The following short story is based on characters created and copyrighted by SEGA! Enterprises. All other characters were created and copyrighted by Roland Lowery. The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long as it remains intact and unaltered, and the transfer of monetary units is not involved. Questions, comments, suggestions, complaints? Send them to me at . I enjoy hearing from people who can spell. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quote for the day: "Men don't change. The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know." -Harry S Truman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crystalline Fires - Prolouge by Roland Lowery FIFTY MILES above the planet known to its inhabitants as Mobius, a battle was raging between a hedgehog and a scientist. The hedgehog was none other than Sonic T. Hedgehog, the self proclaimed Fastest Thing Alive, and was currently powered by the Super Emeralds, making him Hyper Sonic. The scientist was the would-be ruler of the planet, Doctor Ivo Robotnik, who was trying to keep his badly damaged Robo-suit aloft and clinging to the Master Emerald. Hyper Sonic propelled himself forward and grabbed the last few Power Rings floating towards him. As soon as they were absorbed into his body, he blasted forward again and shot through the hull of the Robo-suit, causing all of its systems to fail. As he grabbed the Master Emerald from the huge hands of the trashed suit, Hyper Sonic watched as Robotnik cursed at him from the cockpit. Suddenly, the last ring he had in reserve was used up by the Super Emeralds, and he found himself falling as well . . . He awoke to the sensation of wind swirling all around him, all around him except for . . . below him! He sat up to find that he was laying on the top wing of the Tornado, the plane that belonged to his buddy Miles "Tails" Prower. He looked down as Tails looked up at him from the pilot's seat and gave him a thumbs up. The fox then jerked a thumb behind him to show that the Tornado's clamp had been able to snag the Master Emerald in time, and then pointed downward to show the crash landing of Robotnik's Robo-suit. Slowly, the plane banked towards the Floating Island, which was slowly decending into the ocean without the Master Emerald to hold it up. As they passed by, Tails released the clamp and the emerald fell into the waiting arms of Knuckles T. Echidna, the Guardian of the island. Using a shortcut, Knuckles quickly made his way to the Hidden Palace, where he set the Master Emerald in its rightful place. He smiled as the Floating Island once again began to float. Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, searched the Aquatic Ruins Zone, where Robotnik's suit had gone down, but could find no trace of the doctor, only the charred remains of his Robo-suit. Finally, it seemed that Robotnik was gone for good . . . Over the next year, the parts of Mobius that Robotnik had corrupted were cleaned up and reconstructed by the planet's denizens. Chief among the workers was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, who was now busy using his amazing speed to build rather than destroy - "Ah, this is the life, ain't it, Tails?" said Sonic as he sipped a juice drink and relaxed. - that is, when he wasn't goofing off. "I guess so, Sonic," said Tails, "but shouldn't we be helping with the-" There was a sudden flash of speed, and Tails was barely able to get the impression that Sonic was gone for less than a second. "-Casino Night Zone," he finished lamely. "Done already?" "Yup," said Sonic as he took another sip from his drink, which hadn't even had the time to fall very far while he was gone. "See, this rebuilding thing ain't so hard with the power of the Super Emeralds helpin' me. I always make sure I got fifty Power Rings in me now, y'know?" "Yah, I know," said Tails. "I- . . . say, what's that?" "What's what, bro?" "THAT!" Tails pointed out over the sea that lapped against the beach they were relaxing. Sonic lifted his sunglasses and squinted in the bright sun and finally noticed a small black dot that was getting bigger at an extremely fast rate. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "DUCK!" he yelled as he grabbed Tails and dove for the sand. After blasting over the two of them at super-sonic speeds, the blue 'bot angled upwards, then slowly decended, sputtering the whole way. It eyed Sonic and Tails with its one glowing red eye. The other had long ago been smashed inward. It held one lifeless arm at its side, and the booster jet in its back barely held it aloft in a hovering position. "Metal Sonic," gasped Sonic when he finally stood and spat the sand out of his mouth. "What brings your scraggly butt to the Green Hill Zone? I thought Knuckles trashed you!" "Incorrect assumption," Metal Sonic rasped. "This unit survived . . . barely. A few *bzzt* a few minor repairs was all that . . . *bzzt* This unit has been ordered to distract one Sonic T. Hedgehog and one Miles Prower." His eye flared briefly. "Prepare to die." "Yah," said Sonic, "Right." Sonic reached inside himself and sought out the power that would transform him into Hyper Sonic with only a thought and- -nothing happened. He hesitated, trying to sort out what happened, which allowed Metal Sonic to get the first hit in, a body tackle to Sonic's midsection. They flew out over the water. "Okaaaaaay," said Sonic, "I don't NEED the emeralds to beat you, you rust bucket!" Sonic's first punch sent Metal Sonic's lifeless right arm flying into the sea. The flurry that followed that left several dents and rips in Metal Sonic's skull and back. "Changing tacticts," said Metal Sonic as he banked to turn back towards the beach. The mechanical Sonic and the real one flew by Tails, who had headed out to help his hero, then headed towards a palm tree. "Oh, no you don't!" yelled Sonic when he realized what the 'bot was up to. He punched Metal Sonic's head down, then deftly slipped from the 'bot's grasp. Within seconds, the hedgehog was riding atop the 'bot like a cowboy. Just before the both came in contact with the tree, Sonic jumped clear. "Aw," said Tails as he landed nearby. "I never get to do anything." Just then, he heard a communicator near his and Sonic's beach chairs sound off. They had started carrying it around just in case there was an emergency anywhere. "I'll get it!" he yelled and ran across the sand. Sonic stood up and dusted himself off, then walked over to the burning wreckage. Among the debris, he found Metal Sonic's head, its one good eye still glowing. He heard a slight sound come from Metal Sonic's speaker, so he leaned closer. Instead of the epiteth or curse that he expected to hear, Metal Sonic said, "He's . . . coming *bzzt* more powerful than . . . Robotnik alone *bzzt* . . . destroy . . . destroy . . . destroooooooo . . . . " The head fell silent as the eye went dead. "Huh?" said Sonic. "Whazzat supposed to mean? WHO'S coming? Throw me a clue here! More powerful than Robotnik?" The hedgehog shook his head when he noticed that Metal Sonic wasn't going to be saying anything else, ever. "SONIC!" yelled Tails. "Yah, what?" The fox flew up to him, a worried expression on his face. "You need to see this. It's a recording that Knuckles sent us . . . " Sonic took the communicator from his companion's hand and hit the play button. Knuckles appeared on the small screen. "To Sonic the Hedgehog," the echidna said. "Something is wrong. I was just visiting the Hidden Palace to check on the emeralds, and I found a strange shadowy figure scanning them with a small device. I tried to watch them unobserved, but they noticed me and ran off. They disappeared right under my nose, something they should NOT have been able to do on my island. Something smells about all of this, so I have broken the emeralds down back to their original Chaos forms and hidden them. They are . . . " The image of Knuckles looked around. "Wait, he's listening. You'll have to find them on your own Sonic. You're the only one that I tru-" The rest was static. "Well, at least he was able to hit the send button," Sonic said, "and that would explain why I still can't access my Hyper form." "You can't?" asked Tails. "Hold on." The fox concentrated for the second. "I can't go Super, either," he finally said. "What does this mean, Sonic?" "My first guess, bro?" Sonic said. "We're in deep ca-ca." To Be Continued, . . . Roland Lowery (aka Jim Doe) http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/5221/ lowery@yournet.com