I swear I had to put in like 50 commas after I wrote this chapter. Thank You Sonic The Dovahkiin for pointing out that I miss commas.

My anticipation for the 25th Anniversary Sonic titles is killing me. I feel like a drug addict that's been on good stuff for years only to be suddenly denied. (Don't take that out of context) I never thought in all my years as a Sonic fan that I would ever think " I don't give a rip about what kind of Sonic game it is, I just want it to be good." And yet here I am thinking that exact same thing. Screw the information about toys and figurines! I just want to know what the next game will be like before I start freaking out! (Good or bad!)

Anyway enjoy chapter 2 of Epidemic!


Chapter 2: Of Myths and Sewer Crocs?

A month after the incident at Zedex labs…

The streets of Station Square were just like any other city at night. Dark, nearly silent, and dangerous were just few words that capture the feeling of the atmosphere outside. With shadows hanging around every building and only dim streetlights and the occasional car to light the way, you never know what might be lurking just within reach of you.

A startled gasp left the mouth of the mobian walking down the sidewalk in front of a dark alley. It was a male lynx only in maybe his twenty's. What was he doing out so late at night when most residents of the city would be sleeping cozily in their beds? Well even I don't have an answer for that one.

The night strolling lynx knew it was foolish to stop after hearing what sounded like scratching noises but there's something about leaving our imagination to the dark that seems to unsettle the mind even more. When the silence carried on, he felt that his edgy behaviour might have been for nothing. Probably just a stray cat or something.

After entering the well lit 24 hour convenience store, his nerves settled and he quickly grabbed what he was looking for and headed to the counter.

"Don't you think it's a bit dangerous to be walking around at night? The news is always going on about the strange attacks on mobians lately and disappearances without so much as a clue as to where the victim has been taken," the lady said turned around as if looking for something in the shelves behind her. Nearly her whole body was covered in dark clothing, odd for a mobian. The only thing that the lynx could see while the clerk faced away from him were her frills.

Deciding that a little light talk wouldn't be too bad he decided to respond to her question while patiently waiting for her to finish whatever she was doing. "I've heard a lot about that but the way I see it those disappearances are completely random. It's not exactly the most uplifting thought but what are the odds that I'll become one of those victims?" he said somewhat nervously.

If he could see her face he would've had a reason to run.

She turned around with a neutral expression on her face and rung up the items just like any other store clerk. "Thank you," he said turning around to leave.

"Sir, I believe you're leaving something," she said in a flat voice as the mobian who was nearly to the door turned to look at her.

He felt the prick of the needle before he saw the dart a second after he turned his head. The last thing he saw before he collapsed was the toothy grin that only a lizard could pull off so well.

"Come in now Artemas, I require your assistance." A large burly crocodile with aquamarine scales and purple tiger like stripes had strolled into the store. Her assistant had slitted yellow eyes and teeth that poked out of his snout just like his feral brethren. His claws were much longer and sharper than any regular mobian of the same species. He was barefoot, wore ripped brown pants, and a sort of choker made of branches that had sprouted several small white flowers. Artemas picked up the unconscious lynx with ease.

"My robe and staff please," she said removing the overbearing clothing that covered her being before taking the black garment and putting it on. "Be sure to pick up the other one behind the counter."

The croc growled and obeyed taking the other mobian under his arm as well. Before the two left the scene, the frilled mobian raised her staff and jammed the end of it into the two cameras in the store while she smiled deviously.


The next day…

Police and GUN soldiers had the convenience store and the buildings surrounding it on lockdown. The police had received reports of two more mobians that had gone missing and with the count now at 13 missing persons over the course of a month, GUN had quickly stuck their noses into the situation as well. Two of the military organization's very well known agents were also on the scene.

Rouge looked around her seemingly wary of all the commotion. It had been a bit of a slow day for her despite the mobian-knappings and she planned on and paying a visit to her favorite red echidna. Unfortunately those plans were cut short when she along with her partner Shadow were called to do a report of their own for HQ. She rolled her eyes at the yellow tape around the perimeter of the store and stepped through the door. The heel of her boot crunched down on broken plastic from one of the damaged cameras and she looked around to see a few humans using special tools to check for fingerprints.

Among the nearly untouched looking store, one area stood out among the rest. The shelves had been pushed away and it looked as if something that had been hanging on the wall had been torn away.

"Strange isn't it?" a deep voice said effectively scaring her.

"Shadow hun, you're lucky you're the only guy allowed to sneak up on me without taking a stiletto boot where it really hurts. Maybe I should consider tying a pretty little bell around your neck. It would certainly make you look friendlier." she teased.

Shadow merely grunted and walked past her to stare at the mysterious little area that was purposeful left in this state when the police had arrived. He had found the wall odd as well and stepped closer to examine it. To his surprise he saw something sparkly rub off on his fingers.

Some kind of dust? He had heard the conversation between a few of GUN's scientists mention something about crushed chaos crystals. It piqued his interest and it didn't take long for him to hear that the substance had been found several times in the general area of a disappearance. On a whim he concentrated chaos into his hand and let it hover over the wall revealing a letter. Confident there was some kind of message hidden here, he tried to find where the letters started and slowly hovered his hand over them from left to right.

"They are only the first..." Rouge read aloud. "What a vague and boring message. And here I thought you were going to reveal some juicy information on our mysterious villain."

"I've had enough of sitting around looking for clues," he said rubbing the the sparkly dust from his hands. "I'm going to ask that echidna if he's ever seen anything like this," Shadow said hoping that the guardian of the master emerald would know anything about chaos being used like this. "Give the commander a report of what we've seen here. I should be back from Angel Island in a few hours."

"Honey, that's just plain cruel, telling me to stay behind while you go visit that knucklehead." Rouge pouted somewhat disappointed that she had an opportunity to mess with Knuckles only to be denied.

"I'm sure the Echidna would be much happier discussing more important things without having to look over his shoulder every two seconds to make sure your not stealing the Master Emerald," Shadow retorted.

"Sad but true," she said with a playful expression on her face that only proved how mischievous she can be. Of course she stopped really trying to steal the Master Emerald a long time ago. Now she just likes take the oversized gem to motivate the echidna in what she called fun little games of 'keep away'. And of course, to make a point that he should consider some security measures so threats like Eggman have a harder time trying to steal it rather than just flying up to the island and grabbing it. "I'll see you later hun."

Shadow nodded and pulled out the green emerald from his quills before teleporting away.

When he arrived on Angel Island, he made his way to the shrine of the Master Emerald only to find that Sonic and Tails were already there. When Knuckles stopped mid conversation to glance at the ebony hedgehog, it gave the other two a reason to look behind them as well.

"Fashionably late to the party are we?" the blue blur teased. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we had the same idea to come here eh Shads?" Sonic said grinning.

"Hey Shadow," Tails said greeting the black hedgehog a little more meekly.

"I don't have time to deal with any of your nonsense faker. I came here for one reason only," he said shoving his rival out of the way and shifting a crimson gaze to Knuckles.

"Do you know anything about the strange mobian-knappings in Station Square?" Shadow wanted to get straight to the point. It wasn't just part of his duty as one of GUN's agents to find what was going on and stop it. but also he wanted to quench his curiosity over this strange technique involving chaos.

Sonic had actually just finished explaining to Knuckles what had been happening over the past month in the city. According to the details Tails had given him, (and some less helpful ones from Sonic that sounded like someone had dumped buckets of glitter glue across various buildings) someone had been taking random mobians off the streets leaving vague messages behind with even stranger clues. Each time a disappearance occurred a strange message written in plant pollen mixed with a crushed powder like form of chaos was left somewhere in the general vicinity. And sometimes but not always there were sightings of bizarre plants that had somehow sprouted through solid concrete that also retained an above average amount of chaos.

"The thirteen missing persons? Sonic and Tails just finished informing me about it. Let me guess, you want to know if I know anything about chaos and strange plants," he said crossing his arms.

"Good this saves me the trouble of explaining."

"Well Knux, don't leave us hanging, tell us what you know."

The guardian paused for a moment before gathering his thoughts. "There's not a specific legend or myth that talks about anything like this, but there are hints. In the ruins scattered around the island that date back 4,000 years, the time of the echidna tribes, it was said that there were many forms of Chaos."

This seemed to get Sonic and Tails attention seeing as how they both encountered one form a long time ago that nearly destroyed the city with just water. Shadow simply continued to listen. He had heard before that his rival had fought the perfect form of chaos but never really felt any reason to ask for more details about it.

He looked to Sonic. "The Chaos you fought was hailed a God by the echidnas because of how powerful it was but we know now that originally it was a chao that was exposed to chaos in the Master Emerald. However some legends written in stone that are still partially intact suggest that there were other creatures who were transformed into powerful beings with elemental affinities due to overexposure to chaos."

"Are you saying that chaos could have taken a different form through other elements, like fire, or ice or even earth?" Tails asked curiosity and realization growing with every moment.

"I don't know for sure. Most of the ruins containing information about other deities are in too many pieces to be put back together again. The only piece I have seen is the one depicting Perfect Chaos. "

"You allude to the fact that chaos, taking on a more plant like form, may be somehow related to the strange evidence found at the scene of every disappearance but unfortunately that doesn't match up with the patterns we've seen," Shadow said thinking back to all the times a mobian went missing. "No creature would bother to leave behind messages, and more importantly no creature could be smart enough to cover up their tracks as well as they have all thirteen times. I believe a smart and intelligent person must be behind all this."

"Shadow's right. And the encounter I had about a few days ago only proves that a person is behind this even more," Sonic said recalling that night where he fought a very strange mobian.

Flashback

Tails was flying the Tornado above Station Square as Sonic stood poised on the plane's wing. Both were alert and extremely attentive to the dark streets just below them. Ever since mobians began disappearing, Sonic took it upon himself to start patrolling the streets at night. For once he kind of wanted the fat doctor to be behind this, that way he could just have Tails locate his newest base and wreck it. Short, simple, and easy. However, with none of his searches revealing anything, his frustration was beginning rise. Every time a mobian went missing, he couldn't help but blame himself for not being able to protect them.

Tails turned the plane heading toward the eastern part of the city and Sonic leaned into the turn feeling the pleasant night air blowing through his quills and fur.

Just below them the blue speedster swore he saw something run under a street light for a second. The figure seemed rather big but it moved with an unusual grace and agility. "Tails, I think I saw something. I'm getting off here. Meet back up with me later."

"Ok. Be careful Sonic," Tails told his big brother as the azure hedgehog gave a thumbs up before leaping towards one of the buildings below.

A second later the blue hero was diving down next to the side of a building with lots of glass panes. He was able to look at his falling form for a few seconds with the help of moonlight before carefully pushing off the building to land on the top of another one. He scanned his surroundings before catching the fast movement of the burly figure. "I hope I'm not chasing this guy for nothing or I'm going to have a serious talk with my gut feeling." He leapt from rooftop to rooftop quickly catching up in his pursuit of the person below him. Emerald eyes glared as it seemed the figure was holding a mobian. He jumped onto a horizontal pole attached to the side of one of the buildings to leap over to a fire escape. Body moving like an acrobat, he vaulted over the railing as the figure below appeared to now be running full speed on all fours- err three while approaching a dead end.

"This ends tonight," he thought leaping down into the alley to block the path of the burly being despite the fact that it had still planned on running full speed as if it wanted to crash into the wall. It immediately skid to a stop with a growl, claws making a scraping noise against concrete.

"I know you seem to be rather attached to the poor girl you picked up off the streets but this is the worst possible way get a date," he joked seeing a female cat being held under one of its arms. The azure hedgehog let his eyes adjust to the night even more as he began to make out the others features. It looked like a mobian crocodile with aquamarine scales but some of its features just looked off in a way. It kinda reminded him of Vector in a way but bigger and more muscular.

"Woah, you're one ugly handbag," he said genuinely curious as to what he was looking at. The other didn't say a word and didn't have to because at that moment something small and round was tossed right at the blue hedgehog. Sonic stepped out the way easily but it exploded into red smoke. The large reptile had the presence of mind to leap right past the blue hedgehog as fast as it could in a three legged run and scale the wall behind him with its claws like some comically huge gecko. Sonic sneezed, coughed and rubbed his eyes as they started to burn along with his throat and nose. Whatever irritant was in the smoke was ridiculously strong as he struggled just to take a small breath. When his senses cleared a little bit he ran up the side of the wall to the top only to catch a glimpse of a manhole cover being moved back in place on the street.

"Like hell your getting away after pulling a cheap trick on me!" he said tossing the heavy stone aside and jumping in. He didn't have time to wonder who threw the smoke ball and he didn't care right now. The most important thing was getting the mobian cat away from ugly. He landed in the murky water and shuddered instantly regretting it when he felt the cold dark water that was up to his waist seep into socks and ultimately his shoes. He quickly leaped to the concrete sidewalk along side the flow of murky water. He tapped a button on the communicator on his wrist just under his glove and turned on a mini flashlight.

"It's a good thing my sense of smell is dead right now," he said now clearly able to see the wonderfully disgusting color of the water he had splashed in. He walked for few minutes before hearing something splash behind him and turned expecting to see something. When he didn't, it began setting his nerves on edge and he unconsciously raised his quills. The pathways in the sewer were just narrow enough to hinder his speed and agility and this didn't sit well with him. Needless to say his awareness of this fact only seemed to make him more apprehensive.

Unfortunately the mutated mobian saw the sewer as advantage, using the water to swim up to the blue hero stealthily as it took in his prey's attentiveness as a variation of fear. Now in full predator mode, it relished the fact that it was in control.

With nothing but silence, the squelching of dirty sneakers, and the sound of dirty water the blue hedgehog could feel something was wrong. Right now his gut feeling was telling him that something bad was about to happen and it was right. Just as he stopped to listen and glance back behind him, he saw a pair of maws with several sharp teeth leap out of the water to snap at him. Quick reflexes allowed him to immediately move out of the way onto the concrete sidewalk as the crocodile mobian hissed and lunged again. With the light on the hedgehogs wrist moving in every direction along with him, it was hard to keep track of the thing now trying to rip him to ribbons with its claws. Eventually he ended up with his back against the wall. Refusing to let the huge reptile corner him, he lashed out landing a punch in the jaw.

"Gah!" he yelped shaking the hand he punched with. "Jeez it's like punching an armored leather bag full of steel bricks," he thought glad he didn't break any bones. His relief and surprise was cut short though when the beastly mobian grabbed him around the waist and threw him against the wall like a rag doll. Tired of being on the receiving end, he charged up his spin dash hoping his sharp quills could do some more damage. The aquamarine reptile immediately jumped up to grab the pipes on the ceiling, eyes clearly allowing him to see the small spinning ball of spikes. The moment he saw the other mobian attack, he swung his body backward and used his thick heavy tail to collide with the spin dash head on. The result being that Sonic was swatted backward with enough force that he even grazed the somewhat low ceiling before the rest of his momentum carried him backward. He stood up a bit disoriented from the blow feeling a few broken quills falling out behind him. To add to his misfortune it seemed the blow had also managed to damage the light on his wrist on the fall down. Now that Sonic was blind he was starting to think his idea to follow this thing into the sewers was a bad idea.

His ear twitched as the sound of what he thought could only be claws scraping across concrete came ever so closer. He tensed ready to attack again-

"Artemas!" a female voice called echoing throughout the sewers. Sonic flinched at the sound of the voice and a moment later became vaguely aware of the hot breath on his face and flecks of something wet before it seemed to slowly move away. And it's a good thing that it did. If the mini flashlight Sonic had was working at that particular moment it would have revealed the worst jump scare possible as it seems the croc had been mere inches away from taking a bite out the blue hero's face.

The sound of scraping against concrete was heard again as the crocodile mobian ran. Sonic wanted badly to follow but in complete darkness he'd just end up being taken by surprise again. He sighed in disappointment unable to save the mobian-napped cat or bring down the thing behind all of this.

End of Flashback

When Sonic finished explaining his encounter, he saw the intrigued looks on both his rival's and the guardian's faces.

"When Sonic came back and told me what happened I had a hard time believing it until I found one of the chipped scales stuck in his quills," Tails said taking out a small vial with one of the aquamarine scales in it. "I've run some tests on it but it's like it came from almost entirely new species and not a mobian."

"Then it's obvious what we need to do next. Tomorrow we head back into the sewers and search for the mobian faker saw. I'll take the scale to GUN. Maybe they can at least match the identity of the mobian from one of their databases," Shadow said as Tails gave the vial to him. "In the meantime faker you should make whatever preparations necessary so you don't hold back our search after the shoddy way you handled things," he said implying that he would have done a better job tackling the crocodile mobian in the sewers than his rival.

Sonic snorted. "As if faker. Just make sure your here in time to at least see me finish off this upstart villain."

Shadow grunted finding the blue hero's cockiness both amusing and annoying at the same time. With no other reason to stay, Shadow took out the emerald from his quills again and chaos controlled away.

"I guess we better get going now too," Tails said. "I'll go start up the plane." The yellow kit began spinning his namesakes to fly out of sight. Sonic on the other hand had lingered a while longer and glanced at the red echidna who had at some point migrated back to his usual spot in front of the Master Emerald.

"Something on your mind Knucklehead?" Sonic asked catching the unusually contemplative expression on his face.

"I think I'll come with you and the others tomorrow," he said in a neutral tone while looking straight ahead. Sonic didn't fail to catch the underlying tone hidden in his response and instantly knew something was bothering his friend. Rather than press for more details, he figured it would be best to leave the guardian to his thoughts. It wasn't long before Knuckles was left on the island all alone again. And as he looked out to the cloudy skies above, he couldn't help but feel that the Master Emerald also felt something dark brewing on the horizon too.


I'm pretty sure there was some old movie made before about gators in a sewer terrorizing a city of something but I don't know what it's called. (Or if it even exists really) Heh heh,even if it doesn't exist, you can bet there might be a few more references to old movies that are similar in future chapters.

The frenzy is near!