Chapter two
The X Tornado was very awesome. Or at least, it was to its builder.
Tails was always proud of the special jet that both he and Chuck worked on. They had put their very hearts, hopes, and dreams into the design.
It gleamed so quickly across the sky, like a shooting star. The success was beyond what either of them had hoped, especially when the chaos emerald was easily hooked up into the system for the very first time.
To the day, Tails could still look at it and feel pride swell in his heart- Like an artist would feel about a brilliant work of art, he felt the same way about his jet.
It was his work of art.
Every day the fox would double check the systems, making sure it was in tip-top shape, ready to help out Sonic, or anyone else for that matter. He'd also think of new ways to make the engine more efficient, or perhaps make land mode stronger.
However, he wasn't thinking about new ways to improve the Tornado on his way back down to the Earth's surface. Tails was worrying about something else.
Just in the same matter that Sonic had, he was feeling off about the way Eggman had showed up without any indication other than his yelling of "Handing over the world or else", and all of that jazz. (The doctor most certainly needed some new shtick.)
If Tails had learned anything in his years of fighting Eggman alongside Sonic, it was that he always had some sort of special plan.
Backstabbing was standard upon making deals, so that certainly wasn't the case. No, this was something else, and Tails was frustrated that he couldn't quite figure out what Eggman wanted.
The Tornado gave a quick shudder as it hit a draft of heavier atmosphere, and Tails quickly snapped out of his thoughts to fix it.
All it took was some realigning to get the jet back on course, and the young fox sighed in relief.
Reentry was usually much swifter and easier, but without any chaos emeralds, that wasn't exactly an available option at the time.
"The chaos emeralds..."
It floated across his head for a moment before Tails realized that Eggman hadn't even tried to nab any of them this time around.
Not one of his robots had showed up in his usual clichéd way.
Well that was definitely suspicious. He was most often the first (or at least very close to first) who would appear on the scene of a chaos emerald's hiding place.
But not once, even when it looked like the perfect setting for him to have hidden a big bot that would soon be smashed by a certain blue blur, had Eggman shown up.
Everyone was thankful that it had made the finding much easier (save for an unforgettable moment where Cheese dove into an alligator's mouth to retrieve the pink one. The poor disgusted Chao never seemed to plan on doing it again though.)
However, it also left everybody tense.
They knew the scientist was planning something. He couldn't go a day without scheming up new ways to destroy Sonic, or for taking over the world (or more often than not, both.) This case was probably no different.
Tails thought on the phrasing for a moment, before changing the word "probably" to "most assuredly."
Eggman was most assuredly planning something much larger. The scientist always did, and sometimes even surprised everyone with his plans.
Like the time he blocked the sun, which led to pretty much all people who were unhappy with the lack of light to buy those "miniature suns" and proceed to become brainwashed.
It was a good thing that Sonic figured out that they were no good. Otherwise... Well, the young fox didn't want to even think of otherwise, and shuddered at the thought of Eggman winning at all as he began to fly over the ocean, back towards Chris's house.
===SXU===
Explosions are known for being dangerous. Well, dangerous to ordinary people anyway.
They rip, tear, and shred ordinary people to pieces, leaving disgusting bloody messes that are far too real for some people's tastes.
Of course, why go on about anything like this?
Because the blazing golden form of Super Sonic is pretty much completely impervious to all sorts of explosions.
Small and compact, large and very loud, you name it. Nothing can seem to touch him when Sonic has gone super, and he knows it.
Which is why he was perfectly fine with charging through every single wall put in his way when crashing into that weird ship, where Eggman had flown in.
Bursting through what appeared to be the final wall that was standing between him and that evil scientist, the hedgehog had arrived at just the right moment to see his adversary crash land.
Glass dome broken, the Eggmobile tumbled around, spilling its contents of one evil genius and two dizzy-fied robots.
Laughing at Eggman and his robots, Sonic floated there with a smug expression when the doctor looked up.
"S-sonic!" He cried in a frightened tone, then falling to his knees. His robots followed and they too took on the same pose as the scientist.
"I-I'm sorry! I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear!" He begged, hands put together and all the rest. (It looked as if he was about to be sentenced to something worse than death.)
"Just give me a chance!"
The robots were giving a similar chorus, albeit more sappy sounding.
Gazing at the evil scientist as he floated down, Sonic gave a small chuckle.
"Really Eggman? Showing remorse?" He laughed. "If you played nice, I wouldn't have to break all your toys!"
Everything after that seemed to happen far too quickly for poor, unready Sonic.
Eggman pulling out a large red button and calling "Gotcha!" Those odd... things popping out of the floor and ceiling, and the glowing purple rings that sucked him in.
It was all too fast.
Berating himself as he floated there, staring at the maniacally laughing doctor, Sonic was disappointed in himself for not reacting as he should've.
Usually, he could react so spot on, not missing a mark. It was something he was supposed to be good at.
Of course, the hedgehog struggled, pulling his arms out, or at least attempting to. All he managed to do was shift slightly in that super-tight grip those weird ring-thingies had on him.
The two robots had gasped in surprise. It was obvious that they had known no more of this than anyone else had. (Then again, when did they know much of anything?)
The evil scientist stood up proudly, taking an opportune moment to grin madly at his now captured enemy.
"Oh-ho-ho-ho!" He laughed loudly, in that oh-so perfect voice. "Did you really think I would change, simply because you had all seven Chaos Emeralds?"
Laughing once again, Eggman turned around, and pressed the button again. The Eggmobile righted itself, and the doctor climbed in.
The machine then floated gently over to a now open hole, and inserted itself there. Once situated, a metal cylindrical base rose up, lifting so that the doctor was gazing down at the golden hedgehog. (That button sure did do a lot, didn't it?)
Sonic simply glared at Eggman, not wanting to risk saying something overly clichéd like, "You'll never get away with this!" Or worse- saying something stupid. The stupid part didn't need any more help as it was, and to say that Eggman would never get away with... Whatever it was- well, that would mean that he himself knew what that crazy scientist was up to.
Oh, and now the guy in question was rubbing his hands together in a maniacal way, as yet another button rose up. It was big and red, yet diamond shaped and surrounded... By seven differently colored lights. (Pretty sure you can see a faint connection here.)
"Oh, I've waited a long time for THIS!" Eggman yelled, finger dramatically headed in a downwards motion for the button.
Why did Sonic suddenly feel as if this was going to hurt? A whole lot?
Most likely because he was right.
Yelling out in sudden agony, Sonic could feel thousands of electric pulses coursing through his body. He felt... Like the electricity was pulling something away from him, and he didn't want to let whatever it was go, so the electricity had gotten angry and started to kick and bite.
Although he had no idea what it wanted, he honestly couldn't make much of a choice as the Chaos Emeralds suddenly shot away from his body, floating around him in a complete circle.
Again with the button, the evil scientist pushed it once more. But this time, it didn't do anything on the inside of the... Floating ice-cream sandwich (you know, the delicious circle kind.)
It did something on the outside.
Looking out the large window on the side of the ship, Sonic watched as a large stick-like appendage that was shooting out at the bottom of the ice-cream sandwich (getting hungry?) Was beginning to open up, revealing a large four-pieced... Laser?
It sure looked like one, especially since it was pointed straight at the Earth.
A very large purple beam then shot out of it, which proved Sonic's suspicions. Although it didn't help with the electric pulses still shaking his blue body.
Hey, at least he was able to be right about something after having Eggman trick him like this.
===SXU===
"Thorndike's never need to worry!"
That was what his father said all the time. Well, he at least said it sometimes.
Chris was very unhappy in his predicament, and he was sure that he should be worried, contrary to what his father seemed to occasionally believe. Or might always believe; Chris could never really tell. (Well, it wasn't his fault that the boy's parents weren't around that much, was it?)
Ever since Sonic had left with Tails in the X Tornado to go stop Eggman from taking over the world (again), a bitter, nasty feeling was churning around in Chris's stomach.
Usually, he could say that Sonic would be fine. That the hedgehog who totally seemed indestructible could easily fend off a flying fleet the size of a large city. He'd beaten even tougher things without even breaking a sweat!
So why wouldn't that downright disgusting feeling leave the bottom of his gut? Sitting in his room, homework in front of the boy, Chris looked like he was going to chew the end of his pencil off.
Trying to distract himself from the wary feeling, Chris looked down at the papers spread across his bed, and all over an open blue folder.
Math...
Math...
Math...
Sonic was probably in trouble...
As the entire situation of getting his homework done, as well as forgetting the gnawing in his stomach, Chris let out an audible groan, and slumped backwards on his pillow.
"Chris? Are you okay?" A gentle and quiet voice asked him.
Turning in slight surprise at his already open door, the boy saw that a young rabbit and her little flying, blue friend had followed along.
"Hey Cream." He greeted her, sitting up as he did so. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"
Obviously, the little rabbit did not buy his statement, and gazed carefully, yet innocently at him.
"Are you sure you're okay? Chris, you look awfully stressed." She said.
Dang, for a six-year-old, she was pret-ty good at reading others already. That little rabbit was going to be one heck of a girl when she grew up!
After a few moments of a small staring contest between the young boy and the young rabbit, Chris sighed in defeat.
"I'm... Worried." He admitted, gazing once again at his papers, filled with math equations and numbers.
Cream gained a confused expression.
"About what?" She asked.
Now this was getting exceedingly awkward for the boy. It wasn't that Chris didn't like to share his feelings with the others, it was just... He didn't like saying that he was worried about someone he normally wouldn't have worried about.
Yet Chris made the mistake of looking at the ever-so innocent face of Cream the Rabbit, accompanied with Cheese the Chao's adorable kind of 'oblivious' look (although the little fellow was much smarter than he looked.)
Unable to say no to that combination, Chris smiled, thinking Cream was far too cute for her own good.
"I'm worried about Sonic." He said, already anticipating the surprised expression flashing across the rabbit's face.
"But Chris, Mr. Sonic defeats Eggman all the time! Why worry about him now?" She questioned.
"Well... That's the problem. I don't know why I'm worried- I just am." Chris tried to explain. Of course, being only six years old, Cream should never get these kind of complex emotions. However, she was very good at figuring things like misplaced worry, and therefore, the young rabbit smiled calmly.
"Chris, you know how tough Sonic is! I'm sure he'll make it back just fine!" She comforted him, coming closer to place a hand on his lap. Cheese let out a, "Chao, chao!" That was likely to be of agreement.
Although it didn't do much to ease the queasy feeling in his gut, Chris smiled gratefully at the little rabbit.
She was probably right, Sonic was always doing dangerous stuff, like jumping off of cliffs, and running head-first into all sorts of crazy situations, and-
It was like the Earth ate something that didn't agree with it. A big bad burrito had wound up in the center of the Earth, and it was letting EVERYONE know.
Sudden and large shudders moaned and groaned, causing Chris's entire room (and most likely, his house), to shake violently.
Hearing Cream's sudden cry of alarm, along with Cheese's, Chris couldn't even think about letting out his own surprised sounds as he grabbed the two in a protective hug.
It lasted for quite a while, and the young boy, with his eyes shut tight, could only wonder what in the world what was happening... To the world.
And to make matters worse, his worried feeling felt like it was saying:
"I told you so."
===SXU===
Bada-boom! I finished it! The second chapter- and HOLY COW, it took around a month!? I'm crazier than I thought!
Aw well- At least I'm satisfied with it.
So I was planning on going further, but at least wanted something to go off of for the next chapter. (This thing is taking longer than I thought. Not that I really care though. It gives me something to do.)
Although the reason it took a while was because I had a LOT of homework (hate that), discovered Wakfu and Tenkai Knights (no judging for that last part), Got my demo for Pokemon Alpha and Omega (YAY!), made up like, five other stories I have yet to work or improve on (but I promise not to get overly distracted), and lost my mojo for a while in the middle of the Tails part.
If I try writing when I'm NOT in the right mood for this specific style, it ends up with me banging my head on the keyboard as I try to think of ways to improve the chapter. (Most of the time, it's all in vain and I end up re-writing the whole thing.)
Well anyway, I told you I'd probably end up with Cream and Cheese! Although even I was surprised to find out that she would help Chris that way. It was originally going to be his grandfather, but I decided, "What the heck? I'll give Cream and Cheese a shot."
Turned out pretty fine, right?
Eh?
There are crickets chirping. Cute.
Anyway, thank-you to my FIRST EVER REVIEWER IN HISTORY, eggman hater! :D (Confetti is thrown into air)
Although it was only a demand for "MOAR". . . Aw well, thanks anyway dude/dudette! I'll be sure to keep it coming, even if slowly and steadily! (Actually, never mind the steadily part. I can never really say when updates shall come, because quality over quantity!)
Anyhoo, stuff that's soon to come:
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Knuckles (maybe in the next chapter, although it could be Shadow instead. We'll just have to wait and see!)
- Rogue the Bat
Oh, and real quick, I was thinking (a lot) about that thing I said in the last chapter, about side stories. I thought you guy(s) might want to know that they might not have that same "character exploration" feel. They're going to be more for fun and humor, so it won't really be necessary, ya' know? Probably still see smidgens of it, but not a whole lot.
There, I finally got those words out of my system! Now why is it so much easier to write a long author's note than it is to write the actual story?
. . .
Whatever! I shall leave that one to the... Whoever they are.
Well, that's all I've got for now!
See y'all later!
P.S. Please remember that review button! And refraining from cussing earns you bonus marshmallows! :)