I own no Sonic characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Sega.
-Prologue: New Competition-
High in the Sky...
The moon's shine pierced the cluster of clouds as the tall mountains stood frozen. A giant, red airship flew across the night sky as its propellers whirled. Excluding the constant buzzing noise it produced outside, the night was a peaceful one. What could possibly ruin it? A little pod of an aircraft flew closely, minuscule compared to the giant airship. Travelers, perhaps?
No. This was much more. And it all started with a young, emerald green hawk and his team.
Inside the captain's room of the airship, Jet the Hawk sat on his blue leather chair, his yellow tinted goggles resting on his forehead and a peculiar crystal box, with a bright glow in it, resting in his hand. He could only stare at the shining box with his blue eyes, for it contained many secrets unknown to him. All Jet could remember was that it was given to him by his father, who only told him that it could unlock great treasures. But how? Why? Was there more to the box than meets the eye? Unfortunately for Jet, tonight was just another night of pondering.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard. Jet turned to the door.
"Hey, boss!"
"Wha..?" The footsteps grew louder. The door burst open, revealing a large, gray albatross by the name of Storm, whose goggles just fit his forehead. Storm the Albatross stumbled in the captain's room, making Jet yelp, drop the crystal box on the table and drop himself on the floor.
Slamming the table with his rather large, gloved hands, Storm alerted the boss, "We've got some major trouble!" making the box jump with every slam on the wooden piece of furniture.
"Storm! At least learn to knock before entering a room!" a purple swallow scolded him. With her bandana on her head and her head feathers flowing down her back, Wave the Swallow placed one gloved hand on the door as she leaned towards it. Storm glanced at her, then looked back at the crystal box.
"What's this?" he asked Jet, picking it up. "Ooh... Is this..."
"Yeah..." Jet responded, picking himself up from the floor. "That's when I took over things for my father."
"So, is this the key to the fabled Babylon Garden?" Wave asked, walking into the room.
"I wonder..." Storm mused. "Could it be true? Could our ancestors have left behind hidden treasures just waiting to be discovered?" Jet nodded a little with a smirk, though he wasn't quite sure himself. Wave slowly lifted up her hand, ready to take the box from Storm and inspect it herself, but Storm raised it higher, making it so Wave couldn't reach it. "Uh uh!" he sounded. "If you get your greasy little hands on it, you'll probably use it in some crazy experiment or something!"
"Jeez, Storm! I only want a look!" Wave groaned.
"You always say you only want this or that," Storm reminded her, while Jet decided to take his seat. He often became irritated when his teammates argued with each other. This time was no exception. "Remember the teachings of our ancestors. 'Be careful what you ask for because in the end, you'll only get three true wishes.' Also-"
"Oh, be quiet!" Jet snapped, grasping Storm and Wave's attention. "Why'd you burst in here anyway, Storm?"
"Well, uh..." the albatross placed the box back down and took a moment to regain his answer. "An... egghead? Egg salad? No... Professor Pickle? Uh-"
"Someone called Dr Eggman wants to speak to you," Wave told Jet, interrupting her bigger friend.
"He told me that he had an interesting proposition for you, "Storm added, holding the swallow's head away.
"Stop interrupting!" Wave demanded, pushing Storm by his stomach. "Knock it off!" After a staredown that lasted a second, the two turned away from each other with their arms crossed. Jet sighed.
"Ahem. Am I interrupting anything?" came the voice of a rather rotund guest. His red military jacket and abnormally wide mustache made him an infamous figure to the world. He was the one Wave referred to as ' Dr Eggman'.
"So then, I heard you wanted to see me?" Jet said to him.
"Are you Jet, the leader of the legendary Babylon Rogues?" The hawk nodded. "Your reputation precedes you. I've heard so much about your infamous group!" A grin pulled along Eggman's face.
"Enough!" Jet ordered. "What do you want?"
"I heard a rumor, a rumor that you have the key to Babylon Garden. Could this be true?" Storm, noticing the crystal box Eggman referred to, hastily blocked it from the doctor's view as he whistled a little tune.
"Huh? What's this key?" Jet asked, interested.
"Ho ho ho ho! Really now, you don't have to be so distrusting," Eggman chuckled. Walking over to Jet, he said, "Were you not aware of this? Well, I'd imagine not, yet. The key to Babylon Garden is..." The infamous 'scientific genius' whispered the rest to the green hawk, who couldn't help but grin to what he just learned.
"Hmm, so let me get this straight," Jet spoke. "We just need to collect these seven Chaos Emeralds, right?" To Eggman's nod, Jet replied, "Sounds easy!"
"You really think so, eh?" Eggman smirked.
"What do you mean?" Jet grunted, his own grin disappearing. "Are you saying that the Babylon Rogues aren't capable of stealing some puny emeralds?"
"N-No, of course not," Eggman assured him, fiddling with something on his wrist. "But... Have you seen these characters before?" From his wrist device, a display shot out in front of the Babylon Rogues. An array of figures appeared on the display, all with the names of them and a one line long description for each of them. Jet eyed these figures, only to find disappointment in the majority of them. He didn't care for a so called 'Ultimate Life Form', nor did he take interest in the 'mechanical genius of a fox'. The 'Master Emerald' sounded promising, but the seven smaller emeralds were more important. There was one line which stood out to Jet, however.
"'The fastest thing alive', huh?"
"I've had many dreadful encounters with them in the past, especially the blue pest you seem to be intrigued by," Eggman said.
"Hmph. He may be the fastest creature on the ground," Jet began to sneer. "But in the air, with me and my Extreme Gear, he's just a joke!" A rather eccentric cackle rang in the airship.
In Future City...
Not only did the moon brighten up the place, but the array of city lights made Future City quite a sight. While most of the citizens partied away or drove around, a handful of them took in the fresh air and walked along the evergreen parks. The classic combo of heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Tails Prower and Knuckles the Echidna, also took a foot route. However, they weren't just enjoying the night life (though it seemed like a good idea to, considering Eggman hadn't launched any new schemes in a while!). Instead, they were on a hunt, a hunt for the Chaos Emeralds. They had four already, so they were in good shape for whatever was to come (that is, if something was to come).
"Tell me. Why are we looking for them again?" Knuckles grumbled, his arm crossed.
"If we find the Emeralds now, it will save time in the long run," Tails reminded him. "If Eggman strikes, we'll already have the Emeralds to stop his plans."
Sonic said nothing, though he wished to do something more interesting, too. However, his buddy did have a point. Said fox was holding one of his little contraptions in his hand. It was an Emerald Detector and it showed a bright dot near the middle of the screen, indicating another Emerald.
"It looks like the signal's coming from around here," Tails told his friends. At that moment, a circle stretched out from the dot, with the sign 'Jamming Signal' displayed. "Hmm... That's really weird," Tails said.
At that moment, the ear piercing sound of breaking glass rang in everyone's ears!
Team Sonic turned around to find the source of it. Three silhouettes seemed to be descending to the ground from a building, one of which was holding a gem. A Chaos Emerald!
"What's that!?" Knuckles spoke up.
"Sonic! The Emerald's over there!" Tails warned his surrogate brother, pointing to the front figure. All three of them landed on the road and took off on their boards in colored streaks.
"Alright! Now we're talking!" Sonic grinned before signaling his friends to move out. Sonic used his trademark speed to catch up with the thieves, while Tails and Knuckles followed close behind, maneuvering past the night's traffic. Police cars were immediately called in after the windows crashed, so Team Sonic and the thieves have to swerve past all of them, too.
Sonic sped ahead of the thieves in a blue blur, the green hawk taking a glance at it. After Sonic stopped in front of them, he got into a fighting position. However, the same rogue who glanced at the blue hedgehog crouched down and leaped above him. Sonic gasped slightly, but there was no time to waste with that thief. He chased after him, while Knuckles rushed in to intercept the biggest rogue. The echidna swung his fist at him, knocking him off his board and forcing him to hitch a ride with the last member of the rogue trio. Tails caught up and noticed a peculiar mark on the board on the road. Before he could analyze it further, Sonic threw it upwards, lunged for it and took a ride on it, dashing away with a streak of gray shooting from its back.
Sonic, having had experience with boarding (whether it be snowboarding on a mountain or fleeing from the cops in a city), was able to control himself with the contraption he stood on, but somehow, it felt... different. Sure, it was essentially a skateboard without wheels, but it was a board nevertheless, right? The hedgehog had no time to ponder on that, though. He needed to catch up with the apparent leader behind the thieving and get back the Chaos Emerald!
Swiftly and with some finesse, Sonic swerved past the incoming, outgoing and obstructing traffic, dodging police cars as he did so. Though he passed the big guy and only girl, there was that last rogue to catch up with. The boards knocked into each other, leaving Sonic and the mystery marauder off balance, though they both regained it. The hedgehog leaned forward, making the board propel forward with him, and swerved around his opponent quite stylishly.
"Huh, not bad," the bird smirked. Sonic turned around, to find one problem. He wasn't there!
"What the heck?" He looked up, not thinking that the guy would be there, but he was! The silhouette blocked a portion of the moon like an eclipse, but that was all the hedgehog saw before a sudden blast of turbulence blew Sonic off the board and onto the ground.
"Hmph! So, you're supposed to be the fastest thing alive? What a joke!" Sonic heard the rogue sneer before he, along with his two bumbling teammates, took off (but not before the big guy stretched his arm out for his own board).
Sonic picked himself up from the road, while Tails and Knuckles caught up with him. He took a glance at them before turning back to where the mysterious trio just left the scene.
"Huh, new competition!"
Hi there! I'm UpbeatButNegative and welcome to my novelization of Sonic Riders! I wrote it on an older account of mine, but because I wanted a fresh start after being gone for so long, I decided to rewrite and reupload it.
Sonic Riders... It's a game that has quite a steep learning curve, especially when compared to the sequel, but that doesn't mean that it's a bad game. It's no Mario Kart, but I find myself coming back to Sonic Riders every now and then. I hope that I've done the game justice here, but that's up to you to decide.
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-