I thank KatherineOzawa of Wattpad for helping me.
Area 99 was relatively busy, even on a bright day. Many a government worker ran around, bringing materials, carrying parts or welding or screwing pieces together, constructing a robot. The supervisor of the project was introducing the latest creation to the Central Intelligence's Director in the room hanging above the work zone.
"It's very impressive isn't it?" The supervisor smiled widely, hoping to make a good impression. But the Director was a tad skeptical, looking at the robot with a suspicious look.
"That's it?" He asked after a loaded pause.
"Project Beetle is just a prototype, of course, based on our analysis of Dr. Eggman's technology." The supervisor assured. "But if all goes as planned, we'll soon have our own working robot."
"The president considers this project to be a national priority." The Director emphasized.
"We won't let him down." The Supervisor nodded curtly, as they watched on to let the team continue construction.
That very same Day in Station Square saw another event happening. Rouge, hanging from a tree, surveyed through the Treasure Scope a nearby jewelry store. Her eyes brush gently over the array of necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, anklets, and more.
"What a fabulous display. I wish I had a rock collection like that." She gushed with a smile. In the Scope's peripheral, she shifted her focus onto
A limo, driving slowly then halts in front of the jewelry store. From the rear doors, two men got out, who look like a producer and a director, taking Rouge back by surprise. She watched carefully as both men entered the shop. Their security team stand on either side two hold back the crowd from causing a commotion. A man and a woman, the owners of the shop, greet them both with a warm,
"Welcome."
"Thank you for visiting our store, Mr. Alan Smithee and Mr. Stephen Greene. Is there something we can help you find today?" The man asked.
"Yes, I'm looking for an impressive jewel for our movie." Stephen answered. His eyes roamed around the ship, but upon seeing something covered near the back, he walked towards it. "What's under there?"
"You have exquisite taste, sir. This item was acquired recently and it is truly one of a kind." The shop owner replied, taking the blanket off unveiling a large purple gem. But not just any: it was the Purple Chaos Emerald, shining so brightly it made both men look away from the instantaneous glare. Rouge, having watched the exchange, felt her jaw drop upon seeing the Emerald.
"Yes! It's perfect! That's just what we're looking for!" Alan nodded with enthusiasm.
The purchase was soon made and both men leave the store, the jewelers behind the counter wave them off,
"Thank you for your purchase. We hope to see you again."
As both Alan and Stephen leave in their limousine, Rouge watched them, concocting a plan in her mind.
At the team's warehouse hideout, Tails was placing three of the Chaos Emeralds onto the Tornado.
"We're all set." He nodded after securing the third.
"Two more emeralds to go." Sparkle walked up, looking at them with pride. After long and arduous trials, five were now with the team and just two more would secure their ticket back home to Mobius.
"Yeah, but we have to be real careful now, when we add the new Chaos Emerald to the ones we have already." Tails warned. "The five Chaos Emeralds we have now are okay, because they've had time to adapt to each other. But if we add a new Emerald without following the right steps, it can cause an electromagnetic reaction that we can't control, and we'll be in major trouble. The last time they were all brought together, it was a disaster…."
"Yeah…." Sparkle nodded tensely. The small silence was broken by Amy coming through the back door.
"Hey, aren't you forgetting we're supposed to be at Filmdom City now?" She asked with excitement.
"Why would a director want us?" Sparkle looked at her with confusion etched on her face as the others joined.
"Sounds like fun!" Cream added, hugging Cheese with excitement.
Several minutes later, the Tornado takes off, the team piled on as Sonic took the rear of the plane.
"Filmdom City, eh? I've never been there." Sonic smiled, ready for what may come ahead.
The team traveled several miles until reaching what looked to be a huge movie lot with numerous warehouses, shooting locations and trailers on the streets. The whole place was gated off save for the entrance, a giant wrought-iron arch framed overhead as many people wandered in and out, the words 'Filmdom City' painted in gold letters.
In one such building, Stephan was admiring the Emerald's beauty, seated behind a glass window on a pillow for cushion. He perked up hearing a knock at the door. "Come in." He called, turning just as the door opened and a young intern was leading Sonic's team into the office.
"You called for us?" Sonic asked once the door behind them closed.
"I have. You're likely wondering why I've called you all here." Stephan nodded, before turning the floor over to Alan, who stood at his desk with a taut back.
"You see Sonic, I've been following you and your team's infamy ever since you came here. Your battles against Eggman are just the inspiration I needed to find! And that is why, I want you and your cohorts to be in my movie! It'll instantly launch you into stardom!"
"Are you crazy? We're not actors. We'd probably stink." Sparkle shook her head at the offer, knowing nothing about the world of movies or art.
"Well, even the worst can become the best, Miss Sparkle. Like they say, 'the world's a stage, and the stage is a source of entertainment'! I know you have some doubts about being put in front of the camera, but I have faith that all seven of you can be the stars you were meant to be!" Alan assured.
"Tempting offer…but we can't. We're just not cut out to be part of the 'big screen' as you top dogs put it." Sonic shot down, the others following with murmurs of agreement, but before they could turn to leave, Stephan stopped them,
"Hold it right there! We've found something you might be interested in!" At his words, the Emeralds in Sonic's possession burned brightly, making him and Tails look at them then each other knowingly.
"You found an Emerald?" Tails turned to Stephan.
"They'll likely use it to blackmail us into doing the movie!" Sparkle growled, getting tense.
"No, no! We'd never do that. We just want to give something to the masses that'll have them talking for decades! Tell you what: if you agree to star in our movie, we will let you take the gem with you once we're finished! That way you can be one step closer to your goal and we can get the movie filmed in time! Everyone wins!" Alan offered warmly. The silence hung in the air for everyone as the team thought of his offer individually, but still not trusting the situation, they got into a group huddle to discuss their answer.
"Something about this doesn't seem right. I just feel like they may double-cross us and go back on their word." Knuckles spoke first.
"But think about it: we'll be in a movie from Filmdom City! That's once in a lifetime! And this may be our one chance to garner more support from the public!" Amy disagreed.
"And don't forget, they offered to give us the Emerald once they're done! It may be our only shot!" Tails nodded in agreement.
"It does seem tempting….but I'm quite nervous being in front of the people as is…I don't know how I'll do with cameras…." Cream shook a little.
"But what if it's a trap? How do we know they're not just gonna trick us? I'm not taking that risk!" Sparkle shook her head stubbornly.
"Look: we can either grin and bear it, or we can lose one more Emerald and be one more step behind in our plan of getting back home! We don't have any other option!" Sonic hissed. The team continued whispering to one another before leaning back up and then to both men, who raised their eyebrows in curiosity over their answer.
"We'll reconsider taking the offer….but we need to know what we're working with. We need a tour of the place." Sparkle answered.
"Deal!" Alan nodded, happy at the answer.
The team was taken for a walking tour to the back lot of Filmdom City, larger than life spectacles before their eyes. Many actors, crew workers, interns and more walked around in costume or work clothes, making the place far busier than normal. People dressed in angel costumes or renaissance period clothes, giant foam and plastic props being carried, cameras being set up, costume racks being pushed around and more.
"Let me say for the record: how sweet is this?!" Sonic cheered, taking in all the sights around him.
Dancing cowgirls, a live giraffe, humanoid apes in pink polka dot skirts, three men wearing blue spacesuits, even the set they walked into and passed by was straight out of ancient Egypt!
"I have to admit, you guys put a lot of work into these movies." Sparkle was a tad impressed, seeing the high quality that went into the movie production.
"We're on the actual Filmdom City lot! We're on the Actual Filmdom City lot!" Amy chanted happily.
"It's like we're in a completely different world!" Cream's eyes were wide and bright, soaking up everything and anything in her peripheral vision. Even Cheese was enamored by the sights and sounds, agreeing with,
"Chao."
"What do you think they're making in all these different warehouses?" Tails inquired.
"Dunno. But all I know is that if I see something move that's not supposed to, I'm sending my fist into its face." Knuckles spoke tersely.
"What exactly are we even starring in?" Sonic wondered aloud.
"Glad you asked! I've had scripts printed ahead of time for all of you!" Stephen smiled, producing one of each for the newest stars. They all stop to read the script itself, their lines and the actions that happen in each scene.
"Y'Know, some of these seem a little…outdated. Like there are some things not any of us would say or do…we should probably have these rewritten so they stay true to us…" Tails' aforementioned tails flickered at his words.
Leading the group to some propped open chairs, Stephen and Alan sat down with them to talk over changes to the script. Everyone recountered about Sonic's journey: how he came to this world from another and wished to leave and move on to the next, only for the pathway to be girded by an unknown force. And said force had stolen his closest friends to him and placed a seal on him that made him lose his powers, leaving him forever trapped in that world.
One by one, Sonic's crew gave their own suggestions to add into the script.
"Why don't we add in monster battles? It'd make for some good action sequences!"
"How about finding some clues to where Sonic's friends could be kept? Make it a little more of a mystery!"
"I'd think it'd be best that he'd find Statues of the Seven Emeralds."
"Yeah, and that they're scattered all over to show that they're protecting places over the world?"
"And each of them could have different abilities, like one that can control the wind!"
"Don't forget the others: we've got Earth, Lightning, Plants, Water, Fire and Ice!"
With all their ideas noted down, Alan and Stephen jotted them with mild excitement. They'd finally get on the right track to making the blockbuster they wanted.
They had their editors make changes to the script as they started shooting the first part of the movie. Despite the stumbles and bad acting, Sonic and the crew had all the help they needed from stunt coordinators to prop masters and the like.
The scenes shot included Sonic finding his friends and saving various cities in times of crisis, all with action shots that would be edited for some touch ups or cropping to make perfect sequences. But even Stephen and Alan knew it'd take multiple films to make the whole story, but they didn't mind it. As long as they got as much footage of Sonic and his crew, they were happy.
But it was during one such take that involved the Purple Emerald that something happened. As soon as Sonic was close enough, the Emerald in his possession began to react to the other, causing an electromagnetic tension between them both.
"What's going on here!?" Sonic broke character in complete shock to witness with everyone else what was going on.
"It's a reaction Tails warned us about!" Sparkle shouted as the Emeralds began to quiver and shake, making the area around everyone rumble as well. Equipment fell over, things got knocked over and people scrambled to either grab what they could or hide for cover. Suddenly, a bright beam emitted from both Emeralds and launched into the sky, forcing everyone to turn away from the harsh glare.
In the Egg Fort II, Eggman was snoring loudly at his desk, a tiny puddle of drool forming. But this left his robo-henchmen to be completely bored.
"I am bored out of my circuits." Decoe rolled his eyes and laid out on the floor in boredom.
"I would give my left servo motor for a little excitement." And on cue, Alarms sounded in the facility as Bocoe checked the radar. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Huh!? What is this? Dr. Eggman! We have detected a Chaos Emerald!"
The mad doctor awoke with a jolt and fell out of his chair, only to get to his knees a second later. "You'd better not be joking! Where? Show me!"
"There. In Filmdom City." Bocoe pinpoints the location on screen.
Eggman looking at it with a determined glare, "Right! Set a course for Filmdom City on the double!" He orders.
The Emeralds' reaction was so strong the lights on set began to flicker or spark in response to the power surge, making the crew scream in fear and numerous TVs begin to turn static on screen. Stephen quickly moved on his feet and brought down the glass cover on the Purple Emerald, covering it and stopping the reaction altogether. Some of the lights turned back to normal as the tvs were shut off by one crewhand. People shakily tried to put everything back to a neat order as Alan tried to catch his breath from what he just witnessed.
"Y'Know on second thought, maybe it isn't safe for us to keep the Emerald during filming for months…." Stephen winced as he had a prop coordinator hold onto the Emerald for the time being.
Alan nodded, turning to Sonic and co, an apologetic frown on his weather-beaten face, "I apologize…we never knew this sort of thing would happen!…I hope this doesn't spill into the electricity bill…" he chewed his fingernails as he saw some workers check over the hanging fixtures.
"It's fine…it's been a while since something like that happened….ever since the Soccer game…." Sonic murmured, scratching his cheek. But just as he said that, a loud crash rang out in the warehouse, making people scream and scatter as the Egg Fort II crashed through the roof, Eggman and his hench-bots flew towards Sonic & co, who stood tense and ready to battle the mad doctor.
"Hand over that Chaos Emerald!" Both bench-bots command.
"It's Eggman, of course!" Sonic, Sparkle, Tails and Knuckles weren't surprised at this since anytime an Emerald was involved, Eggman wasn't that far behind. The four decided to split their enemies and take them on individually around the movie lot to draw attention from Alan and Stephen who had the Chaos Emerald still in its casing, and had Amy and Cream get them to safety then lead the crew out of the warehouse. The four race out of the warehouse and lead them on their wild-goose chase.
Another set was shooting a dinosaur movie, where two actors were cowering as an Animatronic T-Rex moved and roared. Sonic jumped on top of the T-Rex's head and blew a raspberry at Eggman.
"This way, Eggman!" Sonic raced off just as the Eggmobile smashed into the Dino's head, short-circuiting it.
"I'll get you, Sonic!" Eggman yelled as he tried to push off the scrap pieces that clung to his jacket.
Elsewhere, Knuckles leapt over a model planet from another set shooting a Sci-Fi movie, his quick movements unparalleled compared to Decoe's, who merely tripped over it. As for Tails, he led Bocoe around the giant cruise ship on a separate set, but Tails' balancing abilities gave him the edge over Bocoe, who like his partner, almost fell just tryna get over the metal railing of the ship. But just as Tails caught him, he drops him overboard with a not-so-sorry smile. Bocoe crawled on the floor in pain, looking up to see Sparkle slip into a different set and grabbed the mechanical shark's fin and rode it to the other end, forcing him to chase after her instead.
Rouge, looking down from the warehouse's catwalk saw all the commotion and smiled, "With all this confusion, now is the perfect time to make my move." She quickly flew off to where the team previously was and seeing Stephen and Alan, quickly dove down and snatched the Emerald, casing all all.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Stephen yelled, feeling the Emerald gone from his grasp and glares at Rouge.
"Sorry, but a Chaos Emerald is far too precious to be on a movie set." Rouge pouted her lip and went to fly away, but Eggman snatched it from her quickly, putting her lack of attention on him to good use. Rouge gasped in complete confusion.
"Let's make sure this Emerald is real." Eggman ripped the lid off the Emerald and weighed it in his hands for a few seconds, then smiled, "Fantastic! We hit the jackpot!" He nearly faltered when Rouge grabbed his biceps to grab the Emerald back from his meaty hands.
"Hand it back, Eggman!" She demanded, but the mad doctor was persistent.
"No way, it's mine now! Get away! Decoe, Bocoe, come and help me! Hurry!" Eggman yelled, his command being heard by the boys miles away from where they chased after Knuckles and Sparkle separately.
"Yes, doctor!"
"Coming!"
"Drop the gem now!" Rouge screeched, clawing at Eggman's face, ripping out a few mustache hairs in the process.
"I'd rather drop you!" Eggman's growled as he gassed up the Eggmobile, making it fly. Rouge desperately clung to him. He quickly slammed his foot on the brake, the momentum and sudden stop of the flying aircraft sending rouge flying straight into the pill down below. Eggman laughed, victory in his grasp until he heard three voices shout his name. He snarled, Sonic, Knuckles and Sparkle glaring up at him.
"Eggman! Hand over that Chaos Emerald or else!" The three demand simultaneously.
"Or else, what?!" Eggman challenged as he jammed a button on the control pad, "Weazo, get rid of these idiots!"
From the windows above, his next robot was summoned, the E-74 Weazo, looking almost like a cross between a plane and a kaiju, green paint all over its body with yellow accents, giant feet, metal pinchers for hands, a bulky body and gangly metal for its limbs and tail. It crashes through the glass and touches down, shaking the floor.
"Not another robot!" The two hedgehogs and echidna were exasperated.
From its head, the Weazo shoot flames from its nose, staggering heavily to Alan and Stephan, who stood completely still in terror at the giant beast. But before it could reach the two, something nabbed its tails, forcing it to stop. It looks behind, seeing Knuckles grabbing its tail with both hands, grunting to keep it from moving forward.
"Leave them alone, Weazo!" He shouted, but felt himself get picked up and flung into a few crates, smashing through them on impact.
"You won't win that easy!" Sonic shouted as he used his Spin Attack on Weazo from above the lights structure, hitting it dead on. It fell over with a loud crash, Sparkle using this chance to send down lightning from above. It flailed as it was hit, woozily stumbling upright.
"Come on!" Sonic taunted, leading it on a chase, the Weaso crawling on all fours after him.
Eggman held the Chaos Emerald in his grasp with a smile and laughed, "Soon I'll steal the rest of the Emeralds, too!"
"This one sure is impressive." Bocoe's eyes shine gazing at the Emerald.
"It looks very powerful." Decor followed.
Back around the lot, Sonic duck and wove around the sets, dodging the spewing flames as he did so. The flames hit one such kaiju monster on its own set to a burning crisp. Sonic kept running, skidding to a stop in one room that was painted to look underwater.
"It's a dead end!" He realized too late, getting cornered by Weazo. He narrowly dodged more spewing fire, but with his back to the wall and the Weazo's mammoth form blocking his only way of exit, he was trapped.
"This is bad! I can't get away!" He backed up, the wall of the set behind him.
Knuckles and Sparkle sped through the halls, trying to find Sonic.
"SONIC! Hey, Sonic, where are you!?"
"Sonic!"
The two sped into a room adjacent to the one Sonic was trapped inside, a glass panel separates them both, almost looking like Sonic's battle was underwater.
"They're fighting in... water?"
"No, take another look." Sparkle pointed. Knuckles glared closer, seeing the glass was part of a water tank, giving an illusion paired with the panels that made it look similar to being under the ocean. He tapped the aquarium wall and nodded.
"Now I see."
The Weazo spewed more flames at Sonic, but they didn't reach him, the latter trying to get close to the wall as much as possible.
"Shoot!"
But Knuckles thought fast, leaping up "Listen, Sonic! Jump up now!" Sonic heard his friend and did so before the fire could reach him. Knuckles sent a powerful punch to the glass, breaking it and flooded the Weazo. It fought against the flood, but the flamethrower was now useless. Using the chance, Knuckles pounced at the robot.
"You're through!" He sent a hard sucker punch at the robot's jaw breaking it. Sparkle felt her new power pulsate, lighting up her quills once more as she lifted the Weazo high into the air with both her hands and launched it towards Sonic with a scream. Using Spin Dash once more, Sonic impaled the giant beast, destroying it in a great ball of fire.
Eggman and his bots, having witnessed the destruction, sweated profusely and winced with fear.
"I think I'll cut Sonic a break and call it quits today." Eggman nervously commented.
"Right!"
"Good idea!"
The Egg Fort II zipped off into the air, "Thanks for the Chaos Emerald!" All three laughed as they vanished into space.
"They got away." Sparkle scoffed, she and the boys arriving back at the warehouse.
"But we'll get him next time." Sonic assured with a shoulder pat. "Promise!"
"Are you all okay?!" Alan and Stephen run up to the three of them. Having made it out of their safe haven, the two haven't gotten into the blast zone of the fight but still got shaken up by what was witnessed.
"That was quite a performance you put on back there…." Stephen murmured, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief.
"We're sorry about wrecking the warehouse…" Amy wrung her hands together nervously, fearing the stardom dream was coming to an end.
"…A-and damaging company property…" Cream added.
"…and ruining your movie…." Tails finished. Both Stephen and Alan look at one another incredulously and then at the group.
"Are you joking?…" Stephen started. The group winced hearing his tone. "What all of you just did…was not only reckless…and terrifying…but completely-!" They clench their eyes shut, waiting for the thunder. But Stephen smiled. "-cinematic and brave!" The group looked up at him with confused glances.
"And cut!" Someone shouted over the system and the group looked around, realizing that there were cameras everywhere, posed at different locations from hidden blind spots to high locations, and the crew began to applaud the group for their bravery.
"We got all the footage of your fight through several different camera angles." Alan explained to them. "We figured this could also be of use in our movie. Yes, we will have to cut out the parts with that giant robot for the final piece…but we had a feeling that if Eggman did show up, we'd want as much action as we could for our movie. And we thank you all for not only saving us, but helping us jumpstart our next big project." The crew and cast begin to applaud and chant Sonic's name as the team smiled, exchanging high fives all around.
"It all worked out okay." Sonic grinned.
"Oh yeah, except for Eggman getting away with a Chaos Emerald, it went just perfect." Knuckles rolled his eyes, sarcasm in each word.
Sparkle smiled watching everything and everyone all safe and sound, but groaned as she fell to the floor in a fetal pose. Several people gasp seeing her crumple as the group runs to where she was. Her eyes were closed but her face and body convulsed in pain, her quills still releasing some electricity.
"Sparkle!"
Tails knelt in front of her, feeling her forehead with the back of his hand. "She's burning up!" He realized.
"Let's get her to the ER! Or somewhere where she can breathe!" Knuckles scooped her up in his arms as the crew cleared a path for the crew, led by Alan's assistant to the medical wing of the movie set.
"Not this again…." Sonic winced, bringing up the rear. But while the celebration and eventual crasher was going on, Rouge hung from a spot above the catwalk witnessing everything that happened once she got out of the pool.
"Sonic has five Chaos Emeralds. Even Doctor Eggman has one Emerald and now I'm the only one who doesn't have any." She murmured. "When the last Chaos Emerald is found and all seven are brought together, a miracle can happen….I'll get those Emeralds no matter what!" She clenched the metal rail tightly, a dangerous glint in her eyes at the decree.