Chapter 2.5: Triplets Grown (Part 2/2)

1/5/2022

While Sonia and Manic had very different lives, the life their other brother was leading was so far removed from either of theirs. His was a life of action…

A Super Sonic Destiny

"Sonic, could you come here, please?" called out an aging man. "Sure thing, Uncle Chuck!" shouted a teenage boy from another room in the base the two lived in. Almost immediately after he said this, Sonic dashed into the older man's room, leaving a blue, glowing trail behind him that faded quickly. Sonic was a blue hedgehog, who was adorned with red-and-white hitops and a dark gray backpack. Uncle Chuck looked a lot like him, but with faded light blue fur and a bushy white mustache. "So, ya got that plan all ready to go, Uncle C?" Uncle Chuck laughed. "You bet! If you don't mind, go ahead and take a seat." Sonic quickly got a thick box to sit on, and sat down.

"So, tomorrow, Robotnik will be leaving his main base to oversee maintenance of his weapons factories. This base produces his deadly tools, but it has a little problem; the factory itself doesn't have too much protection going on. And today, it'll be weaker than ever!" "Well, why's that, Chuckster?" "I'm glad you asked! Lately, weapons have been going off for no good reason, and something's up with it's defenses, so they'll all be shut down while Robotnik does his thing so he doesn't get zapped or shot or impaled or… well, you get it. All that'll be left are some manually armed laser cannons." Sonic stood up. "That's it? Some measly little laser canons armed by robots who aren't even fast enough to deliver snail mail?" Chuck laughed uproariously. "Indeed!" Sonic crossed his arms. "Man, it's like Ro-butt-nik is asking for a smacking! Why have such crappy security?" Chuck rubbed the back of his head. "Well… to be fair, most everyone is uh… too terrified to even come near the place." Sonic was silent for a moment. "Alright, fair 'nuff." Chuck pulled out an overhead map he made of the factory and drew little red dots on specific areas. "I was able to take a quick look around the place when it went totally down two weeks ago, and I found optimal locations for explosives. What I need you to do is to set up some bombs I put together and then get back before they blow up… AND before Robotnik sees you. You think you can handle that, kiddo?" Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "Easy!" "Good! I had a feeling you'd say that." Just as he said that, his watch began to beep. "Oop, looks like it's bedtime! You should get your sleep, you gotta get up kinda early!"

Sonic went to bed, and shortly after falling asleep, he found himself in the same kind of dream his siblings had, with a black void and fuchsia and green spots. "Hey, is that rock music? It sounds way past cool," Sonic remarked upon hearing the music. He immediately began running, looking for the sound, and sure enough, he too was blinded by light. But unlike Sonia and Manic, he didn't wake up. Instead, when the light cleared up, he saw a giant trio of multi-colored abstract figures on a gigantic stage; The blue one was shredding on a guitar, not unlike the kind Sonic had, the fuchsia one was jamming away on a keyboard, and the green one was banging on a large drum kit. It sounded amazing, but before Sonic got to hear too much of it, he woke up.

The blue blur didn't have time to think much about the dream; he got a small breakfast, scooped up the bombs, put on a headset, and went out the door. Taking the most discreet path possible, he made his way through Mobotropolis, and eventually out into a vast plain surrounding the city, with the yet-to-rise sun hiding away behind some distant mountains. Sonic turned his headset on. "This is Jaywalker to Wise Guy, come in Wise Guy…" "I read you loud and clear, but this is a highly encrypted connection using a method no one else uses; there's not a need to codename yourself, kiddo. Alright, I've got your location on my PC… in 200 miles, you're going to want to turn right." "Roger that, U.C!" Sonic proceeded on, turning right where Chuck told him to, reaching a large valley hosting a large factory hidden by the ditch. "Okay, Chuckster. I got visual on the factory." Sonic pulled out the map and looked back and forth at it and the factory itself. "And I've got the twelve bombs. Do you know if the Bald Bother is in the building?" Sonic heard typing on the other end. "Yup! I've discreetly tapped into a security cam feed; he's talking to the foreman. You're gonna need to do this quick; Those robot guards may be a bit slow, but they're not that slow." Sonic rubbed his nose. "Not a problem." He got in a position, prepared to run. "It's time to juice!" he shouted.

He quickly ran around the factory, swiftly yet precisely setting down bombs at the designated locations, while simultaneously evading burning-hot lasers being shot down from the roof of the building. "You suckas are too slow," he taunted. Within a couple of minutes, all the bombs were set. "Alright, time to set these bad boys off!" He began reaching in his backpack, but then quickly stopped in horror. "Oh crap… I think I forgot the remote." He then heard a slap from his radio. "No, I forgot to MAKE the remote! You'll need to find another way to set them off, and fast!" Just as Sonic tried to think of something, a stray laser accidentally hit a bomb, causing it to burst into a violent and large explosion. "That works, I guess!" Chuck began to speak again. "Good, now GET OUTTA THERE! Stay too much longer and Robotnik could identify you!" "Gotcha!" Sonic gathered all his energy together, and blasted off at an extreme speed, causing a small sonic boom, setting off the rest of the bombs.

He quickly burst into his and Chuck's base, exhausted. "I… I… did… it…" Sonic weakly muttered, before falling onto his knees. "Good grief, sonny! You didn't need to go that fast!" He picked the teen up and set him on a couch. As he lifted him up, he noticed burns on the backs of Sonic's legs. "My god! You've been burned! Must've been those explosions!" Sonic sucked in air through his teeth as he was set down. "Don't move, I'm going to go see if I can find a doctor. You rest, you deserve it kiddo…" tears rolled down Chuck's face as he ran off. "Ughh… yeah, you do that," Sonic moaned weakly. Once Chuck was out, a cyan light began shining from the kitchen. Sonic slowly turned to look at it. "What's…" Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and the Oracle appeared. "Who the hell...?" The Oracle walked up to Sonic. "Greetings… I am the Oracle of Delphius. And the time has come for you to begin your journey." Sonic looked at him in disbelief. He muttered, "I think I have a concussion," and covered his face with a pillow. "You must get up. Your destiny awaits," the Oracle said mysteriously. Sonic took the pillow off his face and looked him. "Tell it to wait outside, I'm wiped." The Oracle noticed the burns on Sonic's legs, and shot a bright blue ray of light at him. Sonic's burns healed in an instant, and Sonic suddenly felt as energetic as he did earlier that morning.

"Good morning, Mobius!" he shouted as he leapt on to his feet. "Hey, my burns are gone!" He began to dance around, then stopped to shoot a glare at the Oracle. "…how'd you do that?" The mysterious man then summoned a table and a couple of chairs in a free space in the room, then used a spell to create a plate of chili dogs. Sonic immediately took a seat. "CHILI DOGS? …alright, you have my attention now, Oracle." He began helping himself to the food. "That's good. After all, we have a fair amount to discuss... Prince Evinrude." Sonic nearly choked on the chili dog he was working on. "Prince?" he then paused to think. "Waitaminute, Evinrude?! Do I look like an Evinrude t'you, pal?" The Oracle was caught off guard. "But… is that not your name?" Sonic laughed at this. "Heck no! I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog! And I'm keepin' that name." Evinrude was a bit shocked that Aleena never thought to leave notes in her children's baskets that had their names, but decided that wasn't important. "Very well. In that case, we have much to discuss, Prince Sonic." Sonic took his seat, and began slowly continuing to eat his chili dogs. "Yeah, explain to me that whole prince biz."

"Have you heard the tale of Aleena, The Missing Queen?" Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I got told that as a kid. Until fifteen years ago, Mobius was ruled by a benevolent queen named Aleena, who went missing the day Robotnik took over, never leaving behind an heir. What poor kid hasn't been told that when they ask, 'why's the world so sucky?'" The Oracle tilted his head down. "Yes, she did disappear that day. But she didn't disappear without any heirs." Sonic continued to chow down as the Oracle went on. "You see, she did have kids, but she kept her pregnancy secret and didn't let the world at large know she had any children so as to protect their privacy." Sonic immediately caught on, and once again nearly choked on his food. "Am I one of her kids?!" he asked loudly, leaning into his face. "Indeed. But you're only one of them. You also have a brother and a sister, named Agreus and Zelda…" he thought for a second. "But something tells me those might not be their names anymore." Sonic was amazed. "Wow… A brother and a sister…" "Indeed. And your mother is still out there, as well. One day, you, your siblings, and your mother shall one day use a shared power within your souls to stop Robotnik's tyranny once and for all." The blue blur stood up. "Well, I need to get going then! How do I find them?"

The Oracle then began to fizzle. "Oh dear, I'm running out of astral energy…" "What? What do you mean?!" "I've been using a very powerful astral projection to talk to you from afar, but I can only maintain it for so long. I'll have to explain more tomorrow; All I can tell you for now is find a good place to let the music in your heart free, and your medallion will do the rest!" He said, pointing to the medallion draped around Sonic's neck. And just like that, he disappeared. Sonic then heard the sound of his uncle screaming. "Oh no, Chuck!" He ran out the door and saw Uncle Chuck being restrained by two gigantic robots. "Uncle Chuck, what happened?!" Sonic cried. "Sonic, you need to get out of here!" Chuck replied desperately. "I'll be fine, you just need to get somewhere safe!" Sonic began backing up. "No, not again… I can't be going through this again!" Sonic began to shake as he felt the urge to fight. Uncle Chuck looked him straight in the eye, and silently sobbed. "Sonic, I love you. But go." One of the robots aimed a laser gun at Sonic, and began charging it up. Sonic gulped, and, with a burning pain in his throat, mouthed "I love you too." Just as the robot fired, Sonic zoomed away. He took every hidden path he could find, even blasting through manholes to take shortcuts in the sewers. Finally, he reached an abandoned district bordering on the slums, taking residence in an empty apartment.

Sonic panted, then punched the dusty carpet. "No way! This can't be happening!" He gripped the ground, struggling not to cry. He took deep breaths in and out until he was calm. A few tears rolled down his cheek and he buried his face in his hands, moaning. After a few minutes of this, he rubbed his temples and thought. "Alright, I'm on my own now, and robots found Chuck. That probably means Robotnik knows who I am now, so I gotta be careful. Now, what do I do in the meantime?" He looked at his watch, and saw that it wasn't even 12 PM yet. "Urgh. This is going to be a long, way not-cool day."

The rest of that day was rough, but otherwise uneventful. Sonic attempted to clean some to distract his mind, and when he got hungry, he snuck out and found restaurants to go to, buying small meals with what little he had. Once evening started to come, he decided to plan out what he was going to do tomorrow. He quickly snuck around the city, looking for "let the music in his heart free." He looked through many alleyways looking for any sort of club, but every club he found was the kind he was not remotely old enough to go into. Just when he was about to give up his search, he saw a door in a dingy alleyway labelled "The Underground Rock Club." He peered in the window for anything that suggested someone his age wouldn't be let in, and to his pleasant surprise, saw nothing. "Looks like they'll be open tomorrow… I guess I'll perform here and hope for the best."

The next day, the time came for Sonic to go do his thing. He waited until evening, and then made his way to The Underground. Once he arrived, he knocked on the door and was let in by an alien-looking woman. "Hey kid… you sure you're in the right place," She asked. Sonic nodded. "Yeah. I'm here to perform." The woman looked him up and down. "Uh-huh. Where's your instrument?" Sonic didn't know how to respond. He left his guitar back at Chuck's, but never went back to get it since he didn't feel it was safe. He remembered that the Oracle told him the medallion would take care of things, but he didn't know what exactly that meant. So, he decided to feign confidence. "Oh, you'll see."

After a couple of bands played their serviceable music, it was Sonic's turn to get on stage. He got up in front of the mic. "Hey, what's good y'all? I'm Sonic. I'm going to uh… shred for you." He leaned back as the crowd looked at him skeptically. He breathed in and out, deeply. "Alright, let the music in my heart free…" he closed his eyes, letting the feeling of music swell up in his soul. Suddenly, he heard a loud gasp from the crowd. He opened his eyes, and his jaw dropped in shock. He was holding a blue and yellow multi neck guitar. He then smiled widely. "Oh yeah, now THIS is a guitar!" He began playing the complex and awesome riff from the song he heard in his dream.

He didn't know it yet, but this was the start of something amazing.

SONIC UNDERGROUND: AMPED