[Episode 10] Trying to Tame the Beast
Author's Note: The final authors note of the Season! I have taken you down a path that I hope you will continue when I commence Season 2. First I must ask that my fellow authors (whom are interested) sign up to write 1 of the five filler episodes (or in other words episodes 11-15) I have planned for in between Seasons 1 and 2. I already have Key and Lock returning to write one of them, because he already knows the details of the filler episodes, so there are four open spots to be filled. At the end of this episode, after the credits (yep there's gonna be credits), I will include basic details for the filler episodes, so all who are interested can get a better idea of what I want. Enjoy Episode 10!
Sonic woke with a start. It was the middle of the day and light was streaming into the room. He sat up slowly, feeling his joints creak as he did. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. He was in a large white room with a window facing a street directly in front of him. To his left was a blue-green curtain, which split him off from the rest of the room. He was in a hospital in downtown Station Square. He reached out and pulled back the curtain, to see if he was alone in the room. As he drew it back he saw Shadow in a full body cast, asleep in the adjacent bed. He had never seen Shadow in such a condition and didn't know whether he should be upset or laughing. At that moment an image of Metal Sonic, split in half, flashed in his mind. That was followed by a flood of other images. He held his hands to his head. He felt as if he was losing his mind, as if his head was going to explode. Tears welled up in his eyes. Had he really done all those things, thought those thoughts? He shook his head, then felt something warm on his upper lip. He rubbed under his nose and pulled away his hand. Sonic was shocked to see that his nose was bleeding. He grabbed some tissues from the nightstand and wiped away the blood, trying to stop the nosebleed.
Tails walked in shortly after Sonic had finally gotten the bleeding to stop. Tails dropped the book he was carrying and rushed over to Sonic, throwing his arms around him.
"I was so worried about you," Tails voice trembled, "I didn't think you would ever wake up."
Sonic looked at Tails almost as if he was a stranger. He had seen what he had done, what he had became. He shuddered at the thought of what that. . . that monster could have done to his friends.
"I've been coming and reading to you everyday," Tails pulled away from Sonic and pointed to the book on the floor.
"How long was I out," Sonic composed himself, "You said you were worried I wasn't going to wake up, so how long?"
"Almost a month," Tails replied.
"Wow," Sonic sounded detached, as if his mind was somewhere else.
"What's wrong?" Tails sensed Sonic was upset.
"I-I," Sonic stuttered, "I'm worried about hurting you."
Tails laughed a little, then his face turned serious, "We know what you did. We saw the aftermath, each and everyone of us. Sure we were worried, but you are still Sonic. You're still my big brother."
Sonic grabbed Tails shoulders, looking him dead in the eyes, "I killed Metal, I almost went on a world-wide rampage! Do you understand! I. . . I'm a monster!"
Tails pushed Sonic's hands off his shoulders. He stood up and turned away. Then he wheeled back around, pointing a finger at Sonic, "You are not a monster! That thing isn't you, understand?! You are Sonic the Hedgehog and I'm not about to let that. . . that thing take my big brother!"
Sonic smiled and wiped away the tears from his eyes. He didn't know what to say, all he could do was nod. He always had seen Tails as more of a brother than a friend, and this clenched that Tails truly felt the same about him. Tails sat back down, seeing that his words had made a significant impact. There was a stirring on the other side of the room followed by a loud grunt.
"Thanks for waking me up guys," Shadow sighed, "It's not like I broke almost all of my bones or something."
"And a good afternoon to you too, Shadow," Sonic chuckled.
"He's just upset that his bones don't heal faster. He figured since he was the "ultimate life-form" he would have been out in a week," Tails laughed.
"The doctors say I'm still making a rather quick recovery," Shadow grumbled.
Tails and Sonic laughed as the sun began to set.
***One Week Later, South Island***
Sonic had been out running every day since being discharged from the hospital. Being out of commission for a month made him very antsy, even more than usual. He was weaker due to the atrophy of a month, so his runs were also an attempt to build back up to his normal strength. It was late in the afternoon when he returned to Tails' Lab. He walked in and sat down in the kitchen, cooling off from the run. Tails came in out of the workshop and sat next to him.
"I've been thinking," Sonic said after a brief moment, "And I think I'm going off to the mountains to train."
"Well if you're going, I'm going," Tails assured him.
"I knew you would," Sonic glanced over at him with a smile.
"What about everybody else?" Tails asked.
"What do you mean?" Sonic turned to Tails.
"Are we going to tell them?" Tails looked at Sonic.
"Yeah, we should all meet somewhere," Sonic nodded.
"Okay, I will wait a while and call everybody," Tails said, "Shadow is still recovering, so I will wait until he's discharged."
"Sounds good," Sonic stood up and ran out the door, going for another run.
***A Month Later, Station Square Park***
Shadow walked into the park, watching all the people playing, talking, and picnicking. It was a beautiful day, but he wasn't here to enjoy the scenery or the weather. Earlier that day he had been discharged from the hospital with a clean bill of health. As soon as he had exited the hospital, Shadow received a call from Tails, telling him to meet everyone at Station Square Park. He didn't know what it was about, but it sounded urgent. He saw a large group off on the other side of the park, and he ran over. Sonic and Tails were sitting on a picnic table, and his team, Amy, Big, The Chaotix, Mighty, and Knuckles were all there sitting in front of Sonic. Shadow sat between Rouge and Omega, and waited for Sonic to start.
"So everybody's here?" Sonic looked at Tails.
"Yeah, Cream couldn't come," He trailed off a little, "Vanilla wouldn't let her."
"Okay then," Sonic jumped off the table, landing in front of the group, "You all may be wondering why we called you here. Well, you see, Tails and I are going off to train in the mountains. I want to be sure we are ready for the next threat when it comes around. I think you all should break up into groups and do the same. All of us were vastly unprepared for Metal, and the fact that we all made it was pure luck. So we all need to prepare, to improve ourselves, and to do it away from here is probably the best idea. We make wherever we are a target, so lets make it impossible for who ever would do us harm to be able to make one calculated strike. It will be two years of training at least, to ensure we improve at least a little."
"You've really been thinking about this, huh?" Knuckles looked at Sonic a little surprised.
"Yeah, well after that incident I had a lot of time to think. . ." Sonic trailed off.
"So do you guys know who you want to go train with," Tails piped up.
"I'm going with you guys," Mighty pointed at Sonic, "I didn't just go sightseeing when I left. I was learning new techniques and I think I can help you guys train."
"Okay, sounds good," Sonic smiled, shaking Mighty's hand.
"B-But boss, what about us?" Vector stuttered. After the way Mighty handled the decoy factory situation, Vector had pretty much handed over leadership to Mighty. Now the team was losing it's leader, again.
"Don't worry about it, Vex," Knuckles smiled, "How about you guys train with me on Angel Island. It will be like old times."
"It would be great to have you back. . . boss," Vector smiled.
"Yay! We got our old boss back!" Charmy chimed in.
"What about you Rouge?" Tails looked at the Bat.
"Omega and I were selected to run GUN missions," She replied, pushing on the robot's shoulder, "That will be our training, I guess."
"Affirmative," Omega agreed.
"Okay then!" Sonic was getting excited to see all this progress.
"I want to train with Shadow," Amy said. Everyone stopped for a moment, shocked to hear Amy's choice.
"Not going after Sonic, huh?" Knuckles teased, breaking the silence.
"I just think I could learn more from Shadow, okay!" She blushed grabbing the handle of her hammer.
"Okay, okay, you don't have to bring the hammer into this," Knuckles apologized, covering his head.
"Fine," Shadow was hiding a slight blush, "But just know, it wont be a walk in the park. We'll head off for the Jungle. I think that will be the best place for us to train."
"That just leaves you, Big," Sonic said.
"Huh? I'm just gonna stay here with Cream. Maybe I can help her train," He replied innocently.
"Well I need to go get my stuff together," Sonic started off at a slow jog, "I'll see you guys in two years!"
Sonic took off as everyone else split up to prepare for training.
***Later that day, Shadow's Apartment***
Shadow was about finished packing. He made sure to pack first aid , his Chaos Emerald, and training gear (clothes and equipment). He was about to zip up his bag when he looked over at a picture on his wall. He smiled and took it down. A small layer of dust accumulated on it, which he brushed off with his hand. The picture of Dr. Gerald, Maria, and himself held a special place for him. He had vowed to live for the future, but still he liked to reminisce on the past. So many memories, good and bad, and he was the sum of all those experiences. He tucked it gently in his bag, between some of his training clothes. As he zipped his bag closed, there was a knock at his door.
"I'm coming," He yelled through the solid door. He walked over and swung it open. There was Amy, a large bag on her back. "You ready to go?" Shadow seemed surprised.
"Yeah, I packed only the essentials, like you suggested," She smiled.
"Okay then, I will pull my motorcycle around and we can take off."
***Meanwhile, GUN HQ***
"Agent Rouge, Agent Omega," The commander was pacing in front of the two, "Your first assignment will be at the old Chemical Plant. It was built by Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik some years ago, and lately there have been reports that a Chaos Emerald may be located there. You will go in, investigate, and, if you do find it, retrieve the Chaos Emerald. You have two days to prepare, so you are dismissed!"
Rouge saluted and turned to Omega, "Well are you ready?"
"Affirmative."
***Station Square, outskirts***
Big stepped into Vanilla the Rabbit's house. He looked around as Vanilla walked in.
"Hello Big," she sighed, "I guess you came over to play with Cream? She's in her room, I think."
"Thanks," he smiled moving upstairs and back into Cream's room.
"Big," She said pulling a cape out of her closet, "We have work to do."
Cheese was excitedly flying around the room, anticipating some fun.
***Angel Island***
"We're here boss," Vector called out to Knuckles. He was nowhere to be seen. It was odd not to see him next to the altar where the Master Emerald was.
"Where is he?" Espio said, half meditating already.
"Maybe we should come back later?" Charmy shrugged.
Then as if from nowhere, Knuckles burst from the ground, narrowly missing Vector with his uppercut, who had stepped back by instinct.
"Your training starts here, fellas!" He yelled, landing then immediately charging the group.
***The Train Station, Station Square***
Sonic stood wearing a large jacket. Sonic F was written on the back, the original name of his plane. He tapped his foot, ever the impatient one. He glanced at the clock. Twenty minutes early. He was always either late or extremely early, and now he was bored. Tails came running up the steps, clearly worn out from running to get here. He had a large duffel bag and a backpack on. Sonic looked down at his much smaller duffel bag.
"You know you could have packed lighter right?" Sonic tapped Tails shoulder with his fist.
"Yeah well, I need all this to work on new inventions," Tails put the large duffel down on the train platform, "I have plans to make EMPs and perfect the Miles Electric 2, among other things," He pulled out the ME2 and began to mess with it.
Mighty came right as the train arrived, ready to go."Well guys, I guess it's time to head out," Mighty said hopping on the train.
"Yeah, come on Sonic!" Tails excitedly boarded the train.
Sonic looked back towards the city, a smile on his face. He was going to come back better, able to handle anything. He stepped on the train, and sat next to his friends.
***Eggcarrier, location unkown***
Eggman sat watching monitors in the bridge of the Eggcarrier. His Egg-drones were watching as all the groups began to prepare for training. On another monitor he pulled up a video from a few months ago. It was of Sonic destroying Metal. He paused it when Sonic happened to look directly at the camera. He looked for a moment then set it on a loop. He studied it and began to chuckle.
"So Sonic, I guess I will see you in two years. And I'm going to be taking that immense power from you! And with it I will finally be able to make my Eggmanland!" He laughed maniacally as the Eggcarrier flew towards the sunset. . .
End of Season 1
Credits (Play What I'm Made Of... by Crush 40 for added effect)
Myself: For getting back into Sonic after the Travesty that was Sonic '06 (After almost 7 years). Don't get me started on '06. . .
Key and Lock: For proof-reading all my fan-fiction and writing awesome stuff in general, including Episode 6, which was amazing!
All My Comics, Manga and Anime: For not only entertaining me, but also providing inspiration for stuff!
Crush 40: For supplying part of the Soundtrack that helps me write this. Also for putting the Rock into Sonic games (Live and Learn is one of the best songs ever!).
Falk and the rest of the Sonic Before and After the Sequel music Guys: For also supplying music for my writing Soundtrack. You helped make those games feel like they were made by Sega. The Soundtracks are pretty freakin' awesome!
Sega: For making Sonic. Without Sonic this fan-fiction wouldn't exist and all games would have fat Italian plumbers who were formerly carpenters as protagonists (Just kidding). Even though '06 sucked. But they got me super-hyped for the Sonic Boom TV show. Seriously I can't wait!
And Most Importantly. . .
You! For supporting the fic! I couldn't have done it without you, the reader! Here's to a prosperous new Season, and enjoy the filler in between!
Filler Info:
Hello my fellow authors, here is some basic info about the 5 filler episodes. Each will showcase the training of each group. When I select a writer they will be given specific details about the team they want to do. Beyond those details that I want to happen, the writer will have full artistic freedom. Here are the training groups:
Cream and Big- Already Taken by Key and Lock
Rouge and Omega- Doing missions for GUN
Knuckles and the Chaotix- Sparring and character development specific to Knuckles
Shadow and Amy- Taken by brebeenz
Sonic, Tails, and Mighty- Training in the mountains, Sonic working on techniques to control Dark Sonic, Tails building stuff, Mighty teaching and strengthening them both.
That's just some general info, all groups will be exhibiting growth and development in strength. They are in order of how I plan on releasing the Episodes. As it stands 4 spots are available. I will be searching, and taking "applications" (P.M.s, links to other stories, and short write-ups). As stated before I will be giving specific details after selecting the writer based off non-specific parameters (basically if I like their writing or not). Good luck and Happy Writing!