Cover Art done by me, but the credit for the logo in the middle goes to mellowhen at devianart. And of course, all characters, places, and possible references are property of Sega of America and it's associates.
No robots are harmed in the making of this story. Nah, just kidding.
Now, without further ado, I give you chapter one of: The Sonic Underground Finale!
The Land of Robotropolis, once a thriving city of beauty and plentiful wonders is now a desolate wasteland, less than a shadow of its former self.
The former ruler, Queen Aleena the Hedgehog, was forced into exile by the malevolent Dr. Robotnik, destiny ordering her and her three beautiful children, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic, to be separated until the time of destiny finally came. Over the years, the children grew under the watchful eyes of other guardians, as diverse as they may be.
Sonia, Aleena's daughter, was raised by a wealthy aristocratic family. Her adoptive family loved her very much, she loved them too. And she enjoys clothes, fancy dances, being beautiful, and indeed she was, and was inexplicably interested in learning to play the piano. But her heart yearned for adventure, something was missing.
Manic is Aleena's son; he was originally intended to be left with a well-to-do family, but destiny had decided differently. A street-wise thief had taken the child from his intended home, and brought him to Ferrell, a fellow thief who raised him as his own son. He stole only what he needed, greedless and joyful with what little he had, which were only the clothes on his back, his two drumsticks, and the limitless potential he has wielding them. Though he was taught warped morals, his heart remained pure; and like his unknown sister, he knew that something was missing.
Last is Sonic, Aleena's other son, who was raised by a loving couple when Sonic happened to run into their lives, both literally and metaphorically. Sonic loved his family, and he had a fun time living with them, being raised as a cool, carefree, and curious kid; with a mysteriously powerful urge to play an equally great instrument, the guitar. But again, like his long-lost siblings, something was missing.
You see, unlike his siblings, Sonic was born with the miraculous yet unexplainable power of supersonic speed. With this power came the urge to explore the world and live life free, but unbeknownst to a toddler such as him, this was hindered due to Robotnik's totalitarian rule.
A lesson he learned far too soon.
Sonic was separated from his adoptive family and was living with Aleena's brother, or Sonic's uncle, a kind-hearted mustachioed hedgehog that Sonic preferred to call Uncle Chuck. With Uncle Chuck, he worked for the resistance against Robotnik, and one day, after a bout with an energy shield, the Oracle of Delphius delivered a message to him, he is the son of Queen Aleena, and that he has a twin brother and a twin sister.
After they all united, Robotnik came and took adoptive their families, and turned them into his robotic slaves.
What happened next was history. Now, after the most recent attack from Robotnik involving a virtual world, the hedgehogs return to a safe house hidden in the city, their efforts exhausted enough for one day. But to Sonic's surprise, Sonia has other plans…
"What? I hope you mean another dude, not the Knuckles we know, not the hot-head mutated hands, guy, right?" Sonic says. Sonia brushes the hair from her face and crosses her arms, smiling smugly.
"And so what if it is? He's nice, and strong, and cute…" Sonia says while interlocking her hands and holding them against her cheek, smiling goofily. Sonic pouts and snaps his finger in front of her face, breaking her out of her little fantasy; he does not like the possibility of his sister *gulp* dating his friend, it is really weird. Sonic lies down on his cot and crosses his legs, he stares up at the grimy ceiling.
"I don't like this Sonia, I mean, he's our friend, I don't want anything awkward between you guys to stop us from fighting Robuttnik." Sonic says this with only a hint of truth; sure, he cares about stopping Robotnik, but it is his protective brother in him that is reluctant to see Sonia go on a date with Knuckles. But despite Sonic's protests, Sonia is steadfast in her decision.
"Sorry Sonic, I'm going, he's already waiting for me around the corner, and we are going to have a romantic evening out, we're probably even going to kiss!"
"What? Right in the street where Buttnick can see him?" Sonic says, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Oh relax, he's in a cloak and I'm going to wear one too, and we'll be careful, trust us." Sonia sits down at a mirror stand and starts to brush her hair, daydreaming about her so-called "Knight in red fur"; Ugh. Sonic does not like it; he turns to his brother for a little support, but is bitterly disappointed.
"Come on bro, help me out here!" Sonic motions to Manic, who is on a homemade hammock, using his belly as a poor-boy's Congo drum. He nonchalantly turns his head and chuckles at Sonic's edgy behavior; it completely contrasts with how he normally is. "Chill out Sonic, Sonia's already dated, got married, and broken up before; she knows what she's doing, give her a chance." Sonia smirks at Sonic, but he just sticks out his tongue. After she's finished doing her hair, she goes to change her outfit; the hair on the top of her head is slicked back and her spines are in a bunchy ponytail tied together with a light blue ribbon. Sonia goes behind a hanging curtain and comes out in a very pretty white sundress tied in the middle with a blue band and with matching white sunflower sandals. She whirls around and poses, holding the sides of her skirt in a curtsey.
"So guys, how do I look?" Sonia says with her eyebrow raised.
"Like a daisy." Sonic says, laughing. "You rob a flower shop?" Manic throws him a critical glance and turns to Sonia, giving her a sincere compliment.
"Don't mind Sonic; you look great Sonia, Knuckles is a lucky guy." Manic gives her thumbs up and she smiles in response; she walks out the door and waves to her brothers as she grabs her cloak and heads for the door.
"Bye guys! Wish me luck!" Despite his previous arguments, Sonic wishes her luck and Manic does so as well. Sonia walks out the front door with a big love-struck grin on her face. Sonic goes over to Manic's hammock and comically flips him over, Manic spins over and over until he comes to a stop and he sees birds flying around his head. He grabs his head, and with his pupils still adjusting themselves, he turns over to his brother.
"What's the big idea Sonic?" Manic says both dizzily and angrily.
Sonic chuckles a little and points his finger toward Manic while he lies back down on his bed; "Heh, next time, back me up." Sonic says, he closes his eyes and eventually drifts to sleep.
…
Knuckles leans on a traffic sign at the corner in a long brown cloak that touches all the way to the floor; upon seeing Sonia, he waves at her and she runs to him, her long dark-purple cloak trailing behind her.
Knuckles smiles at her shyly; and with a shaking hand he brings out a flower from under his cloak and gives it to her. She takes it gratefully and he smiles clumsily when she compliments it.
"Oh, knuckles, it's beautiful!" Sonia says while gently stroking the pedals on the shiny red rose. She looks into his eyes and it immediately sends the blood rushing to Knuckles's cheeks. She takes his hand and they both run off, him running clumsily behind as he is not very fast nor confident around girls.
"Where're we going?" Knuckles asks while trying to keep his cloak from flying off.
"You'll see!" Sonia responds as they head into a dilapidated building. Once inside the building, Knuckles has trouble seeing through the dark, but when Sonia flicks a switch from her pocket, a faint beeping sound is heard from twenty feet away. The lights on Sonia's motorcycle flip on, and she runs over to its location, revving the engine. She waves for Knuckles to follow, and then she hands him a blue helmet, gesturing for him to put it on. She plants on her own helmet and mounts the bike.
"Wait, you're driving?" Knuckles asks, pointing at the bike skeptically.
"Of course, it's my bike, and I never really liked riding backseat." Sonia slips some goggles on. Knuckles catches her drift and settles onto the bike, then he grabs onto her hips and they brace for the ride.
"Ready?" Sonia says.
Knuckles gives a thumbs up to Sonia and says "Ready!" Then in the blink of an eye, the bike bursts out of the wall of the abandoned warehouse. Sonia uses this time to finally tell Knuckles what they are going to do for the night.
"Well, I think having a boring night in Robotropolis is no way to spend our date; we should go to your island, which sounds a lot better than here!" Knuckles likes the idea of going to the Floating Island for their night, but he does not like the fact that they're drawing so much attention toward themselves, he wants to keep Sonia safe too, but how can he do that when she likes to be in danger? The next words she says come as a bit of a surprise.
"But first, I need to make a quick drop." Sonia steers the motorcycle into a working factory and the doors bust down with a loud KA-TANG! The robots working in the energy core manufacturing plant all deadpan the spontaneous visitors. Knuckles, taken by surprise at the sudden left turn, clasps the helmet to his head, clenches his teeth, and grabs the motorcycle tightly, nearly denting the metal shell of the bike. Sonia moves her motorbike in a serpentine motion, dodging the bullets from the mindless turrets. However, a bullet strikes the side of the bike on one of the turns, and Sonia decides that she needs to go faster. The factory is put on high alert, and before they know it, they are surrounded by the shots of gunfire and missiles heading toward them.
Upon seeing the missiles, Knuckles springs into action. He stands up on the bike and when one of the missiles closes in, he grapples with it for a second before redirecting it with a quick flick of his wrist. The redirected missile collides with a machine, blasting it to bits. When another missile heads for them, Knuckles does a similar technique as last time, but this time, he jumps on top of the missile, riding it like some sort of explosive air dolphin. By shifting his body weight, he steers the missile toward the direction of the back wall, and once the course is set, he leaps back onto Sonia's motorcycle. "BOOM!" The back wall disintegrates with a mighty crumbling sound in its wake, and Knuckles once again steadies himself on the bike by holding onto Sonia's hips.
"Hold on!" Sonia pulls out a small device from her cloak and yanks out a pin from it with her teeth, then she throws it onto the conveyor belt and it heads into one of the big machines. Sonia zooms with her motorcycle out of the building and sharply turns right, leaving the factory behind in their dust. Seconds later, the grenade explodes, sending sharp fragments of superheated shrapnel and flames rocketing through the air at metal-piercing speeds. Sonia and Knuckles laugh briefly, and Sonia swiftly wipes a bead of sweat from her forehead before heading for the outskirts of the city.
"You're crazy Sonia! Ha! That was amazing!" Knuckles says, laughing loudly. Sonia looks back at him and giggles softly; he suddenly feels very timid when she does so, so he releases his hold on her hips and grabs the side of the bike, laughing awkwardly. Their moment lasts only for a short time though, because before they know it, police drones are on their tail, and they are not pleased about their factory being "exploded".
"Whoa, watch it Sonia, these Swatbots are on our tails!" Only about two miles from the edge of the city, Sonia speeds up her motorcycle and decides to have a high-speed driving shootout with the Swatbots. She activates her medallion and hands it to Knuckles, instructing him to shoot the robots as they chase them, but Knuckles is a tad bit uncomfortable.
"Are you kidding?!" Knuckles yells over the laser blasts of the robots. He stands up on the bike and shoots at the flying droids, knocking them down one by one.
"Oh, you're right!" Sonia flips on her motorcycle's built in radio and starts blasting the song "Escape from the City" by Crush 40, her second favorite band (first being her own). Then revving her bike to a pulse-pounding 80 miles an hour, she sarcastically comments to Knuckles.
"Better?" She says with a tangy flair.
"This is not what I meant!" Knuckles yells out, and Sonia sings along to the song as she turns in and around the street corners. Pedestrians duck into their houses and alleyways as the clamorous duo race against the Swatbots to reach the outskirts of the city.
"Must keep on Moving Ahead, no time for guessing follow my plan inste-ad!" Sonia turns swerves around a corner and revs the bike into a long stretch of road.
"Trusting in what you can't see, take my lead, I'll set you free! Follow me, set me free…" Some of the last robots are being taken down by Knuckles, and the final street they need to drive through is arriving quickly.
"Trust me and we will Esc-ape from the Ci-ty! I'll make it through, Follow me!" Sonia continues singing as Knuckles shoots down the last robot and settles down on the bike, a little angry at Sonia for pulling the stunt. He wants to give her a stern warning, but when she turns around and her eyes are so alive with adventure, Knuckles can't bring himself to be mad at her. Her happiness is more important to him than her safety. She's having a fun time, and when Knuckles looks back and sees that he demolished Robotnik's toys, he can't help but feel a little gleeful himself.
So gleeful in fact, he joins Sonia in singing along to the rest of the song.
"I'll make it through… Oh Yeah!" Knuckles sings loudly with Sonia's well-practiced voice complimenting him as they ride out of the city and into the night.
Meanwhile, from the safe house where Sonic and Manic are taking refuge, Sonic blinks himself awake and stretches out on his cot, yawning. He turns to a quiescent Manic and asks him something.
"Did you hear something?" Manic turns around sleepily and shakes his head.
"Nope." Manic says quietly.
Sonic convinces himself that the sound was in his imagination and he turns over in his mattress, falling back asleep in mere seconds.
…
On Angel Island, the scenery is breathtaking. The trees all glow a gentle blue, the stars and moon shimmering a soft light overhead. Serene Noises of crickets and snuffling birds echo through the forest. The nearby waterfall circulates the fresh island air, creating a smooth breeze that ruffles through the trees, sending out a faint aroma of fresh leaves. Knuckles and Sonia are lying down on a soft orange blanket as they look sleepily into the constellations. Being dozy, when she snuggles up close to him for warmth, he does not have the energy nor the desire to deter her.
"Knuckles?" Sonia whispers sweetly.
"Mm-hm?" Knuckles responds. Sonia looks at his eyes and returns her glance, and before his cheeks can flush, she returns her gaze to the sky and sighs.
"The oracle told us that my brothers and I would be reunited with our mother when the day comes…but…" Sonia sighs again and covers her eyes with her hand. "But we really don't care about destiny… we just want our mom back…" As Sonia begins to cry, Knuckles wraps both of his arms around her and tries to comfort her by patting her back softly.
"Hey…don't cry Sonia, what you're feeling is perfectly fine." She wipes the tears from her eyes and hugs Knuckles back. And to show her that he understands, he talks of his past.
"My parents were gone ever since I was four, I had only Chomps to keep me company, and he wasn't exactly the greatest conversationalist…" Sonia snickers a little bit and Knuckles smiles uncomfortably, remembering how shy he is of girls. He releases her and stares at the ground between them, rubbing his glove against the soft blanket.
"My mom died shortly after I was born, and my dad taught me the importance of guarding the island's Chaos Emerald from harm. When Robotnik took over…h-he was killed." Sonia looks at him with a deep and respectful sympathy; then she turns to him and lays her hand on his, and he makes no attempt to pull away.
"I'm sorry Sonia, I think I'm, *heh*, ruining our date a little bit." Knuckles says, not lifting his gaze from its fixed position.
"No Knuckles, don't say that…"She leans on him and puts her hand under his chin, and lifts his head up into the beautiful night sky. "What's happened so far is in the past, and just because the past affects the future, we shouldn't let it dictate our lives. We are the only ones who can do that." A shooting star twinkles past the sky, inciting some excitement in Knuckles, as he remembers the never-ending beauty of the world, and it cheers him up.
"Ha, a shooting star! Make a wish." Knuckles closes his eyes, and Sonia follows shortly after. After a couple seconds, Knuckles asks Sonia what she wished for, but Sonia answers with a spicy riposte.
"Nuh-uh! If I tell you, it won't come true!" Knuckles laughs a little and Sonia asks him a rather… scandalous question.
"Knuckles, why are you so shy of girls?" Knuckles cannot stop the blood from rushing to his cheeks in time; he sits up straight and slams both his hands on the floor in embarrassment, clenching his teeth a little. His pupils dilate inevitably, and when they do, he tries to get a grip on himself, shutting his mouth and folding his arms, trying to play cool…but thoroughly failing. Sonia giggles a little and Knuckles tries to stutter out a response.
"I uh…pfft…come on...Uh…ha ha haa….hmm…" When Sonia waves her hand to dismiss the question, Knuckles slouches his shoulders and releasing his held breath. Sonia asks another question and Knuckles shoves the other one completely out of his mind.
"Well…what was your wish Knuckles?" Sonia asks curiously. Knuckles stares up at the sky once again and eases himself into lying down on the soft blanket. He slowly closes his eyes and yawns audibly.
"It doesn't matter…*yawn*…It's already come true…" Sonia lies down next to him shortly after and wraps her arm around him, rubbing the fur on his chest. They fall asleep to the serene sounds of the angelic Floating Island. In his sleep, Knuckles inadvertently nuzzles closer to Sonia, perhaps because of his primal instinct to stay warm in frigid conditions, or perhaps because for one of the only times in his life, he feels something other than loneliness.
…
After a couple blissful hours, the sun begins to poke his head over the horizon, illuminating the sky in a bright blend of blue and orange. When the shine reflects off of the waterfall, Knuckles is awoken by the gleam that covers his face. Knuckles blinks himself awake and finds that Sonia is still sleeping, and she's buried her face in his chest. All of Knuckles' awkward bashfulness towards females comes into play; he blushes and tightens his body, trying desperately to shy away from the soft pink hedgehog without waking her. He notices that it is dawn, and that Sonia should probably get back with her family before they start to worry.
"Morning already? Well, I'd better get you back to your brothers;" Knuckles says to the still slumbering Sonia, "they're probably going to wake up soon too." He carries her gently toward the direction of his plane. They ride in tranquil silence for about an hour before Sonia comes to; she knows that they are headed toward the city, but some part of her still wants to stay on the date with Knuckles.
"So, we're heading for the city?" Sonia says, rubbing her eyes.
"Yep, we're almost at the spot where we hid your bike…I'm coming in now." Knuckles turns the plane a rough 35 degree angle and lands where Sonia kept the bike. They get out of the plane and Knuckles finally gets to see Sonia's outfit, he likes it, but does not know how to tell her without coming off as creepy, so he politely keeps his thoughts to himself. Sonia sees him look at her outfit and decides to let Knuckles get away with not telling her what he thinks, he was a gentleman, after all. She mounts her bike and Knuckles hands her a helmet and a cloak, so she can enter the city with a little less suspicion.
"Thanks Knuckles, I had a great time." Sonia says.
"No problem Sonia, it was fun; and I'll be happy to take you out again sometime." Knuckles says, slightly more suave than he previously acted. Sonia waves him goodbye and she rides the four miles back to her place daydreaming about Knuckles. As she left, Knuckles sits cross-legged in his plane, contemplating the unfamiliar yet pleasant feelings that go through his mind, all centered on her.
Could he be falling in love?
Sonia quietly walks back into the safe house, all of the lights are off, and so she assumes that Sonic and Manic are sleeping. But what greets her as soon as she shuts the door catches her by surprise.
A light flicks on at the center table. Sonic and Manic are sitting at a table with their arms crossed, and they look condescendingly at Sonia. At nearly five o clock in the morning, her attendance, or should I say her lack of attendance, has gone far from unnoticed. Sonic and Manic are portraying the perfect combination of concerned parents and excitable children as they bombard her with questions about her night out. As they approach her interrogation style, the mood continually lightens as Sonia explains her eventful night. Sonic and Manic are increasingly intrigued, and the more he hears about him, the more Sonic begins to doubt his original thoughts about Knuckles. She goes on to explain the bike race, the factory explosion, and the city escape all the way to the beautiful night, but after the city escape, the boys are too immature to appreciate the romance of the night. But nevertheless, Sonia continued to spell out the event.
"Ooh, how romantic it all was! And you know, he asked me to another date sometime, Ahhh!" Sonia plumps down on Sonic's cot and folds her legs. She has to start her day in just a little while, but she can't bring herself to get an extra couple minutes of sleep, she's too busy living the life of a normal thirteen year old for that… well… in her mind at least.
For the next week, Cyrus and the Sonic Underground were kept busy with low intensity reconnaissance missions, factory infiltrations, and the de-encryption of miscellaneous files. In that week, Sleet and Dingo attempt to trap Sonic with a giant spider web, but unsurprisingly, it fails. Sonic gets in contact with his Uncle Chuck once again, and promises him that he would free him one day from his roboticization. But unfortunately, they could not find their mother. Remarkably, Robotnik himself is nowhere to be seen, probably because he's too busy repairing his control tower after the siblings "returned" Robotniks' supply crafts (refer to episode 40).
You know…same old, same old.
If you noticed something different, I moved this description down here to the bottom of the page.
Good Day everyone! OK, so the other day, I got to a point where I just wanted to be a little kid again, so I do what anyone would do really, I take a trip down memory lane. I remember watching Sonic Underground and immediately loving it. The darkness of the series didn't turn me away like it might have turned others, it made it cool. And the music (kiddish now when I look back to it) was really catchy and sent good messages. But disappointingly, it ended at episode 40 due to low ratings. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic never reunited with their mother, Queen Aleena. I was so distraught. At the time, I thought that I couldn't do something to bring it back, it was a project that T.V scrapped, and was probably never going to return to. But years later, I've decided to give the Sonic Underground fans something they've all been waiting for. A grand Finale. I'm going all out for this one, so there might be some characters you need to refresh upon.