The Reality Project
by Ryan Carroll
***Author's Note: In my last story, Sonic Championship (still in
progress), I explored the idea of what it would be like if we could
enter Sonic's universe... but what would it be like if he was
transported into ours? (Some characters I borrowed from the
Daylight Savings story by NetRaptor; that story is a must-read!)***
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This was definitely NOT my day. I tried to improve on the Virtualizer
and wound up with the biggest mess on my hands...
I should explain. The Virtualizer is a gateway that my friend Jason
McLaughlin and I-- oh, sorry, my name's Ryan Carroll-- anyway, it's
a gateway we built that can transport actual physical matter into
electronic information in the form of virtual objects. I might as
well tell you the whole story from the beginning...
Jason and I had used the Virtualizer before to travel into several
Sonic the Hedgehog games, such as Sonic Championship, Sonic R, and
others, but we felt limited. Sonic, Tails, and the other
inhabitants of the universe couldn't remember us from previous
adventures, and we had to reintroduce ourselves all over again,
every time. We wanted a way to actually enter the whole universe,
not just small parts here and there. So, for starters, we relocated.
The abandoned warehouse in the commercial district was perfect.
For one, what kind of secret scientific project isn't kept in an
old warehouse? For another, no company would rent the place--
something about strange magnetic fields affecting the equipment
used to move the cargo around or something... It shouldn't have been
a problem. Third, my bedroom was becoming just a little too crowded
with the three of us in there... Oh, have I mentioned that my friend
Wesley Johnson walked in on one of our little visits by accident?
That could have become a sticky situation! To make up for it he
offered to help us on our next project.
Anyway, the three of us worked on the new project 24-7. We called
it The Reality Project, and the new gateway became known as the
Dimensionalizer. We got help from a little bit of each of the
sciences: biology, molecular chemistry, quantum physics, astronomy,
etc.
Then one day, the gateway opened. Wes went through and back out
successfully. We had just made trans-dimensional travel possible--
and we're only 17-18 years old!!!
Today, we decided to go through the gateway and interact with Sonic
and company. That's when "the big problem" occurred. I remembered
something about those magnetic fields that people mentioned, how
they fluctuated with the gravitational pull of the moon, or
something like that.
Today is a new moon, which means the strongest pull of the moon is
between 11 AM and 1 PM.
We charged up the gateway at precisely 11:45 AM.
Our first clue that there was a problem was when the computer
flashed, "WARNING! STAY CLEAR OF GATEWAY! INCOMING
OBJECT(S)/PASSENGER(S)!" and then, "WARNING! TRANS-DIMENSIONAL
LINK SEVERED!"
In other words, someone had booked a one-way ticket on the
Dimensionalizer Express, whether they had meant to or not.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonic the Hedgehog, his buddy Tails, and their friend Slasher the
winged velociraptor had been racing through the Great Forest back to
Knothole after a fruitless scouting mission, when suddenly Slasher
stopped, looked around, and pulled Sonic and Tails into the bushes
bordering a small clearing. Sonic was puzzled.
"What's wrong--"
"Sssshhhhh!!! Something isn't right here, but I don't know what."
Sonic never doubted her motives or methods, but this time she seemed a
few cards short of a full deck.
Suddenly, in the middle of the clearing, a blinding flash occurred,
and where there had been nothing there now stood a metal-framed
arch, which seemed to frame a portal of some sort.
"This must be what Sal and Bunnie saw yesterday," observed Sonic.
"C'mon, let's check it out."
"All right, but be careful!" warned Slasher.
As they all approached the portal, there was a sudden burst of
hurricane-force wind, as if all the air on Mobius was trying to
escape through the small gateway. Sonic and Tails had a
horrifying flashback of being sucked into the Interweb, which had
erased their memories of anything that had happened before that
event.
Being unprepared for such an occurrence, all three were pulled into
the portal, which closed behind them, cutting off their voices in
mid-scream.
The gateway frame remained.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Our third clue that something was wrong was when a massive burst of
air hit us like a freight train, knocking all three of us to the
floor.
"I think there's something wrong with the gateway!" Wes was forced
to shout above the sound of the wind.
"No, really?" Jason retorted. "Brilliant deduction, Sherlock; never
could've figured that one out!!!"
As he spoke, seven multi-colored bursts of light flew out of the
gateway. A green one landed on my class ring and vanished; a white
one did the same with Jason's, and likewise a red one with Wes's.
The other four flew off unaccounted for.
We had just stood up as the wind died down when the gateway spat
out a blue hedgehog, an orangeish-colored two-tailed fox, and a--
whatever the heck it was, it looked like a big lizard. The hedgehog
landed on me, the fox on Wes, and (fortunately) Jason dodged the...
dinosaur? which landed on the cement floor.
The portal dissolved, cutting off the wind.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The map of Mobius on the theater-sized screen looked like a picture;
but at a time like this who cared how beautiful-- or otherwise--
the planet looked? All that concerned Snively at the moment was
the fact that the chaos emeralds-- which he had been tracking on the
map-- had suddenly rushed to one point in the Great Forest... and
had subsequently vanished. Snively absolutely _hated_ being the
first to know about something like this. It meant that he had to
report this to Dr. Robotnik... who would likely send him out of
the room via a closed door again. He was only doing his job; why
should _he_ be punished for something that was likely the fault of
that annoying blue hedgehog?... Well, steaming over his
predicament wouldn't do him any good; he'd better tell the Doctor
about this right away, like it or not...
Meanwhile, Sally and Knuckles, unaware of what had happened to
Sonic, Tails, and Slasher, were at that moment sneaking into
Robotropolis on a sabotage mission, when they heard the explosion.
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
"That was fast," Knuckles said with a smile. "We haven't even
blown up anything yet, and Doc's already mad."
Sally could barely hear him, thanks to Robotnik's blue streak that
usually followed an outburst of that caliber, which usually
followed bad news being brought to his attention.
At that moment, part of the wall blew out of Robotnik's palace.
Snively fell 100-plus stories to the street below. Sally saw him
stand up, brush himself off, and walk back inside, most likely
muttering useless threats as he did. Knux could barely hold in
his laughter.
Two minutes later, Snively was obviously back in Robotnik's office
again.
"What do you mean, all seven chaos emeralds are gone?"
"Just what I said, sir; they were scattered around the globe when
they suddenly gravitated toward a point in the Great Forest and
disappeared!"
Snively created a second hole on his way out of the building again.
Sally whispered to Knuckles, "This mission is canceled; let's head
back to Knothole and see if Sonic's team found anything or know
anything about this."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The next few minutes consisted of brushing ourselves off,
introducing ourselves, and explaining what things we _could_
explain.
Jason came up with the most likely solution as to _why_ the
trans-dimensional link failed.
"The facts as we know them are as follows: This building is
vacant because of magnetic fields that seem to affect equipment.
This field fluctuates the same way the tides do, because of the
moon's gravitational pull. Today is a new moon. The strongest
pull of the moon is between 11 and 1. We fired up the gateway at
11:45. Now--"
"Jason?" I jumped in.
"Yeah?"
"You sound like a geek."
"Just remember that comment the next time I have to help you with
your Physics homework."
"Point taken. You were saying?"
"Now suppose that the gateway-tunnel is made up of an
electromagnetic field. Then the field in the building would pull
the tunnel field towards itself--"
Wes finished the thought. "And the tunnel would pull anything nearby
through it like a vacuum cleaner!"
"Precisely!"
During this whole dialogue, Sonic, Tails, and Slasher had been
listening with some interest. Tails had lost track of what the
heck we were talking about long ago and was flying around looking
out the fogged windows. Suddenly he dropped to the floor.
"Someone's coming!"
The other five of us were instantly on guard. "Did you get a
good look at them?" I asked.
"It's three girls. They drove up in a ground vehicle, looked at
the ones that were already parked out there, and they're heading
for the door!"
Our worst fear-- our girlfriends had noticed we hadn't been
around and decided to see what we were doing.
Lisa I didn't have a problem with, it was the other two; I didn't
know if I could trust them. Of course, when I think about it,
I'm sure Wes felt the same way about Christy and Jason about Vicki.
The door opened...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"What do you mean they're not back yet?" Sally demanded.
"Just what I said, they never checked back in." Rotor's face
showed concern, but only half as much as Sally's did.
Just then Serena, Sonic's sister, came in. "Hi, guys! Is Sonic
back yet?" The looks on everyone's faces answered _that_ question.
"Uh, oh. That's a bad thing, isn't it?"
Sally knew there was only one thing to do. "Come on, we're
going back to that clearing I found yesterday; Sonic might be
checking that out."
Serena and Knuckles had to run to catch up to her.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ryan?" It was Lisa. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lisa; what are you three doing here?"
"Checking up on you; What have you guys been up to?"
Jason cut in. "Oh, just working on little project."
"Well, since you geniuses have been out here a while, we thought
we'd bring you some lunch."
"Great; I'm starved. What did you bring?" Wes sniffed the air.
"Oh, just some chili dogs from the Sonic Drive-In."
At hearing the words "chili dogs" and "Sonic", I involuntarily
glanced up into the framework of the roof of the building. I
instantly realized my blunder and looked down again. No one had
noticed.
"Well, see you scientists around sometime. Don't be scarce!"
"'Bye!" all three of us chorused at the same time.
The door closed. We didn't relax until the car drove off.
"That was close," Wes sighed.
"That," I replied, "is an understatement in the highest degree."
A voice drifted down from the rafters. "Can we come down now?
I smell chili dogs and cheese fries!"
"Sure, no problem. They're gone."
Sonic and Tails free-fell from the framework where they had been
airlifted by Slasher. Slasher, choosing the more graceful
approach, glided to the floor.
Sonic picked up a bag. "And they personalize your meal! Way
past cool!"
I sighed. "Actually, that's the name of the restaurant.
Ironic, isn't it?" There goes our lunch, I thought.
"Sonic, that isn't for you, it's for them," Slasher reprimanded.
"All right, but I'm hungry!"
"I'll get you some before you leave," I promised.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The clearing still held the deactivated gateway. Sally approached it.
"Nicole, determine the function of this... archway."
"Function: interdimensional gateway, currently inactive. Green
button opens gateway to last location accessed."
Knuckles stepped forward. "Translation for those of us who speak
English please?"
Sally glared at Knuckles. "She said that this is probably where
Sonic went. What say we try it out?"
Serena came up and interjected, "If we can find my brother, let's
do it!"
Sally pushed the green button.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We had just finished lunch when the control panel for the gateway
went crazy.
"What time is it?" I demanded.
Wes checked his watch. "It's 12:30."
"GET CLEAR OF THE GATEWAY!!!!!"
Sure enough, the gateway opened, once again unleashing the
unnatural hurricane. Three more bodies came flying out of the
gateway. Jason managed to slap the shutdown button on the control
panel.
More introductions. I was beginning to feel like I was hosting a
Freedom Fighter convention. Sally updated the first three on what
they had learned from Robotnik's outburst.
"Chaos emeralds?" I inquired. "You mean those things that came
flying out of the vortex were _Chaos emeralds_?!?"
"So it would seem."
"So we have three of them right here?"
"HUH?"
Apparently no one had noticed that since the first gateway disaster
our class rings had been glowing brightly. In fact, I'd shoved my
hand in my pocket when the girls had been here so they wouldn't
notice...
"GOOD NIGHT!" I burst out loud.
"What?" Slasher asked.
"The girls! Their rings were glowing too! All three of them! I
never thought about it until now!!!"
"But why would the emeralds do that?" Serena wanted to know. A
valid point.
Sonic had the answer. "To ensure that they would stay together.
But, that only accounts for six of the emeralds. Where's the
seventh one?"
"A hidden location," Knux put in. "To ensure they don't fall into
the wrong hands."
"Well, we have to find it, but I have two questions. First, why
use people's rings to ensure they stay together, and second, how do
we find the seventh?" I asked him.
"To answer your first question, it may be so that more than one
person can benefit from their use."
"And the second question?"
"I haven't the slightest idea."
End Part 1
by Ryan Carroll
***Author's Note: In my last story, Sonic Championship (still in
progress), I explored the idea of what it would be like if we could
enter Sonic's universe... but what would it be like if he was
transported into ours? (Some characters I borrowed from the
Daylight Savings story by NetRaptor; that story is a must-read!)***
---------------------------------------------------------------------
This was definitely NOT my day. I tried to improve on the Virtualizer
and wound up with the biggest mess on my hands...
I should explain. The Virtualizer is a gateway that my friend Jason
McLaughlin and I-- oh, sorry, my name's Ryan Carroll-- anyway, it's
a gateway we built that can transport actual physical matter into
electronic information in the form of virtual objects. I might as
well tell you the whole story from the beginning...
Jason and I had used the Virtualizer before to travel into several
Sonic the Hedgehog games, such as Sonic Championship, Sonic R, and
others, but we felt limited. Sonic, Tails, and the other
inhabitants of the universe couldn't remember us from previous
adventures, and we had to reintroduce ourselves all over again,
every time. We wanted a way to actually enter the whole universe,
not just small parts here and there. So, for starters, we relocated.
The abandoned warehouse in the commercial district was perfect.
For one, what kind of secret scientific project isn't kept in an
old warehouse? For another, no company would rent the place--
something about strange magnetic fields affecting the equipment
used to move the cargo around or something... It shouldn't have been
a problem. Third, my bedroom was becoming just a little too crowded
with the three of us in there... Oh, have I mentioned that my friend
Wesley Johnson walked in on one of our little visits by accident?
That could have become a sticky situation! To make up for it he
offered to help us on our next project.
Anyway, the three of us worked on the new project 24-7. We called
it The Reality Project, and the new gateway became known as the
Dimensionalizer. We got help from a little bit of each of the
sciences: biology, molecular chemistry, quantum physics, astronomy,
etc.
Then one day, the gateway opened. Wes went through and back out
successfully. We had just made trans-dimensional travel possible--
and we're only 17-18 years old!!!
Today, we decided to go through the gateway and interact with Sonic
and company. That's when "the big problem" occurred. I remembered
something about those magnetic fields that people mentioned, how
they fluctuated with the gravitational pull of the moon, or
something like that.
Today is a new moon, which means the strongest pull of the moon is
between 11 AM and 1 PM.
We charged up the gateway at precisely 11:45 AM.
Our first clue that there was a problem was when the computer
flashed, "WARNING! STAY CLEAR OF GATEWAY! INCOMING
OBJECT(S)/PASSENGER(S)!" and then, "WARNING! TRANS-DIMENSIONAL
LINK SEVERED!"
In other words, someone had booked a one-way ticket on the
Dimensionalizer Express, whether they had meant to or not.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonic the Hedgehog, his buddy Tails, and their friend Slasher the
winged velociraptor had been racing through the Great Forest back to
Knothole after a fruitless scouting mission, when suddenly Slasher
stopped, looked around, and pulled Sonic and Tails into the bushes
bordering a small clearing. Sonic was puzzled.
"What's wrong--"
"Sssshhhhh!!! Something isn't right here, but I don't know what."
Sonic never doubted her motives or methods, but this time she seemed a
few cards short of a full deck.
Suddenly, in the middle of the clearing, a blinding flash occurred,
and where there had been nothing there now stood a metal-framed
arch, which seemed to frame a portal of some sort.
"This must be what Sal and Bunnie saw yesterday," observed Sonic.
"C'mon, let's check it out."
"All right, but be careful!" warned Slasher.
As they all approached the portal, there was a sudden burst of
hurricane-force wind, as if all the air on Mobius was trying to
escape through the small gateway. Sonic and Tails had a
horrifying flashback of being sucked into the Interweb, which had
erased their memories of anything that had happened before that
event.
Being unprepared for such an occurrence, all three were pulled into
the portal, which closed behind them, cutting off their voices in
mid-scream.
The gateway frame remained.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Our third clue that something was wrong was when a massive burst of
air hit us like a freight train, knocking all three of us to the
floor.
"I think there's something wrong with the gateway!" Wes was forced
to shout above the sound of the wind.
"No, really?" Jason retorted. "Brilliant deduction, Sherlock; never
could've figured that one out!!!"
As he spoke, seven multi-colored bursts of light flew out of the
gateway. A green one landed on my class ring and vanished; a white
one did the same with Jason's, and likewise a red one with Wes's.
The other four flew off unaccounted for.
We had just stood up as the wind died down when the gateway spat
out a blue hedgehog, an orangeish-colored two-tailed fox, and a--
whatever the heck it was, it looked like a big lizard. The hedgehog
landed on me, the fox on Wes, and (fortunately) Jason dodged the...
dinosaur? which landed on the cement floor.
The portal dissolved, cutting off the wind.
------------------------------------------------------------------
The map of Mobius on the theater-sized screen looked like a picture;
but at a time like this who cared how beautiful-- or otherwise--
the planet looked? All that concerned Snively at the moment was
the fact that the chaos emeralds-- which he had been tracking on the
map-- had suddenly rushed to one point in the Great Forest... and
had subsequently vanished. Snively absolutely _hated_ being the
first to know about something like this. It meant that he had to
report this to Dr. Robotnik... who would likely send him out of
the room via a closed door again. He was only doing his job; why
should _he_ be punished for something that was likely the fault of
that annoying blue hedgehog?... Well, steaming over his
predicament wouldn't do him any good; he'd better tell the Doctor
about this right away, like it or not...
Meanwhile, Sally and Knuckles, unaware of what had happened to
Sonic, Tails, and Slasher, were at that moment sneaking into
Robotropolis on a sabotage mission, when they heard the explosion.
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"
"That was fast," Knuckles said with a smile. "We haven't even
blown up anything yet, and Doc's already mad."
Sally could barely hear him, thanks to Robotnik's blue streak that
usually followed an outburst of that caliber, which usually
followed bad news being brought to his attention.
At that moment, part of the wall blew out of Robotnik's palace.
Snively fell 100-plus stories to the street below. Sally saw him
stand up, brush himself off, and walk back inside, most likely
muttering useless threats as he did. Knux could barely hold in
his laughter.
Two minutes later, Snively was obviously back in Robotnik's office
again.
"What do you mean, all seven chaos emeralds are gone?"
"Just what I said, sir; they were scattered around the globe when
they suddenly gravitated toward a point in the Great Forest and
disappeared!"
Snively created a second hole on his way out of the building again.
Sally whispered to Knuckles, "This mission is canceled; let's head
back to Knothole and see if Sonic's team found anything or know
anything about this."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The next few minutes consisted of brushing ourselves off,
introducing ourselves, and explaining what things we _could_
explain.
Jason came up with the most likely solution as to _why_ the
trans-dimensional link failed.
"The facts as we know them are as follows: This building is
vacant because of magnetic fields that seem to affect equipment.
This field fluctuates the same way the tides do, because of the
moon's gravitational pull. Today is a new moon. The strongest
pull of the moon is between 11 and 1. We fired up the gateway at
11:45. Now--"
"Jason?" I jumped in.
"Yeah?"
"You sound like a geek."
"Just remember that comment the next time I have to help you with
your Physics homework."
"Point taken. You were saying?"
"Now suppose that the gateway-tunnel is made up of an
electromagnetic field. Then the field in the building would pull
the tunnel field towards itself--"
Wes finished the thought. "And the tunnel would pull anything nearby
through it like a vacuum cleaner!"
"Precisely!"
During this whole dialogue, Sonic, Tails, and Slasher had been
listening with some interest. Tails had lost track of what the
heck we were talking about long ago and was flying around looking
out the fogged windows. Suddenly he dropped to the floor.
"Someone's coming!"
The other five of us were instantly on guard. "Did you get a
good look at them?" I asked.
"It's three girls. They drove up in a ground vehicle, looked at
the ones that were already parked out there, and they're heading
for the door!"
Our worst fear-- our girlfriends had noticed we hadn't been
around and decided to see what we were doing.
Lisa I didn't have a problem with, it was the other two; I didn't
know if I could trust them. Of course, when I think about it,
I'm sure Wes felt the same way about Christy and Jason about Vicki.
The door opened...
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"What do you mean they're not back yet?" Sally demanded.
"Just what I said, they never checked back in." Rotor's face
showed concern, but only half as much as Sally's did.
Just then Serena, Sonic's sister, came in. "Hi, guys! Is Sonic
back yet?" The looks on everyone's faces answered _that_ question.
"Uh, oh. That's a bad thing, isn't it?"
Sally knew there was only one thing to do. "Come on, we're
going back to that clearing I found yesterday; Sonic might be
checking that out."
Serena and Knuckles had to run to catch up to her.
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ryan?" It was Lisa. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lisa; what are you three doing here?"
"Checking up on you; What have you guys been up to?"
Jason cut in. "Oh, just working on little project."
"Well, since you geniuses have been out here a while, we thought
we'd bring you some lunch."
"Great; I'm starved. What did you bring?" Wes sniffed the air.
"Oh, just some chili dogs from the Sonic Drive-In."
At hearing the words "chili dogs" and "Sonic", I involuntarily
glanced up into the framework of the roof of the building. I
instantly realized my blunder and looked down again. No one had
noticed.
"Well, see you scientists around sometime. Don't be scarce!"
"'Bye!" all three of us chorused at the same time.
The door closed. We didn't relax until the car drove off.
"That was close," Wes sighed.
"That," I replied, "is an understatement in the highest degree."
A voice drifted down from the rafters. "Can we come down now?
I smell chili dogs and cheese fries!"
"Sure, no problem. They're gone."
Sonic and Tails free-fell from the framework where they had been
airlifted by Slasher. Slasher, choosing the more graceful
approach, glided to the floor.
Sonic picked up a bag. "And they personalize your meal! Way
past cool!"
I sighed. "Actually, that's the name of the restaurant.
Ironic, isn't it?" There goes our lunch, I thought.
"Sonic, that isn't for you, it's for them," Slasher reprimanded.
"All right, but I'm hungry!"
"I'll get you some before you leave," I promised.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The clearing still held the deactivated gateway. Sally approached it.
"Nicole, determine the function of this... archway."
"Function: interdimensional gateway, currently inactive. Green
button opens gateway to last location accessed."
Knuckles stepped forward. "Translation for those of us who speak
English please?"
Sally glared at Knuckles. "She said that this is probably where
Sonic went. What say we try it out?"
Serena came up and interjected, "If we can find my brother, let's
do it!"
Sally pushed the green button.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We had just finished lunch when the control panel for the gateway
went crazy.
"What time is it?" I demanded.
Wes checked his watch. "It's 12:30."
"GET CLEAR OF THE GATEWAY!!!!!"
Sure enough, the gateway opened, once again unleashing the
unnatural hurricane. Three more bodies came flying out of the
gateway. Jason managed to slap the shutdown button on the control
panel.
More introductions. I was beginning to feel like I was hosting a
Freedom Fighter convention. Sally updated the first three on what
they had learned from Robotnik's outburst.
"Chaos emeralds?" I inquired. "You mean those things that came
flying out of the vortex were _Chaos emeralds_?!?"
"So it would seem."
"So we have three of them right here?"
"HUH?"
Apparently no one had noticed that since the first gateway disaster
our class rings had been glowing brightly. In fact, I'd shoved my
hand in my pocket when the girls had been here so they wouldn't
notice...
"GOOD NIGHT!" I burst out loud.
"What?" Slasher asked.
"The girls! Their rings were glowing too! All three of them! I
never thought about it until now!!!"
"But why would the emeralds do that?" Serena wanted to know. A
valid point.
Sonic had the answer. "To ensure that they would stay together.
But, that only accounts for six of the emeralds. Where's the
seventh one?"
"A hidden location," Knux put in. "To ensure they don't fall into
the wrong hands."
"Well, we have to find it, but I have two questions. First, why
use people's rings to ensure they stay together, and second, how do
we find the seventh?" I asked him.
"To answer your first question, it may be so that more than one
person can benefit from their use."
"And the second question?"
"I haven't the slightest idea."
End Part 1