Disclaimer: Although the original concept for this story is mine, all Sonic related characters are property of Sega. Xbox, Coke, and Macintosh are property of their respective owner(s).
Author's Note: Hi ya'll! :) I tried to make the first chapter of this story as funny as possible, but I really didn't like the way it came out. This chapter is definitely going to look more like a parody of the Matrix. I hope ya'll like it; please read and review! :)
Somewhere in Computer Generated Space
As Silver continued to fall through the empty space, he lost all track of time. Sometimes it felt like he had fallen for hours on end, slipping further into some unknown deep, dark abyss. If it was possible, he was starting to become extremely bored with the concept of falling through eternal darkness for the rest of his days. He wasn't looking forward to the idea of falling forever.
"It wouldn't be much use to try and do anything else," the white hedgehog thought to himself.
Sometimes, he would pretend that he was swimming underwater, and that the only way he could swim was downward. He would occasionally try to perform stunts that he wouldn't be able to do in real life. For example, Silver couldn't do cartwheels in a universe with gravity; now he could perform stunts that would make Olympic gymnast feel envious. He was in the middle of yet another cartwheel when suddenly, he made contact with earth.
And yet, it didn't feel quite like earth. Silver lifted himself off of the ground and looked around at his surroundings. He knew that this was definitely not the city, most likely not even the same dimension. He could see only white, empty, vast space. It was a very interesting paradox: everything and nothing could coexist at the same time.
Out of desperation, Silver called out, "Shadow! Blaze! Tails! Where are you? Where am I? This had better not be some kind of sick joke. Okay, I get it, I'm naïve and you're probably going to make fun of me, is that it?" Now Silver started to sound like a deranged person. "You think this is funny, huh? IS THAT WHY I'M HERE?!" the white hedgehog screamed in vain toward the heavens. But, his question did not come without an appropriate response.
Suddenly, a huge wave of colors, shapes, and objects suddenly came rushing towards him. It was useless to run, because everything was surrounding him. He suddenly found himself in an antique looking library, filled with books from different centuries. A dark figure sat behind a solid oak desk in the center of the room. With some difficulty, he was able to rotate the chair to face the white hedgehog.
"Welcome, Silver, we are so glad you could join us this evening," Shadow said coolly.
The doors on either side of the desk opened, and out came Blaze, Tails, and Victor, along with a couple of other nerdy looking foxes and cats.
"Where am I?" The white hedgehog asked perplexedly. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"Silver," Blaze said calmly, "it's okay; we don't want to hurt you. In fact, you're our only hope for survival."
"Survival? What exactly is trying to wipe ya'll out?" Silver asked.
"It had to happen sometime or another, just like the oracle predicted." Tails added.
Silver was getting irritated by the group's decision to talk in riddles, "What? What's going to happen?"
"You're the only one who can stop them. We continue to fight this battle everyday without you, and every day we come ever closer to the end of the world as we know it. That's why we were so glad we found out that you, Silver, were the chosen key holder that the oracle predicted would save the universe."
To say the least, Silver was very pissed off that his friends wouldn't give him a straight answer, "Look, I don't have any idea what in God's name you're talking about. In fact, I don't even think I know ya'll, especially you, Blaze."
At this remark, Blaze felt a little bit heartbroken.
"I thought you died, Blaze, and you didn't even bother telling me that you were still alive? I can't believe this! I thought I could trust you, and that you were my friend, but I guess I was wrong." Silver said with anger in his voice.
Blaze looked like she was to the point of tears when Shadow stepped in to calm Silver down.
"Let me make this as clear as possible, Silver. Blaze couldn't just come out and say that she was alive. She used her "death" as a cover-up to try and save you. If you had found out that she was alive, our enemies would have used that against us, and then all of us would be dead. Come with me, Silver, and I'll show you exactly what I mean," said Shadow.
He then beckoned Silver to follow him through one of the doors. Shadow then pulled an Xbox controller out of the left pocket of his black coat and pressed the "start" button. Silver could feel himself being whisked through space almost at the speed of light. He suddenly found himself again in the white, empty void, when Shadow appeared right next to him and said, "BOO!!"
"AHH!! Don't scare me like that!!" Silver screamed.
"Sorry," Shadow said jokingly, "I just couldn't help it." The ebony hedgehog then pressed the "A" and "B" buttons simultaneously, resulting in the wave to color now rushing before Silver's eyes. Silver then found himself sitting in a comfortable leather chair. Shadow was sitting in a similar chair, facing a large plasma screen television.
The ebony hedgehog said, "We haven't been able to recover much information about the past ever since the Destruction, but we assume that it has been fifty years since the creation of The Perfect Code. All we know that it is approximately 2058 in calendar years."
"The Perfect Code, what do you mean?" the white hedgehog asked inquisitively.
"You see," Shadow continued, "there was a computer programmer who had a passion for hacking into videogames. He would try to hack into as many games as possible to accomplish one goal: a single, universal cheat code that could be entered into any gaming console that would unlock every possible cheat, secret, and unknown detail about any videogame.
An image on the television screen showed a young man of about twenty-five, typing code into his desktop while sipping on a latte.
"Well, one day, he found success in creating The Perfect Code cracking into a very popular videogame that we assume was called, Halo. After he cracked the code, he stored it onto a wireless hard drive, making the foolish mistake of assuming that no one could access his files. He soon realized that someone had hacked into the wireless network and erased it from his computer and hard drive, preventing him from generating any kind of profit. The Perfect Code then floated all over cyberspace, popping up on game cheat websites across the Net. This kind of free access did not come without a price, however.
The next image on the screen showed the same young man, tipping over his latte while jumping around and shouting for joy at his discovery.
"Soon, with the public introduction of The Perfect Code all over cyberspace, noobs knew the secrets of the experts, thus creating mass chaos. For the first time since the beginning of the universe, the experts were being pwned by noobs.
The screen projected an image of a chaos ridden city as noobs were whacking experts upside the head with toy light-sabers while the experts tried in vain to defeat the noobs with legitimate light-sabers. But, unfortunately, whenever one noob fell, thirty more would take their place.
"Not too long after this tragedy started to occur, the experts were starting to leave their computers and their game consoles to rust, frustrated by the sheer insanity of it all. In a vain attempt to be the experts back to resume pwning noobs the way God intended, the programmers on what was formerly known as the "Internet," decided to banish all noobs from their systems, good and evil.
Next, Silver saw a man pounding furiously at his Macintosh laptop, trying to save cyberspace from complete destruction.
"Oh my God! This is horrible! This doesn't make since; where I come from, everything isn't completely destroyed. How do I know that this isn't some kind of trap, and that you really are Shadow the Hedgehog?" Silver asked suspiciously.
"Silver, don't get smart with me. You and I both know that sometime or another, noobs were going to take over sooner or later. We knew it was coming; that's why we have to be the ones to put an end to this madness. So, one question remains, Coke or Diet Coke?" He then produced two cans of the dark, fizzy liquid.
The white hedgehog was confused; he had a lost, glazed over look in his eyes. "Shadow, what in God's name do you mean, Coke or Diet Coke?" asked Silver.
The ebony hedgehog then put the two soda cans on a coffee table in front of the. "It's very simple," replied Shadow, "if you drink the Coke from the red can, you'll come with us and uncover the truth and hopefully preserve what is left of the remnants of cyberspace."
Silver was about to reach for the red can when Shadow pushed his hand back. "Or, you have the option of drinking the Diet Coke and go about living your life in a fantasy world, believing anything your heart desires."
"So, if I chose to believe that there are unicorns, will they magically appear?" Silver asked excitedly.
"Silver, don't be an idiot and just pick a can!" Shadow said irritably.
Silver considered his options very carefully. "Well, I have nothing else better to do. Why not go ahead and see what Shadow's up to?" Silver asked himself. He then took the red can and drank its contents.
Shadow got up from out of his chair and said, "Follow me."
As Silver walked behind him, the ebony hedgehog lead him into a dark room where the others were; they were standing in front of what appeared to be a giant mirror. Silver stopped to look at his reflection. Silver stood there, smiling; the hedgehog that looked backed at him smiled, waved, and said, "Howdy, Silver!"
The poor white hedgehog gave a loud yelp of fright and jumped up and ran into the wall because he couldn't see where he was going. After silently cursing himself for his stupidity, he carefully walked back over towards Shadow.
"How did you like kissing the wall?" Shadow asked mockingly.
"Shut up!" Silver growled indignantly.
"Anyway," the ebony hedgehog continued, "step into this mirror, and you're going to find out that things are going to get very interesting."
Silver walked back over to the mirror and stopped. He turned around, trying to get one last look at his friends before he went off into some other strange world. He then took one step back and jumped into the mirror.
To be continued
Endnote: Sorry if the ending was anticlimactic; I was kind of guilty about not uploading this chapter over the weekend, but I promise to have the next chapter up very soon. Please R & R! :)