Before you start i must mention that the song used in this belongs to it's righful owners.

Those About To Rock

Chapter 3

The surprising thing about all their items was that they all fit together so perfectly.

Sonic had produced a silver and blue, double-necked , electric guitar.

"Whoa! How long have you had that thing for?", exclaimed Tails.

"Ages", replied Sonic, "Why did you bring loads of big boxes?", he asked his foxy friend

"It's what's in the boxes that counts".

Tails pushed a button, in the the space of a minute or two, there were gadgets everywhere.

"This...", announced Tails proudly, "...is my very own light and sound system, I can produce any light effects you want and endure any instruments you put through this thing".

"That's all very good, but how did you come to get that stuff?", said the Echidna.

"I didn't get it, I built it".

Sonic approved, "Very impressive my little buddy".

Amy had remained silent for all this time. The rest of them had only just noticed. Tails was the first to ask.

"What did you find Amy?"

"Oh...er...just this thing".

From behind her back, emerged a microphone. Nothing special about it, just a black microphone.

"Why did you bring that Ames?", enquired the blue speed-freak.

"Yeah Amy...", said Knuckles, abruptly, "...I didn't know you sang".

"Well, you know me...", replied Amy, "...always full of surprises". She giggled, and blushed, ever so slightly.

Sonic had moved on, "So Knuckles, what did you bring?".

Knuckles decided to change the subject quicker than Sonic could run, "Where is Shadow?"

"Knuckles....", Sonic was disappointed, "...you mean to tell me that you couldn't find anything?".

"Er...no...nothing at all".

The four of them all face-palmed.

Then there was a knock at the door. Shadow had finally arrived. He was carrying a case, similar to the one Sonic's guitar came in.

"Sorry Shadow...", said Tails, "...but Sonic already found his guitar".

The Gothic hedgehog said nothing. He merely chuckled, as he revealed the contents of the case. The shape of the object was indeed, guitar-shaped.

"Hey, Shadow!!!!...", shouted Knuckles, "...didn't you hear Tails? Sonic has already got a …whoa!!".

As the rest of them gazed upon this item, they all saw the same major difference in this 'guitar'.

It had no strings. All the way down neck, replacing the strings were buttons, one for each 'fret'.

"Shadow...what is that...?", began Tails. But Shadow interrupted.

"This is a Z-Tar, a guitar-shaped MIDI Controller".

"Give us a demonstration!", squealed Amy in excitement.

"But, he mentioned MIDI, surely he needs a computer for it to work?", questioned Knuckles.

"Ahem!"

Tails was pointing to his studio, "Surely you haven't already forgotten what my system is capable of?". He was putting on a neglected look.

"Excellent", Shadow was pleased about this.

Sonic suggested, "Great! You set that up while show Knuckles something".

"OK"

Sonic led Knuckles up into the loft.

"What I'm about to show you is very important to me, it used to belong to my brother".

"Manic?"

"Yes, but before I show you, can I ask you something?"

"Sure"

"Don't you think it's a bit strange that we've all brought musical items, or things related to music in some way?"

"Er....i never really thought about it. But now you mention it, I do find it slightly odd".

"I'm glad you said that, because what I'm about to show you is relevant to all this".

Sonic turned to face something that was concealed underneath a thick, pure white curtain.

"You ready?"

"Just take off the curtain, the suspense is unbearable".

Sonic whipped off the curtain, to reveal a very space-age, silver and green, drum kit.

"Why are you showing me this?"

"As soon as I saw what everyone had brought with them, I got an idea".

"What?", but Knuckles had a vague idea of where Sonic was going with this.

"Look!", Sonic showed him a leaflet. The title read, "Exclusive event".

"What?".

"Look closer".

As Knuckles read on, the details became clearer. The following passage read...

"Exclusively to Station Square, the world-famous record company, 'Underground Records', will be holding a competition to see who will become the next music sensation. On Wednesday 16th August, a stage will be built on the harbour for the bands (that's right, bands only, sorry) to show the rest of Station Sqaure what they're made of. The contest will start at midday on the 16th. Entrants must apply by the 10th. Good luck to all!!!".

"So...", said Sonic, "...what do think?"

"You think we could win this?", Knuckles was not quite convinced. He liked the idea of being famous. He presumed that's why Sonic had shown him the drum kit, to complete the band that he wanted to play with.

"I know we can", replied Sonic, with that air of cool that sealed the deal.

But before Knuckles could answer, a deafening noise erupted from downstairs. It sounded like a guitar mixed with a plane taking off! But most surprising was that it was in tune!

"What the...!!", Sonic shouted.

"This must be Shadow's Z-Tar!", Knuckles was annoyed. But they were both impressed, the noise may have been artificial and industrial sounding, but it built up an energy in them that they had only felt when fighting Robotnik.

The bizarre was yet to come. And when it came, Sonic and Knuckles almost fell over.

Someone started singing.

"We see the shadows that are falling from your eyes..."

But it wasn't a girl's voice, so it couldn't have been Amy.

"...draining your face of everything but the disguise"

Nor was it a kid's voice, Tails was ruled out.

"Don't hide baby, let them see your true colours...".

That only left one other possibility, but it couldn't be, could it?

The two of them rushed downstairs, their thoughts were true. There he was his instrument plugged in to Tails' studio, singing into Amy's microphone. She and Tails were as amazed as Sonic and Knuckles. Sonic decided to pick up his guitar, he knew this song as well as Shadow seemed to, and they both didn't want the song to end halfway through. Sonic plugged himself into his amp and readied himself.

"...don't mind the camera, let them see your black heart tonight".

Right on cue, Sonic started playing. As he did, he gave Knuckles a nod, to tell him that drums were definitely needed soon, even though they really should have started when Shadow did. Quick as a flash, Knuckles was ready, nervous and excited. This was the moment that would make, or break him. He also knew the song, turns out it was just Amy and Tails who were just clueless as to what they were singing.

"Don't hide baby, show them just how deep it goes, don't mind the camera...

...LET THEM SEE YOUR BLACK HEART BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!".

Sonic's lounge erupted with noise, energy and power. Knuckles was right on time, he didn't let Sonic and Shadow down, not one bit. Amy and Tails were fused to their seats, amazed by the musical bond these three had.

Vocals broke out again. But this time, it was Sonic and Shadow, sharing the microphone

"You've been perfect from the start, you told me that time has only done you wro...what the hell?!?!?".

The music suddenly stopped, there was the sound of banging on the lounge window. There were about twenty or thirty people right outside it, screaming with joy. They quickly became disappointed when the music stopped.

"Hey!", one man shouted, "Why did you stop?"

"Yeah!", piped up a teenage girl, "You guys were good, really good".

"Here...", said a voice coming through the letterbox, "...take this, I think it would be of use to you".

A flyer floated in through the letterbox, the title read, "Exclusive Event".

Amy read the details aloud, after she had finished she squeaked.

"Sonic, can we please?"

Sonic and Knuckles looked and each other and grinned.

"Personally, I think it's a genius idea".

This made Knuckles laugh, but he quickly regained himself after realising that he was the only one who got the joke.

"Wait...!", Shadow spoke, "...it says the tenth, that's in three days time. We've got to get our act together and sign up, if that's OK with the rest of you that is".

After that short preview of what they could do, everyone was game, they immediately headed to the application office.