All characters mentioned in this book are Copyright of Sega of America, Archie comic publications, and DIC. The author allows the reader to print this story off of the web, but you can't sell it. According to me, this is my version of Project: Doomsday from the ABC Saturday morning Cartoon. No characters in this story are under copyright from other authors, however, any new characters I introduce are mine, and may not be used without saying so. Bunnie ran out of the elevator and opened the door, to see Sonic leaning over the catwalk, as though to try and touch the floor. She raced out and grabbed him before he fell headlong into the pit that seemed endless. "Watch out sugar hog, we don't want you to fool around like this. What's wrong." Sonic released himself from Bunnie's grip, and looked down into the pit, his expression never changed. Bunnie was really disturbed when she saw a tear come from his eye, and hit the floor with a clink. "Sonic, what the hoo-hah happened to you? You look as though you've lost something valuable! Where's Tails?" Sonic just sniffed and pointed down the pit. Bunnie just gasped. "He's dead?" Sonic nodded and started to cry bitterly. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG In A loss, a gain, and a choo-choo train. PART 2 OF A 3 PART SERIES Chapter 5 There was a lot of grief in Knothole that day. Princess Sally hosted a funeral to honor what Tails has done for the Freedom Fighters, without the body as it could not be found. However, the death affected mainly Sally, Sonic, and most of all, Snows. When the funeral was over she ran to hide her sorrow. She ran to the only place she could go, Tails' hut. Sally went to go comfort her. "Snows? Are you here?" She was answered by faint weeping. Sally followed the sound, and saw Snows looking at a picture of Tails. Tears just gushing out her eyes like a water hose. Sally thought that maybe talking to Snows wouldn't be such a good idea. She was about to leave, when she heard Snows' voice, cracked from sorrow, beckon to her, "It's alright Sally, I need some comfort. Please, come here." Sally came and sat down beside her. Snows just looked up at her, and started weeping again. Sally started off with a question. "You really liked him, huh?" Snows nodded and said, "With all my heart!" Sally was surprised at this. Snows asked her, "Did you love him?" Sally shook her head, "Not really, I was just supposed to look after him, like a sister. But I never thought I had grown so attached to him." Snows just stayed there. Sally thought that now would be a good time to leave. She did so. Snows just sat there, and looked at the photo of her dead boyfriend. Sonic did the exact same thing that Snows did. Except, he went out to run from his sorrow, far away. He was running through an open field, 7 miles long, with his eyes closed, yelling all the way, "Why me? He's still young! How can I live with all this tor--" He was stopped in midsentence, and he felt wind blow upward against his whole face. He opened his eyes and screamed. There was nothing but air underneath him. He had run off a cliff, and was falling. He was slowly doing a forward flip. His spinal cord had twisted into an inverse arch, making him look like a blue moon falling. Below him, he saw a golden twinkle, and as he fell it got larger and larger. Finally, he had landed on the light, with his back to the ground. He shut his eyes in pain, then it was replaced by a tingling feeling. It got stronger, and stronger, until he couldn't bear it and jumped as far away as he could. There was no other surface he could stand on, but he felt his skin scrape against a cliff face. He quickly grabbed hold, and steadied himself. After a few calm breaths, Sonic was able to see, he saw the cliff face in front of him, but he could see a slight bit of light reflecting from the cliff face. He turned his head and immediately moved his hand away from his face so he could get a better view. He had come across a legendary treasure, thought to be a myth, yet, it was in front of him. Everywhere he looked, layers of golden Rings seemed to be overflowing with radiance. He suddenly remembered why he had had the tingling feeling. He bore the Chaos Entity, and he could feel it beckoning for more radiation from the rings. Sonic went down and went to pick up some rings. He couldn't, as they disappeared and the tingling feeling came again. He knew what to do. He removed his backpack, (Which he had on since the assault) and grabbed the extended pliers. Using them to pick up the rings and put them into his backpack, so that he may be able to pick them up without them becoming part of him. He managed to get 100 rings successfully, and he decided to go back to Knothole because it was pitch black. It took him about 45 minutes to climb to the top, but he was not tired, as he had climbed such cliffs before in training. He started for Knothole at a slow speed. He was confused when he realized he started going faster, and faster! He could not control his speed! He felt a tingling get stronger! It seemed to be peeling out through his skin! In fact it was! A slight glow started emitting from places in his body! The tingling was driving him mad! The world before him got darker and darker, until it was all black! Somewhere in the woods, a blue hedgehog was running around like mad, and from a distance, only those who think it's possible if they see it, would have said "it's possible" tonight. The creature stopped, stood still, and because of all the yellow light emitting from him, his body was black. The creature curled up in a ball and jumped into the air. In a split second, a flash of blinding light! And the hedgehog was replaced, by a Golden Demon similar in size and shape! His voice boomed and echoed through the land, "I AM SUPER SONIC, RIGHTER OF WRONGS, AVENGER OF EVIL, LOVER OF PEACE, HATER OF EVIL!!!" "Sonic where have you been all night?" Sonic just looked up, and shrugged. "I don't know." Sally became worried, "We'd better check up on you." Sally took Sonic over to Rotor's medlab, told him what Sonic said, and asked if he could be checked up on. Rotor replied, "He still may be going through the phase of sorrow after losing a friend, but I'll check him out." Rotor got Sonic to lie down on a bed, and Rotor examined a body scan. He was surprised. Sonic had no trace of Ring radiation. "Sonic, have you performed the Chaos Entity Ritual?" Sally's head shot up. "What?" Rotor held up a hand to silence Sally, and he said again, slower, "Did you perform the Chaos Entity Ritual?" Sonic looked up at Rotor, and then at a wall. "I think I might have." Sally gasped. Rotor tried to calm her down. "It's alright Sally, Sonic is in no trouble. He is just going through the symptoms. He hasn't aged, he's had a temporary memory loss, and he's extremely confused." Sally nodded, but argued, "I know the symptoms. But I also know that the bearer of the Entity has no control over his mind when the Entity takes over. If he does it again, we all may be done for." Rotor looked at Sonic, then at Sally. Finally he said, "I can prove whether the Entity is evil or not, but I'll need a blood sample, and a ring." Sonic said he had both. Rotor stuck the syringe in Sonic's arm, and took some blood. Sally wiped the wound with water, and sat by Sonic while Rotor tested. "Sonic, did you really perform the Chaos Entity Ritual?" Sonic nodded. "Do you want me to tell you how and why?" Sally nodded. "Well I don't know how or why. It just happened." Sonic explained everything. From leaving Knothole, to seeing the golden light emit from his body. "And next thing I know, everything is black. Then I wake up in Knothole square, and you're running toward me." Sally bit her lip. She was worried for her hedgehog. She didn't want him going around gathering Rings and using them for no gain. And the pit of rings thing was a little absurd. "I've finished!" Rotor exclaimed, and both Sonic and Sally came racing to see. "Apparently, our little Entity is quite peaceful." Chapter 6 Sally was examining Project Doomsday when Sonic strolled in, "Hey there precious, what's with the--" Seeing the poster made Sonic stop suddenly as he remembered Tails' last words. The whole thing flashed before his eyes, he was again trying to save Tails from the robot that was going to pull him under. "TAILS!! NO!!!" Sonic dove and smashed his nose against the floor. Sally tried to steady him, but Sonic was still in shock. "Sonic!" she yelled. She shook him hard, but he was still wide eyed and breathing faster. Sally slapped him across the face. "Snap out of it Sonic!" Sonic's eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. He had fainted. Sally flipped her communicator open. "Medical Emergency, briefing hut." She stayed and comforted him until the doctors took him away. Snows walked in just in time to see them leave. She pointed with her thumb behind her and asked, "Is he dead too?" Sally shook her head, "Just hallucinating." Snows pointed outside, "The thing outside is definitely not a hallucination." Sally's head slowly turned in Snows direction. "What?" Sally was wide-eyed as she suddenly saw the sky turn black. They were standing in a shadow. There was an object blocking the sun, a large object, and unidentified object. Sally just stood and stared. Sonic, after recovering from his faint, came up behind her. He too just stood and stared. Sonic suddenly got shaky when he saw a small dot jump off the object, and slowly head for the shore of the beach, 5 miles ahead. In the meantime, the object had stopped, and just hung there. Sonic grabbed Sally's arm and dragged her with him. "Sally, we have a visitor." He ordered everyone to stay calm, and that nothing would stop Sonic and Sally teamed up. They arrived at the shore before the figure did. But from here it was plain to see, who the figure was. Sonic told Sally to get behind him, and he waited, ready for a fight, as Knuckles The Echidna, came into view. Knuckles also saw Sonic, and he seemed to pull something out of a back pack. It was a White flag, and he was waving it. "Long time no see Goldilocks." Sonic referred to Knuckles' dreadlocks. "You're gettin' awful slow for someone named Sonic." Knuckles held out his hand, "I come in peace and goodwill." Sonic raised an eyebrow. "You okay Knuckles?" Sally shoved Sonic down and went to take Knuckles hand. Instead Knuckles knelt down and kissed her hand. "Your majesty." Sally looked at the red figure bowing before her. Sonic just stared. Sally told both Knuckles and Sonic to come with her. Sally brought them to the conference hut. "Have a seat boys." They both sat down quietly. "Knuckles, please explain to us why you are here, aren't you supposed to be guarding the Floating Island?" (Which was the object in front of the sun) Knuckles replied, "I am. I have come here to aid you in you're war against Robotnik. It's the least I can do for both our peoples. By aiding you, I also narrow the list of dangers on the Floating Island to natural disasters." Sonic looked at Knuckles. "So, you're joining us?" Knuckles shook his head, "I am only aiding. Once Robotnik is dead, I will leave with the Floating Island. Normally, I am restricted to ever leave the place for a second, let alone drive it to mainland." Sally looked at Knuckles and smiled. "Well, if you're going to help us, we'd better clue you in." Sally explained everything about Robotropolis that he needed to know, and started to talk about Project Doomsday when she stopped, and looked at Sonic. He seemed to be daydreaming. She waved his hand in front of his face. Nothing happened. "Let me try." Knuckles said. He ducked down underneath the table, and pulled the chair out from under Sonic. Sonic winced in pain. "What was that for?" "You were in a daze. Sonic are you alright?" Sonic looked at Sally. He never saw her this way before. He opened his mouth, but decided not to say anything. "Sonic, do you have to tell me something?" Sonic shut his eyes, and whispered, "Project Doomsday is a hoax." Sally rolled her eyes, "Uh huh, right. Good one Sonic. Who told you that?" Sonic's voice cracked as he tried as hard as he could not to shed a tear in front of Knuckles, "Tails did!" The urge was too strong, he started weeping. Sally just sat back in her chair. "What's with him?" Knuckles asked, looking at Sonic and disbelief. "Tails was killed in an assault on Robotropolis, and it's got me, Sonic, and Snows all shaken up." "Snows?" Sally nodded, "Tails' girlfriend." Knuckles just shook his head. "Brutal." He muttered. If memories were bad enough on Sonic already, this would really wreak havoc. The Freedom Fighters got word of a supply hovertrain headed for Project Doomsday. Sonic teamed up with Knuckles, Bunnie with Mighty, and Sally with Vector. Sally gave orders to every Freedom Fighter at the conference hut. "Destroying this train will give us about two weeks more of an advantage on Robotnik. Plan A will be to get on the train, and place explosives in the fuel line. Expect some damn good resistance, as this thing is armed to the teeth. Should plan A fail, plan B is to simulate holographic projections on in front of the train, as to lure it off a cliff. If both plans fail, we'll be in deep trouble. Dismissed." Sonic and Knuckles were the first to land on the train, followed by Bunnie and Mighty, and then Sally and Vector. Sonic went immediately to setup position. He was having an extremely hard time moving down the train, with all the wind in his face. He got in between two cars, and got ready to set up. He found the fuel line, and loaded a bomb. He went sick as he saw that Knuckles was in danger. A laser cannon was aimed at his back! "KNUCKLES! GET DOWN!" Knuckles backflipped, which left the barrel of the laser cannon pointing at Sonic's head. Happening all in slow motion, Sonic saw a laser blast emit from the cannon. It struck him full in the chest, sending him flying. He couldn't breathe. He winced in pain when he hit the ground and pencil-rolled until he stopped. He tried to open his eyes, tried to get up, but he fell limp and passed out. "Sonic, wake up!" Sonic came to and looked up to see Bunnie looking down on him. "Are you alright?" Sonic blinked, and sat up. "I'm fine Bunnie, but what about that train?" Bunnie shook her head, "It's in better condition than all of us, none of us made as far as Knuckles, or even as far as you." Soni suddenly twisted his head at Bunnie. "What?!" he snapped. "As far as we know, Knuckles is still on there." Sonic shook his head. "Not for long! I planted a bomb on the fuel pipes, it's gonna blow." Sonic pulled his detonator out from his backpack and pressed a button, as Mighty came over the hill with the bomb in his hand. What happened next, sent Sonic, Bunnie, Sally, and Vector shooting forward. The blast was deafening. After the smoke had cleared away, the four looked back. Mighty was still standing in the position he was before the explosion. He was covered in black, and he held air in his hand. "Hmmm. Must have squeezed the thing a little too hard." Sally whipped out her communicator. "Drone Wasps to Bee hive, plan A has failed, move to plan B. Make sure you throw the thing off a cliff!" a voice argued with her, but it wasn't the communicator, "It's not going to work Sally!" Knuckles appeared in the distance, the only one their with color on him. "That thing is computer controlled. It will stop for nothing. Won't even change it's course! By the way, why are you all so black?" Rotor began to execute plan B. "Area 1, throw hologram." He waited patiently for a response. "The-- ain pas--rough--n," Rotor clicked the communicator, "Come again?" He gave the gadget a bit more power. "It passed through the hologram. Didn't slow down or change course, it just ran right through!" Rotor got tense. Snows came up beside him. "Is it working?" Rotor ignored her. He watched the train pass through a bunch of terrain, looking for the nearest hologram projector. "Area 6, project hologram." He watched a dot start blinking in front of the train. Snows gasped as the train passed through the hologram. There was only five hours before it reached Doomsday! "Bee Hive to Drone Wasps, plan B has failed, suggested course of action." Sally stopped cold when she found out plan B failed. "Rotor, come again?" static went through her communicator. It cut off and projected Rotor's voice, "Plan B failed. The train passed through the holograms like air." Sally switched off her communicator, and whipped out Nicole. "Suggested course of action Nicole?" The hand held gadget beeped, projected a hologram of the distance between the train and Doomsday. It made markings as it spoke, "There is only five hours left to destroy this train. I suggest that if we can't through holograms in it's face, we must throw a trans-dimensional transporter in it's face." Sally looked at Nicole's display, and it showed a projection of the entrance to The Void suck up the train. Rotor thought it was a very risky idea. "Sally, we don't even know whether that thing will fit in our door. Everything else we've tried failed, what makes you think that this will work?" Sally looked Rotor straight in the eye. "The trans-dimensional transporter absorbs everything that goes into it. When it goes in, no more train. Simple, isn't it?" Rotor shook his head. "We don't know half of all there is to know about that crappy thing!" Sally decided to be plain and simple. "What other choice do we have?" Rotor didn't answer. Once again, Sally had duped him out. Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, and Snows helped push the trans-dimensional transporter in the train's path. It was hard work. Sonic, Bunnie and Sally all had their troubles with The Void. It seemed that it would project whatever you wanted so it would be like you're really there. Sally had discovered that her father, King Henry Acorn, was imprisoned there, along with a sorcerer named Naugus. Naugus had the ability to get them all out, with the aid of Sonic's speed. But because he and the king had been in The Void so long, they began to turn to crystal. The Voids effect had taken on them. They had to return to The Void. It's like an addiction. Naugus could only control it in The Void, and again Sally and her Father were separated. They all could see the train in the distance. On it were Mighty and Knuckles, hanging on the sides, as to make sure the train wasn't thrown off course. Sally dropped her hand, and Rotor threw the switch. The device they brought produced a gateway that spiraled with red and orange colors. Sonic became worried as the train got closer. Snows got eager, so eager in fact, without realizing it, she walked in the train's path. The noise from the train was so loud she didn't her the others tell her to get out of the way. She snapped back to reality a little late, as she turned and ran. The train caught up with her, and hit her with a force that portrayed no mercy. Mighty and Knuckles jumped clear, but Snows was sent into The Void with the Train. Sally motioned Rotor to close The Void. "Sally! Snows is in there!" Rotor protested. Sonic snapped, "Whose fault was that?" He gave Rotor a stern look, and Rotor pressed the button to close The Void. "You took the words right out of my mouth Sonic." Sally said sweetly. Both of them watched The Void go smaller, and looked at Rotor when it became full size again. "I didn't do it! Honest!" Sally came by to check the control panel. She pushed the button that stated, "Close Void." The Energy meter that measured V.A. (Void Activity) went down, and slowly crept up again to full. Sally looked at Sonic with a worried look. Sonic looked at the void curiously. "Sonic, Sally, I'm detecting two life forms from deep in The Void, one immensely strong, the other extremely weak. They're getting stronger!" Sonic looked deep into The Void, and sure enough, he could get the outline of two figures. "Rotor, I see two figures." Rotor came by and looked, along with Sally and Bunnie. They all could make out the shadows of two figures. One of them was on the surface of the Void, unmoving, and another was racing to it. The figures were still black, but it was clear that the downed one was Snows, unconscious, in pain, but alive. The other, who still could not be identified, raced out and picked snows up. Then slowly began moving toward the exit of the void. As Snows color began to show, everyone thought that simple logic would show that the next would be identified soon. It didn't happen. Everyone suddenly stared in disbelief, and spoke out loud to themselves, among those things said were, "I don't believe it!" "He's alive?!" "It can't be!" " It is!" "You told me he was dead!" "I thought he was dead!" Sure enough, disbelief had overcome them all, for even though he was as colorless as a chameleon in the dark, there was only one creature on Mobius who could fly with the aid of two tails. Chapter 7 Back in Knothole, everyone celebrated the return of Tails. Everyone except Snows. After the party, Tails stayed in the hospital every second that Snows spent in recovery. Sonic walked in, and noticed Tails. Tails turned his head and smiled, Sonic returned the gesture with a hug, a strong hug. Sonic didn't notice Tails eyes bug out, nor did he notice Tails desperately gasp for air. Only when he let go did he realize he was a little strong. "I missed you too, Sonic!" Sonic just wiped a tear from his eye. "We all missed you too." Tails hesitated. "Tails, how is it possible that you're alive?" Tails turned and smiled. "Remember when I fell into that pit?" Sonic nodded. How could he forget. "Well, I didn't actually fall to my death in a pit. That bot only pulled me into The Void, as to make it seem like I would never return." Rotor showed up behind a door, "Good news." He didn't have to continue. Snows pushed her way through the door, and squeezed her boyfriend to the limit. Sonic only laughed at Tails expression. His eyes were bugged out so much, they looked ready to explode. Sonic got up to leave, as he opened the door to leave, he tugged on Rotor's shoulder, and notioned that Tails and Snows should be left alone. Sonic and Rotor left the two alone. "Rotor, Tails said before he "Died" that Project Doomsday was a hoax. Do you think that's true?" "It could be, a one in a million chance. When someone thinks they're about to die, their last words are most likely going to be true, because how could anyone think of lying when their life is hanging by a thread?" Sonic nodded, "Good point, but let's just assume that Robotnik does in fact have other plans for us, other than Doomsday. What then?" Rotor stopped, and pondered the thought. After a while he closed his eyes and weakly hit his head. His eyes opened and he resumed, "If it is a hoax, then we better find out quickly, because while Project Doomsday is being ælooked after by us, it leaves him all the time in the world to work on something else." TO BE CONCLUDED Coming up in the third and final part of this trilogy: Tails and Snows, together, for always. Sonic, or Super Sonic? Knuckles VS. Mecha-Sonic, and The fall of Project Doomsday, and Robotropolis, the re-rise of The Death Egg.