|| Heyo! My name's mpuppy4, you may shorten that however you will. Welcome to Sonic Legacy! It's... it's a Sonic story. I've written Sonic stories before, but never quite like this one. I'm trying to get a little creative with the writing style in this one. That said, if you're reading this, and you happen to be an even relatively critical person, please leave your criticism for me. Like I said, I'm trying something different with this story, and I'd like to know what you think I'm doing right and/or wrong. ||

Act 1.

Let it be known that as long as the universe decides to listen, it will never run out of stories to hear, for in truth, every world, land, species, and creature has its own tale that will more than likely be swept away by the sands of time. For the world of Mobius, it begins with a flash of light. For the land of Green Hill, it endures with a barren rock amid a great sea. For the species of Mobian, it continues to tremble in the shadow of a kind much greater than its own. And as for the creature Sonic, its end begins here.

Chaos lived in Green Hill. He was born in Green Hill and was now sixteen years old. It was a large island covered in brilliant emerald grass, and tall palm trees grew there with large leaves that swayed peacefully in the wind. Many Mobians occupied Green Hill, and could often be found communing on one of the island's many vast beaches. But if there was one thing that Chaos liked about Green Hill, it was all of the open space, because when there's a lot of open space, you can run.

There was something in the back of Chaos's head that constantly compelled him to run. For whatever reason, he felt that he wasn't just running for the fun of it, but because there was something to be running from. He never truly understood why this was; he didn't believe that there was anything in Green Hill worth running from. The Mobians were friendly, the weather was nice, and there were no predators. There couldn't have been anything to fear.

One day, while he was running, Chaos came to a realization. He stopped at a cliff edge overlooking the ocean, waves crashing against the side. He inhaled deeply, taking a good whiff of the salty sea air. And then he exhaled. Every day was the same. He woke up, he ate, he ran. He ate again, he ran again. He went back to sleep. Every morning, every afternoon, he had the same routine. He didn't have a choice. He was trapped here, trapped in peaceful Green Hill by forces beyond his control.

That's what he was running from. He couldn't escape.

"Why do I have to stay here?" Chaos called. "Why can't I leave? I love this island, but I've been here forever. Can't I go somewhere else, even for a little while?"

But Chaos already knew his answer. Somewhere deep inside of him, he could hear an echo:

Here, you are needed. You cannot leave, for without you, it will fall apart.

Chaos lowered his head. He was foolish to believe that he would receive any other answer. It was the first thing he was ever told, and he had continued to hear it ever since. Here, he was needed. He couldn't leave, for without him, Green Hill would fall apart. He didn't know why this was, but he could hope that someday he would. Perhaps, one day, when he did understand and his purpose here had been fulfilled, then, he could really leave.

Even if he couldn't run away, Chaos could still run. He did, of course, enjoy running. He enjoyed it quite a bit, actually, so much so that he did it almost all the time. Chaos found that there were a lot of problems that running could solve. If he wanted to clear his mind, he would run. If he was tired, but the sun was still up, he would run. If he needed to blow off steam, he would run. If he just felt like he needed some exercise, he would run. Chaos had spent his whole life running, and saw no reason to stop.

The Mobian residents of Green Hill had naturally taken notice of Chaos and his running in the sixteen years since he was conceived. Some of them found him a bit strange, not that Chaos particularly cared, but for the most part, they were very welcoming to him. There was a reason for this. After all, the weird man running across your lawn without permission probably wouldn't be a primary candidate for trust. However, not long after Chaos's arrival in Green Hill, there came an event that placed his name in high regard among the Mobians.

When Chaos first became aware of himself in Green Hill, it was in the middle of a dreadful summer drought. At the time, Chaos was kind of confused as to why it was called "Green Hill" when it looked more like a "Yellow Hill". Through a bit of eavesdropping, which he wouldn't condone, knowing what he knows now, Chaos was able to learn that it hadn't rained there in upwards of two months. The reservoirs were running dry, and the ocean water made people sick. With everyone so concerned about the dwindling water supply, however, they failed to realize that temperatures were piercing one hundred, and their entire village was made from wood.

When the fire hit, it spread just as you would expect it to. It was hot, relentless, and consumed everything that stood in its way. Without water in the reservoir, the Mobians were forced to try and gather water from the ocean in order to defeat the ravaging flames. Unfortunately for them, they had no efficient way of gathering the water, and the village itself was built away from the beaches that housed their fire-quenching resource. Chaos had arrived at the scene just in time to see the village residents being evacuated from their burning homes by the town safety force. At the rate it was going, the whole of the village would have been turned to ash, along with Green Hill in its entirety. But Chaos had an idea.

"Everybody!" he had called to the Mobians struggling to bring back water in tiny wooden buckets. "Focus on the evacuation! Leave the fire to me!"

Although he heard protests, Chaos bolted down to the ocean as fast as his legs would carry him. He moved faster that day than he ever had before, although it was hardly the fastest he would move in his lifetime. He reached the ocean faster than any of the villagers could have, and when he did, he put his plan into motion. He ran across the shore, building as much speed as Chaosly possible, enough to carry him off of the ground and onto the water. He ran himself in circles, lifting up the water from the sea into a funnel, and in his final phase of action, stormed back up to the village, dragging the water along with him and snuffing the fire just like that.

After that, Chaos was hailed for his heroic deeds against the fire. He worked with the Mobians to rebuild what was lost, and even had his own home built on the outskirts of the town as thanks. Shortly after the construction was completed, the rain returned, and Green Hill was made green once again.

Now Chaos lived life as a friend and helper of the townspeople. If there was a large task to be completed, chances were that Chaos would be on the scene. He was the fastest, most athletic, and could probably lift a decent sized boulder if he did say so himself, and as such was the perfect candidate for physical labor. Chaos didn't really mind this. It wasn't as if he had anything more important going on. Besides, he could do a better job than any of the Mobians, so he might as well. He repaired storm damage, removed kites from trees, cleaned up human garbage washed up on the beach, anything you could think of. And when he was done with all of that, Chaos would return to his running.

On this particular day, the Mobians didn't have any chores for him to do, so he was able to head straight home after a nice long day of peaceful running.

Chaos skirted the edge of the Green Hill village and turned off toward the beach, and in between the two was his little hut. It was mostly made of palm wood, but had a cobblestone base, and many different kinds of vegetation growing on the walls and roof. It was a nice, homey place that Chaos was pretty fond of.

He walked up the front steps and opened the door, entering into his kitchen. He unstrapped his sandals and left them by the door, then unbuckled the utility belt that carried his money, water bottle, and whatever cool looking junk he found whilst running along. He placed this on the table. His looked upwards to the left, observing a shiny green gemstone sitting on the highest shelf. He nodded curtly, approaching a breadbox on the counter. He slid it open, observing the loaf of day-old pepperoni bread he had purchased from the local baker that morning, feeling his stomach gurgle greedily upon it's scent reaching his nostrils. He took the loaf from the box and brought it to his mouth, biting off a solid chunk. Before his taste buds even had the chance to decide how it tasted, Chaos was interrupted.

Knock knock knock, came a knocking from the door.

Chaos grumbled, setting the bread back down onto the counter and turning back around.

Knock knock knock, came the knocking again.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" Chaos's call was muffled as he masticated the spicy treat.

Knock knock knock-

"What?!" Chaos spat, slamming the door open.

Standing outside, twiddling his thumbs, was a green Mobian armadillo whom Chaos recognized all too well. "Oh, good afternoon, Chaos," he greeted with a wave of his green hand.

Chaos allowed a tired sigh to escape from his lips. "Hey, Arlo. What do you want?"

"Oh, well," Arlo explained, walking past Chaos and into the house despite lacking permission, "I was just going for a late walk on the beach when I saw you coming home. I thought you looked kind of lonely, so I figured you might like some company."

Chaos scowled. "Uh huh. Actually, I was doing just fine on my own, thank you."

Arlo chuckled. "Oh, come on now, Chaos," he said brightly, "you're just saying that because you're grumpy and tired." He began rummaging through Chaos's kitchen, searching cupboards for a decent bite to eat. This was not the first time he had done this. "You need to spend more time with other people."

"I spend plenty of time with other people," Chaos retorted, as Arlo pulled a box of graham crackers out of an upper cabinet. "Please don't eat all of my food again," he said, voicing his annoyance.

"Oh come on, that was only once!" Arlo took a bite out of one of the honey flavored crackers. "And I meant doing things other than fixing roofs and digging holes. Everybody in the town really likes you, but nobody really knows you. So… yeah." He shrugged, shoving an entire graham into his longish muzzle. "You should go out and make some friends."

"Just because I don't hang out with people doesn't mean I don't have friends," Chaos argued. "As a matter of fact, I'd say that I'm friends with everyone on this island. But I have more important things to do than just… hang out."

"More important things like running yourself to death?" Arlo challenged, and received a glare from his self-proclaimed friend. "I know, I know. It's just a thought." He pulled another cracker out, setting the box on the table and snapping the cracker in half as he continued, "I can totally respect that you don't want to get close to people. I get it! But at the very least, maybe you should take a day off of running and just relax."

Chaos's eyes narrowed. "Running is relaxing."

"Sure, but it's the only thing anyone here has ever seen you do."

"That's not true."

"It was an exaggeration." Arlo shook his head, returning the graham cracker box to its rightful place in the cupboard. "I'm just saying, you could go up to the beach and spend the day there. Watch the waves, build a sand castle! Make yourself look like a normal person."

"I'm not a normal person."

"But you could look like one. Just some food for thought." Arlo took a look in one of the cabinets he hadn't examined yet. "Honestly, Chaos," he retrieved a bag of cookies and began reading through the ingredients, "it's like you're just digging yourself deeper and deeper into your own little pit of loneliness. Although…" His eyes drifted upwards, settling on the green gem placed upon the highest shelf. "What would you expect, really, from a hedgehog?"

Chaos felt his left ear twitch. "Get out of my house."

"What?"

And Chaos shoved Arlo out the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Was it the hedgehog thing? I didn't mean anything by it, I was just joking around!"

"Go home, Arlo."

Chaos doesn't normally have trouble sleeping. Usually he can lay down on his bed and just conk out without any issue. That night, however, proved to be problematic. Not because he couldn't fall asleep. On the contrary, it was because he kept waking up once he did.

You can't run away, declared the voice in his head.

They need you in Green Hill, it told him.

It will crumble beneath him.

It all depends on you.

You have to go.

For hours, Chaos lay in his bed, listening to the voice as it rang across his mindscape, haunting his dreams like a long dead poltergeist. Even as he begged and pleaded with the voice to let him get some rest, it refused. It persisted. There was no escape.

Eventually, on what may have been the fifth or thirtieth time he was roused from his slumbers, Chaos peeled his eyes open. Whatever it was that he was doing, it obviously wasn't working. He turned over on his side to check the time on his alarm clock. The green gemstone was sitting beside it. Chaos couldn't recall moving it there.

The clock read 12:07. He'd gotten up at crazier times before.

Chaos stood up, placing the green gem in the nightstand drawer, before starting back into the kitchen. He slipped on his sandals and opened the door, and began trekking down to the beach.

When he got there, Chaos stopped short of the water. He stepped back a few paces, keeping his breathing steady. The waves calmly drifted up to the sand, washing away a bit of the dirt as they retreated back into the ocean. The voice was leaving him alone now. Chaos gave a sigh of relief.

In the distance, Chaos could see many bright lights shining at the edge of the horizon. Some were colorful, some blinked and flickered, some were brighter than others. Chaos knew better than anyone that those lights weren't stars. On the other side of the water, just as far as you can see from the shore, there was a Human city.

Humans, from what Chaos understood of them, were tall and mostly hairless creatures that were selfish by nature. They lived in colonies built from steel and made enormous buildings that slowly destroyed the air and water. The trash that Chaos continuously cleaned off of the beaches belonged to the Humans. The black clouds that occasionally blocked out the sun were created by the Humans. The drought that nearly destroyed Green Hill was caused by the Humans and their pollution. Chaos did not particularly care for these creatures.

The Mobians of Green Hill had never been to that city. Unfortunately, the humans of that city had been to Green Hill. For the most part, they stayed on their side of the water. They kept their metal monstrosities and thick black smog to themselves. But when they did decide to take one of those boats of theirs and intrude on Chaos's homeland, he made it abundantly clear that they were not welcome here.

Chaos lowered his head and sat down on the shore. Perhaps now he would be able to get some rest. He shut his eyes, leaning back in the sand, and allowed the rhythmic sounds of the waves to carry him off to dreamland.

If only it could have been that simple.

You can not run away.

Chaos shot back up, groaning in dissatisfaction. "What?!" he roared. "What do you want from me?!"

Look up!

Chaos blinked. It wasn't every day that the voice told him something that wasn't indiscernible and cryptic. He did as he was told. He didn't like what he saw.

A flying figure was coming up fast from across the water. Chaos didn't have any time to identify what it might be before it had soared over his head.

"What?! Hey!"

Chaos leapt up to his feet and followed the intruder away. Thankfully, he realized, it was not heading toward the village, but rather in the exact opposite direction. They were heading to a very wide open space, where Chaos often came to run.

The figure was fast, but Chaos was faster. He darted ahead and sprang up, curling his body in the air so that his needles stuck out. He smashed into the figure, and it crashed on the ground. Chaos landed a few feet ahead. He shook himself off before hastily rushing back to see what he had just shot down.

It was made of metal, ovular in shape with fake arms and legs, one arm of which had a large, dangerous looking bulge of steel at its end. Its body was painted in hues of red and yellow. Two yellow lights flickered at the machine's top, and black smoke emitted from the injury Chaos had given it.

"What in the name of…?"

Chaos wasn't given time to finish his thought as an increasingly loud buzzing noise drew his attention upward.

Dozens, possibly even hundreds of machines just like this one were beginning to blanket the sky. Chaos could only watch in awe as the iron monsters flew overhead, gathering somewhere in the distance.

This was a problem. A big problem.

Upon regaining his composure, the first thing Chaos did was follow. There was no possible way for him to destroy all of them, but he might at least be able to learn what they were doing here.

At the farthest edge of the island, in the largest open area Green Hill had to offer, the swarming machines were beginning to land. Chaos stopped in the middle of the crowd. The machines began to turn their "heads" to the sky, and above the buzzing, Chaos could hear an even greater, more alien sound above them all. He mimicked their movements, and looked skyward.

An enormous metal dome was descending towards the ground, generating ear-piercing roars as the many motors carrying it worked themselves at full force. Slowly, the menacing structure was lowered, the smaller machines buzzing about it enthusiastically.

Chaos could only look on in terror as it landed in the center of the field.

|| Also, if it tickles your fancy, consider checking out Skylanders Short Stories and REAPER ACADEMY. ||