Starlight City – South Island

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The echoing sound of thundering explosions and the electric crack of a sonic boom rung out through the formerly quiet streets of the Star Light Zone, it's empty roads and winding alleyways quickly becoming a battleground between a pair of heroes and their oversized foe.

Zooming ahead of his pursuers in his hovercraft, an overweight human with a gigantic mustache leered at his radar as his missiles missed once again. "Blasted hedgehog!" the man yelled, readying another volley, "You never know when to just give up, don't you Sonic?"

Leaping through the smoke of multiple burning cars, the blue blur continues his chase against his longtime foe, "And let you make a mess of the place? Not a chance Eggman!"

Following the mad doctor down another alleyway, Sonic looked back to the twin tailed fox floating closely behind him, "Yo Tails!" he called out, "Any idea where ole' Egghead's keeping that jar?"

Taking his eyes away from his tablet, and dodging a few more missiles, Tails managed to catch up to his blue companion, "I've finally managed to scan the Egg-mobile, he's keeping the artifact in his cockpit," he explained, "But we need to be careful, that artifact's thousands of years old and-"

Completely ignoring everything except the artifact's location, Sonic suddenly began to boost forward down the alley, quickly jumping and running up the side of a wall before zooming clear past the doctor's hovercraft.

Even with Sonic practically glowing from his Egg-mobile's headlights, it was already far too late for Eggman to react to his opponent's sudden change in position.

Zoooooooom – !

~ SMASH! ~

With the familiar whir of a spindash and the feeling of metal giving weigh to sheer force, Sonic watched as Eggman's hovercraft was launched off into the distant sky, it's pilot screaming like a girl the entire way.

Landing with flashy pose, Sonic took an overdramatic bow to an imaginary audience, "Thank You! Thank you very much!" the blue Mobian responded to no one, "You're all too kind!"

"Well, that's 3,000 years of history down the drain," Tails said dejectedly, looking at the shattered remains of the ancient piece of pottery Eggman stole, "Not to mention the hit to my bank account…"

Giving his adopted brother a sympathetic look, Sonic placed a hand on his shoulder, "Sorry 'bout that, Tails," he said, "If that jar was as powerful as Egghead said, I figured it'd be better off broke than causing trouble."

Scooping up a few of the shards, Tails gave his brother a warm smile, "Don't worry Sonic, I'm sure we can put most of it back together-"

"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH, MEAT BAG!" a gravelly yet regal sounding voice rang out from the pile of broken clay, a black and red cloud quickly pouring from the shards and coalescing into a humanoid form resembling one of the many mummies found in ancient pyramids, golden headdress and all.

"YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE RESTING PLACE OF A PHARAOH, PEASANTS!" the enraged spirit screamed, the linen wraps on his body beginning to levitate and move like angry snakes, "NOW YOU SHALL PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!"

"Well crap," Sonic deadpanned, "Guess we dodged a bullet on that, huh Tails?"

"Yeah, now we're dodging snakes instead…" Tails responded, grabbing onto Sonic's shoulder, "Speaking of which, DODGE!"

With a jump and a yank, Tails managed to pull himself and Sonic out of the path of the Pharaoh's whips, the linen instead leaving noticeable trenches in the metal wall behind the pair.

Still holding on to his now flying friend, Sonic managed to spy a large jewel on the specter's headdress, "I'll bet you a chili dog that big rock is a weak spot!" he said to Tails, giving him a wink to help him figure out what he was implying.

Returning his wink with a nod, the young fox began to fly towards the Pharaoh, effortlessly dodging and weaving through the monster's whip attacks, "You're on, Sonic!" he yelled as he and his brother began to spin, forming a double spindash aimed right at the creature's forehead!

With the ear splitting CRACK of a sonic boom, the pair's double spindash, enhanced by Sonic's own boost ability, slammed into the face of the dark Pharoah, the gemstone along with the rest of it's head being obliterated from the force of the attack as the pair bounced from wall to wall, each hit tearing shadowy chunks from the monster's body.

With a high five and one last flip for flair, the pair landed at the end of the alleyway, the monster left in a dozen chunks scattered across the sidewalk.

"Good thinking Sonic!" Tails congratulated, "I guess I owe you another chili dog huh?"

"I meant that more as an attention getter, but if you're buyin', I won't complain!" Sonic confessed, being met with a love tap on his shoulder from his friend.

The brother's celebration was cut short however, as the linen wraps of the Pharoah wrapped themselves around them both!

"HA! YOU THINK YOU ATTACKS CAN HARM THE LIKES OF ME?" the Pharaoh, rapidly reforming himself from the scattered chunks, cackled menacingly, "YOUR WILLINGNESS TO ATTACK THE BLOOD OF A GOD SHOWS A LACK OF RESPECT TO YOUR TRUE RULERS, ALLOW ME TO TEACH YOU SOME!"

With that, the mighty Pharoah clenched his fist, the wraps around Sonic and Tails beginning to tighten more and more, leaving the pair gasping for air as it was squeezed from their lungs!

As their vision began to blur, and their ears began to ring from the lack of air and blood flow, the grip of the wraps suddenly went slack…

BLAM-BLAM-BLAM! SLASH! SLASH!

~ BOOOOM! ~

With the sounds of rapid gunfire and blades clashing, the pair of Mobians fell to the ground in a heap, the linen wraps quickly disappearing as the Pharaoh detonated with a demonic screech.

Gulping down painful lung-full after painful lung-full of fresh air, Sonic struggled to look up and try to see who or whatever just saved him. Through the blurry haze of his oxygen deprived vision, Sonic could only barely make out a pair of glowing figures, one blue and the other yellow, as they ran off into the night.

Limping over to his two tailed brother, Sonic offered him a weak but helping hand getting off of the floor, "C'mon… Let's blow this popsicle stand and get some first aid."

Pulling himself up, Tails laid eyes on a strange slip of paper laying at his feet, "Hold on a second," the fox strained out, "I think those two left us something, whoever they were."

Opening the small, white scroll, Tails could see the word " N" written in some strange, elaborate font he was unfamiliar with.

"Daten?" Tails repeated, the unfamiliar word sounding strange when spoken aloud, "This message can't be a coincidence, maybe they have more information on what that… thing was!"

The young fox snapped to his friend, a look of curiosity and determination on his face, "Sonic, we need to get back to the lab, asap!"

"Hold on a sec, Tails!" Sonic interrupted, only to be cut off by his friend, "I know that Pharaoh was dangerous, but if there are more of these things, then we need to learn as much as we can! Especially if there are people who know how to fight them!"

"I know that Tails," Sonic argued "but-"

"But what?"

"Can we at least get a bite to eat and a nap before we start another massive adventure?" Sonic finally finished, pointing to a nearby 24/7 diner.

"O-oh…" Tails stuttered, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, "Yeah, sure!"

As the brothers ran off to the diner to nurse their wounds and come up with a plan, a certain Doctor spied on them from a few rooftops away. "CURSES!" he roared as he slammed his fist on the console of his damaged Egg-Mobile, "That creature had Sonic at it's mercy! If it weren't for those two…" Eggman trailed off into his own thoughts, a vile grin spreading across his face.

"Those two, they have to know where more of those creatures are!" The doctor hypothesized, the beginnings of a plan forming rapidly in his mind, "All I have to do is follow them, and they'll lead me right to the creatures."

Dr. Eggman cackled as he checked the recording of the battle, freezing on the frame showing the two mysterious women in action, the first being a pistol toting blond that dressed in thin sheets that left next to nothing to the imagination, the other having long, blue, and pink hair with a small poufy dress with twin katanas.

"An army of un-killable monsters..." Eggman fantasized, "All ripe for the taking!"

"OH, HO HO HO HO HO HO!"