Sorry for the long wait. My computer had problems with the evil Spyware, so I wasn't able to use the Net properly. Now that it's fixed, I'm ready to write (or should it be type?) again! BTW, I think I'll tell you this in case you are very strict with grammar: Mario talks in Italian accent, so his quotes are filled with those, not spelling errors.

Chapter 11: Faster Than the Speed of Sound! Enter Sonic!

On a particular place of South Island is a region called Mystic Ruins. It is a valley where an ancient tribe used to live. Now it is abandoned. Well, not entirely… In the ruins stands a workshop near the cliff.

Miles Prower, or Tails, is inside the workshop, welding a large biplane. "Phew… Done at last!" says Tails as he wipes off the sweat on his forehead. "The newest installment for the Tornado is all done!"

Then he hears a whizzing sound outside the window. He quickly runs to the window just in time to see a shooting star flying diagonally towards the earth. "Whoa! A shooting star!" exclaims Tails. "But in the morning?"

The star eventually hits the earth and creates a mild earthquake. "The star has crashed! I'll go check it out!" Tails says to no one in particular. "Should I call Sonic? Nah, it's too hard to contact him when he's out there running about.

At the site of the crash, 9 figures slowly crawl out from the crater created by the star's rough landing. "That's the roughest landing in my life!" says Fox. "I have never crashed my Arwing this rough before! Except when I got shot, of course…"

"So this is South Island?" asks Parry, looking around. "Not what I really expected…"

"Right. I was expecting it to be freezing and cold, like the South Pole!" says Nana. "No!" Parry tells her. "I was expecting palm trees and lovely beaches!"

"Where do we start looking for the reactor?" asks Game & Watch. "Let's ask the citizens around here first," says Roy.

"But eez there any citizens around-a here?" asks Mario. "Oh right…" Roy thought of it. "We don't know if this place is even inhabited or not."

"Even if it is, we don't know if it's civilized or not," states Samus.

Meanwhile, Tails is making his way towards the site of the crash. "I'm almost there," he says to himself. "I just hope I don't…" Before he can finish speaking, an eight-foot tall Darkling appears in front of him! "AHHHHH!" screams Tails in fright. "NOT ANOTHER ONE OF THESE!"

The Darkling raises his arm to pound Tails, when suddenly a colorful beam comes whizzing from behind and blasts the Darkling through its head, and then the entire body disappears. Tail sits onto the ground and sighs in relief. "Phew… I thought I was a goner… I wonder who saved me?"

Samus and the rest of the Smashers step out in front of Tails. "You're safe now, kid," Samus tells him. "Thanks a lot for saving me!" says Tails. "But how did you kill that monster? We tried all kind of attacks and it just won't die!"

"It's because they are Darkling," Roy tells him.

"What's a Darkling?"

"They are evil beings that terrorized the world in the past," explains Fox. "They were eventually sealed up, but recently, someone had set them free again."

"You didn't my question on how you killed that one when we couldn't do it."

"It's the Holy Weapons. These sacred weapons were designed to destroy evil. Because Darkling are embodiments of evil, they can only be killed by the Holy Weapons. What we used to kill him just now is one of the holy weapons."

"I see… That's very interesting… I should take up more on history."

"Our job is to destroy the Dark Reactor, the energy source of the Darkling in this area," says Roy. "That would be grateful!" says Tails. "But by the way, did you guys see the star crash landing somewhere near here?"

"What star?" asks Popo. "You really didn't see it?" Tails asks in surprise. "A large bright star crashed around here some minutes ago!"

"I can explain that," says Fox. Fox gives him a quick explanation of how and why they got here. "I see…" says Tails.

"And by da way. What do ya mean by 'we'? Who eez we?" asks Mario.

"Oh! I should be introducing you all to my friends! Follow me!" Tails then leads them back to his workshop.

Unknown to them all, a flying security camera had been hiding in a nearby tree and was spying on them all along. Dr. Robotnik, or Eggman, was watching them from his secret hideout via a monitor. "So those Smashers are here. Let's just hope they don't find the Dark Reactor, which is hidden right inside my hideout." He gets up to walk around for a little bit, as he has been sitting on his chair for a while and he needs a stretch. "I'm gaining weight recently," he says to himself. "I should be working out more. By the way, I wonder how is he dealing with that rotten hedgehog now?" He walks up to another monitor and presses the controls in front of it. A picture of a red robot with a boomerang-like thing on its head shows up on the monitor.

"Quickman! How are you doing? Where's Sonic?" asks Eggman. "No time to talk," replies Quickman. "I'm still on his track."

"Good. Get this job done fast! Dr. Wily didn't send you here to help me for nothing!'

"Have patience and it will be done," says Quickman before disappearing from the monitor screen.

Just at this moment, Sonic is running for his life. He is honestly surprised that someone else besides Shadow is able to run as fast as him! "I gotta shake off that robot!" thought Sonic. "He just won't leave my track!" Just as he turns his head back, he sees a boomerang flying towards him, so he quickly rolls aside to avoid it, and then continues running. The boomerang flies back to Sonic, but he avoids it again.

Quickman catches the returning boomerang and says, "Give it up, hedgehog! You cannot outrun me! I can control my speed at will! I can catch up with you no matter what!"

"Try and get me!" taunts Sonic, thinking that it will never happen. Then he is totally surprised when he sees Quickman standing right next to him all of a sudden! "Whoa! When did you get here!" exclaims Sonic.

"I told you already," replies Quickman. The robot pulls out a boomerang and strikes it at Sonic, but the hedgehog was able to avoid it by shifting aside. "If I can't outrun him," Sonic thought in his mind. "Then I'll have to fight him!"

Sonic rolls into a ball and launches himself at Quickman, but the robot master is able to avoid it. Quickman pulls out another boomerang and throws it at Sonic, who avoids it by jumping into the air. Quickman jumps into the air too and punches Sonic while in midair. Sonic gets send flying towards a tree, but he kicks his feet against the tree trunk and launches himself toward Quickman, giving him a strong punch. Quickman was able to counter it by grabbing his fist and tossing him aside.

Just as Sonic hits the ground, Quickman throws a couple of boomerang at him again. Sonic quickly rolls aside to avoid it. Quickman instantly charges at him and slashes him across the waist with his boomerang. Sonic collapse onto the ground and puts his hand against his bleeding wound. "Ugh… He's good…" grunts Sonic. "I have never been up to this much of a challenge…"

Quickman walks up to him and kicks him in the head. "You lose, hedgehog. You are fast, but not strong."

"Darn it! I cannot die here!" thought Sonic. "I must try to escape!" Sonic gets back up and makes a run for it. "You can't hold long with that wound," says Quickman. Sonic begins to feel pain in his wound again, and he slows down his running speed as it hurts if he is moving.

Quickman walks up to him and says, "Do not overdo yourself, or your wound will burst open. In order for you to feel no pain, you should just rest in peace right now." Quickman kicks Sonic hard in his chest, sending the blue hedgehog flying backwards and down a cliff. Quickman walks to the edge and looks down, watching Sonic fall towards a lake below. "The doctor told me that he cannot swim," thought Quickman. "Surely the hedgehog will find doom in the lake below."

Big and his frog pal Froggy are fishing happily at a lake. "What peaceful day it is, Froggy!" Big says cheerfully to Froggy. "Nothing has happened so far! We got a whole day of fishing ahead of us!" At this moment, he sees someone falling into the lake a few meters away. "Hey… That person who fell down is blue… Can it be Sonic?" thought Big. Big quickly puts on his inflatable swimming ring and jumps into the lake, and then he paddles towards victim. When he got there, he is shocked to see Sonic in the water! And what's even shocking is the water around him is red! "Sonic!" gasps Big. "What happened to you!" He quickly reaches down into the water and pulls Sonic up, and then carries him onto dry land.

Tails is showing the Smashers around his workshop. "This is the garage, where I weld and build machines," says Tails. "In that room over there is where I put my tools."

"You're sure smart for an age like you," says Fox. "I wasn't that smart when I was your age."

"Come to think of it," says Popo. "I wasn't smart when I was younger. I remember mistaking a dynamite stick for a cinnamon toast roll and ate it."

"By the way," Samus asks Tails. "Where do you live? There doesn't seem to be a living quarter around here."

"I live in Station Square," replies Tails. "There's a train station here that departs for that city. I live in an apartment with Sonic."

"Sonic?" asks Mario upon hearing that name. "Do you mean da fastest hedgehog-a in da world?"

"Why yes! It's that Sonic! You know him?"

"He's name eez very well known! Many people know him!"

"Who's Sonic?" asks Parry. There is a knock on the door, and Tails goes to open it. He opens the door and sees Big standing outside, carrying a wounded Sonic! "Sonic! What happened to you!" gasps Tails upon seeing his best friend wounded.

"Just some accident," replies Sonic rather painfully. "It's no big deal. I can get over it."

"He fell from the sky and into the lake!" says Big. "Good thing I was fishing there, otherwise he would've drowned."

"What happened?" asks Mario. "Da very fast Sonic got injured?" Everyone quickly got up to help Sonic. Tails even called Amy, and hearing this made her pop out of nowhere in the workshop in less than a minute. "MY SONIC!" screams Amy. "Who did this to you!"

"Cool down!" Sonic tells her. "It's no big deal! This cut is nothing at all! I just need a little rest and I'll be better than before!"

"Could a Darkling have done this to you?" asks G&W. "What's a Darkling?" asks Sonic. "And furthermore, I was fighting a robot and got defeated by him. Boy, he was faster than me! Hey wait a minute, who are you guys anyway?"

"Oh! I forgot to introduce them to you!" says Tails. "They came from the sky."

"Sky people?" says Big curiously. "So the stories my mom told me were true! There are people living in the sky!"

"Then you're all angels, right?" Amy asks the Smashers. "They say angels have magical powers! Can you please heal my Sonic's wounds?"

"Hold your horses!" says Roy. "We're not angels! That fox kid didn't get what we said!" Roy explains everything clearly to them. "I see… Such a disappointment," says Amy with a disappointed look. "If you really are angels, then you can perform miracles…"

"And what's the Darkling you guys spoke of just now?" asks Sonic. "The Darkling are those black creatures that Tails said had been lurking around recently," Samus tells him.

"Oh! You mean those monsters? Man! They seem to be invincible! I can't seem to damage them at all!"

"But they did!" Tails tells him. "They did?" says Sonic curiously. "How?"

"Simple! By using the holy weapons!" replies Samus. "Holy Weapons?" asks Sonic and Amy in unison. "Holey weapons?" asks Big. "They must be very broken."

Samus explains to them about the Darkling and the Holy Weapons and why they come here in the first place. Parry notices a strange camera device just outside the window. He flies over to it and stares into the lens.

In the secret hideout, Eggman is spying on them, but all he sees is a face of a parrot. "Damn the parrot!" says Eggman angrily. "Must he block my view!"

The camera flies up a little higher and looks over Parry. "I see… So Sonic is still alive… He's harder to kill then I thought! And now those Smashers are teaming up with him!" says Eggman. "I must destroy them all at once!" Eggman got up and walks out the room. He sees Quickman leaning against the wall besides the door. "That hedgehog is still alive?" asks Quickman. "Should I go and eliminate him again?"

"Don't bother!" Eggman tells him. "I'll call someone else!" Eggman walks into a large room filled with machines and deactivated robots. He approaches a robot which looks like a mechanical version of himself, and also taller. "Hehe… This will come into use," says Eggman to no one in particular. "With the help of those…"

Back in Tails's workshop…

"I'm going back to Station Square," says Sonic, getting up from his lying place. "But your wounds!" says Amy. "They're not yet healed!"

"They're nothing! I can still walk around!" Then turning to the Smashers, Sonic asks, "Want to come along?"

"Why not?" asks G&W. "It wouldn't hurt to explore a foreign place."

"I hope Station Square is cooler than here," says Nana. They all leave the workshop and heads for the train station. Big stays behind in Mystic Ruins, as it is where he lives.

The group walks toward the station, and they spot something flying in the air. "What's that?" asks Popo. "Just some bird," says Parry. "Look's more like a plane," says Fox.

The thing starts to fly nearer and nearer towards the ground. "It's coming down!" says Samus. The thing finally lands onto the ground and reveals itself to be a robot!

"A robot!" cries Amy. "Must be from Eggman!"

"And it looks just like him!" points out Tails. Sonic steps forward and says, "I'll handle him!" Amy grabs him by the arm and says, "Please don't! You'll make your wound burst open!"

"She's right," Fox tells him. "You must rest or else your wound will worsen. Let us deal with that robot!"

Mewtwo steps forward and says, "It's about time I do something! I haven't been mentioned since the beginning of this chapter!" Mewtwo charges up a Shadow Ball in his hand and fires it at the Eggman look-alike. The ball hits the robot and creates an explosion of black fire. When the fire and smoke clears, they are surprised to see the robot still standing there! "Your shadow ball isn't strong enough!" says Samus. "My missiles will do!" She points her arm cannon at the robot and fires a missile. The missile hits the robot and, too, didn't damage it!

"What!" gasps Samus. "How come!" The robot's stomach opens and fires several missiles at them. The group quickly jumps aside to avoid the incoming missiles. Samus jumps to the side of the robot and blasts it with her plasma beam. She expects the beam to burn through the robot when it hits, but it didn't happen! "This robot must be made from some special kind of metal!" says Samus. "It seems to resists all kind of attacks!"

The robot throws a quick punch at Samus, punching her far to the back. The Ice Climbers approach from the back and whacks the robot hard with their hammers, but it didn't scratch the robot at all!

Sonic curls up into a ball and launches himself at the robot, ramming it in the head. Sonic hits the head and bounces off the robot. "Amazing… The robot doesn't flinch at all! Eggman must be getting better at this!" Then he feels pain in his waist again. "Ugh!"

"Sonic! You shouldn't overdo yourself!" says Amy, concerned. "Let me protect you!" Amy brings out her hammer and whacks the robot hard. She hits the robot as hard as she can and hits it several times, but the robot doesn't seem to take any damage at all! The robot punches Amy in the stomach and sends her flying straight into Sonic, pushing him onto the ground.

Roy's sword starts to burn up, and he slashes the robot with a powerful Flare Blade attack. The impact from the blade causes the robot to fly backwards and into a large rock. "That should do," thought Roy, but he is proved wrong when the robot got back up, totally unscratched!

"How can we kill him!" asks Tails in distress. "Nothing is hurting the robot at all!" Fox carefully studies the robot, and then it came to him. "Use the holy weapons!" he shouts out. "That's no ordinary robot! It's a Darkling!"

"What?" says Samus curiously. She turns to look at the robot and finds out that its eyes are glowing with an eerie purple light. "I see…" She quickly switches her arm cannon to the holy Hyper Beam and fires a colorful laser beam at the robot. The beam hits the robot and blasts it through the body, creating a huge hole in it. The robot's eye fades out and then collapse onto the ground. A few seconds after the robot dropped, a Darkling emerges from the deactivated robot!

"So the robot is controlled by the Darkling!" says Roy. He sheathes his sword and pulls out the Sword of Seals. He charges at the Darkling and slashes it across the body, killing it. "Done!" says Roy.

"Amazing… Machines can also be possessed by Darkling!" says Fox, amazed. "We still have much to learn about these Darkling," says Mewtwo.

"You guys are good!" says Tails. "If it weren't for your holy weapons, then we would have been long dead!"

"I agree," says Sonic. "I confess I couldn't do anything to those Darklings without the holy weapons."

"And my Sonic would be in danger too!" says Amy. "The plural form for Darkling doesn't have a 's'," Mewtwo tells Sonic.

The flying camera had taped down the battle earlier. "Darn those Smashers!" says Eggman angrily. "I was hoping they never find out that the robot is possessed!" He pounds the control panel angrily, and it causes a part of the panel to open, which flings out a cup of tea at his face. "ARGH!"

TO BE CONTINUED…