A/N: Ugh, looking back, I'm not a huge fan of how chapter 3 turned out. Like, Gary-Stu could've been explained so much better, and Mary-Sue got almost no screen time. I might've been doing that intentionally to prove some sort of point, but I feel like it could've been done better. This chapter really just serves to finish what chapter 3 failed to do. On a side note, the original amount of chapters this story was gonna have is still getting trimmed. Partially because it improves the likelihood of me finishing it, mostly because of lot of them are really, really pointless. On the upside, that means increased quality.
Now that I'm done publicly bashing my story, let's begin!
As if class wasn't already a nightmare, the new kids weren't exactly making things better for Sonic. Aparently, Mary-Sue told everyone about how "heartless" and "cruel" Sonic had been to her, so now all his friends hated him. Whenever they weren't staring at Mary-Sue in awe of how beautiful she was, they were gawking at Gary-Stu, which was arguably worse. All Gary-Stu did was sit with his feet on the table and smirk with his eyes closed as if her were asleep (he was clearly awake, or, at least, clearly to Sonic). Whenever the teacher asked him to stop he'd just laugh, shrug and go back to being disrespectful. Of course, all the other kids thought this was cool and the teacher didn't really do much about it.
Eventually, class let out for lunch. On his first day, lunch had been the better (as in, slightly less terrible) part of this otherwise horrible experience. Now he had to deal with the new kids sitting at his and his friend's table and they weren't any less annoying there than in class.
"So, Gary and Mary," began Amy, "what are you guys doing after school?"
Why does she even care? Thought Sonic.
"Hmm, I think we can let you guys know," replied Gary-Stu, still smirking as always, "we have a mission to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds."
That perked up Sonic's ears. Just yesterday he considered using them. He thought about it some more during class but gave up on the idea after realizing he didn't have a single clue where they were. The day before this nightmare started he had used them to defeat Eggman; after that they scattered off like they always do.
I hate to get involved in their lives anymore than I have to, but if they have some mission to collect the Chaos Emeralds, I need to tag along. Those Emeralds might be my best chance of stopping Ryde.
The rest of the table just gasped in awe.
"The Chaos Emeralds?"
"The mystical jewels?"
"No one's ever seen them in years!"
Their reactions surprised Sonic for two different reasons. For starters, he was surprised his friends even knew what the Chaos Emeralds were. He figured FF Ryde Er would've made them forget about the Chaos Emeralds. Second, he was surprised that in whatever world Ryde made, the Chaos Emeralds hadn't been seen in years. Sonic had just used them a few days back after all. He decided to pipe in before Mary and Gary started to answer questions.
"Mind if I join?" Asked Sonic.
His request shocked everyone at the table, including Mary and Gary.
Gary-Stu was the first to regain his composure. "Why do you want to come with us?" He asked. For once, he stopped grinning to give off a scowl. "Don't think we forgot what you did to Mary-Sue."
Sonic's friends gave him a mix of annoyed and angry looks, as if he should be ashamed to even speak.
"Um, consider it my way of saying sorry," lied Sonic, "I wanna make it up to you guys. Trust me, getting the Chaos Emerald is no easy job."
"How would you know, Faker?" Asked Shadow, "it's not like you've ever seen them."
His friends gave him another set of annoyed looks. "Trust me guys," he assure, "I know. Don't ask how, but I know."
Gary-Stu just yawned at him, "sounds like someone is just trying to act mysterious. But fine, if you wanna tag along, feel free to do so. We leave after school. And Sonic?"
"Yes?"
"Try not to slow us down."
Sonic stood at the edge of town with Mary-Sue and Gary-Stu beside him. He was rather amazed that he hadn't blacked out or that FF Ryde hadn't come out to stop him from leaving town. It gave him the rather uneasy feeling that he was doing something FF Ryde Er wanted him to do.
And that, thought Sonic, is the exact opposite of what I need.
Still, he figured that he wouldn't mind playing whatever game Ryde wanted him to play. So long as he could get those Chaos Emeralds. Maybe with them he could find a way to undo Ryde's control.
"Get ready guys, I'm going to teleport us to their last known location," said Mary-Sue.
"You can teleport?" Asked Sonic, "how?"
"Um, special reasons," answered Mary-Sue, "special reasons I'd rather not go into detail at the moment. Now brace yourself because reentry can feel a bit nauseating."
Sonic had vanished before he could ask where they were even teleporting to.
Reentry was just as Mary-Sue had promised it'd be: nauseating. Sonic stumbled around like a blind drunk before collapsing on the ground. He considered himself a fairly avid teleporter after all his adventure but whatever type of teleportation Mary-Sue did wasn't what he was normally used to.
Behind him, he heard the smug laughter of Gary-Stu, who was standing up perfectly. "You feeling alright, Sonic? Need to rest for a while?"
Gary-Stu's mockery was all Sonic needed to leap to his feet. He was about to say some choice words to the arrogant (hedgehog? Fox? Wolf? Sonic still couldn't tell) teen but held his tongue.
It's only temporary, Sonic. You need their help to get the Chaos Emeralds. Soon you'll be able to put them and this whole high school mess behind you.
Sonic decided to turn his attention to the scenery. The three of them stood in front of a cave entrance. Behind them was the edge of a cliff that led to the ocean. Above the cave entrance was a colossal mountain that Sonic imagined would be difficult to climb, even with super-speed.
"Well," said Sonic, "I can see why we needed to teleport here; there's no way someone could get here on foot! So all seven Chaos Emeralds are in that cave I take it?"
"Yes," confirmed Mary-Sue, "I can sense them from here."
Sonic chuckled before asking, "is Chaos Sense another ability of yours you have for special reasons you can't go into detail about at the moment?"
"Yes, they are," said Mary-Sue.
Sonic shook his head and said, "you know, you guys seem almost too cool."
Mary-Sue smiled and said, "thanks you! You're cool too!"
That wasn't a compliment. Thought Sonic to himself.
"Well, I'm cooler," bragged Gary-Stu, "now we're wasting time. We have Chaos Emeralds to find!"
Of course, Sonic was waiting for him to say something along those lines.
"How bout a race then?" Proposed Sonic, "we never did have an official one back at school. Don't worry Gary, out here, no one can see you lose."
"You must really like to lose," said Gary-Stu with a smirk and a forced sigh, as if he thought Sonic's challenge was a mix of annoying and cute, "alright, I'll race you. The Chaos Emeralds are at the end of the cave and it's a relatively straight path. All you need to worry about are boulders, spikes, and who knows what else."
"Sounds fun," said Sonic, "in fact, sounds like Tuesday!"
The two of them lined up in front of the cave; both of them in running position. Just like before, Mary-Sue counted them off.
"3!"
"2!"
Sonic was surprised to see Gary-Stu hadn't stopped to lie down or something. It looked like he was actually going to take this race seriously.
"1! Go!"
And the two were off.
Sonic's surprise of seeing Gary-Stu actually race was overtaken by the surprise of Gary-Stu winning. It only took a few seconds of running for Sonic to realise that charging into an unlit cave was a bad idea. He could only barely manage to jump, duck and spin his way through the various edges of the cave and falling boulders. He also learned that when Gary-Stu said "relatively straight path," he meant "the path goes in all sorts of jagged directions but there's only one path you can travel on." Sonic felt like every second of dodging an unseen rock spyre or speeding under a falling boulder or making a last minute turn. The wind sped through his spines in multiple directions each time to turn to dodge something. His ankles had to pivot so much he felt they were about to break off.
Meanwhile, Gary-Stu was traversing through the cave with ease. Flawlessly dodging every bit of rock, crack and spyre that came his way. Not to mention, making perfect drifts through the various turns in the cave. Even with all of Gary-Stu's backflipping and spinning, Sonic could see his annoying smirk.
The prospect of losing to the smug teen gave Sonic the motivation to keep going. He felt for the ring energy inside of him to start boosting through. In less than a second, Sonic was enveloped in a blue comet and blazed through the cave; breaking apart every obstacle the cave threw at him. With the power and extra light from his Boost, he caught up to Gary-Stu and streaked past him, looking to savor the look of astonishment when Gary-Stu saw Sonic overtake him.
Only there was no look of astonishment. Just Gary-Stu's constant smirking and a brief laugh. Gary-Stu surrounded himself in a golden comet similar to Sonic's own Boost and rocketed off even further through the cave. Sonic kept boosting through the cave, but as the light from Gary-Stu got smaller with each second, so did Sonic's hope of winning.
Waiting for Sonic in the shrine room stood Gary-Stu and his annoying smirk Sonic had grown to resent more than anything else on the planet.
"What took you so long, slowpoke?" Asked Gary-Stu, "I thought you got lost for a moment."
Sonic's pride was too damaged at the moment to respond. He decided to pay attention to the marble altar that the seven Chaos Emeralds were resting on; all of them circled around a multicolored fire that burned in the center. The shrine room's walls were decorated with ancient murals and torches that each burned a different color.
One for each Chaos Emerald, I guess, thought Sonic.
"What is this place?" Asked Sonic, eager to change the subject.
From behind him, the voice of Mary-Sue answered his question, "it's a Chaos Shrine."
Sonic jumped into the air a bit and turned around to see Mary-Sue looking like she'd been there the whole time.
"How did you get here?"
Mary-Sue shrugged and said, "I ran. Just like you and Gary-Stu. Albeit, slower than you two so I could watch the race. I can actually keep pace with Gary."
She's faster than me too? Though Sonic, it's like FF Ryde Er's wants me to hate what's she done to the world every second!
"Okay then, you can teleport, sense Chaos Emeralds and run fast. That's nice. So as for this Chaos Shrine," said Sonic, "what's the deal with it? Why are all seven Chaos Emeralds here? And why do you two need them?"
"Well," began Mary-Sue, "I wanted them here. I wished them to be at this place. I have a connection with the Chaos Emeralds, remember? I can bring them all to this shrine."
"That only leaves me with more questions," remarked Sonic.
Gary-Stu stopped smirked for a moment to put on a more serious expression. Sonic thought it was rather overdone, but at this point, he figured Gary-Stu only had two faces: smirking and overly expressed anger. Gary-Stu walked over to the Chaos Emeralds. He reached out his hand and opened a miniature portal from thin air. Reaching into the portal, he pulled out a katana.
"W-what? How did you even-?" Stuttered Sonic, hopelessly. This day seemed to be going just like the cave: only one path that kept twisting and turning and getting more confusing and awful with each step.
While Sonic was still processing what was going on, Gary-Stu sweeped the blade across the altar, slicing The Chaos Emeralds horizontally in half. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then the Emeralds began to glow violently and explode in flashes of light.
"There," exclaimed Gary-Stu, "mission accomplished."
Sonic just stared at the altar. Then Gary-Stu. Then back at the altar. So far, nothing was making sense and Sonic wanted the relive the past two minutes just so he could try and understand it.
Eventually, he managed to get out, "you destroyed the Chaos Emeralds!"
"It needed to be done," said Mary-Sue, "trust us."
"Please tell me why exactly I should?" Asked Sonic, "I needed those Emeralds!"
Sonic collapsed to the floor. For once in his life, he felt like crying. It seemed like FF Ryde Er set him up on this adventure just to destroy his small bit of hope in front of him. He couldn't see how he could stop her. She changed everything that made sense in his world, everything that gave him a reason to keep going. He had to go to high school instead of adventure, his friends were changed, the Chaos Emeralds could be destroyed and he wasn't the fastest thing alive.
"What's the matter, slowpoke?" Asked Gary-Stu in a mocking tone, "Your legs can't hold you up anymore? They barely could earlier."
Sonic jumped up, sick of Gary-Stu's tone and yelled, "you son of a bitch! I needed those Chaos Emeralds to save my friends"
Sonic threw his fist in an attempt to punch Gary-Stu before feeling the ground fall from underneath him. His head crashing on the floor and he looked up to see Gary-Stu's annoying smirk.
"Try that again and I'll do more than drop-kick you," threatened Gary-Stu, "now, Mary, let's get out of here."
The two of them teleported away while Sonic just stared at the mosaic ceiling.
I swore, thought Sonic, another thing to add to the list of things that shouldn't be happening.
Sonic didn't readily care about getting back to Emerald Town. He just wanted to lie down and give up.
He knew FF Ryde Er would drag him back when she needed him.
A/N: Hmm, this got a bit more depressing than I originally planned it to be. And now that I think about it, it's likely gonna get a bit more depressing. But hey! Look at me updating frequently. Now that it's summer I have more time to write!
Now then, I was gonna ask y'all a philosophical question for fun, but more important stuff has come up it seems. In a move that completely and utterly defies anything that resembles logic or reason, Sonic Team has confirmed a Sonic Boom 2 (officially named Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice). Now, I've intentionally avoided stated my opinion on the Sonic franchise to avoid flame wars, but now I feel compelled to talk.
I've hated the franchise since Colors/Free Riders. Now, this is just my opinion. If you've got your own, you're entitled to have it and speak out about it. But in my opinion, Sonic Team made the horrible mistake of sacrificing the spirit of the series just to appeal to Nintendo fans. They thought a simplified, "kiddie" approach would boost sales and it clearly didn't. Sales got smaller. I was sorta fine with it since gameplay had been improved but good gameplay and graphics does not a fun game make. I wasn't as involved in the games like Lost World as I was with games like Black Knight and Adventure 2. The things that attracted me to the series were just gone.
Sonic Boom was a real test of my patience. Horrible game, horrible idea, horrible everything. Not to mention, it damn near bankrupted Sonic of America. Hate for the game was off the charts. You'd think that by now Sonic Team would've learned their lesson. I figured they would so I told myself to hold out till 2016. If they screwed up on Sonic's 25th birthday I'd be out of it for good. Now Sonic Team has decided to invest its mere $900,000 in another Sonic Boom game. A game that was supposed to be a spin-off! I truthfully cannot grasp how someone can can honestly think that's a good idea.
So yeah, I'm done with Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm still finishing this story of course, but it'll likely be the last thing I do with the blue blur save for playing old games. If you disagree with me, feel free to voice it. It wouldn't be fair of me to rant about what I think without letting y'all do the same.
Anyhow, chapter 5 will be up soon. Leave some constructive criticism if you can to improve the quality of the writing and help me grow as an writer. Cya soon!