Five Years Later
Part 2
For several years Sonic the Hedgehog has travelled the planet Mobius in search of adventure, thrills and answers to questions he doesn't quite understand. He has been running from the past, trying to forget what happened that night five years ago only looking towards the future and what he can do to set things right. The light blue furred Mobian has had many obstacles on his journey, from robotic lookalikes to giant space stations. But all of which have always been the product of an incredibly insane Overlander hell bent on destruction and world domination. Sonic has no idea who he is or where he came from, the only thing Sonic knows is that he's the bad guy. Unfortunately Sonic doesn't even know that it was him that destroyed his home, his neighboring city and kidnapped his Mother. Sonic has met a wide assortment of Mobians on his travels over the years from other hedgehogs to bats and chameleons, and he still has many that he will meet in the future. But through all of the friendships he has made the hedgehog has preferred to stay alone, he would say it is because having a party along would slow him down but sometimes it would be more than that. Something deeper, the truth was he didn't want to see anybody else get hurt. He figured if he was going to put his life on the line then it would be only his, and no-one else's.
His latest quest had brought him to a remote island, but there was something unusual about this particular island. It could float in mid-air high above the Mobian Sea. The island was named Angel Island and was said to be home to the ancient civilization of the echidnas. Sonic didn't know much about the island or its people, the only information he held about it was due to the storybooks his Mother used to read to him. Tales would tell of a great power source guarded by the heroic echidna guardian, Sonic did a little research though beforehand and found that the last recorded sighting of any echidna was one named Locke. Apparently he had a mutual relationship with the latest king of Mobius, King Max Acorn. Sonic was sure to find out.
Some hours into his time on the island Sonic had come into contact with two creatures as well as an assortment of robots. The first creature was an echidna named Knuckles, for some reason he had a disliking towards Sonic and felt threatened by his arrival. The second was an Overlander, his reasons for being on the island were unclear but Sonic assumed they couldn't be good.
The scene before us is a dark cavern like room full of steps and switches, two Mobians are visible in the middle of the room. One was standing whilst the other was crouched and seemed to have suffered an injury of some sort.
"See ya big Knucklehead, I told ya to listen to me. You've gotta be the biggest idiot on Mobius to trust Doc Robotnik". Youthful words spoken in a voice overflowing with attitude, a voice belonging to a twelve year old boy. As to be expected Sonic the Hedgehog was in yet another situation that could turn out to be a total catastrophe.
"... It's not my fault! I thought he spoke the truth, his words were so convincing. He said you wanted my birth right, I lost all senses". Another young voice was heard, the source being a pale red echidna. He rose to his full height being dwarfed by a towering blue Sonic; he stood opposite the spikey blue speedster. The two boys seemed to be arguing about recent events that had transpired.
"Well that's what you get for not knowing how to handle the ole chrome dome, a couple thousand volts of electricity surging through your body. Seriously dude, you have got to leave it to the pros". Sonic stated arrogantly, but you can't argue with him. He did have a point; Sonic had been dealing with the old scientist for a little short of five years now.
"Well if you're so great why did you let him get away?", Knuckles quickly retorted catching the smug hedgehog off guard.
"Well... I... Uhh... I couldn't leave my good buddy here by himself now could I?", Sonic swiftly searched his brain for an answer to a question he wasn't fully prepared for, and came out with a friendly sentiment.
Knuckles was silent. He didn't have anything else to say, instead of speaking he gave Sonic a steady smile. To which the hedgehog replied back with his trademark wink and thumbs up. After that little moment to determine who was on whose side the red and blue boys shot off from their spot and headed to a weird pink glowing orb centered in the middle of the room. It had small steps circling it and seemed to be protected by golden rings.
"What the heck is that thing?", Sonic questioned the echidna not once taking his pitch black eyes off of the unusual orb.
"I call it a transportation orb. It gets us echidnas to where we want to go in the sanctuary. There's not a lot of solid ground up there, just floating platforms and enchanted clouds so these things can really come in handy". An explanation a little longer than Sonic had hoped for but it was a good one at that.
Sonic then nodded having caught the gist of what Knuckles had said. The two of them then hopped onto the orb and before either of them knew it they were sent to the upper levels of the sacred temple. Sonic couldn't really describe how he got there, there was just a blinding flash of pink light and then they had arrived.
"Whoa, what is this place?". Sonic inquired obviously intrigued at the wonders before him.
"Oh this? This is the legendary Sky Sanctuary". Knuckles revealed folding his arms and looking on at the view before the two of them, obviously proud of his ancestors ancient temple.
It was a truly magical sight. Everything just seemed to float in mid-air like it belonged there, it was incredibly calm and amazingly peaceful. It was like everything was in sync. Platforms lowered for echidnas, men and women went about their daily lives and children played on the many platforms. Small white clouds, giant glistening white stone pillars and columns topped off with their own natural touches like grass and flowers. It was exuberantly white, white structures and domes where riddled all over the seemingly never ending sanctuary. Sonic then noticed thin glowing neon blue lines running down most of the buildings in all types of patterns, it gave an almost high tech look to something so old. It was breathtakingly stunning.
"Wow...", Sonic barely muttered the word under his breath. However Knuckles still managed to hear it.
"Yeah, I'm glad you like it. Now come on, I'll help you get to the highest point of the sanctuary". Breaking the moment of peace and serenity, Knuckles suddenly reminded Sonic of what they were there to do.
"Right yeah, sorry. I'll take on ole egg head", Sonic said eagerly whilst punching mid-air.
"Seems like a good idea, you've obviously had some experience with this kind of thing. So what should I do, just stand around and look pretty?". Knuckles mused showing he did indeed have a sense of humor buried within him.
"Hardy har har. Sorry bud but that jobs already taken. I guess the smart thing to do would be to warn everybody about what's goin' on, try to get them outta here. They should believe you, they know you. You're not a blue hedgehog that can run at supersonic speeds", Sonic joked back half bragging.
"That may be the case but I am a red echidna that can glide. All jokes aside though, if we stay here any longer and waste any more time then the sanctuary's gonna be in ruins. Let's get moving!", Knuckles stated getting straight down to business and motioned to Sonic to get going. Sonic understood the urgency of the matter nodding back and the two heroes split up to save the sanctuary and Angel Island.
Knuckles set off to warn the echidna elders of the upcoming threat, hopefully he could fully evacuate the humungous temple in the short time he had so Sonic could do his thing.
Sonic swiftly made his way through the historical temple, overcoming its various obstacles and challenges. Oddly enough the peaceful and serene sky haven had many dangers. The main peril being falling, who knows how far up they were. What was a quick trip up through the orb could actually be a thousand mile high drop to certain death. To get to the top of the sanctuary however would require not just pace but an insane amount of skill and precision too, luckily Sonic had both. Bizarrely enough Sonic had to use the clouds to spring himself high enough to reach platforms that would normally be out of reach. The clouds were sturdy enough and Sonic was light enough for them to be able to hold his weight and enable him to hop from one to the other. Another method of transport to higher places were vines, Sonic would grab a hold of them and they would raise him high enough to hop to safety. Although Sonic was entirely focused he couldn't help but glance every now and then at the amazing views this magical place had to offer. But when he would lose his focus for even a second he would shake his head and remind himself to get a grip.
Sonic was about 50 feet from the top floor of the sanctuary he was suddenly ambushed by a hoard of strangely familiar robots. They were colored red, yellow and silver and held large rifles. The shape of them was unmistakable, they were shaped like an egg. Sonic managed to dodge a number of blue neon lasers and took a step back into open ground trying his best not to be cornered. Sonic began to assess the situation.
"Let's see, 20 robots tops. Not as tall as his usual foot soldiers, and they don't look as resilient as his ole SWATbots either... They shouldn't be a problem". Sonic came to a conclusion and decided to have a little fun with these new playmates. Instead of just tearing apart each robot Sonic burst from his position and into a jogging pace, he had begun circling the robots. Well jogging to him, to them he was just a blue whirlwind dancing around in their blood red optics. The sight was truly something to behold. One by one the robots were disappearing in flashes, streaks and blitzes of electric blue. All of this occurred within the space of 15 seconds until only two remained. They were the unfortunate ones.
One robot signaled to the other that they were to split up and search for the target. The one that issued the order seemed to be the leader of the group, it also had a distinct paint job. Instead of being a mix of red, yellow and silver the robot was fully purple. Sonic however was nowhere to be found, the leader thought it saw something move behind a number of small white pillars. The leader hovered over to them in hopes it had located its target but before it could check for the hedgehog it heard something taunting it from behind.
"Yo, bolts for brains!". Sonic called cockily, bizarrely whilst he was perched on top of the other robots head.
The robot Sonic was sat upon started to flail its arms about in a wild frenzied attempt to remove him. The leader opposite to the struggling pair trained its rifle onto Sonic and let off a round of lasers. Sonic's sharp light blue ears twitched and he instantly leapt out of the path of the laser flying towards him. Unfortunately for the robot left behind by Sonic the laser blast hit directly in the head, completely immobilizing it. A small scale explosion ensued and being the only robot left, the leader began scanning the area. The leader switched from its visors normal setting and recalibrated it to scan for the hedgehog's ultraviolet signature through the thick smog left behind by the explosion.
The leader cautiously surveyed the area but seemed his efforts would be in vain. A sudden sound alerted the leader.
"Guess who!", another juvenile taunt was the last thing the leader could process before Sonic buried his spines deep into its chest and emerged out of its back. Oil, wiring and the leader's metallic alloy scattered everywhere before the leader short circuited and dropped to the floor in a heap of scrap metal.
Sonic landed on a white platform and dusted himself off, "Too easy. It's like Robotnik wants me to kick his bloated butt, now let's see...". After carefully eyeing his environment Sonic soon spotted another one of those transportation orbs, and it looked like it lead straight to the top floor. Sonic the snapped his fingers, "Time to juice!". Sonic shouted whilst revving his feet, he then bolted for the orb leaving behind a thin trail of fire.
In another blinding flash of pink energy Sonic landed in an open area. It seemed completely baron aside from the giant looming tower centered in the middle of the grassy area. "Okay, so where the heck is the Doc?". Sonic asked no-one imparticular but secretly half expecting an answer from you know who.
"I'm right here hedgehog", cold snake like words hissed their way into Sonic's highly sensitive ears.
Sonic instantly turned on the spot and found himself in the presence of none other than the evil overlord himself, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The merciless dictator that currently ruled over half of the fragile planet Sonic called home was hovering over the open area in some kind of metallic pod filled with control panels and buttons of the like.
"You know you've got a lot of nerve Robuttnik", Sonic seemed unfazed by his presence resorting to some name calling.
"Please rodent, I know what I'm doing. You know there's a lot of power up for grabs here hedgehog and I've had my eye on it for quite some time. You do not want to get in my way this time, you've been a thorn at my side for many years now and I plan on taking out the trash sooner than you may think". Robotnik seemed extremely agitated by the hedgehog's sudden arrival.
"Hey, it's cool to know that you think about me but please what have you got that I haven't already faced and beaten into the ground?". Sonic asked sarcastically, he didn't seem too worried about what the good doctor's newest invention was.
"This". The only word that left Robotnik's cold lifeless lips before he pushed a small red button on a control panel in his pod. Upon pushing said button Sonic was slammed into the nearby tower, it gave the illusion that it reached into space. Covered in rubble and concrete, Sonic rose to his feet and tensed his entire body getting ready for what had hit him.
The sight that met Sonic's black eyes was one of familiarity, only it looked a little darker. A robot roughly around the same size as Sonic stood completely still, it did absolutely nothing but stare into Sonic's eyes with its blood red optics like it had a thirst for his blood. The robot was an insanely dark blue, it looked almost black and was incredibly bulky. But Sonic noticed something, it had spines. Sonic would have been slightly intimidated but instead he remembered a battle from the past, three years ago to be precise and a glint of confidence returned to his original persona.
"You've got to be kidding me! Another Metal Sonic robot? Yeah because this isn't getting old", yet another sarcastic comment was made by the blue wonder.
"Ah ah ah hedgehog. Not Metal Sonic... Mecha Sonic!", Robotnik darkly exclaimed. It seems he really thought this was the robot to beat Sonic.
"So you changed the name and gave him a new coat of paint. Wow, I'm so impressed". Sonic brushed his nose with his thumb before folding his arms and sniggering.
"Hmph, well we'll see you how arrogant you are when you're nothing more than a blue stain on the bottom of Mecha's boot". Robotnik confidently bragged, again threatening Sonic.
"Okay then, if that's the way you wanna play. Let's dance you second rate wannabe!", Sonic shouted pointing at his robotic doppelganger instigating him for a fight.
The Mecha Sonic robot didn't reply but instead lunged for Sonic with incredibly sharp outstretched claws. Now it wasn't too fast, nothing Sonic couldn't handle. It looked as though all of its extra armor was weighing it down plus it must have had tons of hidden weaponry at its disposal. Due to this Sonic dodged the attempt on his life with ease but Mecha managed to take a considerable chunk of concrete out of the tower.
On the outside Sonic didn't seem worried but on the inside he seemed to have some doubts. "Hmm, he's not fast and I can easily outmaneuver it but I'm just worried if he snags me with one of those claws. He looks pretty powerful, if he lands a blow on me I am sure to be one dead hedgehog. I hope Knux is having better luck than me".
Speaking of Knuckles, he was doing heck of a lot better than Sonic was. He had managed to successfully evacuate the entire sanctuary with the help of the echidna elders, all without a hitch. Sure he had a few obstacles, but he was surprised to see a few robots that bared a striking resemblance to Robotnik. He managed to take care of them without any complications, it would seem luck was on his side today. Now all he had to do was find his way to Sonic and help him out in any way he could, it shouldn't be too hard considering Knuckles had the advantage of spending most of his ten year long life there. The echidna knew the place like the back of his paw, so Knuckles set off running as fast as he could trying to find the quickest route to the very top of the sanctuary.
"The quickest way up would be to take the transportation orbs, not the clouds. Maybe I should have told Sonic about the orbs, it might have saved him some time. If I keep taking them I should get to Sonic in about two minutes", Knuckles thought about the journey as he moved for the first orb.
Just as he thought Knuckles reached the top floor of the sanctuary with time to spare. He had just used the last transportation orb, the same one Sonic had used just moments earlier to reach the open area that contained the tower shrine to the very first echidna elders. The echidnas that had built the temple.
Knuckles' jaw dropped when his gaze fell upon the mindless destruction that had taken place. His thoughts briefly shifted to Sonic, coincidentally the subject of his thoughts had stumbled out of a small smoking crater embedded in the stone floor. Sonic looked badly beaten and unbelievably exhausted.
"Sonic! What happened to you?", Knuckles questioned as he rushed over to the injured hedgehog.
"... Just another one of the Doc's robots, but he forgets nothing can beat this hedgehog". Sonic stated pointing his thumb to his chest.
"You could have been a little more responsible! You leveled this entire field", Knuckles went crazy about the carelessness Sonic had shown. He screamed right into his ear giving Sonic a splitting headache.
"He started it", Sonic lazily replied whilst holding his paw to his head.
As if on cue, directly after Sonic had finished his sentence a metal fist burst through a pile of debris on the ground. The two heroes turned on a dime to see a broken Mecha Sonic emerge from a smoking crater leaking liters of oil and violently malfunctioning. Sonic couldn't believe his own to eyes, it was still standing after a substantial amount of punishment. Knuckles couldn't believe how much damage Sonic had caused to the robot double. Mecha was missing several spines and its left arm, its visor was broken beyond repair and its armor was covered in several deep fist shaped dents.
"Wow, you really went to town on that thing!". Knuckles said enthusiastically.
"And yet it keeps coming back for more, that thing just doesn't know when to quit". Sonic hissed angrily gritting his teeth.
"That won't be necessary hedgehog", an unfortunately familiar voice echoed from the speakers on Mecha's chest.
"Is that Robotnik? Wait... Is his voice coming from the robot?". Knuckles asked with a confused expression etched onto his face.
"No surprise there, he never could face me like a man. He probably waddled away during my playtime with his little toy!", Sonic shouted making sure his adversary could hear him clearly through the robots mic.
"Now now rodent. Don't get touchy, now you see unfortunately due to your sudden intervention in my plans I've had to retreat for the time being. I have been unsuccessful in my attempt to acquire my main priority, but not without leaving you and your gullible friend with a special parting gift". Robotnik explained. Sonic was hoping the monologuing scientist would reveal some more details about his plan, and what part his 'priority' on Angel Island played in the grand scheme of things but to no avail. There was always another day.
"Mecha?", Robotnik asked his robot cockily through its speakers.
Sonic and Knuckles glanced knowingly at each other. Mecha Sonic clumsily stood to its full height to which Sonic smirked at, he marveled at his handy work and seemed to enjoy the fact that the robot could barely stand. Mecha's optics flared on and off before a bright red light emanated from its visor, numbers started to flash continuously until finally they fell on the digits 00:10.
Sonic and Knuckles realized what it was. The blood red numbers coupled with Robotnik's cold maniacal cackle booming through his stationary lackeys speakers was like a calling card from death. The red and blue duo came to a conclusion.
"A bomb!", Sonic and Knuckles declared in unison with each other.
They both bolted off in the opposite direction in a desperate bid to escape their fate and cheat death. Sonic glanced over to Knuckles and actually started to laugh uncontrollably, the look on Knuckles' face was priceless. But reasserting his grip on the current situation Sonic realized that at the current speed they were travelling they were not going to make it. Sonic then rolled his eyes and snatched Knuckles from his spot dragging him along for the ride, he then hit the acceleration and broke the sound barrier on foot.
"BOOM!", the Mecha Sonic robot had finally exploded. The sheer force of the explosion shook the very foundations of the Sky Sanctuary, it also sent the pair flying through the air. And they were falling towards Angel Island at an alarming rate.
The pair were in free fall when Knuckles shouted across to Sonic who was falling beside him, "Now it's my turn to save you". Sonic then gave the echidna a thumbs up and grabbed onto his arm, Knuckles outstretched both of his arms and nosedived towards Angel Island. As soon as they both got 200 feet from the islands mountain region Knuckles pulled up and began to glide with ease. Sonic leapt to the ground as soon as he thought he could land the jump, he was about 30 feet in the air. Knuckles came in for an easy landing playing it safe.
"You okay?", Sonic asked Knuckles in case he had suffered any injuries.
"There's not a scratch on me, what about you? You got roughed up quite a bit", Knuckles questioned checking Sonic over.
"Oh don't worry about it, I'll be fine". Sonic brushed off the echidna's genuine concern.
"Are you sure? I- Wait a second! Your injuries... They're gone!", Knuckles was amazed, and he couldn't see one mark on Sonic.
"Oh yeah I forgot to mention, I can heal faster than any normal Mobian. It's something I was born with, pretty cool huh?". Sonic bragged his ability to heal at an accelerated rate.
"What can't you do?", Knuckles questioned the blue wonder.
"Would you believe me If I said I can't swim?", Sonic mocked his own fear.
"How ironic, you can run along water but you can't swim. That's hilarious", Knuckles teased the hydrophobic hedgehog.
"Yet again hardy har har. Anyway I should get going", Sonic said in a slightly serious tone.
"You gonna run after Robotnik?", Knuckles asked but he felt he already knew the answer to the question.
"Is there any other way? He couldn't have gotten far though, but it's weird. Every time I get close to stoppin' him he always manages to slip through my fingers, I still don't even know where his base of operations is. Most of the time I just run in to him in some weird palace or jungle and then I just stop his plans", Sonic spoke freely thinking about his past encounters with the evil dictator.
"Yeah, that is weird. Besides we'll catch up to him in no time", Knuckles said pounding his fist into his paw.
"We? Hold up, dude I work better solo. Besides you've a lot of cleanin' up here to do, that crackpot virtually trashed the entire island". Sonic evaluated.
"Yeah I suppose you're right, besides I am the guardian. I can't just run around Mobius looking for trouble without a care in the world like you do, you'll catch him someday". Knuckles said shaking the hedgehog's gloved paw.
"Catch him? Dude I can catch a bullet. Well it's been fun rad red, maybe I'll see you around some time". Sonic expressed as he shook back.
"Yeah, I've got a feeling our paths will once again cross in the future true blue". Knuckles let go of the firm paw shake and waved Sonic off.
"Whoa, gettin' all philosophical on me Knux. That's my cue to split", Sonic comically saluted Knuckles and exploded from his position. Amazingly he started sprinting down one of the many waterfalls flowing from Angel Island right into the Mobian Sea. His feet a twin blur of crimson red he soon reached the ocean where he then gracefully skimmed along the water's surface travelling to his next destination in hopes of stopping the mad man capable of doing even more damage than he already has to Sonic's and so many others' home world.