Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, Sally Acorn, Tuftee Acorn, Doctor Ivo Robotnik / Doctor Ovi Kintobor, Tekno the Canary, Porker Lewis, Amy Rose, Shorty the Squirrel / Shortfuse the Cybernik are copyright to Sega / Sonic Team / Sonic The Comic / Fleetway comics. Same goes for existing zones and places from Mobius mentioned.
Story and all other characters mentioned are copyright to the author: Michael Stewart Stephenson, 2001.
Do not redistribute without the authors consent.
Contact on: Stiv_Thermal@hotmail.com
Key: 1 Mobium = 20p sterling.
Chapter 1:
Fastest Thing Alive
Chapter 1
"Go for it pixel-brain!" A blast of pure energy exploded from the point where the two fastest runners on Planet Mobius took off in opposite directions to each other. One of them was Sonic, the legendary fastest thing alive, the other being his closest contender and best mate, Tails, the flying fox.
The blue blur powered his legs to their usual several hundred beats per minute. After the first few minutes, he had covered about nine hundred miles and showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. Indeed, this was the best part of the patrol, the 'runners high' was just beginning to really kick in and a dull roar started up behind him, the unmistakable sound of a true sonic boom.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, the slightly smaller orange blur literally flew at about three quarters of Sonic's speed, moving at about a metre off ground level. There was no sonic boom in Tails' wake, but he didn't expect there to be one, he wasn't moving at nearly enough velocity to equal the speed of sound. Tails had spent the last six years trying to match the speed of Sonic, but it seemed impossible, the nearest any Mobian apart from Tails had come to Sonic's speed was 73mph, nowhere near the average speed Sonic managed to attain of 770 mph, or mach 1.015. Tails held the second fastest record of 486 mph and was proud of it.
Sonic grinned to himself as he tore through the Lava Reef Zone, being careful to dodge the steaming lava pools in his path. He still called Tails pixel brain, it was a long running joke between the pair, Tails actually had one of the most creative minds of all time, all he did with his spare time was create machines and various devices, rivaling that of Robotnik.
Actually, thinking of Robotnik while in the Lava Reef Zone brought an old memory back to Sonic. About five and a half years ago, Robotnik had lured Sonic to the border of the Lava Reef Zone and had set up a death ray to aim straight at the Emerald Hill Zone, forcing Sonic to race half way around the planet in five seconds flat if he wanted to stop the total destruction of South Island.
He thought back to that day, how he felt when he had finished the run. As he reached the edge of the Magma Coast, (where magma and water met and formed a huge solid cliff of steam) he reduced his speed drastically and jogged over to the bridge that connected this continent to the one over the sea. The road was more or less totally clear, a road that was fifteen metres or so wide and about eighty miles long stretched out in front of him.
He began to smile again as he stretched his legs, cracked his knuckles, bent down into a starting stance. He allowed the adrenaline to flow freely through his veins. Now this was not what he was supposed to do on patrol, he was supposed to look out for any new schemes that Robotnik was cooking up, (although they hadn't heard anything from Robotnik in the last seven months or so) but Sonic had been taken hold of by the moment, this was going to be something he could enjoy.
He lifted his head to scan the distant horizon.
He'd never thought of himself as an adrenaline junkie, but now, as he felt the shiver run up his spine and felt his heart began to beat that much faster, he savoured the moment. For about half a millisecond, then streaked off across the bridge in the direction of the Metropolis Zone, faster than the eye could see.
Seven minutes later, the lush green grass of the Emerald Hill Zone rustled gently in the slow breeze. On the edge of the Forest Hill Zone, a sound like a strong wind started up in the distance and made itself increasingly prominent, in under two seconds it was a roar and the wind increased enough to make the heavy trees sway. The dense foliage that made up the border between the Forest Hill and the Emerald Hill shuddered and suddenly burst open as something very blue and very, very fast shot through and screeched to a halt, leaving burning skidmarks, at least twelve metres long, in the grass.
Fastest he'd ran in a while. Nowhere near how fast he'd ran when that satellite was at large, but still equaling at least three times the speed of sound…
"Now that's what you call supersonic speeds." Sonic thought as he stretched his arms and wheeled them around in the direction of the breeze. He tried to remember when he had last felt this breathless, before he came to the conclusion that he just hadn't. He quickly regained his composure before anyone could wander along and see him and walked slowly over to the clear blue Emerald Village Pond. He pulled off his sneakers and dipped his feet in. His feet didn't need to be cooled off, the soles and in-soles of his shoes made sure to completely cut out friction, keeping his feet at a relatively normal temperature when he ran. Nonetheless, it seemed the normal thing to do after just running a circle around the planet at an estimate of three times the speed of sound.
"Hey, Sonic!" Shouted Sally Acorn as she walked out from the path to the nearby Emerald Village. "Is something wrong with your shoes?"
Sonic smiled and waved a greeting to Sally.
"No way, Sal. Still as perfect as ever, just like their owner. Where you goin'?"
Sally shrugged and smiled. "Over to the Green Hill Zone." She motioned to the direction of the Green Hill Zone, a ten minute walk - for a normal person - to the west of the Emerald Hill Zone.
"Gotta check on my little bro, he moved in with his girlfriend last week."
"Tuftee? He's only sixteen isn't he?" Sonic put his sneakers back on, running his fingers along the side of the right one. He stood up, leaned against a palm tree and folded his arms.
Sally laughed. "You can still pull off that 'reckless teenager' look, Sonic. Oh, yeah. That's 'cos you still are a reckless teenager."
Sonic dropped his arms. "And Tuftee…..?"
"Yeah Tuftee's only sixteen, so is Jenny. But still, they seem pretty serious about it, very insistent anyway." Sally shot an imaginary gun at Sonic. "Anyway, gotta go."
Sonic sprung himself off the tree. "Seeya later then." He walked over to Sally, holding out his hand for a high-five, Sally gave him one and went on her way in the direction of the Green Hill Zone.
Sonic turned and started in the direction of the Emerald Village, thinking about Tuftee, and laughed when he remembered the time he had run off to the Marble Zone with a pair of Sonic's old sneakers. See, Kintobor had thought ahead when he had developed Sonic's sneakers, he made a pair for every shoe size, the soles themselves would survive a nuclear blast, and would probably last forever, but Sonic's feet would grow as he got older. Anyway, Sonic had grown out of the size that Tuftee had just happened to grow into at the same time. He had found the shoes while at one of Sonic's parties and had run off to the Marble Zone to dispose of a few badniks, thinking himself a hero because he had Sonic's shoes on. He managed to destroy one badnik before he got trapped, and was on the brink of becoming an 'organic battery' when Sonic showed up to rescue him.
"Yes that one's always been trouble." Sonic thought, it was hard to believe that that was over six years ago.
He reached the end of the path and stepped into the Emerald Village. The smell of fresh fruit and vegetables was high on the air. Or more to the point, Sonic noted, fresh chilli dogs.
He sauntered over to the best stand in the village centre, possibly his favourite spot in the Emerald Hill Zone, a ten foot high structure in the shape of a hamburger.
No-one else was around, so Sonic got the fast service he loved so much about this place.
"One chilli dog please, extra-"
"-Chilli." Joe, the walrus behind the counter finished for him. "Coming up, Sonic."
Sonic smiled, he had been coming here since before he could remember, just about every day, ordering the same thing. Joe had a good right to know what he was going to be cooking up for Sonic.
"So, Sonic, anything new?" Joe asked as he flipped the hot dog into a bread roll.
"Nope, kinda boring, I need more action." Sonic began to tap his foot out of habit.
"That sounds like you alright, Sonic. And here's your chilli dog." He said as he handed the 'dog over to Sonic.
Sonic took the chilli dog and finished it off within a minute, ignoring the heat of the chilli on his tongue. "Thanks Joe, same price as usual?"
"Same, as ever, four mobiums."
Sonic gave Joe the usual four mobiums, waved and set off back out of the village, thinking Tails would be back any time now.
And indeed, after lounging around next to the Emerald Village Pond for ten minutes or so, a faint noise like helicopter rotors on steroids began to become apparent, you could probably only hear it if you were listening for it, and had heard it pretty much every day for the last twelve years.
Sonic opened his eyes as the noise became louder, and was just able to hear footsteps pounding and the whirring vanishing as Tails the fox landed and continued to move at several hundred miles per hour. The pounding slowed and Tails appeared from behind a hill, making a probably better controlled halt than Sonic, but nowhere near as cool. And no burning skidmarks.
Story and all other characters mentioned are copyright to the author: Michael Stewart Stephenson, 2001.
Do not redistribute without the authors consent.
Contact on: Stiv_Thermal@hotmail.com
Key: 1 Mobium = 20p sterling.
Chapter 1:
Fastest Thing Alive
Chapter 1
"Go for it pixel-brain!" A blast of pure energy exploded from the point where the two fastest runners on Planet Mobius took off in opposite directions to each other. One of them was Sonic, the legendary fastest thing alive, the other being his closest contender and best mate, Tails, the flying fox.
The blue blur powered his legs to their usual several hundred beats per minute. After the first few minutes, he had covered about nine hundred miles and showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down. Indeed, this was the best part of the patrol, the 'runners high' was just beginning to really kick in and a dull roar started up behind him, the unmistakable sound of a true sonic boom.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, the slightly smaller orange blur literally flew at about three quarters of Sonic's speed, moving at about a metre off ground level. There was no sonic boom in Tails' wake, but he didn't expect there to be one, he wasn't moving at nearly enough velocity to equal the speed of sound. Tails had spent the last six years trying to match the speed of Sonic, but it seemed impossible, the nearest any Mobian apart from Tails had come to Sonic's speed was 73mph, nowhere near the average speed Sonic managed to attain of 770 mph, or mach 1.015. Tails held the second fastest record of 486 mph and was proud of it.
Sonic grinned to himself as he tore through the Lava Reef Zone, being careful to dodge the steaming lava pools in his path. He still called Tails pixel brain, it was a long running joke between the pair, Tails actually had one of the most creative minds of all time, all he did with his spare time was create machines and various devices, rivaling that of Robotnik.
Actually, thinking of Robotnik while in the Lava Reef Zone brought an old memory back to Sonic. About five and a half years ago, Robotnik had lured Sonic to the border of the Lava Reef Zone and had set up a death ray to aim straight at the Emerald Hill Zone, forcing Sonic to race half way around the planet in five seconds flat if he wanted to stop the total destruction of South Island.
He thought back to that day, how he felt when he had finished the run. As he reached the edge of the Magma Coast, (where magma and water met and formed a huge solid cliff of steam) he reduced his speed drastically and jogged over to the bridge that connected this continent to the one over the sea. The road was more or less totally clear, a road that was fifteen metres or so wide and about eighty miles long stretched out in front of him.
He began to smile again as he stretched his legs, cracked his knuckles, bent down into a starting stance. He allowed the adrenaline to flow freely through his veins. Now this was not what he was supposed to do on patrol, he was supposed to look out for any new schemes that Robotnik was cooking up, (although they hadn't heard anything from Robotnik in the last seven months or so) but Sonic had been taken hold of by the moment, this was going to be something he could enjoy.
He lifted his head to scan the distant horizon.
He'd never thought of himself as an adrenaline junkie, but now, as he felt the shiver run up his spine and felt his heart began to beat that much faster, he savoured the moment. For about half a millisecond, then streaked off across the bridge in the direction of the Metropolis Zone, faster than the eye could see.
Seven minutes later, the lush green grass of the Emerald Hill Zone rustled gently in the slow breeze. On the edge of the Forest Hill Zone, a sound like a strong wind started up in the distance and made itself increasingly prominent, in under two seconds it was a roar and the wind increased enough to make the heavy trees sway. The dense foliage that made up the border between the Forest Hill and the Emerald Hill shuddered and suddenly burst open as something very blue and very, very fast shot through and screeched to a halt, leaving burning skidmarks, at least twelve metres long, in the grass.
Fastest he'd ran in a while. Nowhere near how fast he'd ran when that satellite was at large, but still equaling at least three times the speed of sound…
"Now that's what you call supersonic speeds." Sonic thought as he stretched his arms and wheeled them around in the direction of the breeze. He tried to remember when he had last felt this breathless, before he came to the conclusion that he just hadn't. He quickly regained his composure before anyone could wander along and see him and walked slowly over to the clear blue Emerald Village Pond. He pulled off his sneakers and dipped his feet in. His feet didn't need to be cooled off, the soles and in-soles of his shoes made sure to completely cut out friction, keeping his feet at a relatively normal temperature when he ran. Nonetheless, it seemed the normal thing to do after just running a circle around the planet at an estimate of three times the speed of sound.
"Hey, Sonic!" Shouted Sally Acorn as she walked out from the path to the nearby Emerald Village. "Is something wrong with your shoes?"
Sonic smiled and waved a greeting to Sally.
"No way, Sal. Still as perfect as ever, just like their owner. Where you goin'?"
Sally shrugged and smiled. "Over to the Green Hill Zone." She motioned to the direction of the Green Hill Zone, a ten minute walk - for a normal person - to the west of the Emerald Hill Zone.
"Gotta check on my little bro, he moved in with his girlfriend last week."
"Tuftee? He's only sixteen isn't he?" Sonic put his sneakers back on, running his fingers along the side of the right one. He stood up, leaned against a palm tree and folded his arms.
Sally laughed. "You can still pull off that 'reckless teenager' look, Sonic. Oh, yeah. That's 'cos you still are a reckless teenager."
Sonic dropped his arms. "And Tuftee…..?"
"Yeah Tuftee's only sixteen, so is Jenny. But still, they seem pretty serious about it, very insistent anyway." Sally shot an imaginary gun at Sonic. "Anyway, gotta go."
Sonic sprung himself off the tree. "Seeya later then." He walked over to Sally, holding out his hand for a high-five, Sally gave him one and went on her way in the direction of the Green Hill Zone.
Sonic turned and started in the direction of the Emerald Village, thinking about Tuftee, and laughed when he remembered the time he had run off to the Marble Zone with a pair of Sonic's old sneakers. See, Kintobor had thought ahead when he had developed Sonic's sneakers, he made a pair for every shoe size, the soles themselves would survive a nuclear blast, and would probably last forever, but Sonic's feet would grow as he got older. Anyway, Sonic had grown out of the size that Tuftee had just happened to grow into at the same time. He had found the shoes while at one of Sonic's parties and had run off to the Marble Zone to dispose of a few badniks, thinking himself a hero because he had Sonic's shoes on. He managed to destroy one badnik before he got trapped, and was on the brink of becoming an 'organic battery' when Sonic showed up to rescue him.
"Yes that one's always been trouble." Sonic thought, it was hard to believe that that was over six years ago.
He reached the end of the path and stepped into the Emerald Village. The smell of fresh fruit and vegetables was high on the air. Or more to the point, Sonic noted, fresh chilli dogs.
He sauntered over to the best stand in the village centre, possibly his favourite spot in the Emerald Hill Zone, a ten foot high structure in the shape of a hamburger.
No-one else was around, so Sonic got the fast service he loved so much about this place.
"One chilli dog please, extra-"
"-Chilli." Joe, the walrus behind the counter finished for him. "Coming up, Sonic."
Sonic smiled, he had been coming here since before he could remember, just about every day, ordering the same thing. Joe had a good right to know what he was going to be cooking up for Sonic.
"So, Sonic, anything new?" Joe asked as he flipped the hot dog into a bread roll.
"Nope, kinda boring, I need more action." Sonic began to tap his foot out of habit.
"That sounds like you alright, Sonic. And here's your chilli dog." He said as he handed the 'dog over to Sonic.
Sonic took the chilli dog and finished it off within a minute, ignoring the heat of the chilli on his tongue. "Thanks Joe, same price as usual?"
"Same, as ever, four mobiums."
Sonic gave Joe the usual four mobiums, waved and set off back out of the village, thinking Tails would be back any time now.
And indeed, after lounging around next to the Emerald Village Pond for ten minutes or so, a faint noise like helicopter rotors on steroids began to become apparent, you could probably only hear it if you were listening for it, and had heard it pretty much every day for the last twelve years.
Sonic opened his eyes as the noise became louder, and was just able to hear footsteps pounding and the whirring vanishing as Tails the fox landed and continued to move at several hundred miles per hour. The pounding slowed and Tails appeared from behind a hill, making a probably better controlled halt than Sonic, but nowhere near as cool. And no burning skidmarks.