Finally, it is here, the first real chapter (given the other one is a prologue). Enjoy.
A clear blue sky and a bright sun shone over a sparkling ocean opposite a beautiful sandy stretch of beach. Behind the beach was a growth of light jungle, and rising out of the green canopy further back were gentle sloping hills, low cliffs and valleys. It was the sort of day and the right kind of location that was perfect for a guy to have a long slow walk down the beach with a girl he likes.
However, this was the furthest thing from the mind of the person who was on that beach at the moment.
A cobalt blue blur was racing down the beach at that very moment, not because he was in a particular hurry, but because he liked running fast.
Yep, that was Sonic the Hedgehog to a tee.
"Keep going straight ahead Sonic, you're nearly there," issued a voice.
Sonic held a up a communicator, "yo, don't worry tails, I'll find that chaos emerald in no time."
"Okay sonic" said tails over the com, "I'll be there soon to help you look."
"Okay, over and out." Replied the hedgehog. He switched off his com, and continued to run down the beach.
Not far away, due south, the yellow fox rechecked his scanner with built in chaos detector. Tails was flying adjacent to the beach in the Tornado 3. "Hmm? What's this?"
A blip had appeared north of the emeralds, and Sonic's position. "Has a metallic signature, probably Eggman trying to steal the emerald, I should warn sonic," said the fox to himself.
"Dam! Sonics turned off his communicator." Tails was a little bit worried now, what if Eggman had a surprise attack; Sonic could be hurt. Sonic would tell him to not worry, why couldn't he be a little more like Sonic. "I'm sure sonic will be fine," Tails said, trying to convince himself of that fact, and continued flying fast towards Sonic's location.
Sonic had turned off the beach and gone into the jungle, following the signal on his own chaos detector, which Tails had given him. Though as fast as he was, understanding technology was not Sonic's strong point, hence why tails usually gave the directions.
The ground became hillier as sonic moved into the base of the hills that he had seen before from the beach. He walked into a clearing.
"Okay, if this thing works, and I'm reading it right, then the emerald should be… Right across this clearing."
"Huh what's that!?" Sonic heard a strange noise, then before he could take one more step a robot jumped out of the sky and landed heavily on the ground.
"Emerald detected in area, possible threat detected in area… Threat identified as Sonic the Hedgehog-medium threat level. Battle protocol initiated; Priority mission; Retrieve Chaos Emerald… Secondary mission; Destroy Sonic the Hedgehog if possible"
Sonic looked at it, it was similar to the e-series, yet different, he guessed it was one of Eggman's robots, and wondered where the Egghead was.
"So, you're after that emerald then, well, you're not going to get it today, haaa!" Sonic ran at the robot, planning to destroy the robot then take the emerald, he wasn't worried at all. Why should he be, he'd done it hundreds of times before. He formed a spin attack, expecting the robot to attack him straight on.
So he was totally surprised when the robot moved aside, away from Sonic.
"Running away huh?!" said Sonic, trying to hide his surprise, as the robot dashed across the clearing at a speed he hadn't expected Eggman's robots to posses. Then he noticed where the machine was going.
"SHIT! The Emerald." Yelled sonic, racing towards it now.
Floating in the air, not too far away, yet far enough not to be seen and too far to interfere in the battle was Eggman in the Eggmobile.
"Hmmm, going after the Chaos Emerald first! That's wild, unpredictable, different and right in front of Sonic too. I wonder if it will actually work."
The robot reached the edge first, reached into the undergrowth and pulled out the Chaos Emerald.
"Dam." Said Sonic, coming to a stop metres form it. "You're going to give that Emerald right now, or I'm going to take it from you." Stated the hedgehog with confidence.
"I THINK NOT! HAA haa haa haaa." Said the robot in a new, deep and scary voice
"Huh what!?" Gasped Sonic.
The droid placed the emerald in a space in its chest, where it sank into the chest plate, the metal, like liquid, covering it. Then, the droid stated to change. It grew slightly taller, the body changed shape altogether, spikes came out the back, it grew a neck, the head became more round and more spikes grew out the back, the arm and legs grew out, became more jointed and flexible, then the whole colour could be seen to change from silver to a dark metallic blue, the eyes, still red, looked more intelligent, then the emerald appeared at the front of the chest, protected by heavy glass, apparently the power core. It had formed into another Sonic robot, though it looked similar to Metal Sonic in his pre metal madness form.
Impressive, thought Eggman, watching from afar, but how does it go in a fight?
Further way still, Tails, coming fast in the tornado 3 detected something on his radar. "That's some energy signature, it looks like the chaos emerald has combined with something and made it even more powerful, hang on Sonic, I'm on my way!"
"Sonic the hedgehog," Boomed the droid, "I am Sonet, the first Chaos droid, prepare to meet your match."
"Already met him, goes by the name Shadow the Hedgehog," replied Sonic, not in the least bit worried, and actually looking forward to the upcoming battle.
"You dare mock me?" Sonet replied in a surprisingly calm, questioning voice.
He seemed different, thought sonic, not like, Eggman's robots at all. But Sonic pushed these thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on the present.
"I'm sorry," Sonic replied in a mocking tone, "I've met your kind before, and defeated every one of them, I'd have thought Egghead would have learnt by now that no robot is a match for me, so nice knowing ya buddy."
Sonic prepared to attack, rolling up into a ball, charging up his spin attack. He spin-dashed the robot at a high speed, it was right in front of him… and then it wasn't.
"What!?" Sonic came into contact with nothing, the droid had somehow dodged. Still in his ball form dashing forward, Sonic made to stop and look around for the enemy when…
WHAM! Something smashed into the side of him, sending him flying across the clearing, crashing into the ground, winded.
Sonet had just sidestepped Sonic, appearing besides him, and delivering a first strike with the back of his hand.
Sonic took one second to be surprised, then another to get his breath back, being one of the fastest things alive, he was not used to actually being attacked as his speed usually avoided most front on attacks.
Sonic got up, "So, you think you're fast, I'll show you fas-"
BOOM! Sonic barely had enough time to get away before Sonet shot an explosive blast at him.
BOOM! Another blast, which again missed Sonic by a hairs breadth.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! More near hits, only avoided by Sonics speed.
Sonet's left arm had morphed into a cannon and he was firing an explosive blast at Sonic every second or so. The first Chaos droid hovered just off the ground. He kept standing in position, but shifted very quickly, aided by unseen jets, around the circle of the clearing, firing at Sonic after every shift.
He's too fast! Thought Sonic. Sonic was having trouble just dodging the shots, let alone attacking the droid, and with constant, yet unpredictable movement, the task seemed impossible.
Yet Sonic persisted, after about five minutes of dodging, Sonic finally saw an opening, with careful timing he spindashed under Sonet's fire, spun up and attacked his back.
Yet while it did some small damage to the droid, Sonic still received an electric shock for his efforts.
"You can not harm me without harm to yourself hedgehog," stated Sonet, "Now time to step it up!"
Sonet now came at Sonic with rapid fire shoulder cannons, chain gun arms alternating with claw attacks, and, when Sonic looked like taking a breath, his own spindash, which formed him into a buzzsaw of destruction, even ripping up the side of the hill on the edge of the clearing. Sonic managed to escape each attack with only little damage, yet he had no time to attack himself, all his efforts were put into surviving the onslaught.
Watching from the air Eggman realised what Sonet's strategy was, while Sonic was dodging the attacks, he could not attack back, yet he was getting tired, this wasn't a video game when the character could keep running around for as long as the player was interested, Sonic was eventually going to get tired and make a mistake, Eggman thought, as long as someone else didn't interfere.
Sonic was getting tired; he needed to finish this now, yet an attack now would be disastrous. Fallen trees had sealed off all escape routes. Sonic knew one mistake would be the end, yet he kept, running and dodging, refusing to end it just standing there, waiting for that final-
BLAM BLAM BLAM!
"Graaahh."
Sonic looked up to see tails pass over the clearing in the Tornado 3, having just made three shots at the droid.
Sonet now shot three missile at Tails, as he turned around to make another pass, and Sonic took this opportunity to attack Sonet right in the head, Sonet responded by swiping his arm, attempting to knock Sonic away, yet missed when tails made another shot at him.
"This is only the beginning, Sonic the Hedgehog, you know I'll be back, hah hah hah." Laughed Sonet, seemingly not in the least bit annoyed that the tables had turned, almost like he was expecting this to happen. He lifted off into the sky, transforming into a jet, and flew away over the ocean.
"Sonic, are you okay?" cried Tails, landing the T3.
"yeah Tails I'm fine, don't worry," sated Sonic, breathless.
"You're hurt," gasped tails, noticing Sonic had many scratches, some bleeding.
"Just some scratches, I'll be fine, we've got to got get that robot before he gets the rest of the emeralds."
"Sonic, we need help, this is not an ordinary robot, besides, I haven't located the next emerald yet, we'll go back to my workshop and plan what to do next, anyway, injured or not, you need to rest."
"Yeah, okay," agreed Sonic, after all he was tired, and hungry. They both got into the Tornado three (I think it can carry at least 2 people) and took off, heading back to the mystic ruins (where Tails workshop is).
Flying across the ocean, Eggman flew up alongside Sonet.
"Impressive, but I'm surprised you didn't finish them off there and then."
"Patience master," replied Sonet. "These things you must take slowly, take time to plan, I did not expect to destroy Sonic on first encounter, but to learn from him by studying his moves, for the most part I was playing with him."
"Yes, but he'll be ready for you next time."
"Perhaps, but it is not important, remember, getting all the emeralds is priority. Sonic's knowledge, ability, strength, will all be useless when we have all seven of the Emeralds, combined with my siblings power, nothing will stand against us."
"Excellent," said Eggman.
Hopefully i will be able to update once or twice over the next month, but don't hold your breath. Impatient e-mails can be sent if I haven't updated by the end of January.
