emeralds when I hired Fang the Sniper, and the battle onboard the new Death Egg) however, I have discovered an island with something nearly as strong as the Chaos Emeralds which I hope to test.-
-Log Entry: 13155. Metal Sonic 2.0 was destroyed. Due to a loss of computer data thanks to the destruction of the Chaos Ring Island Base, I cannot recreate him. My Roboticizer remains primed, but I have nothing to use it on.-
-Log Entry: 13156. I have captured the armadillo and the flying-rodent who aided in the destruction of the Chaos Ring Island. Old friends from my old homeworld seemed to have a thing for designing eight… so, I must find another six to create a group of unstoppable slaves to get rid of Sonic forever.-
-Log Entry: 13201. I have captured Fang and his two partners in crime… whatever their dumb names are. I have placed them in suspended animation on what remained of the Scrap Brain Zone Base on South Island. However, I had heard rumors that somebody had managed to kidnap Sonic before his little mutant sidekick saved him. I must learn who they are…-
-Log Entry: 13202. The 'Witchcarters' as they are called were easy pickings thanks to the wonder of SCIENCE! However, some foolish fool from the nearby city had gotten into my base and was easily subdued by my new model Swatbots. I put them in standby and then put all of the Mobians in place to be Roboticized, when I noticed the date. It was almost time for the Little Planet to return. This plan could wait, Metal Sonic was there and I could use him!-
"These guys have been locked up in here for almost four years?" Sonic gawked.
"We need to get them out a-" Tails began, when the computer console was shot at by the Swatbots, "...I'm starting to hate these guys!"
"Nothing seems to be working on them…" Sonic noted.
"You need to hit them with an attack at double it's normal power!" a girl's voice shouted, "It's the only thing that can take them down!"
"...think that was Tikal?" Sonic joked, "I mean… random female voice from nowhere…"
Tails rolled his eyes as they got up.
"Double Spin Dash?" Sonic offered.
"Double Spin Dash!" Tails nodded.
The two curled up into Spin Dash forms, before they merged into a larger Spin Dash, charged forward and destroyed the Swatbots. The duo skidded to a stop before high fiving, but they saw that some parts remained undestroyed and functional, such as the lazer blasters.
"...thank you," the girl's voice smiled as she poked her head out slightly from behind a capsule.
"Did you get down here somehow?" Sonic asked, "Don't worry, we'll get you home."
"...you're… Sonic, right?" she asked, "It's been a long time…"
Sonic got a better look at the source of the voice, being a white rabbit with green eyes…
"You!" Sonic nearly yelled.
"Ease off Sonic, she's Cream's sister," Tails informed.
"...really?" Sonic gawked as the white rabbit poked her head up a bit, "...oh, I see it,"
"Carrotia, right?" Tails checked.
"... you're that fox," she nodded as she slowly walked over, not having looked to have aged a day compared to the picture she sent to Cream, clothes still fitting, and the only changes being maybe she was a few inches taller "... Miles, right?"
"Everybody calls me Tails,"
"Ok," Carrotia nodded.
"How'd you even get out?" Sonic asked.
"I don't know," Carrotia informed.
Tails looking around for a moment, before noticing the only capsule not covered in dust, next to it being a random piece of metal that had fallen from the ceiling.
"...I guess that falling hit some sort of an emergency release button," Tails guessed, "And I know what we can do to free the others,"
"What's that?" Sonic asked as Tails picked up a blaster and tossed it at another capsule, which began to beep and opened up with a loud 'hissssssssssss' sound, "...that works,"
The figure within the newly opened capsule turned out to be a red armadillo and yawned a bit.
Sonic and Tails rapid tossed the junk from the Swatbots, which opened up the other seven capsules.
"...why is it Egg for brains left these here?" Sonic asked Tails as the former picked up a helmet.
"Dunno. If I had to guess, he never knew they were here," Tails shrugged, "Also… did you notice they're of similar molds to the Gun Hunters back on the other world?"
"Since Buttnik worked with Gun at one point it doesn't really surprise me," Sonic admitted.
Suddenly, a gun-shot shattered the computer's monitor. Sonic and Tails turned to see a purple weasel of sorts.
"Nack," Sonic commented, before some bombs were tossed rapidly, with a sort of green duck being the cause, "And Bean…"
"...I can see why Robotnik would want them as servants…" Carrotia commented.
Ray and Honey both slowly emerged, both with nervous looks on their faces. Ray ran over and hid behind Mighty, who patted his head a little bit to keep him calm.
"...just because I go on a night stroll, I'm locked up in some stuffy capsule for who knows how long…" Honey muttered as she turned to Sonic, "Good to see you again,"
"Same," Sonic waved, when Sonic was grabbed by his neck and was being choked by a blue wolf with dark blue eyes, "Ach…"
"Falke, please let him go!" Carrotia begged.
"He better explain why we're all in here!" Falke responded, as Bearenger grabbed Tails and put him in a neck-lock.
"...Sonic… help…" Tails begged.
"We'll tell you what's going on! Just don't hurt us!" Sonic told Falke, both Sonic and Tails being let go.
"Won't Robotnik be back soon?" Honey asked in worry.
"He's dead," Sonic informed, "Bit of a long story, but here we go,"
"And Perfect Chaos fired a beam of energy that either teleported him back in time, or killed him. We're not really sure, cleaning up Station Square took a while, but nobody found a body… it could've been washed out to sea, but we're still not sure," Tails informed.
"Regardless, he either died because of Perfect Chaos or was given the death sentence due to unethical experiments…" Sonic stated, "And you guys have been in here for about… three years now,"
The reactions were rather mixed around the board. Mighty reacted with shock, Ray with horror, Honey with fear, Nack, Bean, Falke and Bearenger with indifference, Bark with surprise and Carrotia with a calm look.
"...I got the feeling we were stuck in here a while, but three years?" Carrotia noted, "...and you're sure nobody's gonna stop us from leaving?"
"Nope," Sonic shrugged, "But I think we should wait until this evening,"
"Why?" Honey asked.
"You have all been locked up in a room in the dark for three years. I think your eyes will need a lot of time to adjust to sunlight again," Sonic reasoned.
"That was… actually pretty smart there," Tails smiled.
"Well, I ain't spending anymore time around some Chaotix dorks! So I will be going and sitting somewhere else!" Nack informed as he and his team walked over elsewhere.
Sonic and Tails rolled their eyes at this, before Ray got their attention.
"...do… the others miss us?" Ray asked.
"I'll take you to see them, ok?" Sonic assured.
Later that evening, Nack, Bean and Bark had taken their leave from the Scrap Brain, while the remaining six were with Sonic and Tails.
"Hey, Carrotia, let's go and rob something!" Falke smirked.
"I can't. I have… something to do," Carrotia informed.
"Suit yourself. We'll see you around," Falke responded as he and Bearenger took their leave.
"You guys can do what you want… I'm gonna go and see my mom and my dad…" Honey informed as she headed for the Starlight City.
Sonic and Tails waved to her, before they looked back at Mighty, Ray and Carrotia.
"Mighty, Ray, I can get you guys back to your old friends. Tails, think you can get Carrotia back to her home?"
"Sure. Oh, take the Tornado," Tails advised as he reached into the Tornado and got out his Extreme Gear, "Let's get going,"
"Alright," Carrotia nodded as she and Tails got onto the latter's Extreme Gear while Sonic took Mighty and Ray on the Tornado.
Sonic had arrived just at the south of Central City and at a building near the dock. He parked the Tornado and guided Mighty and Ray to a small house that was sitting near the dock, it was relatively small, but roomy enough for a few people.
"Hey guys! Guys! Guys!" Sonic yelled as he began to knock on the door. He knocked on it for about five minutes before Espio walked over, "Hey Espio."
"Sonic… it's almost midnight. What possible reason brings you here?" Espio asked, slightly irritated about this.
"I figured you three would like to see some old friends ASAP," Sonic smiled, pointing to Mighty and Ray.
"...seriously?" Espio gawked as he ran over and got both Vector and Charmy in a hurry.
"Mighty! Ray! It's so good to see you!" Vector smiled as he hugged them tightly.
"It's been a long time…" Mighty smiled.
"What have you all been up to?" Ray asked.
"We made a detective agency so we could find you guys!" Charmy smiled, "It's been four years! Oh, you two have birthday and Christmas presents! Let me go get them!"
"Team Chaotix has been re-united! Let's party hard!" Vector cheered out as he guided Mighty and Ray in.
"Thank you Sonic. We owe you a debt of gratitude we may never be able to repay," Espio told Sonic, the former smiling before heading back in as well.
"So… how'd you send that letter and picture?" Tails asked.
"The computer just barely had enough power to send an email and a hardly functioning scanner. So I scanned the photo I had and I typed up that letter," Carrotia told Tails.
Eventually, the two arrived at Cream's house and Tails lightly knocked on the door. They waited for a bit, before Cheese had floated up and opened up the door.
"Chao?" Cheese blinked.
"Hey Cheese. Can you go and get Vanilla and Cream? It's really important," Tails told him.
Cheese nodded before he flew off to get them.
"A Chao?" Carrotia gawked, "...so mom still raises them?"
"Why wouldn't she?"
"Dad was the one who raised Chao for a living,"
It took about five minutes before Vanilla and Cream came to the door, both of them having wide eyes upon seeing Carrotia.
"...hi," she waved innocently.
"Hello…" Vanilla exhaled.
"...are you my big sister?" Cream asked.
Carrotia nodded and hugged Cream, giggling with a smile. Cream then turned to see Tails there.
"Miles?" she gawked.
"Miles?" Carrotia blinked.
"My actual name is Miles Prower… Cream's the only one who I don't mind calling me that…" Tails informed.
"I'm so glad to see you," Cream smiled.
Carrotia looked to Vanilla, a nervous look on the former's face.
"...Carrotia?"
"Mom,"
"...if you promise you'll clean up your act, I'll let you stay,"
"I promise,"
Vanilla smiled softly as she hugged her first-born daughter, before she looked to Tails, "Miles, it's kind of late. You're welcome to stay the evening,"
"Thank you,"
"I have a sleeping bag in my room, so he can stay in my room," Cream stated.
Vanilla gave a look to the two, but shrugged as she let Tails in and Cream guided him to her room.
"They like each-other?" Carrotia asked.
"More than you know," Vanilla informed.
"You're not worried are you? They're two… like what, nine year old kids? One's sleeping on the floor, nothing to worry about,"
Vanilla rolled her eyes a bit, but shrugged it off.
The next day, the blue hedgehog had returned home and was presently slurping on another fruit smoothie, when his phone rang.
"Sonic's the name, speed's my game. Who's calling?" Sonic asked as he picked up the phone, "Alpha. Hey, what up?"
A response came.
"...you want to ask me about my girlfriend? Why…?" Sonic asked, "...it's in the older brother contract…"
Sonic moved the phone away from Alpha being able to hear, "Tails…"
The blue hedgehog had no clue of what to even tell him. Sonic didn't have a girlfriend. Amy was… Amy, Blaze was in another dimension… and then there was that green girl from the Lost Hex that Sonic didn't even know if she was alive.
"Uh… I… uh… don't… have one…" Sonic responded, before some laughing came in response and the phone hung up, "...ugh…"
Tails was laughing it up at what he just done, with both Cream and Carrotia laughing as well.
"Why is that so funny?" Cream asked while she laughed.
"Point, little sibling!" Tails smirked.
"Don't think you can go pulling jokes like that on me, Cream," Carrotia informed, ruffling her little sister's hair a bit, making her laugh.
Tails gave a soft smile before he snapped a picture of this interaction, simply happy that Cream was reunited with her big sister...
Now then, let's get some other details out of the way about my head-canon, being Sonic's age.
Age
Sonic (Underground) 12
Sonic (Underground ("Mobodoon") Classic-Adventure) 13
Sonic (Adventure 2) 14
Sonic (Heroes-Colors) 15
Sonic (Generations-Present) 16
And also, Tails' age. Tails and Cream are same age here. Due to Tails' canon age of 8, he would've been five when he first met Sonic. Carrotia mentions she was about 15 or 16 when Cream was born, and was 21 when she encountered Tails. Thus, Tails and Cream are both presently 9 years old.
So... here you go.
Oh, and that joke in regards to Zeena... it makes more sense if you see the DA version. Also, the 'Darvel' comic that Sonic was reading, it's a reference to one of my other stories, "Buccaneer Blaze & Mystical Magenta Mistress". Just FYI.
Favorite part... it has to be when Cream and Carrotia share a laugh at the end and have a hug. So adorable.
Well, that's it for this one-shot.
Just Live More.