Disclaimer: The following is a story based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video games by SEGA and comic books by IDW Publishing which is set in the future between the IDW series and Sonic Frontier. Certain issues from the comic books have yet to be released, so the content will be made through theories and predictions created by me, along with any fan made ideas of my own. Any continuity errors or contradicting details should be accepted as part of an alternate universe. An alternate version of this story will be made if any future comic arcs have reached their conclusions to be made more accurate. Enjoy!

Sonic the Hedgehog

The Specter of Speed

Chapter 1

The Rising

Deep within the heart of the jungle, lies an ancient temple within the side of a plateau. The exterior is made up of stone tiles and pillars, all worn and covered with vines due to aging. Within the cliffside is a big stone door, covered with ancient symbols carved into it. But the door had no handle or keyhole, and it was sealed shut. On the mesa above the temple stood a tall tree, where a flock of Flicky birds were sitting in its branches. As they were chirping, a mysterious creature swoops down and tackles one of the Flickies. It crashed into another and recovered as it looked to see its unknown attacker. It was revealed to be another Flicky, only a lot different than the others; it was completely covered in a chrome metallic coat, its eyes were glowing bright red, and had a beastly look on its face. Then the victimized bird just noticed a dab of some form of liquid metal on itself where it was attacked. Suddenly, the stain began to spread throughout the Flicky's entire body. It screeched in fear as its flock could do nothing but watch in horror at what was happening. The metal completely covered it until it looked and acted just like the infected bird. The other Flickies were so terrified, they all just flew away, and the two metal birds flew off with the intent to pursue.

On the spot of the branch where the new metallic Flicky stood, a blot of the same liquid metal was left behind. The liquid then started to spread throughout the branch; then it quickly moved onto the other branches, down the big tree trunk, and onto the grass surrounding the base. It even went down the tree's long roots in the earth within the cliffside. The infection went down to the deepest root that poked out of a crack in the ceiling of a solitary stone chamber within the temple below. The walls were smooth and covered with more symbols, and there were no doorways leading out, aside from the main door. Beneath the infected root was what seemed to be a decaying body, standing in the middle of the room. It was completely wrapped in pieces of white cloth, worn out due to age. It was held by metal rings and straps, connecting his gauze to the wall opposite the door. Just then a drop of that liquid metal fell from the root and into one of the exposed spots on the corpse's head. It then began spreading throughout the mummified body. Once completed, it just stood still for a few moments. The body started to twitch and shake a bit. Then suddenly, its eyes burst wide open, glowing red, and the chamber echoed with a loud shrieking inhale.

Present

It was a regular night in the metallic city of Monopole. Hundreds of hover-cars flew through the tube-like roads, and thousands of lights illuminated the whole city. Just then, the silence was broken by a massive explosion. It rumbled the earth and sent cars swerving for just a moment, and then hundreds of the robotic Badniks emerge from the smoke. Moto Bugs and Egg Pawns chased after the anthropomorphic citizens, Crab Meats and Caterkillers terrorized the streets, and Buzz Bombers attacked from the air. Lastly, a massive Badnik came out of the fire. It was in the shape of a serpent with eight heads. Its tendril-like necks whipped around, and its round heads biting off pieces of the metal buildings with its sharp teeth, seemingly consuming them. Floating behind the monstrous robot was the Eggmobile, driven by the infamous Dr. Eggman. The human scientist with the bald head and round body started laughing maniacally under his big bushy mustache.

"Citizens of Monopole!" the mad doctor announced, standing in his floating bubble car. "The Eggman Empire wishes to thank you for your 'generous donation'! After all, finding good metal is hard to come by when you're constructing an army."

The mayhem continued, and the animal people continued to run away. Just then a dog girl tripped and fell to the ground. A deer boy turned around and tried to help his friend up when an Egg Pawn caught up to them. It was about to grab the two until it was suddenly thrashed to the side. Dozens of Badniks started to get bashed and blown up by some unseen force. Dr. Eggman took notice of the situation. The outline of a figure standing on a pile of broken Badniks can be seen with the smoke. A crowd gathered to rejoice to see the silhouette in a familiar shape.

The deer boy looked at amazement and said, "Is that-?"

"-Sonic the Hedgehog?!" the dog girl continued.

The outline started to change as the smoke began to clear. The crowd was surprised to see that the person who came to the rescue was not who they were expecting. Instead, it is revealed to be a green female rodent. She has blue eyes, a black face, two metal earrings on each ear, shark-like teeth, and her quilled hair held up in a ponytail. She's wearing a black shirt with torn sleeves, yellow baggy pants, a metal ring on both pinkies and index fingers, white shoes with yellow flares sticking out the back, and she's covered in silver studs around her black bracelets, hairband, and the edges of her shoes.

"Sorry, folks!" she announced to the confused crowd. "But I'm a whole different kind of animal!"

Dr. Eggman was shocked at this reveal. "What?!" he yelled. "What's this psycho doing here?!"

"I was just in the neighborhood!" the green girl answered, turning around to look up at Eggman. "Thought of having a little fun, maybe crack a few eggs!" She stares at him with a scary smile.

The doctor snarled with sweat on his brow when he hit a button on his consol. He announced, "All available units: eradicate this nuisance, and bring me what remains!"

A series of Badniks move toward the green girl's position. But she just looked upon them with excitement. Then her body began to generate electricity. She banged her fists together, creating a charge between her four rings. She screamed wildly as her entire body was cast in an electrical aura, her blue eyes were glowing, and she extended both her index fingers and pinkies to reveal an energy current cast by the rings. Then suddenly, she started running toward the robots at lightning-fast speed.

"Who is that?" asked the deer.

"No idea," the dog replied with indifference.

"Do you not know who that is?!" asked a startled bobcat, announcing himself standing behind the two. "That's Surge the Tenrec! The cyborg speedster!"

Both the electrical tenrec and the robots were on a collision course. Then Surge performed the famous Spin Dash technique, rolling up into a spinning ball and moving at a boost of speed. She became a green and white streak of great speed, and about a dozen Badniks broke into pieces as it passed by them. The tenrec laughed hysterically as she zoomed around the streets, only to stop for mere moments just to break more Badniks with her bare hands and blast them away with large bolts of electricity.

"Is that all you got?!" she held still to gloat. "I've barely broken a sweat!"

Just then, a squadron of Balkiries swooped down from the air to ambush her from behind, until they've exploded after being hit by some unseen projectiles. Surge turned around at the devastation, and witnessed a liquid tentacle grab another Balkiry and smash it to the ground. The series of water tendrils came from the Hydro Pack of Surge's partner, Kitsunami the Fennec. The small blue fox-like boy with yellow boots and bangs used his multiple water coils to lower himself down to meet with his fellow cyborg.

"Nice job, Drippy," Surge said with delight, giving a thumbs-up. "You've always got my back."

"Th-thank you, ma'am," the fennec stuttered with glee. "But a-are you sure we should be doing this? We could in a lot of trouble back at HQ."

"Don't sweat it, Kit. Once they see us clean up this mess, they'll be begging to take us off probation. Besides, I've been itching to get out of that stuffy base for some action!"

"Oh, okay,"

"Perfect!" Dr. Eggman yelled, getting the two cyborgs' attention. "Both of Dr. Starline's monstrosities are here! Soon, all the secrets of your cybernetic implants will be mine!" He pressed another button and the giant Hydra Badnik moved toward them. "I can't wait to take you apart."

"Oh, this is gonna be good," Surge said with delight. "Come on, Kit! Let's scarp this piece of junk!"

"Yes, ma'am!" responded Kitsunami.

The two faced the Badnik horde between them and the Hydra. Then, at the same time, Surge sprinted towards them at top speed, while Kit shot himself slightly behind her with the thrust of two streams of water blasting out of his Hydro Pack like a pair of fire hoses. They've broken through the robots' line, smashing through as many of them as they can as they pass by. They blew past the horde with a clear path to the Hydra.

"You go high! I'll go low!" Surge commanded.

She and Kitsunami split-up in different directions. Surge ran to the left-side of the Super Badnik and got some high ground. Meanwhile, Kit's hydro-coil tails moved him to the right-side and got him up to higher ground. Surge ran across the roofs of the metal buildings while avoiding the Hydra giant heads chopping at her. Then she jumped and grinds on a nearby railing. She rode on it until she leaped off the end, towards the robot's serpent body. She shot herself out using the Homing Attack, and she started to look like a bolt of lightning bouncing off its long body with great force. But the Badnik's metal hide was too reinforced to sustain much damage. Meanwhile, Kitsunami leaped off a high point and started using his hydro coil tails to swing from the Hydra many necks, and attack them, hoping to find a weak spot. Luckily, he discovered they were in between the coils of their metallic necks that are exposed when they stretch out or bend. Unfortunately, they were too small, and they kept wiggling around too much to get a good hit on them.

Dr. Eggman laughed at their efforts. "It's a good thing I've added a few upgrades in case you two ever showed up."

One of the heads whipped out and hit Kitsunami, sending him flying off in the opposite direction. Surge stopped and angrily watched her partner getting thrown away. Then several hatches opened across the Hydra's body, and dozens of missiles fired out of them. She jumped off and started dashing as the missiles were homing in behind her. She ran as fast as she could and moved evasively, causing the missiles to miss her, and exploded onto the streets. Surge skid down the street to a stop, and then she spun her entire body around fast until she formed a glowing green tornado with lightning. The missiles flew into the mini tornado and caught in its powerful spin. They were sent out in different directions. Some of which crashed into buildings, and people started running away from the explosions. A large number was thrown back into the Hydra and exploded upon impact. But of course, they didn't do much damage.

A large piece of flying debris hit one of the heads, and they could see that it was Kitsuami from one of the buildings he was thrown into. He used his water tails to throw more debris. But the Hydra whacked them away with its head, causing them to crash into other parts of the city.

Meanwhile, Surge went into a starting position as she charges up with energy coursing through the metal on her entire body. She dashed forth, and lights and machines she passed by on the street seemed to have burst from an electrical overload. As soon as she got close enough to the Super Badnik, she leaped and used her Homing Attack to bounce from one head to another with great force. But then one of the heads whipped out at her and knocked her to the ground.

"Surge!" Kit yelled out in concern. He jumped away from his spot and worked his way down to Surge. He made it in front of his fallen comrade and stood facing the Hydra with his hydro tendrils out, ready to defend her.

Surge struggled to get back up but was only able to rise to one knee. Her eyes and metal accessories started to glow with electricity as the two stared up at the mechanical monster illuminated in the dark by the flames. The Hydra began to lunge one of its heads at the cyborgs. As they were prepared to start their next move, a glowing blue streak came out of nowhere and knocked the serpent's head to the side. Surge, Kit, even Dr. Eggman were surprised at what had transpired, as the streak bounced off the heads with greater force than Surge's. This made her very furious while Kitsunami held her at her side.

"It's him," he said.

"What?! What's 'he' doing here?" grumbled the angry tenrec.

The streak landed on a nearby pile of rubble and took on a familiar form. Spikey blue quills curved downwards, green eyes, and red running shoes. The figure has been unmistakably recognized by everyone in the area as the famous hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. The crowd of people that had been hiding the wreckage shouted and applauded with excitement at Sonic's arrival. However, both Dr. Eggman and Surge did not hide expressing their uneasiness to having him there.

"Sonic?!" yelled Eggman.

"What up, Eggface!?" the hedgehog called back. "Heard you've been up to your old tricks again. So, I figured I'd stop by and bash around like old times."

"You always have to butt in where you're not wanted. I'll teach you to meddle in my affairs, rodent." He then commanded "ATTACK!"

The Hydra then focuses its attention on Sonic. It fired its missiles and the hedgehog started running. He already dodged the few missiles that were the first to explode on the street. He saw a Badnik horde ahead with a smirk. He then sprinted past the robots and the missiles blew them all up. He slid from stopping when he realized he's safe for the time being. He then took notice of the angry tenrec and her little fennec friend.

"Surge? Kit? Is that you?" said Sonic as he zoomed over to them. He held his hand out to Surge in hoping to help her up. But she just grunted and allowed Kit alone to help her stand back up. Sonic was unsettled about this at first, but quickly shrugged it off. He continued, "Jewel called to let me know Eggman was causing trouble. She never told me she sent you guys here too."

"Yes, well, that's because we're not really here," Kitsunami replied anxiously, as Surge continued to stare Sonic down with a furious look on her face.

A metallic sound caught the three animals' attention, as one of the Hydra heads lunged at them. They jumped out of the way; Sonic going one way, and Surge and Kit going the other. Upon landing, the two cyborgs heard a loud buzzing noise. They looked up to see that it was the Tornado. The famous red biplane was being piloted by Sonic's best friend and sidekick. The two-tailed fox and young genius, Miles "Tails" Prower.

While running, Sonic saw the tornado and rolled up his glove, revealing his wrist communicator. "Hey, Tails!" Sonic spoke to the communicator. "Come and pick me up."

"Roger that," said Tails's voice coming out of it. "Tornado coming in!"

The plane swerved downward toward another Badnik horde. Then the plane's machine guns popped out of each side. They fired upon the robots, clearing the streets of them. Sonic jumped up to higher ground and then he leaped off and landed onto the Tornado's wing as it was passing by. Tails pulled the plane upward and Sonic stood straight on the upper wings as they fly towards the Hydra.

"So, any ideas on how to scrap this bot?" asked Sonic.

"Just give me a second," said Tails. He looked at his portable computer, the Miles Electric, which was installed onto the plane's dashboard. The screen revealed a scanning of the Super Badnik. "Okay! I got something. The structural weak spots are within the micro-joints of the vertebral coils. With a precise blow at just the right moment, the cerebral link between the hivemind CPUs and the base will be completely severed."

"Uh-huh. That's sure is…something," Sonic stared blankly.

"Ha. If we can hit it in the expose spots on their necks where they are bent or stretching, this whole thing will come crashing down."

"Well why didn't you say that?"

"I just did. They best chance is to take them out one at a time."

"Or better yet, take them all out at once? Ready for a 'Number 5 Special'?"

"I get it! TORNADO GOING IN!"

Tails maneuvered the plane to avoid the Hydra heads attacking them, while Sonic held on tight to the wing. As they flew deeper in, Sonic leaped off and ran along one of the necks. He evaded the heads' massive teeth by dodging and jumping onto the other necks. Meanwhile, Tails flew the Tornado to continue outmaneuvering the heads focused on him. He shot them with the machine gun, but it was still too armored to be damaged. So, the plane moved around the giant robot and the surrounding buildings with the heads homing in behind him.

Dr. Eggman watched and laughed in amusement at the two heroes' efforts. "Oh ho ho ho! This is too rich! These gestures are meaningless! All they can do is dodge them! HAHAHA!"

Sonic continued to run all over, and Tails continued to fly around with the metal heads coming at them in all directions. The heroes then moved past each other with a confident look on their faces. Sonic jumped off and landed on a building, just staring at the Hydra with his arms crossed and a smile, and the Tornado pulled upward. Four heads each lunged at the hedgehog and the fox. Suddenly, they all stopped short of their targets. Everyone was surprised at what had transpired; especially Surge, Kitsunami, and Dr. Eggman.

"WHAT?!" Eggman yelled out.

It was revealed that Sonic and Tails had lured the heads around in all directions, that all their long metal necks had wrapped around the buildings and tied up in big knots. The Hydra was unable to move around or break free.

"Alright, Sonic. Now that he's stuck like that, his weak spots are now exposed," said Tails's voice coming from Sonic's communicator. "Now finish him off."

"Got'cha, Tails. Let's wrap this up!" said Sonic. He then jumped onto one of the heads and it involuntarily flicked him off. High in the air, the hedgehog began freefalling, surveying their handywork of the Super Badnik. "That looks promising," he said, looking at the one big knot in the center where all eight necks are linked together.

Sonic charged up his Homing Attack and zoomed straight at the knot. Within a blue streak, he smashed through it upon impact, and it shattered into hundreds of little metal pieces. All eight necks were completely severed. They slid down the buildings they were wrapped around, the heads at the end laid motionless as they landed in the streets, and the serpent body stood perfectly still without its appendages. The people of Monopole emerged from where they were hiding and walked through the rubble looking at the "lifeless" pieces of the Hydra mecha scattered throughout their city. The silence was then broken by many cheers and applause from the citizens, as they looked up to see their blue hero Sonic standing atop a pile of broken robot parts.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're too kind! Please no flash photography!" Sonic playfully announced to "his public".

"Sonic!" shouted Tails, whom Sonic looked up to and noticed him flying towards him with his twin spinning propeller-like tails. "That was awesome!"

"You know it is," replied Sonic, giving a high-five to his partner.

"You may have gotten lucky this time, rodent," Dr. Eggman yelled furiously from his Eggmobile. "But mark my words, I will defeat you once and for all next time!"

"Yeah, yeah, Eggy," the hedgehog responded, unphased. "Just like the last eighty times you said that."

"Just you wait, Sonic! Someday your speed will be no match for my superior intel-WHOA!" His monologue was interrupted by a big bolt of electricity narrowly missing him.

It originated from an angry Surge the Tenrec stomping forth. She sent a current from her studded bracelets to her rings, building up a lightning ball in the palm of her hands. She's been throwing them directly at Eggman, and he frantically avoided each attack in his floating bubble car until he was forced to retreat. Still enraged, Surge kept throwing lightning strikes, even though Dr. Eggman had already gone. Kitsunami rushed to her in worry.

"Surge!" Kit yelled.

"Surge?! Kit?! What are they doing here?!" asked a confused Tails.

Kit grabbed hold of one of Surge's arms, holding it back while she continued her barrage with her other arm. "Surge, please! He's gone now!"

"Hey. Yeah," said Sonic, stepping forward. "Let's all take a deep breath and calm down."

By now, Surge has already stopped firing. But she stood still, completely silent. Then she slowly turned her head around with a furious look on her face, staring at Sonic with her eyes glowing with electricity. Sonic, Tails, and Kitsunami were all concerned about what was transpiring. Surge grunted animalistically with every breath. She then forcefully pulled herself out of Kit's grip and started sprinting toward Sonic with every induction she was going to attack him. In a split-second, everyone started to react to the situation; Sonic was surprised at Surge's action, Tails quickly moved in front of Sonic in hopes of protecting him, and Kitsunami used his water tentacles to grab Surge's arms. She stopped right in front of Sonic and Tails as Kit's hydro tails were holding her back. She struggled savagely to break free, only to be halted just a foot away from them.

"Surge! Please! Stop!" Kit yelled out to his friend.

She then turned her gaze to the fennec. She sent a current of energy through the water, towards Kitsuami. He screamed from being electrocuted, forcing him to let go. She then turned around and dashed towards Kit. She then delivered a great punch onto his stomach. The punch had so much force, it sent Kit flying back several feet until he crashed into another pile of scrap. Just then, Surge realized what she had done, and her expression quickly changed from anger to remorse. She sprinted to the scrap pile and dug through it until she pulled Kitsunami out and stood him up straight.

"Oh no! Kit! Are you alright?" asked Surge so frantically, checking for any injury. "I-I'm so sorry! I-I didn't mean it! I was just-!"

"Surge! It's okay. It's alright. I'm alright. It's not your fault," said Kit, trying to comfort his friend.

Surge's eyes widened with surprise as she looked at her surroundings. She could see that the crowd of saved civilians were looking at her with worry and concern. Clearly, they had witnessed what had transpired. Surge was looking back at them with anxiety, trying to comprehend what she had done in front of them. She then looked back at Sonic and Tails, looking at her with the same expression. Then her own expression changed to disdain as she stared at the two, while Kit stared at them with a nervous look.

"Come on, Drippy," Surge told Kit, sounding indifferent. "Let's go home."

"Y-yes, ma'am," Kit softly responded. "Bye, guys."

Surge the Tenrec dashed out of the area at top speeds, and Kitsunami flew off with the water propellers on his back to keep up. With the two heroes left behind, a relieved Sonic started walking off with his hands behind his head.

"Alright, Tails. Let's go get the Tornado and get out of here," Sonic said.

"What? But-but, Sonic-" said a worried Tails.

"Our job is done here. We'll contact Jewel and let the Restoration handle the mess. Come on. First round of chili dogs is on me."

With such confidence, Sonic zoomed out of there. Tails looked back at where Surge and Kit were one more time, still concerned, and then flew off with his spinning tails after his partner.

Upon the heroes' departure, the nearly demolished city was in partial silence. Unknown to everyone, there was a mysterious machine floating high overhead. It had an orange and white metal exterior of strange design. It appeared to be a drone observing everything with its built-in surveillance camera in the front.

A massive white room was barely visible in the dark, only to be illuminated by a wall completely covered in monitors and several ceiling lights forming a path from the door to a white chair in the center of the room. The monitors were displaying footage that was captured by the drone. They were each re-playing different moments from the battle in Monopole, some from multiple angles.

Standing a few feet from the white chair was a small anthropomorphic hyena girl, about the age of a child. She had dark brown skin with red fur with small black spots, maroon-colored eyes, one little fang sticking out of the edge of her mouth, and her shoulder length hair was styled flipped out to each side. She wore a big red hair bow, with a little gold-colored metal barrette in the shape of a shield in the middle, with black lines that seemingly resemble a combined "P.H." She was wearing a pretty-looking shiny metal dress in gold, black, and red. It has a cone skirt going down to the knees and puff shoulders. She also had black leggings and long sleeves, gold dress up shoes, red bracelets with silver studs, and black thin-fingered gloves.

She wasn't alone as she watched the monitors. The back of the white chair was so high and wide, there was no way to view who was sitting in it. The only part of them that was visible was their right arm out of the side. The arm was in a long white sleeve with a white glove with the outlines of short claws stretching the tips of each finger. Resting on a small table next to the chair lay a small black remote and a big smooth white mask. The mask appeared to have a layer of plexiglass and was in the shape of an animal, but it had no other features or any openings, except around the mouth area. The mysterious person continued watching Sonic, Tails, Surge, and Kitsunami fighting the Badniks on the screens, with their hand on the mask, tapping it with its clawed finger.

The silence was broken by a faint beeping sound. The hyena girl pressed onto the barrette behind her head, and a long, curved red glass came out of the side, swerved around her head, and stopped over her right eye. Then yellow lines, letters, and numbers started to light up and move around in the glass over her eyes.

"What is it?" she spoke. Faint voices could be overheard from her device. "Boss, the units are all prepared to move out. Any further orders?" she asked her companion.

The white hand moved and grabbed hold of the remote. They clicked a button and everything on the monitors then paused. The big one in the middle revealed both Sonic and Surge, just mere moments she almost attacked him. After a few mere moments, they put the remote back on the table and grabbed the mask. He stood up from the chair. The mask completely covered his entire head, except for the mouth which was covered up with a piece of white cloth. His whole body was wrapped up in garbs and straps connected by large metal rings. He turned around to the girl with glow eyes through his faceless mask, like two dots of cyan-colored light what his eyes are supposed to be.

"Tell them we are now on our way," the mysterious man spoke in a menacing computerized voice. He walked around the chair and down the light path towards the hyena. "We will go through the plan once more, then we will depart to our assigned zones, and then…we will commence with the operation."

He walked past the hyena girl, while she delivered a smirk. "Yes, sir," she said. She followed her masked friend toward the sliding metal door, which opened once the two reached it, and then it closed after they left the room together.

To Be Continued…

I am a strong supporter of Surge and Kitsunami's redemption, and the hope that they will have a better life. Now they are going to take part in events that would shake the foundations of the Sonic the Hedgehog lore. Who is this masked person and what plans does he have for Sonic, Surge, and their friends? Answers to this question and more will be revealed in future chapters. Stay tuned.

Please leave your review or ask any questions and thank you!