((Hellooooo! It's after Christmas! Whoops. I was hoping to finish this chapter before Christmas, but no such luck. Happy New Year, anyway! It's not New Year's either? Well…..just read the chapter and be happy with it.
I hate to break this to you, but this chapter doesn't involve any glitches. *the world explodes* No, no, I promise, it will be fun all the same! Today we will be dealing with Part 1 of the E3 demo, evil bald eagles, and a parody of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas!" This'll be fun. X3))
Chapter 9
'Twas the night before E3, when all through the lot,
Not a hedgehog was stirring, not even a fox.
The scripts were all set by their bedsides with care,
In hopes that the morning would never be there.
The stars were all nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of gold rings danced in their heads.
And Shadow with his eye-mask, and Tails in his cap,
Had just settled their heads for a long evening's nap,
When out in the lot there arose such a clatter,
All sprang from their beds to see what was the matter!
Out of his trailer Sonic flew like a flash,
To investigate what was causing the bang and the crash!
"What's the big idea?" the little hedgehog did cry,
"You're keeping us from getting well-deserved shut-eye!"
Standing in the center under the just-rising sun,
There was no doubt that it was Mr. Arumakan.
With a pot in one hand and a pan in another,
He whistled, and shouted, and gave out a holler;
"Now, Sonic! Now Shadow! Now Silver and Blaze!
Wake up Tails! Up Knuckles! Up Amy and raise!
We must go to the studio! To the sets we must flee!
For today is the demo we must make for E3!"
Like leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
A streak of ebony fur was surely not shy,
To snatch up the pot and steal away the kettle,
In fury for his sleep that the director did meddle.
And then, something quite upsetting, rage burned in his eyes,
Ready to use the pan to bring his demise.
As he drew his fist, and was raising it high,
It was caught by the hand of the mistress so sly;
She was dressed all in feathers, from her hem to her head,
Her eyes foreboding, she opened up and said;
"Cut all your whining, your protests and cries;
It's most important that we make the next sunrise,
For we want to present a fairly good demo
If we have any chance of putting on a show."
The Mobians looked up at the meaningful princess,
With gazes of loathing, awe, or minor interest.
Not all were that happy to hear this sudden news,
Sonic and Shadow looked like they'd blow a fuse.
The Blue Blur was irritated, the Ultimate continued to seethe,
But Arumakan just laughed, though they were causing him grief.
"Who cares about this convention that must be shown live?
You woke us up at nearly past five!"
The director spoke not a word, he just gave them a look
So demanding that silence fell, not a second it took.
Though the glares seemed to never cease,
And the tension was thick to the highest degree,
Arumakan spoke with the all the authority he held
So all the others would hear the words he'd yell;
"Shut up and get ready, dress and be quick,
So I may stop speaking like a poem for St. Nick!"
One by one, the Mobians went back to their trailers, grumbling curses to the director who had woke them so early. One thing was sure; while all often bickered on set, they shared one common interest; sleep. And when deprived of such a thing, they weren't a happy bunch. Arumakan thought as he headed back to the sets that today would be a long day, as days often were.
An hour later, as the sun had just barely painted the sky with the colors of a sunrise, the bleary-eyed group of Mobians had gathered on the outdoor set for Kingdom Valley on one of the stone pathways. They had purposely borrowed time by being sluggish, effectively doubling the time it took to do a morning routine. Arumakan, however, seemed unbothered by this in the slightest. As the last sleepy silver hedgehog joined the crew, Arumakan was pleasantly enjoying a peppermint latte.
"Good morning, everybody!" he exclaimed jovially, gesturing widely to everyone there. About a half dozen eyes glared at him, Shadow staring daggers at the director over his mug of coffee; black, like his heart. The rest, Sonic included, were either falling asleep on their feet or had their eyes closed in a massive yawn. Getting rather peeved, Arumakan stalked up to Sonic and slapped him clean across the face, abruptly waking the snoozing hedgehog.
"Maybe you should think about going to bed at a decent time rather than staying up until two in the morning playing COD," Arumakan hissed, his good mood having seemingly evanesced. Sonic just gave him a hard look, rubbing his cheek indignantly.
"It was Grand Theft Auto, not COD," Sonic muttered as Arumakan turned and headed back to face the group. When the director turned back around, his smile was pasted on his face once more, as if none of it had happened.
"As you are all well aware," he began, "the E3 convention is just around the corner. We need to announce our game to the public at this event and create a proper presentation to do so. I apologize for not beginning sooner, I wanted to get in as much filming as possible, and frankly, it slipped my mind. So, we have one day to do this, people! Let's give it our all, or else it's quite possible SEGA will fire us all."
"Fire their golden boy? No way!" Sonic protested haughtily, however it was clear that the thought of his only career being lost unnerved the usually-overconfident hedgehog.
"Well, just think, if their anniversary title goes to bust, they might just quit making Sonic games," Arumakan said in an airy voice. Sonic gulped. "You'll stop making money, your reputation will drop like a rock, avid fans will lose faith…"
"I get it!" Sonic interrupted, putting up his hands. "I'll do my best. Hopefully everyone else will too."
There was a murmured chorus of agreement among the cast.
"Great to hear!" the director quipped, clapping his hands once. "Today will focus on showing off one of Sonic's stages, Kingdom Valley, and one of Silver's, Crisis City. Neither of which are levels we have gone through yet, and recording them today means we won't have to record them later, if today goes smoothly…"
Before he could get any further, the whole crew cheered loudly. Less recording was always a plus for them. Arumakan raised his hands patiently over the crowd, which calmed soon after his silencing gesture.
"I appreciate the enthusiasm, and we can have a bit of fun with this," Arumakan continued. "Don't be afraid to show off a little, but not so complicated that it can't be ported into the alpha version of the game. Keep in mind that this demo is just showing a beta of the game. The official launch should be much better. A compilation of what is filmed today will be used in the presented trailers. Don't get too crazy today, we do have a deadline to meet. I'd like to finish this before dinner today so we can show it off at tomorrow's E3. If everyone works hard, there might be a….paid day off as an incentive."
There was a collective excited gasp and yet another round of whoops and cheers. Such a reward was rare in the Sonic filming community, as their directors generally had them working hard day in and day out. The pressure could be exhausting. Arumakan smiled, this time letting them bask in their joy at this news. They eventually calmed down on their own.
"With all this in mind, are we ready to begin?"
There was an even louder cheer, answering his questions with their exuberant shouts.
"Then let's get to work!" the director cried. Despite the early wake-up call, there seemed to be high spirits all around. All except for Shadow, of course, who was still sulking into his coffee.
-:-:-:-
Kingdom Valley - Sonic's Story
Sonic: *starts the level, running down the stone pathway in the ruins, when he approaches enemies, he homing attacks the first couple, doing a flip in the air, then lands and thinks for a moment, decides to show off like in the first cutscene by running circles around them, gathering them together and creating a tornado that then throws them across the platform, one teetering before falling into the water; Sonic grabs a second one by the barrel of its gun arm and starts dancing with it, spinning it around, and when one behind him attacks, he doesn't pause before swinging the robot he's dancing with into the other robot, destroying them both; as for the final bot, he runs up its metal body, perching on its shoulders and tearing out its wiring through its neck*
Arumakan: *agape* Uh…..cut!
Sonic: Impressed? *smirks*
Arumakan: ...When I said show off, I didn't mean create a movie out of it...
Sonic: *sighs* Let me guess. *imitates the director's voice* Restart the level and tone down the attacks by a dozen notches.
Arumakan: Exactly! You know me well.
Sonic: Too well. *drags his feet back to the start*
Arumakan: And...action!
Sonic: *runs down the path once more and homing attacks multiple enemies in a row, he does the flip in the air to right himself before landing or attacking again, his attacks between enemies incredibly fast and fluent, but that's the only new thing he does*
Arumakan: Perfect, keep going!
Sonic: *heads for the next section, when he reaches the next group of enemies he attacks them quickly, barreling into the first few and taking them out immediately; once he finishes, he knocks down the loose brick wall that reveals a lever with a glowing orb on the end, homing attacks it and a wind path appears, and he grinds across it*
Tails: *eye twitch* He's skating on air….
Amy: So?
Tails: He's skating on wind! Air! Oxygen! Carbon dioxide! CO2! O! A gas! Not a solid!i
Amy: O.O Calm down, Tails, it's just a game!
Tails: No! Simple logic! He cannot walk on a gas! Heck, he skated on water!
Sonic: But the air current itself is propelling me.
Tails: I don't care! There's no way it can hold up a 77 pound hedgehog on pure gas, and if it were that forceful, it'd tear your feet up! What, did you steal the Logic Sword to make this possible?
Arumakan: Not stealing, borrowing.
Tails: ….Oh. Never mind then, it makes total sense.
Arumakan: The Logic Sword fixes all. continue.
Sonic: *glides gracefully off the path to the ground, causing Tails another twitch of the eye, takes out a couple more enemies, then jumps onto a rope that acts as a trampoline, launching him into the air where he attacks flying enemies to reach the next section; suddenly, the stone pathway ahead of him falls*
Silver: *was hovering over the water, using targets on the pillars as practice for his energy attacks, but after missing for about the tenth time, he had sliced straight through the pillars, causing them to fall, eyes widen innocently before teleporting away from the scene*
Arumakan: *eyes widen, as this wasn't planned*
Amy: *looks at the director, her look saying, "What do we do?"*
Arumakan: Um….just roll with it! Yes! This is all a part of the level! *mutters to Amy* Find Silver and lock him in his trailer, I don't want him messing anything else up.
Amy: *nods and runs off*
Shadow: *sighs* You know he can just teleport. *but he's ignored, everyone watching Sonic traverse the vast level*
Sonic: *takes one of the multiple pathways to reach a giant waiting eagle, jumps up and holds onto its talons*
Eagle: *carries him off, spewing feathers every time it flaps its wings, but it goes off course and flies out of the level toward a tall tree just outside of the set where its nest rests*
Sonic: Uh….*looks down at the ground, thousands of feet below him* A little help?!
Arumakan: Wha-! Shoot! I mean cut! Everyone, after that eagle!
-:-:-:-
Sonic looked down at the ground passing by below him. He held onto the eagle's feet with a white-knuckled grip. He could jump down, but he knew the fall might sprain or break his ankles or legs, and he couldn't have that with important filming to be done. He gulped at the thought. It wasn't so much being unable to work that frightened him, but being unable to run terrified him. Without his speed, he was not only virtually useless, but much of his confidence and spirit would be lost with it. He shook his head to clear it and steeled himself up for whatever would happen next. The eagle, losing feathers with each beat of its wings, swooped upward toward its giant nest perched high in the branches of the tree. It hovered over it and released Sonic, letting him fall with a thump onto a soft pile of feathers. Sonic sat up and looked in front of him, and his mouth dropped. In front of him was an eaglet, covered in soft, gray down. It was curled in the fetal position in the cupped shell of its egg, perhaps only several days old. Its wings were tiny and the skin around its closed eyes was very wrinkled. It looked quite small in its egg, skinny and sickly. As he watched, it opened its beak and gave a weak chirp. It was clear that this baby wasn't healthy.
It would have been a pitiful sight if it weren't for the fact that the fledgeling was as big, if not larger than Sonic. As soon as it heard its mother, its bulging black eyes opened, glaring right at him. It sat up, trying to walk toward him on its short legs, but it tripped over its oversized eggshell and fell on its stomach, peeping hungrily. Sonic realized what he had been brought here for. He scrambled to his feet and tried to run toward the outside of the nest, which was the size of a football field to the three-foot hedgehog. However, the mother eagle landed in front of him and spread its giant wings, screeching in his face, causing him to cringe away and fall back. Surrounded on both sides and unable to find an opening, Sonic screamed;
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
((Cliffhanger! I'm so glad to be done with this chapter. In the next two or three chapters we'll be continuing the E3 demo. There is a lot more content than I thought! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and I'll see you next time! Remember to leave suggestions for glitches and mischief for me to put in, I appreciate it!))
~STH-N