Since my Team Fortress 2 fanfiction has been doing alright, I thought I'd try something different that still revolves around videogames. Now before I begin, I would like to make it clear that I'm not a big fan of Sonic. I don't play the games and I don't read the comics, but I have become familiar with the character through watching the cartoons as well as the cutscenes and playthroughs of the 3D Platform games. Also, I notice that the majority of fanfictions where the Sonic characters are depicted as humans tend to revolve around different forms of shipping and so I thought I would add something a little more serious to the mix. So without further ado, I give you Sonic Reborn and I hope you enjoy it :)
Chapter 1: Awakening
Aw, man, I had that nightmare again, thought a young boy with medium spiked royal-blue hair and light-green eyes as he got out of bed. The one where all I see is fire and smoke. Then I hear menacing laughter coming from somewhere and—
The boy broke from his train of thought and looked at his alarm-clock. It was 7:30 AM, which only gave him thirty minutes to get dressed and have breakfast before school started. Sighing, the boy quickly changed from his blue boxers into a matching blue-and-white track jersey and shorts. Next, he went into the bathroom and proceeded to brush his teeth and run his fingers through his hair to brush it. Then he went into the next room of his one-bedroom apartment and made his way to the kitchen where he grabbed a leftover chili-dog out of the fridge and from there to the front door where the boy put on his red-and-white sneakers that were ornamented with golden buckles.
After that, the boy walked hastily outside with his backpack in tow, locking the front door as he went, and made his way to a storage shed where his skateboard was kept. Once he obtained it, the boy wasted no time and started skating down the road which led to a sharp dip once he got to the edge of the hill where the apartment complex was located. From there, the boy could see an entire town stretch before him with the beach on one side and tropical forests and hills on the other. Taking a deep breath, the boy rode the skateboard down the slope that followed, keeping his balance steady as he went. He managed to make it to the bottom in one piece and cross the street despite nearly getting hit by an oncoming car.
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By the time he got to the school, which was two-story building made from tan and brown-colored bricks, the boy was exhausted and disembarked from his skateboard. Then just as he was about to enter through the main door, he heard some voices nearby and looked to where the source was coming from. It turned out to be three boys about his age wearing different colored shirts and shorts picking on a younger-looking boy with short blond hair and blue eyes. Curious, the boy decided to walk over to them to hear what they were saying.
"What's wrong, Miles?" One of the three boys said snidely, who was tall and skinny with a mohawk of purple hair. "Did you forget about our homework?"
"I didn't mean to, Zaz," replied the younger boy. "Honest."
"Well, that's too bad, Miles, because we needed that homework completed by today," said the leader of the three boys, who had a medium build with light-blue hair tied back in a short ponytail and was wearing a red shirt with black pants.
"Uh, Zak, should we punish him?" asked the third member, who was overweight with spiky black and red hair, wearing an oversized yellow T-shirt with black shorts.
"Of course, Zom," replied the boy with the light-blue hair. Then with that, Zak started to crack his knuckles.
"Hey," the boy with the spiked blue hair said, getting the three boys' attention. "Leave the kid alone."
Zak looked over his shoulder and glared at the boy with the spiked blue hair. "Who are you to tell me what I should and shouldn't do?"
"I don't think I've seen your face around here before," Zaz responded. "What's your name?"
"Sonny Hedge, and I just moved here," the boy with the spiked blue hair replied.
"What are you kids doing out here? Class has already started!"
The boys turned and saw a man in his late thirties with a bushy white mustache, a bald head, and beefy hands walking towards them. In response, Zak, Zaz, and Zom left Miles and ran towards the school building. Miles followed close behind while Sonny took up the rear. Inside, the boys split into two groups with Zak, Zaz, and Zom heading up a flight of stairs in the center of the main lobby and Miles heading down a hallway to the right of the main door.
"Um, excuse me," Sonny said as he caught up to Miles. "Do you know where Room 1991 is?"
Miles briefly looked back and said, "Yeah, that's the classroom at the end of this hallway to your right. I'm in 1992, which is the room right next to it."
"All right, thanks."
"No problem."
Then with that, Miles went into the classroom just before Room 1991 which Sonny entered. Inside, the students looked at him in surprise while the teacher did the same. She was a young woman in her mid-twenties with medium-length light-brown hair and matching hazel-colored eyes. She wore a pink dress that ran all the way down to her ankles with a rose-colored vest and matching shoes while an orange ribbon was tied around her neck. She smiled politely at Sonny and said, "Well, hello. Are you the new transfer student?"
In response, Sonny nodded.
The teacher nodded back and turned towards the classroom. "All right, everyone, this is the new transfer student I was telling you about and I want you all to make him feel welcome at South Island Middle School. Now why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"
As if on cue, Sonny walked up to the front of the classroom and said, "Well, my name is Sonny Hedge. I like to run fast, my favorite food is chili-dogs, and my parents sent me here to attend school because they work overseas."
When the classroom responded with silence, Sonny sighed and took a seat near the back.
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Later, Sonny was attending gym with the same guy who interrupted his confrontation with Zak, Zaz, and Zom earlier that day. It turned out he was a teacher named Mr. Chaplain, but the students called him 'Captain Whisker' because of his ridiculous mustache and he was also the head of the school's track-team who were known as the South Island Hedgehogs. For this reason, most of the activities in gym class included sprinting, running, and hurdling.
"Come on, kids! You can run faster than that!" Mr. Chaplain shouted as Sonny and the other students ran laps around the school's football field.
Sonny tried his best to keep up, but his legs were starting to turn to jelly. It also didn't help that his breathing became irregular, thus causing him to start panting. He slowed down to catch his breath, but Mr. Chaplain noticed.
"Don't stop now, new kid! Not till you've run at least two more laps!" Mr. Chaplain insisted.
Irritated, Sonny pushed on but soon discovered that he wasn't tired. So he ran faster, but then to his surprise everything around him became a blur including the students up ahead who got out of his way and even the grass started to disappear. Sonny tried to stop, but he couldn't. It was as if his legs had a mind of their own, and they weren't stopping anytime soon. At some point, Sonny saw Mr. Chaplain stand in front of him, but then he vanished, followed by the chain-link fence that separated the school's football field from the street on the other side. Before impact Sonny jumped up and curled into a ball, flying over the fence, and then he landed perfectly on his feet on the other side. While the sound of cheering students came from behind him, Sonny himself was stunned and collapsed onto the sidewalk next to the street.
What the hell just happened? Sonny wondered. I've never done anything like that before. I mean, it was amazing, but also frightening.
"New kid, get back over here!" Mr. Chaplain yelled, lying on the grass with his face covered in shoe-marks. "We need to talk!"
Concerned, Sonny climbed back over the fence and jogged over towards Mr. Chaplain. A pointy-nosed teacher's assistant whose name-tag said 'Johnny' helped Mr. Chaplain up, and tried his best to remove the shoe-marks that marked Mr. Chaplain's face and shirt. Sonny walked up to them and as soon as he saw the shoe-marks he started scratching the back of his head nervously.
"Um, sorry about that," Sonny said awkwardly. "I didn't mean to run into you."
"It's not being run over that concerns me," Mr. Chaplain said, picking up the stopwatch he wore around his neck and showing it to Sonny. "While you were running, I activated my stopwatch and to my surprise you ran four laps around the football field in just five seconds. Now that's physically impossible by human standards, so how did you do it?"
"Well, I—
A sudden explosion interrupted Sonny's thoughts, and he looked up at the sky. To his surprise, small humanoid objects with rockets on their backs were flying overhead and firing lasers from large guns they held. The lasers caused brief fires to explode all over the football field, causing the students to scatter and run towards the main building in a panic. Mr. Chaplain ran in the same direction barking orders to the scared students while Johnny followed behind. Sonny ran to join them, but then he noticed two of the objects carrying a large metallic capsule between them and they were flying right over Mr. Chaplain, Johnny, and the other students. As if he knew what was coming, Sonny picked up his pace, and then the world suddenly blurred again, this time in a blue-colored aura.
Then just as the two objects flew close enough to ground with the capsule, Mr. Chaplain and the students saw that they were actually robots with egg-shaped bodies, thin metal arms and legs, and glowing red eyes. The robots placed the capsule between the football field and the main building's entrance, while a third robot joined them. It flew down till it hovered a few feet off the ground and pointed its large gun at Mr. Chaplain at the students.
"If you will kindly step into the capsule, none of you will get hurt," said the robot with the gun.
Mr. Chaplain paused and said, "On whose order?"
"By the order of Dr. Robotnik who is claiming this island as his first conquest for the Robotnik Empire."
"Not so fast, trash-can!"
The robot with the gun looked to where the voice came from, but then it saw Mr. Chaplain and his students suddenly being whisked away by a blue blur that came out of nowhere. Before the robot could fire its gun, something fell from above and crushed it into pieces. Meanwhile, the other two robots took out their guns and started shooting, but the blue blur was too fast for them and then it stopped on top of the capsule. To the robot's surprise, it was young boy with spiked blue hair that went down past his shoulders with green slanted pupils. He also seemed to be sporting a pair of blue-colored hedgehog ears and a small blue tail was partially visible behind him.
"Step down from that capsule, citizen, or we will be forced to shoot," one of the robots said firmly.
"Try to shoot me if you can, but you won't catch me," the boy said confidently.
So the robots fired at the boy, but he just jumped up high into the air and curled up into a ball. Then the ball started to spin rapidly and then it hit each robot on the head, causing them to fall apart. However, one of the robot heads was still intact and it tried to move but the boy noticed and stood over it with his foot raised.
"Who…are…you?" The robot head said as its eyes flickered on and off.
"Who am I?" The boy thought for a moment, then he said, "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, and don't you forget it!"
After that, the boy stepped on the robot's head, which erupted in sparks and metallic parts flying everywhere, and then there was silence. Next, the boy collapsed onto his knees, and passed out. Meanwhile, more robots flew over the rest of the town carrying metallic capsules with them. They threatened several citizens with the laser guns, and forced them to go into the capsules before shutting them and carrying them to an unknown location. Those who did survive were indoors, including the students and teachers that were inside South Island Middle School.
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When Sonny woke up, he found himself in a white room with a few beds littered about and cabinets filled with hydrogen peroxide bottles, cotton swabs, and cue-tips. The teacher from Sonny's first class was there along with Miles, but he turned away as soon as Sonny stared at him.
"Ms. Hare," Sonny murmured, trying to get up. "Where am I?"
"You're in the school infirmary," said the teacher, and turned to Miles. "Mr. Prower found you lying on the football field and brought you here. Then he told me and I came down here as soon as I could."
"What happened?"
"You tell me," Mr. Chaplain said, appearing in the doorway of the infirmary. "When the robots attacked us you disappeared, and then just as they were about to shove us inside this metal capsule we heard a voice. Next, this 'blue blur' came out of nowhere and took us all inside before we could bat an eye. I immediately reacted and sent the students into the gymnasium where the other teachers and students were waiting while the robots went around attacking the town. Then once it was all over, Ms. Hare came to inform me that you were in the infirmary and so I got over here."
"Wait, robots? This is starting to sound like a bad dream," Sonny responded, rubbing his head in irritation.
"We wish it were," replied Mr. Chaplain. "Apparently, some mad man who calls himself Dr. Robotnik has decided to claim this island for his Robotnik Empire and attacked our town with armed robots. Then the robots kidnapped several people by herding them into capsules similar to the one my class almost got put into and they took them off somewhere. We don't know where they went, but the mainland is sending a military unit who call themselves G. U. N. to protect the island from another attack."
"But for the time-being, we're all to stay here for the night and then in the morning send everyone home," Ms. Hare said. Then she noticed Sonny rubbing his temples with an irritated frown and asked, "Are you alright, Sonny?"
"Yeah, it's just…" Sonny sighed. "…My head hurts."
To be continued…