Granted, Sonic may not have gotten started this way, but this is how I'd picture him getting started on all his fabulous journeys.
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The only name he would give them was "Sonic."
Truth be told, it was an appropriate name. Most of the time, he was nothing more than a chaotic blue blur contrasted by the deep, peaceful green of the jungle. He lived in a small hole by himself, leading a solitary life. He owed no favors to anyone, nor did anyone owe any to him.
He was a true loner.
And he much preferred it that way.
No one had ever seen the inside of the small cave he'd dug for himself. There was really nothing to see, anyway. He owned no posters, had no decorations of any kind, save a large piece of cold shale that served as his bed. A brown backpack sat next to the hard, packed dirt used for a pillow. Inside that backpack were things that might have piqued one's curiosity had one tought to rummage through its contents.
There was a pair of sunglasses. They were fairly ordinary, with reflective surfacing. There was a pair of shoes, white with single red stripes stretching across.
And there was a golden ring as big around a a moderate tree trunk.
He had never figured out the significance of the ring. He only knew that he had found it in the jungle, a long time ago, when he still had family.
And then that family had disappeared. Mysteriously.
Leaving him all alone, to fend for himself.
And while he was out fighting for his life, he came upon the ring.
In the dark of his cave, his jaw tensed at the memories.
One day, he would get his revenge.
And no one -- no one -- would stop him.
***
Princess Sally, a rather attractive squirrel in Sonic's opinion, had called a meeting. Or so the little birds told him.
The blue hedgehog had no particular interest in meetings. He had no tolerance for organization, and therefore paid little attention to the rules of such. And as a loner, he was allowed to do that.
But when one of those birds included the fact that she was summoning his presence, he immediately was on his feet, running as fast as he could to the Trunk, where all meetings were held.
The Trunk was an old tree, the oldest known to exist, and therefore the largest, that had been continually pecked at by pirds and picked clean of rodents. Eventually it had come down, and the stump served as a crude table for the equally crude committee.
Then he did something extraordinary, if one had not seen him do it before: he fell forward, tucked into a ball, and rolled the rest of the way there.
It was his style. He had been a daredevil as far back as he could remember, and further back than that. His spikes sawed through the thick foliage and dug a trench. The dirt flew all over the place and showed Princess Sally where he was and how fast he was coming.
He had pulled this kind of trick before. Though it had scared her the first few times he'd done it, he'd always pulled up before striking her. Though sometimes he'd pull up dangerously close.
This was one of those times he decided to take a chance.
It was not the best time to do so.
For Princess Sally was not in a good mood, and she did not believe in wasting time on things that didn't impress her.
Specifically, Sonic's style.
So as soon as the hedgehog pulled up and attempted to make a perfect landing, Sally messed it up.
By slapping him across the face.
Hard.
"I don't have time for your games. In case you hadn't thought about it, I asked you here for a reason other than to impress me with your useless mannerisms," she barked.
"In fact, the thought had come to my mind, Princess," he grunted, rubbing his cheek. "Now, would you like to tell me what's going on, or are you going to continue insulting my style? If the latter, please allow me to sit so I can get more comfortable."
"As much as I'd like to do the latter," she said, "I'm afraid we'll have to wait for that. We've lost several scouts in the past few days."
Sonic's ears perked up. "Dead?"
"No. Vanished."
Sonic's jaw muscles flexed. He ground his teeth together briefly, and his blue spines quivered ever so slightly.
Sally caught it. "I don't know why I'm asking, but are you okay?"
"Fine," he muttered, not wanting to show any sign of weakness to the others surrounding the Trunk. He shook his head to rid himself of the memories, at least temporarily. "Anything we know about why they're disappearing?"
"When we sent people out after them, they likewise disappeared, so I'm afraid we don't know anything at the moment. Other than the disappearances have only been happening near the east falls." Sally stared at him pointedly, telling him with her huge eyes what she wanted with him.
He knew where the conversation was going. "Do I look like a scout to you?"
"You'll be well compensated for your time."
"I assume in months of solitude."
Sally's voice hardened. "Look, Sonic, I don't have time for this. We allowed you to stay in the forest in return for cooperation on your part. Nothing more, nothing less. If you don't want to go nomadic again, I suggest you help us out."
Sonic set his teeth, though inwardly he was appreciative of the princess's attitude. She had no tolerance for smart alecks, and even less when it came to this kind of situation.
After a moment, he said, "Fine, I'll do it. But in exchange--"
"In exchange, I'll allow you to stay in the forest."
Sonic pointed an accusing finger at her. "You don't play fair."
"True. But that's the way of life around here, isn't it?"
With that, Sally turned his back on him and returned her attention to the committee.
Sonic sighed, annoyed. Sally had him on a leash. He wasn't free like this. He wanted to go out and roam, not be caught up in some stupid thing like go searching for missing birds.
Unfortunately, that's what he had to do.
***
After grabbing his backpack from his hole, he went out jogging (at his usual pace), searching for the missing birds.
"Sally was right about one thing," he muttered to himself. "It's a waste of time and effort to have less than the best going out to search the territory."
As he considered this, he came upon the waterfalls. He couldn't help but go out on a limb (literally) to see the land stretching out before him.
He knew he was being followed. He was being followed by a couple of amateur scouts. Sparrows, of all birds. Sally could at least have sent a couple of hawks, Sonic thought. But then again, she probably figured that he was less likely to suspect sparrows than hawks.
He knew he had to find some way of getting rid of them if he was ever going to have that looking-over-your-shoulder burden lifted off him. Quickly, he twisted and tied tree branches together to at least resemble arms and legs, and then tied them all to a central branch. Then he removed his gloves and his shoes, put them on the Sonic dummy (though for some people, that term might be redundant), and then went through his backpack and found his other pair of shoes.
He then strapped his backpack onto the dummy, and threw it over the edge of the waterfall.
He hid himself deep in the branches of the tree, knowing that the sparrows wouldn't be too far behind the dummy. Sure enough, after a few seconds, they flew out from their hiding places. They were softly speaking to each other; despite the rushing water, Sonic could hear them:
"Do you think he actually made it down there?"
"Sure. He's a survivor. And he's a thrill seeker."
Sonic couldn't help but smile at the truth of those words.
"So what do we do now?"
"We find a place to hide down there and watch him go."
"What if he's still in the river?"
Sonic became somewhat alarmed now. Whoever that was, he was thinking a bit too much. Sonic might not have as much time as he thought. He had counted on retrieving his backpack; after all, it still had the ring and his sunglasses in it. And the dummy was wearing his original shoes; those shoes were special to him, and the ones he now wore didn't seem quite right.
"No, he would have come out by now. The river's freezing, he might be looking for a warm place to go. The sand pit, maybe."
"Probably. Let's go find him."
The sparrows charged down toward the faraway sand pit.
And they sure wouldn't find Sonic there.
In fact, if they had thought to look in the tree Sonic had been hiding in, they wouldn't have found him there, either.
Rustling leaves were all that sat there now.
***
Sonic didn't want to raise any dirt under his feet. The sparrows had surely found out by now that he wasn't at the sand pit; he had long since retrieved his backpack and the dummy, all of his possessions safe and sound, albeit wet. He chose to stick with the white sneakers.
As he made his way through the thick foliage, he became aware of a strange smell. It was almost like rotten eggs; that, and a little bit of burning leaves.
Yet, that's not quite what they smelled like. Very similar, yes, but there were differences.
And one of those differences was too hideous to even begin to describe.
Sonic thought that whatever was responsible for the disappearances must be up ahead.
"If it weren't for these blasted bushes," he mumbled, as he found the visibility to be almost nothing within them.
He knelt to the ground.
He tucked his head in.
He pushed.
Hard.
Spinning faster and faster, end over end over end, Sonic got up to speed and pushed off.
Sawing through the dense branches and leaves that blocked his path, Sonic came closer and closer to their edge....
He came out in a spray of shredded bark and leaves.
Pulling up, he stood.
And found himself in the middle of a nightmare.
***
Instead of more forest, where it should have been, there was only the gleam of metal. Everywhere. Tall structures made out of that metal towered over Sonic. One of them was producing smoke; apparently that was what was making the nauseating smell that had attracted Sonic to this place.
The buildings' walls were painted garish yellow and ash black, making a strangely appropriate contrast in Sonic's opinion. Almost as if they were warding someone away from something. They would be so repulsed by the colors anyway that it wouldn't really matter what they were there for, Sonic thought.
More metal constructs made their way around the buildings, setting the cornerstones for more and more of them. Almost as if they were creating their own little empire in the middle of the forest. These were almost like metal animals, but there were many differences. They moved more precisely than even animals did, and they were large. Bulbous. They had no evident life of their own. They moved around on wheels, tracks, or legs. Nearly all of them had sharp edges.
Positioned around the buildings were things whose existence baffled Sonic. They were small, egg-like devices that had a gigantic button on top of each of them. He speculated that there was something inside them, and the button was used to get whatever it was out. Still, that was an abnormally large button.
Suddenly, six of those constructs turned in Sonic's direction and started moving his way. One of them flew; the other five either rolled or walked. Two of them were on tracks and looked particularly vicious. Three walked and looked like mechanized chickens.
The one that flew looked more like an oversized hornet. It had the attitude of one as well; it was beginning to swing its tail end around so it could sting Sonic.
Sonic knew that it was time to vacate the area or become scrap. He took off as fast as he could back through the dense foliage.
While the ground units bored their way through the bushes, the flying one went straight over them and started firing metal projectiles at Sonic. Most of them missed, but one grazed his shoulder and another one nicked his tapered ear.
Sonic knew that he would have to come up with a way to get rid of these guys pretty quickly. He didn't even want to find out what they intended to do should they catch up with him.
Thinking quickly, he positioned himself for one of his speed runs. Then he took off as fast as his legs, and the powers behind the mysterious sneakers he wore, would take him.
He didn't know much about the sneakers. All he knew was that they allowed him to run at incredible speeds while preventing his feet from catching fire. Both pairs did, though the white pair was getting small enough that he hardly wore them anymore. Only in cases of emergency would he don those sneakers; most of the time he'd wear the ones that were red with the white stripe.
All this he went over in his mind as he ran past the bushes and back toward the falls. His legs and feet were nothing but blurred circles, so fast that they were barely visible even to the nightmarish metal animals that chased him.
As he sped toward a tree at his best speed, he tucked into a ball and rolled across the short distance. His razor-sharp spines had no trouble burrowing through the thick trunk.
The hornet-like construct that had been following him so precisely was knocked out of the sky as the tree fell thunderously.
The other five constructs only moved out of the way and continued the chase.
Sonic made a prodigious leap, flipping around in the air and landing so that he was facing them. He started running towards them, backtracking his exact path. They moved to intercept.
One of the chickens got right in front of his path. Sonic's speed was such that he simply sliced his way through it from head to talon.
He found himself suddenly covered with a sticky, wet substance. And slicing through whatever it was had been painful. He had no time to worry about it now, though.
He approached the fallen tree, swerved to the left side, and caught hold of one of the thicker branches as he passed, tearing it right off.
He pulled up and waited for the mechanized cavalry to come. The nearest one sped as fast as it could right toward him, one of the machines on tracks. And he waited.
It got within a handful of feet. And he waited.
Then, when it was within striking range, Sonic swung the branch around like a hammer and pulverized the robot's face. Its entire head exploded in an array of circuits and wires. It fell on its back.
The next was was a chicken. Sonic thrust the stick between its legs and twisted to one side. The chicken tripped and fell facefirst. Sonic wound up and smashed it in the back for good measure.
A pair of cold hands clamped onto Sonic's shoulders. He spun around and smashed his branch into its head; he found out that it had once been a metal chicken, now just a pile of scrap.
The final robot was about to gouge Sonic in the back with a blade that was where a hand should have been. Fortunately, with his sharp ears, he had heard it coming long before it wound up. He made a huge leap and did a backflip, landing behind the robot.
Then he brought the branch down on its head.
The robot toppled back, sparks erupting from its smashed head. It hit the ground hard.
Sonic bent over, trying to catch his breath. As he did, he became aware of someone groaning, almost right beside him.
Right beside him?
He got onto his knees and cautiously peered at the robot he'd just destroyed.
A hawk came crawling out of the gaping hole.
***
The hawk's beak was gushing blood. In the back of his mind, Sonic began to regret having faked out the two sparrows in order for him to feel free. Suddenly, he wanted them here. Badly.
"What happened here?" Sonic asked the hawk.
It tried to respond, but only wound up spewing regurgitated life support all over Sonic. Finally, when it could speak, it said, "I... was captured... by... by..."
"By who? Who did all this?"
But the hawk could speak no more.
It was dead.
For a moment, Sonic didn't believe what he was seeing. He stumbled back and tried to catch his breath; through his horror, he had forgotten to breathe.
Then he became aware of other animal parts strewn about. Wings, heads, feet, claws, tails... they were all among the robots' assorted parts.
Sonic felt it coming, tried to hold it back, but not surprisingly, failed.
He glimpsed something orange float out from the sky.
And then he blacked out.
***
When he came to, Sonic found himself lying in the medical complex of the forest. He had bandages on his spikes and his left hand. He could see a blood spot formed on the bandage on his hand; apparently, whatever had caused the injury had been rather serious, yet had gone unnoticed, so intense was his battle with the robots.
His tapered ears could hear the rustling of nearby leaves, and his head snapped around to catch the culprit.
It was Sally.
Under normal circumstances, Sonic might have scoffed, even sneered at her appearance. He had always figured she thought herself far too high and mighty for the likes of him, and that was why she usually left him alone.
He made no such overtures now, nor did she. In place of her usually thinly veiled contempt for the cocky blue hedgehog, her face wore an expression of concern and anxiety. "Are you all right, Sonic?"
He clenched his eyes shut as he attempted not to think about the battle. Not to think that he had been responsible for the deaths of her own scouts.
"Sonic?"
He forced his eyes open, forced himself to look at her. He decided to respond to her question with a question of his own. "How did I get back here?"
"My sparrows weren't the only ones keeping an eye on you. Surely you realized that."
Sonic grunted. "I hadn't, actually, but I'm just as glad that there was someone else out there."
"Now it's time for you to give me some answers," she continued. "The scouts told me about the mess you made. They even managed to bring bodies back... what they could find of the bodies, anyway..." Sally chopped her hand through the air. "What the hell happened out there?"
He shook his head. "I don't know, exactly. I was going through the woods, and then I came up on this huge metal nightmare of a city. The bodies your scouts found were inside these grotesque robots that came after me when they saw me. I fought back, but I swear I didn't know they were in there until I'd already bashed all of them."
"But... beyond the falls is the border to Galan's kingdom," Sally murmured.
Sonic shook his head gravely. "Not anymore. Only border I could see was a border between metal and soil."
"What happened to your quills?" Sally put her finger close to one of the bandaged spikes.
"I did a spin dash through one of those robots," Sonic replied, grimacing at Sally's finger made contact. "Sawed him right in half, too, but..."
"Guess it didn't work quite like you expected, huh?"
"Not really."
A shadow of a smile passed across Sally's face. "Well, I suppose it serves you right."
"Thanks a lot."
Sally sighed. "Were there any other... 'robots' coming into the forest?"
Sonic frowned. "There weren't any coming into the forest until they started chasing me. The ones I saw looked like sentries. Why?" His green eyes narrowed. "You know something about them?"
"I had just hoped they wouldn't be this close," Sally replied, more to herself than to Sonic.
Sonic was now massively confused. What was she talking about? Did she know more about those robots than she was letting on?
Though, he thought, at this point, she's letting on that she knows a lot. A lot more than I do, anyway.
He made the effort to get off his makeshift bed, really only a dead tree trunk lined up next to other dead tree trunks. He'd never enjoyed trying to sleep on bark; he much preferred the soil. Or no sleep at all. "Sally, what's going on? Do you know something about these robots?"
She looked back at him, a resigned look on her furry face. "Sonic, all I really know are rumors, but I'm beginning to believe them now that you've encountered the robots."
"What... do... you... know?" Sonic wasn't sure how much clearer he could make his question.
"Galan told me something about metal creatures on his last visit. He told me that there had been gleaming metal creatures... birds, anteaters, warthogs, all varieties... skirting the edges of his territory. Almost as if they were testing him." Sally's eyes got larger. "He told me that he was planning to go out to the outmarshes of his territory to see them for himself. He'd only heard strange reports from his scouts. He was going to tell me what he could as soon as he got back."
"How long has it been?"
"Six days."
"Then I'd say you've got a problem on your hands, Sally." Sonic began methodically stripping the bandages off his quills and his hand. He could live with the pain. He didn't need anyone coddling him.
"My hands, Sonic?"
"Yeah. Nice knowing you." Sonic began walking away.
Sally became flustered. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Leaving." Sonic turned back around and looked the princess squarely in the eyes. "You asked me to do a job, and I've done it. I even gave you a little extra, too. So the debt's paid."
"I need you for something else."
Sonic sneered. "Now what? You need me to lick your boots?"
"I'm sure it'd be a welcome change from bending over backwards to turn your own nose brown."
Sonic became sorely tempted to fire quills at Sally right then and there, and damn her bodyguards. Where did she get off ordering him around and insulting him? He didn't need this.
He knelt to the ground, mocking a wound to the heart.
Then he tucked into a ball.
He sawed straight through the dead trunk he'd lain on moments before.
He stopped directly in front of Sally, sparing her fur not a single square millimeter of dirt. He pointed a finger straight between her stunned eyes.
"Now you listen to me," he growled. "I'm finished with this. I am not your steward, nor am I some second-class piece of bark you can use to wipe with and throw away as you please. Your high and mightiness is pidgeon drops to me, and personally, I think you'd be doing everyone a favor by kissing my pointy--"
Sally didn't even let him finish his sentence. She'd heard as far as "pidgeon drops", and had chosen that precise moment to send her open palm across Sonic's face.
Sonic was sent spinning, and ended up with his back to her.
He looked over his shoulder. "I'm not a punching bag, either."
"Far as I'm concerned, you had that coming," she responded, her voice shaking with rage. No one ever -- ever -- spoke to her that way. Not even Sonic.
He nodded, as if in agreement, his back still facing her. "Okay. Then here's something you've had coming."
And he fired a dozen needle-like quills out of his back.
Every single one of them struck their target and embedded themselves in her fur. They didn't cause her any true harm, but they scratched against her skin.
Sonic sped away before Sally could even think of a reply.
She stood there, shaking with rage.
Finally, she shouted, "You're finished in this forest, Sonic!"
***
Good, was Sonic's opinion. He was in his hole, gathering his few belongings. He had heard Sally's infuriated -- and rather lame -- response to the quills in her fur. He knew it would take a while to remove them, even with a fine-toothed comb.
All he owned could be put in his backpack, which Sally's scouts had been kind enough to return to his hole. He donned his sunglasses; it was sunny outside and he knew he would need them where he was going.
He looked at the ring in his backpack for a moment, again confounded by its existence. It was a perfectly circular ring, looking as if it were made of pure gold. It had an inner glow to it, as well, a glow that caused the innards of the backpack to be contrasted by the ring rather eerily.
Sonic gingerly touched the ring, wondering what sort of power, if any, it possessed. He had never shown the ring to anyone else, not even to Sally.
It did nothing that his eyes could see, yet he could feel some sort of great power extend from the ring into his finger, and spread throughout his body.
He pulled back, stunned by the sensation.
But he was also spurred by it.
Biting his lower lip in anticipation, he reached out and grasped it firmly.
The power once again coursed through his flesh and spikes. There was nothing visible nor tangible about the power, yet it was most definitely there.
He pulled it out of his backpack and examined it.
It began to glow brighter.
He turned away from the light and tried to drop the ring.
It wouldn't leave his hand. His fingers were open, his palm facing down, and the ring was stuck to his glove. Almost as if magnetized.
And the ring emitted a blinding flash.
Sonic was dazed by the light. He shook his head to clear the stars from his vision, though his eyes weren't open.
He opened his eyes...
And found himself somewhere different.
This place wasn't any more recognizable than the metal city had been. But this place looked like it were made of... of glass and light, nothing more.
Sonic took a tentative step, unsure of what to make of this place. He looked to the hand the ring had been stuck to.
The ring had disappeared.
He frowned, and looked down next to his shoes, wondering briefly if he had dropped it after all.
No. It was gone. Completely gone.
At that moment, he heard a strange song.
It wasn't his ears that caught the song.
It was his mind.
It was a song he'd never heard before, but with the familiar sensation of being unable to drive it out of his foremost thoughts. The experience was unnerving.
He moved further forward.
And then, even in the midst of all the light around him, he saw it.
A shining jewel that stood out from the rest of the multicolored light that toyed with his eyes.
He moved toward it, accepting what he saw only because he expected himself to wake up.
Yet none of it disappeared. It all remained firmly in place.
His hand closed around the jewel.
The song's intensity in his mind grew eponentially. A song of peace and hope and joy.
The light began to fade.
He looked around.
He was back in the forest.
He wasn't in his hole, though. He stood among a dense collection of trees.
A great explosion brought him back to his senses. It sounded as if it come from the southwest.
He raced off to find out what had happened.
One hand was closed around his ring.
The other grasped a jewel of incredible power.
***
Sally was frightened. The creatures had destroyed the Trunk, the symbol of democracy and unity in her forest. And it had been burned and sliced to smoking clumps of bark.
They'd destroyed other trees, as well. The foliage was burned away, and the trees were going with it.
She was bleeding from one nostril, due to the concussive explosion that had come from the device that had landed on the Trunk while she and her staff were having a meeting. She knew now that it had been a grenade.
More than half of her staff was now dead, and the rest, including herself, were cowering behind trees and foliage that hadn't been burned already.
And now she found herself wanting Sonic to be there, though she'd had explosive words with him not two days ago. She knew he was long gone now; her scouts couldn't find a trace of him. All of his belongings had been removed from his hole, and he was fast enough that he was probably beyond the forest, out in the Great Desert now. Having himself a grand old time.
While she and her people suffered at the hands of the very creatures Galan had warned her about. That Sonic had fought.
Now almost half her forest was gone. Had disappeared in a heartbeat, thanks to those explosions.
Her forest was being cleared away.
She felt cold hands grasp her shoulders and pull her from her hiding place.
She struggled briefly with the machine, but gave up when she realized that it wasn't trying to kill her. It could easily have done that where it was, she saw, from the razor-sharp claws it possessed on the ends of its metal digits.
The machine brought her to the burned, chopped remnants of the Trunk.
A shadow cast down on her. She looked up.
A huge round robot floated above her.
No, not a robot, she realized, but simply a machine. Some sort of transportation unit, because there was a creature inside it.
A very fat, very ugly creature. Sally sneered at its appearance, terrified though she was. The markings on its transportation unit were the same as those on the metal creatures, so she had to assume that it was their creator.
"What are you?" she asked.
The ugly creature's eyes were hidden behind goggles with reflective surfacing. But there was no mistaking the evil grin that spread under its considerable mustache. "Your master, very soon, my young princess. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"Under other sircumstances, I might say the same," she replied. "But your minions are rather intimidating, sir." She used the title simply because she could find no other polite designation by which to address him.
"As they should be," was the reply. "I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the greatest scientific genius in the universe. A human, if you were wondering."
"A what?" Sally had never heard of the species.
"Native to the planet Earth, my dear."
"I have a hard time believing that." Sally knew about nearly all of the species on Earth, even those on the other side of the planet. Most of the kindgoms were peaceful and shared much information, even their rudimentary technologies. They were all of Earth. And none of them had ever mentioned a species called humans.
"You would. My Earth is in a parallel dimension, where they have rejected me because I am too smart for their poor tastes. A pity, wouldn't you say?"
"Obviously."
Robotnik snorted, and a spray of liquid blew from his nose and stuck in his mustache. "I'm glad to know you see it that way." He brought his hover unit closer to Sally, almost so they were at eye level with each other. "Or perhaps you do not. But either way, you will, soon enough."
Sally was still stuck at the utterly alien concept of "parallel dimension." The only dimensions she kenw of were height, length, and depth. The phrase had no meaning to her.
But she didn't care, and attempted to press on. "And you have a means by which to convince me without a doubt?"
"I do, indeed. But I do not feel like mincing words with you, princess." He turned to his minions. "Take her to the city and lock her in the main roboticizer."
"What the hell happened here?"
Sally twisted around, and Robotnik likewise shifted his gaze.
Sonic stood at the ready.
***
Good God, it's a metal egg, Sonic thought. With one singularly, seriously ugly chicken inside it. Or maybe he's part of the egg.
He didn't really care, one way or the other. That creature was threatening Sally with his machines, and Sonic was determined to make sure that it didn't stay that way.
Sonic looked down at the ring in his hand, then back at the floating egg. The creature inside was sneering at him.
"What are you looking at, Eggman?" Sonic didn't really think he was accomplishing anything by insulting the creature, whatever it was, but on the other hand, maybe if he distracted that thing, it might allow Sally to escape.
The egg man glared at Sonic. "One dead hedgehog. Attack!"
The metal creatures began to come for him again.
Sonic felt more confident than last time. The pain in his spikes and hand were gone. He leapt high into the air, twisting into a ball as he did so. He tried to get himself spinning.
He landed atop a mantis-like robot. For a split instant he wondered if the robot was going to attack, but his spinning speed had been such that he was buzzing straight through the mech without any trouble.
Another mantis fired a razor blade at Sonic, and he was still off-kilter from the attack he'd just executed. The blade was too fast and Sonic was too dizzy to avoid it.
The blade passed right through him.
Sonic frowned and looked down at his chest. The blade hadn't hurt, and he was confused.
He found his answer. The blade hadn't struck his flesh. It had somehow phased straight through his body without harming it, and it was now embedded in a tree behind him.
Sonic also realized that his hand felt lighter. He looked at it and realized that the ring was gone.
He looked around desperately for it, the pain in his spikes and hand returning.
He was astonished to find that it had left his hand and bounced end over end to a position about three meters away. It was standing up, spinning slowly on the ground.
It also seemed to be fading. Sonic could see right through it.
He ran up and tried to grab it.
It turned solid and stuck to his hand again.
He raised an eyebrow. He didn't know what power possessed this ring, but whatever it was, it was keeping him alive despite the robots' attempts to do otherwise.
He rushed another robot and this time did his spin dash.
He went right through it like a knife through butter.
A bird flew from the wreckage, trying desperately to flee from the entire area.
The egg man didn't seem pleased about these events. "Fine. If my robots can't do it, I'll have to..."
Sonic turned around to face the newly dubbed Eggman. He grasped the ring even more tightly.
A miniature bay opened up in the bottom of Eggman's hover unit, to reveal a dozen small spiked balls, propelled by small antigrav devices and armed with individual tracking systems.
Sonic cursed under his breath, then performed a spin dash around the Trunk to try and throw the devices off. They weren't deterred; one thunked into the stump, then pulled out of it and continued the hunt. Another one skittered across the ground, then came up and flew straight for him.
As Sonic rolled, he pushed off the ground as hard as he could with his hands. He spun through the air and sliced through the bottom of Eggman's hover unit.
"I can't believe this!" Sonic heard Eggman mutter, as he pulled out of the machine and continued to run.
He soon realized he didn't have to run anymore.
The devices had returned to the hover unit and had exploded against it.
"You hit the guidance systems!" Eggman roared in frustration. "I've nothing left for defense!"
"Then you'd better start running," Sonic growled, "before I get close enough that you won't need defense anymore."
He took a menacing step towards Eggman.
Eggman hurriedly punched his controls and left the scene. His robots retreated with him.
Sally turned around and rushed up to Sonic. She bowled him over with an unexpected bear hug.
He returned the gesture, surprised though he was. It had only been minutes before that he'd shot his quills at her, hadn't it?
She looked into his eyes after tentatively breaking the embrace. "I didn't think you'd come back."
"It's only been a few minutes, hasn't it?"
Sally frowned. "Sonic, you've been gone for two days. We thought you were gone for good."
Sonic mirrored Sally's expression. "Two days? It couldn't have been that long..." He stared off into space, beginning to wonder how it was possible. He'd been zapped to that weird place with the jewel and...
The jewel. Sonic pulled it from his backpack and stared at it in wonder.
Sally gasped.
Sonic looked at her. "What? You know what this is?"
"I... I think so, but it's hard to be sure. I've never seen it before, but I've heard of it." She looked at Sonic in awe. "Where did you get this?"
Sonic chuckled ruefully. "It's sort of hard to explain. What is it?"
"I think it's a Chaos Emerald."
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Emerald?" As far as he knew, emerald was a shade of green, and this jewel was shining in the full spectrum.
Sally nodded. "All I've really heard are myths and legends. There are seven Chaos Emeralds. It's said that each one contains awesome power, and combined they generate infinite, absolute power. Old legends say that the Chaos Emeralds may imbue a creature with their power, making that creature invincible and immortal. But they can grant their power only to one who is worthy to receive it. And that creature becomes changed forever."
Sonic looked down at the fist-sized jewel. "And you think this is one of these... Chaos Emeralds?"
Sally nodded, unable to take her eyes off the gleaming instrument. "If we could get all of them, it could mean so much for this forest... for the world..." She reached out to take it.
Sonic jerked his hand away and shoved the Emerald back in his backpack. "Hold on there, Sally. If it's as powerful as you say, then no one is qualified to have it. No one we know of. Not yet." He looked at her gravely. "And we have to keep this a secret. If that Eggman ever found out about them..."
Sally nodded, disappointed. "Then you'll hide it?"
"Yes."
"Where?"
Sonic shook his head. "I'm not going to tell you." He grabbed her shoulders gently. "I saw the look in your eyes when you wanted to take it. You want to have it for the power. I can't let you have it, which means I can't tell you where I might hide it." He stood and shouldered the backpack. "Don't bother looking for it. You probably couldn't reach it in your lifetime, anyway."
He raced off.
Leaving Sally to contemplate the suddenly bleak future of her forest.
***
Robotnik normally wouldn't find interest in these pitiful creatures, other than their use for his robotic minions, but that blue hedgehog was quickly becoming an obsession. He didn't like it; the hedgehog or the obsession, he wasn't sure which.
He sensed a great rivalry beginning between himself and that hedgehog.
But first...
He turned to his latest prize creation, Lambda. It was his prototype for a new brand of hunter/killer robot, which would be just what he needed to get rid of that pesky squirrel and her servants. And that hedgehog.
"Lambda," he said, pacing the dark room, "I have become obsessed, as of late, with a particular nuisance in the forest."
"Yes, Doctor Robotnik." Robotnik enjoyed hearing blind obedience, normally, but at the moment, it was vaguely sickening.
"Do you recall your existence as an organic?"
"Affirmative."
"Do you recall a blue hedgehog?"
"Affirmative."
Robotnik nodded, his double chin bouncing on his thick chest. "It is this hedgehog which plagues my thoughts. I've never encountered a creature so fast, with the exception of my Earth's larger members of the cat family. I must know," Robotnik leaned forward, "the name and history of that hedgehog."
"Processing."
Robotnik tapped his foot for several long seconds before Lambda finally gave him an answer. "Identified. Speficied subject responds to the name Sonic. Little known history. Entered Princess Sally's forest four years ago. Considered a free agent, though Princess Sally has sent him on several missions as personal favors. Prefers little to no organization. Known to be anti-social and abrasive. An extensive traveler."
"And have you identified how he is able to run so quickly?"
"Negative."
Robotnik approached his video screen, where he was replaying his encounter with Sonic. "So, my new enemy is not the princess after all." He turned back to Lambda for dramatic effect. "It would appear my nemesis is Sonic the hedgehog." He grinned his evil grin at the projected image of Sonic rolling around the Trunk. "Well, my blue friend, I look forward to sparring with you. And then crushing you underfoot."
His fist pounded the table.