Sonic Evolution

Unity Story

Chapter 5: Getting to Know You

The sun was shining, the weather was warm, and it was an all-around beautiful day. Sonic, however, could not be more bored. He lay under a parasol in Emerald Beach, occasionally looking up to check the time in any way, shape, or form. He became so overcome with boredom that he eventually gave out a medium-volume yell and ran to Tails's Lab. He stopped at Vector's side.

"Hasn't that thing found ANYTHING yet!" Sonic demanded.

The crocodile shook his head, "Nothing. I think that it only detects emeralds that experience spikes in chaos energy… and none have done so yet."

"Agggh!" Sonic groaned and flopped facedown on a couch. The last time he tried flopping on his back, he got careless and got stuck by his quills.

A pantry door slammed in the kitchen, "I'm more worried about finding food!" Rouge called.

"We're out already?" Vector asked, looking up from the Emerald scanner.

"It makes sense." Sonic muttered, lifting his head up, "Tails was really the only one to live and work here… he only had enough food for one."

"One of us will have to go shopping." Vector said, turning around.

"Not it!" Both the hedgehog and the bat shouted at the same time.

Vector took two seconds to process what happened, and then gave a resigning growl, "Very well… I'll do it. I swear, you two are just like Espio and Charmy sometimes."

As Vector walked out, Rouge called after him, "And make sure you buy a variety of things! I'm tired of eating chili dogs all the time!" Then turned to Sonic, "Seriously… it's just not healthy. How did that fox boy keep so well nourished with just chili dogs?"

"Don't knock chili dogs!" Sonic said, sitting up, "You should know they are full of all kinds of nutrition and tasted awesome!"

"Not when you've eaten them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in YOUR SLEEP!"

"All right… what do YOU eat?"

"Hunh!" Rouge turned away, "You wouldn't know nothing of my ideal sophisticated palate."

"And I don't want to!" Sonic said with disdain, "I'm sure you know nothing about me, either!"

"You know what, Sonic? You're right… for once. How can we expect to be a good team if we know nothing but the bare basics about each other?"

"I'm more worried about you picking my character apart and finding weaknesses to exploit."

"What!" Rouge said with a fake appalled expression, "I trust the rest of you plenty! Your words wound me!"

Sonic sighed, "Oh, all right. Any pieces of information you had in mind?"

Rouge placed a finger on her cheek and her wings expanded and contracted in thought, finally, she looked back, "Well, I've always been curious how you came to be what you are today… and also how you met those friends of yours, you have such a connection with them."

"Well, first thing's first. I just can't believe we have nothing better to do."

-

"To start with, I can't remember a lot about my family, if not anything at all. Maybe some vague remembrance of my uncle… and a sister… or a brother… or maybe both, I'm not sure. Anyway, it is irrelevant nonetheless. All I can remember for an earliest memory is just being out in a large field with Green Hills. I can't be too sure, but I think I lived near there. The start of my life running began one night when I saw a shooting star. It was so beautiful… I had to follow it! I ran and ran, but the shooting star was still faster and I lost it. After it disappeared… I just kept running! The feel of running fast was exhilarating and empowering. From then on… I vowed to run a little faster every day."

"Until you got to the speed you are now?"

"Nope." Sonic clasped his hands behind the back of his head and looked out a window thoughtfully, "To this day… I still retained that promise and manage to run faster every day."

"That's amazing…"

"Heh. Thanks. Now, I had been running for a while, always returning to that Green Hill Zone every once in a while, I loved running there. It was one day when I noticed that there were strange things there. Robots. Beetles, hornets, fish. I had no clue what was going on. I accidentally barreled into one of these guys and found that a small animal was in there! Busting another one freed another animal. I came to the realization that all these robots had little animals in them and felt that I had to do something! I soon perfected the ability to jump and roll into a ball… a prelude to my homing attack. I continued on my running route and found more and more of these robots and just thought… who could do this?"

"My question was soon answered once I found myself at the end of the route, marked by two floating platforms. I soon came face-to-face with a cocky evil scientist going by the name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He called me a spiky rat, I compared him to an egg, the subject of me surrendering to him came to question and I was forced to contend with a huge brown checker boarded wrecking ball. Long story short, I used those platforms and was able to bust his machine. He swore revenge; the usual vows… and that started my quest to stop that mad egg in his tracks at every evil scheme. I came to possess the seven Chaos Emeralds, but didn't really know what they did. Once I thought of how to get rid of them, they vanished!"

"Shortly after all that, the world knew peace. I spent this time seeing the world and trying to keep out of the eye of the human world. During these travels, I came to encounter a certain precocious fox boy by the name of Miles Prower. He didn't like that name, so he preferred to be called 'Tails.' I quickly came to realize that he was my biggest fan, for he was the most flustered I had ever seen a person when we first met."

Rouge faintly smiled. She could just imagine that little fox boy staring up at his idol with those huge eyes.

"He begged to come with me on my adventures, and I jokingly said, 'Only if you can keep up!' He surprised me when he actually did! He used his two tails as a propeller and was able to almost match my speed! I knew he was special… so I took him under my wing and he was invaluable when the good Doctor Robotnik struck again. With Tails's help, I was able to recollect the Chaos Emeralds and face Robotnik again. When I did… something odd happened. I found my way into the space station where he hatched his plan for world domination, and came to fight him again. I had to admit, I was pretty nervous. This was the toughest looking robot yet. As I dodged his attacks, I thought about all that was at stake… then I thought of Tails, my only real link to this world and something amazing happened!"

"The seven Chaos Emeralds I had started to resonate. I took to the air and felt the Emeralds empower me! When I landed, I knew I was no longer just Sonic the hedgehog… I was Super Sonic! No matter what that bloated egg hit me with, I could just shrug it off! I had never felt anything like it… as if the Chaos Emeralds could see deep inside that I was pure of heart and I wanted to triumph over Robotnik and save the world more than anything, and gave me the power to do so! I've come to the conclusion that, in order to draw power and go Super, one needs to clear their head of all outside distractions… concentrate on their goal, really ENVISION what they want, and most importantly, think of one thing you are fighting for most of all, really concentrate on it and how much you want to protect it. I thought… of Tails."

Sonic looked at the ground. He had that look that Rouge came to recognize whenever Sonic remembered that Tails was not with them for the time being and went depressed on her. She really thought he had beaten it. As she thought this, Sonic looked up again, regaining his composure. It looked like he was as over it as much as he could for now. He then smiled, preparing his next story.

"Even though I described Tails, one of my fans, most of them were girls. There was one certain pink hedgehog that stood out more than all the rest. Her name was Amy Rose and she attached herself to me."

"Awww…" Rouge swooned.

"Yeah, yeah. It was cute when she was docile. Anyway, she caught up to me one day when I was planning to visit a place called Never Lake. It is from Never Lake that one could access a place called the Little Planet that housed a bunch of things called the 'Time Stones.' Amy ended up being captured by the robotic doppelganger we've all come to know and loathe at Metal Sonic. To me, it was his introduction. Of course, good Doctor Robotnik was behind it. I got the Time Stones and beat Metal Sonic and Robotnik, nothing fancy there."

"We thought that the Death Egg, the fortress that I fought Robotnik in during the second adventure, was gone. Unfortunately, it only crashed in a place called Angel Island, which was kept afloat by the power of a powerful Emerald called the Master Emerald. Robotnik found the Death Egg and found out about the Emerald. Now for the part I bet you've been waiting for. One more time of peace later, I came to acquire a plane I called the Tornado. Though built for me, Tails fit in the cockpit like a hand to a glove. He loved it. We flew to an island where I could use my Super Sonic powers and really test them out. However, I was not Super Sonic for long, as from nowhere, a red echidna popped from the ground," Rouge leaned forward, listening more intently, "causing me to drop the Chaos Emeralds. Faster than anything, he picked them up, chuckled, and ran."

"Knuckles STOLE the Chaos Emeralds from you?" Rouge breathed, absolutely amazed, "There's some hope for that crazy echidna after all!"

"If you say so. It turned out that he hid the Emeralds in some kind of dimensional rift. Tails and I took off to get the Emeralds back, despite Knuckles's constant attempts to stop us. I had NO clue why he kept this up! It also seemed that he was in cahoots with Robotnik, much to our dismay. We saw that Robotnik planned to launch a ship into space for whatever reason. As we approached the final fight with Robotnik, Knuckles was there to bother us one last time. I left Tails behind and hijacked an egg carrier and rode it when Knuckles was on a thin beam and punched the carrier. He couldn't even finish chuckling before the ship started to blast off and the thin beam collapsed. I thought Knuckles was a goner! I, of course, defeated Robotnik, but too late, for the ship took off! The platform I was on burst and I fell. I stupidly could not keep hold of the Chaos Emeralds and they fell in different directions! Back into the dimensional rift they went."

"I landed on a soft mushroom. I knew that I had to find some way to catch up to that ship. As I explored the Mushroom Hill Zone, I came to a barricade. On the other side was a familiar taunting voice. None other than Knuckles. I was almost frustrated that he lived! I was back to square one, collecting the Chaos Emeralds for the fourth time while evading that stupid, stupid Echidna. When I was short some Emeralds, I realized that Knuckles was collecting them, too! Our paths finally met near a place I had never been before, Angel Island, where the echidnas lived. For the first time, Knuckles spoke to me for real, 'You're only after the Master Emerald because you want to steal it like you've always wanted to! Back off!' I had no clue what he was talking about, but I came to the conclusion that he was lied to, and I bet my top ring that it was Robotnik! Before I could reason with him, he attacked me! It was the toughest battle of my life, but I came out on top. As I left Knuckles to think about what he did, I realized all my Emeralds were gone. Knuckles took them. AGAIN."

"Twice!" The intently listening bat gasped, "What a rogue!"

"I had much more… inappropriate words to describe him with at the time. I noticed that the floating building I was in was crumbling, so I beat a path out of there and ended up on a floating platform with Angel Island in the distance, swaying as if it were off-balance. Roboitnik came for a bout while I was weakened. After it all, he left me with a present… a robotic version of me known as Silver Sonic. It turns out that Robotnik had the Master Emerald and was using it to power up Silver Sonic! He could even go Super for short periods of time! I couldn't fight him… but I didn't have to, for Knuckles arrived, seven Chaos Emeralds strong. He tapped into their power and became a new echidna, Hyper Knuckles. I had a newfound respect for Knuckles, for the Emeralds recognized his purity of heart enough to empower him. He defeated Silver Sonic, but with difficulty, so much so that he could not use the Emeralds any more. Robotnik came for one last laugh, telling us that his ultimate creation was in space, waiting to enslave mankind. He even broadcast it to the world. Thus, humankind knew of Robotnik, and of our kind, the furries, as we are called. I convinced Knuckles that I was a decent person and he gave me the Chaos Emeralds. I tried my hardest to think of Tails… wherever he was… but found that thinking of the whole world, full of off-guard people having their doom broadcasted to them, was what motivated the Emeralds to give me their power. I flew into space and saw that it was not a ship that was shot in the air, but a battle cruiser. I used its own missiles against it and defeated it."

"The battle was hard, so I lost the power of the Emeralds and I relinquished them. However, they did not disappear like before. Apparently, Knuckles and I overtaxed them, so they were forced to remain in this world. I really did not care, because I knew the greatest battle was over. Next to me, also falling toward Earth was the Master Emerald. I thought I was going to plummet when none other than Tails comes in the Tornado, rescues me, and uses some weird chain… thing to grab the Master Emerald. We then swung over and picked up Knuckles, who put the Master Emerald back in Angel Island. We made peace and all was well."

It seemed that whenever Sonic said the words "Master Emerald" Rouge got shivers thinking about her favorite large precious jewel. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Oh, but how come Knuckles couldn't go Hyper during the ARK incident?"

"I… honestly don't know." Sonic muttered, "I think he first went hyper because of his determination and will to protect the Master Emerald. Over time, hanging out with Tails and me must have softened him… plus it seemed to have made him more gullible. Maybe these things keep the Emeralds from thinking he's worth their time."

"Let's not forget the anger."

"Oh, no. I think Knuckles was angrier BEFORE the mellowing out."

"Really? Ouch."

Sonic nodded, transitioning into the next part of the story, "Okay, so… because of Robotnik's last stunt, mankind now knew of his existence, and more importantly… of us, the furries."

"That's what mankind started to call us? I never knew that!"

"That's because it was a little used term and was discontinued… just like OUR term for THEM."

"Wow, I feel so out of things. What did YOUR group of furries call mankind?"

"We affectionately referred to them as 'outlanders."

"'Outlanders?'" Rouge repeated, not helping but to think of that term as familiar.

"I forgot where it came from, I think the way they abused the land… or something like that. Anyway, they finally knew of us and they reacted in a typical manner. They feared Robotnik and had no opinion on me, except for some extreme people who hate change and, in effect, furries. That's irrelevant, so I'll just go on to the last adventure. Tails and I minded our own businesses until one day Robotnik decided to show up in Station Square. It had been a while, so I remembered the first time I saw the good doctor and once again called him a big egg and for the first time referred to him as 'Eggman.'"

Rouge laughed, "So THAT'S where that came from!"

"Yeah, and I took a liking to it, too. Tails did, also. For some reason, I think the doctor did too… for he always started to refer to himself as 'Eggman' after that… I think out of spite. Eggman had come to unveil his newest creation: A liquid monster named Chaos. This guy was nasty. I think you've seen an artificial version of him in or near the space colony ARK? The big round guys with long arms? Well, true to his name, he took power from the Chaos Emeralds. Every time Eggman gave him one, he got more powerful and bigger and took on more intimidating shapes. Tails and I went off to get the Emeralds before Eggman did, but always seemed to lose them. For once, it seemed things were going entirely Eggman's way! Oh, and something weird went on with Amy, and you know Big? Well, he was fishing for his pet frog the entire time. Also I believe that Knuckles was out doing something with the pieces of the Master Emerald. He got tricked by Eggman into thinking I wanted that Emerald. AGAIN. That was quickly sorted out and finally, I think Knuckles got it in his thick skull that we were good people to be around. I forgot when, but during this time I saw a vision. I can barely remember it now, but I do remember who the vision was about… some female echidna named Tikal."

Hearing the name "Tikal" gave Rouge a feeling of déjà vu… somehow.

"She told me that I had to stop the impending evil or the world would be in peril and all that stuff. I, of course, took it to heart and upped my efforts to find the Emeralds. Unfortunately… Chaos ended up having them all. I somehow tapped into the power of the Chaos Emeralds anyway and was able to go Super and defeat that monster. After all that, well, that's about when you appeared."

"Well," Rouge said, "That IS quite a story… and life you've lead, Sonic."

"I like to think of it as a life well spent. I think I'd go nuts if the world weren't in danger for more than a week. Well, that's all from my end. You're turn."

Rouge looked up with a start. She hadn't expected to have a "turn." She exhaled and rolled her eyes in reluctance, but finally seemed to relax enough to begin her story.

-

"Just like you, Sonic, I don't remember my family… maybe because I had none TO remember. Yes, I was an orphan. In the early years of my life, all I owned… was this."

Rouge reached into a back pocket and took out a purely pink heart-shaped jewel.

"Woahh…" Sonic swooned, the light from the jewel reflecting of his emerald eyes, "That jewel is awesome… I don't even think the Chaos Emeralds reflect light so well. Can I see it?"

Rouge looked up at Sonic as if what he had asked of her was offensive. She then looked back to the jewel, then eventually said, "Sure…" and slowly held it out to Sonic. When the blue hedgehog picked up the jewel, causing it to leave Rouge's being entirely, the bat seemed to cringe. After Sonic had scanned the jewel, which did not take long, he gave it back to Rouge, who looked like a lung had been given back to her after being ripped out.

"I guess that jewel is all the world to you?" Sonic asked.

Rouge seemed to embrace the jewel as if it were a loved one and nodded, "Don't laugh. It's the closest thing I have to family."

Sonic leaned back with his hands behind his head, "I'm not laughing. I'd never understand."

"Oh." Rouge merely stated. People had laughed before at the concept of a jewel being family. She thought for sure Sonic would.

"Go on." Sonic encouraged.

"Oh! Well, I used to associate with some other… female furries and they all had jewels, too. All they would do, though, is squeal over them, then toss them away! They knew nothing about what owning jewels entailed. I was furious at them! I thought that if I gave them MY jewel, they'd break it! Somehow… I knew that only I knew the REAL value of a jewel and those others, well, they did not deserve them. I started to feel like not only this one jewel, but ALL jewels belonged to me! That way, I'd have family all over the world and not be alone any more! However, there were seven such jewels that I only heard rumors about, but was told I'd never see them… the Chaos Emeralds. I knew that my life would be complete if I could have those. As I lived with these thoughts, word spread throughout furrykind about a certain blue hedgehog who saved the world."

Sonic perked up, "I think I'm going to like this part of the story!"

"Maybe. As I was saying, word of you spread and I heard all about your adventures in thwarting the evil scientist. Most notably I heard of your ability to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds. I knew that you were something else."

"Aww, stop." Sonic waved a hand in faked embarrassment.

"I think I will." Rouge folded her arms. Sonic grinned and rolled his eyes at that, "I knew that I had to be like you in some way. Thus, I developed MY attitude and decided to become a jewel thief to reclaim all the jewels that were rightfully mine!"

"You imitate a hero by becoming a thief?"

"I didn't SAY that I based the attitude off of you! Your example merely inspired me."

-

It was a bit of time later and Vector still hadn't come back. Per that, Rouge decided talking to Sonic was better than silence.

"You know, Sonic." Rouge started, "Despite the fact that you nearly killed me in the process, that little spout of fury and sorrow because of Knuckles and Tails was rather sensitive of you. I never really thought you had it in you."

"It takes a lot to make me lose my cool. If I have any control of a situation, I can remain calm. If I have no control and something bad happens, I react accordingly."

"Now really, Sonic. I'm sure that you've felt something close to panic or despair, or at least have been flustered at any time!"

Sonic looked around, and then said, "Mmmm… nope. Save my outburst, that is."

"Oh come ON! You can't tell me that you have never been nervous about impending doom?"

"I've always had the ability to stop it!"

The door to Tails's lab opened and heavy footfalls signified the return of Vector.

"Hi guys! I brought-"

"Not now!" Rouge interrupted, "We're in the middle of something!" Then to Sonic, "So, you're saying that if you have any control over a given situation, that you can be completely calm and articulate?"

"I'm glad you finally understand!" Sonic folded his arms in triumph.

Rouge looked around for a bit, then an idea seemed to strike her just as she carried it out. She reached out and grabbed Sonic's head. She then pulled it in so that her lips firmly pressed against his.

"WOAH!" Vector blurted.

Rouge quickly pushed Sonic away, then took her own turn looking smug, "Well, Sonic. You have complete control over your reaction to that… what do you say?"

Sonic, however, could only stare blankly, muzzle ablaze in a blush, and only muttering single-syllable sounds.

"I knew it! Tough guy." Rouge grinned, and then walked over to where Vector had put down the food, "Hey, you got some instant noodles! I know what I'll have for dinner! I think I'll rest for a bit. Ciao, boys."

The bat laughed softly as she exited the room. Vector looked from the doorway where Rouge had exited to Sonic, "Wow… my back is smoother than your reaction."

"Oh, hush." Sonic muttered. He was mortified not that it happened, but more that it left him with a buzz that made him want more.