Sonic Haven Season 1 – Episode 18
Tyler jumped across the gap in front of him and over to the top of another data block as he and Nicole continued to try to stay away from Swarm. They'd been forced to move to an upper level and run along the tops of the data blocks to avoid Swarm, who'd taken over the lower areas.
Looking over the edge, Tyler stared into a black sea with glowing yellow dots splattered all over the top of it. He couldn't believe how many copies of Swarm there were. Nicole was sitting only a few feet away, shuddering and closed off, obviously terrified of the thing that had been chasing them. Unlike the Antivirus, Swarm was everywhere; there was no hiding from it.
He looked over the edge again at the rising pool of darkness that threatened to engulf them in a few minutes. Then he looked back at Nicole. She was staring straight ahead and was holding herself as if trying to protect herself from a stiff winter breeze that didn't exist.
He moved over to her and sat down beside her, waiting for her to speak. Slowly, she raised her head up, taking her chin off of her chest so that she could talk clearly. When she did speak, her voice was cold and distant.
"Is there anything we can do? I don't think waiting is enough." Her voice was drug out and sluggish, as if she was fighting sleep.
"I don't know." He confessed. "We're out of places to run, and I don't know if we can fight this thing."
"There must be something we can do." She started to say. "What about that thing we did with the Antivirus? The data that we cut to knock it down and dismantle the program? That seemed to work pretty well there, what if we did that again?"
"No, Swarm has too many copies. It wouldn't work." He said in a defeated tone.
"Then..." Her voice hung in the air, trying to will an answer into existence. What could they do? Was there any solution? Maybe, she thought, this was where their stories ended. If they couldn't use the data creation and manipulation trick to their advantage then... Wait!
"Tyler, we can create data that manifests itself as a large block right?" She asked with a more excited tone.
"Yeah..." He replied, not seeing where she was going with this.
"Well, we're data too! So is Swarm! Obviously data can be created to be more than just a big white tower of information. Why not create a data packet that can function like a bridge, or a wall, or a car, or even a flamethrower or something?" She asked with enthusiasm.
Tyler's ears perked up. He held out his hand in front of him and tried to focus, concentrating on making a baseball bat in his hand. Something simple should be fairly easy right? Then, suddenly, there it was! A baseball bat appeared in his hand out of thin air! He stared at it in disbelief.
"You are a genius!" He exclaimed.
She turned her head to look over the edge, though more to hide the reddish hue on her cheeks than to check on Swarm's progress. Once she collected herself, she turned back to look at Tyler, who was standing up in the middle of this square tower and holding his hand out to make something else.
She watched as he concentrated on the space in front of him, trying to muster something obviously much more complicated into existence. Then, a jetpack appeared in front of his hand.
"We can use this to get by Swarm." He said. "We still might not be able to beat it, but if we can make it to a removable drive, we can disconnect from the main system and keep ourselves away from Swarm!" It wasn't much, but at least they had a plan. And, for the first time in a while, they also had hope!
They took off, Tyler wearing the jetpack and carrying Nicole in his arms. They flew over the sea of black, flying through the air for several minutes until they finally reached the other side of the Swarm. They landed with a thud, but kept on running towards the removable drive Tyler had talked about earlier.
Nicole looked back behind them, trying to see what Swarm was doing to adjust to their newfound escape. It was again copying the frontrunners in an effort to keep up with them.
She threw up her hand and created a wall behind them, knocking down several of Swarm's copies. Still, she knew it wouldn't be enough. Swarm was even now compensating for the newfound obstacle, and was once again starting to catch up to them.
Swarm caught up to them and started to pin them, creeping up on either side of them and forcing them to stop running. Nicole looked around at the many Swarms around them, wondering how they could stop so many.
"Get behind me!" Tyler commanded as he grabbed hold of her arm and stood in front of her to protect her.
Swarm moved toward them slowly, reaching out toward them with it's fingerless hands. Tyler wouldn't let it get close though, kicking it away with his left foot. Swarm was knocked back, but not deterred, as yet another copy reached for them.
Tyler closed his eyes and focused, trying to picture something in his mind that they could use to take care of Swarm. As he was thinking, Nicole was swatting at another of Swarm's copies behind him, trying to keep it at bay as long as she could.
Then, Tyler's eyes flashed open wide and flame jets sprouted from his palms, scorching Swarm all around him. He spun slowly, burning all of Swarm's copies in the immediate area. He spun towards Nicole, who was being held by Swarm.
"Get away from her!" Tyler yelled as green energy started eminating from his body.
He ran forward and tackled Swarm, ripping it off of Nicole in the process. He wrestled it to the ground, created jets on his feet, and drug Swarm through hundreds of itself, blasting them out of the way. He flipped off of Swarm, back to Nicole, landing with a ground punch that created a shockwave, knocking Swarm back. Then, he grabbed Nicole as rocket boots appeared on his feet and propelled them forward at incredible speed.
"We need to get to the Removable Drive at all costs!" He said with incredible urgency.
"I know." Nicole replied. "It looks like we've lost Swarm, at least for now."
"Oh, it'll be back. Trust me!" He said.
They stopped at a link to the drive they'd been looking for. Tyler guestured to the link, silently insisting that Nicole go first. She obeyed without hesitation, though the process was slower than she thought it would be. She could feel her body stretch and warp as it began to be split between the two systems.
As Nicole was in the process of transferring, Swarm came into view from the distance and was closing fast! She felt yet another wave of fear wash over her as she realized that Tyler also needed to transfer to the drive. And as slow as it was going for her, there was no way he would make it!
Just as she opened her mouth to speak, Tyler was consumed by a green flash and disappeared without a trace. She was shocked speechless by the sudden disappearance of her best friend. She was shocked even more so when she saw Swarm coming at her still, completely unfazed by what had just happened to its other target.
Tyler landed, two feet on solid ground. Rather strange ground. He looked around at the new room he'd suddenly been thrust into. Lights on the ceiling, flourescant by the look of them. Tiled flooring, a glass case holding a large green gem, and a computer terminal rounding out the view of the REAL WORLD room he found himself in.
How in the world did he get into the real world? He had no idea. But now was not the time for taking in the sights or thinking about how he'd just accomplished the impossible, he had to check on his best friend stat!
He ran over to the computer, checking the screen to see what was happening. He was greeted by something rather odd to him, a progress bar. The screen had two bars: "Nicole: 99%" and "Swarm: 1%" The problem was that Swarm's bar was moving much faster than Nicole's due to it being a much simpler program.
"Come on Nikki!" he chanted at the screen, trying to will it to move faster than it was already moving. He held his hand over the flash drive, waiting for it to switch to "100%" so that he could disconnect the drive and keep Swarm from making it in as well.
Swarm's progress moved quickly. "40%, 50%, 70%, 90%, 95%" Swarm was at 98% when Nicole finally finished her transfer and Tyler removed the drive, cancelling Swarm's transfer and keeping Nicole safe.
He let out a sigh of relief, taking a moment to decompress after that stressful situation. He didn't wait too long, however, before he got right back to work.
"Sir, another hedgehog has appeared in the green Chaos Emerald chamber." Snively said, obviously confused by the hedgehog's sudden appearance.
"How is that possible Snively?" Robotnik asked in an irritated tone.
"I'm not sure sir, but I think it has something to do with the Chaos Emerald. He appears to be manipulating its energy." Snively tried to explain.
"Is that even possible?" Sonic asked, just as confused as Robotnik.
"Yes, it is. But it's rare. There is a gene that is passed down through generations that allows individuals to control Chaos energy. The problem is that the ancient race of echidnas that studied the Chaos Emeralds were destroyed a long time ago, around the time the Emeralds disappeared. And, with their disappearance, went the knowledge of the Emeralds. As such, very little is known about the Chaos Emeralds, Chaos Energy, or the Chaos Gene." Snively explained.
"Sounds like a lotta mumbo-jumbo to me. But thanks for the info." Sonic said as he gave a thumbs up. "Well, I guess that's all I needed to know. I'm outta here; see ya!"
Sonic charged a spin in place, then let it rip, spinning around and around the force field that Robotnik had contained him in. He started spinning around the barrier so fast that he became a blue ring. Then he thrust himself from the top of the barrier towards the floor, flipped mid air so that he would hit the floor feet first, and then crashed through the floor with a loud thrashing noise.
Robotnik walked over to the hole that had just been made in the floor and looked down through it.
"Snively, remind me to create a suspended barrier next time to prevent this from happening." Robotnik said in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Duly noted sir." Snivley said as he moved back to his spot at the computer terminal.
Max was looking at the door where the green glow had been, almost expecting something to happen. At first, there was nothing, not even a noise. Then, suddenly, a green hedgehog ran out of the room. He had a flash drive in one hand and a large green gem in the other.
"What'd I miss?" The hedgehog asked.
The Robians that had been holding onto Max dropped him and turned toward the newcomer. Max didn't waste the opportunity. He ran over to Tiara and knocked one of the Robians near her into the wall. Tiara kicked the other Robian in the head, causing it to let go of her arm, thus letting her scramble away from it and collect herself.
The green hedgehog slid underneath of the S.W.A.T. Bot as it approached him and ran over to Bunnie, who was lying on the floor motionless. Max watched as he pulled wires and other things out of the Roboticizer Pack and started fiddling with them. Two Robians and the S.W.A.T. Bot approached him as he worked, slowly restricting the space around him to practically nothing. Then, just when all hope seemed lost, a metal fist struck the Robians, knocking them away. Then it grabbed the S.W.A.T. Bot, tossing it to the other end of the room. Max followed the hand down the arm and straight to it's owner, Bunnie. She was mobile!
Bunnie leaped from the ground and flipped rather acrobatically in the air on her way back down. She landed between two of the Robians and thrust her hands out to her sides, driving both Robians through the air and into the walls on either side of the room, each of them striking with a deafening thud.
Tiara moved over to Bunnie's side, watching her back so that Bunnie wouldn't be surprised by anything. She scanned the environment around them as she started to speak: "Be careful, there are people in those suits!"
"Relax sugah," Bunnie said with a smirk on her face, "Ah'm in the same suit they are. If it don't hurt me, then it won't hurt them."
"Point." Tiara acquiesced. "Now what do we do about the S.W.A.T. Bot?"
"The outer shell is hard," the hedgehog started to say, "but the inside of it is vulnerable. If you pry open its chest plate, you should be able to reach inside and hurt it."
"Say no more sugah." Bunnie said as she lunged at the S.W.A.T. Bot.
She pried open its chest plates and thrust her hand into its body, ripping out wires and gears as she jumped away. The Bot dropped like a stone after she was done, but it wasn't the only one. Two clangs sounded, the first from Bunnie's downed S.W.A.T. Bot, the other from a second S.W.A.T. Bot that had been approaching from the hallway.
Bunnie turned to look at the mysterious S.W.A.T. Bot in the hallway, trying to figure out why it fell. She realized what had happened when Knuckles stepped around the robot and into the room. He also had a mess of wires in his hand.
"Thanks for the tip." Knuckles said as he dropped the electronic spaghetti.
"No problem." The hedgehog said.
"Whats your name?" Max asked as the rest of Knuckles' group came in behind him.
"Tyler." He replied.
"Wait, aren't y'all the one that turned off the I.V. I had in mah arm?" Bunnie asked.
"Yep, it's a long story. I used to be in the computer." Tyler said in a calm voice.
"So you're a hacker?" Sally asked.
"No, I was a program." Tyler said bluntly.
"How is that possible?" Rotor asked.
"I have no idea. But I think it has something to do with this." Tyler said as he held up the green Emerald.
"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed.
Before Tyler could respond to his statement, Sonic burst into the room with a loud gust of supersonic wind. He turned toward Tyler and looked at the gem in his hand.
"What's goin' on here?" He asked.
"I'll keep things short. My name is Tyler, and this is apparently a Chaos Emerald. Whatever that is." Tyler said, trying to explain everything in as few words as possible.
"We have another problem." Knuckles said, looking at the Chaos Emerald. "The Emerald that Robotnik took from me was purple, not green."
"So, he still has another one around here somewhere..." Sonic said as he started stretching to run again. "Well, we can't let that be! I'll go see if I can find it. It should be here somewhere."
"Sonic, you shouldn't go alone." Tiara said. "You need someone to watch your back. I'll go with you."
"Alright." Sonic said with finality. "Then let's go. The rest of you get back to Haven, we'll meet you back there."
"Right." Sally said, speaking for the group.
So they split up, Sonic picking up Tiara to carry her to wherever the purple Chaos Emerald might be, everyone else moving quickly through Robotnik's base to get back to Haven.
It only took them a moment to find the Chaos Emerald which was displayed prominently in a lab of some kind. There was a large machine connected to it, drawing glowing purple energy from it and pumping it into some kind of large disc. Come to think of it, that disc was probably big enough to drive a cargo truck through comfortably.
Sonic moved over to the Emerald, trying to figure out how to remove it from the machine. He paused when he heard a voice behind him.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Robotnik asked.
Sonic and Tiara both turned around to look at the madman standing behind them. Sonic spoke first.
"I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take it from ya doc. You'll haveta find some other kind of battery for your giant frisbee." Sonic said sarcastically.
"You're a fool if you think you'll be leaving with my Chaos Emerald hedgehog." Robotnik said as he shook his finger at Sonic.
Robotnik pressed a button on his wrist, causing the disc to spin and create a purplish tunnel that extended a few hundred feet into an area that Sonic didn't recognize.
"Of course, you won't be able to do much to stop my plans if you're in another dimension." Robotnik said in a contemptuous tone.
"Oh yeah?" Sonic said as he charged Robotnik. "We'll see about that you oversized egg!"
He dashed forward, stright at Robotnik, then leaped up in the air, swinging his legs forward to kick Robotnik in the chest and take him out, but he bounced off of an invisible energy barrier that surrounded his target. Instead of striking his enemy, Sonic was sent hurtling backwards away from Robotnik and into the tunnel that had appeared.
He landed in the grass on the far side of the tunnel, moaning from the pain he felt in his left arm which he'd landed on. Just as he started to pick himself up, Tiara landed on top of him, having been thrown thorugh the tunnel by Robotnik as well.
He finally lifted his head and looked at the tunnel just in time to see it close in front of him. The two of them were now stranded in a place Sonic couldn't recognize.
He picked himself up off of the ground and looked around at the place that they were now in. It was apparently some kind of city, though he didn't recognize it. There were tall buildings all around them, but no sidewalks. Instead, all of the buildings were connected by a series of tunnels and ramps towards their tops.
He couldn't figure out where on Mobius they'd gone, that is, until he remembered what Robotnik had said. They were in another dimension. That explained the strange infrastructure that surrounded them.
He dropped his head in defeat. With the portal now closed, there was no immediate way back home. Guess they'd just have to make this their home for now, at least until they could make it back to Mobius.
Just as he thought it was time to move, he heard something approaching from their left side. He and Tiara both turned to look, only to see large robots about two stories tall walking toward them and holding out their palms in their direction.
Well, Sonic thought, this was going to be very interesting!
Author's Note: Guys, I am so sorry it took so long to upload this chapter. I actually finished writing it on Thanksgiving day, but the file got corrupted and I had to re-write it from scratch!
Sonic Haven Season 1 is almost finished. It will end up being 19 episodes in all. Yes, that means that the next chapter is the last of Season 1. It will probably be pretty short too, but I can't be sure. I'll try to get it up soon and get Season 1 finished within the next week or so. After that, I'll be taking a short break from Sonic Haven and am going to try writing some other fanfictions. I was thinking probably either Sly Cooper or Smash Bros. Both of them will be original series that are hard reboots of the original stories. (Or actually creating a story in Smash's case)
That having been said, I hope you guys all enjoyed Season 1 of Sonic Haven. I have tons of ideas for the series going forward, enough for 3 seasons at least; maybe more. And that's just what I have planned, I have plenty more ideas that I could probably turn into several more seasons after that, I just haven't planned that far in the future. So don't worry, Sonic Haven isn't going anywhere!
When you see Episode 1 of Season 2 go up, I'll have made several chapters by that point so that I can upload on a more regular basis once it kicks off. I'd like to do weekly uploads if at all possible, but we'll see.
Well, thanks for reading that wall of text, have a good day!