strong Sonic S: The Beginning /strong
Written by Virtus the Protector
Starring characters copyright of Virtus the Protector, Sega and Archie Comics, used without permission from the two later.
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strong Prologue /strong
The No Zone, one of an infinite number of alternate realities surrounding the cosmic strings that held together the very fabric of existence. One of very similar histories repeated over and over again, but not necessarily exact replicas.
The No Zone, however, was one of a kind.
Sharing the universal tale with many other timelines following their own, the No Zone's inhabitants had improved their technology beyond the limits of other worlds, advancing enough to learn how to control the time/space rifts between the infinite realities in order to cross over into the different realms.
With this power, the inhabitants had decided to maintain order in all existing realities, dealing with cosmic treats and alike. And if the threats grew to strong for them alone, they could always call for help from all corners of existence.
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It was a quiet morning, or whatever you'd like to call the space that surrounded a random headquarters floating around in the No Zone.
Inside, however the situation was highly different. A high-pitched alarm blared throughout the corridors around the station, and red lights flashed on and off in all rooms. In one of these rooms, a certain hedgehog's beauty sleep had been harshly interrupted.
"Another day, another pair of sacks under the eyes." The hedgehog half-thought, half-mumbled and quickly jumped out of his azure coloured bed, which matched the blue quills he smoothed back with his hand.
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Now you might say "hold the phone."
"There's only one true blue dude who fits in on that description, and that's none other than Sonic the Hedgehog."
But the blue hedgehog was not Sonic, but Zonic the Zone Cop, one of the No Zone's elite soldiers, a vastly different version of Sonic, both in personality and powers.
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The blue hedgehog quickly proceeded by pulling on a red form-fitting sweater and pants, which he closed around his slim waist with a yellow metallic belt. His hands were within split seconds resting inside blue gloves, just like his feet were resting inside yellow boots, armoured with green metal plates. After that he put what looked like a strange yellow cross between a collar and shoulder pads, with his Zone Cop badge attached to its left chest-plate. Last but not least, he picked up a yellow and green helmet with a dark purple visor and two red antennas, put it down over his head and made sure that none of his quills were peaking out of the strange headgear.
With everything in order the heroic Zone Cop was ready to save the whole existence from a new crisis, as he ran down the halls of his headquarters.
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"You are hereby under arrest for dimensional trespassing!" A heavily built Zone Cop said, while pointing his gun at the unknown newcomer to the No Zone.
The stranger, a humanoid figure dressed in black, red and white tights, didn't seem to be too happy to have a gun pointed at his head. The blue irises, within the eyes with red V-like markings around the corners, shot ice-cold stares that passed right through the Zone Cop's visor into his own eyes, causing him to take a new grip on his gun.
"I fail to see the reason to put me under arrest." He said, while clenching his white-gloved fists tightly.
"I could always repeat the rule book…" The guard said, holding the trigger to his gun without squeezing it.
"That won't be necessary." A voice was heard.
The two opponents looked up to see Zonic floating upside down over their heads due to the different laws of physics in the No Zone. The hedgehog's armoured head tilted to its side, giving an expression of surprise despite the metal that hid his face.
"Virtus?" Zonic said to the black stranger.
The mysterious human lifted his head and smirked.
"It's been a while, Zonic."
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Back in Zonic's headquarters, the two very different individuals were catching up on old times.
"So, what brings you to this part of existence?" Zonic said as he led Virtus deeper into his base of operations.
"Things have been going a bit slowly on Earth-Alpha during my summer vacation, so I decided to visit some old friends." Virtus explained.
"You mean the eight Sonics that are part of a variety of fictional media in your world, such as me and Sonic-Prime being comic book characters?" Zonic said.
"Even though I prefer to refer to him as Archie Sonic in my world, your guess is correct." Virtus confirmed.
"So what are you doing here then?" Zonic asked.
"You already know that I can travel through time and space to a limited extent, but it sure takes the juice out of me to get to the right place. So I was wondering if I could hitch a ride with you. You're not as fast as me, but your aiming is definitely better." Virtus explained further.
"Well…" Zonic rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
"It goes against the Zone Cop code, but I guess I could negotiate with the high council about it. After all, you have been a great help in the past." Zonic explained.
"Okay. Then I guess I'll return to my dimension to await your answer." Virtus said, and got into a sprinting stance. But before he could return to his world, Zonic had grabbed his arm.
"Just because we Zone Cops have strict rules about zone hopping, it doesn't mean that we can't take in a few guests now and then." Zonic said.
"Oh, but I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality..." Virtus replied.
"Nonsense." Zonic reassured.
"Until we've worked it out with the council, you're my guest."
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Virtus had seen many strange things in his eventful life, but the guest room that Zonic had prepared was really something to get wideeyed about.
Along the walls were about a hundred of computer screens stashed up, all of them depicting a different version of Sonic the Hedgehog. No interior decor was present, except a bed and a small desk with drawers.
"It's not much, but…" Zonic began, but was interrupted by Virtus.
"It's perfect the way it is." Virtus reassured Zonic.
"Well, make yourself at home." Zonic said and then exited the room. Virtus was left studying the different versions of the blue hedgehog that he had worked alongside more than once in the past. He noticed a small round handle which was located under every screen in the room.
He twisted the handle curiously, and the image on the screen flashed to another image. The colours seemed to have been reversed, reminding him of a photo negative. He watched a yellow Sonic run around in icy-blue sneakers over a field of purple grass, and it was definitely not Super Sonic trying on a new fashion trend. But Virtus's eyes caught sight of a few digits in the lower left corner of the screen that spelled "Mobius-0. "
"Well, I'll be…" Virtus thought.
"So there even is a world where the sky is red and the grass is purple…"
Virtus smirked a bit, and pushed his clenched fist against the screen.
"In blackest day, in whitest night…" He chuckled a little, and then withdrew his hand.
"That's enough corny jokes for one day, Virtus." Virtus thought for himself. Suddenly, something sparkled in the corner of his eye.
"Huh?" Virtus exclaimed, and turned around towards the direction of the movement. There was nothing there, except for the shabby desk that he hadn't given a thought earlier.
There it was again. A little spark of light, almost unnoticeable, but strong enough to catch his attention. The light emitted from the top drawer of the desk, pulling the curious Virtus's hands closer to it. He carefully opened the drawer, wishing to reveal what was hidden inside.
There was almost nothing in the drawer, except for one tiny object that caught his eye.
There, in the corner of the drawer, was a little crystallic orb. Virtus took the small glass ball into his hand, studying it further. It easily fit into his palm, yet too big for him to close his fingers fully around. The interesting part of the orb was the fact that it seemed hollow, yet not transparent like a glass of water. Instead, the center of the ball was black like a winter night, no matter from which angle he looked at the mysterious orb as he rolled it in his hand.
"I wonder if Zonic can explain what this… Yeowch!" Virtus thought, but then gasped upon feeling a sharp, yet quick and subduing pain in his index finger. His eyes returned to the hand that was holding the strange object, and saw blood dripping from the index finger. The reason for the puncturing seemed to be the sharp edge of a hole that he had missed in the otherwise perfect orb. Virtus's hyperfast metabolism healed the wound in a matter of seconds as he put back the ball into the drawer and closed it.
"I wonder what such a strange object is doing in a regular desk drawer." Virtus wondered.
He shrugged his shoulders and then walked towards the bed, unaware about the events transpiring in the globe hidden in the drawer.
A little, almost microscopic drop of Virtus's blood, dripped into the black nothingness inside of the orb through the hole he had cut himself on, disappearing into the darkness, setting off different chain reactions...
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