DISCLAIMER: Characters, places, and objects are trademarks of Sega, Sonic Team, and/or Sonic Project.
Author's Note:
Here's the reason I started this fanmade season of "Sonic X" in the first place: I added Maria to the main series cast. She is discovered in a cryogenic containment on the Space Colony ARK. "But how is Maria found?" you ask. Well, Chris and his friend, Helen (you know, the girl in wheelchair), along with Topaz, are on a mission to explore the ARK and find anything that can be useful to the government. Thus, they find Maria and awaken her. Soon, back on his planet, Chris' parents adopt Maria as their own daughter, thus, Chris and Maria become brother and sister. Originally, I wanted to make Maria a daughter to Chris and Helen. But then, I remembered that Chris and Helen had aged six years since Sonic went back to his world, making them eighteen, and Maria is twelve years old physically. This makes Chris and Maria only six years apart, too soon for Chris to become a dad. So, Chris and Maria are siblings instead. Either way, since Chris' parents aren't around much anyway, Chris can be like a father-figure to Maria. "Okay, I can live with that, but why is the title 'Welcome Back, Sonic'?" Don't worry, that will be explained in the next chapter. In the meantime, since Chris is narrating in this chapter, his narration will be in italic. So, now that we've cleared all that up, let's wake Maria up, shall we?
Chapter 1 - Project: Maria
The Space Colony ARK hovers above the planet in its orbit. Aboard the ARK, Christopher Thorndyke, Helen, and Topaz are wandering down one of the corridors of the colony. Topaz wears her combat outfit for this mission. It's still six years since Sonic and his friends went back to their world and Chris had returned to his adult form by now.
Helen told Chris, "I still can't believe you were actually brought here, Chris."
Chris smiled, "I couldn't believe it myself, Helen. It was the first time I had ever been in Space." He looks at Helen and adds, "Even if it was Shadow who brought me here."
Helen looks at Chris with a giggle, "I guess you're used to it by now after your trip through Space to help Sonic defeat the Metarex."
"Yeah," Chris replied. He looks forward and continues, "I'm just glad to be back home."
Flashback sequence: The mini rocket that Chris took to get back to his home planet arrives on, you guessed it, his home planet. His parents, Nelson Thorndyke and Lindsey Fair, his grandfather, Chuck Thorndyke, and his friends, Danny, Francis, and Helen, are standing in front of the rocket as it slowly lands outside the Thorndyke Science and Technology building at sunset. Chris narrates.
Eggman did say he wasn't sure how old I would look when I arrived on my planet.
The rocket lands safely on the ground. The engine comes to a stop upon the rocket's landing. Everyone watches in expectation as the rocket's door opens in front of them, revealing a small staircase on the back of said door.
So, I expected to either remain a kid or go back to being eighteen.
Then, a pair of feet start coming down the stairway. Everybody starts to smile big and bright as the now adult Chris comes off the stairway and happily stands in front of his family and friends with no trace of looking like a twelve-year-old whatsoever!
But I'm glad things turned out the way they did. I don't think my parents were ready to see me as a kid again.
Thus, ends the flashback. Chris, Helen, and Topaz stroll down the corridor with eyes forward.
Helen smiled, "Well, I, for one, am glad you're back safe and sound."
"Me, too." Chris agrees. Then, he looks at Topaz and tells her, "By the way, thanks again for letting us come here, Topaz."
"Well, we could use all the help that we can get, Chris," Topaz responds. "You and Helen are the foremost scientists in the entire city of Station Square. Your knowledge is vital to our assignment. The government wants us to collect as much working equipment from the Space Colony ARK as possible."
Both Chris and Helen are looking at Topaz in interest by this time.
"They're planning on shutting this place down so that it wouldn't be used for evil like the first time Dr. Eggman came to the colony. It's important that we bring any equipment that's still functional before we seal off this place for good."
Chris seriously tells her, "We'll do all that we can to help."
Helen seriously agrees "Count on it."
Soon, they all enter an abandoned room filled with empty capsules on the wall. They look around in curiosity. Topaz shines a flashlight in the room to help them see what's there.
"What do you suppose this room is?" asks Helen.
All Chris could say is, "I don't know. I've never been in here before."
Topaz guesses, "It appears to be some sort of storage facility. Possibly for keeping experiments safe from harm."
Then, Helen curiously notices a capsule with its lid lit up in light blue light.
She points to the lit capsule, "Hey, what's that?"
Chris and Topaz go to Helen and look at the lit capsule she points at.
"Looks like something's in it," Topaz notices.
Chris approaches the lit capsule, curious to know what's inside. He looks through the lid and gasps in shock as he takes a step back.
"More like some one is inside it!" he said.
Helen and Topaz go to Chris and gasp in shock upon looking through the lid. Inside the capsule, in a deep sleep, is Maria Robotnik, best friend of Shadow the Hedgehog from fifty years ago!
Chris wonders, "Can it be? Maria?"
Topaz adds, "...Professor Gerald Robotnik's granddaughter from fifty years ago."
"This is Maria? The girl you told us about?" Helen asks Chris.
"Yes," he answered, "she was Shadow's best friend here on the ARK, but I thought she was..."
"I thought so, too," Topaz agreed. "Guess we were wrong."
"How did she survive?" Chris wonders.
"We'll look into that later," Topaz tells him. "Right now, we need to figure out how to wake her up."
Chris notices a keypad on the side of the capsule.
Chris ponders, "Hmm. I wonder..."
Helen and Topaz watch Chris go to the keypad.
Helen worriedly asks, "Chris, are you sure that's a good idea?"
Chris tells her, "Well, I have to try something. Besides, I'm an expert at cracking codes."
Chris types on the keypad as Helen and Topaz look on in expectation. Suddenly, some light fog seeps through a small opening in the capsule's lid which makes Chris stop typing on the keypad and notice with a gasp in surprise. Helen and Topaz also gasp in surprise upon seeing this. Topaz pulls Helen away from the capsule as the lid slowly opens in front of them. Suddenly, Maria, who has been asleep all this time, starts to fall, but Chris quickly catches her before she could land on the floor. Chris turns Maria, who is still asleep, face first while keeping her laying in his arms as Topaz brings Helen beside them. Maria slowly opens her eyes with a dream-like view of Chris' smiling face. Her eyes are wide open as the dream-like view of Chris becomes real and Maria gasps in shock at this.
Maria nervously asks, "Who... who are you?"
Chris tells her, gently, "A friend."
Maria slowly sits up and curiously looks around, noticing the smiling faces of Helen and Topaz.
Maria then asks, "What happened? The last thing I remember is sending Shadow down to the planet below before..."
Topaz explains, "You were in a stasis for fifty years. But now, you're safe."
Helen smiles, "You have nothing to worry about."
Chris comforts Maria, "Don't worry."
Maria looks at him.
He adds, "I won't let anyone hurt you."
Maria smiles back at Chris upon hearing this. Then, they both hug as Helen and Topaz look on. Soon afterwards, back on the planet below the ARK in the mid-afternoon, a black limousine comes down the driveway leading to the Thorndyke mansion. The right back door window opens and out peeks Maria, looking at the scenery excitedly.
"Wow!" she exclaimed. "This planet is amazing! It's just as my grandfather described!"
Inside with her are Chris and Christina Cooper, the secretary to the president. They happily look at Maria who is enjoying the scenery.
Chris chuckles, "She sure is excited. Of course, this is her first time on this planet."
"It was nice of your parents to adopt her into your family," Christina tells Chris. She looks at him and adds, "In the meantime, the government will look into Maria's prediciment as to why she survived and how she was put in that capsule in the first place."
Chris looks at Christina and tells her, "That's okay. Just as long as she's happy. That's all that matters to me now."
Soon, Maria gasps in awe at the sight of the mansion as the limo approaches it.
"Wow. Do you really live there, Chris?" she asks Chris.
Chris looks out the window with Maria at the mansion as Christina looks on.
He told her, proudly, "Yep. I've lived here since the day I was born. You see, my dad is an appliance distributor and my mom is a movie actress."
Maria admires, "You must be really lucky to live in a place like this."
Chris sadly looks down with a sigh.
"Not really," he said.
Maria looks at him in concern. They sit back down in the passenger seat.
"My parents are always busy," he explains, "even in my childhood. ...too busy to spend time with me, even if they wanted to. I was pretty lonely." Then, he happily looks up and adds, "That is, until he came."
He remininces the moment twelve-year-old Chris rescued Sonic the Hedgehog from the swimming pool the night Sonic first arrived in Chris' world. Adult Chris narrates.
He was drowning in our pool, so, I dived in and rescued him.
Soon, Sonic sits on solid ground near the edge of the pool and coughs up water as young Chris looks on, sitting beside him.
Young Chris talks as Sonic stops coughing, "That was close. Are you okay?"
Sonic smiles, "Yeah, thanks a lot."
"I didn't think you could talk," says Young Chris in surprise.
Sonic looks at him in puzzlement and tells him, "I can do a lot of things."
Young Chris says in amazement, "Wow. That's awesome. ...that you can talk, I mean. (happily) My name's Christopher. Do you have a name?"
Sonic tells him, happily, "Yeah, I have a name. My name is Sonic the Hedgehog."
The memory fades as eighteen-year-old Chris, Maria, and Christina Cooper sit in the living room of the mansion. Chris is looking up as if he was daydreaming while Maria and Christina look at him with Maria looking confused.
Chris finishes his story, "And we've been friends ever since."
"Sonic the Hedgehog?" Maria wonders, "I've never heard of him."
Christina explains to Maria, "He was after your time, Maria. He's a blue hedgehog that could outrun even the fastest racecar on our planet."
Upon these words, there came a memory of the time Sonic passed by Sam Speed in his racecar during their first encounter. The memory quickly disappears as Chris and Maria look at Christina Cooper as she describes Sonic.
Christina continues, "He comes from another dimension, similar to our own."
Chris looks at Maria who's more confused than ever.
"Huh? An alternate universe?" Maria asks.
Chris tells her, "It's a long story."
She asks him in curiosity, "Do you think I can meet him?"
Chris sadly hangs head down with a sigh.
"Not unless you got a trans-dimensional gateway," he explains. "He went back to his own world almost a year after he arrived."
Maria becomes concerned for Chris, saying, "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't know."
Chris comforts Maria with a smile, "It's not your fault. In fact, I built a gateway in my lab."
Maria bursts out, excitedly, "Really!"
"I still have to figure out how to make it work," he explains, "but when I do, we'll go see Sonic. ...together."
"That would be great!" she agreed. "What's he like?"
Chris lets out a dream-like sigh as he looks up.
He told Maria, "He's the best friend anyone could ever have."
A/N:
Now that Maria's alive and living with Chris, she can be happy, right? If you think she's happy now, just wait until Sonic and the gang come back. 'Til next chapter, read and review!