Chapter 1: New Faces in Town

In Station Square, it's another beautiful day. Everything is quiet until...

BOOM!

An explosion rips through the air! One of Eggman's robots is attacking the city, yet again. This time it's a giant spider shaped bot attacking a bank. Fortunately, Sonic and friends are ready to stop it in its tracks!

"We got a bug problem this time!" Sonic says as he runs between the legs, attacking its joints while he moves between them.

"Why did it have to be a giant spider?! Ew!" Amy remarks in disgust as she winds up with her hammer. She let's it have it right in one of its legs as Sonic finishes attacking a weakened joint.

BANG!

Amy's hammer impact takes out the leg, causing the bot to tilt to one side. Above, Tails has a birdseye view of the bug bot, and sees a weak point on its thorax.

"Looks like that's where its main power source is! Think you can hit right in the center?" Tails remarks. He gives a thumbs up to Knuckles, who's clinging to a nearby wall.

"You got it! Time to squash this bug!" Knuckles says as he leaps from the wall and dives at the spider's weak point, fists first.

THOOM!

Knuckles manages to hit the bot right in the center. The impact causes the bot to start sparking and frantically flail about.

"I think this thing's gonna blow!" Knuckles says as he leaps and glides away.

"Way ahead of you! Come on Amy!" Sonic holds Amy and they dash to a safe distance.

"These things certainly have a tendency to explode, don't they?" Tails says as he likewise takes flight.

The bot shakes a bit, then collapses to the ground, letting out a trail of smoke, and its colored compound eye lenses go dark as it deactivates..

Sonic and the others gather around the bot. Sonic walks up and kicks the bot, noticing it's down for the count.

KLANG!

"Huh! Guess it's a dud." Sonic remarks.

"Well I'm glad it's out of commission." Amy breathes a sigh of relief that the unnecessarily creepy bot is done for.

"Yeah. If you guys need me, I'll be back at the mansion. Want to get a workout in before I head back to the island." Knuckles says.

"Okay Thanks for helping out." Sonic fist bumps with Knuckles.

"Any time." Knuckles smiles as he returns the bump.

As Knuckles glides away, he's watched by two figures, obscured by nearby shadows. One of them is shorter in height, and the other is much taller, towering overhead.

"So this is where he ended up." the larger newcomer says with a smirk as they watch Knuckles glide away.

"You know him?" the shorter figure asks.

"We have a little history. Was wondering if he came here too after everything that happened. Right now we need to get back to training. Come on!" The larger one heads off on a jog, and waits for the smaller figure to catch up.

"Already? But we just ran around the city!" The shorter figure answers in complaint.

"Yeah. And we're gonna do it again!" The towering one says as they run ahead.

Together they run off in a brisk jog. As they step into the sunlight from the shadows, the shorter figure is revealed to be a boy of light complexion with short brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a green t-shirt, blue shorts, and white sneakers. The taller person is a large humanoid lion, with orange fur, a red mane almost of a fiery hue, also sporting white gloves and big green sneakers. The lion is clearly a visitor to the world, much like Sonic and the others. And also seems to have a connection to Knuckles. The pair don't go unnoticed, as one of Chris Thorndyke's friends, Danny, sees them briefly.

"Who's that?" Asks Danny as he sees the mysterious pair turn the corner. He shrugs and continues on his way to Chris' house.

Later at the Thorndyke mansion, Knuckles is hitting a heavy bag in the yard. The sounds of Knuckles' punches on the punching bag echo through the yard.

"Ha!" Knuckles shouts as he tosses a few punches and sends the bag flying backward with a hard right punch.

The chain on the punching bag snaps, and the bag is sent flying into a nearby wall, where it leaves a crack in it before falling to the ground.

BOOM!

"Whoops!" Knuckles says as he didn't realize he hit the bag so hard. He forgets his own strength sometimes.

"Whoa! Knocked another bag into the wall?" Chris Thorndyke laughs as he walks toward Knuckles, having seen the debacle.

"Yep. Uh sorry about the crack in the wall." Knuckles replies in a slightly embarrassed manner.

"You've definitely got power in those punches." Chris remarks.

"Thanks. You know, I could give you pointers sometime. Couldn't hurt to learn to throw punches, and fight. Self defense is important." Knuckles offers to teach Chris some moves.

"Um, I think I'll pass..." Chris says with a nervous chuckle, thinking that the echidna may be a bit too over the top as a teacher.

"If you say so. Offer's open if you ever want to take me up on it." Knuckles adds with a smile.

"Maybe some day. If you promise to take it easy." Chris adds.

"What was all that racket?! Oh no. Another bag smashed into the wall?" Chuck walks in, Chris' inventor grandfather shaking his head takes in the scene.

"Bags can't take my punches." Knuckles replies with a grin.

"Hm. Maybe Tails and I should make you some custom bags. Ones that can take a beating." Chuck starts pondering another invention.

"That certainly would save on the repair bills. Master Chris, master Danny is here to see you." Mr Tanaka the butler says as he approaches them, shaking his head at a mess he'll have to call to get fixed again.

Chris runs in to talk to his friend as Tanaka cleans up some of the rubble and Chuck takes some measurements.

"Hey, Chris! What's up?" Chris' friend Danny greets him as he enters the yard.

"Hi Danny. Not much. Knuckles took down another punching bag, saving us from a workout." Chris welcomes Danny with a sarcastic remark.

"Oh ha ha. Very funny! Hey Danny!" Knuckles waves from the side.

"Did you see the spider bot that was attacking in town earlier? My dad saw it on his way back from work. Sonic and the others took it down. Didn't blow up thankfully." Danny says.

"No, but that sounds like Eggman to attack like that. Never a dull moment." Chris nods.

"It was creepy too!" Knuckles chimes in, as he helps Tanaka clean up his mess.

"Oh! That reminds me. You guys got any other friends that came here from your world? I could've sworn I saw some big guy walking around town with some kid earlier." Danny says, having seen the mysterious pair from the corner of his eye earlier.

"Big guy? Was it Big?" Chris asks.

"Nah. This guy was around the same size but looked orange. And red. Didn't get a really good look". Danny continues.

"Orange and red? Couldn't be… I need to check this out. You saw them in town?" Knuckles asks.

"Uh yeah. Just up the block from here." Danny points where he saw them heading.

"Thanks! I need to check this out!" Knuckles runs off abruptly. He drops the ruined bag he was holding, then runs up to a nearby wall and glides over it.

"What got into him?" Danny wonders aloud.

"Good question." Chris shrugs as the echidna leaves.

Tanaka and Chuck shake their heads as they're left to clean up without Knuckles. Some things never change.

"Anyway! The new Sonar x Silhouette game is in today!" Danny exclaims, at some anticipated news.

"It is? Let's go! Bye Mr Tanaka! Bye grandpa!" Chris waves goodbye to them as the takes off with Danny out the door to the game store.

Chris and Danny run down towards the store, passing by the site of the earlier spider bot attack. Crews are cleaning up what's left of the bot.

"Whoa. Another Eggman bot! Never a dull moment." Chris remarks as they walk by.

"Can say that again!" Danny nods in agreement. Eggman certainly seems to make a mess of things in town.

Just as they're turning a corner, Chris has his attention on Danny, and is waving his hands in the air as he talks about the game they'll get. At the same time, a kid turns the corner, jogging and tossing some punches in the air, absorbed in some music coming from his earbuds. It's the same boy earlier with the green t-shirt and blue shorts. Chris and the boy then come into each other's paths, not paying attention. Chris' fist punches the boy in the face, while one of the boy's air punches hits Chris in the face. Both boys are knocked down to the ground as Danny sees the accident unfold before him.

"Look out!" Danny tries to say too late.

"Wha- augh" Chris grunts as he's punched in the face and falls back.

POW!

POW!

"Whoa! Agh!" The other boy cries out he's smacked in the face and falls down.

"You alright?" Danny walks over to check on the two.

"Ow! You punched me!" Chris says while rubbing his cheek and looking at the kid. That smarts!

"Hey! You smacked me!" The boy says while looking back at Chris. He takes his earbuds out.

"Looks like you both weren't paying attention." Danny points out with a sigh.

"I uh guess I was kind of distracted. I'm sorry about that!" the kid in the green t-shirt gets up and offers to help Chris get up.

"Thanks. I'm sorry too. Guess I was a little excited. That was a hard punch. Ow." Chris accepts his offer and gets back up. He jokes about the hit.

"Um thanks. You got me good too. Guess we're even. Heh! My name's Jake!" The boy introduces himself to them.

"I'm Chris! Pleased to meet you, hitting each other not withstanding." Chris gives his name with a nod and smile.

"I'm Danny! Nice to meet you!" Danny likewise gives an introduction.

"Cool! Well we just moved here. Didn't think I'd literally run into someone!" Jake says with a chuckle.

"One way to put it!" Chris laughs along.

"What brings you here?" Danny asks, curious of the new arrival.

"I'm well, training kind of. Out for a run!" Jake answers.

"Training? What for? You on a sports team?" Chris asks.

"Not really. Basically learning how to fight. My teacher is pretty intense though. Says I need to toughen up a bit more." Jake adds in a bashful manner.

"That sounds familiar." Chris laughs, remembering his similar conversation with Knuckles earlier.

"What are you guys up to?" Jake asks them.

"We're on our way to pick up the new Sonar x Silhouette game! It's out today!" Danny answers, excited to grab the new game.

"That's out now? Nice!" Jake adds, perking up at the mention of the new game.

"We're gonna pick it up and start it right away! Say, why don't you come on by my place? We could all try it out!" Chris invites Jake to stop by the mansion to play with them.

"That would be awesome!" Jake answers, happy to have made a couple friends already.

Chris takes out his phone and trades numbers and his address with Jake.

"Thanks! I'll try to stop by later! Got to go now! Was great meeting you, and sorry again for the hit!" Jake calls over to them as he runs off.

"No problem! See you later!" Chris waves at him

Danny is lost in thought at the moment. He has a feeling of deja vu when he saw Jake.

"That kid looks familiar. Can't quite remember from where." Danny ponders aloud.

"Maybe you saw him at school or something. Come on! Let's go get our games before they're sold out!" Chris suggests before heading into the store.

"Maybe. Wait up!" Danny follows after him.

To be continued…