Updated 25/03/2011: Corrected an error where I kept mis-spelling Robotnik as Robotnic.
Updated 19/04/2011: Corrected a character mistake, originally I thought Dr. Robotnik called himself Eggman, but realised later on that 'Eggman' was an insult Sonic came up with that Robotnik later adopted.
Act 1
Chapter 1
Hedgehogs and Mad Scientists
The calm of a field of yellow daffodils was disturbed by a gust of wind which had no apparent source. They fluttered as if in the wake of something cutting through the air like a boat would cut through water, as if the air to this thing was thick enough to create such an effect, and to him that's exactly what the air was like.
The air in front of him tried everything it could to slow him down and stop him, the faster he went the more the air seemed to gain substance as if an invisible hand was trying to push him back and slow him down. But as each foot made contact with the ground his legs just pushed him further and further forwards, faster and faster. Nothing could slow him down short of a solid wall and there was no guarantee that would completely stop him either. Upward gradients slowed him down a little but not enough, it was always harder to run uphill then on level ground but as soon as he travelled over it was always plain sailing.
The air flowed around his head making the quills on his head flow backwards and point in the opposite direction of his motion. He had quills because he wasn't human in the technical sense of the word though he had humanoid features and limbs, arms, legs, hands, fingers, opposable thumbs but he had the features of a particular animal. He was, and proudly called himself a hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog.
He was running not because he had to get somewhere, not because he was late for some appointment, nor was he running to get away from some danger, he was running for the sheer enjoyment of it, enjoyment of the speed he could propel himself to. Everyone else had to use machines and devices to achieve his speeds while all he had to do was put one foot in front of the other.
Something shot over his head so fast he was almost startled by it, because he didn't hear it coming as it flew off into the distance followed by a loud bang of a sonic boom. It was a green glowing orb which must've been travelling faster than sound to make that noise. It vanished over the horizon as he watched. What the heck was that?
He changed direction to make that green glowing ball his destination, he didn't know what it was but the shear thrill of finding out flooded his veins. His forward vision was full of objects that he passed in a matter of seconds, trees, houses, people, rocks, everything just zoomed straight past him but he kept his cool and avoided them with ease by kicking his legs out and moving out of the way.
A cliff face came into his vision and he dug his red shoes into the ground, his shoes were the only thing that could effectively slow him down. All the running he does did often make their life expectance short but his sneakers were specially made because of all the punishment they had to endure.
He didn't come to a complete stop when he reached the foot of the cliff though, he only slowed down sufficiently enough for what he was about to do. He bent his legs and fired himself into the air with tremendous effort and was propelled so fast into the air that if any normal person impacted a cliff at that speed they would've been killed instantly. Sonic however used his forward momentum and forced it to propel him upwards as he began scaling the cliff face as easily as if it was level ground. Gravity slowed him down gradually but not fast enough as he reached the cliff edge and was launched into the air.
The ground around him passed below him as he rose into the air, 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet, then he started to come back down to terra firma. He landed on the ground placing one foot in front of the other to make his forward momentum stop him from simply slamming into the ground and began dashing off again.
He let his hands and arms trail back behind him as he put as much effort as he could into his legs to speed himself back up. People usually had to go on roller coasters to feel the thrill and adrenaline rush he was feeling right now as he started to swerve and avoid a large number of boulders randomly scattered around which he was now among. He was avoiding these easily enough and despite his speed he could turn on a dime or kick himself left and right to avoid large objects.
Another boulder blocked his path again, but this one he didn't intend to avoid as a grin spread across his face. As he approached, a few moments before impact he raised his arms above his head and brought them down towards his stomach, he then ducked his head down as well and felt his feet leave the ground sending him into a rapidly rotating roly-poly. Those watching him would've seen him as a rapidly rotating blue ball as he slammed into the side of the boulder and passed clean through it leaving a perfect circular hole all the way through.
He waited for his forward motion to slow down before he allowed his legs to extend out and send him back into a run again. He was completely unharmed by that stunt and he'd done it so many times it didn't hurt. That wasn't the only strange ability he had but they were the first few tricks he learned how to do, tricks which usually came in handy when it came to the sort of life he lead.
The horizon gave way to something else, something darker, it was hard to see exactly what it was but when the sound of waves crashing caught his ears he knew exactly what that was. It was the ocean, water!
His eyes grew wide as this registered and rapidly put his breaks on, leaning back at such an angle that if he weren't travelling so fast then he would've fallen over backwards. Water was his one weakness, it wasn't a weakness he was fond of but... simply put... even though he could do all these amazing tricks the one thing he could never do was swim. He always sank like a stone the moment he entered a body of water so he always avoided deep water if he could help it.
As he decelerated he allowed his body to slowly become more upright until he came to the very edge of the cliff where he managed to stop just before crossing the edge. Inside he gave a great sigh of relief as he stared out at the large body of water, long large ripples radiated from a central point which meant whatever it was that had swept overhead had landed in the water. He didn't care how curious he was of it he wasn't prepared to try to swim to it.
He crossed his arms as he stood there and for a few minutes and just watched the ocean, waiting as if whatever had landed would rise up again. The wind ruffled and blew his long quills which were still sticking backwards and slightly curved over towards the ground. After a few minutes he decided whatever 'it' was, it wasn't going to come out again.
It was a funny looking meteor through he had to admit, he'd seen shooting stars before and they usually didn't glow green, so whatever it was he doubted if it was natural. A number of possibilities passed his head. One of which was the most predictable idea he had, that it was an invention of his arch nemesis, a very fat, old scientist called Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or Eggman as Sonic and others used to call him for fun, but over the years Dr. Robotnik adopted it as his title, Sonic didn't know why, his large fat form did make him resemble an egg on legs but the Hedgehog couldn't understand why Dr. Robotnik decided to make it his nickname, all it did was suck the enjoyment out of calling the fat scientist the name, so in the end Sonic decided to abandon the nick name and start calling him Robotnik again. Maybe he'll come up with a more insulting nickname to call Robotnik one day.
Robotnik made it his life's ambition to conquer the world. He was probably the stereotypical mad scientist who created robots and machines which he planned to use to enslave the planet. But Sonic was always in his way, whatever diabolical scheme he came up with Sonic was always there to stop him and send him packing.
If that green ball was one of Robotnik's inventions then no doubt it would rise up to present itself as some massive robot ready to battle him. He looked forward to the challenge but as he stood there and waited nothing seemed to break the surface and the sea gradually became calm. Maybe it wasn't one of Robotnik's machines after all but if it wasn't then what was it?
He heard footsteps coming up to him, running very fast –though not as fast as he could- and before he could turn around to see what it was or react to it, it slammed into him bringing him to the ground. It wrapped its arms around him and held him in a very tight hug as whatever it was squealed loudly.
"SONIC!" said a high pitched girl's voice. Then he knew exactly who this was the moment she uttered the word. How did she always manage to find him? Did she have some sort of Sonic detector? Did she have a tracer on him somewhere? It can't be just dumb luck could it? "At last I have you!" she added.
Amy Rose, a pink fellow humanoid hedgehog who wore a red dress and matching boots refused to let him go so easily as he tried to break the hug she had him in. "Did you make a wish at the shooting star? I did and it came true, it brought you to me!" she squealed.
"Hey, take it easy" he said "I can't breathe!"
Put simply, Amy Rose was in love with him plain and simple, but tragically for her Amy's idea of companionship wasn't the same as Sonic's, which was tragic for him because sometimes she wouldn't stop following him around. "What did you wish for Sonic?" she asked.
Do you need to ask? was the look Sonic had on his face but Amy couldn't see it as she closed her eyes and hugged him even tighter. Sonic didn't answer Amy's question though and she didn't seem to want to press the matter anyway as she broke the tight hug herself and she straightened herself up to ask
"Come on, this is the perfect place to view a sunrise and I know the perfect spot for us!"
Wait for several hours for the sun to come up? Not his idea of fun, his idea of fun was getting into dangerous situations and getting out without a scratch, fighting Dr. Robotniks machines, or just exploring places he's never been before, not sitting down staring at the same stretch of beach for the next four hours. Thankfully this odd moment was broken as a shadow fell over them both, and a manic chuckle almost punched the air. In the sky passing over the moon was what looked like thousands of tiny little insects but Sonic knew full well they weren't insects, especially not at that distance. They were robots, dozens of robots all following a round like vehicle hovering in the sky. It was Robotnik! Sonic never thought he'd be glad to see Dr. Robotnik. But what was he doing here?
This gave him the opportunity to slip from Amy's grasp. She was still waiting for his answer to her request "Sorry Amy, I'll have to get back to you on that!" and with one swift movement Sonic dashed off towards Dr. Robotnik and his gang of robots before Amy had a chance to complain to him.
"Sonic wait!" Amy screamed after him as she watched the blue hedgehog disappear into the distance. She kicked her feet at the ground in a huff "OHHHH that Sonic!" she said in annoyance.
High concentrations of carbon and iron material with a hint of iron oxide and a whole mass of energy, he realised as he rubbed his hands gleefully and smiled menacingly as he watched the readouts on his screen. Inside his hovercraft Dr. Robotnik was surveying the readings he took of that meteorite which came down in the area not five minutes ago. It landed somewhere here so it shouldn't take long to find, especially if it is still radiating all that energy as before.
He was a tall and a very fat man who wore a red jacket with coat tails over his black trousers. His head was completely balled but as if to compensate for the loss of hair on his head a long, orange, bushy moustache had sprouted from under his long, big, red nose.
"There is no visible crater Dr. Robotnik" said one of the robots hovering close to his craft.
"That's because it wasn't travelling at the right angle to punch such noticeable dent in the landscape." He explained, there was a very long gash in the landscape but that was no crater, a crater would insinuate that whatever it was had landed there, but it hadn't, it had bounced off somewhere around here.
"Perhaps we should start by looking in the sea, my calculations show it more likely it landed there" the robot explained
"No, we begin the search on land first" Robotnik commanded, he wanted to find it quickly before anyone else did, if it had landed in the sea then there was little chance anyone would find it until much later. But he didn't want to run the risk of someone coming across it if it came down somewhere on land "we'll expand out to sea" he added.
"You're already expanding" the robot said
"What?" he clenched his fists and his face turned red, he turned to shout at the robot "How dare you insinuate I've gained weight!"
The robot at first looked flustered, which Robotnik admitted was odd for a machine which had very simple emotions and desires " …I mean we've passed the proposed landing site" it added quickly in fear.
"Don't get smart with me!" he said calmly as he returned to the controls of his vehicle. He continued on looking at the readouts but he was sure he heard the robot mutter "I really don't have a choice."
What was with Sonic? Why couldn't he just give into his desires? Why did he always run away like that, does he like me? Were all questions Amy had running through her head. Why did he always run? It was maddening to her, she couldn't understand why, why, why, why, why?
She sighed to clear her head. How long had she been insinuating, hinting and often outright asking Sonic to go out on a date with her? Every time! That's what, and every time he always found some way of avoiding the question and getting away.
How long ago had it been? Years probably when they first met at Never Lake, when Dr. Robotnik attempted to take control of the small planet which appeared in the skies over the lake for a few days. She was Sonics biggest fan at the time, ever since he first put a stop to Dr. Robotnik's first scheme and was anxious to meet him, and she got to, at Never Lake. That was some adventure she remembered, she was captured by Dr. Robotnik and Sonic had ran across the small planet to rescue her and defeat Robotniks evil plan.
They had never gone out like a couple of teenage hedgehogs would, and if she didn't know better Amy would think that Sonic wasn't even interested in her. What was wrong with him? Whenever she went looking for him she always tried to look her best, made sure her red dress was spotless and her boots were clean, that her hair band was in her hair at just the right angle. But he didn't appreciate the effort of it at all!
She stood at a bridge over looking a river. The tide was coming in by the look of the water as all sorts of worthless trash like tree twigs and acorns and stuff floated further upstream. If only Sonic would come to her so easily.
Maybe Sonic just thought if he wanted someone then she'd have to be someone who could match his speed. But Amy was no runner and she didn't have a hope in heck of catching a super fast speedy hedgehog on her own two legs. Sonic always ran off to have these adventures battling that evil old scientist. It was an odd thought but for a moment she felt she was playing second fiddle to Robotnik, and if he wasn't battling Robotnits robots he was zooming around looking for Chaos Emeralds.
Okay it was important Robotnik never got his hands on the Chaos Emeralds, they were powerful after all. Seven fist sizes gems which contained power, so much power that when they are brought together they can cause great devastation if in the wrong hands. Thankfully Sonic always managed to collect all seven before Robotnik could use them.
It was always Sonic fighting Robotnik, Sonic looking for Chaos Emeralds before losing them and starting that quest all over again, or Sonic hanging out with his friend Tails the Fox. When was she going to get a turn with him?
Amy sighed again, it was back to a question of speed, if she could keep up with the speedy hedgehog then maybe she could join him on his adventures and they could be together, as a team, as boyfriend and girlfriend. But there was no way she was going to get what she wanted. She'll just have to go on with life at the normal pace of Amy Rose. She closed her eyes again and a tear came to her eye, the thought that she could never match Sonics speed and that meaning she could never have him really upset her.
She opened her eyes again and looked out onto the river as it wound its way down towards the sea, the moon was reflected in the water making the ripples and the flow of the river all the more obvious that it was high tide.
Something small began passing over the moon's reflection, it was much too large to be a twig or an acorn. It also looked like it was glinting in the moon light. What was that thing? A lump of driftwood? Whatever it was it began to glow a shade of green bright green and... Wait a minute? Glow? Green? Was that? No it couldn't could it? Was that a...?
"A Chaos Emerald?" she said excitedly "I found a Chaos Emerald!" she squealed. This had to be fate, destiny! If she could get it then it was one less for Sonic to find and maybe out of gratitude he'd go out with her. She ran along the road which rolled across the bridge and she gently went down the embankment. She stopped however when she came to the edge of the river. She didn't want to get her best dress wet and she didn't want to present Sonic with a Chaos Emerald looking like a drowned rat, what would he think of her then?
It was floating in the middle of the river, she just had to get to it somehow. It still glowed green as it followed the rivers current. She continued along the embankment trying to think of a way she could snag it and bring the emerald close to her, if she could hurry and get it then maybe she could present it to him tonight and they can still make the sunrise, if only the stupid Chaos Emerald would come closer to the bank. It was a Chaos Emerald wasn't it? Of course it was! What else glows like that? Whatever it was she'd better hurry up and catch it before someone else does.
Authors notes: I do realise Dr. Robotnic has been renamed Dr. Eggman in the games, but in my opinion 'Eggman' is the lamest name your enemy could have. Okay, it's supposed to be ridicules because Robotnic's often ridicules himself, but if he wants people to obey and respect him when he conquers the world then it's hard to see any menace or threat in an evil ruler who basically compares himself to an egg with legs. So for this story I'm calling him Robotnic.
