Sonic the Comic; A Helping Hand
Chapter 1
Note- This story takes place after issue #148 in Sonic's plot in the Comics.
The HQ at the Emerald Hill zone was a boom of energy as a whole collection of bags, supplies and anything made of computer technology was dumped into the control room from across the whole tower. Johnny almost stepped over a few small containers, as he dropped down more much needed stuff.
Holding a cup of coffee, Sonic was not in his usual pleasant mood as he talked away at the computer, tapping his feet impatiently.
"I tell you Porker; we don't need all this. All I need is Nack's gizmo belt and I can follow Robotnik". He called out as he threw his hand towards the belt device not far from him.
Johnny looked and saw the device left by the Ex-Chaotic member Nack the Weasel. It was a combination of cylinder cases attached round a safety belt. To his annoyance, Sonic just missed catching Grimer and Nack as they both suddenly shrunk in size and disappeared; their mission to find and retrieve Robotnik. However, he was just quick enough the take a hold on one of their devices.
"But Sonic, along with Robotnik, both Grimer and Nack shrunk down to the size of an atom. We can't go through it, without taking all the precautions". His friend nervously replied back.
As the rabbit appeared closer of Sonic's gaze, the computer held two screens at present. One of them was the small replica of Kintobor's face on a small handheld device, while the other one beaming at the centre and talking to Sonic, was someone he hadn't seen in a while.
Porker Lewis was talking to Sonic from the floating island. As the pig explained his theories, he could just detect Knuckles at the distance. Appearing next to his blue friend, he could see Knuckles and the guardian robots were adjusting and taking measurements around the emerald chamber. Even in the bad static reception of the communication link, he could faintly see the floating chaos emeralds behind them, gleaming in their position above the emerald chamber.
All that power he thought; just at the touch of their fingers.
"But the longer you lot take your time, Robotnik could be up to no good. Who knows what crazy plan he has, after being exposed to all that!" he shouted, pointing behind the pig, towards the Chaos Emeralds.
The last time any of the freedom fighters saw the evil dictator, he had created a machine to absorb all the chaos emeralds. Johnny nor anyone for sure what happened after, but Knuckles and Sonic were apparently able to defeat him with the grey Emerald. The rabbit moved closer to hear the conversation.
After hearing Sonic's snarky remark, Knuckles the echidna forced his way to the computer, moving a distraught pig out of his way.
"Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds have not shown any activity since we saw Robotnik. This proves that Robotnik has no chaos signature. If he did, we would be able to detect it."
"And let me remind you, how old is your technology? Come on Knuckles, they look like a pair of dusted pans from an old TV show!" the hedgehog shouted back, pointing towards the guardian robots.
Johnny can see this argument was getting nowhere. The rabbit stepped forward to the computer; ignoring the protest underneath as Sonic felt annoyed at his tall friend. In defeat, he humph and moved away to sip more of his coffee.
"Don't worry, I'll help him get this stuff up on the plane, as soon as Tails lands." Johnny replied.
He could see Knuckles showing the same annoyance and waved back to him as he continued on with his work.
"Thanks Johnny. Communication link is bad, so can you let us know when Tails has set off?"
"No problem, Porker, see ya later." The rabbit ended, as the link was disconnected.
As the call ended, Kintobor's face appeared back onto the main screen. But before the face could speak, Johnny turned to see Sonic had already stormed off and slammed the door. The rabbit turned to see his still full cup of coffee resting on the side.
Johnny understood why he was like this but his attitude was getting worse. He looked back at the computer, and helped prepare the last parts of tech they needed for the trip. Throughout the day however, the rabbit hadn't seen Sonic in quite a while.
"Hmm, the boy does seem quite agitated today." Kintobor spoke with honestly.
"I'll go and check on him, I'll put you on stand by till I get back." He smiled to the computer, pressing the stand by panel.
With everything prepared for Tail's arrival, the rabbit decided to head towards the kitchen to make a fresh cup of coffee for him, hoping this may cheer him up. But as he made the coffee, a memory resided in him.
The last time he had a coffee was at the Groovy train, served by none other then Sonic's so called "evil counterpart" Super Sonic. A few weeks passed since that unforgettable day and there were times that he kept recalling his decision to let him go. Was it still the right thing to do? He thought about it as he headed down the long corridor where the bedrooms resided.
Even before he opened the doors to Sonics, he was living on the edge. Unless he was playing his video games on loud speaker, he was either asleep or reading his comic books. Either way, disturbing him was a risk to take, as his temper could escalate in seconds.
Knocking on the door, Johnny waited for a reply.
"What is it?" The hedgehog shouted on the other side.
Instead of replying outside, he took the door handle and poked his head through the gap.
"I come in peace, and bring coffee as a token." He smirked, trying to brighten the mood.
Waving his hand over to him, Sonic simply sagged more into his green couch. Johnny however as he entered his room, was almost caught of guard by the sheer mess of comics, empty cans and other rubbish, laying on the floor. Carefully the rabbit tried his best to not touch any of the filth. It was clammy and the red curtains were closed. The place needed a haul of cleaning he thought; even some fresh air into it. Even the blue hedgehog's couch was falling apart; broken leg, stuffed with clothes and many more rubbish.
Sonic simply sat up and took the coffee from him. Blowing it, the rabbit was able to hear a faint sound of music. Looking on the floor, the source came from small headphones. Looks like Sonic was trying to calm his frustration.
"You hungry? I can make you something up."
"Not hungry." He sighed as he sipped more of his coffee.
"Alright then." He replied.
There was no space for him to sit or anything, so he decided to walk back out. But not before he turned to his old friend.
"I get it Sonic; that you want to stop Robotnik. But Porker is right to take pre cautions. You could be walking right into a trap. Robotnik could be waiting for you right there and then-"
"Do you not think I know? But the more we wait, we are giving that Walrus chops more time to plot something. Unlike you and the others, no one has any idea what that creep did with the Chaos Emeralds. I did." He finished, pointing at himself.
"And for that, anyone with slight contact with those cursed things, are on my wanted list."
"Does that include yourself?" The rabbit quietly spoke out.
The hedgehog paused between his next sip of coffee. He glared at his friend but then sighed. As both of them knew exactly what they were talking about. Sonic moved and rested his feet on the floor in frustration. The rabbit moved closer to him.
Sonic hadn't talked about Super Sonic in months, but he knew he was always at the back of his mind.
"Especially that creep." Sonic muttered.
As he said those words however, there was a slight stab of guilt to Johnny. But he had to take this opportunity to ask.
"Do you have any idea where he could be?"
"If I knew, we wouldn't be talking about him. He's another loser most likely wanting revenge and having some sort of plan of destruction; just because he's in a bad mood."
Something in Johnny started to turn. Was he actually started to feel sorry for the yellow hedgehog? Only just a bit back, he was asking the rabbit to surrender himself to prison; he didn't think then that he was in a bad mood.
The rabbit approached him and sat down next to him. He had no idea how Sonic could find sleeping on this battered up sofa be comfortable.
"Look it doesn't matter who. You know we have your back; all you have to do is let us." But before Sonic could open his mouth, Johnny continued.
"AND give us time. We all can't be as quick as you-"
"But where is everyone?! Tails was dilly dallying somewhere before you could finally reach him. No idea where Amy and Tekno is. And you're off here and there, like you're still working as agent X for all I know!"
That hit a nerve. Johnny glared at his friend with a deadly stare. It was only a second after he said it, Sonic looked at his friend realising his mistake. Moaning loudly, he gulped the last of his coffee and jumped off the sofa. He needed a run and even left Johnny sitting down on the couch as he left. Moments later, the rabbit could hear the front door open as Sonic dashed away into the distance.
It had been a while since he was ever called that name. But knew everyone else had their suspicions as well. Going back to that time, sent him shivers. And he certainly didn't want to think about it now. Leaving the sofa, he went back upstairs to the control room. A flashing light on the monitor was pressed and Kintobor returned to the screen pillar.
"Ah Johnny. No Sonic?"
"Gone on run to cool down. What's the message?"
"Ah good news, Tails is literally a few minutes away. Thought you and Sonic would want to get the bags downstairs for the plane."
Of course, Johnny thought. Just as the hedgehog storm off, his flying ride was here. Looking around at all the bags he needed to take down, this was going to take a lot of hard work. Other then a moan, he took the first set of computers and made his way to the bottom of the tower.
Soon after, his long ears detected an upcoming sound. Looking into the sky, he could hear the sound of an aeroplane motor heading towards the HQ tower. Then all of a sudden, another sound boomed from the distance. Looking behind him, Sonic was on hot pursuit of the place.
"About time he showed up. I'll get the rest down in two secs." The hedgehog speeded back into the control tower.
Dropping the bags down onto the emerald grass, Johnny watched as the plane changed course and headed for their direction. The plane landed with a steady drop and manoeuvred close to the building. The engine was switched off as the pilot hopped onto the grass. Of course, the rabbit could see their two tails spinning to fly towards him before seeing the young fox.
"Good to see you, Johnny. Sonic a bit calmer now?" Tails asked, looking around for him.
"What makes you say that?"
"Oh, Knuckles and Sonic's message pretty much persuaded me." He smirked.
"Hmm figures. You get what you need Tails. I'll fill the plane up with fuel."
With that, Tails flew towards the door and landed swiftly inside. Outside, the day was soon starting to set. Johnny felt a cold wind draw by as he watched the leaves shaking in the trees. It felt relaxing but the time was short lived as Sonic stormed through the front door carrying up to ten bags. Johnny gasped as he simply chucked them to the ground; not knowing how valuable some of the tech was.
"Come on, we haven't got all day." He ordered as he went back to collect more.
This task was certainly a hard one; but he wondered which part? The bags? Or Sonic's short patience? But in the end, the hard work did pay off. The engine was full of fuel. Tails was at the front adjusting the controls. The passenger seats were filled to the brim with the much-needed cargo. All that was left was the hero of Mobius. In a split of a second, Sonic came back and finally looked relaxed.
"Right Johnny. Let the floating island know we've set off." He ordered as he adjusted the gloves on his hand.
But before he jumped onto the plane, Johnny was surprised to see the blue hedgehog come up to him quickly. Instead of cool collective self, he looked a bit timid.
"Look I'm sorry; for what I said earlier. It was uncool."
"Just come back in one piece, alright?" The rabbit smiled to him.
"Like I always do." He replied with a wink.
With that, Johnny watched as Sonic jumped onto the wing of the plane and tapped the metal frame for Tails to set off. The engine erupted and the pillars roared into life. It took only a moment for the plane to move onwards and down the steep hill behind the control zone; enough space for a perfect lift off. The rabbit waved out as the plane soared up into the clouds. He waited till he could no longer see him. He then wondered as he waved farewell to them; did he mean it when he said it? He did think so. He knew Sonic had gone through some pretty tough challenges; with his short temper and snarky responses his own way of coping. But Johnny knew he had been like this since he first ever met him; even before he became the blue wonder of the world.
And then another point hit him. Looking back at his recent encounter with Super Sonic, just how similar are they to each other? Maybe some of the questions he had of Sonic, that maybe Super Sonic could answer. Suddenly he couldn't hold back his curiosity and maybe, a bit of excitement. The rabbit took off and ran back inside the control tower. He ran to the top where Kintobor was waiting.
"Ok. Let Knuckles and Porker know that Sonic and Tails are on their way." He asked him in a hurry.
"No problem, Johnny. Are you off as well?" he asked as he noticed Johnny looking for something frantically.
Suddenly the computer watched as the rabbit ran down to the door and moments later reappearing adjusting his red jacket.
"Just heading to Metropolis. Any problems, just send me a message and I'll head back as quick as I can."
"Is this to do with this new friend of yours?"
Suddenly Johnny froze on the spot. It only dawned to him, that he explained to Kintobor about his new acquaintance and basically asking the same question he had. On the spot, Johnny gave a nervous laugh as he rubbed his hand behind his neck.
"You could say that." He smiled.
"Well make sure you don't leave it too late; just in case we need someone here with me."
"Of course, Kintobor." The rabbit smiled
Johnny quickly ran across the whole building, making sure all the security checks were completed and the final lock was processed. If he got to the station quick enough, he was confident he could catch the next train to the densely popular city. To his luck, the train had just landed. Jumping into the fast machine and hearing the motor speed up for the city, he cracked open one of the windows and didn't care to feel his ears being pushed back by the wind.
And he simply thought to himself; time for a flying visit….
