Sonic Evolution

Unity Story

Chapter 1: Chaos Controlled

The night sky in Emerald Town was a majestic one. Not a cloud in the sky, so that the stars could shine bright. Only two things pierced the night sky's perfection. One was the silhouette of a familiar bat, and two was the whirring of several cameras.

At the controls to the camera's was Miles "Tails" Prower, working on an invention that could track down Chaos Emeralds if needed. An alarm sounded throughout Tails's lab, causing him to fall out of his chair comically. He picked a set of blueprints off his head and looked at his cameras. There she was, the night vision aspect of the cameras exposing her in all her sly glory. Tails knew she was up to no good.

Tails wheeled over to another control panel and pushed a red button. There was a sound of a phone ringing and eventually of picking up.

"Hello?" Said a gruff voice from the control panel.

"Knuckles!" Tails said, trying to add urgency into his voice.

"Huh? Oh, Tails. What is it? Don't you know what time it is?

"Yeah…" Tails muttered, Knuckles sounded angry, but that wouldn't stop tails from continuing, "this is important! My cameras saw Rouge, and it looks like she's up to no good!"

That got the echidna's attention, "That bat? Where was she headed?"

"Um…" Tails checked the cameras as they played back, "I think the museum in Station Square."

"That place is only a stone's throw from where you are! What is she doing there?"

"Well… I can't confirm anything, but I think that museum houses one of the Chaos Emeralds."

"Urghh, that crazy woman! What is she going to do with that?"

"We can stop her if we take the Tornado!"

"Okay… is Sonic coming?" Knuckles asked, background noise indicating he was getting ready for action.

"Not really… he went out running a couple of days ago."

"That's just great," Knuckles muttered, his voice hinting at the grin he currently had, "he could be all the way on the other side of the world right now. Doesn't matter, though. We two and stop her on our own!"

"What about the time when she took Emerl and she beat all three of us?"

"Ancient history!" Knuckles shouted, not wanting to remember that awful time, "Just get here, and quickly!"

"Okay, okay! … Hey Knuckles."

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you glad now that I gave you that cell phone so we could communicate more easily?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Knuckles muttered, hanging up. He had apparently been against it at an earlier time.

-

The Tornado landed a distance from the museum, for fear of setting off alarms. Swiftly, the silhouettes of the fox and the echidna were seen stalking toward the museum.

"That's weird." Tails said suddenly.

"What's weird?" Knuckles asked.

"Normally, this place would be filled with security lasers and stuff like that… but I see none of it now."

"Huh… Rouge must have disabled the security by now. We probably don't have much time!"

"Let's go!" Tails proclaimed as the two of them charged forward into the defenseless museum.

It was a straightforward path until an opened vault was reached. Inside, the Chaos Emerald shined brightly.

"It's safe…" Knuckles sighed in relief.

"If somebody opened the vault, why didn't they take the Emerald? It's the only thing the vault contains." Tails wondered.

"Hey… yeah…" Knuckles realized as they walked into the vault.

From the opposite side of the vault another entrance could be seen. Coming through that entrance was none other than Rouge the bat. Now that she wasn't a silhouette, she could be seen more clearly. She had changed her look, for now her eye shadow was now a dark emerald color and she opted to wear a black tank top with a pink unzipped jacket. Her legs were adorned with a metallic gray jumpsuit-style pair of pants that hugged her hips. Her boots were a dark purple with a large white stripe vertically and white on the top and white on the soles.

"What are you two doing here!" Rouge demanded after giving a yelp at seeing them there.

Knuckles struck a finger out toward Rouge, "We're here to keep you from stealing this Chaos Emerald, that's what we're doing!"

Rouge growled, then walked toward Knuckles, "How did you know I was coming?"

"Tails saw you on camera!"

At this, Tails waved sheepishly.

"Well," Rouge started, "you will just have to turn back, because this Emerald is my ticket to getting yours!"

"The Master Emerald?" Knuckles asked, "Dream on!"

"Uh… guys." Tails said suddenly.

"Humph, I used to dream, but now it will become reality!" Rouge continued, disregarding Tails.

"Guys…!" Tails said again, with more urgency.

"The only reality is you giving up!" Knuckles responded to Rouge.

"Knuckles! Rouge!" Tails cried in a whiny voice.

"WHAT!" Both the echidna and the bat shouted at the same time.

"The Chaos Emerald is gone!" Tails shouted, pointing towards where the Emerald used to be. Sure enough, it was only an empty pedestal now.

There was a gasp, then both Knuckles and Rouge shouted, "Where did you put it!" then after a pause, "What do you mean where did I put it!" Then again, "I don't have it!"

"He does!" Tails said, not too busy arguing to notice something.

All three looked and beheld a new sight. A figure held the previously unclaimed Emerald. He turned around and immediately one could tell he was a Raccoon. He had the same typical body with thin arms and legs, red shoes, white gloves, brown fur all over, and a bushy muzzle. His head was decorated with a black strip over the eyes and round Raccoon ears. A big Raccoon tail grazed the ground.

"Oops, busted." He said coolly, his voice was calm and calculating and somewhat collected.

"All right!" Rouge said immediately after, "Who are you and what are you doing with MY Emerald?"

"YOUR Emerald?" Knuckles faintly echoed.

"Heh," The Raccoon chuckled, then stood upright, looking intimidating, "my name is Bandit, and per my name, I am the greatest thief in the world. What I plan to use this Chaos Emerald for is none of your business."

"You can't just take an Emerald and use it for what you please!" Tails pleaded.

"EXCUSE me!" Rouge suddenly barked, Bandit's previous comment having finally registered, "Did you just call yourself the greatest thief in the world! That title is reserved for me!"

"This is neither the ti-" Knuckles started, but Rouge interrupted.

"My pride as a master thief is on the line, Knucklehead," She cut in, "I'm sure you know a thing or two about honor."

"But…!" Knuckles started, but Tails pulled him aside.

"This could be perfect!" Tails whispered, "When they fight, one of them will be knocked out and we could take the remaining person on or they'll both get tired out!"

"Oh…" Knuckles muttered, "Never thought of that."

He secretly did not like the though of using those two in such a way, but he supposed it was the only real way to get this done.

Rouge did not pay attention to them as she and Bandit got into position to have a battle. Rouge put on a game face, but Bandit merely grinned. He was either very confident or had something up his sleeve.

Surprisingly, Bandit was the one to make the first move. He leapt over the pedestal and whipped forward with his tail. Rouge jumped out of the way, spread her wings, and then came down on where Bandit landed. It was Bandit's turn to jump out of the way as Rouge's foot hit the tiled floor hard. Bandit continued to jump back at Rouge floated forward and threw kick after kick after kick in attempt to hit him. Finally, Bandit stopped, then launched forward and aimed his fist for Rouge's face. She sidestepped and used the opportunity to sweep Bandit's legs, tripping him. Bandit used his tail to keep from falling, then sprung off the ground, successfully planting his fist into Rouge's stomach. Rouge made an odd open-mouthed moan of pain, her eyes shooting wide open.

Rouge kneeled to the ground and Bandit prepared to lay his tail on her head when she back-flipped out of the way and flew into the shadows. Bandit tried to see where she was, but it proved difficult. Rogue leapt out from behind him and laid a kick hard onto his back. Bandit dove forward and landed on his hands. Rouge attempted to crush him into the ground with her foot, but he had rolled out of the way. Bandit responded with a flurry of punches. Some Rouge dodged, some she blocked with her arms. Eventually she saw an opening and made a really high kick, connecting with Bandit's chin and making him fall backwards.

Bandit, like last time, fall back on his tail and propelled himself forward. Rouge had seen it coming and spun around him and kicked, once in the back, then again in the chest. This time Bandit had fallen on the ground. It seemed it was over when Bandit painfully picked himself up and looked Rouge over, acknowledging her as an equal. Rouge, sensing the real end near, kicked forward again. Bandit had caught her leg. After a pause, Bandit twirled Rouge around and he remained spinning in the air until she landed nimbly on her feet. She then gave a whimper and kneeled on the leg Bandit had spun. It was twisted.

Rouge looked up to barely get hit with Bandit's right fist. A thin ribbon of blood was sprayed from her nose as she stumbled back and Bandit continued to smash her across the face with his left, prompting blood to come out the other side. Knuckled and Tails could barely stand to watch as Bandit next hit Rouge with an uppercut to the jaw. Before Rouge could regain her composure, Bandit had whipped forward with his tail, sending Rouge into the wall. She practically bounced off the wall, leaving a deep dent and flying high into the air. Bandit pursued her into the air where, with both his fists and his tail, he dunked her downward. Rouge hit the floor with a loud smash, making another deep dent and cracking the floor considerably. Some tiles flew into the air to illustrate how hard she had been hit.

Bandit landed from his dunk and looked at Rouge in her crater, breathing heavily and giving involuntary whimpers, her impeccable complexion ruined by the blood she had shed and her fur on her head messed up like never seen before. Bandit panted from effort for a bit, and then slowly took out the Emerald.

"Now to finish you off."

Knuckles snapped, "Look at what you did to her! It's enough that you defeated her and possibly broke every bone in her body, but I'm not standing by while a person dies under my watch!"

"Huh," Bandit muttered, "I thought her didn't like her very much."

"I don't!" Knuckles said, a bit weakly, "B-but not so much so that I think she deserves this fate! Just let her live!"

"Shall I take the Emerald as payment for her life?" Bandit asked.

Knuckles hadn't expected that, but still came up with the answer right away, "No way! C'mon Tails, let's get this guy!"

"Right!" Tails shouted as he and Knuckles ran over to where Bandit stood.

"This will just break your heart." Bandit muttered, then held out the Emerald, "Chaos Mirage!"

For a brief moment, Bandit became a brown blur as he shot past Tails and Knuckles. Both of them stopped and turned around.

"What was the supposed to do?" Knuckles asked, "I think you… mis…"

Knuckled couldn't finish his sentence as he and Tails both lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

"Nothing can defeat the power of Chaos." Bandit lectured, and then looked around for Rouge.

He looked into the crater that her body had created and saw nothing. He looked closer and noticed that a trail of blood droplets lead from the crater, out the vault, and toward an open window. All the others were closed.

"I guess it's only fair you live," He said to the escaped Rouge, "I did let the other two live, after all."

Bandit walked over to the entrance of the vault, then took out a communication device and spoke into it, "Turn the security lasers back on."

In a moment, the lasers were turned back on and Bandit walked over to one of them and let his tail fall on it. Immediately the vault was bathed in a red light and alarms went off.

"How clumsy of me." Bandit said, then chuckled to the two crumpled figures on the floor, "Say 'Hi' to the police for me. Chaos Control!"

In a flash, Bandit was gone.

In about ten minutes, Station Square's finest swarmed into the vault. They immediately noticed the Chaos Emerald was gone. After that, they noted the carnage, then finally the echidna and fox out cold on the floor. A policeman walked over to them and looked them over.

"All right boys… let's take them downtown for questioning." He paused and placed a hand on Knuckles's wrist, checked the pulse, then did the same for Tails, "Cancel that… we have to get these two to the hospital… as soon as possible!"

-

Bandit walked through the crowded Station Square Main Street sidewalk. By now, "furry integration," as it was called, was in full effect; so nobody gave him any odd looks. He grinned. Not bad for a day's work, he had collected a Chaos Emerald and taken out the echidna and the fox.

Of course, the real cause for celebration would be when a certain blue hedgehog was taken out of the picture. Only then will things get exponentially easier.