Chapter 2 – Meet Ashley
(Unknown location, 3 minutes and counting down)
The cobalt blue hooded cape that covers up her long blue short-sleeved dress has proved difficult for the young girl to run in as she was running for her life through the trees while wearing matching lace-up boots. Not the best shoes to be on the run but on the run from what? The necklace that has a big clear glass pendant that wrapped around two silver feather with seven colours swirling inside it, were bouncing all over the place as she continued to run. After a while, she looked back a split second to see that no-one is chasing her but she still sense that they was someone coming after her as she kept on running. A few minutes later, she sees a clearing, up ahead in the woods as sweat was falling down from her face and clashes with her white hair, making the tips of it damp. As she escapes the woods, she skids to a halt as her face went to absolute stun.
Right before her was a cliff with a scenic view of the sunset, mixed with a hint of pink and yellow and the luscious hills that were far away that she can only see it with a bird's eye view and a step forward to certain death thanks to this pit. The young girl manages to take a breather before she constructs an escape plan. An escape plan to freedom. As she looks over the deadly cliff, it looks like she has no other choice but to jump. She looks back to see the danger is approaching, fast and in plain sight. Fear has taken over her face but she didn't let that stop her as she can so far. She also knew it was time.
As the figure approach at full speed, she simply closed her eyes and let herself fall over the edge of the cliff. The only sound that she could hear was the gust of wind, flying past her ears which it was so soothing and peaceful that made her smile. She, then, took a deep breath and did something that no human being has ever done before. She unfurled her wings as hard and fast as she could. Her fourteen-foot wingspan has caught the air and was suddenly yanked upward into the air, hard. It was painful to the young girl but it was worth it. Her white wings shined in the warm sunset glow as she continued to fly to freedom.
She stopped for a moment and decided to looked back to see if the figure is still there but he was nowhere to be seen. She looked around her surroundings but can't seem to find him. She thought he might have retreated back into the woods but she knew a guy like him would not escape like this. She still looked around for any signs of danger but what she doesn't know is that someone in a big black hooded robe with black wings, up to 20 feet wingspan, the same guy who was chasing the young girl, was right behind her. He pulls his left hand out of his robe and creates a lighting orb.
The young girl then senses his presence and turns around. By the time she comes face-to-face with the hooded figure; he thrusts his hand and shoots lighting at her. The young girl then takes the massive hit, straight to her heart. She clutches her chest with her right hand, her eyes staring blankly and her mouth open, in quick, weak breaths, as her ability to cling to life, slips away. She looks up to see the hooded monster flying in the air just watching her, like a hawk.
No emotion. No movement.
Nothing.
With no strength to hold on, the young girl began to fall like deadweight. As she gets closer to the ground, the hooded man then flies away. She continued to fall as she makes a hard impact as the world goes black for her.
(New York City, Planet Earth 9:55 am)
The young girl then shot up from her bed with her hand over her heart, all scared and sweaty. She then wipes the sweat off her head. She looks around to find out that she is in her bedroom, not outside in the woods. Sleeping in her own comfort; not running for her own life. It was all a nightmare. So, she was safe. For now. She fell back onto her bed, letting out a sign of relief. Her bedroom was right now the only place that she was safe.
"It was just that nightmare again" she said to herself. She then grabs something around her neck. It was her necklace, the same one from her nightmare. She was always wondering if her necklace and her nightmare were somehow connected. She then looked to her left to check the time. It was five minutes to ten; realising that she slept through halfway her morning. She then pulled the covers off her and place her feet on her bedroom floor. She was pretty much used having nightmares all the time, ever since she was a little. The only difference about her that her hair is brown, not white and she was wearing her grey shirt and black tracksuit pants, not the blue dress with the cloak. She yawned and scratched her head as she walked across the hallway, all the way to her apartment kitchen to get breakfast.
The apartment that the young girl lives in has a nice feel to it. The living room has a cool feeling and comfortable with a double-stuffed couch, a couple of bean bags in the corner, a flat-screen TV on the wall with a fireplace underneath it, a glass-top coffee table was placed between the table and the couch itself, a wall full of memorable photos, including a few on the fireplace, plus a dining table. Both the kitchen and bathroom were small, small enough for more than one person living here with two more rooms, one of them was the young girl's bedroom. The girl then sees two pieces of note, staple together, on the refrigerator that was hold down with a magnet. She's walked over to it to remove the note. On the back was a shopping list while the front was a note. It says:
Hey Ashley. Won't be back until Monday morning so here's a shopping list that would last for the whole weekend plus pizza in the fridge from last night. Call me if any trouble occurs. Chris
"Great. Thanks for making my day, Chris" thought Ashley who pretty annoyed now.
Chris is a scientist and an inventor who works at NYLAB: New York of Scientific Geniuses and Machinery Laboratory and Ashley's older brother. Chris is pretty busy due to the fact he is the top scientist there so the young girl is pretty much by herself at home most of the time. She looked in the fridge and got herself a handful of bag of bacon and a carton of egg. As she was cooking, the smell of egg and bacon from the frying pan which makes her stomach growl. Normally, her brother would cook breakfast for the both of them in the mornings like they used to but ever since he got promoted; it wasn't a usual thing anymore. After satisfying her stomach, Ashley got changed into her blue demine jeans with dark blue sneakers, a dark grey top with white/blue jersey jacket. She still kept on the necklace. For some reason, she like her necklace and kept it on for pretty much her entire life. She grabs her big backpack and the shopping list as she walks out of her apartment.
She walks out of the hotel that she and Chris lives and starts to walk to the end of the street where the local supermarket is. As she walked, Ashley looked up to the sky. The blue sky and smooth, light breeze has somehow lightened up her day. As she walked on, she also looked around to see a lot of people walking, trees on the pavement swaying side-to-side and not much cars were coming passed. She was only a few metres away from the shopping centre when something has stopped in her tracks.
Herself. Her own reflection looking back at her but this time it was different.
Her hair was white and she was wearing the same dress and cloak from her nightmare but they were both wearing the same necklace. Not really strange to the young girl because this has been happing for a while. She wants to know where it came from and she knows that she wasn't going to stand here and do nothing.
'cause you're dancing with a star
Promise I could take you higher
'cause you're dancing with a star
We're gon' set this night on fire
The girl had finally broken out of thought and grabbed her phone from her jersey pocket.
"Hello?" she answered.
"About time you woke up." It was Chris who was calling from work.
Ashley just smiled. "Hey Chris. Whats up?" the young girl asked as she stares at the window and realised that her reflection was back to her normal self with the jeans, t-shirt, jacket, brown hair and all.
"Just working. You?"
"Nothing much excerpt for the shopping list that you gave me which takes up most of my Saturday morning. So, thanks" she answered, in a sarcastic tone.
"Sorry about that but listen. I'm busy for the whole weekend, working on a project for my boss. But I'll try to get home earlier but there is pizza in the fridge for dinner" he said.
"I know. It says on the note but don't worry, I will call you if there is any trou—" before she could finish, Ashley gets distracted by her necklace which begins to glow.
"What the—" Ashley starts at her necklace but she then shields herself as the light from it engulfed her. As the light dies down, the young girl opens her eyes to witness what was in front of her. She was still on a pathway but this time, there were tree all around her. As she looked up, she could barely see the blue sky. She walked along the pathway until she something in the distance. From where she was standing, she could see a large fountain in the clearing that could be seen for miles. Behind it was a huge monument that was almost higher then Ashley's hotel. By looking at the fountain and the monument, she knows exactly where she is.
"Washington Square Park? Why am I here?"she thought as she looks around. There was no-one was in sight. Usually, the place would be packed with people form the city to enjoy a nice day out.
As she approaches the fountain, Ashley then notices something that glowing bright in the water. She walked down the steps and kneeled down to get a better look. The object that she sees was too bright to determine what it is. Ashley then reached her right hand out and went to grabbed it.
As soon she touched it, reality suddenly lit up. She was right back where she was; standing on the pavement, near the shopping centre. Right now, Ashley was even more confused than ever.
"Ash? Sis, are you ok?" She was broke out of thought to find out that she was still talking to her brother on the phone. "Oh, yeah. I'm totally fine. I'll talk to you soon, bro. Ok, bye!" she finishes as she hung up, quickly. She then looked around to see if anyone was watching her.
"What just happened?" she thought as she placed her hand to her forehead. Beside her nightmares, this was new to her. She never had vision like this. Not ever. Her life just gets weirder and weirder by the moment. First, the nightmares that she has been having and now the visions? And what with the glowing object that she founded in her vision? Was it a sign? A prediction? Who knows? One way or another, she was going to find out. She still had a lot of questions in her mind as she went inside the local shopping centre.
Not far from here, on top of a tall building, lies a certain unconscious blue hedgehog. A pigeon was just flying above him when a feather felled out its soft coat, floated down to the hedgehog and landed on his nose. Due to the feel of the feather on his nose, he then shot up in a spilt second.
"AHHCCHHHHOOOOOOOO!" he sneezed so loud that if he was in the desert, his sneeze can be heard for miles. He rubs his nose and scratches his head as he starts to wake up.
"Man that was some blast" he said as he rubbed the back of his head. He then looked up and found out he is somewhere different. He stands up and walked over to the edge of the building to get a better view.
Instead of a grassy field with mountains, it was a city with only small grassy patch nearby. The city itself kind of reminds him as Empire City, a high-rise metropolis that Sonic went to on his last adventure but this is not Empire City nor his world; something different. Sonic was getting really confused.
"Where the heck am I?" he wondered as he continued look at the city with a bird's eye view. He sees a lot of people and traffic below. He begins to think until he remember that he was battling against Dr. Eggman in his aircraft after he saved his friends when that bright light engulfed everyone that was closed to the light.
"I guess Chaos Control must have sent me here" he said to himself. He then looked at the sky. It was clear and blue with only a few clouds in the sky; no sign of rainy forecast later that day. "Did I travel through time? Space maybe? Am I the only one here or are all the others.…gone?" he said to himself as he closed his eyes thinking about his friends, if they are ok or if they are here; alive and well or they are back on their home world and they're worried about him.
Then, all of sudden, he opened his eyes and smirked. "Well, guess I find out soon or later" he said with confided, knowing that he will stop at nothing to find his friends and find a way home. But as soon he takes his first step to the ledge, his vision goes blurry. He began to wobble from it but steady himself. He was still shook up from Chaos Control.
"Mmm… I guess can chill out here for a while, just until my head clears up a bit" he said to himself as he sat down again, leaned on a post with his hands behind his head and one leg over the other. He decided to take a nap so he can rested up and be on the search for his friends so they can come up with a plan to find the Chaos Emeralds and get back home. But he knew something or someone will be involved as well…
Wait a minute! Sonic the Hedgehog is here! ALIVE! In another world? And what's with Ashley's nightmare and vision? Are they both connected somehow to the Chaos Emerald? Well, only one way to find out, next time! Stay tuned!
Author's notes: Well, there you have it. You guys get to see the intro of my OC and see what happens to Sonic since the first chapter but don't worry, the others will turn up soon enough and so will Ashley's brother, Chris and a couple of her friends as well. I have finished the first three weeks of TAFE and I don't go back to work until this weekend so I have time for TAFE work and write up of my fanfic.
Ok, first thing first, the idea of Ashley's brother, Chris. The name was pretty much off from the same Chris from Sonic X. Both scientist and inventor and have the same name. Normally, it was going to be Ashley's father, Gregory in this fanfic but he will be mention later in the story or in my future fanfics. I also heard a lot of complaints of using humans like Chris in the show, mostly in season 1 and 2 but not so much in season 3 when they went out to space and a lot of people say Chris acted like a wimp in season 1 and 2 but season 3, he seems to be a bit useful but still stole the show. Unlike anyone else, I have nothing against Chris excerpt when he takes certain roles from other characters like he owns the show. Like all of you, I hope in the future, if there is a possibility chance that Sonic X MIGHT have another season, Chris would be more a recurring character rather than a main character, you know? You guys agree with me?
Next, the lyrics on Ashley's ringtone are definitely Dance With Me by Justice Crew ft. Flo Rida. LOVE IT! I'm playing it right now! Also, I'm taking up song request that will be happening later in the story; mostly Amy's feelings towards Sonic. Any suggestion?
Also, I have locations of certain places in New York like Washington Square Park and the hotel that Ashley lives in is in fact real excerpt for NYLAB: New York of Scientific Geniuses and Machinery Laboratory, I made that up but more on both of those later. So, why did I choose NY? Well, it's like the term: "Concrete jungle where dreams are made of" from the song Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys. Also, I LOVE NEW YORK! Wanted to visit there one day. *signs* A farm girl like me can dream. Yeah, that's right. I live on a farm, away from the city's light. It's more peaceful out here than there but I still like the city, though.
Also, I mention Empire City that was used in the game Sonic Unleashed which would probably be the BEST game I ever played! Right now, I have the PS2 and X-Box version.
Also, I just want to heads up for everyone that Sonic 4: Episode ll will be coming out in May and also has the return of Little Planet since it made its first appearance in Sonic CD. To be honest, I was actually PSYCHED that Little Planet appearing again for so long but I was hoping that Amy would return because I had this idea in my head about Amy's unknown past that I WILL write up in the future. But right now, is everyone PSYCHED about the released of Episode ll?
So, I guess that's all I have for now. I'll keep posting when I have the chance and I hope you'll like this chapter and the new one will be up soon.
Until we meet again,
TheDragonLord2912
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic and the crew but I do own the characters that do appear in this fanfic. This is not an official Sonic story.