Chapter 2 - A Strange Creature Appears

Author's note: Hi everyone, I'm back! I know I said earlier that it would be a while before I would update this story, but I simply decided to make some minor edits to the first draft of this chapter instead of starting over. Thus, this chapter will seem somewhat similar to the first episode of Sonic X, but I can assure you that the story's events will most certainly change from here on. Time to address my one and only reviewer so far! :)

Gs33022, I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter! Sonic X was one of my all-time favorite shows when I was a kid, and I especially loved Decoe and Bocoe. I'm not sure what's on Eggman's mind every time he decides to create the dumbest robot assistants around. Scratch and Grounder, Decoe and Bocoe, then Orbot and Cubot...anyway, the robots' stupidity sure adds comedy to whichever situation they're in! Now, on with the story! :D

It was a normal evening in the bustling metropolis of Station Square. The cloudless sky shone with a brilliant orange radiance as the sun slowly began to slip below the horizon. The ever-present sounds of car engines rumbling and horns honking filled the air, and the sidewalks were crowded with people going about their everyday business, whether they were leaving work or school, shopping, going to parties, attending business conferences, or hanging out with friends.

A vast array of different stores and restaurants were lined up beside each sidewalk, serving as a temptation for whoever walked past them. However, there was one particular restaurant located on the corner of a major intersection. It was an upscale Italian restaurant called Mamma In Cucina, and it served the finest pasta in all of Station Square. The door opened, and two well-dressed people, a boy and a girl in their late teens, walked out of the restaurant after eating a fancy meal together.

The boy had short, spiky brown hair, glasses with blue metal frames, and green eyes. He was wearing a black suit with a fluorescent-green shirt and tie, well-ironed black pants, a black leather belt with a silver buckle, and shiny black shoes.

The girl had her long, strawberry-blonde hair styled in an elegant bun, and her blue eyes practically shimmered in the sunset. She wore an orange dress, a pearl necklace, and orange high-heeled shoes.

"That sure was good," the boy said, softly patting his stomach. "Did you enjoy your dinner as well, Tessa?"

"Very much so, Michael," Tessa replied, smiling at her boyfriend. "We should come back here again sometime."

"Yeah, sure," Michael responded. "What do you want to do now?"

"Hmmm, let me think," Tessa said, stroking her bottom lip with a long, well-manicured finger. "How about this: if we hurry, we could catch the train to go downtown, and then we can maybe go to the library or just walk around and take in the sights." She took out her iPhone XS and opened the SS Transit app to check the schedule. "It says the train heading for the SS Core District will be arriving in about ten minutes."

"Sounds great," Michael said, winking at her. "Let's go."

After walking past several other stores and across intersections that were jammed with traffic, they found a transit station that was located inside a glass building. The doors automatically slid open for them, and a refreshing blast of cool air hit their faces as they entered the busy terminal, with people walking around in all directions. They promptly made their way towards the platform at the far end, took out their phones, and tapped them on a fare scanner located on the turnstiles. A beep, accompanied by a green, forward-facing arrow, prompted them to walk through the turnstiles, and after a quick trip through a metal detector, they emerged onto the platform, where several different trains were waiting. There were digital displays overhead and on each train that showed the names of their respective destinations.

"The train headed for the SS Core District will be departing in two minutes," a voice announced over the loudspeakers.

"Quick, we must hurry!" Tessa shouted, grabbing onto Michael's arm before running towards their train. To their relief, once they got there, they only had to wait for two people in front of them to board before they entered the train. The car was sparsely populated, with only four other people inside. They sat down on a comfortable pair of seats beside one of the large windows, and a few seconds later, the train smoothly and silently pulled out of the station.

Michael sighed in relief. "Thank goodness we made it in time," he said as he pulled out his iPhone. Like Tessa's iPhone, his was also a XS. "Wanna play Clash Royale together?"

"Of course!" Tessa enthusiastically replied as she grabbed her iPhone and opened Clash Royale. Once the game was loaded, she playfully sneered at Michael. "Let the battle begin."

After about twenty minutes of virtual dueling, Michael and Tessa disembarked the train once it arrived at the SS Central Station, the city's largest train station. The two teenagers descended an elegant marble staircase before frantically squeezing their way through a dense crowd of people. Several excuse mes and sorrys later, they finally strutted through an automatic revolving door and emerged onto the street, where an enormous crowd was gathering around a tall skyscraper not too far away. Several concrete roadblocks were set up all around to protect the crowd and keep them at bay. A multitude of ear-piercing sirens drowned out every other sound in the area, and at least fifteen police cars and ambulances raced down a nearby road towards the skyscraper.

"W-what's going on?" Michael asked as he looked around. Suddenly, a man pointed upwards, and he and Tessa craned their necks towards the top of the skyscraper. Some sort of blue creature appeared to be standing dangerously close to the edge of the roof.

"Ahhh! He's gonna jump!" a woman screamed as the creature took a single confident step towards the edge. He grinned at everyone and gave them a thumbs-up, and to the crowd's horror, he fearlessly walked straight off the edge, plunging hundreds of feet towards the ground below. Suddenly, the creature did something that no one could have expected. While falling, he landed on the wall, and everyone watched in awe as he began running down it, his legs moving so fast they became a blur.

"I've never seen anything or anyone quite like this before!" Michael said in astonishment. "Look at how fast he's running!"

Two seconds later, the creature pushed himself away from the wall with a gloved hand, and he landed firmly on the ground with his feet, completely unscathed.

A camera attached to a surveillance drone began broadcasting the scene onto an enormous screen nearby so that everyone could get a better view of this mysterious new being. The creature that jumped off the building was an anthropomorphic hedgehog who had bright-blue fur covering most of his body, with the exception of his arms, front torso, and muzzle, which were covered by peach skin. He had six long quills sticking out from the back of his head, two more protruding from behind his shoulders, and a short, thin tail. He wore red sneakers with a white strap across the top, which was fastened down by a gold buckle, along with white gloves that covered his hands. He looked around, his emerald-green eyes scanning the thousands of people who were gawking and staring at him. Some were smiling and waving, and some were speechless with wonder or fear. Others were being a little too enthusiastic, since they attempted to walk right up to the hedgehog, only to be restrained by the police.


Who are all these...people? Sonic wondered, mentally trying to block out the noise from the crowd, as well as the blinding red and blue strobe lights from the police cars and ambulances. Where am I? Where are my friends?

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by more sirens, and five human beings dressed in blue shirts and black police caps stepped onto the road and stared at Sonic.

"Hey, buddy, want a ride with us down to the station?" One of the police officers made clicking sounds and waved his finger towards him as if he was calling a dog. Sonic simply stayed in place and crossed his arms.

"That hedgehog seems to have an attitude," another officer said.

"All right, guys, let's get him!" The first officer dove at Sonic with his hands outstretched, but Sonic jumped on top of one of the police cars in a split-second! "H-how did he m-move that fast?" The officer stared in shock and disbelief. He pulled out a net and swung it at Sonic, who jumped over to another car.

In a desperate attempt to catch the blue hedgehog, the officers decided to team up. "OK, George, you try to grab his left foot. Mike, grab his right foot. Dallas, grab his left arm, and Ben, you grab his right arm," one officer told the others. They surrounded the car, prepared to jump. "On the count of three, guys! One, two, three!" The officers jumped from all sides of the car at Sonic.

"Hey, I got his leg!"

"I'm holding on!"

"He won't be able to escape our grasp now!"

Sonic had one more trick up his sleeve. He bolted away, sending the officers flying onto the road and leaving the crowd to gasp in shock at what they had just witnessed.

"Uhh, we need backup right now," another officer said as he pulled out his cell phone to call in some reinforcements.

All Michael and Tessa could do now was to look at each other with their jaws dropped in amazement.

"I can't believe what I just saw," Tessa said as she and Michael re-entered the SS Central Station, which was no less crowded than before. "How on earth could a creature like that even exist? Can you imagine how he would impact our world? Scientific knowledge would be revolutionized forever, since there is now an animal that runs several times faster than a cheetah! In regards to our date, I changed my mind. We'll take the train to the Station Square State Park and relax under the stars by the pond. How does that sound to you?"

"Sounds great!" Michael said as his face practically lit up with joy. "Let's do it." He took Tessa's hand and they proceeded to walk through security together.

Meanwhile, Sonic grinned as he barreled down the road, jumping over cars and sending loose papers and plastic bags flying. He was having fun in this strange new world, but in the back of his head, he couldn't help but wonder if the others were okay, if Eggman was transported here as well, or even how he arrived here.

He then paused to take a break, standing on the edge of a road overlooking a tall cliff. The stars were twinkling in the black night sky. This is the same kind of sky that I see just about every night back on Möbius, Sonic thought. I guess this place isn't so bad after all. But where are my friends: Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cream...? How the heck did I even get here? I think I remember seeing a flash of light when Eggman pushed the button to ignite the missile using the Chaos Emeralds...that's it! It must have been Chaos Control. Now if only I could get out of here and find a way back to my home planet, that would be great.

His thoughts were interrupted by the whirring sound of a helicopter hovering overhead, as well as the sirens of fifteen police cars pulling up behind him.

"Well, I've got company once again! Before you guys can do anything with me, you'll have to catch me first!" Sonic winked and sped off down the road.

The helicopter's pilot relayed a message to the drivers of the police cars: "Floor it, guys!"

With a loud chorus of revving engines, wailing sirens, and screeching tires, the police cars began pursuing Sonic. The helicopter followed, with its searchlight beaming down on the road, trying to keep up with the hedgehog.

One of the officers was measuring Sonic's speed with a special radar gun. "That hedgehog is traveling at 412 miles per hour! We can only go 170 with the cars we've got. We need to call the SONIC Team over. Our cars just can't go nearly as fast as we need them to."

Located on the outskirts of the city was the Speed Officials' National Interceptors' Center, the home base for the SONIC Team. They were a special unit of the Station Square Police Department that are brought in when the normal methods of stopping speeders are not enough for the task at hand.

A group of four men were taking a break in a luxurious, glass-walled lounge. They were eating popcorn and trail mix while watching a Top Fuel drag race on an enormous flat-screen TV. The leader of the team was Floyd Fast, a tall, well-built man with flaming red hair and azure eyes. He was about to take a sip of coffee when red lights and sirens blared throughout the room. Startled, he dropped his mug, which shattered as soon as it landed on the hardwood floor, and his coffee quickly formed a messy brown puddle beneath his feet.

"Ah, we'll just call the janitors over," Floyd reassured his crew just as the footage on the TV showed an aerial view of Sonic as he raced down the highway. "They can clean it up. We have to get moving because we've been dispatched for a speedy pursuit of an unknown, fast-moving criminal. He appears to be a blue hedgehog. Let's go, gang!"

The SONIC Team hurried towards the garage, where four bright-red cars were idly waiting for them. They had long, narrow, ultra-aerodynamic bodies with acrylic canopies that resembled those on fighter jets, large intakes that supplied air to their powerful jet engines, and massive spoilers to keep them from going airborne.

Floyd was testing out the mechanics of each car to ensure they were in tip-top condition. "Tire pressure, check, 45 psi. Fuel tank is full. Turbo, afterburner, and nitrous jets are all working. Let's suit up and catch that hedgehog."

Wearing bright red jackets, gloves, balaclavas, and racing helmets, the team's assistants detached the fighter-jet style steering wheels from the steering columns, and each driver climbed into the cockpits of their cars. The assistants slid and locked the steering wheels back into place. Floyd pressed a button beside his seat to lower the fighter-jet-like canopy around the cockpit, shielding him from the outside world. The other drivers did the same. After lowering his visor, Floyd and the rest of his team started their engines and drove out of the garage, enabled the cars' sirens, and revved their engines to the max, speeding down the highway so fast that their surroundings became a blur.

Meanwhile, Sonic was still running, wanting to see where the road would take him. Before long, he heard sirens behind him.

"Hold it, hedgehog!" Floyd commanded to Sonic, who skidded to a stop and turned around. He stepped out of his car and removed his helmet.

"I was called over because you are faster than anything we've ever seen on these roads," Floyd told Sonic. "The last criminal we've taken care of was arrested two months ago. He was attempting to escape from the scene in a Formula One race car, but we nailed him like it was nothing. You, on the other hand, will undoubtedly give us some serious competition!" Sonic put his hands on his hips and gave the man a cheeky grin. "My name's Floyd Fast, by the way, and I'm the leader of Station Square's high-speed pursuit team. So, blue hedgehog, why don't we have a little fun and race against each other?"

"Sounds like fun, Floyd! Try to catch me!" Sonic waved at him and sprinted down the road. Floyd jumped back into his car and hammered his foot on the gas pedal. Before long, he and his team caught up to Sonic, who then began to accelerate some more.

Floyd smiled. "My, you really are a quick one! But I bet you won't get past me now!" He pushed the gas pedal even further down, and the speedometer showed that he was going 385 miles per hour. Sonic was slowly coming into view. The team was catching up to the blue hedgehog.

"All right, guys, raise your spoilers to twenty degrees," Floyd commanded. The team sped up even more.

In a few seconds, Floyd's car was racing right beside Sonic. The two exchanged looks before Sonic started going even faster.

"I can't believe it!" Floyd said. "How can that hedgehog go so fast and have all of that stamina? Guys, close in on him!"

One car pulled up alongside Sonic to the right. Another driver passed Sonic on his left and gradually moved his car directly in front of Sonic, and the third car pulled up alongside the hedgehog to the left. Last but not least, Floyd was tailgating him from behind. Sonic was effectively boxed in by the four race cars.

"Oh, no! How will I ever get out?" Sonic said sarcastically before running even faster, jumping over the lead car and taking the pole position once again. He suddenly turned around on the spot, and he began running backwards. As he did so, he pulled down his lower eyelid and stuck his tongue out. "Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah! Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!" he said as he began to taunt the SONIC Team.

"He's playing with us!" one of the other drivers said. "Not only is he fast, but he's cheeky as well!"

"That hedgehog will not treat us like crap anymore," Floyd growled. "I'll teach him a lesson by myself! Playtime is now officially over. Jason, open the center lane!"

The car that was in the center lane moved over to the right, freeing up the road for Floyd to take over.

"I never thought I'd have to do this," Floyd said, "but I have no choice in this matter. There will never be anyone or anything faster than me on my highway."

Floyd pushed a button on his steering wheel to engage the afterburners, and his car was at the point of redlining as it sped past the rest of his team.

"Hahaha!" Floyd laughed. "The only way that hedgehog can beat me now is if he goes supersonic!"

Sonic ran alongside Floyd once again, who was already in total disbelief regarding the hedgehog's insane speed. However, what occurred next was something that Floyd could never have even dreamt about. A loud bang rattled the acrylic canopies of all four cars as Sonic reached his top speed.

"Sonic boom!" Floyd cried in amazement. "That hedgehog is moving faster than the speed of sound!"

"Floyd," one of the other team members shouted, "You don't have much more distance to go!"

Sonic jumped over a construction barrier in the middle of the road. Floyd, with a look of horror on his face, slammed on the brakes, fired up the reverse thrusters, and deployed the parachutes. His car came to a stop just two inches away from the concrete barrier.

"See ya!" Sonic looked over his shoulder and grinned at the SONIC Team, who were left behind, stranded on the road. The road abruptly came to an end just before a cliff, which Sonic leaped off of, sailing hundreds of feet over the city.

"Wow, what an amazing view," the blue hedgehog said as he gazed down at the skyscrapers, which were all lit up. "This place isn't so bad after all." However, gravity soon took over and Sonic began to plummet towards...

"A lake?! Oh, no! I hate water!"

Meanwhile, Michael and Tessa were enjoying a romantic night in the park. They laid beside each other on two large blankets, gazing upwards at all the different constellations they could find among the stars. There was a lake nearby, and a few white swans were lazily drifting to and fro in the water.

Suddenly, a loud splash startled the two teenagers as a certain hedgehog plunged into the lake. A colossal tower of water erupted from where he landed, creating large ripples that radiated out from the site in all directions. The swans promptly took flight, flapping their wings to get away from the disturbance as quickly as possible.

Deep below the lake's surface, Sonic was facing a nightmarish situation. He hated water, and he had no idea how to swim. He sank right to the bottom of the lake, and waited for the end to come.

"I'd better go get him," Michael said as he removed most of his clothing. He couldn't see any bubbles emerging from the muddy lake bottom. "It looks like he's drowning."

Michael dove headfirst into the lake and made a beeline straight for Sonic. Sonic grabbed onto his outstretched hand, and Michael pulled him towards the surface. Immediately, the hedgehog scrambled onto the grass, and Michael did the same. He quickly attended to Sonic by wrapping his blanket tightly around the hedgehog, who was dripping wet and coughing nonstop.

"Hey," Michael said with a worried look on his face as he began to dry Sonic off. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh, yeah, I am," Sonic replied in between coughs. "Thanks a lot."

Michael gasped. "You can talk?! That's amazing!"

"Of course I can talk," Sonic said, looking at him as if he had just asked a stupid question. "I can do a lot of other things, too."

"Wow, that's great!" Tessa said enthusiastically. "We're pleased to meet you, and I'm glad you're okay now. My name is Tessa, and..." she glanced at Michael, "this is my boyfriend, Michael. Do you have a name?"

Sonic smiled. "Of course I have a name. My name is Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog."

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Did you like the SONIC Team pun? :D Speaking of puns, that's kind of how I got Floyd Fast's name, and for the Sonic X fans, you may notice that I based him on Sam Speed. Feel free to review, and stay tuned for more!