A New Beginning By Rolland Therrien (The RealLoneWolf) Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters are copyrighted to Service and Games (Sega of America/Japan), DIC entertainment and Archie Comics. These characters are not to be copied or reproduced in any way.Doing so will put you in violation of Title 17 of the US Code regarding Copyright restrictions. Note: this story takes place three years after #68: Sonic and Sally are both 19, and therefore young adults. ________________________________________ Chapter 1: A storm raged over Mobius. A storm that had raged since the explosion of the Ultimate Annihilator. But no-one had noticed how this electric storm rages on, even after all other storms had faded. But then, when snow falls in the summer and when tornadoes strike where they never did before, who finds an everlasting thunder cloud bizarre? For the Echidnas of the Floating Island, these were the days of Fury, when Mobius cleansed it-self of all pollutants. For those on the ground who had suffered firsthand the evil of Dr. Robotnik, the shifts in the weather were the lasting legacy of his desecration of the environment. But this storm was unlike any electric storm ever incounted before. It traveled around, striking things at random on the ground, smiting things out, almost as in rage. Carried by the winds of Mobius, the storm had flown many times over the Mobian surface. But now, it floated over a mountain that was once known as Mount Mobius. Known world-wide as Mobius's tallest mountain, it was once famous for all the climbing expeditions that defied it's height. After DR Robotnik took over, however, it gained notoriety for another reason. The tyrant, seeking an inviolable fortress to guard against the raids of the Freedom Fighters, decided to build the Veg-O-Matic fortress. A factory stong-hold of biblical proportions, it was garded by the impenetrable Pinball Defense System, designed in one of Robotnik's more light-hearted moments. The game-inspired system challenged intruders by intraping them in plastic spheres, which were then projected and bounced around special sections of the fortress like pinballs and thrown into incredibly hazardous situations. Of the hand-full who dared venture into the Fortress, only one ever came out alive: The hero of the Freedom movement, Sonic The Hedgehog; and even he never pierced defenses through to Robotnik's lair. Nonetheless, the Fortress was abandoned for reasons unknown. But now, a storm thundered over it. The storm cloud hovered overhead, as if analyzing the structure. Then suddenly, it struck! A immense bolt of Lightning shot down and hit the factory, electrifying the metallic workings of the Factory and charging up it's generators; powering it's systems and activating it's computers. As the stormcloud slowly dissipated in the sky, it's live drained, the Veg-O-Matic Fortress came back to life. _________________________________________ Chapter 2: It had been a wild party. What had begun as the celebration on the new aqueduct's completion became one "Heck of a hellacious shin-dig" as Bunnie had put it. A mere fifteen minutes after the last cub had been put to bed (and Tails was hardly cooperative), the party became a lot more wild. Sonic had in fact had his first taste of alcohol that night; and as Antoine had put it, "The hedgehog, he does not know how to drink". Of course the coyote had meant it as joke, but he was right. Where Sonic usually ran home after a party, he actually needed Sally's help the walk home, seeing how in his condition, he couldn't have run far without ramming into something. It still surprised him how ol'Ant' managed to drink everyone one under the table; he was even pleased to see St. John, his favorite insult target faint with shock after he dared Antoine to drink a glass of "FireBlood", the infamous Dragon alcohol. After drinking what would have knocked a normal Mobian senseless, Antoine just lowered the glass gently and politely asked for another. "That coyote's tougher then I give him credit for." Sonic leaned on the elevator wall while he made the observation. "If I didn't know he never had touched so much as a bottle of cooler before tonight, I'd say he drank his intire life." Sally just looked at him. Sonic looked a little woozy, but not so smashed as to be nearly unconscious, thanks to his high metabolism, he was pretty sure he would recover by tomorrow. Of course, she was hardly the picture of temperance herself. Her father had given her the blessing to "let your hair down, as it were"; as he put it: "it helps keep good relations with the masses to celebrate with them". The elevator stopped at the floor of Sonic's apartment, and as they walked slowly to Sonic's flat, Sally explained:"They say the first thing a dalman father does with his child on his first birthday is to give a drop of wine to drink, to give him spirit. Considering their people made most of the the wines we drank tonight, that obviously gave Antoine the 'home field advantage.'" she said before giggling childishly. That surprising move made Sonic smile. Sally laughed so rarely; as if she had lost her sense her humor on the same day she, Sonic, Antoine and Rotor lost their innocence, when they finally came to realize the full extent of Robotnik's evil. He had missed that laugh, so cheerful and pleasant; At that moment, that laugh seemed the most beautiful thing about her. He just looked into her eyes... and then turned away. He knew without looking that she would be disappointed by that move, but he couldn't help it. He was struck by the irony of the situation: Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of the Rebellion, Robotnik's greatest foe, he who had faced without flinching villains, Badniks and mecha-monsters that had frightened many, and even went head to head with Robotnik himself, was frightened of telling his own girlfriend how he felt about her. It wasn't that he was afraid of committing to her; if she asked, he would stay with her forever. No; what it was, was this: He was afraid of being rejected, of losing her. All his life, the people he cared most where taken away from him: His parents, his Uncle Chuck, even his dog Muttski. But Sally had remained with him. For quite some time, she became the center of his life. All his heroics, all his amazing feats, all his deeds, they had been for her. The cause had mattered little to him, nor did the philosophy she upheld matter either. Had she had been as much of a Tyrant as Ivo himself, he would still had fought for her valiantly. But he could not stand to lose her. That was why he couldn't stand the sight of her with another male. He didn't want her to leave him. But why didn't he just confessed his love? Because it kept her near him, asking him about his feelings. He realized that one of the things Sally liked was a good mystery, and believed that as long as he was a mystery to her, she would be interested with him. If he just confessed his feelings, the secret would be out, his only hand played out. She might stay with him, or leave him for another. He couldn't take that chance. He was going to hold out his hand as long as possible; but still...he had taken greater chances with his life; this would be just the greatest gamble of his life. As he was thinking this, Sally just looked at him, thinking herself. He'd always been there for her, Not just to save her from whatever dangers threatened her, but also to comfort her was she was sad. When Julyla died, he had been there, giving her his shoulder to cry on. When she discovered where her father had been, he vowed to her he'd bring him back, and made good on that promise. But still, he'd never done the one thing she most wanted him to do: admit his feelings for her. It's not as if she doubted his love; everytime she looked in his eyes, she could see the love he felt; everytime she was in his arms, she felt his passion for her. No, she didn't need that proof for herself. She wanted it for him. She believed he didn't want to believe it himself, that he was hiding behind that "I don't give a damn" attitude because he was confused. She also felt a little guilty about those "flings" she had in the past: Prince Griff and Geoffrey St. John had been very seductive, for they did that one thing Sonic never did: They told her they loved her. She just wanted someone to love her; and if it wasn't Sonic, then it would probably be someone else. But she always went back to him. She allowed herself to be wooed by others in order to shake up Sonic, to force him to admit his feelings. But it always back-fired, with Sonic becoming aggressive with his rivals. The tension between Sonic and other males only seemed to dim after it seemed those males had found someone else in their life. She knew this jealousy was just an expression of his feelings for her, but it was becoming a strain on her social life. She also knew that this constant repression of feelings could not go on any longer. The one time she believed he admitted his feelings, she had been in a Coma, when he didn't know she could hear him, and that was intolerable. She was going to ask him what he felt for her, now and then. As they approached Sonic's apartment door, the two turned around and looked into each other's eyes by accident, instantly locking their eyes together. Sonic simply reached out to Sally; her hands met his mid-way. Sonic stuttured: "Sal, I...I got to say...even if you don't think of me as...The fact is..." Sally smiled and just put her hand over his mouth, then said: "It's okay Sonic, I know how you feel." Sonic's eyes widened with surprise, then brightened with joy as he began to crack a small smile, which made her smile too. "And you know," she continued, "Now I see why you don't say it so much." He looked at her a little puzzled: "And why is that?" "Because you sound like an idiot when you try!" she said as she exploded into laughter. Sonic was annoyed for a while, then started laughing himself. They clutched each other to keep themselves from falling, then, as they calmed down, their eyes met again. They began to embrace and to kiss one another, with a passion pent-up for years, now finally released in full strength, both they reluctantly separated themselves, yet still keeping eye contact. Sonic opened the door to his place and asked:"Your highness, my love; may I offer you a night cap?" ____________________________________ Chapter 3: all through the night, as one place settled for the night, another was now bustling with activity. The entire Veg-o-Matic fortress was now rushing with repair-bots repairing the derelict factory, fixing what was broken and updating what was obsolete. The once-dead factory was now once more alive; the systems operation computer was giving the facility the once-over, sprucing up the place and make it a working Robofac. Meanwhile, the research, design and development computer mainframe was browsing through it's bot-design catalogue, evaluating the late doctor's robots. Literally hundreds of designs were in there: but not all were produced. Some, in fact, never saw the light of day, or went past the prototype stage: some, like the "Mark 12 Doll", an android designed to seduce a freedom fighter to lead it to one of their bases (available in Male and female version, any species) was canned because Snively could never get the AI's personality straight; others, like the "Mark 4 Troll", a gigantic super-tank, were too costly to mass-produce. Still others, like the "Packbell" Artificial Intelligence Android and the E.xtremly V.ersatile E.volvanoid, mark II were deleted as "too dangerous. possibly rebellious." The program took a while to look at the dozen or so designs that lay in the computer's waste-files, then proceeded to delete the files regarding robots based on comic-book characters (what had Robonik been drinking?) Units like the "MagnaBot" and the "BeetleBot" were likewise discarded (Robotnik was in his "Mad Scientist" phase at the time; some over-the-top designs had to be expected). The program paused a moment when analyzing The "King Gong" unit's file; it had been one of the Doctor's favorites. A file regarding a unit ID'd as the "Termite-nator Deforestation unit mark 5" was filed under "redesign", however. Other files were soon classified under "redesign": -Buzzbomber******************Airborne ground-support. -Batbrain********************Air Supremacy Fighter/bomber. -Crabmeat********************Possible New Artillery. -Piranhabot******************Naval Attack. -Motobug*********************Ground scout. Other, singular units, like the AI units "Grounder", "Scratch" and "Coconuts" (Though in their case, one might well ask: what intelligence?) were marked as being already within the factory, awaiting dismantlement as flawed units. The program refilled them under "Redesign", and an extreme upgrade to their neural nets was assigned. All the bots, would receive the new positronic brain with Asimovian controls that Robotnik had designed before his passing. These units, however, would receive the very best. Another file, labeled "Doppeleganger", was opened: It contained all the information Robotnik ever gathered on Sonic the Hedgehog, his most hated enemy, as well as the design files for the various robotic versions of him he had designed: Pseudo-Sonic, Mecha-Sonic I, Mecha-Sonic Mark II, Robot-Sonic, Silver Sonic; all failures. The file was updated and reclassified under "redesign". Finally, The computer located a previously unknown file, incoded in an unrecognizable code. After a lengthy decoding sequence, the file was opened: It was a new 'Bot design! The file was immediately opened and analyzed; Labeled the "Eggrobo" It was a highly versatile design. Too versatile, in fact. The robot was expected to do infantry work, guard duty, scanning missions, menial labor and many other functions. Robotnik always designed his 'bots for versatility, but within their field of expertise; you don't send a soldier to fix a coolant leak, after all. The designer was identified as Snively, and the existence of 2 back-ups to this file was noted. It seemed Snively used the less frequented Veg-o-matic computer database to design this robot, before (poorly) hiding the evidence. The file was at once put in redesign mode. The computers hummed with activity. Such poor quality was unacceptable. And yet, the design's versatility had it's own qualities... ________________________________________ Chapter 4: Sonic was slowly starting to wake-up, his mouth feeling dry as the badlands. He started to remember last night's party and smiled. He smiled even more when he began to remember the lewd dreams he had afterwards. He dreamt that he and Sally had decided to continue the party later on at his place; in private. Thirst overcoming sloth, he tried to get up, but found that he couldn't move his right arm. In fact, something kept that arm pinned. "Must've slept on it wrong" he thought. Curious, he opened his eyes to look: Sally was there, in his bed, naked and sleeping on his arm. Surprise slowly gave way to panic; "Oh my God!" He thought; "Did I really sleep with her? No...No, I'd know better...Wouldn't I?" He then thought back to last night. He had gotten pretty drunk last night; and so had Sally. And some of the dreams he had last night were pretty realistic. And he had never thought once before that Sally was ticklish on her stomach, so why did he suddenly know that? He gulped at the realization that Sally and he had really... "Quick, I hafta get outta bed before she wakes up" he decided. "If she doesn't find me here with her, she'll just think I slept on the couch. Then we'll both be in the clear." He slowly started to squirm his arm out from under Sally's back, pausing only a moment to stare at her naked form. Just as he was almost free, She grunted, turned and laid her own right arm on his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. "Oh great. Now, how am I gonna get out of this?" He rested himself a while, pondering what he was going to do, while half-heartedly enjoying Sally's closeness. "If I didn't know her father was going to kill me the moment he found out about this, I could get used to this." Just then, He heard the bedroom door open. He lifted his head to see what was about; Muttski, his ever faithful roboticized hound, was approaching his bed with a leash in his mouth. Sonic's blood chilled as he suddenly remembered that Muttski always woke him up at this time to take a walk; preferably by jumping on his bed. As silently as he could, Sonic ordered: "No Muttskio. Not Now. I'll take you out later. Okay? I PROMISE I will. I'll do ANYTHING for you as long as you don't..." That promise trailed off as Muttski jumped carelessly into the bed, right between Sonic and Sally, knocking the wind out of both of them, while also waking Sally. Sally was definitely disoriented: one moment, she was having a great dream about her and Sonic alone on a desert island, the next, She was being tossed around like a sandbag. As she came to her senses, she started to her Sonic's voice: "Bad Muttski! Bad Robo-Dog! Just for that, no walk! And don't whine! You're lucky I don't have Unca' Chuck dismantle you!" She Opened her eyes to see Sonic sitting in the bed, scowling Muttski, who was leaving the room with his tail between his leg. She then did a double take when she realized he was in HER bed. She grabbed the sheets and pulled them to her neck to cover up and yelled out: "What the Hell are you doing in my bed?" Sonic just cringed when he heard her, then slowly turned around to face her, all the while trying hard not to look: "Hum, Sal, the fact is...you're actually in MY bed." he said shyly. She looked around, seeing how the room was completely unfamiliar, but decorated in way that made her remember what his old bunk in Knothole looked like, and saw he was right. "Okay...Then What the Hell am I doing in Your bed?" she yelled. Her eyes then started trailing off, and Sonic realized that she was thinking back to last night. He saw by her facial expressions that she was remembering the very same chain of events that brought them here, and when she clutched her mouth, her eyes wide with shock, he knew that she remembered what they had done exactly. In fact, judging by her blushing, he was pretty sure she remembered better then he did. Sonic just got up calmly, stretched, looked into her eyes and said: "Okay, We had sex. Now what do we do?" **************************** Sally just stayed there, sitting in the bed, slowly recovering from the shock of having lost her virginity to the male she loved while stone drunk. Her emotions were strange a mix of pride and shame; on one hand, she never would have let another male the chance to deflower her, and was actually glad she and Sonic had finally crossed into that part of their relationship. On the other hand, she had hoped her first time wouldn't be while she was inebriated. Ever since Julyla had taught her about the "Thing" she had hoped she and Sonic would share that special moment together, but one of things she had thought Sally was that such a special moment was best left between adult, consenting, responsible lovers. Having both reached the age of 18, she and Sonic were now adults, and Sally knew she couldn't have been so drunk she wouldn't have done anything if she wouldn't have wanted to do anything, so she was sure she was consenting. It was the responsibility, or lack of it, that bothered her. She and Sonic had not been careful with their drinking habits, or their behavior while drunk. They had sex without bothering with the consequences of their actions. Now, she had to worry about being pregnant, about the social consequences of being a princess who had sex before being married, and that was not counting how postal her father was going to get once he found out about this. He wasn't going to kill her (she was family) but she wasn't sure he wouldn't condemn Sonic to death for high-treason or something like that. She buried her head in her knees and moaned. Sonic then walked in, holding two cups of coffee, one of which he handed out to her. She took it and started sipping it, getting her mouth used to the heat. She took in the coffee's strange aroma, mixing the usual taste of coffee with the taste of vanilla. the staring contrast of taste appealed to her, and she started to drink more of it. "Hmmmmm. This is good. I've never tasted anything like it. Where did you get this?" Sonic just looked at her eyes and smiled: "French vanilla blend. Antoine gave me a variety of different coffees three weeks ago. Said I'd never go back to the old stuff after a taste of this. I must admit, he had a point. Every morning, I have to try a new blend. Ant really knows his stuff, you know. I didn't think there was such a variety of coffees on Mobius." "Well, now you know why I had him brew my coffee every meeting." Sally replied, thinking back to the strategy meetings the Freedom Fighters used to have. "You think I was bossy then? You should've seen me before I had my coffee!" They both started to laugh, relaxing the atmosphere. Sonic stopped laughing first, then looked into her eyes and said: "So. You didn't answer me first time I asked: 'What do we do, knowing what happened last night?'" Sally just finished her coffee, then calmly said: "Nothing happened last night." "Excuse-me? Nothing..." "NOTHING HAPPENED! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Sonic just did a Ten-Hut and saluted: "SIR,YES SIR! Nothing happened last night Sir! I didn't have sex with the crown princess, Sir!" "Damn it, Sonic I'm serious! It's bad enough as it is! Not only do I have to go to Doctor Quack to get a pregnancy test, Praying Father doesn't find out, but I also have to deal with the dishonor of having sex with a man I'm not even married with, and I don't even want to think about my father would do to you if he found out about this!" Sonic gulped at that last sentence. He didn't want to think about what King Acorn would do to him either. Tales of traitors the old Kings being tortured, then slowly executed were rapidly becoming relevant. Still, Times had changed, hadn't they? "You know, Sal, I don't think you'll have to worry about talking to DR Quack." "What do you mean?" "Look in the waste basket." She did, and saw a small pile of used preservatives laying there. "Oh well," she thought, "I guess I was responsible last night after all." She let out a sigh of relief before lying down again to rest. It would only be another hour before they had to meet with the others, and then, perhaps, they could relax. __________________________________________ Chapter 5: As he walked through the Bio-mechanical construction tanks, he observed the rebuilding of the units formerly known as the Super Sonic Search and Smash Squad. Indeed, the only thing those bots had ever squached was Robotnik's faith in Artificial Intelligence. But that would soon change. Even as their bodies were given deadly improvements, their brains were also upgraded. The nanites were flowing through the primitive Neural-Nets, and as synapses sparked and neurons knit, they would become smarter then ever before. And why not? Every good army needs smart officers to work. And that's what they would be: The generals of his army. As long as the Asiomvian rules sub-routine was in place, he could afford to make them as smart as possible. But not TOO smart. The monitors said the Badniks would not be ready for another week, but he didn't mind. He had more then enough time. The Robo-Facs were running full-blast, building the new Bots as fast as they could, building a dozen of the units an hour. A few Hundred had already been completed and were now patrolling the island. It would take a few days before completing the ten thousand units ordered, but that didn't matter. He had time. Among the new units were the EggRobo Mrk 2, Snively's bots redesigned. He had found a few major flaws, as well as many minor ones, but he could easily work around that. The new Bots now had heavily armored bodies and limbs, making them tougher then even the Com-bots. Nano-Modular componants were added to give them a nearly endless versatility, which their Asimovian Poisitronic matrixes could use to it's full potential. These bots would be smart. Precious hours had been spent on improving those machines, but they were worth it. Besides, He had time. In fact, He found the new EggRobos so good, he decided to modify one even further. Giving it a Super-advanced positronic Neural-Net, He gave it a brain unlike any other. A brain could enough to house his intelligence. Yes, He had time. Time enough for resourcefulness, giving his new body even better sensors, armor and weapons then any other bot, As well as a bio-mechanical structure that could repair itself with time. This body would not fail him when next he would meet the Hedgehog. He had time. Time enough for vanity, using Bio-plasma vats and cloning technology to create a familiar face; one he would use to once more spread terror among the Mobians. He had time. Time enough for Sentimentality, Building a battle/command vehicule with controls that felt familiar. Oh yes. He had time. His new total cyborg body was immortal, while the hedgehog aged. He now schemed on a time-table of years, decades and centuries, while the Mobians would have to settle for days, weeks and months. He once ruled Mobius, and he would rule again. As he looked upon the work in his robo-fac, The newly reborn DR Robotnik allowed himself a chuckle. "Soon, rodent. Soon. I shall retake that which is mine, and crush you into oblivion." His laughter almost drowned out the factory noises The Beginning