CHAPTER I
Another Day, Another Battle
. . .
THE BEACH
"Awe, c'mon, Tails." Sonic bounced the ball carelessly between his hands. The two-tailed fox threw his hands in frustration.
"No, Sonic, we've had enough volleyball for one day; you've beaten us twenty times already! Let's do something else." He suggested. Sticks nodded in agreement.
"For once, I'm with Tails on this one. I've got garbage that needs rummaging." Sticks plopped down onto the sand from exhaustion.
"My knuckles hurt." He groaned, rubbing the purple bruises forming on his enormous hands. "Instead of Knuckles, you guys might have to call me…uh…Fists!" Sonic rolled his eyes in aggravation.
"Oh, c'mon guys, I haven't even broken a sweat." Sonic bounced the ball effortlessly between his knees and his feet. His friends only glared at him with slight annoyance.
"Yeah, that's easy when you're one of the fastest things alive." Tails flew next to him in an instant.
"Hey, I can't help that I'm awesome with a dash of good looks." Amy huffed, shaking her head in disapproval.
"Fine. One more game, you against all four of us this time." She challenged. He only smirked at her.
"Piece of cake." He chuckled. He walked up to the net, staring her down. "What's the catch?"
"If we win, we get to go home." Sonic huffed, obviously amused.
"Fine, and if I win?" He arched his eyebrow. She tapped her chin, thinking it over for a brief moment.
"Well...what do you want?" She asked. He thought quickly before smirking.
"You guys... have to do what I want for a day!" He laughed. The group shared worried looks before nodding hesitantly.
"It's a deal." Amy stood in a firm stance, ready to dominate. The others quickly followed as Sonic set the ball.
"Ready!" He asked the others. They quickly nodded, glaring him down as the ball sped to them.
Amy was the first to react, jumping high in the sky as she smacked the ball back just as fast.
"Hyah!" She shouted. Sonic was impressed, but nothing could slow the blue blur down. He reacted quicker, using his agility to spike the ball back over the net. Amy went for it again but slightly missed crashing into the sand.
"Oh!" She groaned.
"Heads up!" Sticks shouted. She jumped up just enough to save the ball before it made contact with the ground.
"Nice save, Sticks!" Tails celebrated. Sonic didn't expect a quick recovery as the ball fell to the ground beside him.
"Grrrr..." He glared the badger down.
"Alright, enough fun and games." He slicked his quills back. He set the ball again, suddenly using his immense speed to spike it to the other side. It drifted to Knuckles but was too fast for the echidna as it made contact with his face. He quickly fumbled over himself in a daze.
"Is it bedtime already, grandma?" He fell to the floor. Sonic only chuckled.
"Playtimes over Sonic!" Amy grabbed the ball that landed beside the echidna before passing it over the net.
"I'm just getting started, Amy." He set the ball once again using his speed. However, Amy was ready for him, quickly releasing her enormous hammer. She used all of her might and, in one swing, spiked the ball directly to Sonic. He was caught off guard as the ball quickly knocked him into the sand.
"Urgh!" He groaned in pain. He shuffled a little before shakily standing to his feet. He glared the pink hedgehog down before smirking at her.
"Don't you dare hedgehog…" She returned the glare. He only huffed before turning away. He bounced the ball slowly as his pink counterpart grew more curious. "What was he up to?" She thought. He suddenly stopped, all eyes still on him, except Knuckles, who was MIA. Suddenly, he formed his infamous spin dash, quickly launching the ball to the other side. All three teammates were caught off guard as the ball landed directly in the middle of them, spewing sand into their eyes. Sonic laughed victoriously.
"I guess you guys will be doing what I want for a da-"
"AH!" They screamed in unison. Sonic ceased his celebration, immediately realizing his fault.
"Oh, guys, I'm so sorry." His teammates continued to cough and exhale the immense amount of sand they'd ingested.
"Sonic, what gives!" Tails hacked out more sand.
"I- I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to!" His plea was interrupted as a tree tumbled down on their volleyball net.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Sonic, the Hedgehog always mucking something up." The group looked to Dr. Eggman, who had appeared with an army of robots towing behind him.
"Not again…what is now Eggy Mobeggy?" Sonic stalked the large man, glaring him down.
"If the name didn't work last time, what makes you think it'll work now, Sonic?" Amy glared at the blue blur. He only shrugged.
"I'm still workshopping it!" He said. Eggman cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Behold my latest invention..." A giant robot suddenly appeared seemingly familiar to his old antics.
"Obliteraor bot, seriously?" Eggman huffed.
"Um...no. This happens to be Obliterator Bot II. With all-new exclusive features." Eggman boasted. Sonic arched his eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, like what?" He challenged.
"Come fight him and see..." Eggman smiled deviously.
"We've done this dance too many times, Eggman. Can't you come up with anything unique or innovative?" Tails chuckled, crossing his arms as Eggman shot him a glare.
"Well, I'll have you know it isn't easy conjuring schemes to abolish you rodents! Robots, ATTACK!" The army of robots obeyed their master's command, immediately charging the young group of heroes. Amy jumped over one, directly smashing the following robot, then the previous one she jumped over.
"Lookout, Amy!" Sticks shouted. Amy quickly ducked as Stick's boomerang soared through the air, destroying several crab and scorpion robots.
"Yeah!" Amy high-fived her badger friend. "Nice one, Sticks!"
"Why, thank you!"
"Tails set me up!" Sonic shouted. Tails quickly nodded from his custom plane as Sonic promptly jumped into the air, catching the swinging rope. "Launch me at that bucket of tin!" He demanded. Tails obeyed his blue leader, instantly swinging the hedgehog into the robot. The giant foe was immediately decapitated as he shut down in defeat.
"Yea!" The team celebrated, passing high-fives all around.
"Well...that didn't go as planned..." Eggman admitted in defeat. Sonic only chuckled.
"Yeah... next time you want to waste our time, don't." Sonic said. He suddenly spin-dashed Eggman over the horizon, with Orbot and Cubot towing behind to help their evil master. The Sonic team laughed after the pathetic villain.
"Ha! Easy win..." The young group high-fived each other in victory.
"What do you guys wanna do now?" Amy asked cheerfully. They thought over it briefly before Sonic's eyes widened in realization.
"I don't know about you guys... but I'm ready for you all to be my personal slaves for the day." He smirked deviously.
"Ugh..." They groaned.
"C'mon Sonic, we didn't really mean it..." Tails whined. Sonic shook his head in disapproval.
"Hey, a deal is a deal, and you know what? I'm feeling a little chilly today..." Sonic said cockily. The group stared at him absentmindedly. "Get it?" He asked. They only blinked in annoyance. "Chili dogs...I- I want chili dogs. Gosh, you guys are no fun."
"Ugh, how many chili dogs exactly?" Amy asked, heading in the direction of Meh-Burger. Sonic patted her back in comfort, shooting her his usual smile.
"Oh, Amy..." He said empathetically. She looked at him, a bit nervous, only imagining how many chilidogs the average hedgehog could devour. He slightly chuckled before speeding off.
"Hey! Wait up!" She shouted after him. Everyone closely jogged behind the blue blur as they approached the appalling restaurant.
"I'm going to get that hedgehog one of these days…" Eggman mumbled. He threw his latest invention down in a huff, shuffling over to the consul that resided in the center of his large laboratory.
"You may need a better angle! Orbit suggested.
"Quiet, you bolt for brains!" He slammed his fist. "I don't need your pity." He took a sip of the coffee Cubot had brought him.
"Should I get your 'failed mission' show ready?" Cubot asked, flipping through the various channels.
"Grrrr…" He narrowed his eyes at the yellow robot. "That blue coconut bested me again. I thought we really had him this time. What haven't I tried? Eggman pondered over the thought briefly.
"How about water?" Orbot suggested. Eggman shook his head.
"No, no. We've done that. Shark bots weren't the best idea. They had those super cool swimsuits, remember?"
"Oh... right." Orbot sulked.
"How about an all-out attack? No holding back!" Cubot proposed.
"We've tried that too! With Shadow on our side, we had a fighting chance. Still, I doubt he'd help again after manipulating him last time." He settled into the couch, racking his brain for different ideas, but came up with nothing. He felt utterly hopeless.
"There has to be something I have yet to try..."
"Come one! Come all! Come down to Hedgehog Village's first-ever love fest to celebrate the upcoming holiday, Valentine's Day!" Comedy Chimp shouted from the commercial.
"Hmm?" Eggman turned his full attention to the TV.
"Oops, wrong channel." Cubot quickly changed it.
"No, Cubot, turn it back!" Eggman urged him.
"Sorry." He quickly changed it back.
"Come join us in the town square for Love Fest, which takes place this Friday on Valentine's Day!"
"That's perfect, a love feast! Sonic will be so full he'd be too fat to fight back!" Cubot commented. Eggman whacked him upside the head with a wrench.
"Not love feast, you idiot, Love FEST. Short for a festival, everybody knows that." Eggman grimaced. Cubot looked confused.
"Uh, doc…not sure if ya know but…" He gestured to his chrome self. "I don't have a body…" Eggman's face palmed before whispering to Orbot.
"Remind me to dismantle him later."
"A- ha ha…" Orbot broke into a nervous sweat. "What did you have in mind, Doctor? Orbot quickly changed the subject. He turned to his lab, letting a menacing smile play on his lips.
"Love…Sonic hates love. The mere mention of the word sends him into hysterics. If I can somehow concoct a potion for this love fest, I could sell it to unsuspecting civilians. They'll think they're drinking fruit punch, but actually, it'll be the potion! It's brilliant, it's easy, it's diabolical, it just might work to keep that retched hedgehog away!" Eggman rubbed his hands together.
"What will the potion do exactly?" Orbot asked, following close behind him.
"Isn't it obvious? Once the individual drinks the potion, they'll fall madly in love with Sonic. Everyone in Hedgehog Village will be so distracted by the blue rodent they won't even notice when I build my glorious theme park right on top of their homes! Muhahaha!"
"Sounds like a stellar plan, boss." Cubot gave him a thumbs up.
"You really think so?" Eggman beamed. The two nodded expeditiously. Eggman smirked cockily. "I guess it is rather brilliant if I say so myself." He tugged the collar of his jacket confidently.
"One of your most diabolical to date!" Orbot added. Eggman shewed him away.
"Alright, enough sucking up. We only have two days to conjure a plan. I'll need all the manpower I can get." Orbot and Cubot quickly nodded before exiting the room. Eggman turned, eyeing the various chemicals scattered about the table. "We've got a lot of work to do." He smiled to himself before working on the love potion equation that would soon bring Hedgehog Village to its knees.
AUTHORS NOTE
. . .
Honestly, I wasn't planning on writing this story for a while. But I had a direction I wanted to go for this story and just went with it.
Let me know what you guys think! See ya in the next chap!
Mariah Masters