I will just fade away
I fade away
Just like I was never here
I will just fade away
I fade away
Leaving nothing behind
Sonic had had a relatively calm week since the loss of the chaos emerald to the Mist creature, and he was bored stiff. He had tried numerous things to amuse himself, taking the rebuilt Tornado out for a fly, wing walking when Tails flew it, air-boarding in Windy Valley, Snowboarding in the Mountains (he preferred the Ice Cap mountains on Angel Island), even racing the police on Speed Highway, but he couldn't find the thrill of adventure he had had during the Metal Overlord Fiasco, his latest adventure, where the main perpetrator had not been Robotnik, but his second Mecha class robot, Metal Sonic.
He had been released from a stasis tube in Final Egg, and had copied the data of the 'Teams' formed to beat him, Team Hero (Sonic, Knuckles and Tails), Team Dark (Shadow, E-124 'Omega' and Rouge), the Chaotix Detectives (former members of Knuckes' Chaotix; Espio, Vector and Charmy) and Team Rose (Amy, Big and Cream).
It had taken Super Sonic and Demi-Super versions of his teammates to defeat Metal Overlord, a mutated version of Metal Sonic having used Chaos' data (Taken from Big's friend Froggy) to transform.
Now Sonic was itching for a new adventure but the eggman, Dr Robotnik, had been suspiciously quiet, even to the point of towing away the wrecks of the two Egg Carriers that had been floating in the waters off the shores of Station Square and the Mystic Ruins since the Chaos incident.
"Hey, Sonic!" came Tails' voice as the little fox flew over to Sonic, the blue hedgehog was reclining in a chair outside the hotel he stayed at while in Station Square
"What's up Tails?" he said to his sidekick as he landed beside him
"The island," Said Tails, joking with Sonic a bit, "Angel Island was spotted off the Emerald Coast late last night"
Sonic frowned, "But isn't Knux and the M.E. still onboard the ARK?" the blue hedgehog asked his friend
Tails nodded, "As far as I know, yes. Want to fly out and take a look?" he said with a sideways glance at his hero
Sonic responded by jumping up, grabbing Tails' wrist and running to the train station, "It's too far for you to fly, so we'll take the Tornado from your airstrip" Sonic said as they seated themselves on the train headed for the Mystic Ruins.
Tails had purchased a bit of land in Mystic Ruins that jutted out over the sea, he had converted this into a plane workshop and airstrip for the Tornado, Tornado 2 and the Cyclone.
"Sonic, wouldn't it be better to take the Cyclone? There might be a hostile presence on the island, better to have the walker instead of just you" Tails said as Sonic started to the little, red, jet-powered bi-plane at the far end of the parking lot
"What do you mean JUST me?" Sonic called back, turning from his plane to look at the Cyclone, a hurt expression on his face
Tails grinned, "I mean so many Badniks that not even you could take them ALL out" he called back as Sonic began walking towards the blue plane, slumping to try and seen defeated
"OK Tails, you win" he said in a mock sad voice, he looked up with a grin on his face, "But I get to be gunner"
The Cyclone Taxied out onto the small runway, activated the jet engines and flew off towards the floating Angel Island, Tails piloting, Sonic sitting behind the Vulkan cannon mounted on the back.
The flight lasted about half an hour before the beach came into sight, and, with a sense of Deja Vu, Sonic and Tails landed before the thick palms of the jungle, the Cyclone converting to walker mode.
They didn't see any sign that Robotnik was here, no monkey Badniks throwing exploding coconuts from the trees, to rhino Badniks turbo charging them, no nothing, just the damp, musty smell of the jungle and the sounds associated with it.
Sonic shielded his eyes against the sun and saw a figure making its way towards them, it looked vaguely hedgehog shaped, and appeared to be moving across the ground at tremendous speed, the movement of its arms appeared to suggest it was...skating?
Sonic's heart leapt, could it be Shadow? The two of them had grown close in the short time they were together (and on the same side) aboard the ARK, they had viewed each other as something akin to brothers, but when he met Shadow again he had lost his memories of those few minutes in space, glowing golden with the power of the emeralds, he had even forgot Maria, the driving force behind his motives, Sonic did not all together trust the new Shadow.
As the figure drew nearer it resolved itself, it was not Shadow, it was an orange and red hedgehog, wearing black shoes with a strip of red encircling the middle, floating, and skating, roughly 2 inches off the ground.
"Hiya, how are you? I'm Flare," said the hedgehog as he skidded to a halt in front of the Cyclone, surrounded by an aura of shimmering air.
"Hi, I'm Sonic, this is Tails" Sonic said, gesturing to the Fox at the walker's controls
Flare nodded, his eyes widening and his shimmering aura growing, Sonic was beginning to feel quite hot
"Ah, so you're Sonic, Kir mentioned you" Flare shrugged "Oh well, come on" he said and began to Skate away. He stopped and turned back to the bewildered duo " well come on, 'The Camp' is this way"
Tails set the Cyclone to moving and they followed the skating hedgehog through the jungle to a clearing ringed by huts with big pits dug in the centre, Flare stopped and turned to the two newcomers,
"Welcome to 'The Camp', our home. Kir is this way, come on, I'd just leave the contraption if I were you."
Sonic and Tails left the Cyclone, Tails activating security measures before he walked off towards the hut Flare had indicated.
---
Kir was sitting in hiss hut, studying a chaos drive and jotting down notes, an idea forming in his mind.
" Hey Kir, someone to see you" came Flare's voice from the doorway
Kir waved a gloved hand over his shoulder, "send 'em in" he said, not looking up from his research, he heard feet walking in, "I'm kinda busy right now so could you make it quick?" he told them, jumping when a familiar voice answered.
---
Sonic and Tails reached the hut as a voice inside said, "Send 'em in", and Flare motioned towards the door. They stepped inside and saw a white Echidna with hints of green in his dreadlocks sat at a desk, writing something, chaos drives stood in a rack beside him, there was even a few rare and expensive blue chaos drives.
The Echidna spoke to them without looking up from what he was doing, "I'm kinda busy right now so could you make it quick?" he said, then almost jumped out of his skin when Sonic spoke, "So you're Kir?" the echidna stood and turned, revealing a necklace set with a shard of green crystal.
"Sonic, what're you doing here?" Kir said
"I could ask the same of you, Mist," replied Sonic, remembering their last encounter
Kir sat back down and motioned for them to sit as well, " My name is Kiraol, but most people call me Kir, I am now guardian of Angel Island, my old home. I freed the others here from the same tomb I had imprisoned myself in, now, your turn" he said, the last line feeling slightly familiar in his mouth, he grinned slightly at Sonic, who understood completely and grinned back.
"We saw Angel Island off of Emerald Coast and thought maybe Robotnik had taken over so we flew here to investigate" he said, gaining a raised eyebrow from Kir
"Robotnik, who's he?" Kir asked, puzzled
"Fat guy, big moustache, practically lives in a little hovercraft," said Sonic
"He looks like an egg with legs," chirped in Tails, Sonic turned and looked at him, "What? Its true"
Kir laughed a bit, "now I know who you mean, I saw someone like that getting smashed out of said hovercraft by a black hedgehog the other day" he told them
Sonic looked up, "Black hedgehog? Did he look like me but with spiked up spines and red highlights?" he asked, "where was he?"
Kir nodded, "yup, friend of yours? As to where he was...I don't know, some mansion with a bat girl and a robot"
Sonic took this info in, Rouge and 'Omega', so Team Dark still existed then. Sonic stood up, "Nice to properly meet you Kir, sorry to have disturbed you" he said as Tails got up and they both began to leave.
"No problem" Said Kir, "You're free to come here whenever you want, just tell us you're here, OK?" he told them as they left
Sonic waved from the door, "Thanks, bye" and then he was gone and Kir got back to his research, if he could tap into the energy of the drives...
---
Claws and the other creatures had snared more victims that night and ate well as they scouted out the land. Their mission, avenge the creators, destroy the destroyer and everything he held dear.
It wasn't until a week later that the missing persons were reported in the newspaper, and the creatures began to get bolder...