Chaos Race Part 2: Blue Written by: Adrian Tymes and Alessandro Sanasi [Legal disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by SEGA and Archie Comic Publications, Inc., and Commander Packbell by David Pistone. Permission is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as: a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who distributes the story, and b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored. In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it. Copyright (c) 1996, all rights reserved, et cetera.] ****** As Sonic raced towards the blue Chaos Emerald's location, his mind pondered the recent turn of events. He distinctly remembered the last time Amy had been to Knothole... ****** It all started on a routine mission. Sally had intercepted broadcasts about SWATbot activities near the far side of the Great Unknown, several days away from Knothole, and Sonic had volunteered to check things out. Nothing important had happened for weeks, so this was a welcome change of pace for the hedgehog. When he reached the end of the rocky, barren Great Unknown, Sonic decided to stop for a chili dog break. He had just settled down in a clearing in a nearby forest, when he heard someone crying. Following the sound, he found a pink hedgehog girl, sitting on a log. As he walked up to her, she lifted her head and looked at him with tear filled eyes. "Um, hi there." Sonic said for a start. "What are you doing here all alone in the woods?" "Our...our village got attacked by SWATbots," the little girl replied between sobs. "I ran away...I just ran, and then I hid in the trees. I'm too scared to go back alone." Sonic sat beside the girl and gave her a hug. "No problemo. I'll get you back home safely, or my name isn't Sonic the Hedgehog!" The girl's face brightened. "You're Sonic the Hedgehog? Oh boy, I've heard so much about you. You're my hero!" "Who hasn't?" Sonic smirked as he picked up the hedgehog, who cradled in his arms and smiled back at him with gleaming eyes. ****** The hedgehog's name was Amy Rose. Sonic asked her a few questions about the village she came from, then raced off, letting Amy point the way from the safety of his embrace. It was worse than he had expected. Setting Amy down, Sonic surveyed the damage. Most of the houses were destroyed or burning, and there were no living beings anywhere. "Don't worry, Amy." he said, trying to comfort her as best as he could. "You can come with me to Knothole. There's lots of nice people there, you'll like it." Amy glared at him. "You mean I can come with you?" "Sure. If you want." "Of course I want! I always dreamt of being with you." Amy sighed happily, clasping her hands together. ****** Sonic decided to search the village alone, to keep Amy from seeing more of the destruction. He had told her to wait for him in one of the houses that was still intact. "Oh, man. I hate it when this happens," Sonic lamented, while walking through the empty streets and abandoned homes. "Looks like this round goes to Robotnik. When I get my quills on that lard bucket..." "HEDGEHOG! PRIORITY ONE!" Sonic twirled around, to find himself standing face to face with a SWATbot, lasers aimed directly at him. This one had probably been left behind to make sure that none of the villagers had escaped. Sonic prepared to dash away, but wasn't sure if he could outrun a laser blast at this distance. "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!" the robot droned, waving its laser. "YOU WILL COME WITH ME TO THE TRANSPORT SHIP FOR ROBOTIZICATION!" "Leave him alone," a familiar voice suddenly screamed. Amy had jumped up at the SWATbot from behind, and was now banging on its head with her fists. The robot reached upwards to pull her off... ...and was almost instantly cut in half by a well-placed Sonic Spin. The short moment of distraction was all Sonic had needed. He looked at Amy. "Way past! Amy, I could kiss you." Amy's face lit up in delight. Before Sonic knew what was happening, she had already planted her lips on his. After a few seconds, Sonic pulled her off him. "What was that for?" Amy blushed. "Well, you said..." "Oh, right." She threw her arms around him and held him tightly. Not knowing what else to do, he hugged her back. ****** In the following days, as the pair made their way back to Knothole, Amy more than proved her adoration for Sonic. Wherever Sonic went, Amy followed as best she could, and tried to snuggle up to him whenever she got an opportunity to do so. Finally, they reached their destination, and jumped into the hidden entrance together. Sonic let go of Amy as they entered the haystack, only to run into Sally as he left it. Had Sonic known what the result of Sally's kiss would be, he would have covered Amy's eyes. As it was, Sonic was in for weeks of bitter rivalry. Every time he tried to have a good time with Sally, Amy interrupted. Every time he tried to talk with Amy, Sally interfered. Just when he was about to break up one particularly loud shouting match, Amy stormed away. At first, he thought Amy had just gone somewhere to cool off, but when she did not return, Sonic realized that Amy had left Knothole forever. ****** Sonic's mind snapped back to the present as he saw a blue glow straight ahead: the blue Chaos Emerald. He leapt towards it, hands outstretched, only to see it dissapear into the bush it rested on. Startled, Sonic turned around, ran back to the plant, and dove into it. "Shiny!" He poked his head out of the bush, to see a small packrat holding the emerald. The packrat was very young, about one headspan shorter than Tails, and poorly kempt. Sonic knew that there were some packrat families living in the Great Forest on their own, hiding from Robotnik. "Maybe this kid got lost," he thought, "or his family's been roboticized." Sonic remembered a more pressing duty when he saw the packrat carrying the emerald away. He jumped out of the bush. "Hey, that's my emerald," he yelled. "Hand it over!" The packrat leapt back in surprise as he noticed the hedgehog, and protectively shielded the gem. "No! I found it! It's mine!" "I don't have time for this." Sonic zipped up to the rodent, grabbed the emerald, and tried to pry it from the child's grasp. "Nng...let go!" The packrat clung to the gem as if his life depended on it. "No! Go away! It's mine!" Sonic pulled harder. "I...said...let..." The emerald popped free. Sonic climbed on the packrat to grab the gem, but slipped off. Before he could get back up, the packrat lunged for the emerald and grabbed it with both paws. Suddenly, the rat was engulfed in blue energy, which poured out of the emerald like nothing Sonic had ever seen before. Even a power ring held less energy than this gem. The energy stream lasted only a few seconds, but by that time, the packrat was already glowing in a pure blue, frowning at the hedgehog. Sonic stepped away from the packrat. "Whoa...cool off, kid. I didn't mean it bad. Just give me the emerald and I'll leave." He reached for the stone. The next thing he remembered was a collision with one of the nearby trees, which the packrat had thrown him into. "GRRR...YOU! TRIED TO TAKE MY GEM," the packrat growled. Sonic rubbed his aching head. "Uh-oh. Way uncool...how on Mobius can I defeat a packrat with Chaos powers?" He got up again, and pulled his backpack free from some of the lower tree branches. It opened as he did so, revealing a Power Ring inside. "Wait a sec, maybe this could work..." He turned to the packrat. "Hey, blue boy!" The packrat advanced on Sonic. Sonic stepped backwards, slowly gaining speed. "Yeah, you. Just 'cause you're blue don't mean you're cool. Bet you can't catch me!" He quickly built up a fast pace. Before long, he was halfway to earning his name again. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a blue silhouete as it accelerated to match his speed. "What, you wanna race? Ha! Nothing beats the blue blur, not even another blue blur." Sonic ran faster. The azure packrat kept up, slowly closing in on Sonic. "This calls for some serious action." He pulled the power ring out of his pack, held it up, and quickly absorbed its energy. "Juice time!" Twin sonic booms echoed throughout the Great Forest as Sonic lead the packrat on a supersonic chase. Sonic had almost made it back to Knothole when he noticed that his pursuer was starting to slow down. Just as they reached the entrance to Knothole, the packrat collapsed from exhaustion. The blue glow faded away, with no more chaos energy remaining to power it. Sonic, on the other hand, had only extended his power ring's life with his own energy, and still felt ready to run. He walked back to the packrat and smirked. "See? I told you I'm the Fastest Thing Alive." "Sh...shiny," the packrat whispered, still holding on to the gem with both paws, but with no strength left. It would be easy to take it now. Sonic put his hand on the gem, but as he looked into the kid's big, tear-filled eyes, he just could not bring himself to pull. "Look, I really need this emerald. Our home and a whole island is at stake..." The packrat just sobbed. Sonic could not bear to push the kid away. "Boy, this looks like a mondo big problem here," he said to himself. "What am I gonna do?" He sat down next to the packrat to think of a solution. Something dragged on his quills. Looking at his back, he saw that it was covered with leaves and tiny branches, which had been stuck there during his fight. "Eww! What else could go wrong," Sonic lamented. He pulled a small mirror from his backpack, and started combing his spikes back to their former glory. As he stroked them back into place, he noticed the packrat looking at him with wide eyes. "Ultra shiny!" "Huh?" Sonic looked around, wondering what the kid could have meant, then his gaze fell on the mirror. "The mirror? But that's nothing special, it's just..." An idea formed in Sonic's head. "Hey, you wanna trade? Shiny for shiny?" The kid released the gem and grabbed for the mirror faster than Sonic could blink, and admired his reflection. "Yay! Ultra shiny!" Sonic picked up the emerald from the ground, relieved. Then he smiled. "You wanna have more shinies?" The packrat gazed into his mirror, then looked up. "More shinies?" Sonic pointed to the stump that lead to Knothole, only a short distance away. "All the shinies you could want. And I'm sure they can help you find your parents, too." "Hooray! Shinies!" With a look of pure awe on his face, the kid leapt into the stump. Sonic looked at the emerald, and admired his reflection in the blue crystal as it smirked back at him. "Now, am I cool, or what," he said to himself, grinning. He knew that, unlike Amy, this kid would not run away. As he prepared to speed away, he heard the packrat's arrival in Knothole. "Shiny!" "Who are you," Bunnie's voice replied, "and what d'yuh think you're doing on mah arm? We are busy with an evacuation here." "Shiny! Shiny!" Sonic laughed out loud as he ran towards the grey Chaos Emerald's crash site. ****** Packbell laughed out loud as he held the grey Chaos Emerald in his hands. "What fools those Freedom Fighters are. The other emeralds hold incredible power, but the grey one is the Master Emerald. With it, I can control all the others. Those idiots might beat my robots, but I have already won. It doesn't matter how many of the other emeralds they find; when they bring the emeralds back to the Floating Island, I shall be there, and this emerald shall take the others right out of their hands. All I have to do is wait..." A brief surge in his speakers' power levels made Packbell's laughter sound like thunder as he walked away.