Chapter 3: Speed of Sound
It was a silent afternoon and evening in the streets of Super Tokyo. After the event, it was still a massive shock to learn the results of the Summer Smash Tournaments. Everyone in the streets of Super Tokyo was now gathering up near the enormous TV screens. The news began with the anchor bowing before giving the news.
"Good evening everyone and welcome to the 7 o'clock news. The Summer Smash Tournaments were canceled earlier today after the 3-time champion, Princess Peach was kidnapped by an unknown individual. Police have failed to identify the individual by name and the whereabouts are unknown at this time. The prime minister has now ordered a full-scale investigation to find the individual responsible for the abduction of the princess. More of the story as it develops."
The people in the streets were all reacting to the news. A lot of them were feeling an immense amount of despair from the news. Only a few people were yelling out their reactions.
"I can't believe this... Why does it have to be the princess."
"When will they ever find her, I wonder?"
"I just wanted to watch a damn tournament!"
The reactions and the news report continued.
Behind them was a blue hedgehog speeding his way through the streets. He passed through many cars which resulted in them beeping at him. Ignoring them, he continued to run as fast as he could, similar to a 150-mile race car. He then stopped by a building that had an enormous gate. Walking past the door, he saw a yellow fox with two tails working on an electronic robot. The fox turned behind him to see the blue hedgehog and quickly alerted him to something.
"Sonic! Did you hear the news report?" Tails asked in panic.
"Yeah, what a disaster of an event," Sonic muttered with worry.
"No, no, I mean Princess Peach. She still hasn't been found."
"There's not really much we can do, Tails. Gotta let the police handle this one, little buddy."
"But… Are you sure that you can't do something about it?"
"I don't even know the guy," Sonic shrugged, walking to the fridge. "Where would I even start?"
With a sigh, Tails turned back to his project, reluctantly agreeing, "I mean… I guess you have a point. Like a needle in a haystack…"
"Yup! A stupid goose chase, and pretty much a waste of time." Closing the fridge with a Pepsi can in hand, Sonic opened the soda and gave it a few sips, letting out a loud belch as he sat himself down on one of the couches.
"So, uh… whatcha making there?"
"This? It's just a little project of mine."
"Looks kinda like a robot…" Sonic surmised, sitting up to get a better glance. "What's it do?"
"Well, this robot has two functions. It's supposed to greet tourists to the city, giving directions to people who are lost. At the same time, I know Eggman hasn't shown up recently, but these guys will do a decent job of protecting any innocent civilians caught in the crossfire."
"So basically, a more useful version of an Omochao."
"Kinda," Tails looked back at the robot and continued to work on it. "It's not finished yet."
"Yeah, I'd like to see it when you're done," Sonic nodded in approval, taking another sip of his soda.
Grabbing the TV remote from the coffee table and turning on the television, he switched channels, hoping to land on anything that caught his interest.
"Let's see… drama show… weather forecast… drama show… Oh, a cooking show! That's totally not for me!" Giving off a dramatic sigh, he proclaimed loudly, "Ugh… Isn't there anything on TV that's worth watching right now?!"
Tails could only chuckle at Sonic's antics. "You know if you keep switching a few seconds in that everything's not worth watching, right?" he pointed out.
"Short attention span, what can I say?" Sonic shrugged, as though the answer was sufficient for Tails's question, absentmindedly flipping through more channels. Eventually, he landed on a news channel, wherein the reporter seemed to be panicking. "Hello, what's this?"
"Uhm... we have received word from our producers that there was a massive attack going around in Super Tokyo. And it seems we're getting more updates. There's a spaceship flying in the sky. The police have now recommended all citizens stay indoors. And I'm being told by one of my colleagues that the ship is now getting close to the city. Everyone, please stay indoors at this time, as police are now entering the city. If Sonic the Hedgehog is seeing, we're calling your help. "
Sonic stood up from his seat. "It looks like someone's calling me."
He quickly walked out of the building and Tails, being unaware of the situation, curiously followed him. As they stand on the concrete of the city road, they look up to see a ship coming towards them.
"Oh, goddammit, it's Eggman!" Sonic yelled out.
The robots fell from the sky and landed on the ground. Sonic and Tails prepared themselves before more fell to the ground.
"Looks like we've got trouble in our hands," Sonic asked.
Sonic and Tails start to run towards the robots. Tails started with a tornado spin which made him come in contact with a vast group of robots. Many of them were pushed away from him and some of them exploded because of the impact Tails had. He then stopped and felt dizzy. He tries to recompose himself, but the robots are beginning to surround him. Quickly regaining his focus, Tails ran up to the robots again, but he used his foot to kick every single one of them in the face. The robots were being knocked back by his hit.
Sonic on the other hand was handing the robots much better than him. Well, way too well. He dashed towards all of the robots. They then exploded into pieces. As soon as he lands in the crowd and dashes near one opening. Sonic's dashing attack quickly pushed the robots, attempting to surround him again. The other group of robots began to shoot at him, but Sonic dodged all the robots. He dashed again, but this time on top of the robots. All of a sudden, each one of their heads fell off and robots collapsed as the sign of them broke from Sonic's move.
Tails and Sonic both gathered up in the middle. Tails wasn't impressed with what Sonic does. "Sonic, that was way too dangerous!"
"What are you talking about, dangerous is my name!" Sonic answered with excitement.
Behind Sonic, however, was one of the robots, aiming its bullet at him.
"Sonic, that robot!" Tails called out!
Sonic dashed at the robot and hit its chest. It falls to the ground and explodes. Afterwards, he rushed back to Tails. "Easy as pie!"
Tails sighed and facepalmed. However, it wasn't the end. Both looked back to see more of the robots continuing to fall to the ground. If that wasn't enough, they randomly spawned and were moving towards Sonic and Tails. Both of them look back and see the robots again.
"Sonic, what are we going to do now?"
"Just stay put, and we'll make it out alive."
Just then, a booming voice yelled out from the sky, "Inferior piles of scrap heap! You'd dare copy my magnificent design and steal it for yourselves?!"
Turning in the voice's direction, they spotted a sphere-like object floating in the sky. Suddenly, a strange turret seemed to come out from under it. And then the turret spun rapidly, a multitude of bullets flying rapidly. With no cover, Sonic and Tails could only duck to the ground, hoping to avoid this sudden onslaught of bullets. However, when they felt none and only heard metal ripping, the two chanced a glance, witnessing the robots falling like dominoes, one by one, metallic bodies riddled with holes. Surprised, they turned to the floating sphere once more and looked closer, feeling only shock when they saw who was riding it… "Eggman?!"
The robots turned their attention away from the hedgehog and the fox, raising their arms, firing their rounds of bullets at the arch-nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog: Dr. Eggman Robotnik.
Twirling his mustache, Eggman guffawed at their attempts at attacking him as the bullets failed to penetrate the Egg-Mobile. "You were inferior in appearance! Now I see you were inferior in function as well!" Bringing his finger down upon a button on his control panel, the turret below the Egg-Mobile slowly stopped rotating and quickly retracted. Immediately, another turret replaced it, this time armed with rockets. And then, the rockets were let loose, each of them flying erratically, their targets marked as the robots.
Once again, Sonic and Tails ducked down as explosions illuminated the battlefield, each rocket hitting its mark, none of which was either of them. "They can't even sustain a proper explosion," Eggman muttered, shaking his head in disapproval. "That damned hedgehog and his friends might break them, but I still designed them with resistance to conventional weapons. Whoever thought to copy me will pay for this…"
With the last of the robots exploding from Eggman's onslaught, the Egg-Mobile stopped its rockets and retracted the turret. Letting out another deep laugh, he attempted to catch Tails and Sonic's attention, "We meet again, Sonic the Hedgehog! It's been too long since I've seen your pathetic face, and I haven't missed it ever since!"
"E-Eggman?" Sonic gasped out, the shock of the situation still affecting him. "Wh-what was that…? Weren't those robots yours…?"
The Doctor shook his head and wagged his finger. "Sonic, you may not know me as well as myself, and you could never, but you still know me," he tutted. "I am a man of quality, not quantity. If I wanted to kill you and be done with it, I'd have mass-produced enough Egg-bots to overwhelm you and your little friends."
"Y-yeah…" Tails was reluctant to agree with Eggman, but couldn't help in doing so, "As much as he hates you, Sonic, I can't exactly see him doing something like that…"
"Who do you take me for, fox-boy?! If I'm to be rid of that damned hedgehog, it must be in a spectacular fashion! No less!"
A looming shadow in the sky interrupted their momentary conversation. The strange ship carrying the strange robots had returned. From above, it sent a multitude of robots rocketing towards the ground. Simultaneously, the robots that Eggman had destroyed slowly moved to their feet, damaged bodies and all.
With a chuckle, Eggman pressed another button on his control panel. "Standing up doesn't make you any less useless," he taunted, the front of the Egg-Mobile revealing another turret. "I put holes in you once; I can do it again!" Pressing the same button once more, the turret spun rapidly, bullets flying from each nozzle.
As he did so, Sonic spun violently and charged forward, flattening the robots that stood up, their attempts to regain a second wind failing miserably. Tails attempted to follow Sonic's lead, spinning and charging, though his targets were different; he subsequently destroyed each robot that landed on the ground before it could start any sort of attack upon the trio. From one robot to another, he threw out a kick, using the momentum to take him to another robot.
"My Egg-Mobile is a stroke of genius," Eggman gloated as each robot exploded violently upon absorbing one too many bullets, "but it pales compared to my other inventions! You'll never enjoy the privilege of witnessing my magnificent Egg Emperor!"
"Didn't we destroy that thing before dealing with Metal Sonic?" Sonic spoke out, colliding with one robot, and then stopping to punch the next one away.
"…Shut up before I 'accidentally' shoot you."
"Uh, Sonic?" Tails let out, ricocheting off of another robot in the sky. "Maybe you shouldn't antagonize the dangerous scientist with a Gatling gun when he's trying to help us."
As they continued to fight, they failed to notice the ship floating away, its shadow no longer covering the trio. Only when Tails had landed did they realize the robots had finally stopped dropping.
Sonic and Tails quickly gave each other a high-five, and Eggman let out another deep laugh.
"Man, that was close," Sonic said.
"You got that right," Tails replied. Turning to Eggman, he gave a bow to their arch-nemesis, "If it weren't for you, we might have been done for. Thanks for the help, Eggman!"
Of course, being thanked for saving the lives of his sworn enemies was the last thing that Eggman could have wanted. "Don't expect too much of this, fox-boy," he spoke flippantly, waving his hand. "I've made this clear before: only I can defeat Sonic the Hedgehog."
Immediately, Eggman saw a light on his control panel rapidly flash red. Eyes widening, he immediately noted the message: "A distress signal…? From MY base?!" His brain quickly connected dots, realizing that the ship had likely moved towards his base in retaliation. An angry expression quickly grew on his face as he turned the Egg-Mobile around and sped off.
"If you useless piles of junk think you can get away with attacking my base, then you have another thing coming! Maybe I WILL use the Egg Emperor after all!" His infuriated voice slowly faded in the distance, Sonic and Tails watching their rival fly away.
"Don't be a stranger, Egghead!" Sonic called out. Then, turning to Tails, he murmured, as if sharing some sort of secret, "He's totally gonna be a stranger."
Tails could only chuckle in agreement. "Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised."
Nodding to add to the shared affirmations of their rival, the blue hedgehog spoke up, walking toward their house, "Anyway, let's-"
Though, whatever he was about to say was lost as a large crowd of people immediately swarmed the two, clamoring for their attention."
"Sonic, thank you for your help!" an interviewer cried, holding out a microphone. "Will you answer some questions for the rest of the city?"
Giving a nervous smile, he waved them down, "Sorry, but we're kinda in a rush, so if you could just…"
Changing targets, another interviewer called out for Tails, "Tails! We've been dying to know the secret behind those tails of yours! How exactly do you make them spin like that?"
Immediately uncomfortable with the sudden attention, the fox in question sank back, "U-uh… I, uh…"
"Tails, Tails! Over here! What's your relationship with Ms. Vanilla's daughter?" The questions continued and Tails only felt discomfort as they went on.
"Um… That's not…"
"There are rumors going around of your plans to insert a mechanical tour guide for all tourists outside of the city. Thoughts on that?"
"H-how did you-?!"
Before the questions could continue probing at his little brother, Sonic immediately yelled out, "Alright, you all! We appreciate all the questions and all the gratitude for saving the city or whatever, but we seriously gotta run! Team Sonic's got places to be and things to do!"
And an afterthought, "Minus Knuckles!"
And with that, Sonic grabbed Tails's wrist and sped off to their base, cutting through the crowd, catching them off-guard, leaving their questions unanswered.
Once they went inside Tails' base, they quickly opened and closed the door. After closing it, Tails shivered in fear.
"What's wrong Tails?" Sonic asked.
"There were so many people!" Tails spoke with horror. "They were too close to us."
Sonic chuckled and helped him walk to his unfinished robot project. "Come on Tails. Just take a deep breath."
"Alright, Sonic." Tails takes a deep breath.
"Oh, and how about some music to help you with that?"
Sonic walks over to the radio and turns it on.
"You're listening to 87.9 FM! The current day hits of Super Tokyo."
He walked over to the fridge and opened it to grab something out of there. Tails continued to take deep breaths and soon turned over to Sonic, who was about to grab another Pepsi can.
"Okay, I've calmed down." Tails took a few more deep breaths. "So, pizza for dinner?"
"No chili dog for dinner? Sure,"
Tails takes another deep breath and walks over near his robot project. "Alright, I'll just go grab my phone and-"
Suddenly, they hear the door knocking.
"Hm… who could that be?" Sonic walks towards the door and opens it. The pink hedgehog, Amy Rose, then greeted Sonic. She looks up at him and hugs him immediately.
"Sonic, oh thank god you're safe!" she said out of worry.
Sonic is feeling major discomfort from the tight hug Amy is currently giving. "Um… of course."
Amy lets go of Sonic. "Is Tails okay too?"
"Yeah, he's currently ordering pizza for us." Sonic looks back at Tails and then Amy.
"Oh, that's good to hear."
"The pizza?"
"No, I mean if Tails is safe."
"Oh."
Amy went inside with Sonic and both walked over to Tails, who was about to grab the phone and is continuing to work on the robot.
"Tails, Amy is here." Sonic mentioned.
"Great, I guess she can join us for pizza." Tails responded.
"Wait, what about Knuckles?" Amy asked.
Tails shook his head. "He isn't available right now."
"Ah, I see. I guess it's us three," Amy replied.
Tails walks up to his phone, which is on the desk, and picks it up. He dials the number of the pizza and leaves the room while Sonic and Amy look at the TV.
"Sonic, have you seen the news report yet?" Amy asked.
"Um… what new report?"
"Here, I'll show you." Amy grabs the remote from the couch and sets the TV channel to the news. The news anchor was on his seat while a graphic showed Sonic and Tails.
"Just a moment ago, the city was attacked by animal-looking robots. And now, they have been destroyed thanks to the heroes, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails the Fox, and Dr. Eggman Robotnik. Curfew has now been canceled and everyone is allowed back on the streets."
The footage showed Sonic, Tails, and Eggman fighting off the robots. Afterwards, it switched over to the news.
"And now, we have an exclusive interview with the heroes themselves."
It switched once again, but to the interview where Sonic and Tails were answering some questions.
Amy looks at Sonic and smiled. "Sonic, you saved the city again,"
"Of course I did. When there's trouble, I'm there to stop it."
Amy chuckled. "That's my hero."
"Uh.. what, your hero?!" Sonic blushed.
Amy chuckled again. "Don't mind that, Sonic"
"Oh, ok." Sonic, flustered by her words, looks down.
Suddenly, Tails came in and whispered to both Sonic and Amy. "Psst… guys! What pizza do you want?"
"Pepperoni please." Amy whispered back.
Tails looked at Sonic.
"Eh, I'll share with Amy." Sonic said.
Tails went back outside of the room. Meanwhile, Sonic and Amy continued to watch TV.
"The city mayor is now awarding Sonic, Tails and Dr. Eggman heroes of this year. The city council will also list more heroes in the following months." the anchor announced. "That is it for the news today. Thank you for watching and good night everyone."
The news anchor bows out of respect and the program comes to a close.
It was dark. The place was full of superstitions. The boy who kidnapped Princess Peach is wearing dark black clothing. This human being's name is Katsuro. He is in the hallway, walking towards one of the doors. He opened it and was greeted by a man sitting on a throne.
"Master," Katsuro calmly called out. "The princess has been captured."
The master turns to the boy and nods.
"I see, Katsuro." The master said with pleasure. "I knew I could trust you."
Katsuro smiles out of satisfaction. "Yes, Master." He takes a bow. "Is there anything else I can do for you?"
The master ponders. "No, that will be all for now. I have tasked the others with their own set of orders… Unless you wish to assist them?"
"I would gladly do it for you."
The master smiles. "Then, be off. As you will, ensure that our minions spawn thoroughly. There must be no one to hinder us from our goal."
"Yes, my master." Katsuro walked off to the exit and closed the door.
However, as he entered the hallway, he was met by his teammate. He didn't look impressed.
"Selling your soul to the Master again, huh?" he said.
Katsuro sighed. "I'm only doing what's right for our team."
"Come on, Katsuro, you don't have to be so serious about everything. Besides, our mission was to destroy reality, but we're having fun doing it."
"Yeah, but one mistake could end our hard work." Katsuro scolded. "I'm following him because I believe what's right."
"And that's what I see wrong. You always look up at him. I'll tell you right now, I don't trust any of your bullshit. Because, one day you'll go behind him, and the rest of the team."
"You've been saying that always, ever since I abandoned my family for this group. And just because of your own words, it makes me want to punch you in the face."
"Tsk, who am I to judge, anyway. You're the blood child of this group. And you're the one who's always right in the head. Little does he know that he's too weak to comprehend.
Katsuro sighed again. "Whatever Kenta, I don't need your words again."
He walked past him and took a turn in the other direction, leaving an unimpressed Kenta.
After enough walking, he opens the door to reveal a huge opening with a small cell. Inside that cell is the unfortunate Princess Peach. She is still unconscious from the attack made by Katsuro.
"Don't worry, my darling your sweet little plumber will be alright," he chuckles before turning away and leaving the room.
He goes back to the alleyway. He starts to think to himself whether it was a good or bad thing. But still, he continued walking until he spotted an exit. He walks towards it and opens the door. He leaves the organization's building to continue on with his rampage.
Princess Peach, the unfortunate human being, is now in the hands of the group. She will not wake up yet and the group forces will continue to monitor her. Katsuro on the other hand will begin their team's rampage against everything. The group he is in has yet to be revealed. The group wants to remain anonymous so that way they can silently show themselves off and cause great destruction towards the face of reality at the same time. They will even kill some people that they consider a threat even though they don't know that they were even a threat in the first place.
Their name is Xenophon, and their destruction of reality is about to begin...
Disclaimer: All characters presented in the series belong to their respective owners except the OCs created by UltraBlueKitsune.