Chapter 7: Pyramid (ピラミッド; Piramiddo)
Note:
Text – thoughts, memories, important words (in my opinion) and a voice from a robot.
Text - very important words (in my opinion)
Tornado II was flying over the Mediterranean Sea. Sonic was relaxing as he lay on the wing of the plane with his eyes closed while Tails was in the cockpit wearing his pilot's helmet. Since they flew away from Eggman's tower, they had been flying for a long time to the next point. The little fox adjusted the portal from which they came to this world a little in some places before they left the tower. Deciding to help Lurk, an escaped soldier from Sigma's army and a former maverick, get to the shore, Sonic literally ran across the entire sea, while pushing the motor boat in which Lurk was. Having reached the shore, the blue hedgehog said goodbye to the reploid, telling him not to do anything bad again, and ran back. On the way to Tails, Sonic thought about what Lurk told him earlier. Was everything good he thought about the Maverick Hunters a lie? Although the blue hedgehog understood that Dr. Doppler was the first to start all this confusion, the methods that the hunters use to eliminate the mavericks do not make them better than the Sigma army and the reploid scientist. This also made Sonic think about himself and his actions. Regarding the methods of eliminating the Mavericks, the blue hedgehog decided to talk to X and Zero the next time he met them. Soon he came to Tails and they both flew on.
The blue hedgehog yawned and looked into the distance, and then down. He saw a desert and a river. Sonic tapped on the glass of the cockpit and motioned to Tails where they were. At this point the little fox said that they would soon arrive at their destination. The blue hedgehog was puzzled by Tails' answer.
Soon "Tornado ll" began to approach the city. This city was Cairo, the capital of a country with a mysterious and ancient history, Egypt. As the plane approaches the ground, we see a flying thing that resembles a ball with metal wings, which flies behind them.
A little while later…
The plane landed in a deserted area near Cairo. When Tornado II stopped, Sonic jumped from the plane and landed on the ground. Then Tails got out of "Tornado ll" and he and the blue hedgehog looked at the city. In the 22nd century, Egypt's capital has become a futuristic city with long cybernetic highways and huge buildings in the ancient Egyptian style.
"Wow," said Sonic. "It reminds me of Sand City in our world. Listen, Tails, are you sure that the Chaos Emerald is somewhere around the city?"
"No," Tails replied, taking off his pilot helmet. "According to the signal that I picked up back in the tower, the emerald is located in a pyramid in one area not far from the river. The place is in a southerly direction about 70 miles from here."
"Well then, let's go!" Sonic said and prepared to run, but Tails stopped him.
"Wait a minute!" said the little fox. "First we need a disguise so that we won't be recognized if we meet someone along the way. I know that there is a market here in Cairo that sells clothes and..."
"...Chili dogs?" Sonic asked with a grin, looking at his friend.
"...And chili dogs." Tails finished with a grin as well. "We have the money to buy all this. But...How to do this without being noticed?"
"Where did you get the money?" asked the blue hedgehog. "Did someone give it to you?"
"Yes," the little fox answered affirmatively. "Marty gave it to me. Do you remember what I told you about her?"
"About X's girlfriend?" Sonic asked with a teasing shipper smile. "Thanks, Tails. Now I have this information to tease X about it."
Tails dropped an anime style drop before continuing:
"The money is kept on my plane. I'll get them now."
"Should I go get clothes, gasoline, if possible, and food?" Sonic asked.
"Yes." Tails said, taking money out of the plane. "Don't worry about gasoline. I found out that the plane is powered by solar energy. Even the plane has a special reactor for this. Try not to show yourself to people so as not to cause a fuss. We need long clothes and some kind of headdress to cover our animal features. I'll wait here for you for now."
The little fox handed the money to his friend, and the hedgehog took it.
"OK!" Sonic said with a cocky grin.
"Sonic, can we talk for a minute?" Tails turned to Sonic.
"Yes, about what?" Asked the blue hedgehog.
"I noticed during the flight that you had a thoughtful face." Answered the little fox. "Have you thought about Maverick Hunters?"
"Yes." Sonic answered. "I have a lot of questions about their organization. Why this question?"
"You know, Sonic, I don't think they're actually completely good or bad guys." Tails explained. "Rather, they are in a moral gray area. I understand that it is their job to get rid of mavericks, but, on the other hand, I can condemn them for the fact that they are taking away from some valiant mavericks or normal reploids to start living from scratch. For me, this is a complex issue from a moral point of view, and I even get confused about who is right and who is wrong. I can be wrong about it. This is my thought about that issue."
-...
"Sonic?" Tails asked, noticing that his friend had gone quiet.
"I don't care who is right or wrong in the situation." Sonic finally answered, he clenched his hands into fists. "The two things I want are to find out what's going on with this organization and decide for myself, and...Help people and reploids live with each other. Thanks for your thought, Tails. I have to go."
Having said this, Sonic ran into the city at high speed.
In one area of the city...
In one room of an abandoned building there was a dark teenager. He had brown eyes and tousled hair in a half-box cut. He was wearing green trousers with a brown belt, a white T-shirt, a vest with light and dark green stripes, and black boots. There were white bandages on his palms. Next to the dark-skinned boy was a helmet reminiscent of a reploid's helmet, which hid his face. In front of him stood a bag containing money.
The teenager took out a couple of bills and looked at them. He felt no joy from these pieces of paper. In his thoughts, he folded the bills like cards for games, while remembering this moment.
"Alwahid!" he heard his voice inside himself when he lost his friend some time ago...
Sighing heavily, he rose to his feet and walked to look outside. He watched with a bored expression as passers-by walked carefree through the streets of Cairo before he clenched his fists in anger at the thought of one of Alwahid's colleagues who failed to help him before his death.
"How can he carefreely sit on the sidelines when his own comrade was slowly dying!" he thought, his eyes narrowed and began to shake his fists harder, as if he would now like to hit this "comrade" in the face.
While he was angry at them, suddenly the dark-skinned teenager noticed something in the dark corner of a building opposite where he was now. Taking a closer look, he opened his eyes wide in surprise. The dark-skinned teenager rubbed them and looked again to where he was... A blue anthropomorphic hedgehog. BLUE. ANTHROPOMORPHIC. HEDGEHOG. The teenage thief could have simply mistaken the hedgehog for a reploid, but his clear-seeing eyes looked at him not as a robot, but as a living creature of blood and flesh.
Meanwhile, Sonic with a bag of things was looking around the entire neighborhood in search of a grocery store or a hot dog stand. Noticing nothing, the blue hedgehog decided to move on. He quickly disappeared before the dark-skinned teenager's eyes. For some time, the young thief stood in place with his eyes wide open due to the fact that he did not expect this strange organic creature to run so quickly. Then he turned sharply and ran somewhere inside the building.
Sometime later...
The blue hedgehog came running to the little fox not only with bags of clothes, but also with two servings of chili dogs. While the hedgehog was in the city, the little fox studied the plane, as he was interested in what it has besides supersonic speed and a solar battery. Sonic and Tails started eating chili dogs near the plane. When they finished their snack, Sonic turned to Tails.
"Are you ready to go for the emerald?" the blue hedgehog asked the little fox.
Tails nodded his head and he began to prepare to fly. Sonic climbed onto the wing, and Tails sat down in the cockpit of "Tornado ll". Soon the cockpit of the plane closed and the plane began to move and flew into the sky towards the pyramid where the fourth Chaos Emerald was located.
Meanwhile in the city...
"Where is he?!" thought the dark-skinned thief, looking around in search of the hedgehog.
But even on the streets, where there were few people, he could not find the mysterious blue hedgehog. He was on a floating green skateboard, which he used to quickly find and catch up with Sonic.
Frustrated that he didn't find anything, the dark-skinned teenager picked up his skateboard and walked back home. Soon he began to pass through one of the city squares. He walked thoughtfully from what he saw today, until... He saw the building of the Maverick Hunters. The place where Alwahid previously worked. The teen stopped and looked at the building coldly before he looked away and walked on. Besides the terrible memories that this building brought to him, he remembered the conversation he had with Alvahid before his death.
"Alwahid, did you promise me that...Well...If you leave the Maverick Hunters, will you live with me?"
"Yes, Horus, I promise you."
Alwahid, Horus thought, if you left the Maverick hunters earlier, then you were alive and well, and lived with me...
Tears appeared in the eyes of the dark-skinned teenager as soon as he remembered the reploid close to him. While Horus was both crying and trying to hold back his tears, he suddenly remembered what he was going to do today.
Don't cry about it now, the dark-skinned thief thought to himself. All of this is already in the past. Today I need to get into this pyramid, which was recently discovered, and make sure that no one notices that I got into it. Even when I don't like stealing from others anymore...
The teenager let go of his head and continued to walk around the square until he disappeared among the crowd.
A little while later…
"And here is that pyramid!" Tails announced as he spotted a pyramid in the distance.
The pyramid looked like the Egyptian pyramid you see on the other side of the Nile River, but it was smaller in size than the Cheops pyramid and was unfinished. What made this pyramid different from others was that this pyramid did not have a top.
Before Sonic and the little fox went to her, they moved the Tornado II into the shade so that the plane would not overheat in the sun. Tails turned on the "Tornado ll" invisibility mode, after which he and the blue hedgehog ran to the pyramid. They stopped at the entrance and looked down at the structure.
"This pyramid reminds me of the pyramids back in Sandopolis on Angel Island," said Sonic and turned to his friend. "Tails, in which area of the pyramid is the Chaos Emerald located?"
"Somewhere deep inside," the little fox answered and looked at the blue hedgehog with a serious expression on his face. "We have to be careful. I don't know what the pyramid contains, but I think there will be a lot of traps inside. Do you remember what happened in Sandopolis? Although our worlds are different, there are also similarities."
"Got it," Sonic said with a nervous smile, remembering how he literally ran away from ghosts and passed through Sandopolis. For the blue hedgehog, this was a real nightmare.
Soon both heroes entered the pyramid. Inside, the company moved along one of the corridors of the pyramid. Unlike the inside of other pyramids, everything here is perfectly preserved. Since this small pyramid remained hidden from view for many centuries, the pyramid was not looted. While they were walking, suddenly Sonic heard something. The blue hedgehog stopped and looked back to where exactly this sound came from.
"Sonic, what is it?" Tails asked as he turned and looked at his friend with concern.
"Tails, did you hear that?" the hedgehog asked the little fox.
"Yes," Tails answered. "To be honest, it gave me goosebumps. It feels like we are not alone here."
"I thought the same thing," Sonic admitted honestly. "I'll pray it doesn't turn out to be a random ghost like in Sandapolis."
"If it's alive, more precisely a person or a reploid, then we must hurry," said the little fox. "If we don't get to the emerald first, it could end up in the wrong hands."
"I agree with you 100%," said the hedgehog, agreeing with the little fox.
Soon, Sonic and Tails began moving quickly down the corridor. While all this was happening, that same flying ball was slowly flying, following both heroes from another dimension.
Sometime later, outside...
Horus stopped near the entrance to the pyramid and climbed down from his green flying board. He carried with him a medium-sized bag containing a helmet. The helmet itself resembled a reploid's helmet, which hid the entire face and had green pupils. The thief took out a helmet and put it on his head, before he took the board and went inside the pyramid. He began to walk along the corridor that Sonic and Tails had walked along earlier. While the teenage thief was walking, he suddenly heard something and turned around. Horus saw no one.
"Argh!" he muttered angrily. "Again, rats for their own... But why every time I enter a damn random building, I'm starting hallucinating things?!"
Meanwhile, our heroes...
"And here he is!" Tails said as he noticed a glowing dot on the emerald radar* on his Miles Electric.
The little fox pointed the blue hedgehog at Miles Electric's screen before they ran even faster to get to the emerald first. Soon the team of heroes entered an open space in the pyramid. The open space was a huge and deep ravine, the edges of which were a large platform on which you could walk and look at the ravine from all sides. In the middle of the ravine there was a platform with a green Chaos Emerald flying above it.
"I'll get that, Sonic!" Tails turned to the blue hedgehog, to which the latter raised his thumb.
The little fox handed Miles Electric to his friend and flew on his two tails to the platform. Having reached the platform, the little fox landed and took the emerald. Suddenly the emerald began to glow brighter and this light covered the entire space. Tails squeezed his eyes shut against the bright light.
When he opened them, the fox found himself in an open field. Tails walked around, looking at the beautiful scenery. Soon he picked up someone's voices. The little fox headed to where these voices came from and when he arrived, he saw that the Atomic Man and the girl were sitting near the river and having a conversation. Moving a little closer, Tails overheard the conversation between them:
"Are you asking me how our society works?"
Atomic Man nodded his head.
"Well, we have divisions into classes: rich, middle and poor," the girl answered, showing 3 fingers as she listed them. "One of these rich people is our leader, George Violetx. Like any society, we have laws to protect us from committing evil acts, but... There are also those laws that... How can I say... Very strange and unpleasant..."
The Atomic Man tilted his head slightly to the right, as if asking what these laws were.
"When we turn 16, the state selects partners for us, with whom we will be for the rest of our lives," the girl answered. "This law was invented to support and increase our number of people after Atomic Day. On that day, these weapons killed most of us people. At first the new law seemed very useful until our government began to abuse it. We are generally deprived of the freedom to choose our partners. We would protest, but we can't. If any of us protested against the state, we could be driven away or deprived of our lives as criminals. This is very sad...My mother was forced to marry my dad when she was young, and not her loved one. But that didn't stop her from loving me for who I am. She and I are planning to move up from our big city so that this won't happen to me."
The girl pointed her finger at the sky, and Atomic Man raised his head to look at the heavens.
"To the Lands of the Sky," she continued. "You can come with us if you want. It's much better there than here. But if you still have work to do to restore the land, then you can finish it and join us later."
The creature looked at the girl before it made a happy expression, agreeing with her plan.
"You know?" She said, turning to Atom Man. "Do you promise me that you will make this earth beautiful and heavenly for all of us? I wish there were a lot of flowers and trees here that were there even before this terrible event. Okay?"
The creature nodded its head in agreement to this promise.
Soon, everything was covered in light again, and Tails returned to reality, standing on the platform, holding the emerald in his hand. It seemed to the little fox that the society and laws described by the girl were painfully familiar to him.
"Tails!" the little fox heard Sonic calling him.
"I'm flying now!" Tails answered in a loud voice and flew on two tails towards the blue hedgehog.
When he landed in front of them, Sonic asked him:
"Are you all right? What did you see there?"
"I'm safe and sound," the little fox answered before he answered the last question. "I saw Atomic Man talking to a girl unknown to me. I have one thought that those visions that you and I saw could be the memories of Atomic Man or someone else embedded in these emeralds. But how exactly did these memories end up in the Chaos Emeralds?"
"Perhaps what Atomic Man or someone could have put in them after his, their or her death?" said Sonic.
"Good theory," said Tails. "But it could be something else. If the first theory is correct, then..."
Suddenly the two heroes heard someone heading towards them. Turning, they saw that Horus had arrived and descended from his flying board and removed his helmet, revealing himself to be human, while paying no attention to anyone. The little fox and the blue hedgehog just looked at him with curious eyes, because when they both looked at his palms with bandages, they immediately realized that he was a person. Horus hid his helmet in his bag and turned to see the hedgehog and the fox. There was an awkward moment of silence. Sonic and Tails looked at the dark-skinned teenager, who in turn looked at them.
"Is it just me, or have I seen you somewhere?" Sonic finally broke the silence when he realized that the dark-skinned thief seemed familiar to him.
"You...YOU ARE THAT DAMN HEDGEHOG FROM THE STREETS OF CAIRO!" Horus finally exclaimed in a comedic manner.
"Damn hedgehog"? asked a puzzled Sonic. "Are you talking about me?"
I knew it, Tails thought, his eyebrows rising vertically and his eyes becoming dull. He also had an anime-style drop fall. Tails wasn't surprised because he once thought, that one person might see his friend. And little fox was right about it.
"Yes, I'm talking about you!" said the thief. "I saw you on the street, but you ran somewhere. I even quickly walked around the whole city to find you, to ask you: WHAT ARE YOU?!"
"I'm Sonic the Hedgehog," the blue hedgehog said casually, introducing himself. "And this is my best friend in the world - Tails. What are we going to call you?"
"Horus," Horus answered, already calming down. "Just Horus."
"Hello, Horus," said the blue hedgehog. "Nice to meet you."
"Horus, I have a question for you," Tails suddenly stepped forward with a serious expression on his face. "Why did you come here? Are you also after something or emerald?"
"For what other emerald?!" asked the dark thief. "I didn't come here to steal..."
Realizing what he had said, Horus closed his mouth. Noticing that Sonic and the little fox began to look at him, this made the teen become even more nervous.
"Damn, damn, damn, DAMN!" Horus panicked in his mind. "Why did I even say that?! Why did I indirectly say that I came here for at least one gold, in order to mentally recover after death... Alwahid..."
"Horus, are you okay?" asked Tails, who began to worry about the dark-skinned thief. "I'm sorry if I asked you in a not very hospitable tone."
As soon as the little fox said this, suddenly all three of them felt a strong shaking under their feet.
"What's happening?" Horus asked, paying attention to what was happening.
Sonic, realizing where this shaking was coming from, put his ear to the ground before the blue hedgehog's eyes opened wide with the understanding of what was actually happening here.
"HORUS, TAILS, BEND DOWN!" the hedgehog shouted and rushed to both of them to put them on the ground.
Soon they heard a deep roar from the ravine over which the flying platform hung.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!"
As soon as the roar ended, Sonic, Tails and Horus looked to where the cliff was and saw a worm-like robot looking at them with red eyes that caused horror. He was somewhat reminiscent of Dr. Doppler's warm. But unlike the Warms, it looked huge in size (250 meters in height), and had an elaborate and detailed mechanical snake-like body with strange and invisible hieroglyphs on it. On his head was a huge golden glass plate with a sharp end and triangles extending upward from his "ears."
"What the heck is that?" Horus asked, looking at the robot in fear.
"Horus, get out of here!" Tails turned to the dark-skinned thief.
"Are you staying here to..." the teenager began before Sonic responded.
"Yes."
"What?!" Horus exclaimed, looking at them with amazed eyes. "You...Are you kidding?! Are you serious?! What idiots can..."
"Horus," the blue hedgehog addressed and turned to him, "you need to get out of there without talking. We don't want you to die during this. And this is very serious..."
Before Sonic could finish speaking, he noticed that the robot worm opened its mouth and began charging like X's blaster.
"Take my hand!" Tails said loudly and abruptly took Horus's hand before flying up.
Sonic took the bag and the flying board and ran upstairs. A laser soon erupted from the worm's mouth, which the robot worm swept across the entire open space. The little fox tried as hard as he could to hold on to the teenager's hand. But unfortunately, Horus's hand slipped out of Tails' grasp.
"Horus!" the little fox's eyes widened in horror, and he flew after the falling teenager to catch him.
But unfortunately, the robot worm caught Horus and Tails in its tail and leaned towards them to inspect them. Suddenly, a voice that Horus quickly recognized came from the huge, ominous robot:
"Oh, Horus, is that you? Long time no see."
"Thueban…" Horus growled, gnashing his teeth in anger.
"Do you know him?" asked Tails, surprised, turning to the teenager.
"Yes, you little animal, I know this dirty thief," answered Tueban. "How are you doing after Alwahid's death?"
"Don't you dare...Don't you dare..." the dark-skinned teenager growled even stronger at the one he hated more than anything in the world.
"Who is Alwahid?" asked the little fox, still puzzled.
When Thueban managed to answer something, Sonic, but without a bag and a flying board, curled up into a ball, hit the glass plate and got inside. Inside, a blue hedgehog landed in the lap of a reploid with a fully human face and dark green armor. As it turned out, he was the one who piloted the robot worm.
"Well, well, well," Sonic said, smirking as he raised his head to look at the villain.
"Crap!" Thueban exclaimed and pressed something on the cable keyboard.
Suddenly the robot jumped sharply, and Sonic, unable to resist, flew out of the pilot's cabin. But the blue hedgehog landed near the wall and ran along it.
"And it's all?" asked the blue hedgehog with sarcasm.
"Argh!" the already irritated Thueban became angry. "Not even three minutes have passed, but you're already pissing me off, damn it! You're as annoying as damn Alwahid! Well, it's good that I got rid of him because he's got in my way."
Horus's eyes widened when the he's heard what Thueban said. Memories of how he spent all his time with Alwahid since childhood began to flash through his head. What distinguished that reploid from the rest of his colleagues at the Maverick Hunter building was his empathy and concern for others. He had a heart of gold that was always the sunshine for the dark-skinned teenager. But, unfortunately, due to the fact that Alwahid was a Maverick hunter of the lowest rank, everyone mocked him, even in those moments when he warned them about the danger. The reploid who humiliated Alwahid the most was Thueban, his boss. Horus hated him because he was arrogant, cruel and power hungry. Ever since Alwahid died, Horus has always suspected that his friend's death was the work of Thueban, although he has no proof. But everything is already coming together... Thueban was the one who shot his friend to death because Alwahid stood in his way, and here that piece of scrap (Thueban) without even showing guilt and shame about it.
The teen's shock eventually turned into pure anger, causing him to narrow his eyes at the robot worm's head and his entire body began to shake. The dark-skinned thief looked for the hedgehog with his eyes to ask him where his flying board was. Horus soon saw Sonic, who curled up into a ball and hit the tail of the robot worm so that Tails broke free of the grapple and caught Horus before flying upward, away from the robot.
"Tails," the dark-skinned teenager turned to the little fox, "can you drag me to this hedgehog?"
"For what?" Tails asked.
"Ask him where my flying skateboard is," Horus replied. "...For one thing."
"Okay..." said the little fox, not quite understanding what the dark-skinned thief wants to do.
Tails first looked for Sonic until he found him running along the wall, dodging Thueban's attacks. The little fox flew to the blue hedgehog and stood level with him.
"Sonic, do you know where my board is?" Horus asked Sonic.
"Are you talking about your extreme gear*?" asked the hedgehog. "I put it in the corridor. Do you want to take him and leave here while we deal with him?"
"No, that's not what it's for," answered the dark-skinned thief. "You both distract him while I fly to that son of a dog and give him a good smack in the face."
"Look, we have a boy with a spirit!" Sonic grinned.
"Are you sure?" Tails asked, a little worried about Horus.
The teenage thief nodded his head. The little fox looked at the blue hedgehog with concern, but he gave him a thumbs up. After that, the little fox flew to where the corridor was. Tails released Horus from his grasp and the thief landed on both feet on the ground. The dark-skinned teenager ran into the corridor and soon found his flying board. He took it and ran back. When Horus emerged from the corridor onto a large area, he immediately jumped onto his board and flew straight towards the robot worm's head.
Meanwhile, Thueban was busy attacking Sonic and Tails, who attacked him. Suddenly he noticed a shadow above him. The villain raised his head and was horrified to see an angry and determined Horus, who was pointing his fist towards his face. Thueban wanted to touch the cable with his finger, but he didn't have time, because he immediately felt this blow on the left side of his face. This blow was so strong that it left a dent on Thueban's face.
"Ouch..." said the dark green reploid, touching half of his face with his hand.
"Ouch? Ouch?!" Horus said, getting even more angry. "Do you even know what kind of "Ouch" Alwahid went through? You mentioned that you killed him because he "got in your way"?"
"This fool overheard my conversation with Doctor Doppler about me joining him," Thueban said. "He told everyone, but no one believed him because he was a low-ranking hunter. When I heard about this, I immediately got rid of him. Heh…Alwahid was too naive when he went on a mission with me...AH!"
The dark green reploid immediately felt another fist from Horus, who was enraged by his words. Then after that there was another blow and another...
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails, who were standing on the site, watched all this.
"I don't know who Alwahid is, but it seems to me that he is a friend of Horus," said the little fox, with sympathy for Horus.
The blue hedgehog only looked there with a serious expression on his face, but immediately flinched when he heard something that sounded like crying.
"Tails, will you wait here for me?" Sonic asked his friend. "I'll check how he's doing."
Tails nodded to his friend, and the blue hedgehog sped up, jumped and ran up the robot worm's body. Looking into the cockpit, Sonic saw that Horus was beating Tueban's face with his "extreme gear". The dark guy's fists were covered in blood from the impact on the metal. The blue hedgehog jumped into the cockpit and grabbed the teen thief's hand.
"Horus, that's enough," said Sonic, who's worried for teenager. "Are you all right?"
At first Horus said nothing until he turned to the blue hedgehog. Sonic became restless when he saw the tear-stained face of the dark-skinned teenager. Every second Horus let out sobs and his tears flowed freely before he screamed and collapsed to the floor. The blue hedgehog sat down on his knee and put his hand on the guy's shoulder.
"Horus…" said Sonic and at this moment he remembered the similar situation.
Back in his world, the blue hedgehog and Tails saved the city from the invasion of Dr. Eggman. When it was over, the townspeople applauded him and the little fox. Suddenly, Sonic heard someone crying and he turned to see a post-human child with pointy elf-like ears trying to pull out his friend who was under the rubble. Sonic approached this child and helped pull his friend out from under the rubble. But it was too late... That friend was no longer alive. Looking at the crying post-human child, Sonic couldn't help but hug that child. When everything returned to reality, it turned out that the blue hedgehog hugged Horus to calm him down. Soon Tails flew towards them and landed on top. Seeing this picture, he could not sympathize with the poor guy and not go down to join their embrace.
When they finished, the teen felt a little better. They turned to Thueban, whose face was beaten. The three looked at each other, deciding what to do with him next.
A little while later…
Sonic, Tails and Horus sat by the fire and ate dinner. The blue hedgehog and the little fox ate chili dogs while the dark teen ate a plain flatbread. During dinner, Sonic and Tails took turns telling stories of their adventures and the planet. And the teenage thief, in turn, talked about his life.
"Once upon a time, the planet Freedom was the Earth you knew," said the little fox. "But, unfortunately, there were two countries that fought with each other. Due to a long and ongoing war, one of these countries created a weapon that was stronger than the atomic bomb. What exactly this weapon was, history does not remember. When these weapons were dropped on a second country, it ultimately resulted in the entire planet being exposed to the effects of these weapons. We call this day, when the first country dropped these weapons, as "Atomic Day." These effects caused not only mutations in living beings, but also in the geography of our planet. For example, these were a chain of mountains, which then separated from the ground and rose into the air. This is how the Lands of the Sky appeared, where I, Sonic and many inhabitants of our planet, live."
"What happened to people and how did your species appear?" asked Horus.
"Our species appeared as a result of the evolution and mutation of animals on earth," Tails answered. "In the process of evolution, we learned to walk, talk and the like. It's more complicated with people or rather I called "real" humans. People survived Atomic Day, but some remained the same, while others mutated due to changes in the environment and in their genes. The first part of the mutated ones died during mutation, and the second became a new type of human - post-human. Unlike "real" humans, post-humans had pointed ears, like fantasy elves, or animalistic features, such as a tail and ears. No one knows where post-humans got animal features from. "Real" people, unlike post-people, remained on earth, in a place we call the Lands of Darkness. They were too stubborn that their species would survive and therefore took extreme harsh methods to double their population again. But thousands of years later, we all already believe that this species is already extinct for the reason that we no longer heard about them."
"Damn... This is so... Deep and sad," the dark-skinned teenager said honestly. "How could these people refuse to live on these "Lands of the Sky", if it is clear that their species will not survive below in this way, unlike post-humans and you, Mobians. It makes me sad to know that this similar scenario will happen in my world."
"Or maybe it won't happen," Sonic said with a smile. "If you people and reploids try to work with each other, then a disaster will not happen. By the way, Horus, what are you going to do if you're going to give up stealing?"
Horus thought about this question. He was immediately lost in his memories with Alwahid before the teen realized something and his eyes widened. Horus smiled widely.
"I know what I will do," the former thief finally answered. "I will continue my friend's work. Until the Mavericks disappear and humans and reploids live in peace and harmony, I will continue his work until the end of my days."
"What a great spirit!" Tails complimented, clapping his hands along with Sonic. "I like how you want to continue the job your friend started. This reminds something of me."
"Sonic, Tails, thank you for giving me a second wind in my life," Horus addressed them with a wide smile. "If it weren't for you, I might have been fixated on my grief for my dead friend. Heh, good thing I beat that idiot up for Alwahid. By the way, is he already at the headquarters of the Maverick hunters in Cairo?"
"Of course," said Sonic. "He deserves it for what he did to your friend, Horus. Horus, I will give you two advices: live your life and never look back and…Don't try to steal someone's chance of redemption, even if this someone was maverick."
A sad expression appeared on his Sonic's face. Horus was puzzled and Tails just look at his friend with a worry.
This topic still bothered him, little fox thought.
Soon the three of them were enjoying their dinner. Horus took his things, including his helmet, and climbed onto his flying board, which he had previously called "Air Board" in a conversation with Sonic and the Tails. Looking around, the dark teen said goodbye to both of them before putting on his helmet and heading back towards Cairo. On the way, Horus began to think about the most important thought that appeared in his head while he was being calmed down.
"Before I start helping others, I need to ask others for help myself," he thought, while disappearing from sight behind the dunes and boldly looking forward, without looking back.
And behind him, "Tornado ll" flew into the sky, also forward and without turning back. During the flight Tails looked at his friend again, who was stood at the wing of the plane. Fox cub tried to ask him a question about that topic, but Tails decided to ask him a question later till they land.
Meanwhile, in the world of Sonic...
Knuckles, along with Espio, Vector and Fly, stood at the computer while Sara, Charmy, Ray and Mighty stood next to the tied up Eggman.
Vector, the leader of Team Chaotix, was a large green crocodile with black eyes tinged with gold. Its body was S-shaped, with a pair of red, sharp scales that were all over its back, from its head to its tail, forming a V-shape. Its belly and muzzle were ocher in contrast to the dark green of its body. Vector's body was slender and his arms became thinner closer to the wrist. The crocodile wore dark blue boots with yellow zip-up cuffs. He also wore yellow and blue round headphones that are connected to a player on a yellow belt and white gloves with cuffs. Now he was simply searching the computer for the location of the tower.
Espio, a ninja on Team Chaotix, was a dark purple chameleon who had a yellow horn between his eyes with a golden tint. He wore regular white gloves, green shoes with black socks, yellow cuffs and gray soles. Under the yellow cuff were two black belts with gray buckles. Its spines were green or turquoise in color on its back. Espio analyzed the information on the computer.
Charmy, the youngest of the team, was a black and yellow striped bee who had translucent wings, black eyes with a honey-brown tint, and yellow and black striped whiskers. Charmy also had pinkish peach skin, a yellow stinger, and a slightly long nose. He wore a black helmet with a red stripe at the bottom with summer glasses of the same color with light lenses. Charmy also wore a red vest, red sneakers with white socks and laces, and a red band around his shoulders. He was now looking angrily at Eggman for sending Sonic and Tails somewhere (the latter being his best friend).
Mighty, a close ally of the Chaotix, was a black armadillo with red thick armor that curves from his forehead to his lower body and interlocking blue-tinged cartoon eyes. Mighty had yellowish-tanned skin, funnel-shaped and sideways-facing ears, arms and belly. He also had a pointed black nose. Mighty wore cuffed gloves and red shoes with white cuffs, thick soles and a rounded belt.
Ray, Mighty's friend, was a yellow flying squirrel with dark brown skin on his face, belly, and inner ears, and eyes a lighter shade than an armadillo. It has a small conical tuft of hair at the top of the back of its head, a furry membrane that connects its arm parts to its body, pointed small ears, a black nose, and a tail that looks like a club. Ray wears white cuffed gloves and shoes that resemble Mighty's. Unlike the armadillo's shoes, the shoes were blue and he had two circular white straps that did not reach the sole.
Judging by the expressions on Mighty and Ray's faces, they themselves were understandably angry at Eggman. Eggman just smiled nervously.
"Knuckles, how's the progress?" Ray turned to the red echidna.
"No success." Espio answered, turning to the group. "We searched everything on the planet. But we never found it."
"Eggman, where did you put Sonic and Tails?!" Sarah asked loudly, glaring furiously at Dr. Eggman.
"I already answered everything for you." The mad scientist began, trying to be confident, but from his body language it was clear that he was nervous.
"I' . !" Sarah answered, emphasizing the question she asked earlier. "Where are they now?!"
"No idea!" Eggman answered. "I chose the coordinates so that they were already far away."
"Sarah, that's enough." Mighty said. "Doctor Eggman has already answered all our questions. So that's all we have."
"What if he knows where he sent my Sonic and Tails from, but he doesn't want to talk." The cat girl said before she looked at Eggman again. "Yeah?"
"How should I know this! I think I said earlier that I don't know anything about the world where these rodents are now!" Dr. Eggman answered. "But while I was fighting them, I found out some details about the world. But unfortunately, these idiots trolled me, used my tower function and cut off the connection!"
"What is there in the other world?" Asked a curious Charmy.
While Dr. Eggman was talking about what he had learned about the other world, Knuckles approached the Master Emerald, who was attached to a device whose cables connected to the computer and some of the tower's systems. The red echidna placed her hand on the Master Emerald and closed her eyes, thus distancing her mind from what was currently happening. Soon the guardian of Angel Island heard a woman's voice.
Hello, Guardian of Angel Island.
Earthia, we need your help Knuckles told her in his mind. Eggman sent Sonic and Tails somewhere, and we can't find them anywhere on our planet. If they are in another universe, are you there too?
Yes, Knuckles. I'm looking after them. They have a good time exploring another world.
What kind of world is this? Knuckles asked, already looking interested before he added. Earthia, thank you for looking after them. If you have time, can you tell me about this world?
You're welcome, Knuckles. Take care of your world while I'm in another.
Okay, Earthia
After that, a mysterious female voice began to tell Knuckles about what was in this world where the little fox and the blue hedgehog were. At the end, the red echidna smiled and, thanking the voice again in his mind, he opened his eyes. Returning to reality, Knuckles turned to the group.
"Knuckles, are you all right?" The keeper of the Master Emerald turned his attention to Espio, who turned to him. "You heard what Eggman said? Or are you back in your own world?"
"Have you heard about intelligent robots that live on the planet?!" Charmy said in turn. "It's very cool that there are such robots!"
"Yeah." Knuckles replied with a smile before he turned to the chameleon while approaching him and Vector at the same time. "Espio, I don't think they're on this planet anymore. They're in a different place now, but they'll be fine. I propose the following course of action. We will take the Master Emerald back to Angel Island and someone will stay with Eggman so that he doesn't do anything while we take him."
"Can I stay to look after this jerk?" Sarah said, to the annoyance of Eggman, who made a "tsk."
"Well, whatever you say." said Vector. "We just need to tell your dad about this. Otherwise, he already seems to be very worried about you already."
While everyone started talking, Knuckles was already dreaming of looking at this world and hoped that Sonic and Tails would sooner or later return back alive and with interesting stories.
Next time...Big Bang!
Wow! This was a difficult chapter in terms of rewriting the entire plot. I'm very sorry that I haven't updated anything for September, since this chapter and school everyday life were the reasons for all this. I usually felt tired while rewriting, but I slowly turned things around in this chapter. But it's worth it since this new version of this chapter was better than the original version. And so? I thank everyone for following my fanfic and waiting for new chapters from me. I especially added here things and places that are found in media and games based on our favorite high-speed blue hedgehog, such as extreme gear from the spin-off Sonic Riders and emerald radar.
At the end of the chapter, we learned the backstory of the planet Freedom and how the species of Sonic, Tails, Dr. Eggman, Sarah and other characters came to be. The creepiest thing about the story is that this scenario with the strongest weapon on the planet can happen in reality. Especially now these wars are going on. I really hope that this scenario described in Tails' story will never happen in our reality.
In this chapter we were introduced to characters such as Horus, Alwahid and Thueban. I have two very interesting facts about the three characters, especially Horus. First, their names from Arabic mean "falcon", "single" and "serpent". This describes these characters very well. The second name symbolizes that for Horus, Alwahid was the only person who was close to him. The name Horus indicates not only the positive but also the few negative qualities of Horus like his proud as a thief (it would be well explained in Annual 2024). Regarding the name of the main villain of this arc, his own name symbolizes what a nasty reploid he was even before he joined Doppler for personal gain.
And the second interesting fact regarding Horus. When I created him specifically for this chapter, I was inspired by Jet the hawk (for the appearance and character traits of the character) from the Sonic games. At first, I chose another of my original characters, also a thief, for the plot, but during the rewrite I still added Horus and his central problem in the form of grief for his dead close person into the plot.
To conclude this chapter, I wanted to make two announcements:
releases of chapters of Sonic and Tails in Mega Man X3 manga and Sonic Realization 2 will be individual and will depend on how much time it takes along with writing new chapters for both fanfictions. It will be okay if I announce them once a month.
2. Later this month or next, I will release a one-shot based on the first Transformers release from Skybound Entertainment. I decided to conduct an experiment by adding my original character to the plot of the comic. I don't know how it will work, but I will try to write this fanfic in a way that everyone can enjoy.
See you next month!
Edit (11.03.24): In 7th and 8th chapter I did some edits to make sense to my readers after they read 6th chapter of this fanfic.