Episode 001
It Begins
/
The end of everything began on a cloudless night under the blanket of soft starlight; it was the night she appeared. Most of Central City slept peacefully, but the occasional lit window or the hum of passing cars defied the night. The city streets glowed golden against the cold stone of the buildings as they rose to the bespeckled heavens, but a peculiar bluish light peeked out from an otherwise unremarkable alleyway.
The air cracked and whirred as a circular distortion began to form. It hung in place momentarily, before morphing rapidly into a three-dimensional figure. With a brilliant flash the light vanished and in its place, collapsed to the ground, was a Mobian hedgehog.
Auburn hair fell over red quills; a hint of white fur crept out from underneath her black top. Matching black pants fell down her figure, draping over leather boots. Coming to her feet, the hedgehog withdrew a device from a holster by her waist. The small apparatus looked like a trigger assembly, complete with a pistol grip and rounded finger guard. From another compartment in her waist holster, she removed a small rectangular slate and jammed it into the bottom of her grip.
Sparks began to emit from the top of the apparatus. From out of thin air, the simple device grew into a sturdy handgun. When the process had finished, and the sparks disappeared, the hedgehog racked the slide back and began to make her way to the alley's exit.
"I'm coming for you, Sonic," she muttered to herself, "Nothing is going to stand in my way."
/
Far outside the city limits of Central City, the countryside dipped and rolled carelessly to the tune of the planet's whim. As the sun rose high and drenched the golden fields, a calming breeze wafted through the area stirring the high crops and occasional laundry line. It was exactly what Miles Prower needed.
Nothing delighted the fox more than sweat on his brow and grease on his cheeks; it positively infuriated his wife. His quaint countryside house was surrounded with all manner of workshop projects, scrapped prototypes and half-working experiments that kept him occupied through all hours of the day (and night.) This was all he had now.
Thirteen years had passed since his last adventure with Sonic the Hedgehog. He was just a child when he had met the blue speedster, but it was through Sonic that his love of technology and tinkering would flourish. Countless battles and thwarted schemes hardened him into a competent craftsman and, though he detested it, a decent fighter.
When the maniacal Dr. Ivo Robotnik was finally defeated, however, Miles found his skills were no longer needed. Sonic, as usual, rushed to his next adventure, not a care in the world. For a time Miles had tried to follow his idol, but as he grew older the thrill of the chase faded. Without a purpose, he sought to put his mechanical knowledge to use and better the lives of those living without the threat of a Robotropolis invasion.
With his intellect, and the celebrity brought on by being an original member of Sonic's group, Miles quickly found his way into the top academy of the United Federation. Upon his graduation, he was called the youngest Ph.D. candidate in history, and his thesis on the blossoming field of Chaosology stirred discussion worldwide. After losing his life's purpose, Miles had found a renewed drive. Most importantly, he had moved on. After having one of his tails surgically removed, he formally renounced his childhood moniker.
"Heya, Tails!" a chipper voice called from a short distance away. Miles couldn't control the roll of his eyes at this interruption. Sliding out from underneath his most recent aeronautical contraption, he wiped the stains from his face with a nearby cloth.
"Sonic," Miles did his best to force enthusiasm, "What brings you out to my place?"
In thirteen years, the blue hedgehog had not changed one bit. He still had the same cocky stance, that playful grin, and the energy of a sugar addled child. It had been more charming in his youth, but the twenty-one-year-old Miles Prower was not amused.
"Just checkin' in on my favorite fox bud!" Sonic grinned, before averting his gaze to the myriad expressions of technical wizardly strewn about the yard. "You've been hard at work, huh."
"It's what I do," Miles replied humbly, following Sonic to ensure the safety of his creations versus the hedgehog's curiosity.
A particular device caught Sonic's eyes and he took it in with all the subtlety of a puppy being given a treat. "This thing looks intense!" he said, "What is it? Some kinda robo-jammer to cut off Eggman's communications? Oh! I know, it's an anti-air defense platform for Buzzbomber strikes!"
"That's a water purifier," Miles corrected, watching the enthusiasm die in Sonic's eyes.
"You gonna offer Eggman a drink?" Sonic chuckled.
"Sonic," Miles sighed heavily. "Dr. Robotnik hasn't been seen or heard from since the last battle. You know, thirteen years ago?"
"Which means he's up to no good!"
"No, it doesn't. The United Federation has imposed extremely heavy sanctions on Robotropolis. The Treaty of Soleanna stripped Robotnik of the means to create a thriving city, let alone a world-conquering army."
"Treaty of what now?"
"You were personally invited to the ceremony by Duchess Elise the Third and President Conway!"
"Like I'd go sit around and deal with boring politics…"
"Knuckles came!" Miles felt his frustration turning to anger and allowed himself a moment to cool down. "Sonic, you were the only important figure missing from that meeting, arguably the most important one."
"Sheesh, I'm sorry, Tails." Sonic scratched the back of his head in shame.
"Stop calling me that." Miles shot back.
"Hey! I know what'll cheer you up!"
"I'm not—"
"Let's go on a little adventure, just like old times! We'll go bust up some of Eggman's robots and show him not to mess with the dynamic duo of Sonic and Tails!"
"Leave me out of it!" Miles shouted, taking Sonic by surprise. "Face it, Sonic, it's over! Eggman is gone! We've moved on, I've moved on! You need to as well."
For a brief moment, it seemed like perhaps, this time, his message had gotten through that thick blue skull. But Sonic's usual grin returned as he pounded his fists together excitedly. "Well, buddy, nobody moves like your pal Sonic! I'll catch up later, I've got another stop to make."
With a whir and a flash, Sonic burst away towards Central City, leaving a cloud of dirt in his wake. Miles couldn't help but shake his head before returning to his work, pretending the whole incident had been his imagination.
/
The streets of Central City were alive with the low hum of midday traffic, occasionally interrupted by rude honking or the wail of emergency sirens. The flow of life throughout the metropolis cared not for the insignificant alleyway cordoned off with police tape, but it was all Cream the Rabbit could focus on.
"Nothing suspicious about it at all," her partner, Officer Day, quipped from their squad car, his tall and lanky frame leaning against it with boredom. "It's just an alley. Hundreds of 'em in the city."
Cream ignored his musings; she held no prejudice against humans, but he could not feel the chaos energy radiating from the otherwise stale place. Her senses were not as strong as others, but the queasy feeling in her gut couldn't be wrong.
"Something happened here," she said aloud, not caring if her partner could hear it or not. "Pockets of chaos energy don't just manifest in random places."
"Come again?" Day moved from his resting spot.
Cream removed her radio from its shoulder pad mount. "HQ this is Cream and Day, strong chaos presence from the alleyway near 5th and West King. Dispatch received reports of a suspicious Mobian in the vicinity last night. Requesting a 5-mile perimeter and a Whisp Unit for—"
The voice of her commander, Lieutenant Hawthorne, overtook her own. "Nice work Rabbit, but we've been superseded. I need you to transition this investigation and return to patrol as soon as possible."
"Superseded?" Cream repeated, "You don't mean…"
Before she could respond fully a large black van appeared at the alley's entrance. It slid in with little care for her squad car; the Guardian Units of Nations insignia emblazoned across the sides.
"You're kidding me!" Day shook his fist at the van's driver, shrouded behind thickly tinted glass. "That's my car you almost hit, jackass!"
The van's near side doors slid open and two figures clad in black GUN uniforms emerged. They were short, Mobians, one male hedgehog and one female bat. Cream felt a lump in her throat as the pair approached.
"Agent Shadow, Agent Rouge," she greeted, "I take it y-you're here for the investigation?"
"Sure are, kiddo," Rouge winked. "Haven't seen you in a good long while, how did such a sweet girl get mixed up in all this nasty business?"
Cream blushed at the remark; she hadn't seen either of them since their last fight in Robotropolis thirteen years prior. She was six years old back then, now she was nineteen, yet she still felt like a child next to the voluptuous bat.
"I joined the force a year ago," Cream explained, "I wanted to help people and this seemed like a great opportunity to do so.
"Or a great opportunity to get yourself hurt," Shadow interjected as he strode past the chatting pair, more focused on the empty alleyway.
"Us ladies can take care of ourselves," Rouge retorted, giving a playful hip bump to Cream. "Right, kiddo?"
"Excuse me!" Officer Day raved from the alley entrance, still mulling over the squad car. "Am I the only one who cares that you nearly destroyed my car?!"
"Yes," Shadow replied, 'you're the only one. Now be quiet."
"Do a thirty point turn and get us out of here," Cream chuckled, "I'm going to debrief and then I'll catch up."
Officer Day sighed dramatically before hopping into the car to begin inching his way out of the tight predicament. Cream couldn't help but smirk at the lazy man having to do some work.
"So what's the situation here?" Rouge brought the conversation back on topic as she observed Shadow pacing about the alleyway.
"Pretty strong chaos field here," Cream began.
"Tell me something I don't know…" Shadow huffed.
"Um...well there were reports that someone suspicious was hanging around her last night."
"Suspicious how?" Rouge asked.
"Not sure," Cream paused, "The eye-witness didn't give too many details. It sounds like the suspect is a Mobian, possibly armed, and they were only seen leaving, never entering."
"Any surveillance of the area?"
"Don't bother," Shadow spoke up again. "This much chaos...those cameras are fried."
"You think?" Cream pondered aloud. She didn't want to admit it, but her knowledge of the fledgling chaosology field was poor at best.
"Chaos energy can disrupt electronics in large concentrations," Shadow explained. "It doesn't disable them like an electromagnetic pulse, but it can cause massive amounts of interference. If the suspect left this chaos field in their wake, there's most likely no record of it on any nearby camera."
"Do you think the two are related?" Rouge asked.
"Most likely," Shadow continued. "The incident was reported last night, and this field is still quite strong. At its peak, the chaos energy would be enough to knock a normal being unconscious."
"What kind of person could withstand something like that and just wander off?"
Cream did her best to put the pieces of this puzzle together, but next to Shadow and Rouge she felt wholly inadequate. She was still a rookie cop, after all, and they were veterans of countless campaigns against Dr. Robotnik and his evil machinations. It did little to help the pit in her stomach, but she understood why she and Day had been so quickly removed from their investigation.
Without wishing to disturb the theorizing duo, Cream turned silently to return to Day who had freed their cruiser and was waiting patiently along the sidewalk.
"Stop moving!" Shadow's raised voice caused Cream to jump. She looked back to see both the menacing black hedgehog and Rouge poised for action, but motionless. She looked back and forth between them, desperate for a hint of what was going on.
A tingling sensation formed above her head, and she saw Shadow's gaze move to that location with intent. With one clean motion, the hedgehog tapped a bracelet-like device worn around his right arm and flung himself forward. Cream felt her body moving against the wind before realizing that Shadow had teleported behind her, his arms wrapped around her, guiding her backward. She glanced upwards and was face-to-face with the threat Shadow had seen.
Its form was sharp and vaguely humanoid, with four claw-like appendages meeting in a single triangular body. It was featureless, glowing with hot and emanating a sickly amount of chaos energy.
Rouge jumped back several feet and drew a black pistol from her waist, taking aim and blasting the creature. The bullets disrupted the creature's clean form, but it quickly recovered.
Cream felt her body stop moving suddenly: she was near the GUN van and Shadow was now positioned in front of her.
"Stay back," he muttered, before rushing the bright creature. He curled into a ball and charged with a blaze of golden energy, passing right through its body with a much larger wound than Rouge's bullets. This too, however, was easily restored.
"Think this is the culprit?" Rouge asked, jumping high into the air while raining bullets to little effect.
"Kill it first," Shadow sneered, rushing the creature again. This time his fist surged with power and he attempted to punch the foe in its core. Before the blow could connect, one of the glowing claws took hold of Shadow's arm, causing white energy to surge along his body.
At first, the hedgehog seemed to be in some pain, but he quickly composed himself. With a flash of brilliant golden light, Shadow powered up into his super state. The energy surrounding the pair began to pulse and flow back into the creature. It became bloated and misshapen, before exploding with a violent blaze of light.
Shadow landed on the ground, his golden spines quickly returning to their traditional black. He panted heavily, staring off into the space where the creature had been.
"Shadow!" Rouge came to his side, "What the hell was that?"
"It was…" Shadow breathed heavy and slow, "It's like it was made of chaos energy. When it grabbed me...I was able to power up…I overloaded it...with energy..."
Cream came to Shadow's side as well, "That thing had the same amount of power as all seven Chaos Emeralds?"
"No," Shadow replied, "It was much more powerful."
/
A mess of tables and charts took up the majority of the computer screen, while several eager looking individuals in various parts of the world stood by and listened. A singular image of a monstrous being made of light took up a sizable portion of the screen.
"Your thoughts, Dr. Rose-Prower?"
Amy sighed as she knelt forward in her desk chair, her eyes scanning the information on her display in calculated fashion. Harsh spikes in chaos energy within the city limits, disruption of surveillance equipment for several blocks, and that...thing; it all made her head spin. A cool breeze from the single open window at the far side of her spacious office calmed her senses, but not her nerves.
"Ahem," a male voice cleared his throat. It belonged to Lieutenant Charles Hawthorne, head of the Central City Police Department. "Your husband is the foremost leading expert on chaosology, surely he could—"
"My husband is unavailable at the moment," Amy replied shortly, "Thankfully, you have the second-most leading expert on chaosology unless you continue to annoy her."
"M-my apologies, ma'am," the Lieutenant's confident tone vanished. "I meant no disrespect."
"To hell with respect!" the boorish voice of Commander Abrams, the leader of GUN, crackled through the display's speakers. "That thing nearly took out one of my best agents. Goddamnit, I want some answers!" He slammed his fist on his desk, shaking his video feed slightly.
"Compose yourself, Commander," came the sound of Duchess Elise, ruler of the nation of Soleanna. Amy forced back a sly grin; seeing the young royal outclass Federation diplomats was always a welcome pleasure.
"I'm truly sorry for your troubles, Commander," Amy responded, a hint of annoyance underneath her political flatness. "As far as we know, the only physical manifestation of chaos energy was the God of Chaos himself. This creature bears some physical similarities, but it's hardly a solid correlation."
"Hawthorne!" Commander Abrams directed his frustration at the Lieutenant. "That suspect from the overnight incident needs to be found immediately. Surely they have something to do with this."
"B-but Commander," Hawthorne stuttered, "GUN took over our investigation. We've reassigned our officers to other duties."
"You idiot, my agents were sent to investigate the surging chaos field. Finding a missing vagrant is far below their pay grade."
"My, my," Duchess Elise commented, "Are the authorities of the Federation truly so disorganized?"
Again, Amy felt that stupid grin curl back onto her face, however, she chose not to hide it any longer. The moment of levity was well deserved, as her entire day had been brought to a halt by news of rampant chaos energy and mysterious deadly creatures.
She sat back in her chair, allowing the diplomats to argue amongst themselves. Politics had never interested her much, despite Miles' insistence that she make a run for Central City mayor. Sometimes it seemed like nothing would ever satisfy that man, but she enjoyed the constant challenge. For once in her life, she was chasing something worthwhile.
"Amy! You hiding out in there?"
Just when she thought her day couldn't get any more stressful, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog violated her ears through the thick wooden door to her office. It was locked, but nothing so simple ever stopped Sonic.
A faint whirring noise whipped around the outside of her office before the blue hedgehog burst through the open window and landed just beyond her desk.
"Whatcha doin' computer brain?" Sonic quipped, "You watchin' some old home movies?"
Amy jolted up straight. "I-I have to go!" she hoped the others would hear her over their squabbling before she killed the video transmission. She stood from her chair, staring angrily at Sonic over her monitors. "What are you doing here, Sonic?"
"I was just cruisin' through the neighborhood," he replied, his eyes darting around the office. "Tails was in a bad mood, so I figured I'd stop by here instead."
Oh no, Amy felt ice shoot up her spine, Miles tried to have the talk again, didn't he.
"Sonic, I'm very busy with important work, can I get a raincheck or something?"
"Important work, eh?" Sonic's interest was piqued, much to Amy's chagrin. He rushed behind her desk in the blink of an eye and began poring over the various documents from her meeting. "What do we have here? Stolen blueprints for a new Badnik?"
Amy sighed, falling back into her chair. "There's been a series of strange events regarding a mysterious person and a surge of chaos energy within Central City. GUN sent Shadow and Rouge to investigate and this light creature nearly killed Shadow. It's immune to bullets and physical attacks; only energy seemed to damage it"
"Heh," Sonic chuckled, "Shadow's too tough to go down without a fight."
"Sonic, this is serious," Amy pressed. "Something strange is going on and it has chaos energy written all over it." She paused for a moment, knowing she would regret her next statement, but allowing it to be said anyway. "We could use your help with this."
"Hah, as if!" Sonic shifted back to the open window. "Sounds like you're trying to set me up on another date or something."
"I am married!" Amy shouted, slamming her hands on her desk. "You are such a child, Sonic."
"Woah, chill out Amy," Sonic backed off. "I promise I'll help with your little project another time."
Amy stood and made her way to Sonic, her temper flaring with each step. "When are you going to grow up? You come around every few months for the same song and dance...do you even know how long it's been? Thirteen years, Sonic!"
"Sheesh, you're starting to sound like Tails now."
"You're so out of touch, you don't even know your best friend's name anymore! You keep waiting for the day Robotnik or some other bad guy comes around, but we have a real problem right now! You could help us!"
Sonic's cheerful grin faded as he seemed to contemplate her words. For once, the blue hedgehog looked like he may have understood her frustration. Amy took his hands in hers, pleading. "Come back to us, Sonic. The world doesn't need a hero anymore, but we still need a friend."
"Amy...I…"
The sound of screams from the street outside broke the tension and Sonic yanked his hands away from Amy's grasp.
"Sounds like someone still does need a hero," he grinned, dashing out the window once more.
/
The scene outside the University of Chaosology was aptly chaotic; pedestrians ran for their lives and vehicles sped away from the focal point of disaster. Sonic, however, sped towards the sounds of violence.
In the middle of the road stood a single red hedgehog in mostly black clothing, a pistol drawn in her right hand. She was surrounded by beings like the ones Sonic had seen on Amy's computer: pure white with claw-like arms and legs. A single one of them had nearly killed Shadow, but there were easily ten of them encircling the red hedgehog.
With a click, she ejected the clip from her pistol, causing the top half of it to evaporate with a series of sparks. From her belt, she retrieved a curved rectangular object and fastened it to the end of the half-pistol. Once again sparks flew and the handgun transformed into a formidable looking rifle.
"Hey!" Sonic called out to the woman. "Bullets don't work!"
She turned her head to Sonic in silent acknowledgment, before cocking the rifle and unloading a hail of bullets into the creatures. As they were struck, they convulsed and their wounds grew larger before the open space overlapped their form entirely. By the time the hedgehog had stopped firing, the entire band of monstrosities had been reduced to a few hanging lights in the air that quickly began to fade.
"How did you do that?" Sonic asked in amazement as the woman put disassembled her strange firearm.
She turned to face him, a look of determination in her eyes. "My name's Razor. I've been looking for you, Sonic."