Sonic Pandemonium written by:
Crystal Crazyshot and Mike Wolfskin (a.k.a Team Icon)
Issue Two - In Every Universe, There Must Exist a Little Chaos
Sonic sorely gets up and rubs his back which is throbbing just slightly above his waist.
"Ah! What on Mobius hit me?!" he moans faintly "And where am I?"
His ears twitched in the direction of an oncoming vehicle and jumps out of the way. Barely avoiding it and getting away from another the next second.
After nearly getting run over by cars, he catches his breath and stares at the his new surroundings.
"What is this? Halloween?!" one of the motorists shouts from his window.
"Just great! I'm being stared at like some kind of circus attraction!" Sonic thought "I'm not some wild animal! Huh?!"
His eyes closed halfway in annoyance when a couple of officers tried to coax him over.
"Why do these morons keep insisting in treating me like a wild animal?" he said "NEWS FLASH PEOPLE!!! I'm NOT a wild animal!"
"Did you hear that? It talked!" someone said from a mini-van.
By this time, Sonic was getting more than annoyed with the "wild animal" treatment and was about to say something when a rope net came over him.
"Not again!" he said with a sigh "Oh well. Time to go!"
Running with the net still on him, he took off with half a dozen police officers holding on to it.
"This is unit 0094! We have a blue hedgehog heading south on the I -20!"
The radio broadcast inside the squad car several miles away.
"He won't get away! This is the only road heading out." one of the officers in the car said " we'll catch that hedgehog!"
Out of nowhere, about six or so officers holding net got piled into the into car as Sonic sped away into the stretching highway.
Minutes later, he found himself being chased by several helicopters.
The lead one tried to fire a net over him, but it was dodged as he sped up and ran past his pursuers.
"This hedgehog is just too fast to keep up with. Let alone catch!" one of the pilots exclaimed.
A large, three-ton semi started to make its way after Sonic and opened up a hidden hatch way as four race cars zoomed out after him.
"Well! Looks like I'm finally gonna have some fun around here!" he thought to himself.
Two caught up alongside him as the other two brought up the rear. With a confident smile, he laughed to himself.
"Yeah. Like that's actually goin' to stop me?!" he said with the same confidence "Ha! No brainers!"
All the cars formed two lines as a fifth race car zoomed down the middle and past Sonic.
"Looks like this one's goin' to be more fun than these slow-mo's!" he said "Come on! I'm waiting!"
His smile broadened as the car caught up to him "Looks like it's the rush hour!"
At full speed it easily kept up with the blue hedgehog and was still at his left.
He knocked on the window and zipped up to the hood.
"Ah! What a nice ride. Hope you don't mind if I hitch hike." Sonic said "It sure beats public transportation!"
The car came to a sudden stop as he leapt off and did a double mid air somersault, landing on his hand and back to a standing position.
Meanwhile, up on a hill near the highway this is seen by a passerby.
"NO WAY! It can't be! He's dead. I must be seeing things" Crystal said as she observed the scene taking place on the highway.
Sonic continues to be chased by the race car, followed by several helicopters.
Just for fun, he runs backwards with his arms crossed over his chest.
"This getting boring!"he said "I'm outta here!"
In a streak of blue, he ran past the car and broke the sound barrier in the process.
"No doubt about it" Crystal thought "It's definitely him!"
A flash of blue streaked past Crystal's field of vision as Sonic stopped by the near by tree and almost collapsed.
Crystal caught him in mid fall and rested him in a sitting up position.
"Easy, Sonic. You're hurt." she said.
"Huh? How do you.... know my name?" Sonic asked faintly. From her back pack she took out a first aid kit and begun to take care of Sonic's injuries.
"It doesn't matter" Crystal said quietly "Just get some rest. While I contact my friend on the I.R."
Pressing several buttons on what Sonic thought looked like a wrist watch, it emitted a low pitched beep a few times before a voice came on the small speaker.
"Mike, you there?"Crystal said into the receiver "You won't believe this, but guess who I found while on my walk!"
Looking over her shoulder, Crystal notices Sonic pass out unconscious.
"Must've been injured worse than I thought,"she thought "he's out like a light!"
Carefully placing her arms behind Sonic's back and under his legs she picks him up.
"For now the safest place to take you will be my place" Crystal said quietly "At least until I can figure out what's going on anyways"
Slowly and tiredly, Sonic opened his eyes a little to see that someone was carrying him.
"Why is this Overlander helping me?" he thought.
His eyes closed again as he rested against her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The door opens to a small house as Crystal carries Sonic inside.
His breathing starts to shallow a little and then return to normal, possibly caused by a rib cage injury that somehow effected the respiratory system. "Hold on,"she whispers into the hedgehog's ear "We're almost there"
Opening another door, she then makes her way into another room that is entirely blue with stuffed animals at the foot and head of the bed and a small television hooked up to a game system.
Crystal sets Sonic gently onto the bed and goes into the next room.
At that time, her I.R. goes off rather loudly as she responds to the call.
"Keep it down, Mike!" she said "He's resting!"
A bit puzzled by Crystal's rather hushed and scolding reply, Mike responds " 'He' who?"
"Look it's kind of hard to explain, Mike" Crystal said "Just come over to my house and I'll explain everything when you arrive!"
Walking back into her room, she looks over Sonic's still form. His quills are somewhat tattered and so are the gloves and socks.
Several bruises mark his entire body and red blotches show through the bandages around the waist and torso.
"Bandaged for no more than fifteen minutes and they need changing already" Crystal sighs "I'll be right back with some fresh bandages."
Halfway down the hall to the bathroom, she hears a knock on the door.
"I'm coming" she said "Be patient!"
The knock becomes somewhat louder, realizing who it is Crystal just tells Mike to come in over the I.R.
"Hey, Crystal," Mike said "I heard you were taking care of someone"
"I'll get back to you after I get his bandages changed" she said "Just wait in the living room."
Mike looked around the room for awhile, it hasn't changed the since last time he was there. The same curtains hung at the windows and the same throw pillows decorated the couch he sat on.
Crystal then came back from her room and sat down beside him.
"You might want to help yourself to a Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator, Mike," she said.
She didn't drink the soda, but it was kept in the freezer for whenever her friend came to visit.
"I'll start with how it all happened"Crystal said " I saw the S-Team chasing him down the highway again"
"Again?!"Mike said surprised "You must have been seeing a ghost, Crystal.
He died three months ago"
She motioned him to follow her to her room. Making sure not make any unnecessary noise.
"He's in here on my bed" Crystal whispered "He's unconscious from the injuries, so we have to be quiet."
The door opened with a slight creak as it revealed Sonic on the bed unconscious and almost lifeless.
"Are you alright, Crystal?" Mike asked "There's blood on your shirt!"
Glancing down at the loose sleeve shirt, Crystal noticed slight patch of red by her chest.
"Oh this?" she said "It isn't mine it's Sonic's"
Before Mike could try to convince his friend that Sonic wasn't around anymore, she pulled him further in to the room. "The police might still be after him in Station Square after that stunt he pulled" Crystal said seriously "Sonic needs to have the injuries taken care of, but I can't just take him to the hospital."
He thought for a minute as he crossed his arms over his chest. Considering what Crystal just said.
"Keep an eye on Sonic while I get the Advance" Mike said "I know one place where we can take him!"
"Knothole Village! Of course!" she said "That's a great idea, Mike!"
In a haste, Mike runs out of the house. Forgetting to close the door.
"And the door is left opened again" Crystal sighs as she closes it and walks back in to the bedroom.
Again, Sonic's breathing starts getting shallow. This time for a longer interval before returning to normal.
"Hang in there, old friend" Crystal whispered " You'll be alright"
She then ran her hand through his head quills, gently stroking them as she watched his uneven breathing.
Meanwhile, Tails finds himself stuck in a tree as he wakes up.
Looking down he realizes that it he is at least twenty feet up off the ground.
"How did I get up here?!" he said surprised.
At that same time, Lily comes walking down the dirt road. Arriving at a fork in the road.
"Hmm. Which way?" she said to herself thoughtfully " I know!"
She then took out a talisman and set it on the ground, but gets distracted by some passers by talking about the next city.
"I heard that cute men literally fall from the sky" a violet female hedgehog told her friend.
"Oh that would so nice if a nice guy did fall from the sky" Lily thought " That would sooo cool!"
Without warning, the tree branch Tails is hanging on snaps and drops him.
"Ahhhhh! Look out below!" Tails shouts as he falls " ahhhh!"
Lily looks up to see him falling from his tree "So! The rumors are true!"
As they collide, the two roll in a multi colored heap. Hitting another tree.
A bit disoriented, Tails sees the blue figure in front of him.
"Is that Sonic?" he thought.
His vision clears and sees a blue fox with orange bangs in her face and a red bandanna slightly over her eyes.
"Huh?! You're not Sonic!" Tails said in surprise.
"Oh! This is very nice!" Lily said in a flirty tone "and so are you handsome!"
He immediately leaps away from Lily. Noticing 'where' he was.
Lily dusts off her jeans which look a bit dirty and worn. Then walks over to him.
"Uh... what are you doing?" he asks nervously.
She gets several inches closer to Tails, who nervously backs away.
"Oh. C'mon!" Lily said pleadingly "You're exactly my type, 'tall, dark and foxy!"
He then notices that Lily's staff has several yellow pieces of some kind of jewel hanging off it like ornaments.
"Where did you find those jewels?" Tails asked curiously.
"I've been collecting them all day today" Lily replies "When I get enough, I'm going to make a beautiful necklace to attract a boyfriend"
She happily hugs Tails exclaiming " And it's working already!"
"Now I know how Sonic feels when Amy latches onto him!" he thought "No, this girl is worse than Amy"
"Uh, look. I'd like to like to stay around and get to know you- -"
Before Tails could finish Lily excitedly interrupts him"Oh, you would?
That's great!"
He continues "but I have to find out where my friends are."
"I'm sure they can wait" she said " Lets get to know each other better and WE can be friends."
Tails was about to leave, when a mantis-like monster appears out nowhere.
Seeing the jewels on Lily's staff, it tries to take it from her.
"Why is this monster after your staff?!"he asks above the mantis monster's loud roar.
"I don't know!" Lily replied " Monsters are always after it"
Before they could talk about further, the monster swiped its giant claw in between them.
A giant claw shaped fissure separated the two as it began to attack them again.
The next attack was barely dodged as Tails and Lily avoided a mid-air swipe. After several minutes, Lily was in the direct path the monster's claw.
Tails leaped in front of her to take the hit instead. When out of nowhere something black came into view.
"What are doing here, Lily?" the black echidna asked "Chasing after guys again?"
Lily turned red and yelled "That's none of your business, Nike!"
As Tails got up and dusted himself off, he saw a black echidna with yellow streaked dread locks and yellow spiked bangs over the eyes.
"You should've just stayed with me in the first place" Nike shouted at Lily.
He held a long, broad sword that was almost twice his size as it clashed against the claw of the monster.
"You know!"Lily started "If you didn't me I'd go on my own"
With a half annoyed look, Nike glares at the blue fox.
"Whatever!" he said indifferently "You can't even stay out of trouble with out me"
Turning his attention back his opponent, Nike slices the creature's arm directly through middle as it falls to the ground.
Afterwards, he then inspects his shoes which seem to read "Nike" on the outer side of each.
"Good. They aren't damaged" he thought "Why do I even risk my life for this girl?"
Sighing tiredly, Nike slings his large sword over his back as if it were no heavier than a bamboo pole.
"I TOLD you to stay close to me" he fumes "but you just happened to wander off to look for a boyfriend again!"
Despite the hurt look Lily gave Nike, he didn't say another word.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he mumbled something about an air-headed girl and having to save her one more time would too soon for him.
Just barely watching Lily, he glances over to her with false interest.
"What is she going on about now?" Nike sighs "It had better be important!"
On the ground next to the arm of the monster glinted a bright yellow jewel.
"Just leave it where it is" he said "Those have caused us enough trouble already!"
"But what about my necklace?" Lily whined "I don't have enough for it yet"
"You can BUY one at the mall, Lily!" Nike said "Now come on!"
Tails runs up to the brightly shining shard and takes a close look at it. "No way!" he exclaims " I was wondering what happened"
Nike places his left hand at his side while scratching his forehead in confusion with the right.
"What exactly is going on" he said still confused "You mind cluing me in on this, kid?"
Tails picks up the shard and faces him.
"This is a piece of a powerful jewel called a Chaos Emerald" he explained "There's seven of them and each one contains a large almost limitless amount of energy."
"Chaos Emerald?" Nike thought "I know I heard of it somewhere, but I'm not sure."
For a moment, Nike was lost in thought as he tried to figure out where he heard about the mysterious Chaos Emeralds before.
"Need some help looking for the rest of the pieces?" he said suddenly " I think I might be able lend a hand"
"Really?!" Tails perked up "That'd be great!"
"By the way, my name's Nike and I'm sure you've met Lily already" Nike said "Don't mind her, she's just 'guy crazy'."
"Hey!" Lily yelled "I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so caught up on yourself!"
"You're like that when we first met!" he retorted "humph! Stupid girl!"
"You know you like me, Nike." she comes back "You're just too shy to admit it!"
"Say one more word and I'll leave you here to fend yourself off against the next monster" Nike said "Just be quiet, Lily."
Lily knew that Nike wasn't the type to just leave her out in the middle of nowhere and he needed her for his quest.
"Who needs that self absorbed echidna anyways?" she thought "When I have someone better!"
She then leaps into Tails' arms and exclaimed "My hero!"
"Uh, Lily" Tails said "Is that kind of a late reaction?"
Nike's group then starts their journey to look for the remaining Chaos Emerald shards.
Meanwhile in the nearby ocean, we find a very familiar echidna. He laid there beaten and battered with scars from head to toe from the last battle with Mecha Sonic. The cause of the Chaos Control led the Space Colony ARK towards the ocean. It floated halfway submerged in the water.
Knuckles laid by the nose cone of the colony's Eclipse Cannon as light hit him from the sun.
Several colorful birds flew above as a few decided to curiously check out the wreckage. One lit on his head and pecked him.
"Go away, Sonic" he mumbled.
It pecked him a couple more times. Annoyed by this, Knuckles waved his hands in the air shouting "I SAID GO AWAY ALREADY!"
This scared away the small birds that were checking out the ARK.
One of the birds flew back and looked directly at him. He had bright red feathers that shone like rubies with bright black markings near the corner of his eyes. The chest feathers were slightly lighter than the rest of him.
"Whoa!" he said " You gotta calm down, pal!"
Knuckles stepped back several paces, surprised by the talking bird.
"You.... can talk?!" he said " I've never heard of a bird that can talk before!"
"Of course I can talk!" said the bird "I'm a Flicky!"
Crossing his arms over his chest, Knuckles looked towards the small island off to the right.
"By the way" he said "Can you tell me where I am?"
The Flicky flew in the direction of the island and stopped to face him again.
"This is Flicky Island. Many of my kind live here" he said "It's pretty much out of the way and we don't get many visitors."
He looked back to see that there was a city several miles away.
"I can image that" Knuckles said "What about Overlanders?"
"Only one. He came looking for the sacred jewel on the island" the Flicky explained.
"He wouldn't happen to be Robotnik would he?" he asked.
"Yeah that's him!" the Flicky said "He came here in something here called 'Metal Robotnik'."
"That Eggman!" Knuckles thought "He just doesn't know when to quit!"
"It was some time ago and it was destroyed by Sonic" he said "It's been quiet here since."
Knuckles placed his hands at his side laughing quietly to himself.
"Hey! What's that?!" he said pointing to a large airship.
Meanwhile aboard the Advance, Mike and Crystal spotted the crashed ARK sitting in the water. "What's the ARK doing next to Flicky Island?" Mike said "It's supposed to be orbiting Mobius"
"It still is, Mike!" Crystal replied "See? It's right there!"
Crystal pointed to the round satellite like object that drifted in space like Mobuis' twin moons.
"Something's going down" Mike said "Let's go check it out"
"What about Sonic?!" Crystal exclaimed " We lost him once already. I don't want to lose him again!"
"Don't you think that it's strange that there's two Space Colonies, Crystal?"
he said " Take care of Sonic while I land the Advance and check this out."
Crystal unhooked the seatbelt and walked to the back of the plane as Mike prepared to land.
The engines stopped as the Advance landed on the ARK.
"Looks like we have some uninvited guests" Knuckles said "Time to roll out the 'Unwelcome' mat!"
Knuckles got in to a fighting stance and looked in the direction of the plane behind him.
"What do YOU want, Overlander?!" he said with a growl "If you don't want a 'Knuckles Sandwich', you'll leave now!"
Mike steps off the Advance and puts his hands up in show of peace.
"We're just here to check what happened here" he said "We don't mean any harm"
Being tricked by Robotnik several times, Knuckles decides not to believe him.
"You Overlanders are all the same" he said "Always showing up unannounced and looking for trouble!"
He then flips back a dread lock as he cracks his knuckles at Mike.
"I'm going to give you fifteen seconds to leave here" he said "If you're still within eyesight by then....."
Not wanting to be part of the fight, Turbo flies off to go exploring.
"Man! That echidna needs to lighten up!" he said " I'm outta here!"
Without warning, the trees starts to shake violently with a loud laughing sound. Following the source of this noise, he finds the old ruins of Metal Robotnik glowing with a bright yellow light surrounding it.
The robot started to rise with dirt scattering in all directions.
"This is definitely BAD news!" Turbo said "I gotta go tell him about this." Back on the sunken Space Colony, Knuckles jumped out the way Mike's sword and landed neatly on the side of the blade.
"C'mon!" he said still standing on it "Is that the best you can do?"
"Grrr! You dare to insult the System Outcast blade?!" Mike yelled "That's it!"
Again, Mike attempted to hit Knuckles with his sword. It was dodged as the red echidna glided into the air and landed opposite off him.
They both turned around to face each other and continued fighting.
Knuckles dodged another attempt another swing of the sword and knocked it out his hand as it was flipped into the air for several minutes before landing blade first in the side of ARK.
Ignoring the sword, Mike stares silently at Knuckles as he stares back for several minutes.
"You're going DOWN, Overlander!" growled Knuckles.
"Yeah right" Mike said "You're the one who's going down!"
In blinding speed they lunge at each other and start to block and dodge several hits and punches.
Knuckles lands an spiral upper and is countered with a several hits to the face.
"Not bad, Overlander," he said confidently "but it lacks style"
"Argh! I show you style, echidnerd!"Mike exclaims "Eat dirt!"
Mike land a punch on Knuckles that sends him flying several yards, but the echidna glides on the air current and lands inches away from where he was thrown.
Turbo arrives to break up the two fighters and warn them about new danger.
"Get ready, echidna" Mike proclaims "No one makes fun of the S.O. blade and gets away with it!"
"YOU get ready, Overlander!" Knuckles yelled "No one insults Knuckles the Echidna and lives to tell of it!"
Just then, a giant tremor shakes the ground knocking them both off their feet.
"What's going?!" he exclaims above the loud thunderous noise.
At that moment, Turbo flies to where the two were previously fighting.
"Guys! Now isn't particularly such a great time to be fighting each other!" he said "We've got a BIG problem on our hands!"
"What kind of problem?!" both Mike and Knuckles said in unison. Out of nowhere, a giant robot in the image of Robotnik starts to level the nearby hills and knock down almost every tree in its path.
"Like I said - A BIIIIIIIIG problem" Turbo replied "And we'd better think of something and fast!"
In full view, the robot stood five stories high and was a dull silver-gray with a black triangle painted over each shoulder. Most of its parts appeared to have had some damage and recently been repaired.
Its arms and legs were sharp and metallic. A little over half the size of the robot itself.
In a mechanical voice similar to Robotnik's it began to speak " This island atoll is now under the rule of Black Eggman! Bow down before your future lord and master MWA HA HA HA HA HA!"
The trio stares wide eyed in shock as they see Black Eggman emerged.
Its round figure blocks out the sun and casts a giant shadow over the entire surrounding area.
Crystal Crazyshot and Mike Wolfskin (a.k.a Team Icon)
Issue Two - In Every Universe, There Must Exist a Little Chaos
Sonic sorely gets up and rubs his back which is throbbing just slightly above his waist.
"Ah! What on Mobius hit me?!" he moans faintly "And where am I?"
His ears twitched in the direction of an oncoming vehicle and jumps out of the way. Barely avoiding it and getting away from another the next second.
After nearly getting run over by cars, he catches his breath and stares at the his new surroundings.
"What is this? Halloween?!" one of the motorists shouts from his window.
"Just great! I'm being stared at like some kind of circus attraction!" Sonic thought "I'm not some wild animal! Huh?!"
His eyes closed halfway in annoyance when a couple of officers tried to coax him over.
"Why do these morons keep insisting in treating me like a wild animal?" he said "NEWS FLASH PEOPLE!!! I'm NOT a wild animal!"
"Did you hear that? It talked!" someone said from a mini-van.
By this time, Sonic was getting more than annoyed with the "wild animal" treatment and was about to say something when a rope net came over him.
"Not again!" he said with a sigh "Oh well. Time to go!"
Running with the net still on him, he took off with half a dozen police officers holding on to it.
"This is unit 0094! We have a blue hedgehog heading south on the I -20!"
The radio broadcast inside the squad car several miles away.
"He won't get away! This is the only road heading out." one of the officers in the car said " we'll catch that hedgehog!"
Out of nowhere, about six or so officers holding net got piled into the into car as Sonic sped away into the stretching highway.
Minutes later, he found himself being chased by several helicopters.
The lead one tried to fire a net over him, but it was dodged as he sped up and ran past his pursuers.
"This hedgehog is just too fast to keep up with. Let alone catch!" one of the pilots exclaimed.
A large, three-ton semi started to make its way after Sonic and opened up a hidden hatch way as four race cars zoomed out after him.
"Well! Looks like I'm finally gonna have some fun around here!" he thought to himself.
Two caught up alongside him as the other two brought up the rear. With a confident smile, he laughed to himself.
"Yeah. Like that's actually goin' to stop me?!" he said with the same confidence "Ha! No brainers!"
All the cars formed two lines as a fifth race car zoomed down the middle and past Sonic.
"Looks like this one's goin' to be more fun than these slow-mo's!" he said "Come on! I'm waiting!"
His smile broadened as the car caught up to him "Looks like it's the rush hour!"
At full speed it easily kept up with the blue hedgehog and was still at his left.
He knocked on the window and zipped up to the hood.
"Ah! What a nice ride. Hope you don't mind if I hitch hike." Sonic said "It sure beats public transportation!"
The car came to a sudden stop as he leapt off and did a double mid air somersault, landing on his hand and back to a standing position.
Meanwhile, up on a hill near the highway this is seen by a passerby.
"NO WAY! It can't be! He's dead. I must be seeing things" Crystal said as she observed the scene taking place on the highway.
Sonic continues to be chased by the race car, followed by several helicopters.
Just for fun, he runs backwards with his arms crossed over his chest.
"This getting boring!"he said "I'm outta here!"
In a streak of blue, he ran past the car and broke the sound barrier in the process.
"No doubt about it" Crystal thought "It's definitely him!"
A flash of blue streaked past Crystal's field of vision as Sonic stopped by the near by tree and almost collapsed.
Crystal caught him in mid fall and rested him in a sitting up position.
"Easy, Sonic. You're hurt." she said.
"Huh? How do you.... know my name?" Sonic asked faintly. From her back pack she took out a first aid kit and begun to take care of Sonic's injuries.
"It doesn't matter" Crystal said quietly "Just get some rest. While I contact my friend on the I.R."
Pressing several buttons on what Sonic thought looked like a wrist watch, it emitted a low pitched beep a few times before a voice came on the small speaker.
"Mike, you there?"Crystal said into the receiver "You won't believe this, but guess who I found while on my walk!"
Looking over her shoulder, Crystal notices Sonic pass out unconscious.
"Must've been injured worse than I thought,"she thought "he's out like a light!"
Carefully placing her arms behind Sonic's back and under his legs she picks him up.
"For now the safest place to take you will be my place" Crystal said quietly "At least until I can figure out what's going on anyways"
Slowly and tiredly, Sonic opened his eyes a little to see that someone was carrying him.
"Why is this Overlander helping me?" he thought.
His eyes closed again as he rested against her.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The door opens to a small house as Crystal carries Sonic inside.
His breathing starts to shallow a little and then return to normal, possibly caused by a rib cage injury that somehow effected the respiratory system. "Hold on,"she whispers into the hedgehog's ear "We're almost there"
Opening another door, she then makes her way into another room that is entirely blue with stuffed animals at the foot and head of the bed and a small television hooked up to a game system.
Crystal sets Sonic gently onto the bed and goes into the next room.
At that time, her I.R. goes off rather loudly as she responds to the call.
"Keep it down, Mike!" she said "He's resting!"
A bit puzzled by Crystal's rather hushed and scolding reply, Mike responds " 'He' who?"
"Look it's kind of hard to explain, Mike" Crystal said "Just come over to my house and I'll explain everything when you arrive!"
Walking back into her room, she looks over Sonic's still form. His quills are somewhat tattered and so are the gloves and socks.
Several bruises mark his entire body and red blotches show through the bandages around the waist and torso.
"Bandaged for no more than fifteen minutes and they need changing already" Crystal sighs "I'll be right back with some fresh bandages."
Halfway down the hall to the bathroom, she hears a knock on the door.
"I'm coming" she said "Be patient!"
The knock becomes somewhat louder, realizing who it is Crystal just tells Mike to come in over the I.R.
"Hey, Crystal," Mike said "I heard you were taking care of someone"
"I'll get back to you after I get his bandages changed" she said "Just wait in the living room."
Mike looked around the room for awhile, it hasn't changed the since last time he was there. The same curtains hung at the windows and the same throw pillows decorated the couch he sat on.
Crystal then came back from her room and sat down beside him.
"You might want to help yourself to a Dr. Pepper in the refrigerator, Mike," she said.
She didn't drink the soda, but it was kept in the freezer for whenever her friend came to visit.
"I'll start with how it all happened"Crystal said " I saw the S-Team chasing him down the highway again"
"Again?!"Mike said surprised "You must have been seeing a ghost, Crystal.
He died three months ago"
She motioned him to follow her to her room. Making sure not make any unnecessary noise.
"He's in here on my bed" Crystal whispered "He's unconscious from the injuries, so we have to be quiet."
The door opened with a slight creak as it revealed Sonic on the bed unconscious and almost lifeless.
"Are you alright, Crystal?" Mike asked "There's blood on your shirt!"
Glancing down at the loose sleeve shirt, Crystal noticed slight patch of red by her chest.
"Oh this?" she said "It isn't mine it's Sonic's"
Before Mike could try to convince his friend that Sonic wasn't around anymore, she pulled him further in to the room. "The police might still be after him in Station Square after that stunt he pulled" Crystal said seriously "Sonic needs to have the injuries taken care of, but I can't just take him to the hospital."
He thought for a minute as he crossed his arms over his chest. Considering what Crystal just said.
"Keep an eye on Sonic while I get the Advance" Mike said "I know one place where we can take him!"
"Knothole Village! Of course!" she said "That's a great idea, Mike!"
In a haste, Mike runs out of the house. Forgetting to close the door.
"And the door is left opened again" Crystal sighs as she closes it and walks back in to the bedroom.
Again, Sonic's breathing starts getting shallow. This time for a longer interval before returning to normal.
"Hang in there, old friend" Crystal whispered " You'll be alright"
She then ran her hand through his head quills, gently stroking them as she watched his uneven breathing.
Meanwhile, Tails finds himself stuck in a tree as he wakes up.
Looking down he realizes that it he is at least twenty feet up off the ground.
"How did I get up here?!" he said surprised.
At that same time, Lily comes walking down the dirt road. Arriving at a fork in the road.
"Hmm. Which way?" she said to herself thoughtfully " I know!"
She then took out a talisman and set it on the ground, but gets distracted by some passers by talking about the next city.
"I heard that cute men literally fall from the sky" a violet female hedgehog told her friend.
"Oh that would so nice if a nice guy did fall from the sky" Lily thought " That would sooo cool!"
Without warning, the tree branch Tails is hanging on snaps and drops him.
"Ahhhhh! Look out below!" Tails shouts as he falls " ahhhh!"
Lily looks up to see him falling from his tree "So! The rumors are true!"
As they collide, the two roll in a multi colored heap. Hitting another tree.
A bit disoriented, Tails sees the blue figure in front of him.
"Is that Sonic?" he thought.
His vision clears and sees a blue fox with orange bangs in her face and a red bandanna slightly over her eyes.
"Huh?! You're not Sonic!" Tails said in surprise.
"Oh! This is very nice!" Lily said in a flirty tone "and so are you handsome!"
He immediately leaps away from Lily. Noticing 'where' he was.
Lily dusts off her jeans which look a bit dirty and worn. Then walks over to him.
"Uh... what are you doing?" he asks nervously.
She gets several inches closer to Tails, who nervously backs away.
"Oh. C'mon!" Lily said pleadingly "You're exactly my type, 'tall, dark and foxy!"
He then notices that Lily's staff has several yellow pieces of some kind of jewel hanging off it like ornaments.
"Where did you find those jewels?" Tails asked curiously.
"I've been collecting them all day today" Lily replies "When I get enough, I'm going to make a beautiful necklace to attract a boyfriend"
She happily hugs Tails exclaiming " And it's working already!"
"Now I know how Sonic feels when Amy latches onto him!" he thought "No, this girl is worse than Amy"
"Uh, look. I'd like to like to stay around and get to know you- -"
Before Tails could finish Lily excitedly interrupts him"Oh, you would?
That's great!"
He continues "but I have to find out where my friends are."
"I'm sure they can wait" she said " Lets get to know each other better and WE can be friends."
Tails was about to leave, when a mantis-like monster appears out nowhere.
Seeing the jewels on Lily's staff, it tries to take it from her.
"Why is this monster after your staff?!"he asks above the mantis monster's loud roar.
"I don't know!" Lily replied " Monsters are always after it"
Before they could talk about further, the monster swiped its giant claw in between them.
A giant claw shaped fissure separated the two as it began to attack them again.
The next attack was barely dodged as Tails and Lily avoided a mid-air swipe. After several minutes, Lily was in the direct path the monster's claw.
Tails leaped in front of her to take the hit instead. When out of nowhere something black came into view.
"What are doing here, Lily?" the black echidna asked "Chasing after guys again?"
Lily turned red and yelled "That's none of your business, Nike!"
As Tails got up and dusted himself off, he saw a black echidna with yellow streaked dread locks and yellow spiked bangs over the eyes.
"You should've just stayed with me in the first place" Nike shouted at Lily.
He held a long, broad sword that was almost twice his size as it clashed against the claw of the monster.
"You know!"Lily started "If you didn't me I'd go on my own"
With a half annoyed look, Nike glares at the blue fox.
"Whatever!" he said indifferently "You can't even stay out of trouble with out me"
Turning his attention back his opponent, Nike slices the creature's arm directly through middle as it falls to the ground.
Afterwards, he then inspects his shoes which seem to read "Nike" on the outer side of each.
"Good. They aren't damaged" he thought "Why do I even risk my life for this girl?"
Sighing tiredly, Nike slings his large sword over his back as if it were no heavier than a bamboo pole.
"I TOLD you to stay close to me" he fumes "but you just happened to wander off to look for a boyfriend again!"
Despite the hurt look Lily gave Nike, he didn't say another word.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he mumbled something about an air-headed girl and having to save her one more time would too soon for him.
Just barely watching Lily, he glances over to her with false interest.
"What is she going on about now?" Nike sighs "It had better be important!"
On the ground next to the arm of the monster glinted a bright yellow jewel.
"Just leave it where it is" he said "Those have caused us enough trouble already!"
"But what about my necklace?" Lily whined "I don't have enough for it yet"
"You can BUY one at the mall, Lily!" Nike said "Now come on!"
Tails runs up to the brightly shining shard and takes a close look at it. "No way!" he exclaims " I was wondering what happened"
Nike places his left hand at his side while scratching his forehead in confusion with the right.
"What exactly is going on" he said still confused "You mind cluing me in on this, kid?"
Tails picks up the shard and faces him.
"This is a piece of a powerful jewel called a Chaos Emerald" he explained "There's seven of them and each one contains a large almost limitless amount of energy."
"Chaos Emerald?" Nike thought "I know I heard of it somewhere, but I'm not sure."
For a moment, Nike was lost in thought as he tried to figure out where he heard about the mysterious Chaos Emeralds before.
"Need some help looking for the rest of the pieces?" he said suddenly " I think I might be able lend a hand"
"Really?!" Tails perked up "That'd be great!"
"By the way, my name's Nike and I'm sure you've met Lily already" Nike said "Don't mind her, she's just 'guy crazy'."
"Hey!" Lily yelled "I wouldn't have to be if you weren't so caught up on yourself!"
"You're like that when we first met!" he retorted "humph! Stupid girl!"
"You know you like me, Nike." she comes back "You're just too shy to admit it!"
"Say one more word and I'll leave you here to fend yourself off against the next monster" Nike said "Just be quiet, Lily."
Lily knew that Nike wasn't the type to just leave her out in the middle of nowhere and he needed her for his quest.
"Who needs that self absorbed echidna anyways?" she thought "When I have someone better!"
She then leaps into Tails' arms and exclaimed "My hero!"
"Uh, Lily" Tails said "Is that kind of a late reaction?"
Nike's group then starts their journey to look for the remaining Chaos Emerald shards.
Meanwhile in the nearby ocean, we find a very familiar echidna. He laid there beaten and battered with scars from head to toe from the last battle with Mecha Sonic. The cause of the Chaos Control led the Space Colony ARK towards the ocean. It floated halfway submerged in the water.
Knuckles laid by the nose cone of the colony's Eclipse Cannon as light hit him from the sun.
Several colorful birds flew above as a few decided to curiously check out the wreckage. One lit on his head and pecked him.
"Go away, Sonic" he mumbled.
It pecked him a couple more times. Annoyed by this, Knuckles waved his hands in the air shouting "I SAID GO AWAY ALREADY!"
This scared away the small birds that were checking out the ARK.
One of the birds flew back and looked directly at him. He had bright red feathers that shone like rubies with bright black markings near the corner of his eyes. The chest feathers were slightly lighter than the rest of him.
"Whoa!" he said " You gotta calm down, pal!"
Knuckles stepped back several paces, surprised by the talking bird.
"You.... can talk?!" he said " I've never heard of a bird that can talk before!"
"Of course I can talk!" said the bird "I'm a Flicky!"
Crossing his arms over his chest, Knuckles looked towards the small island off to the right.
"By the way" he said "Can you tell me where I am?"
The Flicky flew in the direction of the island and stopped to face him again.
"This is Flicky Island. Many of my kind live here" he said "It's pretty much out of the way and we don't get many visitors."
He looked back to see that there was a city several miles away.
"I can image that" Knuckles said "What about Overlanders?"
"Only one. He came looking for the sacred jewel on the island" the Flicky explained.
"He wouldn't happen to be Robotnik would he?" he asked.
"Yeah that's him!" the Flicky said "He came here in something here called 'Metal Robotnik'."
"That Eggman!" Knuckles thought "He just doesn't know when to quit!"
"It was some time ago and it was destroyed by Sonic" he said "It's been quiet here since."
Knuckles placed his hands at his side laughing quietly to himself.
"Hey! What's that?!" he said pointing to a large airship.
Meanwhile aboard the Advance, Mike and Crystal spotted the crashed ARK sitting in the water. "What's the ARK doing next to Flicky Island?" Mike said "It's supposed to be orbiting Mobius"
"It still is, Mike!" Crystal replied "See? It's right there!"
Crystal pointed to the round satellite like object that drifted in space like Mobuis' twin moons.
"Something's going down" Mike said "Let's go check it out"
"What about Sonic?!" Crystal exclaimed " We lost him once already. I don't want to lose him again!"
"Don't you think that it's strange that there's two Space Colonies, Crystal?"
he said " Take care of Sonic while I land the Advance and check this out."
Crystal unhooked the seatbelt and walked to the back of the plane as Mike prepared to land.
The engines stopped as the Advance landed on the ARK.
"Looks like we have some uninvited guests" Knuckles said "Time to roll out the 'Unwelcome' mat!"
Knuckles got in to a fighting stance and looked in the direction of the plane behind him.
"What do YOU want, Overlander?!" he said with a growl "If you don't want a 'Knuckles Sandwich', you'll leave now!"
Mike steps off the Advance and puts his hands up in show of peace.
"We're just here to check what happened here" he said "We don't mean any harm"
Being tricked by Robotnik several times, Knuckles decides not to believe him.
"You Overlanders are all the same" he said "Always showing up unannounced and looking for trouble!"
He then flips back a dread lock as he cracks his knuckles at Mike.
"I'm going to give you fifteen seconds to leave here" he said "If you're still within eyesight by then....."
Not wanting to be part of the fight, Turbo flies off to go exploring.
"Man! That echidna needs to lighten up!" he said " I'm outta here!"
Without warning, the trees starts to shake violently with a loud laughing sound. Following the source of this noise, he finds the old ruins of Metal Robotnik glowing with a bright yellow light surrounding it.
The robot started to rise with dirt scattering in all directions.
"This is definitely BAD news!" Turbo said "I gotta go tell him about this." Back on the sunken Space Colony, Knuckles jumped out the way Mike's sword and landed neatly on the side of the blade.
"C'mon!" he said still standing on it "Is that the best you can do?"
"Grrr! You dare to insult the System Outcast blade?!" Mike yelled "That's it!"
Again, Mike attempted to hit Knuckles with his sword. It was dodged as the red echidna glided into the air and landed opposite off him.
They both turned around to face each other and continued fighting.
Knuckles dodged another attempt another swing of the sword and knocked it out his hand as it was flipped into the air for several minutes before landing blade first in the side of ARK.
Ignoring the sword, Mike stares silently at Knuckles as he stares back for several minutes.
"You're going DOWN, Overlander!" growled Knuckles.
"Yeah right" Mike said "You're the one who's going down!"
In blinding speed they lunge at each other and start to block and dodge several hits and punches.
Knuckles lands an spiral upper and is countered with a several hits to the face.
"Not bad, Overlander," he said confidently "but it lacks style"
"Argh! I show you style, echidnerd!"Mike exclaims "Eat dirt!"
Mike land a punch on Knuckles that sends him flying several yards, but the echidna glides on the air current and lands inches away from where he was thrown.
Turbo arrives to break up the two fighters and warn them about new danger.
"Get ready, echidna" Mike proclaims "No one makes fun of the S.O. blade and gets away with it!"
"YOU get ready, Overlander!" Knuckles yelled "No one insults Knuckles the Echidna and lives to tell of it!"
Just then, a giant tremor shakes the ground knocking them both off their feet.
"What's going?!" he exclaims above the loud thunderous noise.
At that moment, Turbo flies to where the two were previously fighting.
"Guys! Now isn't particularly such a great time to be fighting each other!" he said "We've got a BIG problem on our hands!"
"What kind of problem?!" both Mike and Knuckles said in unison. Out of nowhere, a giant robot in the image of Robotnik starts to level the nearby hills and knock down almost every tree in its path.
"Like I said - A BIIIIIIIIG problem" Turbo replied "And we'd better think of something and fast!"
In full view, the robot stood five stories high and was a dull silver-gray with a black triangle painted over each shoulder. Most of its parts appeared to have had some damage and recently been repaired.
Its arms and legs were sharp and metallic. A little over half the size of the robot itself.
In a mechanical voice similar to Robotnik's it began to speak " This island atoll is now under the rule of Black Eggman! Bow down before your future lord and master MWA HA HA HA HA HA!"
The trio stares wide eyed in shock as they see Black Eggman emerged.
Its round figure blocks out the sun and casts a giant shadow over the entire surrounding area.