DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS STORY, EXCEPT THOSE OF MY OWN CREATION. ALL CHARACTERS NOT CREATED BY ME ARE PROPERTY OF SEGA AND/OR ARCHIE.
Author's Note: This story is based off of the pre genesis wave Archie Sonic continuity. It takes place after the events of #247.4
Prologue
The reinforced glass doors opened for the first time in a very long while. Cells made of titanium bars, reinforced with power from a Ring Engine, were designed to hold much stronger prisoners than the newest arrival. They were all completely empty. Truth be told, this prisoner in particular was being held down here more to make sure that Eggman couldn't reclaim her than to stop her from escaping. As Sonic took one last look at Mecha Sally, he let out a small sigh. His normally implacable nonchalant attitude showed only the slightest cracks for the extremely observant; barely enough for anyone, even himself, to notice, but it proved that his mind was not immune to the weathering that had constantly been applied on it for so many years. Mecha Sally stared back with the cold glare of a psychopath, one that might have looked robotic and emotionless if it didn't contain a twisted pleasure in seeing the small pain in Sonic's eyes. She was one of the very few that could recognize his pain. Only a few weeks ago, she had been one of the people who were closest to him, maybe even closer than anyone else, but now she was lost to him. Sonic, unable to bear the sight of what she had become any longer, closed the door and climbed back up the many flights of stairs to the outside world.
Chapter One: Shard's Trial
Geoffrey St. John, once a friend and ally to the freedom fighters and now the vehicle of the false king Ixis Naugus, stood in front of the court and weaved a dramatic tale with only one purpose in mind; to seize power and become the king of New Mobotropolis, an advanced city and one of the few strongholds against the menacing Eggman Empire. St. John had been talking to the council for almost an hour, and his striped tail was beginning to rap against the ground. This stupid body. I almost wish I stayed in my own...but anything is better than the voices, I suppose. St. John finished his false tale with one final sentence.
"So with his dying breath, our glorious King Naugus, without any descendants to pass his crown down to, decided after much contemplation to name me, the humble Geoffrey St. John, his heir."
Even though the crowd had been ordered to remain several times, one person couldn't resist sharing his respectful opinion with everyone else. "That story tasted worse than than the bad chili dog I almost ate the other day!" Geoffrey St. John resisted the urge to facepalm. He could have guessed that the Speedster would stir up even more trouble. Even though the possessed skunk couldn't see Sonic, he somehow knew that the blue annoyance would have that stupid grin on his face. The council all were focussed on Sonic now, and their expressions ranged from mild amusement to anger. Rosemary, one of the most prominent Council members, ignored the outburst and questioned St. John's statement.
"So, you say that you were the only one at Naugus' deathbed? Why wasn't Dr. Quack called to see if he could assist him? Why was no one else other than you alerted to this fact? Other than a small remark last week, the Council wasn't even properly notified that Naugus had any kind of condition whatsoever!"
St. John didn't have much of a response to this, as he had expected the Council to take his word for it. Despite a slight chill in the air, he suddenly felt his palms start to sweat a little.
"And what's more is that you expect us to believe that he also elected a heir, something that the council is supposed to be informed about prior to his death, and that he would choose you over someone with more command experience like Sally or Elias!"
St. John tried to muster what little defense he could. "I cannot pretend to understand the ways of our glorious king-"
Sonic jumped to his feet and interrupted once more."So then why are ya trying to follow in his footsteps, huh?" Rotor whispered something into Sonic's ear, and the blue blur rolled his eyes and sat down, grumbling.
"While Sonic's interruption was not appreciated, his point is valid. Do you have any way to validate the fact that the King elected you as his heir?"
"Umm..."
"I'm sorry St. John, but until you can find some way of proving that you are indeed King Naugus' heir you will not be able to assume the crown. I think this council is closed for today. After all, we have a much more pressing trial ahead of us!"
Geoffrey St. John walked out of the council chambers, furious at how his grab for power had gone. As he walked out, the defendant of the next trial walked in; it was none other than the reformed Metal Sonic called Shard. The green lines snaking around Shard's entire body glowed a little brighter than normal, as if he was a little nervous about the trial. The large grin on his face, though, served to deny any appearance of anxiety. As the robotic hedgehog walked down the middle of the Council Chamber, glancing from side to side to gauge people's reactions, Shard realized that many people hated him. Badniks weren't people, they were mindless slaves to Robotnik and the only way to deal with them was to destroy them. Shard reached the small circle of councillors and came to a stop, along with about a dozen soldiers with weapons at the ready. Shard knew that, if he wanted to, he could easily have killed almost everyone in the room. He made a hasty note to himself to not mention that to anyone. Rosemary called for all to be silent and the sound in the room dropped from rock concert volume to absolute silence in all of five seconds.
"Shard, also known as Metal Sonic, you have previously attempted to kill one of our most prominent heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog, several times, and have been considered an acute threat to public safety for a very long time. You also were inside of our city illegally for at least several months, although it was Uncle Chuck who rebuilt you. If you hadn't needed our help when you were trapped in that desert, we probably never would have heard from you at all. Why should we accept you into our city?"
"I've changed. I'm not controlled by Eggman anymore, and I don't want to fight Sonic."
"Can anyone confirm that your personality has really changed? This wouldn't be the first time Eggman has tried to infiltrate New Mobotropolis."
"Well, if my new paint job alone isn't awesome enough to convince you, several upstanding citizens will vouch for me including Uncle Chuck, Harvey Hoot, and King Elias."
"Whom were all members of the so-called 'secret freedom fighters'." Rosemary chose to ignore the fact that Shard had referred to Elias as a king. Given the previous council meeting, it wasn't a can of worms she wanted opened at that moment.
"Sonic also knows that I've changed. I saved Tails awhile back, and I just helped him fight off some crazy plant thing!"
"Sonic? Do you care to elaborate?"
Sonic's head shot up from his chair. He'd fallen asleep in the middle of St. John's tirade, bored out of his mind after he was prevented to talk."Yeah! I wasn't asleep or anything! Shard's cool!" Sonic must've been fast in more ways than just his feet, because he somehow gauged the entire situation and worked out what he was supposed to say midsentence.
Rosemary knew that Sonic had been asleep, and sighed internally."Thank you, Sonic. Shard, due to positive reports from almost everyone we've talked to, you are hereby granted full rights as a citizen of New Mobotropolis, which includes the right to join the Freedom Fighters. However," Rosemary's tone grew noticeably hostile as she transitioned sentences, "if you so much as step a single toe out of line, or you show any signs of reverting to Eggman's control… we have a very large recycling facility here, and rest assured we need all the scrap metal we can get. "
Many Mobians in the audience were downright astonished that someone as collected as Rosemary would allow such hostility towards Shard creep into her voice, but Harvey Hoot could tell that it was just an act, both to appeal to the people who didn't like Shard and to impress upon Shard how much scrutiny he'd be under. Shard, however, appeared unimpressed.
"Me? Scrap metal? How about I trash some of Eggman's mechs instead?" An uproar of laughter and cries of "Yeah!" immediately followed this remark.
The council was called to a close, and a successful Shard flew out of the building, a white jet trail trying unsuccessfully to catch his engine. Twin blue and yellow streaks followed closely behind; Sonic and Tails were curious to see what Shard would do first, and also wanted to keep a close eye on him.
Shard set down by a small bench. A little pond was only a few feet away, and in the trees surrounding the grassy clearing were vibrant leaves of red and yellow. He knew Sonic and Tails were closely following him. The new citizen raised his right hand and slowly counted down from five. Right on schedule, he heard the rustling branches give way to two familiar faces.
"Hiya Shard! What's up?"
"I'm just enjoying my new freedom. After this, I'll probably go join Team Fighters or something."
"Cool! Tails, have anything to say 'bout that?"
"I think that you'll be more needed on Team Freedom, robot." Tails said in a sullen tone.
"Sorry Tails, did I do anything to offend you?" Shard offered, though he had a nagging suspicion what the kit was upset about.
"No, I enjoy being tied up against the side of an active volcano and used as bait to get Sonic to fall for your stupid trap. Please, feel free to continue to not offend me." Tails flew off, finished communicating his anger at Shard. The robot looked down, and Sonic winced at how harsh his little bro had been.
"It's okay, Shard. He's just a little upset. I'm a little faster to forgive, but he'll come around eventually."
"I know, I just kinda...feel bad about everything I did. I'm starting to see the downside to these emotion thingies."
"Don't dwell on them, and you'll be fine. Hey, I just realized that you're the only one in this entire city that can come even close to my speed. Wanna race?"
"You're on! Last one to circle around the city perimeter a hundred times has to buy the other a hundred cans of motor oil!"
"I think you mean chili dogs, 'cause I'm gonna beat ya!"
Both hedgehogs immediately jumped off the bench they were standing on. Sonic stayed in place for a split second as he built up speed, but Shard fired his rocket engine before he touched the ground. Despite having rocket smoke thrown in his face, Sonic grinned and let all his speed loose. The hundred laps around the city limits were more like a twenty yard sprint for a normal person; when you can run at the speed of sound and beyond, a few hundred miles aren't something to fret about. Sonic caught up to Shard in the middle of the race because of the extra speed he had charged up, but then Shard started putting out even more juice. Neither of them were running at their full speed, but they both were a little surprised that the other could keep up. Sonic won the race when, on the last lap, he sped up before Shard could react. Though no observer would have been able to tell who won, both Shard and Sonic knew that it had been the latter of the two.
"Dang, you're fast. I guess I owe you a hundred chili dogs…how exactly am I supposed to get that money?"
"Tell ya what, if you join Team Fighters instead of Team Freedom, I'll give you a pass this one time."
"Sounds like a plan! I only hope that you don't get too upset when I'm suddenly destroying more Badniks than you."
"In your dreams, Metal-me."
Before Shard could come up with a retort, a certain holo-lynx appeared in front of both of them.
"Hey Nicole, what's up?" Sonic asked the slightly panicked lynx. Shard didn't say anything, but Sonic could have sworn that his face turned a little red. He dismissed the thought; how could a robot blush?
"Sonic! You have to report to Freedom HQ immediately! It's Eggman, he's attacking again!"
"Please! When's that loser gonna learn that he can't possibly win? If I had a dollar for every robot of his I destroyed..."Sonic's voice trailed off as he turned his head and saw the extremely dirty look Shard was giving him. "Heh, heh, heh..."
"Fine, whatever, I'll give you that one. Last one to Freedom HQ is an overcooked chili dog!" Shard sped off before he finished saying the word "dog". Sonic grinned and his afterimage froze his carefree smile long after the hedgehog was gone.
Author's Note: Hey guys, I know that the prologue seems irrelevant to the story so far, but it'll be important to have that later so that I can easier work with Mecha Sally and Sonic's interactions easier without completely changing the dynamics in the comics. If you think this chapter is good, or a piece of crap, please feel free to let me know. I'd also appreciate it if you give me some reasons so I can improve myself. Thanks for reading!