CHAPTER 6: First Impressions, Lasting Aggressions

1/23/2022

Author's Note: Thanks so much for (at the time of this chapter's upload) 900 views! It's not even been a month, but to get so many views in that time is exciting! I know that may not be a whole lot of views in the grand scheme of things, but it really does mean a lot. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as well as the ones to come!

Sonic, Sonia, and Manic dashed through the forest, looking for the source of the screams. Sonic then stopped them at a ledge. Beyond that ledge, they saw an amazing city, hidden away from the world by a thick covering of trees. Streetlights gave the city illumination, and the technology scattered throughout seemed to coexist with the natural area, helping sustain the plant life. Buildings weren't particularly tall, typically being a couple stories at most, but it was still quite an impressive sight.

"Oh, it's beautiful," Sonia said in awe. Sonic put his finger up to his mouth and shushed her. "I'm tryna find out where that screaming's coming from!" He whipped back around, darting his eyes all around. He ran from place to place, playing an internal game of hot & cold as he searched for the spot where it was loudest. Then, he found the source; it seemed to be coming from a little plaza near one of the city's entrances. He got down on his stomach and looked around for the source of distress.

"Looks like there's a pair of unwelcome visitors down there," Sonic informed his siblings when he found why the city was in a panic. "Who are those two?" Sonia asked nervously. Her brother stood back up. "I dunno, but whoever they are, they CAN'T be good news! Now, we need a plan…" Sonia gasped. "You mean we're going to—" she then stopped, and composed herself "Right. We're heroes now. We must be brave and save the day!"

Manic got in between them. "Like, not without a plan, we're not! We can't be dopes about this!" he told his siblings. His sister slumped a bit. "And we don't have one. What do we do?" she asked. Manic looked down at the plaza and surveyed his surroundings. When he was satisfied, he smirked, and looked back at his brother and sister. "Sonia, toss that big stone over there at them to disorient those dopes. While they're out, Sonic should go round up the citizens and get them out of the plaza. Then, I'll meet the two of you down there, and we'll take em on."

Sonia and Sonic seemed a bit surprised. "You sure this'll work?" Sonia asked. Manic shrugged. "It's better than just rushing in. It's the best I can do with like, limited resources and bad guys I don't know." Sonic put his hand on Sonia's shoulder. "I think he's been makin' and followin' plans for some time, sis. Maybe we ought to try this out." She nodded and made her way to the large stone that was nearby.

"Take this!" she softly cried as she threw the stone like a discus. Unfortunately for her, it didn't hit. Instead, it landed squarely on the ground, in front of the two she was aiming for. "Oh, sh…oops," she whispered feebly. She threw herself into a nearby bush as one of her intended victims began to call out.

"Oi! What wuz that?! Someone better not be up there! We'll blast ya heads off!" Sonia began to swear rapidly at this. "Sorry, Manic!" she whined sadly. Manic chuckled quietly. "S'alright, dudette. Alright, change of plans; maybe we just go down there anyways!" Manic then leaped off the ledge, sliding down the very steep cliff of dirt. Sonia and Sonic then hurriedly went after him. Within moments, they found themselves standing in between the threat, and the threatened.

The threat was none other than Robotnik's lackeys Sleet and Dingo. They towered over the technicolored triad menacingly, both of them being more than twice Sonic's height. They both wielded laser weapons, Sleet bearing a rifle and Dingo packing a couple of laser pistols. Sleet's cape blew in the wind as he looked down upon the teenaged trio. With an annoyed and frightening grimace, he leaned forward slightly.

"And just who might you be?" Sonic put his arms to his sides, making it clear he wasn't going to let the monster do anything to his siblings behind him. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he replied. "Now, why don't you tell me what's going on?" Sleet stood back up and grinned. "You're adorable. Now, step aside and let us do our work," the wretched wolf shot back. Dingo then aimed his pistols at the blue hedgehog. "Or maybe we'll just shoot ya right now."

Dingo was jerked aside by his co-worker. "Dingo, what are you doing? Those are just mere children." Dingo turned his head back to the hedgehogs. "Do those children look familiar t'you, Sleet? Take a good look." Sleet stared at the three for a moment, and then his eyes shot wide open. "It's… them?" He asked in an astonished tone. Dingo flashed a malicious grin. "Strewth mate, you don't recognize royalty when y'see it?" he asked sarcastically, keeping his gaze fixed on Sonic and his siblings. "Our main mission can wait. If they're here, I'd say we've got a right t'protect ourselves. After all, aren't they the ones that can overthrow our boss?" Sleet prepared his rifle. "Indeed they are, Dingo."

They then open fired on them. Sonic swiftly grabbed his sister and his brother, running out of the way of the deluge of lasers. "Dang, they coulda got us!" he said in shock. After being set down, Sonia took on a defensive stance. "They were preparing their guns; I'd say it was pretty obvious they were going to do something!" She then charged at her opponents, making an attempt to punch them in their backs. But instead, she got hit instead, as Sleet backflipped over her, kicking her in the head in the process. "You'd be surprised how acrobatic and agile I can be in this armor!" he taunted as she hit the dirt.

Sonic revved up and ran up to Sleet, socking him in the stomach, only to be met with a sore fist and naught but a mild flinch from the wolf. "Didn't you hear me, you fool? I'm wearing armor!" While he was distracted with blowing on his fist in a childlike attempt to stop the pain, Dingo jumped in front of him and pistol-whipped him with extreme prejudice. "Bit of a spacey hedgehog, aintcha? You should learn how to pay attention!"

Sonic gripped his cheek and groaned, sucking air through his teeth. He then felt something dripping down the side of his jaw. He took his hand off and saw a trail of blood running down the palm of his glove. Dingo chortled. "Now ain't that a beauty of a cut? That ugly blue mug of yours looks so much better with that nice streak of claret on it!" Sonic grinned. "Oh, you think so? Well," he said, before zooming at the orange freak and socking him in the face, "I think you'll look stunning with some, yourself!" Dingo clasped at his nose, letting out a stream of obscenities. When he took his hands off, he discovered he had a small nosebleed. "Alright, that's on me for underestimatin' ya. But rest assured," he said as he began firing wildly at the blur. "It won't happen again!"

Sonic performed a series of acrobatic dodges to avoid the lasers. But unfortunately, he wasn't too well versed in performing flashy moves, and got ahead of himself, leading to him taking half a laser to the arm. "Ouch!" Sonic yelped as he grabbed his arm. "Ooh, you're not doing so well t'day are you? I've seen ankle biters with more common sense than y—"

Dingo was cut off with a kick behind the knee from Manic. He yelped, then swung around angrily to try to get at him. "I think you're the one who like, needs to work on their common sense!" Manic teased. Dingo attempted to swipe at the green teen, but he backflipped over him, grabbing onto the top of his head. "Hey, you got somethin' your nose, dude!" Manic told Dingo. He then swung down, and kicked him in the center of his face.

Dingo shrieked in pain, getting the attention of Sleet, who was occupied with Sonia, who was now back in the fight. "Enough your shenanigans. This ends here!" Sleet fired at Manic, but his laser was stopped by a laser shot by Manic. Dingo quickly realized he was down one gun. "How'd you—" Manic cut him off with a shot at his chest, which he just barely dodged. "Little thief..!"

The pain in Sonic's arm stopped, and he took a moment to assess the situation. He darted his eyes across the area, looking for anything he could do to gain an upper hand. He then came up with a plan to get them to inadvertently attack each other. I hope these dopes are dumb enough to fall for this, the blue blur thought to himself. He revved up once more and ran back into the fray.

He ran behind Sleet and grabbed him by the cape. He flung him to the ground, enraging him. "Why you little…" he muttered. Sonic posed tauntingly. "Hey, dingus! Bet you can't shoot me!" Sleet got up and scoffed. "If you try to pull off those stupid little circus freak maneuvers again, I assure you; it will not be hard." The wolf immediately began firing at Sonic once more, who deliberately ran slow to trick him into thinking he could catch up with him if he ran.

Sonic ran, darting left and right to avoid a fast, single-file spray of lasers. He ran him around the plaza, keeping an eye on the fight Sonia and Manic were having with Dingo. In a few moments, things lined up the way Sonic wanted, and he hopped onto the rock Sonia threw earlier, then began pretending to act winded. He grabbed at the arm that got shot, and gritted his teeth.

"Urgh… it's… stinging again," Sonic moaned, feigning breathlessness. Sleet cocked his rifle. "Looks like I've got you right where I want you," he said quietly. He laughed, and pulled a separate trigger on his gun, firing a large, extra-hot laser. Sleet laughed maniacally, but then stopped when he heard Dingo swearing a storm at him.

"Th'hell you do that for, Sleet?! You a few bolts short of a Badnik or something, you DUNCE!?" he yelled at Sleet. "You shot me in the freakin' shoulder!" Sleet's face fell. It somehow didn't register for him until now, but he realized Sonic had jumped out of the way, causing Dingo to take the hit. Sonic had played him, and he played him good. He couldn't help but applaud.

"Alright, hedgehog. I'll admit, you got me with that one. Lining me and Dingo up so I'd shoot him by mistake? That's clever." Sonic crossed his arms, and grinned. "Or maybe you're just an idiot." He then threw his hands onto his hips, smiling a bit wider. "Hey, you know what else makes you an idiot?" he asked cheerfully. Dingo glowered at him. "What..?" he asked hatefully.

He then got the wind knocked out of him, and fell to the ground, feeling a sharp pain in his upper back. "This!" Sonia said, as she put her foot on his back. "That's what you get for turning your back on a lady," she snarked. "Nice punch, sis!" Sonic complimented. Sonia flipped her hair and crossed her arms. "Why, thank you, dearest brother. Now, I've got him; you go help Manic with Dorkus over there," she said, pointing to Dingo. Sonic nodded and went to go help. Together, the two subdued Dingo as well.

"So, what're you gonna do now?" Sonic taunted the two of them. Sleet looked up. "We've not lost yet," he replied sinisterly. Manic crossed his arms. "Uh, like. You kinda have." Dingo smirked. "Uh, like, no we haven't," he replied, mocking Manic's valley-boy voice. Sleet smiled. "We've just performing a tactical retreat." In a flash, Dingo turned himself into a motorcycle, which confused and shocked the triplets. He drove into Sonia, knocking her off of Sleet, and then let his cohort sit on his back. "This isn't the end, you freaks!" Dingo yelled. He peeled out, and zoomed away, creating a big cloud of smoke.

Sonia and Sonic ended up collapsing after they left. Manic ran over to them, deeply concerned. "Woah, you two look bad!" he cried. Sonia spat out a small amount of blood. "Thanks. As a girl, I really love to be told that," she replied very sarcastically. Manic helped the two of them up. His eyes then widened, and he slapped himself in the forehead. "Crud!" Sonic turned his head to Manic slightly. "What's wrong, dude?" Sonic asked weakly. "I still have that orange one's gun. I like, could've shot out his tire! Ugh, I'm such an idiot…" Sonia laughed. "Don't sweat it. We all made a few blunders today," she replied softly. She then sighed. "Still though, for a first fight… our first real fight…" Manic finished her sentence. "…This was kind of a mess."

Sonic and Sonia groaned, complaining about their cut and burn, and their headache, respectively. A group of the city's citizens came to the plaza, and immediately took Sonic and Sonia from Manic. "Good heavens, you two look hurt! Let's get you some help," one of them said. "We'll get you to the clinic, and fix you up." Another citizen looked at Manic. "And are you hurt, dear?" Manic checked himself out. "Nah, not really. But I'd like to come anyways; that's my brother and sister." The citizen nodded her head. "Of course. Come with us." With that, they all left the plaza and stole away to the heart of the city.

SONIC UNDERGROUND: AMPED