SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Chapter Forty-Three: Big Changes
The scene opens up with Shadow in the workshop. After recovering the charred remains, Shadow's main goal was to restore his former car. He had managed to repair the body. Now he was working on the engine. He set up his tools to work when Jet suddenly came in.
"Hey, Shad, how's the car coming?" Jet asked.
The emerald bird moved closer to inspect the car when Shadow suddenly smacked him upside the head.
"Don't – touch – the car!" Shadow seethed.
"What's up with you?" Jet asked rudely. "I only wanted to see it."
"Whenever you get near my car, something bad always happens to it." Shadow stated.
"Name one time." Jet challenged.
"The Ark of the Cosmos incident." Shadow began. "My car was suspended for three months. Rematch with ABIS, my car was turned into grilled compost heap. Last week, I was waiting for the engine..."
"I said one time!" Jet cut in. "Chill out, Shad. I can tell you, nothing is going to happen."
But While he was talking, Jet leaned up against the car door. The next thing he knew, the door fell sideways. Things only got worse when the car started rattling and suddenly shattered to pieces. Now you have a broken car, a killer hedgehog, and a klutzy bird. You do the math. The scene alters to the hallway outside the workshop. Knuckles, Rouge, Wave, and Amy were talking over the arrangements of the future wedding. Sonic was only there because he had nothing better to do, or so they thought.
"I think we should go with a spring theme." Amy suggested.
"That's not a bad idea." Knuckles said thoughtfully. "The plant life on Angel Island is blooming best during mid-spring."
"I can't believe you're getting all work up over this, knucklehead." Sonic commented.
"Are you the one getting married!" Knuckles exclaimed. "I didn't think so."
"It's unusually quiet around here." Rouge stated.
"Eh, probably not for long." Wave said. "If my calculations are correct, things should be kicking off in three...two...one."
"YOU'RE DEAD, PIGEON!" Shadow roared.
"Right on time." Wave commented.
There was a loud scramble of noise coming from the room next to them; a string of curses followed. A moment later, Jet ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He was panting heavily through a black eye.
"What's up?" Sonic asked casually.
"Shadow...car...broke." Jet wheezed.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what he meant. Shadow emerged from the workshop by tearing the door off its hinges. He was surrounded in a thick layer of red chaos with his eyes blank. With a scream of panic, Jet, along with the other heroes, burst down the hallway. Shadow chased them all around the base, not caring that Sonic or the others were not involved. They flung in and out of random doors, through the thick forest outside, even ran across the ceiling. Tails was unfortunate to be stampeded by the herd, but Cream couldn't be any happier. The chase lasted until they reached the storage room near the hanger. Jet noticed his ring glowing and hatched a plan.
"Quick!" Jet shouted. "Into the book!"
With Shadow close behind, they didn't bother asking questions. The Jet's book flung open as the emerald hawk stretched his ring hand to it. A fragment of light erupted from the page, sucking Jet and the others inside. The book snapped shut behind them.
The six were flung into the Arabian Nights were they all landed in a massive pile up. With much difficulty, Rouge slapping people for touching her chest, they separated from each other. Everyone looked fine, but Jet and Wave were different from when they first entered the book. Much like their last trip, they wore Arabian style clothing instead of their usual wardrobe. Jet wore a silver vest with a green hawk on the back. Wave wore white slacks with an Arabian top and a red sash.
"Uh, what's with the get up?" Knuckles questioned.
"Oh, this?" Wave said, pointing to her cloths. "Whenever we come to the Arabian Nights, our cloths change to these for some reason."
"Why can't we have fabulous cloths like that?" Amy whined.
"I wouldn't see why you would."
They turned on the spot where they found Shahra the Ring Genie floating closer to them, followed by King Shahryar and Queen Scheherazade. The queen had seriously changed dramatically since she was Ali Baba. She now wore a ceremonial white gown with a golden floral crown around her head. Upon seeing the royal duo, the heroes realized they were in King Shahryar's palace.
"It's about time you showed up, birdbrain." Shahra huffed at Jet. "Any second more and I would have dragged you here myself."
"Calm down, Shahra." The King said. "No need to get all worked up."
"How can you say that, your highness?!" Shahra asked hysterically.
"What's going on?" Rouge asked.
"Oh, it's nothing." The Queen shrugged. "Erazor's just trying to take over the kingdom."
"Again?" The heroes asked simultaneously.
"Again." The king nodded.
"Looks like we're stuck with another boring mission." Sonic sighed. "Where is Erazor anyway?"
"Funny, you should ask that?" Called a familiar voice.
The voices tone carried a chilling scent in the air. Sonic looked up and, sure enough, saw a black huff slipping into the room. The small huff expanded into a cloud of smoke as it shot down at the group. The heroes and the Arabians jumped back from where the smoke landed between them. Jet was luck to trip backward as a razor blade nearly clipped his beak. When the smoke cleared, Erazor stood with his signature razor unsheathed.
"Greetings, pathetic insects." Erazor said simply.
"How kind of you to join us, Erazor." The King smirked.
"Why wouldn't I join you?" Erazor returned. "Not when I am trying to regain my former kingdom." He turned to Shahra "And maybe afterwards, you could rejoin me at my side, Shahra." Shahra stuck her tounge at him. "How discreet."
"Better leave before things get serious." Knuckles said, bashing his namesakes.
"Then come if you dare." Erazor challenged.
Erazor unsheathed his razor blade as Knuckles charged headlong into an attack. Erazor swiped across his head, but the echidna slid under it with his head back. Unknown to the djinn, Rouge was in the air above him. She held out her heel and started spinning in place for her signature attack.
"SCREW KICK!" Rouge shouted.
Unfortunate enough, Erazor had turned on the spot from Rouge's yell. At the same time, Knuckles was charging for a second strike. To counteract them both, Erazor grabbed the female bat by her leg and tossed her into Knuckles path. Erazor could only smirk when he realized he had other problems. Both Amy and Wave ran at the evil djinn with their signature weapons. Erazor blocked them with his own. He could tell they were much stronger than they looked. The initial contact forced Erazor to his knees. Realizing his position, Erazor summoned a ball of fire in his hand and plunged it into the ground. A moment later, the floor erupted beneath Amy and Wave, throwing them across the room.
"Any other foolish enough to challenge me." Erazor asked.
"Hey, we haven't had our fun yet." Sonic said.
Before he could realize what happened, Erazor found Sonic's foot lodged in his gut. The speedy hedgehog jumped away before Erazor could grab him. Jet ran up after him and kick flipped Erazor in the chin. Erazor staggered back, holding his chin, before he saw Sonic and Jet charging at him. Both jumped and kicked the evil djinn to the ground.
"You filthy rodents." Erazor grunted, staggering to his feet.
"Give it up, Djinn!" Jet commanded. The others joined at his side. "There's no way you can beat our team. We know each other like the back of our hands."
"Is that so?" Erazor said; his grin growing more menacing. "Well then, what do you say we put it to the test?"
The mighty djinn clapped his hands together, gathering a large amount of dark magic. He began chanting and the light in the room suddenly started to fade. The only source of light was the rainbow colored ball formed in Erazor's hands. With a mighty howl, Erazor hurled the orb at the heroes. The orb made contact and everything went black.
"Do you think they're all right?" The Queen's voice asked.
"I am uncertain." The King's voice replied. "Perhaps we should wait until they're awake."
"Maybe I could prod Jet awake." Shahra suggested hopefully.
"Shahra, no!" The King said sternly.
What's going on was the first thing that entered Jet's mind. He didn't feel any prodding, so he guessed Shahra listened. He groaned as he sat up and opened his eyes. What he first saw was all his friends lying in beds lined up against the wall. It was The King who noticed Jet first waking up. He left Amy's bedside and joined him on his own.
"How are you feeling, Wave?" The King asked.
"I'm just fine, I..." Jet said momentarily. When he spoke, it came out in a pitch higher than his own. "What's wrong with my voice? And why did you call me Wave?"
"Because that's your name." The King said confused.
"No, I'm Jet!" Jet exclaimed.
"Uh...this is awkward." The King said.
"What?" Jet asked. "What's going on?"
The King didn't answer, but instead grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of bed. He noticed he was taller than usual. And when where his feathers purple? The King stopped and pushed Jet in front of a full body mirror. Only his reflection showed Wave instead of himself. He scratched his head and Wave did the same. Then it hit him: he was Wave. Knowing this, he started screaming in Wave's voice. The scream was enough to wake the whole team. It wasn't long before everyone figured out their predicament. Sonic and Amy, Knuckles and Rouge, Jet and Wave all switched bodies.
"Get out of my beautiful body!" Rouge screamed at Knuckles.
"You think I like this?!" Knuckles roared back. "How can you see with this wide loads on your chest?!"
"How come you don't have any, Ames?" Sonic asked, looking down Amy's dress.
"Stop look at my chest, you pervert!" Amy screamed.
"What happened while we were out?" Wave asked.
"When Erazor's spell hit you, I conjured enough magic to push him out of the palace." Shahra explained. "We brought you six here and tried to examine you for any magical changes. But from the looks of it, I wasn't thorough enough."
"Ya think!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"There must be someway to reverse the process." Wave said thoughtfully. "If you could direct me to the library, I will start looking for a way to change us back." Nobody moved, but eyed Wave awkwardly. "What?"
"It's just weird." Sonic said. "Jet and books don't really go together."
"Yeah, I – HEY!" Jet snapped.
After an awkward confrontation and understanding, everyone scattered in their own directions. The Queen directed Wave to the library; she still received strange looks. She spent over two hour taking down ancient dusty scrolls; some of them actually tried to bite when you picked them up. Wave was looking up an old journal created by Erazor when Jet walked in. At that moment, Wave wanted to scream. Her body was covered from head to toe in food scrapes, while Jet was eating a bucket of chicken wings.
"What have you done to me?!" Wave cried hysterically.
"I was so hungry." Jet said tiredly; he chewed on another wing. "Honestly, Wave, don't you ever eat?"
"Get that out of your mouth!" Wave shouted with authority.
"No!" Jet whined.
Wave grabbed the wing and tried to tug it away, but Jet pulled back. Wave's body was the tallest and oldest, but Jet's was clearly more fit and durable. Back and forth, they tugged at the small wing until they both let go. The wing hit against one of the shelves, knocking it over with the contents. That shelf knocked another and another until the entire library looked like a stampede came through. The contents of the shelves piled over Jet and Wave.
"I'm not cleaning that up." Jet said; Wave groaned.
Knuckles and Rouge seemed to be having the hardest getting along with their new bodies. Rouge, whom was not used to using Knuckles kind of strength, was dragging Knuckles arms across the ground everywhere she went. Knuckles was not fending any better. He had no idea how use Rouge's wings, so he couldn't rely on flying anywhere. He was also hunched over by the sudden weight on his chest. The two eventually passed by each other; they were not pleased.
"Stop dragging my hands like that." Knuckles grunted. "Show some pride."
"I'm not a stupid echidna!" Rouge replied. "And stopped leaning over, you're ruining my figure."
"It not my fault I have a couple on anvils on my chest." Knuckles stated.
"How dare you!" Rouge screamed.
Using whatever strength she had her arms, Rouge slapped Knuckles across the face, feeling a bit awkward hitting herself. In retaliation, Knuckles slapped Rouge across the face. Quick enough, both anthros were locked in the usual squabble. Jet and Wave didn't bother looking as they passed by, but Shahra felt a bit concerned.
"Shouldn't we stop them?" Shahra asked.
"Nah, they'll get over it eventually." Wave shrugged. "Jet, get that cake out of my beak!"
The only one who didn't seem bothered by the sudden change was Sonic. This made Amy very suspicious. Sonic was walking around the palace without a care until he stopped outside a balcony. He looked left and right down the corridor. When the coast was clear, a wicked grin spread across his face. He attempted to look down Amy's dress when...
"SONIC!!"
Amy caught him. She stomped down the corridor; eyes filled with flames of rage. It was kind of strange to see Sonic angry when he was usually calm and down-to-earth.
"What are you doing?!" Amy shouted.
"Nothing." Sonic replied feebly.
"Don't lie to me!" Amy roared. "You were looking at my chest again, you pervert. If I catch you looking at my body one more time, I'm gonna..."
"What?" Sonic smirked. "You can't do anything. Hurting me will only hurt you."
"Oh yeah." Amy grinned.
Amy reeled back Sonic's leg and looked ready to kick him. But in a stunning turn of events, she instead redirect Sonic's foot back at his own behind. Outraged by Amy's lack of respect for his body, he summoned the Piko-Piko Hammer. To this day he still has no idea how he did it. He lifted Amy's hammer and started pounding her head. Both hedgehog's continued their appointed actions. Unknown to them, The King and Queen were walking by when they noticed their counterparts beating themselves up.
"This is a bit unusual." The Queen stated.
"Must be some kind of custom." The King said.
Over and hour later, things were finally staring to calm down. The King had ordered Shahra to go to the medical wing and to call everyone to lunch. Shahra returned momentarily with the group groaning behind. Sonic had a wrap around his head, Amy had a number of bandages on her behind, and Knuckles and Rouge had the same number of injuries as they usually did. Jet spent most of the afternoon laughing at them. Shahra kindly asked the heroes to sit down around a cleanly polished wooden table filled with an abundant amount of succulent treats. But before they could fill their bellies, Wave charged in.
"I've been doing my research." Wave stated; she still received strange looks. "After long study I have come to one conclusion: We're stuck.
The others facefaulted.
"Yeah, that's the kind of stuff we need to know." Sonic said sarcastically.
"Shut it, hedgehog!" Jet yelled. "At least she try to help!"
"Calm down." Wave said. "Look, we may be able to use Shahra's "magic" if we figure out what kind of spell Erazor used."
"But I had never even seen that spell before." Shahra stated.
"Then we should get Erazor to tell us." Knuckles said. "The sooner I lose this weight, the better."
Rouge looked ready to kill, but Amy cut in before she could move.
"But we don't even know where to find him." Amy said. Suddenly, there was a loud explosion, a thunderous roar, and the sound of people screaming coming from the Bazaar. "Never mind."
"Be careful, my friends." The King forewarned. "No doubt Erazor has grown more cautious after that previous battle."
The heroes nodded and quickly shot out towards the bazaar. Or at least until Sonic picked himself up. They arrived a moment later with the crowd running in the opposite direction. And the heroes couldn't blame them. Erazor had defiantly taken precautions. He had summoned a gigantic dragon that had two more heads than it should. The main body was grey, but each of the heads had a different color: red, blue, and yellow. And sure enough, Erazor Djinn stood proud on the middle head.
"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you here." Erazor laughed. "At least not in those forms."
"Yeah, you're a barrel of laughs!" Jet snapped. "Let's just make it easy and switch our bodies back."
"Switch you bodies?" Erazor repeated. "The spell I conjured was supposed to turn you into insects. My magic must be getting rusty."
"So you'll change us back?" Amy asked hopefully.
"Not likely." Erazor sniggered. "You see, my Hydra is very hungry and I was just about to feed him. I'm sure he would love some toasted chicken, frozen rats, energized mole, and whatever the hell you are." He pointed to Rouge.
"We're not chicken!" Jet and Wave snapped.
"We're not rats." Sonic and Amy yelled.
"I'm not a mole!" Knuckles roared, followed by Rouge. "I'm a bat, nimrod!"
"Whatever." Erazor shrugged.
The six heroes charged at the hydra, two going for each head. Jet and wave for the red head, Sonic and Amy for the blue head, and Knuckles and Rouge for the yellow head. Unfortunately, none of them knew how to work each others bodies. Sonic kept tripping over Amy's dress. Amy was not incapable of handling Sonic speed and ran into a wall. Jet kept looking for Wave wrench, but couldn't find it. Wave, who did not believe in magic, tried desperately to use Jet's Time Break attack. Knuckles and Rouge were still going through the whole body phase. Erazor did his best not to bust a gut.
"This is hilarious." Erazor laughed. "I should have sold tickets to this. Feast, my pet."
On command, the hydra swarmed. Its three heads lengthened from its body and snapped their jaws down onto the heroes. The body switched group was only lucky that the hydras missed slightly. But the biggest surprise came when the hydras turned their heads and opened their mouths to breathe. It came as no surprise that the red head spat out fire, but what they didn't expect was the blue head to spew ice and the yellow head to zap lightning at them. The six were forced back by the mighty torrent of attacks from the triple threat. The situation looked hopeless and Rouge seemed to agree.
"This is too much, we're getting killed." Rouge said hopelessly.
"We'll figure this out." Knuckles said. "We just need a plan."
"What's the point?!" Rouge exclaimed. "We're going to die! There's no way we can fight like this."
"Rouge, listen to me." Knuckles said, grabbing his face. "We're going to be married soon. And when we do, we'll be spending our whole lives together. But before that, we have to learn to trust each other. Do you trust me, Rouge?"
She hesitated for moment then said. "I do, knucklehead."
The touching moment between the two seemed to have a ripple effect on the others. Jet and Wave remembered that they spent their entire childhoods with each other. If they didn't know each other by now, they never would. Amy loved Sonic, everyone knew it. Sonic loved Amy, no one knew. But the moments they shared with each other were intimate. The heroes looked to one another...
"Let's just beat the bad guy already." Sonic cut in.
So much for that. The heroes stood up again and charged at the hydra again. Only this time, things were different. The red dragon released a wave of fire when Jet and Wave soared by. They each located their weapons and swiped past the head with their fans/wrench. The red head was severed a moment later. Knuckles finally got the hang of Rouge's wings and swarmed around the yellow hydra's head. While it was distracted, Rouge used her new super strength to grip the hydra by its neck and rip it from the main body. Back with the hedgehogs, they came to a mutual partnership and helped each other in matters of speed. With a quick tip, Amy was spinning circles around the last head. Sonic unleashed the Piko-Piko Hammer and snapped the last head's neck.
"That was tight!" Sonic cheered.
"I can't believe we actually did it." Knuckles said in shock.
"This isn't over just yet!" Erazor said as he reappeared. "This time' ill finish you once and for all!"
Erazor clapped his hands and began to chant again. Similar to last time, the sky went suddenly dark and the only light came from the rainbow orb created by Erazor. Jet tried to jump away, but Wave held him down and the others followed her example. Erazor threw the orb and watched as it made contact. The light returned to the Arabian Nights and Erazor stood proudly with a hint of triumph. But when the smoke cleared, he knew he was dead.
"All right, I'm me again!" Jet cheered.
"We're back in our own bodies." Knuckles celebrated. "Finally, I can get back to crushing boulders."
"I think we should thank Erazor for his help." Amy hinted.
The six heroes smirked to on another and shot evil grins to the dark djinn. Erazor went home a broken man.
The scene returned to the Sonic Heroes base. After their good byes, the heroes were transported back to their world. Unfortunately, they were once again piled up atop one another.
"Seriously, we need some cushion or something." Wave complained.
"Well, that's one adventure for the record books." Sonic smirked.
"Still, I can't help feel we've forgotten something." Rouge said thoughtfully.
The other heroes had the same unusual feeling as her, but shrugged it off. But when they exited the room, they quickly remembered. Shadow was standing outside the door with the same red aura since the start of this chapter. The six held each other in fear, Amy had no complaints, as Shadow gripped his fists and roared furiously.
"Ah, damn!" The heroes cried.
"CHAOS BLAST!" Shadow yelled.
Congratulations to Aika08 for the winning chapter. Stay tuned for the next Sonic Heroes!
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