Glad to see one of my fans recognized that the first chapter plot was lifted up an episode of Star Trek. No one noticed the Quantum Leap reference at the end of chapter 2, though.
Sonic characters property of whoever dreamed up the idea of a supersonic talking hedgehog.
"C'mon, jump! I haven't got all day."
Sonic gulped and looked down into the valley. He could just imagine decaying skeletons of unfortunate jumpers lying at the bottom.
"Um… I don't feel like going today." He muttered to the official standing next to him.
"Oh, for goodness sake." The man behind him said, and promptly pushed Sonic over the edge.
His screams echoed in the ravine, and the G-forces made him feel like he had been turned inside out. He plunged down, a victim of gravity. Sonic had never felt speed like this, probably because of the direction he was travelling in, as opposed to his usual horizontal direction.
He reached the slack of the rope, and hung for a moment, suspend just metres above the ground. Just enough time to take in a breath ready for another yell, when he was elasticated back up again. This time, he had the distinct feeling that he had left something behind. Within seconds, it seemed, he had reached the top again. He bounced for a while on the slack of the bungee, and collected himself. At the moment the only thought he had was "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" He hung there, his body limp, taking short, sharp breaths. After a while an African official came down in a lift and disconnected him, and carried him back to the top of the valley. Sonic stumbled out, barely able to walk, and leant on a large boulder. The official took him by the arms and said "You are now a man."
No I'm not, I just wet myself, Sonic thought. He stood up, still panting, and looked around, trying to get some idea of where he was. As far as he could see, he was at the top of a large canyon, with a small hut a few metres away, where people were signing up to jump. There was no one here he recognized, everyone seemed to be psyching themselves up for the jump. He began to make his way over to the hut to find out where he was, when he was knocked to the floor by a fist.
"Way to go, Sonic. I didn't think you had the guts to do it!"
"Don't hit him, Knuckles!" Sonic stood up, turned to see knuckles and Amy standing behind him, both with impressed looks on their faces.
"You actually jumped! I thought it was just a load of hot air." Knuckles commented.
"Yeah… well, it was nothing."
"You jumped off a cliff!" Amy cried. "It was hardly nothing."
"Well… yeah it was. Actually I don't feel so good."
"You're bound to feel a bit queasy after that." Knuckles said, knowledgably I'd better take you home. See you later, Amy."
Knuckles and Amy exchanged a kiss, and Knuckles took Sonic by the arm and led him away from the ravine.
"Wait a minute… You and Amy?" Sonic stuttered.
"What? What about us?" Knuckles stopped and turned to face him. "Sonic, you said you'd be okay with this. But if your not, we'll break it off. We said from the beginning that if you weren't okay with it…"
"No, I'm fine." Sonic's voice seemed shrill to him. "Completely fine." He went to walk on and walked headfirst into another boulder.
"Okay," Knuckles sighed. "Let's go home."
'Home' turned out to be a shabby hotel room about a mile form the canyon. Sonic walked in and sank into a moth-eaten armchair in the corner. The effects of the jump were still taking their toll on him. Knuckles went into the small kitchen to fix him up a hot drink, and Sonic looked around the shoddy quarters. There were various pictures of sunsets and beaches, hand-painted by what looked like Knuckles himself. The wallpaper was peeling and there were various bits of paper scattered over the floor, and a guitar in the corner. Sonic picked up one of the papers. Scribbled on it in his own handwriting were the beginnings of a song. A lot about trees and forests and shadows. Not bad, really. Sonic went over to the guitar and slipped the strap around him. His hands automatically went to the right chords and he absent-mindedly began to pluck the strings. Sonic had never played a guitar before in his life, but somehow he was playing a tune, his fingers changing to play each chords and plucking the right notes at the right times. He slipped the guitar off and studied it; it was brown and plastered with stickers of the logos of various bands. Knuckles came back with a steaming drink. He sighed when he saw Sonic studying the guitar.
"You've got to give up on it, Sonic. After what happened at the Battle of the Bands, no one's going to want to join your band. A stage dive was going a bit too far."
Sonic replaced the guitar and took the drink. What was going on? So far, he had seemed to have travelled to different places as different people. Still Sonic the Hedgehog, but… not. What happened? Some kind of trans-dimensional portal he had inadvertently gone though? He didn't even know what that meant.
"I… think I'll just go to bed. Thanks for the drink."
"Right, see you later."
Sonic went trough the door with a poster of a band apparently called "DNA: Don't Need Anyone". He put the drink on a table and sat on the bed.
Which was moving.
He sprang up and pulled the covers off, to reveal a huge snake wriggling beneath. Sonic gave a cry of surprise and stumbled back. Knuckles hurried it and picked up the snake.
"Oh, Reggie. I've told you to stay out of here." He whispered to her. Sonic sat on the floor, staring up at Knuckles. He handled the snake with such calm and ease.
"Knuckles… something's going on. I don't know what, but something's wrong."
