Sonic: Reborn

by TeenageHedgie

At first glance, Maurice the Hedgehog is seemingly just another Mobian. He has no one to turn to; all he has is himself and a strange set of supersonic running abilities given by his long-gone father. But, when a robotics doctor with an IQ three times as high as his and a mechanical army threatens the world, Maurice has to face his legacy and rewrite his fate to save it.

3. Writings on the Wall

CHAPTER 2 - WRITINGS ON THE WALL

Looking back, that fateful day of the Race of the Century was no better reason for celebration for many, from the thousands who placed bets in favor of Sonic the Hedgehog who would receive bountiful rewards for their almost undying loyalty, but also to the athlete and his soon to be family. To them, it was a flawless victory to cap off such a lustrous career. Jules, in his mind, could not have manifested a better outcome.

As the cameras pointed and the press scurried towards the blue-haired rodent, clamoring questions and yells of happiness, Dr. Ivo Robotnik could not help but look on through his tinted blue filtering eyeglasses with a slowly sorrowing set of puppy-brown eyes. The cheers and questions asking for everything from autographs to answers was nothing but murmuring in his brilliant mind. The 300 IQ-riddled brain could only interpret the scenario as numbing, agonizing ear-piercing ringing. And embarrassing too, the embarrassment; the fastest piece of technology the world has ever seen, the fact that people had the opportunity to see it in person, the opportunity to see it in action - and the fact that the one thing that people focused on was nothing but flesh and blood.

He should be up there with them, but security not five minutes ago wouldn't let them, exclaiming that they didn't even recognize the name, the absolute morons, he thought, they couldn't even solve a quadratic formula math problem if asked!

"You."

The voice stopped the thousand-yard stare and the doctor's eyes went to his right to spot another, a much shorter figure walking up, hands behind their back. Ivo couldn't see it, but he was sure that this one, in particular, was not happy with today's performance. The doctor mentally placed his hand in his palms, preparing himself for the inevitable and uncomfortable conversation that was soon to follow.

"Of course. I should've realized you would be slithering your way into what was supposed to be my big day instead of sticking back to the office as I suggested." Ivo finally stated under his breath, his hand caressing the hairs of his twirling mustache. Even if he didn't show it, the doctor was sweating out of nervousness.

Snively Robotnik, Ivo's nephew and only familial connection he had left, while not as smart, was good enough with numbers to where he was the honorary CEO of Robotnik Enterprises; the company that built that jet that now lay in the dirt smoldering. Ivo had more years and experience under his belt, but in this position, he had to heed his nephew's word on how to act in public, or whether or not the ideas he always had constantly cooked up were any good or not. As Snively grew closer, Ivo couldn't help but roll his eyes when he began to speak.

"Uncle, you said that this investment would turn into a massive profit…" Snively grumbled.

"It did," he argued, "… didn't you see how close the prototype was to beating the rat at his game? That was our prototype, Snively! We, I, built that prototype!"

"So why was it still so easily beatable? The top speeds were supposed to hit Mach 5, for Gaia's sake-"

"-and now that a speedster has beaten it, you think we should spend more focus on living beings, work on, say, cybernetic enhancements instead?"

Snively scoffed as he tried his best to counterpoint the naivety of the doctor, "Better than the amount of capital that may I remind you is literally burning before our very eyes, as well as the entire planet?!"

Ivo turned to his left and attempted to just walk away and diffuse the situation for his sanity's sake, as well as to get away from the rageful heat that he could feel radiating from his nephew's body as well as his words. "The race was good enough a test to show anyone that it is only a matter of time before technology finally catches up to where it should've been fifty years ago. The artificial intelligence alone!-"

"Uncle, even that's too unstable! None of your projects are stable!"

"-it is unhackable at least."

"Because not even a hooligan leeching off anyone using a burger joint's free wireless network wouldn't dare touch your coding with a ten-foot barge pole-"

Inside the doctor's mind, he could feel it begin to creak and tense as it bent, the intrusive thoughts of just taking the little bastard in his hands and squeezing the life out seemed so fulfilling. He never wanted Snively to be his boss. He was in his forties with degrees upon degrees, building his company from the ground up only to be taken over by this slimy worm, this shell of a man. Ivo tried to repress the thoughts deeply within his soul, or rather what was left of it.

"You do not have to feed it, nurture it, even if there was a chance that it could grow and form its own personality, then we have the resources to feed and nurture it for our own conquest, Snively, I knew you are an imbecile when it comes to seeing golden ideas when they're right in front of your face, but I didn't know it was so awful that you are actually blind!"

Snively snorted at the doctor's feeble attempts to ward off the inevitable, figuring that it would be better to finally rip the bandage off and cut him off. "You're out, Robotnik. I'm going to oust you from our company record, and see if I can save this company myself because obviously, you can't handle it."

Ivo's anger seemed to have drained away, his skin becoming pale. He could feel his stomach churn, even more so than watching his design literally crash and burn. His hands started to shake gently, and the blood in his veins became cold. The shakiness then began to eat away at the rest of his body slowly like it was an infectious disease rotting its host away from the inside out.

"… Out? You… can't do this to me, Snively. I started this company." Robotnik hissed to his Judas. His fists closed up. "You are just going to kick me out just like that?"

"In this new age, Uncle," Snively replied in an increasingly cool tone of voice, "we need to make sure that this company survives. If it means erasing everything having to do with you, then so be it! Employment, records…"

Robotnik's skin transitioned from a pale, almost desaturated, drained color to red. Anger turned to fear, which then turned to rage. "Do you know how much I sacrificed, what I went through to get to this point in my life?! I trusted you, nephew, and now I'm out?! Just who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Security!"

Robotnik turned, seeing a couple of, what he presumed to be, bodyguards, as they did not have a badge or stadium logo. These were definitely hired goons by the company. "You rat," he tried to say before he felt the big, strong arms of the bodyguards wrap themselves around each of his own, "I'll make you regret this! I don't know how, but I promise you that when I'm done with you, they're going to have to have a closed casket for your funeral!"

"Death threats?" one of the bodyguards inquired, "I'm sure some of the very nice gentlemen in blue would be very interested in this."

Robotnik eyed the pair of security officers standing by the doors, apparently not hearing the commotion yet. Through the cobalt lens of his glasses, his eyes darted left and right, wherever possible to find some sort of opening. He found, or rather, felt it when one of the bodyguard's grip loosened, enough for the doctor to immediately elbow in their stomach. Snively gasped as he witnessed his uncle take off towards another exit.

Word of an assault backstage and a heated argument grew, and the police were involved now, looking around every corner for the suspect matching the description. Despite their best efforts and the organization of many nightly manhunts, the doctor seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. Where he rested, no one knew.

Robotnik Enterprises would not escape the incident unscathed either. Over the years, there were instances of trucks packed to the brim with material, hard drives with code, CPUs, motherboards, and even fully operational supercomputers that would have these contents stolen. While there were suspects of corporate espionage, in the back of his head, Snively would always think back to his uncle.

He had not slept with both eyes closed since that day at the stadium.

—

In the years thereafter, Robotnik had made many of the little corners of the planet his workshop, hopping from the grandiosely tall oak trees of the Great Forest to abandoned warehouses in Mobotropolis. All of them had similar layouts to not let the doctor suffer any hit to his efficiency. The supplies he had stolen funneled into his projects, of which he would work day and night, only sleeping an average of approximately one hour.

It started as defensive and offensive mechanisms, stealing an idea or two of his own from the now-salvaged S-19. Then, he soon went into coding artificial intelligence, grander, and more viscous than anything coming out of Robotnik Enterprises.

Then came the badniks; machines that almost seemed to have flickers of life itself in them, personalities of their own, and course, the ability to be given an objective and complete it by whatever means necessary. There were a variety of designs that would perfectly make the cut in Robotnik's eyes, and some that were trashed. The ones that made it would cover the basics; ones that would take to the skies, ones that rolled on land, and some that could swim any body of water you threw it in.

Gloved hands, stained with an ugly brownish-black oil turned the wrench a final time before his latest design was finally complete. Underneath the now long, untrimmed mustache, Robotnik's grin grew a mile wide, proud of his intellect not failing him yet again.

"Well… I think I did it again. I need your opinion on this, Cluck," he said, turning around as he held a new design up in the air. It was seemingly based on a ladybug, with a cabernet red paint job with black spots on its armored back. It had one hundred-and-eighty-degree vision and two serrated claws that could cut steel. "I give you, MOTO BUG!"

Robotnik looked down from his creation and looked to Cluck for his praise; all that was there was a bird made of scrap metal, devoid of life and movement. His one and only friend.

"Ha!" Robotnik continued with a single cackle, "I knew you'd like it! This has to be my greatest land creation yet! Definitely better than the drone-controlled cars I made."

Again, there was no response from Cluck.

"Oh, absolutely! Definitely better than the Spiny too, those are great for base defense, but there's no locomotion with them. These are basically mini-tanks! No one without the necessary firepower can beat them! The only problem… power."

The doctor sat the badnik down as he sat on his rolling computer chair, using the momentum to launch himself across the room to his portable desktop. His fingers tapped away on the keyboard as he made a few calculations. "Interesting. If we were to try manufacturing and supplying any ammunition to more of these creations, we'd need an energy supply that not even Mobotropolis' entire power grid could supply."

Robotnik pondered, thinking over the possibilities. Of course, he could try borrowing a little power from Mobotropolis' power grid, but there needed to be some extra boost. Suddenly, a mental lightbulb turned on, and Robotnik went back to the computer to look through the web.

He searched, and after a little digging, he finally landed on the webpages he was looking for; an entry on an online encyclopedia, with big bold letters that splayed across the screen. Robotnik quickly looked through one of the drawers on his desk and pulled out an audio recorder, pushing the button to begin yet another memo.

"Entry number 1539A. The creation of Moto Bug was an absolute success, but my ambitions are beginning to prove themselves to be a bit… out there. I thought long and hard about how I could power this robotic army and its creation until something popped in my head…"

—

Before his grandfather left for deep space, he and Ivo were working on a similar issue. Ivo was dead set on continuing the use of fossil fuels to energize whatever creations and advancements in technology were awaiting them in the future. His grandfather, however, brought up the idea of using a cleaner source, like solar power.

The two discussed the possibilities until Gerald brought up a possible solution—it was a reach and Ivo at first simply disregarded his grandfather's idea as it made him sound like a loon, imagining that wacky fairy tales from long ago would be the key, but now might be as good a time as any to see.

—

"Chaos Emeralds. Gems of whose origin is unknown, alongside little to no evidence to suggest that they actually exist. The earliest mentions go back all the way to the first century among the tribes of echidna that flourished on Angel Island, a floating mountain that usually floats off the coast of the United Federation. The gems are said to contain great power and whoever has control over all seven of them, but just one is enough to give some of this said great power."

Robotnik clicked the button again, pausing the recording to pick at the end of his orange mustache hairs, before beginning again, "My grandfather brought up the idea of what now seems like eons ago, and I just shrugged it off. I was… idiotic. Perhaps I should look into this more. Will update with another memo soon."

The doctor once again pressed the button, and moved over to a wardrobe, taking a few outfits out. "Excuse me, Cluck, I have a long trip ahead of me. Think you can handle things around here while I'm gone?"

No response.

"Perhaps I need this more than I previously thought…"

—

Tropical birds chirped at the peace and tranquility the island had in store. Thousands of gallons of water ran in rivers and creeks from the mountain ranges and over the cliff edges, down towards the Great Ocean. Jungle ruins, covered in vines, stood still, cracked in the sun and showing no sign of life.

At the center of the island, an intimidatingly large stone altar decorated with many carvings stood proudly, with dozens of steps leading to the top floor. On said floor rested a gemstone much like the Chaos Emeralds, but four, maybe five times their size, glowing a bright green even in the accompaniment of the harsh broad daylight. Next to it, an echidna with bright red fur sat, his eyes closed and his breathing heavy and slow; he was resting.

In the distance, a rumbling shook the earth, which caused the echidna to stir awake. Immediately, he turned to look in the direction of the noise, gasping at the sight of a dust cloud billowing up. Small blue creatures began flying away, crying out for their guardian. The echidna gasped as one of them fell close by, tears threatening to fall from their precious face.

The Mobian leaned down, wiping the salty water away from their eye. "Don't worry, little one. I'll see what the fuss is about." he said with a whisper.

He turned to look at the emerald, which shone brightly as if speaking to him. The echidna could almost hear the voice inside call for him, saying to go. The little ones need you! He nodded, before rushing off into the lush greenery to face the possible foe.

—

"Entry number 1542B. I have made it to Angel Island, and there appears to be an entire population of Chao. My best guess is that this is actually their point of origin, or manifestation area, just as some recent archeological finds tended to theorize. Safe to say that even if I don't find the Emeralds here, that this discovery is still very big…"

Robotnik said into his audio recorder, wearing shorter-sleeved clothing to compensate for the heat. It was a massive change of temperature to adapt to compared to Mobotropolis, even with the extra high altitude to deal with. "Besides the Chao here, the only other known life forms to take asylum here were the four different echidna tribes. As of now, we think that they are all extinct, the only thing left are these ruins…"

Gerald was someone who had studied the echidna tribes and their culture, using them as inspiration nine times out of ten whenever he worked on yet another project. He had labeled them as primitive, yet advanced for their time that he couldn't help but respect it. Robotnik thought about how his grandfather would have thought of being able to see these ruins in person for the first time. A small smile spread across his sweating face.

A small cry caught the doctor's eye, and he turned to see a Chao slowly floating towards his leg with a quizzical look on its face. Robotnik leaned over and grabbed the little creature by the teardrop-shaped head, picking it up in the air to analyze it further. The creature began crying, fearful of the intruder's sudden grabby behavior before attempting to fly away from its restraint.

Robotnik grunted as he felt the Chao pull away, slipping out of his hand, "Hold still, you little—"

"Stop right there!" a hearty voice called out, leading the doctor to put the creature down immediately, letting it fly out into the sky with its tiny wings. He turned and saw the red Mobian burst out of the foliage, hitting his fists against one another in an attempt to seem intimidating. "State your business, or be prepared to face punishment for trespassing on sacred land!"

Robotnik stared at the warrior in front of him, before scrambling to make himself appear friendly in comparison to the stoicism of the echidna. "Oh, hello there, friend, you have nothing to fear! I am Doctor… Snively Robotnik! I stumbled across your island as I am in search of, what I believe you call the Chaos Emeralds."

"If it is the Emeralds you seek for, you have no business searching here then, human," he said, smartly leaving out the existence of his own Emerald in his altar. "… they are just myths."

"But you aren't! You're an echidna, aren't you? All the textbooks on the mainland said your kind was extinct." Robotnik said.

Knuckles huffed, slowly putting his fists down to his sides, "Because no one before you has ever come here and lived to tell the tale. Now, leave!"

Robotnik held up a single finger, "What if we were to work out a deal?"

"But you have nothing to offer me." Knuckles grumbled.

"Oh, but, of course, I do. You see… I know how being alone on this island can get very frustrating at times. Besides a couple of bricks here and there, you have no real knowledge of your origin. I think if you scratch my back… I can scratch yours." Robotnik said with an inviting smile.

"My origin?"

"Yes, your origin! You see, my doctorate is in archeology and history. I've studied your kind for longer than you've been alive! I'm sure you'd be more than happy to know where you came from, wouldn't you?" Robotnik asked. "After the plague that supposedly killed the ever so minuscule remains of your species, say… thirteen years ago, consider me the last link you'll ever have to that era!"

Knuckles felt his anger build up. This stranger, this stupid intruder not only speaking of ancient myths as if they were real but talking about his species this way? He felt like the human was up to no good. They never were.

"… No. You lie. You have no knowledge of my family, let alone the common sense to prepare for a trip like the one you took," Knuckles said, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave before I change my mind."

Robotnik pondered, figuring that this would happen. The echidnas were a proud species, known to be so stubborn and yet unorganized in their judgment. Sure, they were smart, but it was their pride that had them killed many times, from the mysterious wipeout of the Pachacamac tribe over three thousand years ago to the disease of recent times…

"What if I was to give you a bit of information right now?" Robotnik offered.

Knuckles questioned the man silently, before giving in. "Try me. Tell me something that you have learned from us. One chance."

One chance, the doctor mused to himself. The man looked around for anything at all that could be used. His eyes swept all around him, the hilltop he stood on allowing him to see a grand majority of the island's south side. Then, he spotted something in particular; a large field with one single concrete goal-like contraption.

"There!" Robotnik said, pointing out the area. "That field. From what I've discovered, that entire area was dedicated to one of the biggest sports your culture had ever invented!"

—

One would think that Robotnik was about to fail his objective, spouting out lies in hopes that the echidna would believe him judging by his young age. Surprisingly, though, the doctor could thank his grandfather for this information—while he, much like any other human, hadn't stepped onto the island in fifty generations, that didn't mean that he tried to watch from afar with this game being one of the many things he witnessed.

—

Knuckles' brow raised. Yes, the human was right. The echidna's mood began to subside, relaxing himself. "Go on…" he said.

"The game was called, correct me if I got this wrong, ōllamalitzli?" Robotnik said, looking to the echidna for approval. The red one's eyes began to widen. He was right… "You have that one goal, and to win, you get a small ball using only your upper body, arms, elbows, chest, fists… whatever means necessary. Win enough points and you free the game. You also used it not just for recreation, but for religious and political events too!"

The echidna was shocked. No human had stepped foot on this land. How would he know… perhaps the alien was what he said he was. "You passed the test, consider me impressed."

"Oh, believe me, I always impress myself!" Robotnik said with a proud smile.

"You may be smart, but you have a big ego." Knuckles said.

"With the type of plans I have in mind, you have to keep your opinion of yourself high, or else, you can begin to falter, and my furry friend, I have big plans! Now… have I earned your camaraderie?" Robotnik asked, extending a hand out to shake the echidna's.

The echidna stood still, looking at the hand with his magenta irises, before finally taking the first step he had taken since the meeting started. The warrior's bulky gloves gripped the doctor's hand and shook it, the strength of the Mobian being a lot for the human to take on as he yelped at the sudden pain. "I will be your comrade."

"That's… fantastic…" Robotnik squeaked out as he let go of the echidna's hand, checking it to see if there were any broken bones.

A small chirping sound erupted from the doctor's pocket, causing him to quickly dig into it and find a PDA stashed within it. He turned it on to see a notification; Robotnik Enterprises to be sponsor of Central City's World of the Future Science Fair, Acorn Royalty Expected to Make Appearance. In the photo below the headline, there was a long line of supplies and equipment to build many booths, stages, and testing areas. Something, however, caught the doctor's pristine 20/20 vision; a shining green gemstone that looked similar to…

"Snively…" he grumbled under his breath, "… of course, you would."

"What is it, sir?"

"Oh, please, no need to be so formal! Doctor, Dr. Robotnik, either of the two of those works just fine. I believe I just found our first mission. Look at this… remind you of anything?"

Knuckles looked at the screen, his eyes trying to adjust to the unnatural brightness, "Is that…"

"Knowing these people, people who don't know anything about the echidna tribes, they might not even know it. We've got the advantage, though. We go to this little science fair of theirs and take it. It'll be in better hands, believe me." Robotnik said in between small chuckles as he walked towards a small hovering pod, his ride out. "You coming?" he called out.

The echidna looked behind him, a small herd of Chao beginning to form a beeline towards their guardian. They all cocked their heads in confusion. Knuckles sighed as he got on one knee to meet their gaze, petting all of them with the utmost gentleness.

"Little ones, you know I have to do this… please be safe in my absence. I plan to return to you all as soon as possible." Knuckles comforted, being sure to use a whispering tone. All of the Chao nodded, seemingly understanding. "Goodbye, for now, children."

Robotnik sat in his pod, reading that same PDA as he waited for Knuckles to get on, yelping when he heard a loud thump against the side. His eyes darted and saw the red echidna holding on to the side with the help of two pointed knuckles barreling and grappling deep into the metal. The doctor sighed, knowing that he'll have to fix that when they get to their destination. "Central City," Robotnik called out, "here we come!"

"Thank you for coming, doctor. You know, you're giving me everything I have been looking for for a long time, and you don't even know my name!" Knuckled yelled out over the rumbling sounds of the aircraft beginning its ascension.

"Well, we gotta know our names to make this work, I guess. What is your name, my fellow warrior?"

"Call me… Knuckles."

"Fitting name!"

—

Author Notes: Knock knock! Hi, TennesseeanArtist/TeenageHedgie here again!

With the Chaos Emeralds in the doctor's sight and a loveable echidna on his side, it seems like this festival may not be as happy and hopeful of an event as it was made out to be. How does Maurice fit into this plot now that he seemingly has his own Chaos Emerald to worry about? Who else is going to get involved, and who will become his ally and his enemy? Stay tuned to find out in the next chapter, "Blood and Oil!"

Yours truly, TA/TH!