What If.Sonic and Metal Sonic Switched Places?
A fanfiction by Stoney
BORING LEGAL STUFF: Sonic the hedgehog and all related persons/places are copyright SEGA, DiC Productions, and so on, blah, blah, blah, yakety- smackety, yadda yadda, et cetera. I dare any respectable lawyer to actually get up enough courage to try READING these stupid disclaimers! No, seriously!
Chapter I Encounter
"You're kidding." Sonic stared in shock, mouth slightly agape.
The young buck shook his head rapidly. He looked as if he had been running at high speed for a long time. Light from the late morning sun slanted through the trees and sparkled on the sweat dripping past his long curved antlers and down his face. His chest heaved slightly with each breath. "No, I'm not." He gasped. "I could see the explosions from my post. Something bad is definitely going on near Knothole, Sonic."
"Thanks for the info!" Sonic said, alarmed. "I'll take care of it. You should get back to your post!" With that, he was gone, a tiny dust cloud marking his trail into the woods. The buck ran off in a different direction, towards one of Knothole's guard towers.
Sonic pushed himself to go faster. Beneath him, his pounding feet blurred into an indistinct red mass. Trees, bushes, and all manner of forest life sped by him at speeds that made them unrecognizable. The wind whipped about him, blowing his spines back and flattening his ears against his head. Inside his brain, his thoughts were speeding along just as fast. Knothole! His home, not to mention that of his friends, and one of the core bases of the Freedom Fighters. If something happened to it-
He slammed his mental doors shut before that thought could proceed further.
He began pumping his arms to the rhythm of his feet, increasing his speed slightly. Nothing would happen, he mentally scolded himself. He'd arrive, take care of the problem and everything would be cool again. Things would be fine. His doubt wasn't convinced, though, and continued to gnaw at the back of his mind like an irritating itch that he couldn't reach.
There! He spotted the familiar wooden stump that served as the hidden entrance to Knothole. Screeching to a halt and leaving twin skid-marks on the ground, he jogged over to a nearby tree and pulled a vine that was hung loosely around its branches. The top of the stump swung upward silently, revealing a cylindrical hollowed-out tube inside. This was the Great Oak Slide, one of the main routes to Knothole and the one he was about to use. With a small jump, he fell feet-first into the tube, whose top closed after him automatically.
Down, down, down, around a couple curves, through a long straight stretch, past a steep spiral, around another curve. The slide twisted and turned like a coiled rattlesnake, travelling through a wide underground tunnel which sloped down into the ground. It was black as pitch inside, but Sonic knew the entire route by heart. For extra protection, he tucked his arms and knees to his chest and curled up into a spiny blue ball, keeping his face and limbs safe. This allowed him to roll down the slide even faster than before. Sharp turn to the right, gentle downward slope, another right turn, horizontal loop-de-loop, then a series of turns that would make anyone unused to them sick. Almost there.
Blinding light hit Sonic in the face as he flew out the end of the tunnel and landed on a large pile of hay. He uncurled and stood up, looking around suspiciously.
The area where he had landed was in front of Knothole's main square, which contained a fireplace in its center, now smoking and still. Huts dotted the worn dirt paths that led away from the area in several directions. Behind him, he knew, was one of the two mountains that created the valley where Knothole resided. It climbed upward to meet the rest of the forest, and then leveled off to become flat with the landscape surrounding the valley. Tall, mighty trees towered up above. They served a double purpose: not only were they highly useful for shade on hot days, but their massive green canopies completely camouflaged the entire area from aerial view. The trees had grown so tall that their tops were on the same elevation with the other trees growing in the rest of the forest. It was the perfect place for a hidden base, and had only been discovered once, by accident.
Sonic slid off the hay pile and began walking along one of the dirt paths. Everything was quiet, as far as he could tell. Birds twittered above. Leaves rustled in the light wind. One of the wooden huts he walked by gave a weary creak. Sonic stopped and put his hands on his hips, confused. Where was everybody?
One of Sonic's ears twitched as a small boom and a sharp whistling came from somewhere behind him. Sonic spun around 180 degrees and scanned the area for the source of the sound. He didn't see anything unusual. He looked all around himself in a circle. Nothing. The whistling seemed to be getting louder, though. Sonic scratched his forehead in puzzlement. Then he looked up.
He spotted the object a millisecond before the collision. The world around him exploded into multicolored flashes of light, then abruptly faded into darkness.
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Tails opened the door to his hut and yawned. Gosh, he'd slept a long time that day. Still, he now felt rested and ready to go. He stretched, working the kinks out of his arms and legs. Feeling much better, he began to walk in the direction of the Conference Room, which also served as the village cafeteria. Time for him to get something to eat, he decided. He patted his stomach and licked his lips as he visualized the food. He hadn't woken up in time to eat breakfast that morning, and as a result his appetite had been doubled.
He turned a corner and the building came into view-
-along with Sonic, whose back was flying towards him at high speed. Tails yelled and leaped backwards as Sonic's body soared past, missing him by less than an inch and trailing dark smoke. Sonic sailed between several of Knothole's huts and smacked solidly into a tree, where he slid down to the ground and lay still, eyes closed. Soot covered him from head to toe, but Tails could still see several burns marring Sonic's body. Tails looked around the corner in the direction Sonic had been thrown from. What he saw was a blackened, sooty crater smoking in the middle of the path.
Horrified, Tails began to yell for help.
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Sonic slowly woke like a deep-sea diver, swimming up towards the surface of consciousness. Gradually his senses returned to him. He could feel himself lying on a soft surface. Something warm was covering his body, but stopped at his chest. Somebody was saying something, but he couldn't understand what it was. His hearing began to clarify itself, and soon the words resolved into basic Mobian.
"Hey doc! I think he's waking up!"
Sonic opened his eyes. At first all he could see were colored blurs. He blinked, and the surroundings focused into familiar shapes. He was in Knothole's medical hut, lying in a clean white bed and covered with blankets. Standing around him were several of his friends from the Freedom Fighter resistance group.
"Are you OK, Sonic?" Asked a very worried Tails from where he was standing on Sonic's left. The twin appendages that gave him his name twitched restlessly in anxiety.
Sonic gave a small smile to reassure his companion and slowly sat up. The sheets covering him fell into his lap, revealing bandages on his chest, stomach, and arms. He remembered what had happened and his hands flew to his head, where they could feel several other bandages there. "What hit me?" He groaned. "I feel like Robuttnik tried to sit on my head."
More than one of the Freedom Fighters cracked a grin at this remark. Sally, who was standing on Sonic's right, began to explain.
"Well, you know that the Day of Independence is next week, right?"
Sonic nodded. The Day of Independence. The anniversary of the formation of the Acorn Kingdom, the Day was celebrated each year by the Freedom Fighter groups.
"Well, we were planning on taking a trip out to the Great Unknown and having a celebration then, and we were testing some new types of fireworks that Rotor came up with for the occasion."
"Everything was going fine until one of the prototypes malfunctioned and flew into Knothole." Rotor continued from his spot at the foot of Sonic's bed. "We think it's what hit you."
"Yah've been outta it fah awhile, shugah." Bunnie remarked from beside Antoine. "We-all were right worried 'bout yah."
"Well, I'm okay now." Sonic replied. A flash of pain seared through his head, and he winced. "Or not. Ouch."
Sally pushed him gently back down onto his pillow. "The doctor told us that you suffered a minor concussion and several second-degree burns from the explosion. You're still not done healing, so you need to rest for the next few days."
"But Sal," Sonic whined, "if I stay here, I might miss the party!"
"I'll be recording it on tape in case you do." Rotor spoke up. "You won't miss the show."
"The show isn't what I want to be there for, the food is!" Sonic retorted. "Uncle Chuck said he was gonna fix a batch of his chili dogs! I can't miss out on those!!"
"Sonic," Sally replied sternly, "you are going to stay here until you get better, you got that?"
Sonic sat up again and stared at her defiantly. "Just try and make me!"
Sally accepted that gladly. "Fine. Since I outrank you, I command you to remain here until your wounds are fully healed." She folded her arms and arched an eyebrow at him. "That's a royal order, Sonic!"
Sonic's jaw dropped slightly as he looked at Sally. "You're pulling rank on me?"
Sally nodded, expression still stern.
Sonic's mouth worked soundlessly for a few seconds, then he folded his arms and gritted his teeth, looking angrily at some spot on his sheets. He seemed very much like a five-year-old denied one of his wants.
Tails reached out and gingerly touched Sonic's elbow. "It'll be okay, Sonic. We'll bring you back some of the food."
Sonic gave Tails a sideways glance, then relaxed with a sigh. "Okay, then. Thanks, big guy." He smiled.
At that point the doctor walked into Sonic's field of vision and told everybody to please leave and let him get some sleep. All of them obeyed except for Sally, who stuck around long enough to give Sonic a quick peck on the cheek and whisper in his ear for him to get better soon. Sonic blushed, making his fur look purple. "Awww, Sal, not here!" He complained, embarrassed. Sally exited the room wearing a rather mischievous smile, and Sonic was left alone.
Sonic sighed and looked around for something to do. He didn't feel the least bit tired, so sleeping was out of the question. His legs twitched restlessly. They weren't used to staying in one position for so long, and wanted to go running. Sonic sympathized, but Sally had told him to stay here, so here he was stuck.
Sonic twiddled his thumbs, bored. If only he had something else to do! If only-
A knock at the door to his room interrupted his thoughts. "Come in." He called out.
The door opened to admit a pink hedgehog wearing a nurse's outfit. Sonic blanched.
"Hi Sonic!" Amy yipped excitedly. "How're you doing? I was so worried when I heard about what happened! Are you all right? Do you need anything? Are you hurt? Is everything okay? You should get lots of sleep, you know, because that's the only way you'll heal. I heard something about a big celebration coming on the Day of Independence. Is it true? I hope it is. Did the other Freedom Fighters visit you just now? I saw them leaving, so they probably did. So what's going on?" She said all of this very fast. Sonic's head was spinning by the time she finished.
"A-amy," He croaked out, "why are you dressed like that?"
Amy gave a high-pitched giggle before starting off again. "They let me be your nursemaid! Isn't it cool? Now I'll be able to take care of you, just like you took care of me! I'll bring you your meals, help you get around, make your bed, and anything else you need! Oh, this is so awesome! I'll be able to be with you all the time, now! What do you think of my uniform, do you like it? They just gave it to me, I hope it fits. So, what do you think?"
Sonic felt like he was going to be sick. "Yeah. It's great." He mumbled unenthusiastically.
Amy squealed and clasped her hands in front of her, bouncing up and down. "Really?? You really, really like it? Oh, YAY! Sonic likes my uniform! Yippee! Hee-hee!"
Sonic held a hand to his forehead to ease the throbbing headache he suddenly had. He mustered up all the patience he had in order to speak calmly. "Amy," He asked, "could you please quiet down a little bit? Please?"
Amy's expression suddenly became sympathetic. "Oh no, do you have a headache? Poor Sonic! Don't worry, I'll go get you some aspirin! It'll take the pain away in a jiffy! Be right back!" She ran out the door and was gone.
Sonic looked around the room wildly. Now was his chance to escape. Royal order or no, there was no way he was going to stay in this madhouse with her as his nurse. Uh-uh. Forget it.
A window! Sonic leaped out of bed and immediately regretted it as his head throbbed painfully. Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain, he staggered across the room to the window and opened it. Lifting one foot and placing it on the edge, he prepared to jump to freedom.
The door opened behind him. "Sonic, I'm back!"
Sonic froze on the spot. There came a gasp from behind him and the sound of a bottle clattering to the floor. "Sonic! What are you doing? You know you're not supposed to leave until you're better!" Amy reprimanded him while grabbing him by one arm.
Sonic jerked out of her grip. "Ack! No! Stay away from me!" He yelled, scrambling to get the rest of the way out of the window.
Amy took out a whistle that hung on a chain around her neck and blew a piercing note on it. "SECURITY!"
It eventually required two really strong guys to drag Sonic, kicking and screaming, back through the window into bed. Four more than that were needed to hold him down when Amy decided to inject him with a sedative. Afterwards Sonic was moved to a private room without any windows.
Over the next several days Sonic received many visitors, not to mention gifts and get-well cards. A surprise came on the third day of his "imprisonment" (as he called it) when Knuckles walked into Sonic's room.
Sonic looked up from one of his cards he was reading, blinked in surprise, and sat up with a grin. "Knux! How're you doin', man?" He asked while shaking the echidna's huge hand. "Wow, it's great to see you. It's been torture down here."
Knuckles grinned. "I'd imagine it would be. That's why I decided to drop by."
The smile faded from Sonic's face. "No, Knux. I'm serious. You have absolutely no idea how bad it's been. Do you know who they let be my nursemaid?"
Knuckles shook his head while absently looking at the pile of momentos on Sonic's beside table. "No. Who is it?"
The door opened to admit an overenthusiastic Amy carrying a tray laden with food. She walked up to Sonic, placed the tray on his lap, and walked back out the door, all while talking endlessly. "Lunch time! Here you go, Sonic! Make sure you eat everything, now! Hi Knuckles! How are you doing? Really? That's nice. Visitors are only allowed until five, so don't stay too long! If there's anything else you need, just ring the bell! I'll be happy to do it! Bye! See ya! So long!"
The door closed behind her, and the room descended into heavy silence. Knuckles looked at Sonic with wide eyes. "Oh, man."
Sonic returned the look. "Yeah, you better believe it." He said grimly before taking a bite of his food. "They had to sedate me after I first found out."
"I hope you're exaggerating."
"I wish." Sonic mumbled through his food.
Knuckles' eyes grew even wider. "Wow."
"Yeah."
Eager for a change of subject, Knuckles once again noticed the large pile of cards and presents next to Sonic's bed. "Gee, it seems like you've got a lot of fans." He joked while picking one up.
Sonic brightened. "Yeah, wouldn't you know it? That one's from one of my friends on Little Planet. His name's Ray the Squirrel."
Knuckles cocked an eyebrow in Sonic's direction. "Ray? I thought you met him before the Little Planet fiasco."
Sonic grinned and took another bite. "Yeah, I did, but he decided to move to Little Planet after I told him about my adventure there. He's been there ever since."
Knuckles blinked. "Oh.okay. How'd you get it if he lives on Little Planet? Doesn't that place time warp constantly?"
Sonic gave him an odd look. "Two days ago was when Little Planet annually appears over Never Lake. Weren't you there?"
Knuckles shook his head, causing his dreadlocks to swing. "No, I was busy looking after the Floating Island."
Sonic shrugged. "Well, we established radio contact with them and told 'em the whole story. Ray sent the card just before they warped."
"Ah." Knuckles nodded and set the card back in the pile before picking up another one. "Hey, this one's from the Flickies!" He exclaimed. The Flickies were a race of superintelligent birds that Sonic had gone on an adventure with not too long ago.
Sonic glanced over Knuckles' shoulder and nodded. "Yup, sure is. Specifically, it's from Nimbus and Cirrus. They were imprisoned inside some of the E-100 series robots before I freed them."
Knuckles stared at the blue hedgehog. "You're joking. Why didn't you ever tell me that before?"
Sonic's grin turned into a sly smile. "You never asked. Say, how is the Island doing? Anybody tried to steal the Master Emerald yet?"
Knuckles groaned. "Don't even say it! It's been a real job helping it recover, but I think it's starting to show some improvement. The times that the Master Emerald went missing really messed up the environment, though. It'll be a while before things are completely normal again."
"What's up with the Chaotix lately?"
Knuckles visibly brightened at the mention of his teammates. "They're doing great! I keep catching Charmy playing in Lava Reef, though. Why he'd want to play there is beyond me, but it's supposed to be off-limits." He shrugged. "Maybe I should put up some more security systems down there. Or maybe not. Vector thinks he's found a new section of Marble Gardens that got uncovered when the island splashed down last time. I doubt it, though."
Sonic nodded. "What about Mighty and Espio?"
Knux grinned. "Espio keeps trying to sucker us into playing hide-and-seek with him. So far, I've been the only one to find him when he "hides". As for Mighty, he's playing guard duty in case Rouge comes around again."
Sonic cocked his head to the side. "She been botherin' ya again?"
"You don't know the half of it. I think she's worse than Amy is, Sonic."
Sonic gave a low whistle. "She's pretty bad, then."
The door opened again, and Amy walked back into the room. "Well, speak of the devil." Sonic muttered.
"It's 5:03." Amy told Knuckles in a bossy, no-nonsense tone of voice. "Visiting time is over! We need to let my Sonic get some rest!" She began to push Knuckles towards the door, making shooing motions with her hands. "You can come back again tomorrow if you want. Okay? Okay. Goodbye!"
"See you later, Sonic!" Knux called out before Amy shut the door behind him.
Sonic could have sworn he was going insane over the next few days from the sheer amount of exposure to Amy. He was still making sense on the day he was to be checked out, luckily.
Apart from the fact that he ran out the door to the medical hut and through Knothole at several hundred miles an hour while screaming "I'M FREE!" and laughing maniacally, he seemed fine.
And apart from the fact that he kept babbling about evil pink monsters trying to kill him, he appeared okay.
And apart from how he woke up at night screaming in terror, he acted normally.
And besides the strange eye tic he'd developed, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Robotnik sat back in his command center chair and sighed.
It wasn't his normal kind of hopeless, I-hate-that-hedgehog sigh. This sigh was the kind that showed he was relaxed and comfortable.
He sipped from an enormous coffee mug that he held in both hands. The liquid inside the mug wasn't coffee, but what he deemed "the good stuff": 50% Oil, 20%lemon juice and 30% caffeine.
He took another sip. Ah yes, delicious.
Idly he reached over and pressed a button on the armrest of his chair. From hidden speakers in the walls, a soft ambient music began playing. Robotnik rumbled in pleasure and took another sip.
This was the kind of day which he enjoyed. Nothing important to do, no big plans that required his attention, no blue hedgehogs giving him ulcers. The SWATbot factories were running smoothly, a new power plant was up and functional, the Freedom Fighters hadn't attacked for days now (which was highly unusual), and Robotnik had decided that a little vacation time was in order.
Robotnik took a sip. It was almost too good to be true.
WHAM. The room shook and rumbled as a far-off explosion was heard. Alarm lights began going off in the room, and his beloved music was replaced with the shrill wail of a siren. Robotnik was so startled that he accidentally dropped his mug. The glass cup crashed to the floor and shattered, spilling "the good stuff" everywhere. Robotnik attempted to sit up, but another tremor rocked the fortress at that moment and threw him onto the shards of his former coffee mug. Smoke began to pour in the room from outside.
Robotnik banged both fists down on the floor and screamed, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!"
Sonic laughed helplessly as he watched Robotnik's forces attempt to fix the destruction he'd just caused. Still giggling, he decided that he shouldn't make things easy for the Doc, and spindashed through all of the repair 'bots he saw. A couple blocks from the fortress proper, Robotnik's new power plant was up in flames. The fortress itself now sported several new dents in one side, and Robotnik's prized SWATbot factory had been mysteriously turned offline a couple minutes earlier.
Sonic ran to the rooftop of a nearby building and looked out at the fruits of his labor with a satisfied grin. Man, he'd missed doing this.
Sonic took a deep breath and yelled towards the fortress, "Happy Day of Independence, Doc!"
Sonic sped away towards the Great Forest as a group of SWATbots opened fire in his direction.
Then he turned a corner and came nose-to-spike with Metal Sonic.
"Hiya, Mecha!" Sonic exclaimed with a cheeky wave. "Kick-butt weather we've been having, huh?"
"Hello, Sssssonic." Was the hissed reply. The robot glanced over Sonic's shoulder at the destruction beyond. "I see you've been busy."
"I like to keep busy." Sonic nonchalantly replied while casually inspecting some dirt on one of his gloves. "As for you?"
"Same old, same old." Mecha replied, mimicking Sonic's attitude. Without warning, his hand shot out in a low swipe that Sonic deftly dodged. "Hunting down and catching blue hedgehogs and such."
Sonic made a taunting face in the robot's direction. "Ha! You couldn't even catch your breath if you tried!"
"A completely irrelevant observation, considering I don't breathe." Mecha stated drily before opening fire. Sonic dodged every shot, grinning like an idiot and enjoying every moment of it.
"Oh man! Your aiming sucks, Mecha!" Sonic laughed before speeding away. Metal Sonic pursued him openly, red eyes glowing bright.
Sonic switched streets randomly, not really caring which path led to where. At one point he found himself at a dead end. He stopped and turned around to face Mecha, a confident smile on his face.
"You've been rather quiet these few weeks." Mecha observed as he approached. "But now you come and demolish my master's nice new power plant and factory. Why?"
"Yes." Sonic answered.
Mecha blinked. "What?"
"Yes." Sonic repeated, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "It's the ultimate answer. If you actually have to ask me that question, then I'm amazed you've got a computer for a brain."
Mecha's eyes dimmed in the robotic equivalent of an annoyed sigh. "Your conversational skills bore me, Hedgehog. Just shut up and die."
Sonic leaped above the initial barrage of lasers and started speeding up the walls of the dead-end alley. He leaped onto the roof of the building, then crouched and waited for Mecha to follow.
Metal Sonic was very surprised to be greeted by a spindash in the face when he cleared the edge of the rooftop, and flailed around as Sonic's momentum threw them off the roof and into open air.
"Insolent rodent!" Mecha yelled. As they were falling, Sonic gleefully socked Mecha in the face over and over, maximizing the damage he caused. Both hedgehogs crashed to the ground in a tangled heap, Mecha taking the brunt of the impact since he'd been below Sonic when they landed. Mecha fought like a caged wildcat, enraged that Sonic had tricked him into taking a direct hit. Sonic leaped out of range with ease, blew a raspberry at Metal Sonic, then dashed away while the robot attempted to retaliate.
Sonic was still laughing when he arrived back in Knothole ten seconds later.
Mecha slowly dragged his dented, broken body back to Robotnik's Repair Bay. He had failed again. He clenched his fists so tight that sparks spat from his steel palms. He HATED losing!
His one eye that was still working properly burned a baleful red with unsupressed rage.
Sonic would pay for this.
A fanfiction by Stoney
BORING LEGAL STUFF: Sonic the hedgehog and all related persons/places are copyright SEGA, DiC Productions, and so on, blah, blah, blah, yakety- smackety, yadda yadda, et cetera. I dare any respectable lawyer to actually get up enough courage to try READING these stupid disclaimers! No, seriously!
Chapter I Encounter
"You're kidding." Sonic stared in shock, mouth slightly agape.
The young buck shook his head rapidly. He looked as if he had been running at high speed for a long time. Light from the late morning sun slanted through the trees and sparkled on the sweat dripping past his long curved antlers and down his face. His chest heaved slightly with each breath. "No, I'm not." He gasped. "I could see the explosions from my post. Something bad is definitely going on near Knothole, Sonic."
"Thanks for the info!" Sonic said, alarmed. "I'll take care of it. You should get back to your post!" With that, he was gone, a tiny dust cloud marking his trail into the woods. The buck ran off in a different direction, towards one of Knothole's guard towers.
Sonic pushed himself to go faster. Beneath him, his pounding feet blurred into an indistinct red mass. Trees, bushes, and all manner of forest life sped by him at speeds that made them unrecognizable. The wind whipped about him, blowing his spines back and flattening his ears against his head. Inside his brain, his thoughts were speeding along just as fast. Knothole! His home, not to mention that of his friends, and one of the core bases of the Freedom Fighters. If something happened to it-
He slammed his mental doors shut before that thought could proceed further.
He began pumping his arms to the rhythm of his feet, increasing his speed slightly. Nothing would happen, he mentally scolded himself. He'd arrive, take care of the problem and everything would be cool again. Things would be fine. His doubt wasn't convinced, though, and continued to gnaw at the back of his mind like an irritating itch that he couldn't reach.
There! He spotted the familiar wooden stump that served as the hidden entrance to Knothole. Screeching to a halt and leaving twin skid-marks on the ground, he jogged over to a nearby tree and pulled a vine that was hung loosely around its branches. The top of the stump swung upward silently, revealing a cylindrical hollowed-out tube inside. This was the Great Oak Slide, one of the main routes to Knothole and the one he was about to use. With a small jump, he fell feet-first into the tube, whose top closed after him automatically.
Down, down, down, around a couple curves, through a long straight stretch, past a steep spiral, around another curve. The slide twisted and turned like a coiled rattlesnake, travelling through a wide underground tunnel which sloped down into the ground. It was black as pitch inside, but Sonic knew the entire route by heart. For extra protection, he tucked his arms and knees to his chest and curled up into a spiny blue ball, keeping his face and limbs safe. This allowed him to roll down the slide even faster than before. Sharp turn to the right, gentle downward slope, another right turn, horizontal loop-de-loop, then a series of turns that would make anyone unused to them sick. Almost there.
Blinding light hit Sonic in the face as he flew out the end of the tunnel and landed on a large pile of hay. He uncurled and stood up, looking around suspiciously.
The area where he had landed was in front of Knothole's main square, which contained a fireplace in its center, now smoking and still. Huts dotted the worn dirt paths that led away from the area in several directions. Behind him, he knew, was one of the two mountains that created the valley where Knothole resided. It climbed upward to meet the rest of the forest, and then leveled off to become flat with the landscape surrounding the valley. Tall, mighty trees towered up above. They served a double purpose: not only were they highly useful for shade on hot days, but their massive green canopies completely camouflaged the entire area from aerial view. The trees had grown so tall that their tops were on the same elevation with the other trees growing in the rest of the forest. It was the perfect place for a hidden base, and had only been discovered once, by accident.
Sonic slid off the hay pile and began walking along one of the dirt paths. Everything was quiet, as far as he could tell. Birds twittered above. Leaves rustled in the light wind. One of the wooden huts he walked by gave a weary creak. Sonic stopped and put his hands on his hips, confused. Where was everybody?
One of Sonic's ears twitched as a small boom and a sharp whistling came from somewhere behind him. Sonic spun around 180 degrees and scanned the area for the source of the sound. He didn't see anything unusual. He looked all around himself in a circle. Nothing. The whistling seemed to be getting louder, though. Sonic scratched his forehead in puzzlement. Then he looked up.
He spotted the object a millisecond before the collision. The world around him exploded into multicolored flashes of light, then abruptly faded into darkness.
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Tails opened the door to his hut and yawned. Gosh, he'd slept a long time that day. Still, he now felt rested and ready to go. He stretched, working the kinks out of his arms and legs. Feeling much better, he began to walk in the direction of the Conference Room, which also served as the village cafeteria. Time for him to get something to eat, he decided. He patted his stomach and licked his lips as he visualized the food. He hadn't woken up in time to eat breakfast that morning, and as a result his appetite had been doubled.
He turned a corner and the building came into view-
-along with Sonic, whose back was flying towards him at high speed. Tails yelled and leaped backwards as Sonic's body soared past, missing him by less than an inch and trailing dark smoke. Sonic sailed between several of Knothole's huts and smacked solidly into a tree, where he slid down to the ground and lay still, eyes closed. Soot covered him from head to toe, but Tails could still see several burns marring Sonic's body. Tails looked around the corner in the direction Sonic had been thrown from. What he saw was a blackened, sooty crater smoking in the middle of the path.
Horrified, Tails began to yell for help.
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Sonic slowly woke like a deep-sea diver, swimming up towards the surface of consciousness. Gradually his senses returned to him. He could feel himself lying on a soft surface. Something warm was covering his body, but stopped at his chest. Somebody was saying something, but he couldn't understand what it was. His hearing began to clarify itself, and soon the words resolved into basic Mobian.
"Hey doc! I think he's waking up!"
Sonic opened his eyes. At first all he could see were colored blurs. He blinked, and the surroundings focused into familiar shapes. He was in Knothole's medical hut, lying in a clean white bed and covered with blankets. Standing around him were several of his friends from the Freedom Fighter resistance group.
"Are you OK, Sonic?" Asked a very worried Tails from where he was standing on Sonic's left. The twin appendages that gave him his name twitched restlessly in anxiety.
Sonic gave a small smile to reassure his companion and slowly sat up. The sheets covering him fell into his lap, revealing bandages on his chest, stomach, and arms. He remembered what had happened and his hands flew to his head, where they could feel several other bandages there. "What hit me?" He groaned. "I feel like Robuttnik tried to sit on my head."
More than one of the Freedom Fighters cracked a grin at this remark. Sally, who was standing on Sonic's right, began to explain.
"Well, you know that the Day of Independence is next week, right?"
Sonic nodded. The Day of Independence. The anniversary of the formation of the Acorn Kingdom, the Day was celebrated each year by the Freedom Fighter groups.
"Well, we were planning on taking a trip out to the Great Unknown and having a celebration then, and we were testing some new types of fireworks that Rotor came up with for the occasion."
"Everything was going fine until one of the prototypes malfunctioned and flew into Knothole." Rotor continued from his spot at the foot of Sonic's bed. "We think it's what hit you."
"Yah've been outta it fah awhile, shugah." Bunnie remarked from beside Antoine. "We-all were right worried 'bout yah."
"Well, I'm okay now." Sonic replied. A flash of pain seared through his head, and he winced. "Or not. Ouch."
Sally pushed him gently back down onto his pillow. "The doctor told us that you suffered a minor concussion and several second-degree burns from the explosion. You're still not done healing, so you need to rest for the next few days."
"But Sal," Sonic whined, "if I stay here, I might miss the party!"
"I'll be recording it on tape in case you do." Rotor spoke up. "You won't miss the show."
"The show isn't what I want to be there for, the food is!" Sonic retorted. "Uncle Chuck said he was gonna fix a batch of his chili dogs! I can't miss out on those!!"
"Sonic," Sally replied sternly, "you are going to stay here until you get better, you got that?"
Sonic sat up again and stared at her defiantly. "Just try and make me!"
Sally accepted that gladly. "Fine. Since I outrank you, I command you to remain here until your wounds are fully healed." She folded her arms and arched an eyebrow at him. "That's a royal order, Sonic!"
Sonic's jaw dropped slightly as he looked at Sally. "You're pulling rank on me?"
Sally nodded, expression still stern.
Sonic's mouth worked soundlessly for a few seconds, then he folded his arms and gritted his teeth, looking angrily at some spot on his sheets. He seemed very much like a five-year-old denied one of his wants.
Tails reached out and gingerly touched Sonic's elbow. "It'll be okay, Sonic. We'll bring you back some of the food."
Sonic gave Tails a sideways glance, then relaxed with a sigh. "Okay, then. Thanks, big guy." He smiled.
At that point the doctor walked into Sonic's field of vision and told everybody to please leave and let him get some sleep. All of them obeyed except for Sally, who stuck around long enough to give Sonic a quick peck on the cheek and whisper in his ear for him to get better soon. Sonic blushed, making his fur look purple. "Awww, Sal, not here!" He complained, embarrassed. Sally exited the room wearing a rather mischievous smile, and Sonic was left alone.
Sonic sighed and looked around for something to do. He didn't feel the least bit tired, so sleeping was out of the question. His legs twitched restlessly. They weren't used to staying in one position for so long, and wanted to go running. Sonic sympathized, but Sally had told him to stay here, so here he was stuck.
Sonic twiddled his thumbs, bored. If only he had something else to do! If only-
A knock at the door to his room interrupted his thoughts. "Come in." He called out.
The door opened to admit a pink hedgehog wearing a nurse's outfit. Sonic blanched.
"Hi Sonic!" Amy yipped excitedly. "How're you doing? I was so worried when I heard about what happened! Are you all right? Do you need anything? Are you hurt? Is everything okay? You should get lots of sleep, you know, because that's the only way you'll heal. I heard something about a big celebration coming on the Day of Independence. Is it true? I hope it is. Did the other Freedom Fighters visit you just now? I saw them leaving, so they probably did. So what's going on?" She said all of this very fast. Sonic's head was spinning by the time she finished.
"A-amy," He croaked out, "why are you dressed like that?"
Amy gave a high-pitched giggle before starting off again. "They let me be your nursemaid! Isn't it cool? Now I'll be able to take care of you, just like you took care of me! I'll bring you your meals, help you get around, make your bed, and anything else you need! Oh, this is so awesome! I'll be able to be with you all the time, now! What do you think of my uniform, do you like it? They just gave it to me, I hope it fits. So, what do you think?"
Sonic felt like he was going to be sick. "Yeah. It's great." He mumbled unenthusiastically.
Amy squealed and clasped her hands in front of her, bouncing up and down. "Really?? You really, really like it? Oh, YAY! Sonic likes my uniform! Yippee! Hee-hee!"
Sonic held a hand to his forehead to ease the throbbing headache he suddenly had. He mustered up all the patience he had in order to speak calmly. "Amy," He asked, "could you please quiet down a little bit? Please?"
Amy's expression suddenly became sympathetic. "Oh no, do you have a headache? Poor Sonic! Don't worry, I'll go get you some aspirin! It'll take the pain away in a jiffy! Be right back!" She ran out the door and was gone.
Sonic looked around the room wildly. Now was his chance to escape. Royal order or no, there was no way he was going to stay in this madhouse with her as his nurse. Uh-uh. Forget it.
A window! Sonic leaped out of bed and immediately regretted it as his head throbbed painfully. Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the pain, he staggered across the room to the window and opened it. Lifting one foot and placing it on the edge, he prepared to jump to freedom.
The door opened behind him. "Sonic, I'm back!"
Sonic froze on the spot. There came a gasp from behind him and the sound of a bottle clattering to the floor. "Sonic! What are you doing? You know you're not supposed to leave until you're better!" Amy reprimanded him while grabbing him by one arm.
Sonic jerked out of her grip. "Ack! No! Stay away from me!" He yelled, scrambling to get the rest of the way out of the window.
Amy took out a whistle that hung on a chain around her neck and blew a piercing note on it. "SECURITY!"
It eventually required two really strong guys to drag Sonic, kicking and screaming, back through the window into bed. Four more than that were needed to hold him down when Amy decided to inject him with a sedative. Afterwards Sonic was moved to a private room without any windows.
Over the next several days Sonic received many visitors, not to mention gifts and get-well cards. A surprise came on the third day of his "imprisonment" (as he called it) when Knuckles walked into Sonic's room.
Sonic looked up from one of his cards he was reading, blinked in surprise, and sat up with a grin. "Knux! How're you doin', man?" He asked while shaking the echidna's huge hand. "Wow, it's great to see you. It's been torture down here."
Knuckles grinned. "I'd imagine it would be. That's why I decided to drop by."
The smile faded from Sonic's face. "No, Knux. I'm serious. You have absolutely no idea how bad it's been. Do you know who they let be my nursemaid?"
Knuckles shook his head while absently looking at the pile of momentos on Sonic's beside table. "No. Who is it?"
The door opened to admit an overenthusiastic Amy carrying a tray laden with food. She walked up to Sonic, placed the tray on his lap, and walked back out the door, all while talking endlessly. "Lunch time! Here you go, Sonic! Make sure you eat everything, now! Hi Knuckles! How are you doing? Really? That's nice. Visitors are only allowed until five, so don't stay too long! If there's anything else you need, just ring the bell! I'll be happy to do it! Bye! See ya! So long!"
The door closed behind her, and the room descended into heavy silence. Knuckles looked at Sonic with wide eyes. "Oh, man."
Sonic returned the look. "Yeah, you better believe it." He said grimly before taking a bite of his food. "They had to sedate me after I first found out."
"I hope you're exaggerating."
"I wish." Sonic mumbled through his food.
Knuckles' eyes grew even wider. "Wow."
"Yeah."
Eager for a change of subject, Knuckles once again noticed the large pile of cards and presents next to Sonic's bed. "Gee, it seems like you've got a lot of fans." He joked while picking one up.
Sonic brightened. "Yeah, wouldn't you know it? That one's from one of my friends on Little Planet. His name's Ray the Squirrel."
Knuckles cocked an eyebrow in Sonic's direction. "Ray? I thought you met him before the Little Planet fiasco."
Sonic grinned and took another bite. "Yeah, I did, but he decided to move to Little Planet after I told him about my adventure there. He's been there ever since."
Knuckles blinked. "Oh.okay. How'd you get it if he lives on Little Planet? Doesn't that place time warp constantly?"
Sonic gave him an odd look. "Two days ago was when Little Planet annually appears over Never Lake. Weren't you there?"
Knuckles shook his head, causing his dreadlocks to swing. "No, I was busy looking after the Floating Island."
Sonic shrugged. "Well, we established radio contact with them and told 'em the whole story. Ray sent the card just before they warped."
"Ah." Knuckles nodded and set the card back in the pile before picking up another one. "Hey, this one's from the Flickies!" He exclaimed. The Flickies were a race of superintelligent birds that Sonic had gone on an adventure with not too long ago.
Sonic glanced over Knuckles' shoulder and nodded. "Yup, sure is. Specifically, it's from Nimbus and Cirrus. They were imprisoned inside some of the E-100 series robots before I freed them."
Knuckles stared at the blue hedgehog. "You're joking. Why didn't you ever tell me that before?"
Sonic's grin turned into a sly smile. "You never asked. Say, how is the Island doing? Anybody tried to steal the Master Emerald yet?"
Knuckles groaned. "Don't even say it! It's been a real job helping it recover, but I think it's starting to show some improvement. The times that the Master Emerald went missing really messed up the environment, though. It'll be a while before things are completely normal again."
"What's up with the Chaotix lately?"
Knuckles visibly brightened at the mention of his teammates. "They're doing great! I keep catching Charmy playing in Lava Reef, though. Why he'd want to play there is beyond me, but it's supposed to be off-limits." He shrugged. "Maybe I should put up some more security systems down there. Or maybe not. Vector thinks he's found a new section of Marble Gardens that got uncovered when the island splashed down last time. I doubt it, though."
Sonic nodded. "What about Mighty and Espio?"
Knux grinned. "Espio keeps trying to sucker us into playing hide-and-seek with him. So far, I've been the only one to find him when he "hides". As for Mighty, he's playing guard duty in case Rouge comes around again."
Sonic cocked his head to the side. "She been botherin' ya again?"
"You don't know the half of it. I think she's worse than Amy is, Sonic."
Sonic gave a low whistle. "She's pretty bad, then."
The door opened again, and Amy walked back into the room. "Well, speak of the devil." Sonic muttered.
"It's 5:03." Amy told Knuckles in a bossy, no-nonsense tone of voice. "Visiting time is over! We need to let my Sonic get some rest!" She began to push Knuckles towards the door, making shooing motions with her hands. "You can come back again tomorrow if you want. Okay? Okay. Goodbye!"
"See you later, Sonic!" Knux called out before Amy shut the door behind him.
Sonic could have sworn he was going insane over the next few days from the sheer amount of exposure to Amy. He was still making sense on the day he was to be checked out, luckily.
Apart from the fact that he ran out the door to the medical hut and through Knothole at several hundred miles an hour while screaming "I'M FREE!" and laughing maniacally, he seemed fine.
And apart from the fact that he kept babbling about evil pink monsters trying to kill him, he appeared okay.
And apart from how he woke up at night screaming in terror, he acted normally.
And besides the strange eye tic he'd developed, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
Robotnik sat back in his command center chair and sighed.
It wasn't his normal kind of hopeless, I-hate-that-hedgehog sigh. This sigh was the kind that showed he was relaxed and comfortable.
He sipped from an enormous coffee mug that he held in both hands. The liquid inside the mug wasn't coffee, but what he deemed "the good stuff": 50% Oil, 20%lemon juice and 30% caffeine.
He took another sip. Ah yes, delicious.
Idly he reached over and pressed a button on the armrest of his chair. From hidden speakers in the walls, a soft ambient music began playing. Robotnik rumbled in pleasure and took another sip.
This was the kind of day which he enjoyed. Nothing important to do, no big plans that required his attention, no blue hedgehogs giving him ulcers. The SWATbot factories were running smoothly, a new power plant was up and functional, the Freedom Fighters hadn't attacked for days now (which was highly unusual), and Robotnik had decided that a little vacation time was in order.
Robotnik took a sip. It was almost too good to be true.
WHAM. The room shook and rumbled as a far-off explosion was heard. Alarm lights began going off in the room, and his beloved music was replaced with the shrill wail of a siren. Robotnik was so startled that he accidentally dropped his mug. The glass cup crashed to the floor and shattered, spilling "the good stuff" everywhere. Robotnik attempted to sit up, but another tremor rocked the fortress at that moment and threw him onto the shards of his former coffee mug. Smoke began to pour in the room from outside.
Robotnik banged both fists down on the floor and screamed, "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!!!"
Sonic laughed helplessly as he watched Robotnik's forces attempt to fix the destruction he'd just caused. Still giggling, he decided that he shouldn't make things easy for the Doc, and spindashed through all of the repair 'bots he saw. A couple blocks from the fortress proper, Robotnik's new power plant was up in flames. The fortress itself now sported several new dents in one side, and Robotnik's prized SWATbot factory had been mysteriously turned offline a couple minutes earlier.
Sonic ran to the rooftop of a nearby building and looked out at the fruits of his labor with a satisfied grin. Man, he'd missed doing this.
Sonic took a deep breath and yelled towards the fortress, "Happy Day of Independence, Doc!"
Sonic sped away towards the Great Forest as a group of SWATbots opened fire in his direction.
Then he turned a corner and came nose-to-spike with Metal Sonic.
"Hiya, Mecha!" Sonic exclaimed with a cheeky wave. "Kick-butt weather we've been having, huh?"
"Hello, Sssssonic." Was the hissed reply. The robot glanced over Sonic's shoulder at the destruction beyond. "I see you've been busy."
"I like to keep busy." Sonic nonchalantly replied while casually inspecting some dirt on one of his gloves. "As for you?"
"Same old, same old." Mecha replied, mimicking Sonic's attitude. Without warning, his hand shot out in a low swipe that Sonic deftly dodged. "Hunting down and catching blue hedgehogs and such."
Sonic made a taunting face in the robot's direction. "Ha! You couldn't even catch your breath if you tried!"
"A completely irrelevant observation, considering I don't breathe." Mecha stated drily before opening fire. Sonic dodged every shot, grinning like an idiot and enjoying every moment of it.
"Oh man! Your aiming sucks, Mecha!" Sonic laughed before speeding away. Metal Sonic pursued him openly, red eyes glowing bright.
Sonic switched streets randomly, not really caring which path led to where. At one point he found himself at a dead end. He stopped and turned around to face Mecha, a confident smile on his face.
"You've been rather quiet these few weeks." Mecha observed as he approached. "But now you come and demolish my master's nice new power plant and factory. Why?"
"Yes." Sonic answered.
Mecha blinked. "What?"
"Yes." Sonic repeated, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "It's the ultimate answer. If you actually have to ask me that question, then I'm amazed you've got a computer for a brain."
Mecha's eyes dimmed in the robotic equivalent of an annoyed sigh. "Your conversational skills bore me, Hedgehog. Just shut up and die."
Sonic leaped above the initial barrage of lasers and started speeding up the walls of the dead-end alley. He leaped onto the roof of the building, then crouched and waited for Mecha to follow.
Metal Sonic was very surprised to be greeted by a spindash in the face when he cleared the edge of the rooftop, and flailed around as Sonic's momentum threw them off the roof and into open air.
"Insolent rodent!" Mecha yelled. As they were falling, Sonic gleefully socked Mecha in the face over and over, maximizing the damage he caused. Both hedgehogs crashed to the ground in a tangled heap, Mecha taking the brunt of the impact since he'd been below Sonic when they landed. Mecha fought like a caged wildcat, enraged that Sonic had tricked him into taking a direct hit. Sonic leaped out of range with ease, blew a raspberry at Metal Sonic, then dashed away while the robot attempted to retaliate.
Sonic was still laughing when he arrived back in Knothole ten seconds later.
Mecha slowly dragged his dented, broken body back to Robotnik's Repair Bay. He had failed again. He clenched his fists so tight that sparks spat from his steel palms. He HATED losing!
His one eye that was still working properly burned a baleful red with unsupressed rage.
Sonic would pay for this.