Sonic eXcluded

I (Airo Smicktor) don't own Sonic, Sonic X or any other associated characters. I only own Douglas '4GOT10' Smicktor- Thorndyke.


Episode Prelude:

Click.

Click.

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The short sharp sound of heels coming down on a cold concrete floor. The boots had been slowly pacing back and forth for the last half hour in the cold and dimly lit room, as their user had been analysing the information being relayed.

"...Are you telling me Commander, that you and your fully armed men failed to carry out your mission?"

Across the room, five men stood dressed in fully protective body-armour and helmets, with their heads bowed forward. They looked down at their feet, refusing to look up. Partially due to the disappointment they were feeling, but mainly due to the fear of facing the wrath of their superior. The men were lucky that the lighting in the room was deliberately bad, otherwise the beads of sweat running down their faces.

"...With all due respect Sir..." the Commander of the men half-mumbled, still looking down.
"Save your excuses!" Their superior called out, sharply stamping her foot on the floor. The combination of her voice and the sudden connection of the hard heel to the concrete caused all the men to look up in surprise.

Topaz shook her head. "You call yourselves an elite unit? I should have you all sent back to the training fields!" She stated, disgusted at the sight before her.
"You are very lucky that I am one of the few people that understand what we are dealing with here, but I swear: If I EVER hear about any more incompetence from this squad, then I will not hesitate to have your positions put into great review. Now get out of my sight... NOW!"

That was more than enough warning for the men, as they quickly stumbled out of the room to the safety of the corridor outside.

"I guess you should never send in boys to do a women's job..." Topaz said thoughtfully as she shook her head again. The stupidity of the people around her always seemed to surprise her. Add to the fact that the fear was all too easy to spot in the men; she could see it in a boy's eyes. She turned away from the doorway, and walked slowly over to the table and chair on the other side of the room. Topaz turned on the little desk lamp and sat down to examine the compiled intelligence.

Piled on the table were folders, documents, photographs and newspaper cuttings. They were related in one-way or another to the mystery that had already grown into a nationwide crisis: 'Dr. Eggman and the talking animals. Everyone in the country wanted to know where 'Sonic the Hedgehog' and his furry friends came from, and how this 'Doctor Eggman' could have such destructive and power technology at his disposal. The problem was that it didn't matter how many questions were asked, there just wasn't any real answers. No one knows who, or what these animals really are.

Currently, six animals had been confirmed and identified, with about 2 or 3 others rumoured to have been seen. Sonic – A blue hedgehog, the first to appear, appeared out of nowhere and outran the best of the S-Team. Amy – A pink hedgehog, carries a large hammer that seems to appear out of nowhere. 'Tails' – A mutated fox with two tails, pilots his own aircraft known as the 'Tornado'. Cream – A cream coloured rabbit, which had been captured and analysed at Area 99 before being rescued. 'Knuckles' – A red dread locked hybrid of a hedgehog known as an echidna, broke away from the main group of furries and hasn't been seen since Eggman's first attack on Station Square. 'Cheese' – A Chao, a breed of animal thought to be long extinct. There have also been sighting of some other larger-than-usual animals – A purplish cat, who had a green frog on his shoulder, was seen fishing by a lakeside a few days ago; while athere have been quite a fewreports of jewellery shops beingbroken into by a 'person disguised as a weasel, who was wearing a brown cowboy hat', and a 'female disguised as a white-coloured bat wearing pink-heart shaped clothing'. Either someone was having a laugh, or there were more creatures running around.

All this data had been pieced together by various reports and sources, including tapping into radio signals and phone calls. The location of the main group of creatures had been easily traceable (following a shape-changing aircraft isn't the hardest thing to do), likewise with Eggman. For Topaz, all this info was fine, but useless to her. She, or to be more precise, her superiors in the government, wanted to know the what's and whys about these creatures; that was something that could only be obtained through one person right now. The man known as 4GOT10.

He'd been spotted in the 'plane the fox was flying when they took on Eggman, crushing any doubt that he was not only hiding the animals in his home, but was actively helping them in other ways. In simple terms: He's a friend with Sonic, and therefore the best lead to find out what the deal is with the hedgehog and company.

Topaz opened up the folder on Douglas Thorndyke- Smicktor, the wrestler known as '4GOT10', and scanned over the notes about him. A bad-guy wrestler (known in the industry as a heel) holds an impressive win/loss record along with some respectable title reigns under his belt, a well-known character in the independent wrestling scene...

'That might be a problem.' Topaz thought to herself. Thorndyke had wrestled with independent wrestling companies for his entire active career, which means that he worked for whichever company offered him a spot on the show's programme. A risky move, since it could be months before the next match and payoff, but it also demanded a lot of regular travelling around the country to wherever the company's next show was being held. He'd rarely stay in the same city for a long time. It would be far easier, and would reduce the risk of Thorndyke distancing himself from the animals, if he was signed to a company that was stationary, even if it was just in the general area around Station Square. The only companies like that were the 'prime-time Monday night' companies.

Topaz looked again at the worrying picture of 4GOT10 with his face covered in a 'crimson mask' of blood. It was obvious to her that the next few months were going to be very interesting, especially with such an extremely interesting character...


"...So let me get this straight..." Douglas said, as he looked over at Tails, Cream, Cheese and Amy, who were sitting on bean-bags, while he leaned his back against a wooden support post that went up all the way from the floor to the roof.
"...This Chaos Control sent all you guys over from your world to here... That I can handle..."

Chuck's lab in the attic of his workshop/garage had become the new home for Sonic and his friends ever since Sonic had smashed Eggman's Missile-Wrist only yesterday. It was a good idea in theory, since it was very rare for anyone to ever come up here, except for cleaning. Since every idea works in theory, and there wasn't any other practical solution without telling anyone else about the situation, it was a solid plan of action. With a bit more work, and a few extra beds and sheets, it could be a cosy place. As long as Chuck's experiments weren't touched...

"...But what exactly are these Chaos Emerald things that you keep talkin' about?"
"You've never heard of the Chaos Emeralds?" Tails replied back, sounding generally surprised. "You're gonna have a lot of catching up to do!"
"...Firstly, I don't know anything about your messed up teleporting world, so don't be getting all high about knowing this stuff. And second, you didn't answer..."
"The Chaos Emeralds..." Amy butted in, "...Are the seven legendary coloured gems, and each one's filled with a powerful magical energy! You can imagine the power that you'd have if you collected all of them!"
"Hmm..." Chuck said, as he turned his swivel chair around to face the people in the room. "That's all very well, but I wouldn't build your hopes up just yet."
"Why not Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked.
"You see Cream... It's highly improbable that any gemstone can contain actual harvestable energy, and there is no such thing as real magic... Besides, every one of these 'precious' emeralds has disappeared..."
"That doesn't mean they're gone for good!"

Everyone in the room looked over to the interrupting voice that came from the window. In the small alcove of the window was the relaxing blue form of the speedy hedgehog.
"It's the same thing: every time you gather all the Chaos Emeralds together, they scatter and disappear again!"
"What, you mean like some kind of safety mechanism so the emeralds' powers can't be used for evil?" Douglas inquired.
"Hey, you're catching on quick Doug!" Sonic replied, hiding the fact that he'd never thought of it like that before, he'd always seen it as just a game to keep him interested in finding the emerald before Eggman.
"So, technically, the emeralds will still be out there, right?"
"You got it!" Sonic said, giving the thumbs up gesture with his left hand.
"But we don't have anyway of knowing where the emeralds are!" Tails piped in. "If they're all here in your world Douglas, then it's OK; but if even one of them is still back in our world then we might never be able to get back home!"
"Oh, so you're saying that I'm a terrible host, am I?" Douglas stated, putting his hands on his hips and an annoyed expression on his face.
"Wha?" Tails stuttered out, "NO! I didn't mean it like..."

"Ha-ha!" Douglas smiled, before patting Tails on the head. "Relax! I was just messin' with your mind! Besides, we don't know for sure that the emeralds aren't here on Earth, so until we find that out, we have to think positively." Douglas turned to the other seated furries. "Now, I'm no genius, too many chair-shots to the head removes a lot of brain-cells, but from what you guys have told me, there's a good chance that if we collect all these emeralds, then maybe we can create another of those Chaos Control things, and you guys can all get back to your own world! How does that sound for an idea guys?"
"Yeah, no worries!" Sonic said in reply, as the other furries nodded their approval.
"And how exactly do you plan to go about carrying this plan of yours out?" Chuck said sceptically, arching an eyebrow towards his step-grandson.
"...Um, I don't really..." Douglas said in reply, shrugging his shoulders. As soon as he'd said that, everyone in the room suddenly gained a strange sweat drop-like shape on their heads.
"Hey, HEY! It's a great plan! Okay, look. The best way for us is too keep our eyes open and your ears to the ground; if these emeralds live up to the hype you've given them, then it's not gonna be long before one of them is found and it makes big news."
"What are you saying Doug?" Sonic asked, interested in where Douglas was going with this.
"Unfortunately for you Sonic, it's a case of waiting around for something to happen..."
"Ah man! That's way too slow for me!"
"Chill out blue-hog! I'm sure something will happen soon enough, it always seems to around you guys..."


Episode 4Contract Chaos


Part 1:

2pm. Or 1400 hours, whichever is the longer by time. In the industrial heart of Station Square, work had already begun to repair the damage caused to buildings and other structures by Doctor Eggman ever since the all clear was given. The attack on the city had only happened a week ago, but the memories of it still appeared heavily in the newspapers and in public conversation. Who were these talking animals, and why did they help the city against Eggman?

Although, not everyone was spending their time thinking about the fast blue hedgehog, everyday lives had to carry on as par normal. There was a great amount of reconstruction work that had to be done, and no more so than in the city's central bank. The damaged caused to it by Eggman's robot had been so much that the decision had been taken to completely re-build it from the ground up.

The site of the old bank was now a construction site, complete with high rising scaffolding as the early structure for the new bank was being put up. Work was being carried out at a steady yet quick pace, for while the old bank was not the only one in the city, it was more convenient for the customers, so having it completed As Soon As Possible was a priority. Even now, work was being carried out to secure the ground around the site of the new bank, with a pay-loader being used to scoop up the excess earth and dirt and place into a large truck for transportation.

The heavy scoop of the 'loader moved downwards as it collected another load of dirt inside it, before rising upwards. The top part of the 'loader revolved around as the scoop's cargo moved over to the awaiting truck. The scoop, now positioned over the truck, released its dusty load into the truck, sending a torrent of dry mud crashing into the previously collected earth already in the truck.

The driver of the pay-loader looked on, hoping that he wouldn't be stuck doing this for a long time, since moving soil around wasn't very interesting. But there's an old saying: 'Be careful what you wish for...' For just underneath the latest top of the ground left by the scoop, was an awaiting power, silently urging to be awakened. A glistening green Chaos Emerald.


"Well?" A large, grey-haired man half-asked, half-demanded as he sat in a grand-looking brown leather chair. The desk in front of him was clear of items, except for two telephones (one a regular dialling 'phone, which also doubled as an intercom, the other a bright red telephone that seemed only to be used in very serious situations) and a gold-plated reading lamp. In front of the desk, two men and a woman stood. One man wore stylish glasses and a navy-blue suit with a lilac tie and white shirt; the other man – a grey suit with a navy-blue tie and no glasses, but was more tanned than the other people in the room. The woman was clad in a full army combat uniform, complete with flak jacket and hardwearing boots. The seated man was a sort of contrast to the others, as he wore a navy-blue suit that was of a paler shade to the other blues in the room, and a green tie. His face bore the signs of a very stressed lifestyle, since he had many lines and wrinkles on his face that were uncommon for a man even of his age, but not of his position.

"Have you found them?" the seated man asked again.
"We have confirmation that the hedgehog and its companions, bar one, are located within Station Square in the residence of a famous family." The man in glasses answered. "Eggman's base has been traced to a small unpopulated island in the southern sea off the Coast of Station Square. The exact location of the red 'Echidna' is unknown, but it is also somewhere in Station Square, and we have so far been unable to trace down the cat and weasel."
"Never mind about the animals!" the seated man replied back, slamming his fist onto the desk. "I want that Doctor Eggman arrested and locked up, since we know where he is!"
"With all due respect Mr. President, it would be a better plan of action to keep them under surveillance until we can better understand their behaviour and abilities. We are still unaware of what they are capable of doing."
"Besides, the animals did destroy the 'E-23' robot of Eggman's. If it weren't for them, Station Square would most likely be a pile of rubble by now." The woman added.

"Humph!" The President replied in frustration. "That's all very well Topaz, but you'd all better pay close attention to this Dr. Eggman. We've already seen what damage can be done by one robot of his!"
"That's already taken care of Mr. President, Sir." The other man said, taking a proud step forward. "The Secret Service has already dispatched a team to infiltrate the 'Eggman Island' and to monitor any activity. As soon as the Doctor makes a move, we'll be sure to let you know."
The President smiled a little at this news. "Well, I knew I could always count on the Secret Service to work on that matter. Now, is there anymore news about the animals and that famous family?"

"Allow me Sir..." Topaz said, moving forward as the two standing men stepped quickly aside to let her past. Topaz placed a photograph on the desk and pushed it forward towards the President so he could see the picture. It was a photo of a family picture comprised of seven people, who were all standing in front of an impressive looking mansion and smiling.
"The animals are in the residence of the Thorndyke family. The parents, Nelson Thorndyke and Lindsay Fair, are often away on business due to their success in their industries, so are rarely at home. We believe that they are unaware of the animal's presence. The butler, Mr. Tanaka, and the maid, Ella, may or may not be in on it, but most likely the former. The old man is Chuck Thorndyke, the famous inventor, now retired. He is very much in the know about the animals due to his involvement in the incident at Area 99."
"This is all very interesting Topaz, but what about..."
"Please allow me to finish Sir, I know that what we really need is someone connected to the animals to tell us more about them, right?"
"I'm listening Topaz, carry on..." the President replied, now very interested in where this was going.

"This man here is the key to finding out more." Topaz stated, leaning over the desk to point to the purple-haired man who was standing with a child with brown spiky hair hugging him. "This man is Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke. The Thorndyke family adopted him when he was 12 years old, who had avoided social services for years ever since his natural parents had abandoned him when he was just a baby. Various gangs around the country had raised him on the streets as he moved from city to city. He was nicknamed as 'Forgotten' since he'd been 'forgotten' by his parents and the people in the last city that he'd left behind. Not exactly an ideal childhood, but it made him tough and focused, which led to him having a career as a wrestler, adapting his own nickname to '4-GOT-10' as a gimmick. That I believe is how we can use him to tell us everything we need to know without even realising it."

"What do you mean?" the President asked, amazed by the short life-story/survival of this man.
"Well Mr. President..." the man in glasses said, smiling a knowing smirk. "We've come up with a plan..."


Douglas yawned. After the excitement of the past seven days, this week had turned out to be devoid of interest. Everything he used to do now just seemed far too ordinary. Although his days used to be comprised of eating, training, watching TV, listening to music and occasionally 'running the streets'. After you've teamed up with a group of talking animals and battled an over 20 foot tall robot, it's very hard to find to find a likewise thrill.

Not that watching the news channel for over an hour was even a good attempt at it. The mind-numbing combination of political scandal, weather reports, and the odd repeated reply of Missile-Wrist blowing stuff up and being blown up was enough to certainly cause someone to question their own actions. And ideas.

"Great work Douglas... You've got access to over a thousand channels are your stuck watching the news thanks to your own master plan!" Douglas muttered to himself as he switched the television off. He unthoughtfully tossed the remote aside and looked at his watch. 14:00 – the time seemed to be going on for too long. Douglas signed, standing up and walking out of the door and heading down the garden path towards Chuck's lab.
'I wonder if the time would pass quicker if it was just 2pm...' Douglas thought to himself, smirking at his own weird sense of humour.

Douglas was just a couple of steps away from the garage door when he heard a bleeping sound, accompanied by a vibrating sensation in his jacket pocket. He reached into the pocket and pulled out the cause of the sound and movement – his mobile 'phone. Flipping open the 'phone, Douglas looked at the display.
Unknown number it stated.
'Probably a wrong number...' Douglas thought, as he considered not answering the 'phone at all, in case a past girlfriend had tracked him down. 'Heh, what's the worse that could happen?' He thought again, pressing a button to accept the call.

"Hello?" Douglas said, speaking into the 'phone.
"Hello, is this Douglas Smicktor, also known as the wrestler 4GOT10?" a cool and confident male voice replied.
"Yeah... That's me. You've done your homework, but whose..."
"I work for the Station Squared Circle wrestling company, perhaps you've heard of us?" The voice on the other end cut Douglas off quickly.
"What? Yeah, of course I've heard of the SSC! It's like, only the biggest wrestling companies on the planet!"
"Excellent, then you'll be pleased to hear to hear that we in the SSC are aware of your fine wrestling ability, and firmly believe that you have what it takes to become a big star."
Douglas was speechless, was his ears playing tricks on him? "This... This isn't a joke, is it?"
"Of course not Mr. Smicktor, in fact, we'd like to have you signed up ASAP; when are you next available so we can arrange a meeting?" The voice asked, although the owner of the voice already knew that Douglas had no booking to go to.
"Well... I... I'm not doing anything today, if that..."
"That's great!" The voice quickly reassured Douglas, "Please head over to the SSC arena and tell them that I sent for you."
"Okay, no prob... Wait, I still don't know who..."
"Of course, how rude of me! I'm Mr. Stuart, and I'll be very pleased to meet you in person when you arrive here at the arena."
"Okay, I'll see you there then Mr. Stuart."

"See you soon Douglas." The voice replied. Although Douglas obviously couldn't see it, Mr. Stuart was smiling, with a glint of anticipation in his eyes as his tinted glasses shined of the sunlight as he stood next to Topaz outside the as their plan was coming together. Soon, he'd tell them all...

Douglas quickly hung up the 'phone and put it back in his jacket pocket hurriedly, before turning around and running back towards the house, not even noticing that Amy was watching him leave from her seated position in a high up window, and had heard all that he had said.


"What was Mr. Douglas doing Ms. Amy?"
"I'm not too sure Cream, he seemed to be talking to a little box thing that he had in his hand..."
"That's called a mobile telephone Amy." Chuck said, looking over his shoulder from his computer screen. "It works the same as a normal telephone, but you carry it around."
"Wow, you guys still use those here?" Tails asked, "We haven't used those for a long time back in our world!"
"Did you hear what Douglas was talking about Amy?" Chuck said, deliberately ignoring the kitsune's comment.
"He said something about 'wrestling' and seeing someone..."
"Ah that explains it then. Douglas must have got a booking."
"What do you mean Mr. Chuck?" Cream asked, looking very confused, as did the other furries in the room.

"Okay, I guess I'd better tell you a bit about what Douglas does..." Chuck attracting the attention of the furries, including a half-slumbering Sonic who was trying to take an afternoon nap on the roof of Chuck's lab. "Douglas' job isn't a normal one, like a policeman or a teacher or anything like that. Douglas is a wrestler for a living, which I guess if you put it in simple terms means that he's an entertainer."
"I thought wrestlers were people who hurt each other a lot..." Cream said.
"That's part of it, but it's in a controlled way, not like fights that break out in streets and things like that. Wrestling is more like a glorified fight with fancy moves and unnecessary insults."
"So why does Douglas wrestle then?" Amy asked, still not really understanding.

"Technically, it isn't Douglas who wrestles. I mean, Douglas doesn't grapple as Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke." Chuck only received even more confused looked from his animal friends. He signed, this was going to be harder than he expected. "When Douglas wrestles, he plays a different character, just like what actors do in a TV show. That's known as a wrestling 'gimmick', which all good wrestlers have. Douglas' wrestling gimmick is a character called '4GOT10'.
"That was the name Douglas was calling himself when we were fighting E-23!" Tails butted in. "That was the writing on his pants as well wasn't it?"
"That's right Tails, that was Douglas being 4GOT10. Douglas was dressed up in his full wrestling mindset and attire, gloves and all. But back to your question Amy: Douglas happens to be very good at wrestling for a start. When you want to do well in life, and make a lot of money, you should do a job that you're very good at. Douglas is very focused at wrestling and has been doing it for years; therefore that's what he does. It's not really that hard to understand really."

Chuck saw the understanding looks on the furries' faces, and gave a sigh of relief. He'd managed to explain 4GOT10 without having to explain the 'extreme' companies that Douglas had often worked for, or having to tell them about the Chris armband he wore. But on the roof, Sonic was thinking to himself about Douglas. Sonic was sure that was something else to this '4GOT10' that he wasn't being to told about, but he wasn't sure what. Yet he was sure that he'd find out somehow, and hopefully not before he found out by a hard way...


'Wow... This is amazing! I'd never thought that I'd be actually standing in this place...' Douglas thought to himself, as he walked along the white brick corridor in the S.C.C. Arena, heading towards a brown door at the end. He had only just signed a full one-year S.S.C. contract, as was common for all new wrestlers to have, and the smile on his face hadn't faltered on bit. As he approached it, Douglas could make out a sign on the door. It read: 'Mr. Stuart'.
'I guess I'd better meet my 'biggest fan' then!' Douglas thought to himself, knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" A male voice replied, the same voice Douglas recognised from the 'phone.
"It's Douglas Thorndyke, Mr. Stuart. You called me earlier to..."
"Ah! Come right in!" The voice interrupted, much like it had done during the 'phone conversation.
'I hope that's not a habit of his...' Douglas thought to himself, as he turned the door handle open and stepped into the room.

A tall, blonde haired man wearing rose-tinted glasses greeted Douglas. He wore a dark greenish-blue open suit, with a light green closed waistcoat underneath, and a pale-yellow polo neck shirt underneath that. A strangely thin man, whose upper body was only marginally bigger than the rest of him due to the layers of clothes he had on. Perhaps a new style from wherever he was from, as he didn't seem to be from around the Station Square area. The room he was in consisted of a desk with chairs and folders, some lamps and plants in the corners, some Japanese looking paper screens, and a couple of paintings on the walls.

"Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke..." The man began, offering his hand in a handshake, which Douglas accepted with a friendly smile, matching that to the smile on the man's face. "...Your Step-father owns around 70-per-cent of the world's entire computer shares and is the C.E.O. of the Starship Soft computer company, Nelson Thorndyke..." Douglas was taken aback by the background info Mr. Stuart knew, as indicated by the sudden release of the handshake he was doing. "...And your Step-mother is the world renowned film actress Lindsay Fair, am I correct?"

"...Shit man, what are you? My stalker?" Douglas said, smiling uneasily now.
"Oh no! The truth is..." Mr. Stuart began again, sensing the unease of the fellow person in the room. "...That I'm truly honoured to meet you, since I'm a great fan of your mother's work!"
"...Okay..." Douglas replied, arching an eyebrow. "...I haven't been signed just because of my name have I?"

Mr. Stuart laughed at this comment, although Douglas was a little unsure of the sincerity of the laugh. Truthfully, he was now a little unsure of Mr. Stuart as a whole. Douglas felt an uneasy atmosphere building in the room now, along with a strange perfume smell that he noticed coming from behind the screens in the room.
"Of course not Douglas, we never use real names in the S.S.C. anyway. As I said to you earlier, I'm a fan of your own wrestling work. I've seen some tapes of your matches, and as the Chief of Staff, I feel that your style could be just the thing to grab people's attentions."
"And make them buy tickets?" Douglas added, smirking.
"Well, there is that side to it... But currently, it's been the same guys at the top, and it's time for the 'new blood' as they say to step up and shine. I assume that you're ready for that?"
"Hey, I was practically born ready!"
"Just as I expected. Well, feel free to look around and talk to the other talent, I've got your first match-up booked in a few days, just a Dark Match so we can show off your skills and so on, you know how it goes right?"
"Yeah I knows it, I ain't no jobber."
"Well, I guess I'll see you around then Douglas."
"I guess so. Thanks again Mr. Stuart, I'll make sure not to disappoint you!" Douglas said, turning around and heading out the door.
"Oh, by the way, I know this might sound like a strange question but, do you happen to have a favourite animal?"

Douglas looked at Mr. Stuart as if he'd just grown another head that was green of colour and had strange arms coming out of it. "...Shit, that's one hell of a weird question..."
"It's just that my... Son is doing a school project you see..."
"Oh right! I've got no problems helping out the younger generations. Well then, my favourite animal would be... A hedgehog I guess..."
"Oh?" Mr. Stuart replied, his eyes seemingly lighting up with Douglas' answer, as if to say that he'd been expecting this answer from the purple-haired wrestler.
"Yeah, I guess it's different from a cat or something like..."
"Oh no, not at all! In fact, I'm glad to hear such an interesting answer."
"A lot of people have told me that I'm an 'interesting' person... Well, I hope that helps with your kid's homework, I better head off now, I wanna test out the ring a little."

"Of course, it's been nice meeting you! Oh, and don't forget your backstage pass..." Mr. Stuart said, pulling a drawer open in his desk and taking out a laminated card on a thin chain before throwing it towards Douglas, who caught it. Looking at the card, it read: 'SSC Talent: Wrestler. Admit to all areas of SSC Arena. Douglas smiled as he put it around his neck, not even noticing that Mr. Stuart was watching Douglas' every move as, he opened the door and left the room.
"... I'll be watching you in more ways than you'll ever know..." He added, as the door to the room closed.


"So what exactly are we reporting here?" The red-haired women in an orange suit and skirt asked as she sat in the front passenger seat of the van she was travelling in at the other side of town. This was not a regular van, as it has many television and satellite aerials on its roof, as well as an array of sound, recording, editing and transmitting equipment in the back of it. This was a hi-tech news van, reserved only for the finest reporter in the whole of the Station Square and SSTV News.
"I'm not quite sure Scarlet..." Her cameraman, who was wearing a red baseball cap and a blue shirt underneath a fisherman's jacket, replied while still driving. "...We got something about a malfunction at the construction site for the new bank..."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow at this. "...Seriously?"
"Not just any malfunction, a whole damn pay-loader!" Her sound-engineer (also known as the guy with the stick with the furry thing on the end), who wore large glasses and a purple shirt replied. "Plus, something in the area is messing around with other tools! They've had to shut down all the electrical equipment on site in case it happens again due to some 'electro-magnetic waves' or something..."
"That sounds more like a news story!" Scarlet replied, now more pleased with what she was about to report on. "Any witnesses?"
"Yeah, almost everyone on site saw it." The cameraman answered again. "But we're gonna talk to the guy who was operating the machinery affected, he was freaked out by the whole thing, so it'll look good on camera if he'd not already in a white jacket with locks attached..."
"How long until we're there?"
"Just a couple more minutes, then we can break out the film..."


"Your son's school project?" Topaz said, stepping out from behind the screen she'd used as cover to listen in on the previous conversations.
"It proves that Douglas is connected to the hedgehog, doesn't it?" Mr. Stuart replied, folding his arms across his chest with a smug grin on his face.
"It proves that you're a weirdo stalker! Douglas is probably wanting to avoid you the best he can after all you've said, and from what I've gathered on him, he's very good at that! We've learned nothing about him or the animals from that talk!"
"He mentioned something about helping younger generations didn't he?"
"Ah, that. We know about that already from his connection to Chris Thorndyke."
"Who?"
"The young boy in the photograph, with the spiky brown hair."

Mr. Stuart pulled out the picture from a pocket inside his suit. Looking at the picture, he saw the boy in question, who was tightly hugging onto Douglas, who was hugging back the best he could, despite the difference in height between them.

"After Douglas was adopted..." Topaz continued, "...He avoid his parents almost completely, which wasn't hard, considering they weren't at home very often. Douglas was forced to stay at home until he could leave the education system. The only people he connected with where Chuck Thorndyke and Chris, but with Chuck it was more a matter of respect for what the other had done. With Chris, we believe it was emotional. Perhaps Douglas acted like a real bigger brother figure for Chris."
"You're not sure then?"
"The Thorndykes don't want to talk about Chris since his death, so we only know a few details."
"Like what?" Mr. Stuart asked, with concern in his voice.
"That Chris died of a rare cancer that affected the heart, the symptoms of which are very hard to detect. The poor kid didn't have a chance really, and it was a miracle that he lived to the age he did. We also know that when the police and medics arrived after the butler had called for help, they found a crying Douglas cradling Chris in his arms. He was dead before they arrived."
"...Poor guy..."
"That's not the worst of it, after that happened, Douglas blamed his step-parents for the death, and moved out. He's spent a while before Chris' death building some kind of den in Station Square, but after the incident, he left the Throndyke residence and finished it. No one knows where it is, or how he exactly built it all, but some have suggested that Chuck helped out a lot."

"Interesting... Maybe that's why he wrestled in all these 'extreme' promotions then..."
"What makes you say that?" Topaz asked, now it was her turn to be concerned.
"Since it's a way to cause great harm and violence to others legally..."
"You mean, like a release of anger?"
"Exactly."
"Then why need all the barbed wire, the thumb tacks, and all those other stuff they use?"
"It's all part of the appeal of wrestling as a whole. Some fans want to see a great technical wrestling match; others want to see women in skimpy clothes pulling each other's hair out. Others prefer to see people getting the shit beat out of them with folding chairs until blood is splattered all over the canvas."

Topaz pulled out a copy she had of Douglas' face covered in blood, the same image that had intrigued, disgusted, and had plagued her dreams for the past few days.

"...But that's not to say that the wrestlers themselves don't fall into those categories..."
"...So you're saying that Douglas enjoys hurting people?"
"Could be, but perhaps he enjoys being hurt, or he could have a disreguard for his own body and health... If that's the case, then the animals may not be the problem we should be dealing with..."


The SSTV News van pulled up at the construction site. Stepping out of the van, Scarlet Garcia used her reporter's intuition to identify the situation. The police were already here and had cornered off the area with police tape, keeping the general public at bay; meaning this is a serious incident, which is good for the ratings. As if mysterious energy isn't, but it also meant the news crew wouldn't be allowed on site. She noticed a large blue sheet covering a large area of the ground on the site - there had to be something of importance underneath, but as it's behind the police line, it would not be possible to reach or see. This might not be a good a report as she hoped...

But then Scarlet noticed a young man, with short tan-coloured hair who was wearing pale yellow overalls with a white T-shirt underneath. He was sitting on a crate outside the police line, holding a cup of coffee in one hand, freshly made as indicated by the steam rising from the cup, and a bright yellow hard-hat. The man did not seem very well, as he's face was very pale compared to his hands. He looked as if he'd just experienced a terrible shock or been in a car wreck. Unless he was actually ill, he was the perfect candidate to be an eyewitness. Scarlet looked over to her two-man camera and sound crew, who nodded back to her in understanding and agreement. It was time to press record.

"Hello, I'm Scarlet Garcia from SSTV News." The worker heard from beside him. He turned his head up from his coffee and saw the speaker, who was holding a microphone to her mouth and had a camera looking over her shoulder towards him, with a red light on. "Can you tell us what happened here please?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure..." The man said, although his voice stated otherwise, he sounded tired and a little confused. "Well... I was just sittin' in my pay-loader, movin' the dirt around to get the foundations ready for the floorin' of the ground surface..."
"Can you show us the 'loader in question?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." He replied, putting his coffee down on the ground. "It's that one, the one with the cops and my foreman around it..." He said, pointing over to what looked to be a normal-looking piece of heavy machinery.
"The thing's useless now, shame really. It were brand new only a couple of months ago, check out was only last week an' all..."
"So you were saying about what happened?" Scarlet asked again, after the camera had got a good shot of the 'loader.
"Yeah, well, I was just scooping up the earth an' movin' it, when all of a sudden, I hit something real hard in the ground. And I'm talking real hard, 'cause you can imagine how strong these machines are!"
"Go on..."
"Well, the scoop on the front is stuck in the ground, and I move the controls to make the thing start up again. Then the circuits start playing up! All the panels and lights start flashing, the thing starts rumbling, so naturally I pulls the key out the ignition to switch it off."
"...And?"
"It keeps going! It's running by itself, like it got its own energy supply or something! The thing goes out of control and starts running around, knocking stuff over and causin' a right darn mess! It tipped over that truck over there..." He stated, pointing to an overturned truck that was lying on its side with a large gash in the top of it where the scoop of the pay-loader had connected with it.
"...And that pile of logs over there!" He now pointed to a mess of crushed timber and wood, with some partially solid logs sticking out as workmen sweep up the mess.
"I had to leap out of it before it did anymore damage, it was lucky that it stopped when it did!"
"How do you mean?"
"It's odd, but the thing just seemed to run out of power after the scoop got caught in the ground. It must've tired itself out I guess..."
"Do you know why this happened? You mentioned hitting something hard it the ground..."
"Oh yeah! After the thing stopped, I walks over to where I'd been digging before, and in amongst the dirt, there's the big green jewel..."
"A jewel?"
"Yeah! And I mean, real big! About the size of my hand, and bright green! The weird thing is, when I leaned over to touch it, it seemed to shine by itself, without the need of sunlight or anything, like electricity or something..."
"So you're saying that this gemstone is giving out electromagnetic energy?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, electro-whatever the cops were talkin' about. Yeah, that's the stuff. Made the radio's play up as well."
"Can you explain that for us?"
"Sure, when I took out my walkie-talkie to tell the foreman about the gem, all I heard was this roaring static. I started walking around to get a better signal, and the further I went from this gem, the less static I heard. So, naturally, I goes closer to the gem with the radio, and sure enough, I get lots of static! To the point where I held it right next to the gem and the thing short-circuited!"
"...That's something else..."
"Isn't it just? That's why they covered it up with that big old sheet over there..." He said, pointing over at the blue sheet that Scarlet had noticed before. "The police got one of their sketch artist to draw a picture of it, so you could ask them for a copy maybe if you want to see it for yourself."
"Right, well thank you very much for your time, Mister?"
"Oh, my name's Bob"
"And your profession?"
"Well, I guess you could say I'm a builder."
"Thank you. Okay boys" She said, turning away from the man. "We've got a story to report."


Back at the S.S.C. Arena, Douglas was again walking through the corridors, getting familiar with the surroundings that he'd be spending a lot of his time in from now on. He walked through a set of double doors and found himself in a large area canteen area full of seats and tables. There was also a large television screen on the wall, which seemed to be showing a news programme. As Douglas looked around, he noticed that there weren't many people around, except for a few backstage technicians and the odd wrestler.

"Hey, you the new guy?" A man called out, who had long black hair that was died blue on the end, who was sitting on a folding chair, watching the programme. The man also had a large championship belt on his shoulder.
"Yeah, aren't you TMG?" Douglas called back, heading over to the seated man.
"The one and only current Heavyweight Champion of the SCC! You'll be the 4GOT10 guy Stuart keeps harping on about then?"
"That's me, although I'm not too keen to have that guy as a fan..."
"Hah! Then you're already makin' the right moves around here then!
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"No-body likes the guy ever since the boss just announced that he was the Chief of Staff, he just seems stuck up. But it's good, since he doesn't seem to be around much. He just stays in his office, if he's here at all."
"...Really..." Douglas said, taking a seat next to the champ while thinking over Mr. Stuart again.
"Yeah, but there was a big meeting a couple of days ago, and your character was brought up. The boss and Mr. Stuart both agreed to sign you up really quickly, and when that amount of power decided, the whole company decides!"
"...Heh, I'll make sure that I live up to the hype then..."
"Now's that's the right attitude to have here! I've had to earn every shot and opportunity that I've got here, I've been cheered and booed, but it's been worth every minute of time that I get out there! But enough about the history of The Murder Game, I've heard you've had your fair share of scratches along the way."
"Yeah, just the odd bump and chair shot."
"I meant all the barbed wire and stuff like that, Stuart showed us all one of your matches from a couple of months ago. You take some sick bumps man! How long have you been doing that for?"
"Ah, well... Those kind of matches only started I guess... Maybe a year ago..."
"Shit! Just as well you got signed up then before you broke something badly!"
"I'm sure I'd have gotten through it alright..."

"And now we got live to Station Square with a Special News Report on a breaking story with our top reporter, Scarlet Garcia..." The voice of a newscaster reported onscreen.
"Hold that thought man, Garcia's coming on!" TMG said turning his full attention to the screen.
"No problems man, she's one sexy reporter!" Douglas replied, as the live news report kicked in.


"Ladies and Gentlemen, today I am standing in front of the construction site for the new central bank in Station Square. Those viewers who will remember..." The image of Scarlet said, before being cut off slightly by a moment of interference. "... The horrific attack on the old bank just around a week ago by the dangerous 'Doctor Eggman' will know this area. As if the trauma of that day was not bad enough for this area, another just as dangerous mystery is unfolding here..."

At the Throndyke mansion, the same report was being transmitted to the living room, and was being watched by none other than Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao. Although, the word 'watched' is being used very loosely here, as Cream was actually reading a children's book that Douglas had managed to find for her, and Cheese was just staring blankly at the screen, not understanding the long words and phrases being used.

"...Police have confirmed that strong energy waves have been demagnetising the machinery and equipment in the surrounding area, causing malfunctions and communications..." Another burst of static interrupted, "...difficulties in the area. Some of you may be experiencing some interference in your transmission. Please do not adjust your sets, as this is a direct cause of the gem's magnetic powers..."

Cream's eyelids began lowering, leaving only the lower halves of her eyes open to read her book, as she struggled against her own boredom to stay awake. It was not an easy task, as without something fun to do, she couldn't stay focused on what she was supposed to be doing i.e. watching for news of Eggman or the Chaos Emeralds as Douglas had suggested.

"...Which seem to be affecting all electronics in the area as we were told by our eye-witness just a few moments ago..." Scarlet said again, before the screen changed to an image of a man in overalls being interviewed about the incident. Not that this mattered to Cream or Cheese. They had just fallen asleep and were silently slumbering away, unaware of the clues staring them in the face.

Luckily for them, the book Cream was holding onto was slowly slipping out of her hands, due to a lack of grip in them. The book edged slowly, bit by bit, out of her hands until the book fell down to the carpet floor below in a resounding thump. Although not very loud, it was loud enough to awaken the young minds of the two creatures. Both Cream and Cheese's eyes opened up in a dazed surprise as they remembered where they were, and looked ahead to the image of the screen of the red-haired women, who was now holding up a piece of paper with a greenish image on it, but it was partially obscured by the interference. Had they tried to identify the source of the noise, they might have looked down to see the inside of the back cover of the book, which had, scrawled in childish writing in crayon, the words: 'This book belongs to Chris.'

"We unfortunately can not show you the gem itself due to the risk of further electrical damage, we can show you this artists rendition of the gem..."
The picture, almost by fate more than timing, became clear, showing the drawn picture. A drawing of the green Chaos Emerald. Cream and Cheese both gasped in surprise.

"That's... That's!" Cream stuttered out, as Cheese called out just as shocked and confused. "We have to let Mr. Sonic know right away Cheese!"
"Chao!" Cheese agreed, as Cream ran as fast as her little rabbit shoes could take her, with Cheese flapping its Chao wings behind.

Sonic, meanwhile, was taking a nice relaxing nap on a high branch of a tree. Shaded by the leaves above and around him, it was a fine place to chill out as he rested the back of his head in his hands, taking care to avoid the sharp quills, as he relaxed. A satisfied yawn escaped the blue hedgehog's mouth as he stretched his arms and legs out, having spent enough time asleep for one hour. Sonic was ready to go on the move.
"Nothing like a good pre-afternoon snooze before my afternoon nap!" Sonic said to himself, regaining feeling in his limbs. "I wonder what I'll do until..."
"Mr. Sonic! Mr. Sonic!" Came a young voice from below. Mr. Sonic looked over his left shoulder, and then right, having found the source of the call did not come from that direction. He saw Cream and Cheese running towards his position, with worried looks on their faces.
"What's wrong guys?" Sonic asked, as he effortlessly slid down the tree as if it were a fireman's pole, reaching the grass below as his friends arrived by the trunk.
"Big problems Mr. Sonic!"
"Chao! Ch-ao!" Cheese agreed
"Calm down Cream! Just tell me what's happening..."


"To add even more mystery to this already perplexing situation, no radiation or energy has been detected in surrounding area around the construction site..." The image of Scarlet continued, again being interrupted by static. "...So it is now assumed that this 'gemstone' is nothing more than an elaborate prank and it some kind of technical machine designed to distort electrical items. Although this cannot yet be confirmed or denied until scientists arrive on the scene, which this reporter has been told will happen in the next hour or so as Area 99 deploys some of it's finest minds, no doubt ready after the 'terrorist attack' by the blue hedgehog known..."

From his command chair, Doctor Eggman laughed heartily at his adversary known as Sonic being called a terrorist, and the fact that he knew full well what was causing the problems at the site well before the reporter had shown the picture of the emerald. Eggman pushed a button on his chair and the TV report was switched off.
"Well well, if it isn't a Chaos Emerald..." The Doctor said, smiling. "They have come to this world, just as I suspected. And right underneath my nose the whole time! Who'd have thought that destroying the old bank would prove so useful after all! No matter, Decob!"
"Here are your cards Lord Eggman." The golden robot replied, walking over towards the seated robotic genius with a stack of cards on a round metal plate.
"Which will you choose today?"

"Hmm... That is a good question..." The Doctor replied, taking the stack of E-Robot cards and fanning them out, looking at the many pictures of robots that he had created.
"Which shall I use today... To recover the emerald I'll need a machine that's fast enough to get in and out without much hassle, but I also need back up in case something unexpected happens like last time..." He mused to himself, remembering what happened to Missile-Wrist.
"Hmm... I can't decide again! This always happens when I create too many robots! Wait... Why should I decide?"

Eggman shuffled the cards back into a deck, pressed down hard on a red button, and slotted the cards into the slot that was produced.
"This should do it!" Eggman almost shouted out in a self-glorifying way, as he grabbed a hold of the large lever on the side of his main control panel, and pulled it back. Much lie it had done the day he decided to attack Station Square, three slot-machine like reels began spinning rapidly on the electronic display. Eggman watched intensely as the machine selected the ideal robotic aid for Eggman. The Doctor smiled as one by one, the three reels stopped and showed the same image. A bird shaped robot with yellow claws and crown-like guard on its head, in complete contrast to the sickly purple/pink hybrid colour of the rest of its body, and the large dark green eyes/sensors on its front head. While the machine's colour scheme could be questioned, its abilities could not.

"BINGO!" Eggman shouted, turning his chair around and giving the thumbs up to the gold and silver robots he now faced. "Prepare for launch, Beakon is going into action!"
"Right away Lord Eggman!" the robots replied, before hurrying off out of the command room.
'Once E-11 has obtained the Chaos Emerald for me, I'll be able to construct and power an even more powerful mecha to the ones I already have... And with a more powerful mecha, Sonic won't be a problem to me anymore!' Eggman let out a thunderous laugh after his last thought, as he walked over to his Egg-Pod in preparation of capturing a Chaos Emerald.


"What do you make of that then?" TMG asked looking over to Douglas who was stroking his chin with his hand as the news report finally. A gemstone of mysterious energy... Could that be a Chaos Emerald that Tails and Amy were talking about?
"...A lot!" Was Douglas' reply as he quickly got up and headed out of the canteen.
"Whoa! Where's the fire? I meant Scarlet!" TMG said as he watched Douglas move out of the room.
"If anyone wants me, tell them I've gone out on family business!" Douglas called back, already through the double doors.
'Shit, that guy is one strange character...' TMG thought to himself, as he flicked a speck of dust of the shining centre plate of his championship belt.
Outside the canteen, Douglas was running down the corridor, heading for the exit while calling up a number on his mobile 'phone.
"Hello? Yes, this is 4GOT10! ...Yeah I want Kaufman, send him down to the SSC Arena pronto, and tell him to get ready to head to the Construction Site in Station Square..."


Flip Card 1 – Dr. Eggman

Full Real Name: Doctor Ivo Robotnik
Nickname(s): Dr. Eggman, Eggman, anything Egg related
Age: Unknown in Mobian years
Gender: Male
Likes: Building powerful mechas, collecting Chaos Emeralds, taking over the world
Dislikes: Losing, Sonic, any friends of Sonic
Identifying features: A large bald man, with a long orange moustache, known for being 'egg-shaped', has an abominable 'evil' laugh, is often seen in his flying 'Egg-Pod' or with robots he's created


Flip Card 2 – Mr. Stuart

Full Real Name: Unknown, goes by the alias 'Mr. Stuart'
Nickname(s): Stuart
Age: Unknown
Gender: Male
Likes: Completing missions, gathering information, pleasing his superiors
Dislikes: Complications, being tricked, being misunderstood
Identifying features: Blonde hair, rose-tinted glasses, his wristwatch contains a hidden radio transmitter/receiver, is actually a secret government agent.


Part 2

The engine of the Tornado roared into life as Tails finished running through the per-flight checks as Amy secured herself into the back seat of the 'plane. Sonic had already headed out on his own to track down the Chaos Emerald, leaving Cream and Cheese behind to tell the others of the news. Needless to say it put Chuck's theory down instantly about the emeralds, they are here, and one of them is very close by.

"Please be careful Mr. Tails!" Cream said, looking up at the focused fox as he pushed a button that caused the rotors on the front of the 'plane to spin even faster.
"Don't worry Cream, I'll be fine!" Tails said, turning his head around to look at the rabbit. The innocent warmth of his smile seemed to put Cream's mind at ease as she smiled back with another look of innocence.
"But Sonic's already out there looking for the emerald, and I'm sure he doesn't know where it is he's supposed to be going!" Amy said, looking and sounding concerned for her blue hero.
'It looks like Douglas was right about Sonic being too overconfident...' Chuck thought to himself as he heard Amy's words. 'He's always had a second nature of judging people's characters...'
"Don't worry about it Amy!" Chuck said, in contrast to his actual thoughts. "The construction site is in the heart of the city, just head out to where you battled E-23!"
"Okay, here goes!" Tails said, as the Tornado began moving forward.
"Oh Chuck, what have you gotten into this time..." Chuck said under his breath as he watched the Tornado take off into the skies once more.
"...It just keeps getting bigger and bigger..."


The telephone rang in Mr. Stuart's office. Stuart picked it up and answered it.

"Mr. Stuart, Chief of Staff here."
"Sir, you said to let you know where Mr. Smicktor- Thorndyke left the building?" the voice on the other end of the line asked.
"He's left already?" Stuart replied, actually surprised.
"Yes Sir, he said it was family business. He's waiting for a taxi outside the arena now Sir, he left by the back exit."
"...Thank you. I'll be out of the arena for the next hour or so, make sure that people are aware of that."
"Oh, okay Sir..." The voice replied, taken aback by the unexpected announcement of departure.

With that, Stuart hung up the 'phone. He looked over to the door to see that Topaz had already left through it, so he had to quickly run after her. "Topaz! Wait up!" He called, realising she too was running down the corridor.
"Why?" Topaz said, without looking back.
"Because you'll stand out like a sore thumb if Douglas sees you!
Topaz slowed herself down as Stuart caught up. "...Good point."
"If we're going to tail Douglas, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way."
"You mean wait for him to move first then follow?"
"Precisely. We can use my car when he starts moving."
Topaz smiled knowingly. "As long as he has his 'Special Pass' with him."


"Come on... Come on! Where the hell is Kaufman?" Douglas said, pacing around outside the arena. Suddenly, a yellow taxicab pulled sharply around the corner and into the parking lot where Douglas was. The car stopped as Douglas ran over to it and got in the front passenger seat. As soon as Douglas had closed the door, the car was up and moving again, as par Douglas' instructions on the 'phone.

"Must be some serious stuff Doug! You piss off the SSC or something?" Kaufman asked, eyes fixed on the road as his passenger clicked his seat belt in position.
"Nothing like that man, but it's got to do with some friends I know..."
"You mean those talking animals and the blue hedgehog?"
"Huh? How'd you..."
"There's been pictures in the papers from that robot attack, they've got the picture of you, or should I say 4GOT10, in that 'plane with the fox! Take a look!"

Douglas opened up the glove compartment, and pulled out the day's newspaper. On the front cover was the picture in question, of a wide shot of the Tornado leaving the battle scene with Sonic, Amy and Knuckles hanging on to the rope ladder, with Tails flying the 'plane and 4GOT10 in the passenger seat. The headline read: 'IS THIS THE MASTER OF THE SUPER ANIMALS?" By 'SUPER' Douglas assumed they meant 'talking and oversized'.

"...Huh. Master is far from the truth..."
"Just as well the press don't know who you are then, 'cause it's only gonna be a few days before they find some stuff about you... Do you know anything about exactly what's happening at the site?"
"It's only a hunch Kaufman, but it might be the ticket to sending these animals back to wherever they came from..."
"Hah, shortcut time coming up!"
"Huh?"
"We're being tailed, that green car's been following us from the arena."
"Shit!" Douglas said, looking in the side-view mirror at the green car in question, which was at a distance behind him so he couldn't see the driver or know that there was a female passenger in the front.
"That'll be the bleedin' paparazzi after me now!"
"No worries! I'll just use this Taxis Only road here and we'll be on out way!" Kaufman grinned as he turned his car down the marked road. Still looking at the road behind, Douglas saw the green car stop parallel to the road's entrance, before driving off in the direction it had been heading in before. Douglas smiled.
"Hah, that'll learn them, no one messes with the last of the Smicktor family!" Douglas said, as the taxi continued to head off towards the construction site.


Elsewhere in the city, Sonic was having problems of his own. Not with traffic, but with his sense of direction. The problem? He didn't know where to go. Sonic had assumed (as he regularly did) that finding a Chaos Emerald would be no problem. Sonic had again forgotten that he was in a strange city, and therefore had no idea where places were. Add to this the fact that he'd run off before Cream had told him where the emerald was. Not that Sonic would ever admit that he was clueless at this moment, since it wouldn't look good for his 'rep'.

'It's gotta be around here somewhere...' Sonic thought as he raced down the many roads and streets of Station Square. 'It should be no problem for someone as good as me, so why haven't I found it yet? Maybe I should wait around for Tails to show up... He'll know where the emerald is!'

Instinctively, Sonic changed course and used his built-up speed from racing around the streets to head up the side of a building. As Sonic ran up the side, he noticed a large red aerial-like structure sticking out of the roof of the building. Reaching out with a hand, Sonic grabbed onto one of the lower horizontal poles of the antenna, before jumping up from pole to pole until he was perched on the very top of the main vertical pole. The whole movement was completed in about 6 seconds. Sonic was getting a tad slower in this still unfamiliar city.

Sonic stood, looking out at the afternoon skyline of the city's rooftops to the sounds of bleeping horns and moving traffic below. Quite a nice view, if Sonic was in a position to enjoy it. He crossed his arms over his chest as he looked out for the Tornado.
"It'll be no problem to see Tails from up here..."


"Where is he now?" Stuart asked as he manoeuvred his car through the streets.
"He's only about five minutes away right now..." Topaz replied, looking at the reading on the electronic display on the centre of the dashboard, which was tracking Douglas' movements thanks to a special chip secretly placed in his backstage pass to the arena.
"He must be in a hurry to wherever he's..."
"Topaz, come in Topaz, this is central command, tell me your position, over." Topaz's radio crackled into life as she answered it.
"Topaz here, I am with agent 'Stuart' and are in pursuit of target 4GOT10 in Station Square."
"Roger that, Dr. Eggman has mobilised and is headed towards Station Square with a flying robot. The flying robot is extremely aerodynamic and outran a barrage of ground-to-air missiles from one of our gunships monitoring Eggman Island, over."
"...Um... Okay, what do you want us to do, over?"
"Head toward the construction site of the new bank in Station Square. Local TV reports state a strange gemstone creating energy at the site, and we've had reports that Sonic, and the Tornado aircraft have moved out of the Thorndyke residence into the city. This is too much of a coincidence. You are to move to the site, recover the gem, and bring it to Area 99 for examination, over."
"Roger that, we are on our way, over and out." Topaz replied, putting her radio back in its position on her body armour.
"...I guess that's what Douglas' 'family business is then?" Stuart replied, moving his car up a gear.
"Yep, we've gotta try and get to it before anyone else does, especially Eggman."
"...Why not before Sonic or Douglas?"
"...I'm not sure why, but something tells me it would be in better hands with them..."
"Wait... Look! Up there!"

Topaz looked up through the windshield of the car, and noticed a small blue and yellow bi-plane flying up ahead. The Tornado.


"Hey Doug, you see that 'plane up there?"

Douglas winded down the window on his side of the car and looked out at the 'plane Kaufman was referring to. Douglas smiled as he pulled himself back in.
"It's one of ours Kaufman! That's the Tornado!"
"The Tornado? You mean that's the transforming 'plane?"
"The very same my friend, and it also means that we're heading out for a Chaos Emerald!"
"Whatever you say Doug, I'm just the driver right now..."


Sonic, now sitting on the top of the pole, heard the sound of a light aircraft engine in his sensitive ears above the traffic noise below.
'It's about time Tails got here!' Sonic thought, frowning at the lateness of his friend's arrival. 'Did he take a scenic route?'

As the Tornado approached, Sonic noticed that Tails was not alone in the 'plane, a painfully familiar pink hedgehog was in the passenger's seat.

'Oh no Tails, why did you let HER come along?' Sonic mentally groaned.
"SONIKKU!" Amy's voice called out to Sonic. "Over there!" Amy pointed at the direction, "At the construction site!"
Sonic smiled. "Okay, and next time, don't talk to me as if I don't know what I'm doing, otherwise I won't wait around for you!" Sonic then effortlessly jumped down from his high position onto the roof and began took off over the rooftops with leaps as he surged towards the emerald's location, leaving behind a confused Amy and Tails.

"What did he mean?" Amy asked, confused by what Sonic had said.
"I don't know Amy..." Tails' mouth said, although his mind said: 'It means Sonic didn't have a clue where the emerald was.' But both his vocal and mental speech joined forces when Tails said, "Let's get going in case Sonic needs our help!"


At the goal of this secret race, a large crowd of people had gathered at the entrance to the construction site. They of course were unaware of the battle of speed happening above and them, but had seen and head the reports of the 'magnetic jewel' that was happening in the area. The police had to change the regular police tape to police barriers as more and more people gathered around the site. The crowd of people, young and old, all stared in wonder at the large blue sheet that covered the source of the confusion and power.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder..." The sound engineer reasoned, looking over at the crowd while he leaned against the rear of the news van as the cameraman changed the film in his camera, while Scarlet took a sip from a plastic cup full of coffee.
"Yeah, I know what you mean." The cameraman replied as he closed the camera shut, the new film having been put firmly in place. "First the hedgehog, that Eggman guy, and now this."
"Still... Who do you think will win the game on Saturday then?"
"My money's on the Diamonds, they've never let me down on a bet be... Hey..." He trailed off, quickly putting his camera on his shoulder, ready for recording.
"What's wrong?" Scarlet asked, taking another sip of coffee.
"There's something up there in the sky..." He replied, looking into the camera's eyepiece.
"What the heck is that?" The soundman asked, his words attracting the attention of some of the crowd members who also looked up at the sky. In the distance, two blobs could be seen, one larger than the other.
"Let me see if I can..." The cameraman trailed off again, hitting the record button as he zoomed the camera in towards the approaching blobs. As he zoomed in, the blobs moved closer, until he could make out what they in fact were. The larger was some kind of bright purple robot-like bird, and the other was...

"AHH! IT'S EGGMAN!" He called out in alarm, which caused the whole of the crowd and the officers to look up at the sky. Many of the people in the crowd began to move uneasily, as one of the police officers moved quickly over to his police car and grabbed a hold of the radio.
"Police car #5 to Base! Police car #5 to Base! We have a situation down at the Construction Site! Dr. Eggman has been sighted, and it looks like he's got another robot with him! Over!"
"Base to Police car #5. Evacuate the area immediately! Do not, I repeat, DO NOT try to battle Eggman! Over!"
"Roger that, over and out!" The officer said, quickly hanging up the radio. "EVERYBODY! MOVE AWAY FROM THE SITE NOW!"


Indeed, above the rooftops, approaching the construction site from the eastern side was the fearsome looking E-11 robot and its creator, the rapidly becoming infamous Dr. Eggman. Eggman looked down at the panel of his Egg-Pod, and smiled. It not only picked up Chaos Emerald energy, but a crowd of people who are running away from the site to the west.

"It looks like I'm getting the respect I deserve around here now!" He said smugly.


While west to the construction site, a certain blue hedgehog was looking down at the mass of moving people below.

"I didn't know it was marathon day..." Sonic said, before looking over at the construction site. Sonic then saw what was causing the people to run away: Eggman, and he's brought another one of his metal toys with him.
"So Eggman's after the emerald as well huh? This should be a breeze!" Sonic said, before taking off over the rooftops again.


Back over on the eastern side, Eggman and Beakon were approaching the site at speed.

'An abandoned emerald will be easy pickings!' The Doctor thought to himself, pleased that his newfound status had cleared the area of almost everyone, apart from it seemed three people, but they would not put up any resistance, and a fast moving life form... Fast moving?
'Hmm... That isn't any motorcar; it's moving across the roofs of the buildings... That could only mean... SONIC!'
"That meddlesome hedgehog! A change of tactics is called for... Beakon! New priority number one objective: Neutralise the nuisance known as Sonic! Move 'collect Chaos Emerald' objective to priority number two until that hedgehog is out of the way!"

E-11 was one of Eggman's E-robots that did not have a voice-chip communication system, but it needed no words to acknowledge its master's request, as the rear engines roared louder as its programming changed from flying to attack mode. Beakon was designed for just flight purposes, so did not have any effective, or in fact non-effective, weaponry in a combat situation. That was precisely why it was building up speed, it was preparing to charge. The bright flames burning from the rear of the robot suddenly flared up brighter than before, and with more heat. Anyone watching the craft would have noticed small white streams of air begin to appear off the sides and wings of the robot. Clear signs of Beakon approaching, and reaching, G-Force levels of speed. Although E-11 could not reach Sonic's level of acceleration, the huge metallic weight would be more than enough to make sure that Eggman's plans went ahead without problem. The large, green eyes of Beakon seemed to light up and shine evilly with the reflected sunlight in both anticipation and eagerness. Beakon was about to please its creator.


Sonic looked in the distance and saw something bird-shaped heading towards him, although it was clear that this was no ordinary feathered creature.

'Heh, it's time to chalk up another Eggman robot!' Sonic almost arrogantly thought, as he pinpointed where he'd strike the incoming threat. Looking ahead, there was a flat rooftop with nothing but air in front of it. Sonic had planned to jump down from that building a race over to the building site, but now he had a better idea. The rooftop would make an excellent run-up to his jump towards the machine.

With the agility and style that Sonic naturally possessed, he jumped over the final small gap that separated the building he was on to the roof he'd use to leap from and landed on the opposite floor still running. With the velocity and adrenalin that Sonic had perfected throughout his life, his feet rapidly stepped on and off the roof's surface as Sonic increased his speed to the level he'd need to attack with. With the trademark smirk that had eased the minds of many friends and annoying his enemies, he leapt off the very edge of the roof, heading straight towards his robotic nemesis.

WHACK!

And with all the dignity of a wet sack of flour, Sonic was unceremoniously flung backwards as Beakon collided with the same force as a speeding freight train. Had Sonic underestimated the robot, or had he let his cockiness get the better of him? Sonic was in no position to have much rational thought, since the impact had pretty much knocked the wind right out of him. The one thing he did know was that he could clearly hear the all-too familiar manic laugh of the robot's master, and that laugh was mocking Sonic. Loudly.

Sonic was flying high, but in a very bad way. The blow with E-11 had not only knocked Sonic backwards, but high into the air as well thanks to the hard namesake beak of the machine. It also didn't help matters that Sonic had instinctively curled up into a protective ball, which had the effect of causing Sonic to spin around and around several times. By the time Sonic uncurled, he felt like he'd just been on a merry-go-round powered by an F1 Ferrari engine. Sonic eyes were wide as he blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of his surroundings and focusing his vision. Everything appeared to be strangely blue, with patches of white dotted around.

Beakon on the other hand was already preparing for another head-on crash with the airborne hedgehog. A wide rounding turn allowed Beakon to gain the velocity and direction it needed to smack Sonic into another time zone. Sonic's vision was still a little blurry, so he tried a little trick he learned from when he was very young and dizzy - looking down at the ground and counting to ten. Sonic looked down, but saw that the ground was seemingly a very long way away, plus that robot was quickly heading back towards him...

'Eggman's robot!' Sonic thought in alarm, now realising the danger he was in, but far too late.

WHACK!

Sonic was sent flying upwards again, now slightly less dazed than from the first crash, but still enough to render the blue hero temporarily defenceless. Sonic groaned, the effects of the blow now making themselves known to his mind. At this point, Sonic was able to focus his mind to one rational thought, which summed up the whole situation.
'This is way past uncool...'


Down at ground level, a yellow taxicab stopped just a block away from the construction site. Out of the front passenger door, Douglas quickly stepped out.

"Why's the place so empty?" Kaufman asked, looking over at the police barricade, devoid of policemen and people to keep back.
"That's why! Up there!" Douglas replied, sharply raising an arm upwards and pointing a finger at a strange egg-shaped thing pointing at the sky. Eggman.
"What the hell is that purple thing up there?" Kaufman said, pointing at a different direction in the sky. Douglas looked, and saw a big purple-coloured bird, which seemed to be bouncing a blue ball of its beak and letting roll clumsily down it back.
"...Well, it might be a safe bet to say that bird-thing is one of Eggman's robots, and it seems to be getting the better of Sonic..."

It was then another thing in the sky caught Douglas' attention. The Tornado. It was heading over to where the robot and Sonic where.
"Don't worry, Tails will save his ass."
"But what about that emerald thing that..."
"Shit! You're right, I better get that before Eggman does!"
"What, on foot?"
"It'll attract less attention, don't worry about it" Douglas said, pulling out a twenty-dollar-bill and throwing it to Kaufman through the opened passenger window. "Keep the change." Douglas said, before heading off towards the construction site, leaving a confused cab driver to watch the aerial battle unfold.


"I AM NOT A BALL!" Sonic shouted, as he was humiliatingly bounced off E-11's beak for around the thirtieth time.

"Amy! It looks like Sonic will need a ring!" Tails said, as the Tornado rapidly approached Sonic's position. Amy quickly reached into the pouch that hung off the pilot's seat, and pulled out a gold Power Ring. Amy sighed as she looked at it, hoping that maybe one day someone would have a gold ring for her...
'Someone? Why not Sonic?' Amy quickly shrugged the odd thought off, as she held the ring above her head and began to wave it.
"SONIKKU! I'M COMING TO RESCUE YOU!" Amy shouted as the Tornado moved closer towards the Eggman robot that was still tossing Sonic up and down in the air. "CATCH!" She shouted, throwing the ring with all her might towards her beloved Sonic.

Luckily, at this point, Sonic had been thrown a little higher up than usual, and had now regained enough sense to realise what was going on around him, including the usually fear-inducing voice of Amy Rose. Sonic looked to where her voice, and the accompanying sound of the Tornado's engine, where coming from, and saw a Power Ring coming towards him. Sonic smiled.

"Just what the Doctor didn't order!" Sonic joked to himself as the ring flew closer towards him. The ring was a bit above him when it suddenly stopped, and began heading straight downwards. Sonic opened up his hands wide, and brought his arms back slightly, preparing himself to secure the ring. The ring came down to Sonic's eye level, at which point Sonic brought his hands tightly together. Sonic then felt a strangely familiar sweat-drop appear on the side of his head, as he watched the ring fly slightly back up due to the wind draft he had created as a side-effect of bringing his gloved palms together, and then return to plummeting straight back down to the ground, ironically heading for the construction site.

"No way!" Sonic said out loud in anguish, realising that after this second major screw-up, his hand-to-eye coordination needed some serious working on...

"Amy! It didn't work!" Tails called out, following the downward path of the golden ring.
"Oh no! I've failed my Sonikku..." Amy said sadly, also watching the ring fall down.
"We're just too far away!" Tails reasoned, now focusing his attentions back to the matters at hand. There was no use crying over spilt rings.
"Do you think we can get any closer?" Amy asked, hopefully pointing back at 'her' blue hedgehog.
"It'll be tough, but there are things that only I can do!" Tails said, turning his head back to the controls and moving the Tornado back towards his best friend, as Amy pulled out another ring.

Eggman watched the gold ring fall away as well, and laughed heartily at the mistake of the common blue thorn in his side.
"This is working out better than even I'd expected! While they all worry about Beakon, I'll just sneak down and take the Chaos Emerald!" Eggman then gripped the two control sticks of his Egg-Pod, and began moving it downwards, into the construction site.


Douglas had sneaked right up to the entrance of the building site, even avoiding the three-person local news team, which was filming the battle in the sky, which had been no easy feat, considering that usually he would have just stood drooling over Scarlet Garcia. But he was focused in grabbing that emerald before Eggman did, even deciding to put on his 'battle-gloves'. He looked up at the sky to see what the situation was, and was greeted by a strange sight. There was something heading down at him, and it appeared to be something very reflective... Douglas cupped his hands together, and easily caught the falling object. Douglas almost dropped it when he realised what it was. A Power Ring.

'Odd... I'll have to ask about how this...' Douglas thought, but was brought back to reality when he saw the Egg-Pod sitting motionless inside the site compound, and the large shape of Eggman kneeled down digging away at the ground. Douglas, without another thought, put the ring securely in his pocket and leapt over the police barriers.

Eggman grabbed a hold of the large blue sheet and tossed it aside, having an extreme dislike of the colour, and began to dig away at the earth below, knowing full well that his goal was somewhere underneath this earth. Eggman threw handful after handful of dirt over his shoulders, creating a small hole in the ground, until a small, hard, green shape stuck out of the hole. Eggman gasped in surprise, was this for real? Had he actually beaten Sonic in a race? Eggman dug away again, with more eagerness, and then broadly grinned. There, lying in the dirt was the full shape of the green Chaos Emerald. Eggman let a short laugh pass through the toothy grin of his smile as he leant a hand downwards to take a firm hold of the emerald...

"MINE!" A voice shouted out, also mockingly, as a slightly worn brown leather glove reached down and swiped up the emerald, leaving Eggman to grab another handful of dirt.
"WHAT?" Eggman roared out, "Who dares insult the great Doctor Eggman like this?"
"The name's Douglas Smicktor- Thorndyke if you must know!" A young purple haired man replied, holding the emerald in his hand. Eggman looked up at him, and saw that he looked strangely familiar to the purple-haired man with face-paint who had hit him over the head with a baseball bat when he'd used E-23 to try and take over Station Square. He was less threatening looking that before; perhaps he had deliberately snuck up like this to avoid attention? That thought wasn't important right now, as this 'Douglas' man was walking away with his emerald!
'So this is one of the Chaos Emeralds that I've heard about huh?' Douglas thought, looking at the emerald. 'It doesn't seem to be doing much...'

"...This is astonishing news that we are seeing ladies and gentlemen! He has actually stopped the evil Doctor Eggman from grabbing the magnetic gemstone!" A familiar female voice called out. Apparently Douglas had attracted the attention of the news crew, as the camera was pointed right at Douglas, and amazed looks were on the faces of the crew, more especially Scarlet's. Douglas smirked at the thought of having impressed her. That was all the distraction Eggman needed.

Eggman struck Douglas' hand that held the emerald quickly, and that, combined with the distraction of the news crew, meant success for Eggman. The emerald flew upwards and into Eggman's other hand in a swift motion, just as Douglas realised what was going on.

"HEY! I got that first!" Douglas said, pointing a finger aggressively at Eggman.
"Too bad kiddo!" Eggman smirked, walking over towards his Egg-Pod. "Besides, you wouldn't know what to do with such power of a Chaos Emerald!"
"I know enough not to let you have it!" Douglas shouted back, running at Eggman.

Eggman turned his head around to see the lunging figure of Douglas come running at him with an arm raised to chest level. The Doctor couldn't even defend himself as Douglas hit him harshly over with a clothesline, knocking Eggman backwards into his Egg-Pod awkwardly. Douglas climbed up on the side of the craft and reached in hoping to grab the emerald away from the genius scientist. Eggman then frantically tried shoving his attacker away, but found that he was unusually strong compared to other humans on this planet that he'd encountered.

"Give me that damn emerald!"
"The great Eggman answers to no-one! It is my emerald!"

Eggman then brought his large boot up in a desperation attempt to free himself, and one that managed to catch Douglas off guard, sending him down a very short distance to the ground below, as Douglas landed abruptly on his backside. Eggman readjusted himself, quickly grabbing the Egg-Pod controls and bringing the craft upwards into the sky. Eggman heard gasps from the people with the television camera, and assumed they were in awe of the great Eggman leaving. He was only partially right, as they were in awe. In awe of the human grabbing a hold of the long red spike that stuck out from the bottom of the Egg-Pod.

'I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a fat whale like him get the better of Douglas Smicktor!' Douglas proclaimed to himself as he climbed a bit up the spike, before realising that he feet be strangely free from feeling anything underneath them. Douglas looked down at his feet, and saw the construction site moving away from him. Douglas then thought out load of something, although crude, which summed up his view of the situation
"...OH SHIT!"


WHACK!

"OWW! QUIT IT!"

Again Beakon sent Sonic painfully flying high into the sky again, almost as if it was getting tired of the lack of retaliation. This time, Sonic was sent extra high up in the air. Sonic cringed as he spun around in the air, like a cartwheel, thinking desperately for a solution to his situation. Sonic looked around, and saw the Tornado again, but more importantly, the Power Ring that Amy was holding aloft.
"SONIKKU!" Amy called out again, signalling to the ring she held.

With almost military like precision, Sonic spun out of the wheel-like shape he was in, and extended out an arm just as he rose up and came level with Amy and the Tornado. Sonic outstretched a finger and loosely caught hold of the ring, before Amy allowed it to slide delicately out of her hand and into Sonic's as he took a tight grip of it.
"Thanks Ames!" Sonic called out as he continued upwards, ring firmly in hand. Amy blushed brightly at the complement, knowing she'd helped the love of her life.

Sonic gritted his teeth, as a deadly serious expression came over his usually carefree face. His fist was beginning to glow and vibrate as the locked energy of the ring began to seep out and power up his entire body. It was time to right the humiliation that this robot had caused him. Sonic travelled up high, still going on the momentum from the last clash with E-11, only recognisable by his blue fur and now glowing right hand. All of a sudden, Sonic seemed to stop, and change course, but now he was hurtling downwards, with his clenched right hand leading the charge, now bursting with power. It was now Sonic's turn to have small white trails of air come streaming off his body, as he headed towards Beakon at a blistering pace, reaching speeds that no-one else could in the short time-span that he had.

Without warning, Sonic had changed in a blink of an eye into his infamous and natural ball shape, as he spun faster than the eye could see, in preparation for his patented Spin-Dash Attack. Beakon saw no difference in the movement pattern of the hedgehog, it had gone up, so was sure to come down. Beakon again charged at Sonic with the same speed it had done before, but now the tables were turned. It was Sonic who had the greater speed, so much like Beakon had done earlier to him in the first smash, and Sonic was now the one attacking. Sonic smashed brutally through the metallic armour of the front beak of the robot, smashing down into the pipes, cables and circuits that lay deep inside the machine, and bursting through the flaming engines at the back without even a scratch on him. Sonic had drilled a makeshift hole straight through it. Not shortly before Sonic had exited the robot, did electric sparks come flying out of the two newly made holes in E-11, followed by a thunderous explosion and a thick cloud of smoke and bolts that signalled the end of the E-robot known as Beakon, and victory for the hedgehog known as Sonic.


Eggman laughed to himself, as he opened up his hand to look at the prize of his day's work. The green Chaos Emerald lay mystically dormant in his palm, secretly hiding its powers. It would not be long before Eggman could use the emerald to build a mecha powerful enough to withstand even a Power Ring attack. Eggman was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the large explosion behind him, or the fact that there was something on the wing... Something... On the wing.

Douglas latched on tightly to the thin wing of the Egg-Pod, it wasn't big enough to fully hold his whole outstretched body, curse his wrestler body, but he had sturdy enough gloves to hold onto the wing for a long time. But hopefully not too long. The news of Beakon's destruction finally appeared on the control screen of Eggman's craft, not that the news did anything to take away from his success. Eggman looked over to his left to see if he could locate where E-11 last moments had occurred, but found himself being intrigued by what seemed to be purple hair on the left wing. Eggman's smile turned sadistic, as he grabbed a hold of the flight controls and caused the Pod to lurch violently downwards, causing Douglas to lose balance and leave his legs dangling off the wing. Eggman was attempting to make Douglas fall to his demise.


Sonic landed firmly on the street just beside a white van, and looked around to see three people with film equipment filming him. Sonic flashed his trademark smile, before having his moment of glory cut short by a shout from high above him. They all looked up, Douglas was in a struggle with Eggman high in the sky.

'By the Walkers!He'll get killed if he falls from that height!' Sonic thought, before racing down the street ahead in the direction of the Egg-Pod.


"TAILS! LOOK!" Amy screamed, pointing over at what looked to be someone struggling with Eggman on this side of the Egg-Pod in the distance.
"DOUGLAS!" Tails called out in alarm, seeing the huge potential for injury should Douglas fall from that height.
"We've gotta help him!" Amy said, gripping the top of the seat in front of her in fear for the life of her new friend.
"I'm on it!" Tails said, flipping a switch on the side of the Tornado's control panel, which caused a fuel injection into the 'plane's engine, increasing the propeller rotation as the Tornado headed towards the Egg-Pod.


"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? KILL ME?" Douglas shouted out at the Doctor as the Egg-Pod came level again.
"That could be seen as a bonus..." Eggman pondered, still smiling an evil grin. "I haven't forgotten that little blow to the head from last week!" Eggman said again, lurching the Pod sharply.
"I'M ALWAYS 4GOT10!" Douglas roared, grabbing out in desperation after finally losing his grip. It happened that Douglas managed to grab a hold of Eggman's long moustache, as signified by the shouts of pain that came as Douglas' whole body weight was suspended by his moustache.
"ARRRGGGHHH!" Eggman called out, Douglas was, unfortunately for the Doctor, not even a cruiserweight wrestler. The shock was almost enough to cause Eggman to drop the Chaos Emerald. "GET OFF! GET OFF!"
"HELL NO!" Douglas said, as if he was going to willingly plummet to his doom.
"LETGOLETGOLETGOLETGO!" Eggman wailed out, as he used both hands to attempt to push Douglas away. Eggman struggled, as did Douglas, until Douglas tried to grab the moustache with his other hand, the movement just enough for Eggman to push Douglas away, as he fell with strands of facial hair in his hand.
"SHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT!" Was the last Eggman heard of Douglas, as he now turned his attention to himself.

"That man was quite a handful! Youngsters these days have no respect for their elders..." Eggman said, straightening out his 'tache with his hands. "He almost ruined my finest feature! It'll take me hours to fix this..." Eggman trailed off, as he realised something. He was fixing his 'tache with BOTH hands, so which hand was holding onto the emerald?
"...AH! MY EMERALD!"


Douglas looked down in horror as he fell towards the city below, the air bitterly whistling in his ears as he prepared to meet his maker. His only consolation he could find in this moment was that he's managed to grab the emerald as it fell out of Eggman's hand when he pushed him off. Not that it made him feel any better right now. This was the end.

'Bloody brilliant!' He thought, 'The day I make it in wrestling and I bloody die because of an oversized gem! Whichever God exists must have a messed-up sense of humour!'


"Hurry it up Stuart! That explosion came from above the construction site!"
"I'm going as fast as this thing can go Topaz, but it doesn't help that you're..."
"What the hell is that thing?" Topaz enquired, pointing out a shape falling from the sky, and one that seemed to have...
"HOLY! THAT'S DOUGLAS!"
"WHAT? HOW THE HELL DID HE?"

Stuart didn't continue with the talk, as he pressed a thick black button on the control panel of his car. Upon pressing it, the roof of the car mechanically pulled away and secured itself on the back of the car, as the rear seats inflated into a special cushion, usually only used to give parachuting agents a safe landing.

"And they said this feature was useless!" Stuart smirked.
"Never mind that, we have to save him!"
"Right!" Stuart said, flooring the accelerator of the car, racing in a battle against time to save the contact they needed, and the man they subconsciously respected.


Douglas closed his eyes, bringing his arms over across his head to shield them, knowing that when he hit the ground, he would probably not survive. Still gripping the Chaos Emerald, he cringed not at the thought of death, he'd been through too much in his life to be afraid of that, but of not for filling the final promise that Douglas had made with Chris. It was the thoughts of this that, unknown to Douglas, was making the Chaos Emerald glimmer slightly, as it reacted to the pain in the heart of its holder.
"We're... We're not going to make it!" Topaz said, her voice full of shock and worry, as Douglas moved closer and closer towards the ground below.
"Hold on, we're nearly there, we're nearly..."

Suddenly, an incredible burst of speed rushed past the motorcar as a blue blur raced past the car, up the road ahead. Both Mr. Stuart and Topaz's eyes went wide and their mouths dropped as they witnessed Sonic the Hedgehog in action. In one amazing movement, Sonic leapt of the road surface, scooped up Douglas in his arms, and hit the ground still running, and off into the distance once more.

Stuart carefully brought the car to a stop, as both he and Topaz breathed a sigh of relief. Their contact was safe.
"Well... It's good to know that someone else is looking out for him..." Stuart stated, trying to sound as if he'd expected the whole thing to happen.
"Yeah... That confirms the friendship between the animals and Douglas..."
"Um, I guess I better head back to the arena now, get Douglas' match schedule complete for the month..." Stuart said, starting the car up again, and performing a three-point-turn and heading back to the arena.
"Wait! What about that emerald?"
"Oh yeah, I guess we better..."
"Come in Topaz, do you read me, over?" Topaz's radio crackled into life again.
"This is Topaz, what is..."
"Topaz, this whole incident has just made national news! The images of Douglas falling from Eggman's ship with that gem in his hand have just gone all over the country, and soon enough the world is going to want to know what's happening! We can forget about being secretive about it now, it's back to good old-fashioned denial. Over and Out."

At that point, Stuart and Topaz looked at each other, and then looked at the road ahead. The next few days and months were going to be VERY difficult...


"There you have it Chuck: One Chaos Emerald, courtesy of 4GOT10 and Douglas Thorndyke!" Douglas said, proudly kneeling down and holding out the Chaos Emerald in his hand, as his step-grandfather, Tails, Cream, Cheese and Amy gathered around to see it.
"This is just the start, isn't it?" Cream happily asked, holding her Chao friend/pet in her arms.
"And there's only six more left to find now!" Amy replied, just as pleased.
"But... We can't keep it here, its energy will effect my research equipment and the surrounding electrical appliances in the area!" Chuck said, still a little sceptical of the emerald.
"That won't be a problem Chuck!" Tails said, "Back in our world, I built a machine that was able to contain the Chaos Energy of the emeralds, so it should be no problem to make a similar machine here! Besides, if any of your machines go wrong, I'll be glad to help you fix them!"
"Ha-ha! Alright, it's a deal!" Chuck replied, comforted by the offer.

Douglas was not so cheery. He'd managed to get over the shock of near-death after a few beers, but it wasn't that which was bothering him. Douglas looked over at Sonic, who was relaxing in the windowsill that he regularly used as a sleeping spot when the furries came together to talk with Douglas and Chuck. Douglas sighed, gripped the emerald a little tighter, and walked over to Sonic. Sonic looked around from gazing out the window and up at Douglas.

"Listen, Sonic. I just want to apologise for..."
"Apologise? For what?"
"Well, I may have judged you wrongly before, so I just want to say..."
"Hey, don't sweat it, we all make mistakes. Besides, you were way cool going after Egg-Brain like that!" Sonic said, giving Douglas a thumbs-up as he smiled.
"Really? Well, I mean, of course I did! I couldn't let that tub of lard get away with the emerald could I?" Douglas said, filling his voice with mock self-confidence, which brought out an even bigger smile in Sonic.
"That may be the case, but I don't think you should make that a regular habit." Chuck intervened, moving over to Douglas. "You two are already a bit too alike anyway!" Chuck added, before breaking out into a full-blown laugh.

Douglas tilted his head slightly at Chuck, before looking back at Sonic, who simply shrugged his shoulders. He then looked at Tails and Amy, who smiled at Douglas. Douglas got the same reaction when looking at Cream and Cheese, and by the time he looked back at Chuck, he had finished laughing.

"Yeah... Well, I'm not gonna make any promises I know I can't keep..." Douglas reasoned out loud, before raising his hand back up and looking at the emerald again. "But I do know that I owe you one big time Sonic, and I always keep a promise."

Douglas smiled, looking back to his animal friends. "Anything could happen when I'm around you guys!"



Next Episode Preview – Voiceover by Douglas

"Not even a picnic is simple when Sonic's friends are involved, but this time a trip for a Chaos Emerald turns into a fight for survival! Why is Knuckles so eager to lay a beating on Sonic, how is Eggman involved in all this, and why do I have a distinct feeling that everything isn't as it seems?

Next time on Sonic eXcluded: 'Unknown from E.G.G.'! Don't miss it!"


Author Notes: This episdoe took long than I expected, due to my overall lazyness and real-life stuff, but I'm still pleased with how it all worked out. This chapter was harder than the others due to the points describing Douglas' life and the possible effects of Chris' death on him. You'll hear Douglas' side of the story later on. The whole S.S.C. company will be explained more in episode 6, and you'll also get to see 4GOT10 in action as well. Also, if you didn't guess by now, I have a weird sence of humour, so some lines in this episode may have sounded very strange. It all makes sence in my mind. Now what shall I talk about? Oh yes, my reviewers...

Shady Fetish - There's quite a bit of action in this episode, so I hope you like it. Thanks for liking my descriptions of stuff, it allows you to follow the story in you mind.
Sonic/Anime - Yeah, Knuckles rules. That's what you'll be getting in this story, more Knuckles, more Chaotix, more Shadow, and even a little more Big (trust me, you'll love where I have him show up). I'll try and give a better description of Douglas in Episode 6, since it would be relevent there. I hope you enjoy this episode.
Julie Riley/Julayla Beryl - Yes, I have heard of Fang, and he does play a part, but only later (did you spot some hints of his appearence in this episode?). As for the series, it has a total of 52 episodes, the same as Sonic X, but different storylines. I won't give anything away just yet, but I think that true Sonic fans will love what I've got in store.

There you go, now that you've read this episode, please review it so I know that I'm doing this right. Reviews make me a happy writer and stop me from putting off finishing chapters. Seroiusly. This has been Airo Smicktor with the next part of Sonic eXcluded.

N.B. Edited on 20-11-04 for paragraphing and minor editing
Edited 01/05/05 - All Song lyrics have been removed as par the rules of FanFiction-dot-net.