New chapter! Sorry this took so long! I'll keep this Author's Note short and just say that this will include Uncle Chuck :)

Enjoy!

IMPORTANT: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS, BE IT FROM THE GAMES OR FROM THE COMICS!


Chapter 4

"Mommy! Mommy!" a brown bear cub burst into his home, pale and shaking.

"Enzo!" Wendy took her little boy into her arms, gently running a hand through his soft brown fur. "Sweetie, what is it?" she asked softly while her husband, Arthur, looked up from his newspaper.

"Monsters! M-Monsters are coming!" Enzo stammered, his eyes welling up with tears.

Going outside, Wendy and Arthur saw what looked like a swarm of enormous black bees. Their neighbors all rushed out of their houses, mouths agape and pointing at the incoming horde.

"It's coming from the generator site!"

"Maybe it's just the Eggman's worker bots coming in to get supplies?"

The people of Christmas Island barely had time to ponder about anything else when the first shots were fired.

Suddenly, the swarm descended upon the village and black fire rained down. What the islanders thought to be worker bots turned out to be Eggman Badniks. But unlike other Badniks, which were usually modeled after animals and painted in bright garish colors, these Badniks were painted black and designed to look like grim robot sentinels. The frightened Mobians screamed and ran for cover as the Badniks unleashed volleys of black fireballs on them.

Arthur and Wendy rushed inside, barricading the doors and shutting all of the windows, and whisked Enzo off into their bedroom. The brown bear cub whimpered and snuggled close to his mother, tears welling up in his eyes. At the sound of explosions, he buried his face in her chest and screamed. The house shook with each explosion from outside and the family could hear the screams of their neighbors.

"It's okay… It's okay… We're safe… We're safe…" Wendy whispered, rocking her son in her arms, while Arthur reached under the bed and pulled out a baseball bat. Hardly a weapon that would stop an Eggman Badnik, but it was the best he got.

"You two go. Through there," Arthur whispered and pointed to the bedroom window. Standing in front of his wife and his son, he stood his ground as the explosions drew nearer.

Suddenly, the bedroom door was torn off its hinges, revealing an Eggman Badnik. Glowing red eyes leered at the bear family as it stomped towards them. In its egg-shaped torso was a transparent polycarbonate orb that contained a black fireball.

Wendy and Enzo screamed, scrambling for the bedroom window only to be greeted by a horrific sight.

Another Badnik, larger than the one standing in their doorway, smashed its way into the room.

"Well, look who we have here." Multo smiled from inside the Badnik, still possessing Dr. Eggman. The Doctor's body shuddered and slumped over the robot's control panel as Multo's ghostly form phased through the Badnik's metal armor. She held out a hand to the other Badnik, signaling it to stop. "Hi, Arthur," she purred, floating over to the older bear.

"S-Stay back!" Arthur yelled, swinging his bat at the phantom.

Mutlo merely yawned as the bat went through her. "I see you're still into baseball," she observed before grabbing the end of Arthur's bat as he swung again. At her touch, it caught fire. Arthur yelped and dropped it.

"Eyes forward, batter. You might miss this pitch!" Multo laughed, turning into a fireball and flying straight into Arthur's chest!

"Daddy!" Enzo screamed as his father crumpled to the floor.

"Arthur!" Wendy rushed to her husband's side, flinching when she touched his body and felt the heat radiating from it. Arthur's body convulsed on the floor as he let out weak gasps. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head until only the whites could be seen.

"No… No… N-n-no, p-please! Stop! Stop! Ahhhhhh!" Arthur screamed, tears falling from his eyes.

He saw his father beating him with the strap when he lost his first baseball game.

His mother dying in a hospital bed from cancer.

And then that night.

"Hmph! Not much to torture you with, huh?" Multo rose from Arthur's body, looking bored. She spared a glance at Wendy and Enzo, the two of them clutching each other tightly, and shrugged. "Don't worry. He's not hurt… physically, at least," she told them as Arthur sat up. True to her word, Arthur sported no injuries and just appeared dazed.

One look at the ghost, however, had Arthur screaming and backpedaling into the Badnik guarding the doorway.

"Join your brothers. We'll keep up the attacks for another hour," said Multo before heading back to her own Badnik.

"Y-You're a monster!" Enzo shouted, picking up a broken piece of plaster.

Multo merely waved her hand, sending the piece flying out of Enzo's hand where it landed harmlessly on the floor and out of his reach. Facing the child, she bared her teeth.

"Your dad saw me as a monster before, little boy. Why don't you tell him this?" Floating over to Enzo, Multo whispered into his ear, "Congratulations. You helped me turn into one."

Enzo felt like his knees had turned into jelly as Multo phased back into her Badnik, her form fusing with Dr. Eggman's body once again. The Doctor looked around, a woozy grumble of "What in the world…?" tumbling out of his lips before going rigid as Multo possessed him again.

"I have to say, Doc! Your Badniks are mechanical marvels!" Multo laughed in Eggman's voice as she piloted her Badnik out of the area.

Enzo let out a whimper, clinging to his mother as they helped his father up. Their house damaged, they staggered out of the hole Multo's Badnik had left and into a living nightmare.

Almost every house in their street was ablaze with black fire. Mobians staggered about, their eyes having a haunted look in them. Eerie laughter filled the air, sending everyone's hairs standing straight up and sending a chill through their spines.

The madness lasted for another hour before Multo flew up and screeched, the sound like a billion nails on a billion chalkboards. At this, all of the Badniks rose into the air and followed her out of the village.

Just before she disappeared from everyone's view, Multo sent out one last message.

"YOU PEOPLE WANTED A MONSTER? WELL, NOW YOU GOT ONE."


"Now these Chaos Drives here if we insert them into these slots…" Charles Hedgehog, affectionately known to all as Uncle Chuck, tapped the monitor as the five Chaos Drives glowed. "And feed the machine a few Power Rings, they should be able to detect irregular readings of Chaos Energy. Of course, everything organic on this planet emits small amounts of the stuff. But with this device, it'll be easier to detect the presence of other Chaos-sensitive beings and, in theory, make finding those Chaos Emeralds a lot easier," he explained to Sonic, who looked at the monitor keenly.

The Chaos signature detector was a simple-looking device. While resembling the Miles Electric, it was bulkier and had five slots – one on each corner and one at the top – for Chaos Drives and another pop-up slot at the bottom to store Power Rings. It was Uncle Chuck's passion project – a device he and his nephew had invented and continuously worked on for years ever since Sonic came into contact with the Chaos Emeralds and used their power to stop Dr. Eggman many times in the past.

"The faster we find the Emeralds, the faster my friends and I can kick Egghead's butt," Sonic declared, high-fiving his uncle. "This is great, Unk!"

"Thank me later, Sonny boy. This thing still needs fine-tuning. Mind getting me a screwdriver?" Uncle Chuck asked him, sitting down at his computer desk to work on coding.

Sonic headed to the back of his uncle's garage. He found a screwdriver among the various tools on one of the tables and was about to head back when he spotted something shining on another table in the corner. Three white candles were lit and slowly melting in their holders. Placed in front of them were some flowers and a small plate filled with tiny biscuits each topped with colorful icing.

"Iced gems?"

Looking up from his computer, Uncle Chuck saw Sonic staring at the little memorial he had made. Smiling sadly, he got up and walked over to his nephew. "I found a bag at a candy store a few days ago. I thought it'd be good to… you know… leave an offering for her because she enjoyed them so much," he said softly, placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder.

Nodding, Sonic took one iced gem topped with blue icing and popped it into his mouth. He smiled a little. "Not as good as how she and her mom used to make them," he murmured, the sugary sweetness of the meringue icing melting on his tongue evoking another memory.


He kept his eyes and his nose focused on the entrance to the kitchen. The smell of butter and sugar wafted from it, making his mouth water.

Feeling bold, he got up from the couch and raced towards the kitchen only to be turned around and gently pushed back.

"Sorry, Sonic. But Doña Celia says that we have to wait for Mama to call us," she said with a smile, sitting on the couch with her sewing.

Huffing, he sat back on the couch and watched as her nimble fingers plied needle and thread in stitching together a torn sleeve. He recognized the shirt she was mending. It was the brand new one her grandmother had bought last week, the purple one with butterflies printed in front - the one that the bullies at school had gotten torn and muddied on the first day she wore it.

Just thinking about how unhappy she had been on that day, the tears welling up in her eyes as she looked at her ruined shirtfront, made him want to gnash his teeth. One day, he would make them pay…

His dark thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful voice calling to them from the kitchen.

"Kids! Snack time!"

"Yay!" They cheered, jumping off the couch.

"Permission to enter the kitchen and eat snacks, Sergeant?" She suddenly stopped at the doorway and snapped to attention. There was a brief moment of silence before she grinned and saluted.

"Sergeant Juni says, "Permission granted!" she told him and went into the kitchen ahead of him.

"Thank you, Sergeant!" He crisply returned the salute to where he figured the sergeant was stationed and raced into the kitchen.

Taking their seats, they 'oohed' and 'ahhed' at the large bowl of iced gems sitting in the middle of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and glasses of iced tea.

"You can bring these home with you, Sonic."

His eyes widened as a small plastic container filled to the brim with blue and green iced gems was given to him by a smiling hedgehog woman wearing a light blue dress with a red apron. He looked across the table, green eyes wide with astonishment.

She smiled at him as she sorted all of the purple and red iced gems onto her plate. "I hope you like them, Sonic..." she mumbled, her soft brown muzzle turning red.

"Knowing you made them, I bet they're way past yummy!" he grinned at her, taking a handful of iced gems from the bowl and popping them into his mouth. Buttery and crunchy with a burst of sugary sweetness at each bite, just how they liked their iced gems.

Looking at the container filled with iced gems that sported his colors, he just knew that these biscuits were going to be just as good, maybe even better, than the ones they were having right now.


A small crunching noise brought Sonic out of the bittersweet memory. His uncle had taken one iced gem from the pile.

"Mmmm… Yep, these aren't nearly as good as the ones she and Rosario used to bake," Uncle Chuck sighed. Sonic smiled and slung an arm over his uncle's shoulder.

"I miss them… I miss her…" Sonic whispered.

"I miss them too, Sonny boy," Uncle Chuck whispered back, hugging him.

"Sonic? You in there?"

Both hedgehogs stepped out of the garage to find the Tornado parked in front. Tails was there… and so were Amy, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Rouge, Omega, and Shadow.

"Hey, guys…" Sonic greeted them awkwardly.

"If I'd known you were all stopping by, I would have had time to whip up some chili dogs for all of you!" His uncle chuckled.

"No thank you, Uncle Chuck. You see, um…" Tails twiddled his thumbs. "We were just going to pick Sonic up for the next mission," he said.

"A mission that I decided to let Team Dark handle, little buddy." Sonic nodded to Shadow and his team. "Knowing them, they'll have old Egghead behind bars by the end of today," he said, already looking for a way out.

"Eggman's on the move again, is he? Where's he causing trouble this time?" Uncle Chuck frowned.

"Christmas Island. According to the map, it should be a three-hour flight from here," Tails replied.

For a second, Uncle Chuck went stock-still. His brow furrowed as he looked at the team assembled in front of his garage. "I see… Well, I don't think the Tornado's going to be big enough to carry all of you. The winds around Christmas Island can also change their speeds at a dime. You're going to need someone who knows those skies to pilot you through them," he stated.

"You talk like you've been there before, Uncle Chuck," Knuckles spoke up, arms folded.

Uncle Chuck glanced at his nephew, who was resolutely avoiding eye contact with him. "I have. Sonic and I used to live on that island," he admitted.

Tails and the others stared at the two hedgehogs, stunned speechless.

Amy was the first to recover from her shock. "Sonic, why don't you come with us?" she asked her crush.

"Since Christmas Island used to be your home, you will be more familiar with the locals in the area and can ask for their assistance in finding Eggman," Blaze chimed in.

"Nope. Still not going!" Sonic said, turning his back on the group.

"But, Sonic…" Silver managed to say before being startled as Sonic stamped his foot and snapped, "No! I am not going back!"

"Just give us a minute, Tails…" Uncle Chuck murmured, herding the young fox and the rest of the team away from the garage door before closing it.


"Sonic…"

The blue runner faced his uncle, ears pinned flat against his skull. Sighing, Uncle Chuck gently placed his hands on his nephew's shoulders. "I know you don't want to do this, especially today of all days. But letting Eggman do whatever he wants on the island will only lead to more destruction. Not just there, but other places as well," he told him.

"And…" Glancing at the table, with its candles and flowers and iced gems, Uncle Chuck continued. "I feel it's high time we go back there and pay our respects."

Sonic shook his head. "I can't, Unk. Not after what those monsters did," he spat out, glaring at the floor.

Uncle Chuck sighed, letting go of Sonic. "All right. You've made your choice. I won't push you, Sonny boy. Just be careful with my equipment while I'm gone," he said and turned around.

"Gone? Where?" Sonic blinked, confused.

"Someone's got to fly your friends to Christmas Island. Might as well be me," Uncle Chuck said simply, heading for the garage door.

"Hold up there, Unk! You're going back?!" Sonic sprinted over to his uncle, stopping him from opening the garage door. "After everything those jerks did to you? You're seriously going back?" he asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Believe me, Sonny boy, I'm not thrilled with the idea of returning." Uncle Chuck gave him a serious look. "But the Doctor's on the loose. We gotta stop him there before he gets too powerful," he said.

For a moment, uncle and nephew stared each other down.

Neither of them wanted to go back there. Too many bad memories were linked to that island. Too many people who had wanted them out of there.

But whether Uncle Chuck and Sonic liked it or not, the Doctor was on that island and needed to be stopped.

Finally, Sonic groaned. "Well, Uncle Chuck, if you're going, I can't let you go back to that place on your own," he said with a resigned slump of his shoulders.

Smiling slightly, Uncle Chuck opened the garage door and let his nephew address the team.

"All right. I'm going. But this is strictly a 'get in, get out' sort of mission. Don't get too friendly with the locals. As much as possible, avoid all contact with them. We go there. We beat Eggman. We go home. That's it," Sonic told his friends sternly, his back straight and his green eyes steely.

The rest of the team looked at each other, uneasy. It was rare that Sonic acted so seriously prior to going into battle with Eggman. Looking at the blue hedgehog, they felt something they never thought they would feel around the Blue Blur.

Fear.

It looked as if just the mere mention of Christmas Island would make Sonic snap at them. Even Uncle Chuck looked reluctant to return to his and his nephew's old home.

'But why?' thought Shadow as he looked at his blue counterpart. Glancing at Rouge, he saw that the bat's wings were twitching slightly, the only sign of her feeling unnerved by Sonic's demeanor.

"I've got another plane we can use. Tails, make sure to stay close to me in the Tornado," Uncle Chuck advised the young fox before heading back to the garage to fetch his plane.

"Let's just get this over with…" Sonic muttered, heading to the Tornado and hopping onto its wing. If his friends gave him worried looks, he ignored them.

'Sorry, past self. Looks like I'm gonna have to break my promise… Just head over there, find Eggman, and stop whatever scheme he's hatched so you can go home. Then you'll never have to set foot on that hellhole ever again,' he told himself, praying to Chaos and to all possible deities out there that the mission would end quickly.


You can imagine how much angrier Sonic's going to be in later chapters. As for him acting like a petulant child in this one, let's just say he has a good reason for wanting to stay away from Christmas Island.

As for the name Rosario, if you guys noticed that name in here, it's the name of the mother of Sonic's friend. I just wanted to clear that up.

Read and review!

-GuardianDragon98