Chapter 3: Preparing For Adventure:
The next morning, Sonic Jr. was lounging on the living room couch, watching the television.
"And now we return to 'The Amazing Sonic Man'!" The narrator said.
The screen showed a man in a mask and T-shirt that were both themed after Sonic himself, alongside a pair of jeans and run-of-the-mill sneakers, running haphazardly around the city streets with his arms spread out, trying (and ultimately failing) to imitate Sonic's running style, and tiring out very quickly on several occasions. He later caught some criminals robbing a bank and chased them into an alley (running out of steam multiple times in the process). After he finally caught up, he attempted to use a homing attack, but failed royally, slamming himself into a brick wall and breaking countless bones in his body, including his spinal column. Understandably, he let out a blood-curdling scream in response, as the two robbers stared at him incredulously.
"There you are, Junior!" Sonic said, stepping into the room and catching his son by surprise.
"Gah!" Junior yelled in reply, nearly hitting the ceiling as he jumped.
"Sorry to startle you, but we need you outside! C'mon, son!" Sonic continued.
"Huh?" Junior asked.
"Y'know, to test out your powers? So we can make the decision?" Sonic replied.
"Oh yeah! Right!" Junior replied, zipping out of the room and heading out back.
Sonic shut off the TV and followed him.
The duo made their way outside, where everyone else from the household (alongside Cream, who had become Tails' fiancé after the events of the previous story) was gathered outside, within the large, grassy expanse beyond the pool-deck.
"Um, what's this about?" Junior asked curiously.
"We're gonna test out your powers here, so we can see if you're up to the task." Knuckles replied, "We'll go from there afterwards."
"Oh! Right! I almost forgot!" Junior replied, "Me first!"
Junior began to sprint in place, charging up a Super Peel-Out in the process, before taking off into the distance, accompanied by a loud noise that stemmed from the shattering of the sound-barrier. In less than a second, he arrived back home from the same direction he had been facing when he first left.
"Damn, Junior! You might just be faster than your father!" Amy praised, before noticing Sonic glaring daggers at her in a rather uncomfortable manner, "I-I mean, just as fast as your father!"
"And that's not all!" Junior exclaimed, curling into a ball.
He began zooming rapidly around the yard, causing the countless Chao within the garden to scatter and even running over a few in the process. He rammed through a few leaf piles, and used the homing attack on several shrubs, before finally screeching to a halt.
"Welp, I guess you passed the test." Sonic said, "Kinda' surprised you didn't get anything from your mother, but ah well."
"You're up next, Jade!" Shadow called, before he and Rouge noticed their daughter stepping out in a rather unenthusiastic manner.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Rouge asked.
"Well, I... I'm not too sure about this." Jade replied, "Unlike him, I've never tested my powers before. What if something goes wrong?"
"Now you stop with that negativity right now, young lady!" Rouge snapped, "If I can conceive you while wearing five Nuva-Rings, and pop you out in the back of a public bus, then you can save our world! This is exactly why we're testing your powers out here now, so we can make sure you're ready! That way, if anything goes wrong here, we can just pay the damages!"
"Alright." Jade replied, slightly more emboldened.
"Good. Now go get 'em, girly!" Rouge said, lightly and playfully slapping her daughter across the buttocks.
Jade stepped out in front of the group and took a deep breath, before flapping her bat-wings and hovering six feet off the ground.
"Great! Now why don't you pick up Junior and see if that flight can benefit anyone besides yourself?" Sonic asked.
Obediently, Jade held one of Junior's hands in each of her own, and lifted them both off the ground, possessing enough strength to fly just as high.
"Suddenly, I'm in the mood to turn on the Genesis." Tails commented.
"Sweet! Now add your other partner to the stack!" Sonic requested.
Tyco grabbed onto Junior's feet and the trio lifted off of the ground just as easily as before, and this time they flew even higher, with Jade showing no signs of strain against the extra weight.
"Alright, now put them down gently." Sonic said, his request getting granted almost immediately after being made.
"Okay, next up, let's test your other abilities!" Tails suggested, setting up a scarecrow nearby and rejoining the others immediately afterward.
Jade took a deep breath and gave an epic grunt as she launched a quick attack on it, using various stylish kicks, punches, and chops, and displaying a black-belt-worthy knowledge of all known martial arts. Despite her aggressive assault, however, the scarecrow was somehow able to withstand it all, aside from some of his straw getting knocked out. Finally, Jade ended the attack and stood back, showing no indications of being exhausted.
"Now, if I'm not mistaken, the chromosome that came from your father should've given you some powers beyond the physical category." Tails said, "Why don't we test out those bad boys, shall we?"
"Okay." Jade nodded, closing her eyes, "Chaos... CONTROL!"
Given the fact that there were no Chaos Emeralds in the vicinity, the chaos control did not slow down time, and it only transported her a quarter of a mile away. She walked back over to the group, and before anyone could ask her to, she held both hands out in front of her and let loose a chaos spear, setting the nearby scarecrow on fire. This triggered some applause from the onlookers.
"Alrighty then. Now try a Chaos Blast. And don't worry about destroying anything. We can't determine if you can do this if you don't go all out now." Shadow said.
"No problem. Uh... how about I do this underwater?" Jade asked.
Everyone shrugged as she climbed into the pool and stood on the floor of the deep-end. Though nobody could hear her say the voice command for the attack, they all saw a crimson red glow emit from beneath the water, followed by an explosion powerful enough to send every drop of it out of the pool. This led to some more applause. Soon enough, Jade climbed out of the pool, completely unharmed as she gave a thumbs-up.
"And that leaves me." Tyco said confidently as he strutted in front of the group.
Everyone watched in silent apprehension as the third member of the trio shut his eyes lightly to maintain his focus, while the gauntlet on his right hand began to glow neon-orange. He then shot his eyes open and launched a fireball at the nearly-destroyed scarecrow, though he quickly activated his psychokinesis and caught it before the scarecrow could get disintegrated completely. He then used the latter power to juggle some of his fireballs around, a cocky grin on his face.
"Interesting!" Tails noted, excitedly scribbling some notes on a clipboard, "It seems that you lucked out and got powers from both of your parents, though to compensate, you can only use one power per hand!"
Tyco examined his hands without a word in response to this comment.
"However, that leaves us with a problem: if half of your system is responsible for managing your pyrokinesis, then it might impede your ability to levitate yourself in the air." Tails continued, "... Er, let's see if my hypothesis is correct."
"Whatever you say!" Tyco replied, proceeding to levitate himself off the ground with no problem, and even managing to fly himself all the way to the rooftop.
"Welp, nevermind." Tails said, crossing out one of his notes, "I guess the flames are only concentrated in one of your hands, then. You can come back down now!"
Tyco nodded and dove forwards off the roof, causing the others to call out in alarm.
"TYCO!" Blaze screamed.
"SON! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Silver yelled, "USE YOUR TELEKINESIS! QUICKLY! HURRY UP! NOW!"
Tyco instead spread his arms out in front of him and managed to glide his way down to the ground unharmed, causing everyone else on the scene to stare at him with their jaws dropped to an all-time low - almost to the point of unhinging themselves.
"Wh-Wha? How did you... ?" Sonic asked, stupefied.
"How the fuck could he do that?!" Silver asked in disbelief, "I mean, neither of us can do... !"
"KNUCKLES!" Blaze suddenly yelled, cutting her husband off.
Everyone looked in the direction of Knuckles, who was twiddling his fingers and blushing madly, a wide, sheepish grin on his face.
"Well... y-you know how I am when I see people getting it on!" He said, "Hahah! I've always been a sucker for good threesomes!"
"I thought I was feeling a bit more pleasure than before!" Blaze said angrily, "I mean, sure, it still felt good, especially considering Silver's microscopic package, but... yeah, not cool, Knuckles!"
Knuckles could only yelp in fear as Blaze lit both of her hands on fire and let out a loud, angry meow, before proceeding to chase him around the yard. Everyone watched the sight for a few minutes, some of the onlookers chuckling to themselves occasionally. Eventually, a few, including Tails, turned around, noticing that Tyco had climbed to the roof again. He glided towards the ground again, this time taking the opportunity to grab an apple off the nearby tree with his telekinesis, munching on it shortly after he came in for a landing. Tails' eyes widened before he quickly wrote some more notes down on his clipboard.
"GUYS!" He yelled as Knuckles and Blaze sped by, causing them both to screech to a halt, "So I just made some more observations here, and it seems that your son's gliding ability - however unnatural it may be - does provide him with the ability to get some air-time without compromising his psychic powers."
"That's cool, I guess." Blaze replied, before shooting an uncomfortable glare in Knuckles' direction.
"Alrighty!" Sonic said, loudly clapping his hands together once to grab everyone's attention, "All three of them seem to be pretty proficient with their powers, so I think it's okay to let them go on their first quest!"
Junior, Jade, and Tyco cheered in unison, exchanging high-fives, all accompanied by applause from the rest of the household.
The next day, the trio was busying themselves with the process of packing their suitcases and saying their goodbyes to their parents. Junior was the last of the three to step out of their shared bedroom, and when he was about to follow his partners, Sonic came up behind him.
"Hey, uh, Junior?" He asked, "C'mon, son. I've got something for ya'."
"Okay." Junior replied, following his father into Sonic and Amy's room.
Once both hedgehogs were inside, Sonic lightly pushed the door shut, paying no mind to the fact that it only closed about seventy-five percent. Junior sat down on the king-sized bed, slightly curious and anxious about the surprise, and also noticing that his father was wearing a pair of scarlet loafers with a white and gold plaid pattern on them, instead of his usual sneakers. Sonic cracked open the closet door and peered in, repeatedly glancing behind him to make sure his son wasn't peeking. After a few seconds more, he finally returned and sat down on the bed next to Junior, holding the same pair of running shoes that he had worn during Sonic Adventure 2.
"Wait! Those are your... !" Junior exclaimed.
"I know! Pretty cool, aren't they?" Sonic cut him off, "They're for you, son! I've got over fifty pairs of my usual shoes, but these babies are one of a kind! I'd say you've more than earned 'em!"
"Well thanks... but I mean, I... " Junior replied hesitantly, "Wh-What about you? Just because I'm the one doing the job this time doesn't mean you should just give these up! How will you be able to keep crime-fighting without your shoes? Or better question: what if something goes wrong? If I wear these shoes out, people will associate me with you, and who knows what they'll think if they see me fail?"
"Well I've got news for ya', kiddo! You won't fail!" Sonic replied confidently, "And it's not the shoes that are important; it's the runner! Believe me, if it weren't for the impracticality of it all, I'd have gone on all my adventures barefoot! Besides, I've outgrown that particular pair, so it won't make a difference if you damage or lose them!"
"Thanks, Dad!" Junior said, accepting the shoes with a warm smile.
Sonic only smiled in response as he watched Junior remove his original sneakers and put on the new hand-me-downs, marveling at how they looked on him.
"Yup! Seems like a perfect fit!" Sonic said enthusiastically.
"Great! Thanks again!" Junior replied, embracing his father in a tight hug.
"Uh, hey guys?" Knuckles interrupted as he peeked into the room, "Hate to break up this touching moment, but you should probably leave soon, Junior."
"Be right there." Junior replied, dashing out of the bedroom.
"Have fun on your trip, son!" Sonic called after him.
Once all the bags were placed out front, only then did a very good question arise: how would the trio be able to embark on their quest as efficiently as possible? Before any of the three could answer, they heard the quiet revving of an engine, which turned out to be none other than Tails' Tornado-2 as it was pulled into the driveway.
"Wait! You still own that thing?!" Sonic asked, having stepped out front just in time to see this, "I thought you scrapped it years ago!"
"Sonic, you of all people should know how hopelessly attached I am to my machines!" Tails replied, "And with right now as any indication, I'm glad I was so attached!"
Nobody said anything else as Tails hopped out of the plane.
"Alright, so this is the vehicle that you'll all be using to make your adventure as streamlined as possible." He explained, "It's fast, it has multiple configurations, it can defend itself competently, it can hold tons of weight and up to four passengers, has incredible horsepower, can conceal the heat-signatures of both itself and its occupants, and is solar-powered, so it won't run out of fuel! And I know that none of you have flown a plane before, but you don't need to worry. It's pretty much like driving a car, but with altitude controls and the ability to rotate in any direction. You three know how to drive, right?"
"Well, yeah, aside from crashing Dad's old sports-car a few times." Junior replied sheepishly, a hand behind his blushing face.
"Riiiigggghhhht." Tails replied.
"My insurance hasn't gone up since I came of age, so I think I'm the best bet." Tyco chimed in, eliciting some nods of approval from his partners.
"Then it's settled." Tails replied, escorting Tyco into the plane and watching as he sat in the driver's seat, "That lever right by the steering wheel changes the mode of transportation. It can become a battle-mech, a submarine, a ski-boat, or a plane, which is not only its default setting, but also contains a battle mode of its own. And don't you worry, this battle mode actually has landing gear!"
"Doesn't seem to hard." Tyco replied.
"Moving on then. There are plenty of features you'll commonly find in cars, so I don't think I need to go over those. This plane can also be switched to auto-pilot, and even be parked in the air, in case it won't fit in the desired area. And if you ever find yourself separated from it, there's a handy little mouthpiece that lets you connect to the plane as long as you're wearing it, and it's super small so nobody will notice. All you have to do is call it with a dog-whistle, and it works no matter how far away the plane is." Tails explained, "And it also has a built-in Miles Electric - patented by me, of course - so we can contact you!"
"So not only did you hold onto this old plane for so long, but you also upgraded it?!" Knuckled asked, he and everyone else in the household now standing outside to watch the scene, "And if so, then what stopped you from using it all these years?!"
"Well, I've been meaning to, but we just haven't needed it since the Black Arms fiasco." Tails replied, hopping out of the plane as Jade and Junior climbed into the remaining seats.
"Okay, so now that all this technobabble is done and over-with, can we leave now?" Jade asked, somewhat impatiently.
"Don't worry! You're all set!" Shadow replied, "And listen: don't worry about us! We'll stay back, and make sure those corrupt politicians don't lay a finger on the United Federation!"
After all three heroes said their goodbyes, Tyco proceeded to rev up the engine and prepare to exit the driveway.
"Wait! Wait! WAIT!" Amy shouted, hurrying up to the side of the Tornado-2.
"Really? You're getting emotional now?!" Junior muttered with an eye-roll.
"I heard that!" Amy replied, "And even though I am emotional, I have something much more important to tell you guys: it's really important that you three back each other up as much as possible, and stick together no matter what happens. A hero's strength doesn't just stem from his powers, but also from his allies."
"Oh, chillax, Mom! I can work in a group no problem! I'm not as headstrong as Dad!" Junior replied in a snarky tone.
"I heard that!" Sonic called, still standing on the doorstep.
"I'll take that as an 'I understand'." Amy replied, retreating back up the driveway, "Now go have fun saving our planet! And don't hesitate to call us if you need anything!"
"Don't worry!" Tyco called back as the plane finally exited the gate and turned onto the quiet neighborhood street, "We'll show those creeps the real super power of teamwork!"
"Well, I guess that's that." Silver said after the children had left earshot.
"Eh... part of me kinda' wanted to go with them." Sonic said with a somber sigh, "I may be older than I was during the last story, but as far as I'm concerned, age is just a number!"
"Honestly, it's for the best. They need the experience. You know we can't keep protecting this world forever. We need to pass the responsibility on to a new generation before it's too late." Blaze replied.
"What the hell?! Whaddaya mean 'too late'?!" Shadow asked, "I'm immortal, remember?!"
"... With some exceptions, of course!" Blaze quickly replied.
"I guess you're right." Sonic sighed again, "Ah well. I guess a father-son adventure will have to wait, huh?"
"Well, there's always hope for a third entry in this series, right?" Tails asked.
"Yeah." Sonic replied.
"You know, I can't help but feel a little worried myself." Rouge said, "Part of me badly wants to help them in some way, like... I dunno, send someone to provide assistance?"
"Like who?" Knuckles asked.
"Gee, that's a good question." Rouge replied, before adopting a sly look on her face as she stared sultrily at Shadow out the corners of her eyes, "Maybe we could... make an ally?"
"No way in hell!" Shadow retorted, folding his arms tightly, "The last time we did it, you went overboard with the hickies! By the time the sun came back up, I looked like Sonic!"
Some members of the household adopted expressions of disgust while the rest roared with laughter.
Meanwhile, the trio was happily flying a good 30,000 feet above ground, officially commencing with their adventure. All three heroes were in high spirits with little to no angst within them.
"Alright, so now that we're in the air, how about we decide what our first stop should be?" Jade asked.
Tyco nodded and pulled up a global GPS on the Miles Electric, which had a glowing marker placed on each continent that contained a Chaos Emerald.
"Why don't we stop at the Genesis Isles first? It's the closest destination!" He suggested.
"Sounds good." Jade and Junior replied in unison.
"Next stop, the Genesis Isles!" Tyco announced, increasing the Tornado-2's speed a little, "Hopefully we won't be late for our date with 'Eggman'! Apparently, it's a date to die for!"
"I can't wait to destroy some of those Eggman's robots!" Junior replied lightheartedly.
"I swear, if this quest is filled to the brim with Sonic Heroes jokes, I'm gonna have a stroke!" Jade groaned in annoyance, rolling her eyes.