Prologue
“Ok big drip, what’s your game?” asked Sonic in a mocking tone.
The creature standing before Sonic continued to stare at him beading green eyes. It doesn’t seem capable of responding to the hedgehog’s taunt, but it does seem more irritated as it takes a more aggressive stance.
“Not big on conversations are ya,” said Sonic. “That’s fine. I prefer to let my actions do the talking for me too.”
Sonic takes his own fighting stance, putting one foot in front of the other as if getting ready to charge. It’s obvious that this creature is strong seeing as its body just absorbed loads of gun fire from the local authorities mere moments ago without so much as a scratch on it.
The way its body was structured wasn’t like anything else Sonic fought before. Its entire body seems to be made up of a light blue liquid resembling some kind of water and it seems to have a glowing sort of brain floating in the mix. It was also anthropedic with three claws on each of its hands and two toes on each foot. It also didn’t seem to have anything resembling a face aside from the glowing green eyes.
Sonic simply stared down the creature and smiled cockily.
“Your move,” he said
On que, the creature leapt toward Sonic with claws at the ready. It was defiantly fast, but for Sonic this kind of speed was child’s play. As the creature’s hand came down Sonic sidestepped and avoided the blow. He followed up with a spin dash, charging straight through it, taking off its right arm.
Sonic came to a stop and looked back at the damage dealt. The creature’s arm was nothing more than a puddle on the ground and the liquid monster itself simply looked back at Sonic and made a low growl.
“Hey you came at me,” said Sonic with a smile, “I just returned the favor.”
The creature stood there without any show of pain. It looked down at the puddle that used to be its arm and in that instant the puddle started to move toward him. It moved up into its leg and reformed its missing arm without any noticeable seems. That was a bit concerning.
“Well you’re full of surprises aren’t ya?” said Sonic.
The creature lifted its newly formed arm and fired a small projectile of pure energy from its claws. Sonic noticed the attack in time and jumped high into the air, the tips of hid shoes barely avoiding the blast.
The creature jumped up after him and started swiping its vicious claws rapidly at the hedgehog. Sonic had to maneuver his body constantly to avoid being impaled by the rather large appendages. As the pair got closer and closer to the ground the creature got more aggressive with its strikes as it tried to hit its fast moving target. As it did Sonic smirked with a cheeky grin.
“My turn!” he yelled.
Sonic curled up into a ball and started to rapidly spin into the attacks themselves. They made contact, but both attacks were canceling each other out, creating a flurry of shockwaves. Sonic, still rolling furiously down toward hid foe, increased his speed making the blue ball seem to narrow and push with much greater force.
After applying a little more pressure, the creature’s back impacted with the concrete ground. Its body fall apart into one large puddle letting Sonic’s spin dash run right through it. Parts of the liquid flew into the air as Sonic spun away. After getting a good distance away he drifted while still spinning and raced back toward the puddle.
The liquid which was scattered about moved back towards each other and already began forming a new body. The head was just taking shape when a blue blur ripped through it once again, splitting it in half. Sonic grinded to a halt and looked back at the damage done. The head remained split down the middle as the body of the creature melted back into its unstable puddle state.
Sonic stared at his work with a smile and rubbed his nose cockily.
Space Colony ARK was an engineering marvel. As the top facility for a secret government project 50 years ago, it was installed with every piece of modern technology to produce the maximum efficiency. However, at this point all it offers is the means for a specific doctor to complete his selfish desires.
As the machinery of the massive station worked to endless means, two streaks of light ran side by side down the long chasms of the inner workings; one blue, one red. Trading blows the two streaks reveal two hedgehogs locked in speedy combat along the scaffolding.
“You never cease to surprise me blue hedgehog,” the black hedgehog said in slight admiration, “I thought that capsule you were in exploded in space.”
“You know me,” Sonic said with a smile, “I die hard.”
Shadow the Hedgehog, the result of the ARK’s Project Shadow, delivered a flurry of kicks toward his cocky counterpart. Sonic countered them with kicks of his own, canceling out each other’s attacks.
While the two hedgehogs are completely different in turns of personality, they do share some characteristics. From the get go Shadow has been able to match Sonic in both speed and strength alongside his own abilities. He even managed to manipulate chaos energy and has even been able to use a single Chaos Emerald to mimic Chaos Control.
With their attacks constantly countering each other the hedgehogs began to run out of running space on their little runway. As they reached the end of the path they both jumped into the air, each launching a homing attack at the other. They both came to a halt as they collided, sparks flying as they spun into one another.
Locked in a battle of endurance, they spiraled down toward a large, circular platform. They separated and landed feet first on the cold metal.
Shadow stared down the blue hedgehog eyeing a particular dimmed, yellow emerald in his hand. Sonic tossed the emerald into the air, catching it as it fell.
“You actually saved me, you know,” said Sonic.
It was a Chaos Emerald wasn’t it?” Shadow asked in a confused tone. “But…there’s no way you could’ve activated the Chaos Control…using an emerald that’s fake.”
Sonic simply rubbed his nose with a smirk. Shadow gave a smirk of his own.
“So…there’s more to you than just looking like me,” Shadow stated. “What are you anyway?”
“What you see is what you get,” said Sonic gesturing toward himself, “just a guy that loves adventure. I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”
“I see,” said Shadow, “but you know that I can’t let you live!”
Shadow got into a fighting stance, getting ready to rush his opponent. Sonic followed suit and got into a stance of his own.
“Vanish!” yelled Shadow as he charged Sonic, pulling his fist back.
Sonic jumped, avoiding the attack, but looking back down he noticed that Shadow was missing. With realization, Sonic looked back up and launched a kick. The kick collided with Shadow’s as he came down. The two jumped away from each other and landed before rushing each other once again. As they met they began striking at each other with combinations of punches and kicks, each one colliding with the other. To the naked eye, the two would just look like wild blurs, but to them each move was instantly able to be identified and countered. Sonic then brought his foot up and swung it at Shadow’s head. Shadow easily saw this and ducked right under it, feeling the wind from the strength behind it. Before Sonic could recover, Shadow delivered a powerful punch to his stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying back. He landed, but just barely keeping his composure as he coughed.
“Even now you’re still no match for me,” mocked Shadow.
“Then…” Sonic said struggling to get back to his feet, “…I’ll just use your technique!”
Scoffing once more, Shadow closed his fist to his side. Sonic rushed the hedgehog readying his own fist.
“Chaos…” started Shadow.
Sonic took his fake Chaos Emerald in his hand and narrowed his eyes at Shadow.
“Chaos…” started Sonic.
“…spear!” Shadow yelled as he swiped his hand across the area in front of him, releasing a barrage of spear-like energy blasts.
“…control!” yelled Sonic.
The barrage of spears impacted at Sonic’s feet causing smoke and metal to erupt on spot. Shadow simply stood in place waiting to see the results. As the smoke cleared he waited in anticipation for his foe to try and make another move. It may have been a powerful blast, but he knew Sonic has survived worse. It’s possible that this fight isn’t over yet.
To his surprise, the smoke revealed nothing but a badly damaged metal floor. Shadow readied himself, preparing for another attack.
“Game over Shadow!” yelled a voice to his right side.
Before Shadow could react, a blue ball smashed into his face at full force. Shadow was sent flying into a nearby wall as Sonic uncurls and skids to a halt, causing a small number of sparks to fly from his shoes.
As Sonic stood up Shadow was struggling to lift himself from his humiliating position that his foe put him into.
Looking up at the blue hedgehog he smirked and said, “Not bad faker…”
In a way, Sonic kind of felt bad for the black and red hedgehog. He was defiantly one of his most interesting opponents yet. He was excited at the idea of fighting him. But now he felt a bit of pity towards him. Working for a maniacal doctor isn’t really a good path for someone like him to follow.
Brushing those thoughts aside, Sonic turned away to look for the control center to the station’s main gun. As long as he started now he should be able to stop it in time. Unknown to him, however, was the dark purple aura that started to envelope Shadow.
Sonic’s footsteps echoed as he walked through the large halls of the massive palace. It was eerily quiet for his taste considering everything he had to go through in order to get here.
“Are you sure this is the right place Shara?” asked Sonic. “You’d think that we’d be done by now.”
In response to his question, a women wearing traditional Royal Arab clothing appeared floating to his side.
“I assure you Sonic,” said the woman known as Shara, “Erazor Djin isn’t one to back down from a challenge, especially now that you’ve pushed him this far.”
“Hey, I found the seven rings, beat his cronies to a pulp on multiple occasions, and broke into his supposedly impenetrable fortress!” bragged Sonic. “Usually the big baddy finally decides to tighten his belt and come out for one last showdown. I mean at this point it might as well be tradition.”
“Then I won’t disappoint you rat!” said a voice coming from behind him as Shara quickly disappeared.
In a moment’s notice, Sonic spun around to see a large, curved blade inches from slicing him in half. In one quick movement Sonic leaned as far back as he could in an attempt to avoid the blade. He turned his head to the side as an extra precaution as to not let his nose get caught in its path.
As the blade passed over the blue hedgehog he noticed a large figure with a long cape holding it by the hilt with a smirk on his face. Once the attack had passed Sonic jumped away from the figure as to put some distance between him and his foe. As Sonic looked up at the new enemy he noticed small blue hairs slowly floating to the ground…his hairs. Putting his hand to the side of his head he felt a small amount of blood slowly dripping from a small cut most likely caused by the blade.
Clenching his fist, he looked at the tall, cloaked figure.
“Talk about a close shave Erazor,” said Sonic, “but next time you could leave a little length.”
Erazor unfurled his cloak to reveal his muscly build and pointed his sword toward Sonic, giving him a wicked grin.
“Shara,” said Erazor, “this pathetic rodent you call an ally cannot best my power. You know this. Simply surrender the rings to me and I may spare his life.”
“Hey!” yelled Sonic. “You’re the one who’s been hiding in the shadows the whole time, and that little sneak attack you pulled kind of shows that you aren’t very keen on fighting me one-on-one!”
“It does not matter what the situation is,” said Erazor with confidence. “I will always best you rat.”
“I told you before that I’m no rat!” Sonic yelled. “I’m a hedgehog!”
Sonic burst toward Erazor and in a split second delivered a powerful spin attack. Erazor quickly lifted his sword and blocked the attack, although was pushed back a small distance by the force. Erazor in response clenched his fist and disappeared as a cloud of smoke. Sonic was taken back a bit at the strange technique and readied himself for when Erazor would strike.
‘Okay,” Sonic thought, ‘I can’t see him like this so he defiantly has the advantage here. Although I bet he has to reform into his old self for that sword of his to be of any use. Smoke isn’t exactly the greatest thing for striking me down.’
Hearing the sound of a faint breeze he turned to see a cloud of smoke spinning behind him, reforming a rapidly spinning Erazor with his sword in hand. Erazor brought it down, ready to cut the hedgehog in two. Sonic quickly sidestepped the attack and jumped into the air and landed on the side of the large blade as Erazor simply stood there in annoyance.
“Take this!” yelled Sonic as he flipped backwards to connect his foot with the genie’s chin.
The impact from the strike was enough to send Erazor flying into the air as Sonic landed perfectly on his feet.
Sonic smirked as he looked at the now disgruntled genie and yelled, “Game over!”
As Erazor’s body hit the floor, however, it dissolved into ash, littering the floor with black soot. Sonic looked at the impact spot with confusion in his eyes.
“Sonic! It’s a trap!” yelled Shara from her invisible form.
Before he could react Sonic felt cold steel resting on the back of his neck and he froze. Cautiously, he turned his head to see Erazor standing there with hid hand behind his back and the edge of his sword at Sonic’s nape.
“A simple clone my friend,” explained Erazor. “You fell for one of my simplest tricks.”
What concerned Sonic most was not the fact that he’d been duped, but of the new look of his foe. Erazor was now enveloped in a dark purple aura and his eyes glowed a menacing red. In some way, it seemed that Erazor was completely different.
“What do you mean history is changing!?” said the scratchy voice of a male.
“It means what it sounds like,” said the calm voice of a female. “The history which we’ve come to know is starting to become distorted. In time, I believe that it will completely disrupt the balance of time itself…it must be corrected soon.”
“Then send me!” suggested the male. “I’ve handled worse before!”
A silence took over the two.
“I…I can’t…” she said dejectedly.
“What!? But why!?” he asked.
“Whatever is causing this has also put up a number of powerful barriers,” she explained. “Because of them we can’t become involved in these past events.”
“Then we can’t do anything…” he said.
“Actually,” she started, “there may be a way.”
This caught the male’s attention.
“If I’m correct, I believe that the only reason we can’t do anything is that the barriers themselves see us as a threat for our previous involvement in the timeline.” she explained. “In other words, anyone who was part of it is immediately blocked. Although, someone whose had no involvement might be able to pass through.”
“Okay…” he said, “but where do we find someone like that? I mean you’d need someone who could keep up with the enemies that Sonic faces.”
“I may know a way to find out,” she said.
To be continued…