Sonic the Hedgehog: The Chaos Project

Premiere Event

Crisis of Chaos Part 1

Written by ChaosProjectAuthor

The eve of Earth's demise—December 30th, 11:00 PM, 0 years B.E.

Somewhere near the Mystic Ruins

Sonic the Hedgehog sits cross-legged in a dimly-lit room, his eyes closed. The yellow Chaos Emerald sits in front of him. He breathes in through his nose. He breathes out through his mouth. In…and out… His ear twitches. He reaches up to scratch it, then returns to his original pose. In…and out… Suddenly he grunts aloud, "This isn't working! This'll never work!"

Another voice speaks from next to him, "Patience, Controller Sonic. This is not something you can rush." Sitting close to the center of the room is another hedgehog, with yellow fur. He has five spikes around his head, which come out at a slight upward angle, then continue almost straight downwards. He also has his eyes closed, in a meditative stance. "Just close your eyes and focus on your breathing. With the Chaos Emerald here, I'm certain that you can succeed."

"You're right." Sonic closes his eyes again. "Chaos? …How will I know? What will I see?"

The other hedgehog, Chaos, responds, "When it happens, you will know. But what you see cannot be known until you see it. Now, concentrate."

A third, familiar voice grumbles from the other side of the room, "If you two chatterboxes are finished, some of us are trying to meditate." Shadow the Hedgehog sits on the opposite side of Chaos from Sonic.

Both Chaos and Sonic ignore him, and return to their own meditation. Sonic breathes in…and out… And in…and out… The Emerald in front of him seems to increase in the intensity of its glow. Sonic breathes again…and again…and again. And as he releases another breath, the sound of it continues, and seems to increase in depth and volume until it surrounds him entirely, like the sound of a raging river. As he opens his eyes, he sees that he seems to be floating in some sort of endless void, the room around him disappeared. As he looks more closely, he can see that the void seems to flow around him. It seems to be composed of some sort of energy, which is white in most places, and black in some others. The light and the darkness flow around each other, constantly changing in size and form. "Where…where am I?" His voice echoes. He begins to float forwards through the void. "This must be what Chaos was talking about. What I'm seeing…must be the flow of Chaos Energy itself." As he progresses, the balance between the light energy and darkness energy continuously changes, though the light always remains in the majority. "What was it that he told me…?" As he thinks back, he has a memory of Chaos speaking to him. "When you first enter the Flow of Chaos, what you will see will be a representation of your own light and darkness. In time, you may learn to take a wider view, of the energies of others, or of the world." "So this is my own energy…and going forward…must be forward in time!" He looks on at the energy around him with renewed interest. As he does, he notices a sudden, almost overwhelming amount of light. But he can barely give a smirk before the light is replaced by almost as much darkness, but again only for an instant. Everything returns to a more balanced state. Undeterred, Sonic picks up speed, and the flowing energy around transforms more rapidly as a result. He starts moving faster and faster, trying to take in as much as he can. But suddenly, everything ends. There seems to be no energy at all, light nor dark, only nothingness. Sonic stops moving, and looks around with concern. "There's nothing here… My own Chaos Energy…I don't have any anymore… Does that mean that this is where I… So soon?" He takes one last look around, but still sees nothing.

Sonic opens his eyes. Even though he felt as if he had floated forwards for miles, he still remains cross-legged in the same dimly-lit room. All is silent. He looks over to Chaos, who appears to be wincing almost as if he were in pain. And his fur turns almost sickly green. "Chaos! What's wrong!?"

Chaos opens his eyes with a start and lets out a pained gasp. He mutters something almost inaudibly.

"What?"

"The Darkness is coming. The Darkness is coming!"

—–—

Shadow the Hedgehog sits cross-legged on the floor of a dimly-lit room, with Chaos to his right. He seems to be in deep focus. But he winces as Sonic suddenly shouts from the other side of the room, "This isn't working! This'll never work!"

Shadow does his best to ignore the response, and renews his focus. He slips into another flashback of himself with his creator. "Professor…what exactly is Chaos Control?" "Well that's a very interesting question, Shadow. As you can imagine, I have done much research into the nature of Chaos and the Chaos Emeralds, but I've come out with little to show for it. But I can tell you this much: based on my studies, the Energy of Chaos morphs and flows through channels as it moves around the universe—in four dimensions, if my calculations are correct—and the Chaos Emeralds are like…nodes in the great vessel system of Chaos. When you use Chaos Control, you are taken in through such a node, and are instantaneously transferred through a channel to a destination of your choice. Though more difficult and slightly less effective, it is possible to access a channel without the help of a Chaos Emerald. And that is what we'll be working on today…" Shadow is pulled out of the memory to the sound of "When it happens, you will know. But what you see cannot be known until you see it. Now, concentrate."

Fed up with being distracted, Shadow grunts through his teeth, "If you two chatterboxes are finished, some of us are trying to meditate." The other two ignore him, but return to their meditation. Shadow does the same. "I just have to concentrate…" He begins a series of deep breaths. In…and out… In…and out… Just as with Sonic, his outward breath grows in depth and volume until it resembles the sound of moving water all around him. He looks around with moderate curiosity. His surrounding's also appear much like Sonic's. All around, energy of light and darkness morphs and flows. But unlike Sonic's, the movement of these energies appears completely erratic and random, the light and darkness constantly overtaking each other completely unpredictably. "This must be…my Chaos Energy…" He begins traveling forwards. As he does, random brief spikes in light and darkness can be seen, returning to a balanced state just as quickly. However, as time goes on, the midpoint gains more and more darkness, and the spikes of light become fewer and farther between. Shadow seems to be somewhat concerned by this. Then all at once, the light and darkness energies seem to separate, one on each side of him, as the light grows large enough to equal and parallel the darkness. Then, the light begins to forcefully push against the darkness, enough that nearly the entire void seems to be filled with a blinding light. Shadow gazes upon the light in awe. "So much light…this can only mean that I'm…happy." And then…he smiles.

Shadow is pulled out of the vision and back into the dim room, still smiling. As he opens his eyes, he wipes the smile from his face, looking around in slight panic to ensure that no one saw. The others are still meditating. But then, Chaos begins to shudder, as his fur turns green. Sonic, now awake, shouts, "Chaos! What's wrong!?"

Chaos opens his eyes with a start and lets out a pained gasp. He mutters something almost inaudibly.

"What?"

"The Darkness is coming. The Darkness is coming!"

—–—

"Now, concentrate." Chaos turns back to resume his own meditation.

From his side, Shadow grumbles "If you two chatterboxes are finished, some of us are trying to meditate." Chaos ignores him. Just as he's instructed, he begins his own deep breathing. Within a single breath the world around him begins to dissolve to the sound of flowing Chaos Energy. Chaos' void is a sea of calm. Perfectly even amounts of light and darkness swirl around each other in a slow, rhythmic fashion. Rather than proceed forwards, he begins to float upwards, and his own energy recedes away beneath him. As he rises farther, his part of the greater whole becomes more evident, the center of a vast ocean of indiscernible grey. "The Chaos Energy…of the entire world… Now show me the world's future…" Ever so slowly, Chaos begins to drift forwards. As he does, he notices something strange. Far down below him, a patch of grey begins to turn darker. The darkness thickens and spreads, as if corrupting all of the light in the world. Within moments, the sea of grey has become a sea of darkness. Chaos glares at it in horror, his fur turning green in fear. "This event…it was not meant to happen. Or else it would already have been there. But it has just formed. Something has changed… I must warn the others."

"Chaos! What's wrong!?" Chaos is torn away from the horrific sight.

He opens his eyes with a start and lets out a pained gasp. He mutters almost inaudibly, "The Darkness…"

"What?"

"The Darkness is coming. The Darkness is coming!"

Shadow demands, "What do you mean!? What Darkness!?"

"A catastrophe, the likes of which the world has not seen in millennia! The world will be consumed in Darkness within days if we do nothing!"

Sonic resolutely stands. "Then let's do something!"

Chaos and Shadow stand as well. Chaos thinks on what he saw for another moment, and his fur begins to turn yellow. "We should split up. I can't confirm a relevant location yet. I must meditate on this further. Somewhere that Chaos Energy flows abundantly."

"In the Mystic Ruins, not too far from here, there's an ancient Echidna shrine. That should do for your meditation. As for me…when it comes to catastrophe, you don't need more than one guess on who I suspect. I'm going after Eggman, with Tails' help."

"Very good. I'll go to the Mystic Ruins, then. And Shadow?"

Shadow responds, "The Doctor may try, but I don't think it's very likely that he can successfully end the world. I have someone else in mind. It doesn't surprise me that he would be back to full health by now. I'm going to track him down."

Chaos nods. "Then it's settled. Shadow…you should take the Emerald. I don't need it, and I believe that Sonic can make do without it." Shadow nods and picks up the Chaos Emerald from the floor. "With any luck, we will end this before it can begin." He pulls out two small earpiece radios, and hands one to each of them. "We should stay in contact. I wish you both the best of luck."

They each fasten on a radio. As Sonic finishes, he puts a hand on Chaos' shoulder. "Chaos…thank you. For everything you've done for me. For us." He glances over at Shadow for a moment. "You've helped us find our way. That's something…we can never repay."

This time, his fur begins to turn purple. "I do not need your gratitude. It was my duty to serve you from the very beginning." Now it turns light blue. "And Shadow…you have taught me something. You have redefined what I believe is possible. It was my absolute pleasure to teach you." Slightly embarrassed, Shadow grunts in affirmation. Chaos' fur now returns to yellow. "Now, we have work to do. Let's get on with it!" At that, he turns and runs out of the building, with an unnaturally high speed.

Outside, it is cold and dark. Storm clouds loom in the sky. Behind the building is a series of high cliffs, with a few cave openings visible, and one noticeable waterfall. In front of Chaos is the open sea, with an elevated subway platform stretching above the shore. Chaos runs off to the left, towards the jungle.

—–—

Sonic is about to run out after Chaos, but Shadow stops him. "Sonic…when I was meditating, I successfully entered the Flow of Chaos. And I saw–"

"I saw something too, Shadow. But we can talk about it later, we have to get this done first." Shadow is about to say something, but he stops as Sonic runs out, even faster than Chaos did. He sighs and shakes his head, then skates out after the other two.

—–—

Hidden Base, Eggmanland

Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik carefully steps forward across the metal floor. At a distance in front of him, Shadow the Hedgehog appears to be staring at a collage of digital screens spread across the large wall in front of him. Some of the screens show moving videos while others show still images, but nothing on the screens can be properly made out from this distance and angle. Eggman takes another step.

As the hedgehog suddenly turns to face Eggman, it becomes clear that he is definitely not Shadow. "Chaos Frost!" As the hedgehog shouts and lifts the white Chaos Emerald above his head, the air around him seems to condense into a swarm of pointed ice shards. With a wave of his hand, the shards fly forward at high speed, straight towards Eggman, who flinches and moves to protect his face. But nothing happens.

Eggman slowly opens his eyes and moves his arms away, and sees that the deadly ice shards are hovering inches from his face. "It's very rude to sneak up on someone, you know." The hedgehog steps towards Eggman, into more adequate light. Though his shape seems much like Shadow's, his appearance is quite different. His fur is primarily a silvery white, with streaks of green in his spikes. His eyes are yellow, his gloves are turquoise-blue, and his socks and the cuffs of his gloves are red. His shoes, appearing similar to Shadow's, are purple on the top, with a dark blue trim. He admires his Emerald for a moment. "You know, there's something I've always liked about ice. Something destructive like fire is nice and all, but ice is so…pure. So clean. So perfect. And so precise and deadly." He smiles. "Like me. I really should just kill you right now. It would be so easy…" He shakes his head, and smiles. "…too easy. So tell me, Doctor, why did you come out all this way, just to see little old me? I do hope I haven't offended you or ruined your plan or something. That would be just terrible." Eggman doesn't respond, still transfixed by the deadly ice in front of him. The hedgehog gives a slight gasp as he realizes why. "Whoops! My bad." He clenches his free hand into a fist, and the ice instantly dissolves into a fine mist. "Now, you were saying?"

Eggman gets up and brushes himself off. He clears his throat, then begins, "Quite simply, Blacklight, I am here to make a deal."

The hedgehog, Blacklight, responds "A deal, hmm? In case you've forgotten, that didn't go too well for you last time. In fact, I believe I ended up removing your territorial foothold here at Eggmanland, did I not? I suppose that legally makes you a trespasser. Unless you have a passport, per chance?"

Ignoring the joke, Eggman continues, "I am perfectly aware of how last time went. But I know how you work. Last time, you believed that you were better off on your own, that all of your opponents would be weak fools. You know better now. And more importantly, I have much more to offer this time than merely my insignificant robots."

"Is that so? You're hardly piquing my interest here."

"I've been working on something, something world-changing. I call it: 'The Chaos Project.'"

"So now you're messing with forces that you don't understand. You know what? …I like the sound of that. Go on."

"What if I told you that I could take each Chaos Emerald, and multiply its power output by a factor of ten? Especially considering that I have five of them."

"Five Chaos Emeralds…plus my one… The power of 60 Chaos Emeralds…you could power an army for decades with that kind of energy."

"Or, power a much greater transformation for days."

Blacklight marvels at the thought. "So that's what you want me for? My Emerald and my services as an ultra-powerful deity?"

"Oh, so much more than that. You would serve as the General of my robot army, you would lead attacks to conquer the world, and when all is done, you and I would rule over the entire planet. Or maybe you wouldn't want to share any power; you could have a continent all to yourself—you could have two for all I care, so long as our governments remain at peace. Far better than this dingy island. And of course, you could get the one thing that you've always wanted."

"I…I could destroy Shadow the Hedgehog…once and for all…" He starts at a low chuckle, which grows in strength into a full on evil laugh. As he laughs, the screens behind him can finally be seen. Each one shows a different picture or video of Shadow the Hedgehog.

"So we have a deal then?"

Blacklight stops laughing and takes on a very serious face. "A deal? No, of course not. I need proof of a claim like this."

"Ah, very well," Eggman grumbles. "I'm sure you know exactly where my base is."

Blacklight feigns innocent surprise. "Me? Well, you are quite perceptive, Doctor. It's disgusting." He lifts his Emerald into the air. "Chaos Control!" Blacklight and Eggman are both warped from the room. On one of the screens behind where Blacklight used to stand, Shadow sits cross-legged in a dimly-lit room, meditating.

To be Continued…

For these sudden and confusing new characters, you can visit SonicChaosProject{dot}wordpress{dot}com to see images of them for yourself. I highly suggest that you visit the website, not just for pictures to help you visualize the series, but for all sorts of other news, behind-the-scenes details and reviews, and other exclusive information. You could also look up something along the lines of "sonic chaos project wordpress," but you can't be any less specific than that if you want to find it. Hope to see you there!

In other news, thank you all for reading the first chapter of my first FanFiction. I'm sure you've noticed a few things that may be a bit confusing. For your reference, this episode takes place about two years after the current events of the Sonic the Hedgehog game series. As for what happened during that time, it will all be explained through the course of "Season 0" which will come immediately after this premiere is finished. Once Season 0 is finished, we will return to what comes after this premiere, beginning Season 1. Watch for episodes on Saturdays every few weeks.

Lastly, I humbly ask of you that you please be vocal with me. As a new writer, the only way I can get better, and make this a more enjoyable story for you to read, is through your feedback. Be it something you'd like to see more of, thoughts on future concepts to be explored, or honest constructive criticism, anything that I have to improve on is something that I can only learn through your reviews, PMs, and emails. I'll always try to respond to you as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, and I could benefit even more from such a discussion.