Speed and Purpose

By T Evans

Disclaimer: I don’t own Sonic or STC, not one bit. Don’t sue me, for I have no money.

At all.

This is a fanfic I’ve been planning to write for years and never really got around to. I’ve finally been inspired enough to sit down and get on with it after a re-read of my old comics, and discovering JudasFm and Neon Hades’ excellent fanfics (bows to them).

This fanfic is based in the STC/Fleetway universe, and is a loose adaptation of the original Sonic game and the events leading up to it. So it’s set about… hm, seven years before Sonic Adventure.

Who knows, if this goes well I might even expand it as far as Sonic 2… (wink)

For those who haven’t read the comic: don’t panic, you don’t need to know STC to understand the story. This one starts from the –very- beginning. Which is a first for me I can tell you!

For those who have -especially the purists: This is STC-based, but with minor changes here and there. I’ve expanded on a few things- especially worldbuilding, character backgrounds, and the scenes from the flashback stories in the original comic. There is the odd plot alteration: for the purposes of this fic I’m going to completely ignore the first 5 issues of STC because otherwise the whole thing would disappear into a Porker-Lewis-shaped plothole. (Believe me, that one caused me some headaches.). Anything else I’ll warn about at the beginning of that chapter.

Warnings: OOC-ness is intentional and has a good reason. There WILL be mild language, violence, and the fic will be darker in later chapters. There will NOT be slash of any kind.

I can’t call myself a good writer but I do the best I can. If you read this, please leave a review. Doesn’t have to be constructive (though it helps), doesn’t have to be long, ‘hello’ will do. I like to know who is reading, if anyone. :)

Thanks for looking.

--

Chapter 1

--

This is the story of my life
And I write it everyday
I know it isn’t black and white
And it’s anything but grey
I know that no I’m not alright, but I feel ok cos
Anything can, everything can happen

-Bon Jovi

--

117,63222 light years from Earth, in a different time zone to our own and hidden within a region of dark matter lies the planet Mobius.

This is a world both familiar and alien. It is a place whose life forms look uncannily like those of Earth until you look more closely and see that some of those animals are people; where the days are the same length but you can look into the sky and see two moons there; where ordinary sights sit comfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with the bizarre, and where the laws of physics are made to be broken if you only know how.

In the years before Robotnik, Mobius’ technology- though advanced- was an option, not a necessity. A few high-tech cities coexisted happily with vast swathes of unspoilt wilderness, dotted with the majestic ruins of long-lost civilisations. Like any inhabited world Mobius had its share of war and conflict- but for decades the hundreds of sentient species had lived together in relative harmony.

But as we all know, this era of peace was not destined to last forever.

This is the story of how it ended.

--

Sonic the hedgehog was running for his life.

Crossing the chasm via the log bridge had turned out to be a very bad idea. Now it was collapsing behind him, log by log, and only his speed prevented him from plummeting to certain death in the black abyss below. He gritted his teeth and tried to coax a little more acceleration from his exhausted body.

Suddenly there was a hungry screech and movement to either side of him- a pair of vicious pteranodons were diving from above, their huge leathery wings tucked to their sides as they rocketed in for the kill.

Not a problem, Sonic smirked to himself. The reptiles were so intent on having hedgehog for dinner that they hadn’t seen each other. He waited until the very last moment then leapt powerfully upwards, causing the two would-be predators to collide in midair and fall away behind him in a tangle of claws, beaks and wings.

As he landed he felt the log give way beneath his feet and lunged desperately for the edge of the cliff. His gloved hands clutched at the grasses hanging over the edge; he gave a sigh of relief as they held firm, then hauled himself up onto safe, solid ground.

Sonic glanced over his shoulder to see the last remnants of the bridge disappear into the darkness. But he couldn’t pause to catch his breath- now he could hear something else approaching, a sort of droning noise…

“…And that’s your other problem, young hedgehog… you just don’t pay attention!” this was punctuated by the snap of a ruler on the edge of his desk, which jerked him out of his doze.

The teenaged Sonic the hedgehog blinked and glanced around the otherwise deserted classroom before eventually focusing on the face of the teacher.

“Uh… seven hundred and fifty miles per hour?” he ventured in the hope that he had been asked a question.

The teacher- a mole- gave a long-suffering sigh and pushed his glasses further up his snout. “Sonic, I know you’re not stupid. Maybe if you’d just attempt to listen to what you’re being told for more than three minutes you’d actually learn something...”

“Maybe if you’d just attempt to be less boring,” the hedgehog suggested, swinging on the back two legs of his chair.

“I try to help him and all I get is attitude,” the exasperated teacher muttered to himself. He was tired, it was the last day before the summer holidays, and he just wanted to go home and have dinner. The mole eyed his troublesome pupil and tried to decide if he actually had the patience to deal with him.

Feet in battered white trainers rested on the edge of the desk. The teenager’s dark brown eyes had a lively spark in them that suggested more intelligence than he let on, and his furry tan muzzle was fixed in an irreverent smirk.

His quills were a lighter brown than his eyes and forever grew in an untameable mess. Covered in these sharp spines from forehead to tail, hedgehogs had never needed to evolve great size or strength to defend themselves so were not the largest or most imposing of Mobians. Sonic was lightly built even for a hedgehog; he was somewhat small for his age, and still had the slightly awkward look of a growing teenager. But what he lacked in size he made up for in pent-up energy. If he wasn’t dozing off he was fidgeting- his foot would tap on the floor or his fingers drum against the table and he was never still for more than a few seconds at a time. When he spoke his hands were constantly in jerky motion, gesturing to enhance whatever point he was making. If he was particularly excited his words and sentences ran into each other as if he couldn’t get them out fast enough.

And one thing every teacher in the school agreed on was that they had no idea what to do with him. Sonic became bored too quickly to learn much from a book or lecture. He undoubtedly had a talent for sports- well, apart from swimming- and although not particularly strong had an amazing running speed and the balance and agility of a natural gymnast. But sports came with rules, and Sonic did not like rules. Nor did he seem to have any idea of his own limitations. He took insane risks and overextended himself on a regular basis, so often in fact that he probably spent more time in the nurse’s office than any other pupil.

The mole sighed, realising he probably wasn’t going to get anywhere, and that anything he did say would go in one of the hedgehog’s pointed little ears and out the other.

“I’m just not getting through, am I? Go on, you might as well go home.” Sonic had grabbed his bag and almost bolted out the door when he added wearily, “I assume we won’t be seeing you next term…?”

The teenager’s grin reappeared in the doorway. “Not a chance,” he confirmed happily.

Sonic had just turned fourteen. This was an important milestone for any young Mobian. It meant that, although he would not be considered adult for several years yet, he was old enough to make his own decisions. Which included leaving school if he so chose, among other freedoms.

“Have you thought about this?” the mole made one final effort. “You really need to decide what you’re going to do with your life, Sonic. You can’t make a living just running around-“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say…” Sonic humoured him. “Can I go now or what?”

“As long as you’re still on school premises, hedgehog, that’s ‘Can I go now or what, sir?’”

“Yes sir, as ordered, sir!” Sonic grinned mischievously and, showing absolutely no respect whatsoever, snapped him a mock salute.

Rolling his eyes, the teacher made a shooing motion with one large paw. “Get going before I keep you here another hour. And don’t slam the-“

The door slammed. Sonic was gone.

A resigned sigh. “I’ll be surprised if that hedgehog ever makes anything of himself.”

--

Sonic pushed back the cuff of his glove and glanced at his watch.

“Gah- I’m late!” he exclaimed, dismayed, and after pausing just long enough to drop off his tattered schoolbag, pelted off through the Emerald Hill Village which had been home for as long as he could remember.

Emerald Hill was the most southerly of South Island’s many Hill Zones. It lived up to its name, with gently rolling hills dotted with coconut trees and covered in what locals argued was the greenest grass on the whole island. Snaking through it all was the Emerald River, which tumbled over a series of waterfalls on its way to the cliffs and then the sea. If you looked south from the cliffs there were views of the vast Mobian Ocean. To the west was the narrow channel separating the island from Theria, Mobius’ largest continent. On a clear day like today you could make out the suspension bridge connecting the two landmasses and even the tall skyscrapers of the Metropolis Zone further away across the water.

Emerald Hill was a quiet rural Zone and the village reflected this. The round-windowed houses of the sleepy market village were wooden and cylindrical to resemble the trees they had been made from, and although they did have some concessions to technology such as electricity, running water and plumbing, powered vehicles were few and far between and only a narrow tiled road wound its way though the village.

Sonic of course took all this for granted as he ran through the street, dodging past and sometimes yelling a quick hello to other villagers. Some of the people he narrowly avoided collisions with were clothed and some were not; most, like Sonic, walked upright and had hands instead of paws, wings or flippers, while here and there a person ambled along on all fours or flapped through the air on feathered wings. These individuals were known as Old Mobians, that particular bit of evolution having happened- as far as the archaeologists knew- many thousands of years ago.

The hedgehog was wandering around the village outskirts by the time he found who he was looking for. Johnny Lightfoot was a rabbit, grey-furred and blue-eyed, rather tall and lanky for his age. His long ears added an extra foot to his height.

“I was about to give up and go home- where’ve you been?” he asked.

“Detention,” Sonic replied almost proudly.

The ever-sensible Johnny rolled his eyes. “Sonic, only you could manage to get detention on the last day of term.”

“The last ever.” A grin. “Thank goodness. The place was doing my head in.”

The rabbit, who hadn’t known about this, looked slightly worried. “You’re not going back in September?”

Sonic looked at him as if he’d grown an extra pair of ears. “Me? Are you kidding? C’mon, Lightfoot, can you honestly see me doing exams?”

“Well… no… but what are you going to do?” Johnny was a year older than Sonic- more or less- but unlike the hedgehog had decided to stay in school.

Sonic appeared to think for a moment. “Dunno yet,” he shrugged, grinning. “I’ll find out when I do it, I guess.” His eyes lit up as he remembered why he was there. “Hey, didya get those rings for me?”

Johnny showed him the two large golden rings he had collected earlier. They hung loosely from his arm and clinked together softly.

“Yeah, but I still don’t think that-“

“Cool!” Sonic interrupted. “Race you to the loop, okay?”

And without waiting for an answer, he was off.

--

Johnny Lightfoot had known Sonic since the hedgehog had first arrived in the Zone. Why the well-groomed rabbit had befriended the bedraggled, five year old little ball of quills that Sonic had been was anybody’s guess. The two seemed so different in personality and appearance that most people were amazed they got along at all. Johnny had a calm thoughtful nature and was content to be the quiet one in a group- but you could be sure that anything he did say had had a lot of thought put into it and would usually make perfect sense. Sonic of course was the opposite.

It was soon clear that the two made a good team, however, as each provided something the other lacked: Sonic was confident and assertive, while Johnny had enough common sense (and manners) for the two of them.

Of course in many situations it was Sonic’s stubbornness rather than Johnny’s good sense that won. Such was the case as the unlikely pair stared up at an object that was a common sight on Mobius but would have been extraordinary anywhere else: a giant, upright, rectangular stone slab with a round hole in the middle big enough to fly a small plane through.

These ‘loops’ had probably been built to resemble the golden rings of Mobius but no one knew for sure who had constructed them or when. Just like the rings you could find them almost everywhere on South Island. This particular loop was located near the cliffs, just off an old track-way through the Zone. It was a large one and like most of the stonework in Emerald Hill it was covered in gaudy yellow and orange tiles, but several of these had fallen off over the years. The whole structure leaned slightly forwards so that it seemed to tower menacingly over the two teenagers standing in its shadow.

“Are you sure about this?” Johnny wondered, shaking his head.

“Aren’t I always?” A grin.

“It didn’t work last time…”

“So?” the smaller Mobian raised an eyebrow, the grin, if anything, getting wider.

“Or the time before. I don’t think it’s even possible.”

“You doubt me?” Sonic put a hand on his chest, pretending to be shocked. “Did I not say I had a good feeling about this? Am I, or am I not, the fastest hedgehog in the Zone?”

Johnny gave a long-suffering sigh, and didn’t bother to mention that he was also the only hedgehog in the Zone, apart from elderly Mrs Rose who worked in the hairdresser’s.

“Whatever you say, Sonic. I just don’t see why you keep trying to do this when-“

“Because it’s there,” Sonic interrupted. “Because nobody’s done it before, and-“ he pointed a skinny arm at the stone ring, “Because when I say I’m going to run all the way round that loop, I mean I’m going to run all the way round that loop.”

Having had this conversation a dozen times before and knowing just how stubborn his friend could be, Johnny sighed again. Once Sonic got an idea in his head there was no swaying him. It was as if he didn’t believe gravity existed, or something.

“Sonic…”

“C’mon, Johnny, where’s your sense of adventure?” Another grin. “Still got those gold rings? Good. Just chuck me one when I tell you.” With that, Sonic clambered into the giant loop- the inside was smooth grey stone, so it almost looked like he was standing in the curve of a giant roll of sticky tape. Or like a pet rodent in a very large wheel.

Johnny had to fight to stop himself laughing at that image as Sonic eyed the inner surface of the loop, then glanced back at the rabbit.

“Watch and learn, dude.”

That was the thing about Sonic: he didn’t give up easily once he had decided he was going to achieve something. ‘Impossible’ was another thing the hedgehog did not believe in. The strange thing was that he was proved right surprisingly often- not always, but sometimes.

So perhaps, Johnny thought, he would manage to run the loop this time. In which case he’d immediately find some other challenge to occupy him.

Or maybe he’d just concuss himself again…

Not that Johnny could stop him now he had made his mind up.

The rabbit shifted from one foot to the other nervously.

Sonic, meanwhile, had started jogging back and forth along the bottom of the loop in a pendulum motion. Contrary to what Johnny thought, he did know a little about gravity- enough at least to realise that if he turned on his heel and ran the other way as soon as he had gone as far as he could up the side of the stone ring, he could use his own momentum to go faster, and reach a higher point on the opposite side…

The hard part was building up enough speed to reach the top and then over it without falling. Sonic had convinced himself he could do it; roller coasters did it all the time, so why couldn’t he?

Running up the side of the loop again, he felt himself being tugged back down and turned, knowing from painful experience that if he tried going any further around at this speed his feet would start to slip out from under him. Faster.

Gravity worked with him as Sonic sprinted back down. He felt the drag of the wind in his spines as he accelerated, his breathing coming more quickly. Then back up the curve- a little higher this time- turning- and down again. Faster!

He was about a third of the way around the loop now, but the young hedgehog was already feeling the first warning signs of fatigue- a heaviness in his chest and legs.

Sonic smirked to himself. Oh no you don’t. Time, he thought, to use his ‘secret weapon’.

“Now!” he shouted as he reached the top of his arc. Johnny tossed a gold ring in a way they had practised earlier, so that when Sonic reached his turning point on the other side he was in the perfect position to catch it.

Actually, it was not so much ‘catch’ as ‘absorb’, for as soon as the ring touched his outstretched hand it dissolved into a golden shimmer that passed right though his glove and instantly filled him with a sensation of warmth and energy.

Sonic set his teeth in a grin, lowered his head and charged down the curve of the loop, the brief burst of power from the ring erasing his tiredness- at least for a few seconds- and giving him the extra boost he needed to hurtle up the other side.

He still did not have enough speed to make it all the way around, but it was close… very close. Almost halfway!

He turned, breathlessly shouting for Johnny to throw the second ring. Sonic caught it on the way back up; for a moment his running became effortless and he felt a surge of exhilaration. This was what he was made for, he thought suddenly, and would have laughed if he could have spared the breath for it.

Sonic made a split-second decision then not to turn around and build up more speed. He was so close anyway, and of course he was going to make it.

Speed overcame gravity as the slope in front of him became a wall, and then began to arch over… and he was still going. He felt a ‘falling’ sensation in his stomach and knew that if he looked down, he would see sky. Up ahead the grey stone of the ring was beginning its curve down towards the ground.

It was at this point Sonic realised his speed had dropped. His feet scrabbled for grip on the surface above him and then, after a long, torturous moment, left it altogether as gravity finally had its own way.

Moments later a tightly-curled ball of quills smacked against the lowest point of the inside of the loop (“ow!”) then rolled off the edge and hit the ground for a second, equally indignant “ow”.

The young hedgehog uncurled himself and started to get up, realised his head was spinning from being practically upside down, lost his balance and sat back down on the grass with a thump.

Johnny was looking down at him with an expression that was partly I-told-you-so but mostly concern.

“You okay?”

Sonic nodded, out of breath, bruised, but mostly unharmed. His quills had absorbed most of the impact.

“Yeah. Fine.” he muttered. Scowled. Paused to let the dizziness pass.

Then he was suddenly on his feet, shouting and glaring furiously at the offending stone loop-

“-Stupid bloody thingIwassoclosewhydidn’tIjustturnaroundstupidstupidstupid- OW!”

Sonic yelped and grabbed his foot, having punctuated his last ‘stupid’ with a kick at the side of the loop- which being made of stone, hurt quite a bit.

He then erupted into language most adults would have found shocking. Fortunately most of it was said too fast to make out.

Johnny had seen enough of these explosions to know that the best thing to do was just wait and let Sonic rant himself out. Which he did eventually, and abruptly flopped down on the edge of the stone ring. There was a frustrated glint in his brown eyes, which were narrowed thoughtfully- meaning he was probably already plotting how he was going to get it right next time.

“Better?” Johnny said.

“Much.”

Sonic’s grumpy silence was broken by a sudden noise- that of hands clapping. It was not a round of applause, but a mocking and sarcastic parody of one. The two teens looked in the direction of the sound and groaned.

“Lance and Brindle. Wonderful,” Sonic muttered, watching the pair of slightly older youths approach.

“That’s all we need,” Johnny agreed unhappily. “They must’ve followed us.”

Lance stopped clapping, his thin muzzle smirking nastily. He was a dog, yellowish in colour, with a wiry, powerful frame and sharp features that were not improved by the look of contempt they now wore.

“Well, that was an impressive bit of… what would you call that?”

“Diving?” suggested the shaggy mound of fur and muscle behind him. Brindle the Old Mobian badger sat back on his haunches and crossed his massive, clawed paws on his chest. “But don’t you need water for that?”

“Nah, little squirt’s afraid of water.” Lance grinned down at Sonic. “Aren’t you?”

This got a chuckle like rocks grinding together from the badger.

“Shut up,” Sonic hissed, drawing himself up to his full -if modest- height. Bad enough that they’d seen his fall…

“Leave him alone, Lance…” Johnny started.

“Why should I, buckteeth? Not denying it is he?” Lance wandered nonchalantly up to the stone loop, the heavy grey form of Brindle padding after him, low to the ground when on all fours but with enough mass for the three others put together.

“So,” the dog glanced at Sonic, “Trying to run round this thing again, hmm? You’ll never do it,” he remarked casually. “The thing is, Sonic… I don’t like to crush your hopes-“ a snigger- “But hedgehogs just aren’t built for speed. Especially runty little hedgehogs like you.” He leaned back against the tiled stone. “Unlike me.” The dog seemed to examine Sonic critically for a few seconds- the small brown hedgehog was visibly seething and his ears were laid back against his head, which only amused Lance more. As if in an aside to Brindle, he added “If he even is all hedgehog. Everyone knows his parentage is a bit… dubious. Also unlike me.”

Sonic snarled at that. His quills bristled and stood up, and he threw off the calming hand Johnny put on his shoulder.

“Really? I could have sworn I saw a little poodle in you, Lance.”

Johnny had seen the size of Brindle’s claws and muttered, “Don’t, Sonic…”

“Poodle? I’m pure greyhound, runt. But I’d rather be a poodle than a hyperactive weirdo. Probably why your family dumped you, I know I would have…”

That did it. Although Johnny tried to hold him back, grabbing him by the arm and telling him to stop because Lance and Brindle were bigger than either of them, Sonic wrenched free and charged at the greyhound with a snarl of fury.

“I don’t think so,” rumbled the badger. With surprising speed for a creature his size, he moved to intercept Sonic and tripped him with a muscular forelimb. The hedgehog went flying.

“Aww, too slow,” Lance mocked, as Sonic spat out grass stems and dirt and scrambled to his feet, bruised pride turning to black anger on his face. The pair began to lope away, laughing, and Sonic started forwards after them.

“You wanna see how fast I am? Huh? Then you’d better start really running because I’m gonna-“

“Sonic! Don’t bother, there’s no point…” Johnny quickly stepped in front to block him before he could bolt off and do something stupid.

“I’m not letting them get away with that-” he glowered after the retreating bullies but much to the rabbit’s relief did not try to chase them.

“It’s not worth it. They’re just idiots, Sonic. At least that Brindle is. Lance… well… he’s probably jealous.” This wasn’t just Johnny finding the right thing to say- Sonic’s bragging about being the fastest creature in the Zone did after all have a lot of truth in it.

Sonic sagged a little. “Yeah, I’d like to see himtry to run that loop,” he muttered sulkily. “Moron. What did I do to him, anyway?”

“If I remember right… he used to go round saying he was the fastest thing in Emerald Hill, then you beat him in a race…”

The hedgehog thought for a moment- and his scowl began to lighten and change to an amused smile. “Races,” he corrected. “I think it was three or four.”

“And then Lance accused you of cheating and you lost your temper and walked into him.”

“Backwards,” Sonic finished, a wicked grin slowly spreading on his face as he shook out his quills. Unlike some hedgehogs’ they were relatively stiff and razor sharp for the last few inches. “Ooh, I bet that hurt... ‘Oh dear, ever so sorry, I didn’t see you there, dude…’” the grin turned into a snigger. “No wonder he’s always so stuck up. Maybe-“ and his voice rose to a shout, so that the now-distant greyhound might hear it, “-HE’S STILL GOT A QUILL JAMMED RIGHT UP HIS-“

“Sonic!”

“What?” Innocence.

“That is not funny!” Johnny tried to keep a straight face, but failed miserably and was within moments laughing along with Sonic.

Later, after getting the grass out of his fur as best he could, Sonic climbed to the flat top of the loop by way of a broken section down one side and perched there with his legs dangling over the edge, looking out at the sea.

What clouds there were in the sky had started to turn pink and purple and the sun was beginning to sink towards the distant city. There would be an impressive sunset in a few hours time.

Sonic smiled to himself. “One day I’ll show them,” he said softly.

“What?” Johnny hadn’t attempted the climb, and was sitting below, inside the loop.

“I said,” Sonic peered over the edge, beaming, “I’m gonna run this loop!”

He thumped his fist against the stone for emphasis. Johnny grinned back up at him. Despite his scepticism earlier, he could see how close the hedgehog had come to completing a whole circuit. And Sonic knew it too, so he wouldn’t be giving up anytime soon- especially after what Lance had said. Nothing made Sonic more determined to do something than someone saying he couldn’t.

“I didn’t think it was possible, but you nearly did it this time,” Johnny congratulated.

“Yeah! I just need to be a little bit faster…” he trailed off into a thoughtful silence, but with Sonic such silences were always short- Johnny had taken to counting the seconds, and sure enough he had only counted to five when Sonic abruptly started talking again. “-Hey, were those rings a good idea, or were those rings a good idea?”

“Yep, Sonic, those rings were a good idea,” the rabbit echoed, amused at his friend’s usual utter lack of humility.

“Maybe I’ll try three next time,” the hedgehog mused.

Jokingly, Johnny replied with: “How many of those do you think I can throw? I’m warning you, I’m stopping at fifty.”

“Oh ha ha.” Sonic played with the idea for a moment. “Fifty rings? I’d probably explode or something!”

“Sonic? Please tell me you’re not going to try it.”

The hedgehog just laughed.

Sonic’s other talent- besides running- was using the golden rings that could be found floating in midair all over Mobius for a quick energy boost. When asked, he described it as being ‘like caffeine, only better’- and as far as he knew nobody else could do it. The rings didn’t have any other use anyway. Many Mobians called them ‘fool’s gold’ for although they had a very attractive golden yellow colour, as soon as they were scratched or otherwise tampered with they simply disintegrated into golden sparks and disappeared. Sometimes they did that on their own after a while, and tended to appear out of nothing just as spontaneously. You couldn’t make anything useful out of a gold ring so they were simply regarded as curiosities and often ended up as safe playthings for Mobian children. Which is how Sonic discovered his ability.

The rings weighed next to nothing and felt warm to the touch, or so Sonic had been told. Not that he knew, as a ring always became absorbed as soon as he brushed against it whether he wanted it to or not.

“So how come you’re so determined to do this, Sonic?” Johnny asked eventually, for the second time that day. “In fact, you’re always doing this kind of thing. Running along things, jumping off things… the more dangerous the better.”

They had had this conversation a number of times. Sonic answered him the way he always did: which was to shrug, smile enigmatically and say, “I want to be faster.”

The answer to Johnny’s question was partly boredom. Apart from bullying types such as Lance and Brindle, the equivalent of whom existed in every civilisation on every world in every universe, Emerald Hill was almost idyllic. But the village was also far too quiet and the people content with their slow pace of life. Nothing ever really changed in Emerald Hill. It offered little with which an active, adventurous young hedgehog like Sonic could occupy his time, apart from exploring and testing his abilities against the hills, cliffs, and odd semi-ruined stone structures that had become his personal obstacle course.

The Zone was home, and it was beautiful, but nothing ever happened.

However, Sonic’s risk taking was mainly because he never felt so alive as when he was running. He was rightfully proud of his speed- as far as he knew hedgehogs were not known for being good sprinters. But after years of training himself around Emerald Hill he could outrun anyone in the Zone. If he really pushed himself he could reach speeds of up to thirty miles per hour for a short time, a little longer if he had rings.

People had occasionally suggested half-jokingly that there had been a cheetah somewhere in Sonic’s ancestry, and certain unpleasant individuals had taken to whispering ‘mutation!’ nastily behind his back. Being an orphan Sonic could not dispute either of these claims, but they did not have the power to discourage him for long.

Sonic ran. He was driven to improve his skills further. I can do better, he was forever telling himself. The buzz he got from beating his own record was always short-lived and quickly replaced by restlessness and an urge to do it all over again, but faster. Sonic had one particular goal that he was aiming for and he would not stop until he had reached it- no matter how impossible it seemed.

Lately he had been frustrated by the fact that his times had not been improving much, as if perhaps he had reached the limit of what his body could do. Not that he would ever admit that.

However, today he felt buoyed with enthusiasm, so much so that not even his failure to run the loop or Lance and Brindle’s bullying could sour his mood for more than a few minutes. Perhaps it was because- as he saw it- he had finally thrown off the shackles of school and was free to do as he pleased. Or maybe because of a feeling he had that something, at last, was going to happen.

Sonic gazed at the distant Metropolis, a breeze from the ocean whispering in his brown fur. Yes, although nothing ever changed in Emerald Hill, today he could sense change in the air and everything seemed possible. He was filled with certainty that soon his life would finally take him out of the mundane Hill Zones, that he would get to see places like that city and when he did he would be doing something that mattered, even though he did not know yet what it might be. And most importantly of all, he would prove to the villagers- he would prove to Mobius- that he wasn’t just ‘that useless Sonic kid’.

One day his name would mean something.

Sonic had been roughly five years old when he had staggered into Emerald Hill Village, weak and half-drowned. He’d had no memory of anything apart from his name. That too was nearly taken from him after the village council failed to discover where the little hedgehog had come from or who his family may have been. It wasn’t a proper name after all. But he was stubborn even then, and they eventually gave in.

Speed was his talent, Sonic was his name, and all his life he had been determined to live up to it.

Sonic aimed to be the first Mobian ever to break the sound barrier on foot.

--

Sonic’s dreams did not come to fruition the next day, or the day after that. The wind of change he had sensed seemed to herald change of a far more ordinary kind- in the weather.

That breeze had brought a storm from the southern sea. It rained. More than rained, it poured. But when the weather changed in Emerald Hill it did so quickly, so that on the middle of the third day the downpour subsided to a miserable drizzle and eventually gave up altogether, leaving the sun peeking sheepishly through the clouds and huge puddles all over the paved street.

Sonic was glad that the rain had stopped so that his fur didn’t have to be forever damp and the hills would not be a sea of mud much longer. That had prevented him from running much, meaning he had been bored out of his skull for the first few days of summer.

He did not like getting wet at all, so made a game of the puddles as he dashed through the village. The aim was to avoid them altogether, but sometimes that wasn’t possible- to the dismay of passers by who got splashed with dirty brown water.

Sonic headed for the outer edges of the village where he had his own small house. It was more of a cabin really, but he was perfectly happy with it. This was another perk that came with being fourteen. Previously he had been what some called a ‘pass the parcel’ child. It was custom in the Hill Zones that orphans were taken care of by the community- the village council paid for his education and would provide an allowance until he was eighteen, but since there was no hedgehog family able to take him in he was passed between whoever had the extra space, staying with each person for a few months before moving to the next. Although he was still sociable this had given him a strong independent streak- so as soon as he was old enough to move out he had done so. Luckily it was also custom that when a house had been vacant for a particular amount of time it became free for anyone to claim. No one else had been interested in the little one-story building, but for a youngster who spent most of his time outside anyway it was ideal.

Sonic slammed the door behind him and glanced around the mess he called home. As always it looked like a bomb had gone off in the living room- a bomb made mostly of junk. The nature of this junk was ever-changing, since he tended to bring home anything he found interesting then leave it lying around somewhere once he got bored with it. Some of the more permanent features of the room were the empty food containers scattered about the place, the leaning towers of music cassettes stacked around a battered guitar, and an old Mega System games console whose wires snaked haphazardly all over the floor.

He swept some empty food wrappers off a small table and put down the pizza box he was carrying. Sonic ran various errands around the village for extra pocket money and the odd pizza delivery was one of his favourites; it was as dull a job as he could think of but paid in food as well as cash, which made it very worthwhile. There was no pizza like a free pizza.

“Want some?” he waved a sagging pizza slice at Johnny, who was standing amidst all the clutter where Sonic had left him. He held a two-pronged television aerial and was waving it about halfheartedly in an attempt to get the TV to show something other than static.

The rabbit eyed the sorry-looking pizza unenthusiastically. “I just ate at home.”

“Fine by me,” Sonic replied, grinned, downed the greasy slice in one go and reached for another. Given the chance Sonic would eat anything, and lots of it.

“Ugh, that’s disgusting….” Johnny muttered and wrinkled his nose.

“Nothin’ wrong with a bit of junk food,” the hedgehog mumbled happily through a mouthful of cheese and tomato. “So-“ he swallowed, frowning at the TV, “I take it you’re having as much luck as I was…”

The second hand TV and games console were recent acquisitions. Sonic thought the TV had been an excellent find as they weren’t that common in Emerald Hill- and now he thought he knew why because although the thing was fine for playing games on, it seemed unable to tune in to any stations at all. They were relatively close to the Metropolis and Star Light Zone wasn’t that far away; the TV should have been able to pick up something from one of those built-up Zones but so far there was nothing but snow.

Johnny shook his head, lowering the antenna.

“I don’t think you’ve got a good enough signal here, Sonic…”

“Sally’s got a signal and she’s just down the street,” the hedgehog grumped,

“Sally’s got a huge aerial sticking out of her house. You have this.” He indicated the antenna, which was bent and sad-looking and may or may not have been made from a coat hanger.

Sonic snorted, pushing the pizza aside. “Gimme that, it just needs a little persuasion.”

As the rabbit watched, mystified, Sonic stood by the offending piece of technology with the antenna held up before him like a warrior of ancient times worshipping before a mystical altar.

“Sky Pirate Adventures,” he began solemnly. “Most Extreme Hoverboard Stunts. And-“ he added the last in a reverent whisper, “X Rated Horror Films.”

Then he dropped the antenna and brought his fist down on the top of the TV with a satisfying thud.

“Sonic-!”

“What? It worked, didn’t it?” Sniggering, the hedgehog smugly pointed to the TV. The Metropolis Zone News shone back at them in full glorious colour.

Sonic began to prance around the room with the antenna on his head to resemble rabbit ears, his bottom lip tucked under his upper teeth, and an amused glow in his eyes. “But it’s impossible, you’ll never get a signal, oh the negativity of it all…”

Something in the back of the TV went pfft and the picture flickered and went blank.

“I think you broke it,” Johnny remarked.

“…Bugger,” said Sonic.

It rapidly became clear that the TV was now well and truly dead. Sonic sighed over this, but consoled himself with another slice of pizza and was quickly distracted by the cough and huff of an engine outside.

“Bus!” he exclaimed, and both Mobians hurried to the window.

Sonic’s house was near a crossroads and Emerald Hill’s one and only bus stop, which was just outside the village. The arrival of a bus was worth watching because it only happened once or twice a day and sometimes not at all; and since the bus came from outside the Zone it sometimes brought interesting visitors with news from other parts of the island.

The bus was just leaving, and a single person that Sonic and Johnny had never seen before had got off. He was a young pig, slightly stocky as pigs tended to be, and both bookish-looking and extremely nervous. Judging by how he struggled with his two fat suitcases he was also very unfit. This was not a good combination as he had picked exactly the wrong individual to help with his luggage- a certain greyhound, to whom such a person was simply an easy target.

Sonic grimaced, knowing that a bully could smell weakness a mile away and that this stranger might be in for a hard time.

Sure enough, Lance knew a nerd when he saw one. Like Sonic he was bored, but his way of eliminating that boredom was completely different: he saw it as his personal mission to show those weaker than him just how far down the food chain they really were.

The pig realised his mistake as soon as he asked the dog to help carry his suitcases. The toothy smile he’d been shown was mocking and had no warmth in it at all. He had seen enough of those smiles to know what they meant. And almost immediately he found himself on the wrong end of a hefty shove and landed on his backside in a six-inch deep puddle, one of his cases splashing next to him and the greyhound still holding the other as he smirked contemptuously down at him.

“Whoops! You really should be more careful.” Lance glanced around as if making sure nobody was listening, then added in a conspiratorial whisper: “I think you’ve wet yourself.”

His victim could only cower helplessly, letting grimy water soak into his clothes as Lance laughed cruelly and began to rifle through the contents of the suitcase. “What’s this? Physics?” he held up a large book, and then tossed it into the puddle. The pig winced but said nothing, knowing it was better to keep his mouth shut. “And… Engineering?” a second book followed the first. “Little brainbox are we? Well, little piggy, maybe you should have stayed home…”

“What the hell is your problem, Lance?” someone said disgustedly. The greyhound looked up to see Sonic glaring angrily at him, while the rabbit he always hung about with was helping the spluttering pig out of the puddle. Soaked, he stared around with terrified eyes, unsure whether these two strangers were going to help or start picking on him too.

“Um? You don’t have to…”

“See?” Lance sneered. “He doesn’t want help and this is none of your business, so clear off. Me and Piggy were just making friends, weren’t we?” He gave another cruel smile.

“Um,” the pig stammered.

“Some friends.” Sonic wrinkled his snout in distaste. The pig was trying his hardest to be invisible and redoubled his efforts when Sonic shot him a look that was part accusation and part pity. The hedgehog glanced at the scattered contents of the suitcase then looked away.

“Did you get bored with picking on me,” he asked the greyhound evenly, “Or do you only bully people who can’t fight back when your bodyguard isn’t around?”

“As if I’d waste all of my time on you.” Lance shook his head in disbelief. “I’m doing the guy a favour. He’s not from around here- so it’s my job to show him how this Zone works, sooner rather than later.”

Sonic snorted, simmering anger rising in him. “Coward.”

“What did you say!”

“You heard.” Sonic turned his back on Lance- even to a non-hedgehog this was obviously an insult, as the dog found himself looking at a small forest of sharp spines- and started to gather up the pig’s sodden things.

Lance did not take this at all well.

“No one turns their back on me, you mutated little runt.”

Sonic was already in motion as Lance advanced on him. He despised bullies and thought what Lance needed was a good kick in the tail, but the pig’s behaviour- accepting this treatment as if it was a normal fact of life- had really incensed him. So the hedgehog did not think twice about what he did next.

The next thing Lance knew was that Sonic had whipped around to face him, there was a sharp pain across his shins and then an almighty splash as he landed facedown in the muddy water.

Trip-er and trip-ee froze for a long moment, staring at each other in mutual disbelief. Rivulets of water and mud dribbled down Lance’s face, staining his coarse yellow-brown fur as he blinked in shock at finding his role reversed. Sonic bit back a derisive laugh and his eyes widened, a slight look of panic crossing his face as he realised what he had just done. With Lance there was a line you simply didn’t cross. Sonic had not only crossed it, but had spat on it on the way over and was now several miles across the border and heading into Hospital Country.

The greyhound realised too. His own eyes narrowed to slits of fury and his lips drew back over his canine teeth. Nobody tripped Lance. That this little worm of a hedgehog gave as good as he got in terms of verbal abuse was bad enough. But to fight back physically- twice if you counted the quill incident, which Lance was still not convinced had been an accident- well, that was something else.

The little fool needed to be taught some respect.

A threatening growl vibrated in the dog’s throat, rising in pitch and volume.

And then all hell broke loose.

Johnny stood slack-jawed as Lance erupted out of the filthy puddle in a stream of equally filthy language and launched himself at Sonic; the hedgehog, a fraction his size, instinctively raised his quills in fear but stood his ground and bared his own sharp canines; then Johnny was violently jostled as the pig gave a squeal of terror and ran for his life.

“Sonic!” the dazed rabbit exclaimed helplessly, blinking at the ball of fur and fists rolling around on the ground. “Er…”

He dithered for a few moments, scooting round and attempting to break up the two combatants who were completely oblivious to his efforts. Johnny, who disliked violence at the best of times, gave them one last despairing look and ran off into the village to get help.

--

Sonic saw the punch coming just in time to jerk himself out of its way, so that Lance’s fist ploughed into the ground instead of his head and the dog howled more in anger than pain. Sonic was quick and agile, but in close quarters against an opponent who was bigger and stronger than him that didn’t count for much. So he was reduced to dodging Lance’s blows as much as possible and avoiding injury rather than actually fighting back, which was a lot harder than it sounded when those blows seemed to be coming from all directions.

The sensible thing would have been to escape- but being Sonic, this didn’t even occur to him.

His feet slipped on the wet tiles of the road as he scrambled to avoid the snarling greyhound. His vision exploded in stars of pain as he caught a glancing blow to the jaw and suddenly Lance was on top of him, gripping the hedgehog’s narrow shoulders and driving him down into the deepest pool of rainwater by the side of the road.

“Not so cocky now! Let’s see how you like it,” the dog hissed, smirking as he saw Sonic’s eyes widen in shock. He reflexively grabbed at the sinewy arms holding him down, but they might as well have been iron bars for all they moved.

It went against all a hedgehog’s instincts to be forced onto his back- with his quills pressed uselessly into the thick mud in the bottom of the puddle, Sonic felt horribly vulnerable. That was not the worst of it though, because the water was already up around his ears and Lance was pushing him ever further into the muck.

You can drown quite easily in just a few inches of water, you know, whispered a malicious little voice in the back of his head. He felt something in there snap.

“NO!” Sonic cried out and curled his body upwards, slamming both feet solidly into the greyhound’s chest.

Lance’s breath was expelled in a grunt of pain and surprise at the unexpected strength of the kick. Losing his balance, he released the hedgehog and stumbled back a few steps, only to go down in a splash of water as Sonic surged to his feet with a wordless yell of fury and rammed him in the stomach.

For a few moments Sonic appeared to have the upper hand- winded and gasping, Lance could do little more than shield his face from the enraged teenager’s punches, which although not all that powerful rained down on him too swiftly to avoid. But the older mammal rallied quickly and within a few breaths had launched himself at Sonic again, his anger only growing stronger as the hedgehog refused to give in.

They rolled on the ground, oblivious to the muddy puddles or anything much else apart from each other. Lance’s teeth were bared and the fur stood up in a stiff ridge along his back; Sonic’s spines were raised in a similar reflex and his head lowered to expose as many of them as possible to his opponent.

“What in Chaos is going on here!” a new voice shouted, sounding almost as angry as Sonic felt.

The fighting Mobians froze at the authority in that voice. Sonic blinked, slowly becoming aware of his surroundings.

He and Lance were caught in a kind of stalemate. The greyhound’s arm was around Sonic’s neck, trying to restrain or choke him; this was rather like trying to choke a cactus as the hedgehog’s quills had ended up sticking in much of Lance’s chest and upper arm. Neither dog nor hedgehog could move without the one getting several impromptu piercings or the other having his air supply cut off.

Both of them were breathing hard from exertion; Lance panted with his tongue hanging out of his long muzzle, and Sonic was huffing through his nose, mainly because his sharp teeth were buried in the muscle of Lance’s arm.

The scene might have been comical if not for the stern expression of the large adult rabbit who had just arrived. Darker-furred and more stocky than his son, Johnny Lightfoot’s father had the same easygoing nature but was not a rabbit you wanted to be on the wrong side of in an argument. He took in the situation- each teenager was too wary to let go of the other (it just had to be those two, didn’t it), and the mud-splattered contents of a suitcase were littered around them.

The rabbit gave a world-weary sigh.

“I’m going to assume you two have a good explanation for this, although, knowing you I doubt it.”

Sonic mumbled something unintelligible.

“Try taking his arm out of your mouth first, Sonic.” Jonathan Lightfoot Senior had a noticeable hint of resignation in his voice.

Sonic did so and said the first thing that came to mind: “This inbred flea factory tried to drown me.”

Lance, wincing, retorted with the favourite excuse of teenagers everywhere when faced with an angry adult: “He started it.”

“I was provoked!”

“I don’t care who started it,” Mr Lightfoot interrupted. “You, and you, let go of each other. Now.”

Under the watchful eye of the rabbit, they disentangled- carefully- all the while grumbling and glaring at each other. Both were soaked and had mud driven deeply into their fur. Lance bore scratches and punctures from Sonic’s spines, not to mention the bite mark, but fortunately for him it had not broken the skin. Sonic had several more bruises to add to his growing collection. The hedgehog wiped his mouth disgustedly with the back of his hand. He’d cut the inside of his lip when the dog had punched him, and there was a trace of blood on the white glove.

He looked up and scowled at Johnny, who was hovering apologetically behind his father. “Thanks a lot, pal.”

“Well what was I supposed to do? Leave you to get beaten up?”

“I was winning,” the hedgehog sniffed.

Johnny suspected that Sonic’s definition of ‘winning’ was very different to his own, but sighed out a ‘sorry, Sonic’ all the same.

“Don’t you apologise to him!” Mr. Lightfoot reprimanded his son, then turned a hard stare on the grubby and mismatched pair in front of him. He knew them both and was well aware that Lance’s ‘popularity’ among the other youngsters was as much to do with their fear of him and his large badger friend as with the greyhound’s talent for athletics.

Sonic had lived in the Lightfoot family home for a while; he was one of his son’s closest friends- although goodness knew why. He wasn’t a bad kid exactly, but he had a volatile temper that was quick to rouse. He may have been smaller and younger than Lance but the little hedgehog would take on anyone when he was angry enough.

The Lightfoot family was large and the rabbit was used to dealing with unruly teenagers. He assessed the situation quickly- rivals in speed, the one prone to bullying and the other to flying into a rage whenever his pride was insulted- yes, he thought, those two had always been an accident waiting to happen. The only thing he couldn’t figure out was the scattered luggage.

“If you were any younger I’d ground both of you. I think I have a good idea what’s been going on here, but…?” he trailed off enquiringly. The rabbit’s tone of voice clearly stated that failure to respond would be a mistake.

“He tripped me up, sir,” Lance began, narrowing his eyes at Sonic. The hedgehog sneered at his meek tone of voice. Lance could be the picture of politeness when he wanted.

“Oh, please…”

Mr Lightfoot gave the hedgehog a searching look.

“Are you saying you didn’t lose your temper and trip him up after he insulted you, which is what I assume happened?” a pause, “And you can stop smirking, Lance. You should have left him alone in the first place. Well, Sonic?”

As far as the rabbit was concerned, the blame rested firmly on the hedgehog. Lance was a known bully, yes, but whatever he had said to Sonic should not have provoked a physical attack. He had only witnessed the last seconds of the fight and Sonic had seemed to be the aggressive one.

“Er, excuse me? It wasn’t like that exactly… ” A voice began hesitantly.

Sonic blinked in surprise at the return of the pig. He had not expected him to come back, not when there were still people around anyway.

“And who are you?” Mr Lightfoot frowned slightly, not recognising the young Mobian hovering anxiously around the edge of the group. Pigs tended to go around fully clothed because of their furless pink skin; this one wore a T-shirt with a scientific formula printed on it and jeans, which were soaked with dirty rainwater from the waist down.

“I’m O… um, Porker. Porker Lewis. Those are my suitcases, what’s left of them anyway,” he nodded at the cases, one of which was lying half-in a puddle and the other, which was open, had had its contents scattered over the ground during the fight.

“Ah, the owner of the mysterious luggage.” The rabbit nodded, trying to put him at ease. “So can you tell me what happened, Porker?”

Porker stared at Lance in trepidation for a couple of seconds and gulped. Then the whole story burst out of him.

“I’d just got off the bus- looking for somewhere to stay, you see- and the one over there, the dog-“ he hesitated, because Lance was snarling dangerously, “He pushed me over and started throwing my books into the water. Then the hedgehog and the rabbit turned up and tried to stop him. That’s why they were fighting; they were helping me.”

Mr Lightfoot blinked at this unexpected development.

“Son, is this true? You and Sonic were defending Lewis here?”

Johnny nodded and explained the situation further to his father.

“He’s making it all up, don’t listen to-“ Lance muttered, but was cut off by a snapped ‘shut it, you’ from Sonic and a glare from Johnny’s father.

“Hm, well, I seem to have got something of a wrong impression,” the older rabbit said after a while, ignoring Lance’s protests as he gazed at Sonic thoughtfully. The hedgehog had the slightest hint of a triumphant glitter in his eyes. “However,” he continued more firmly, “I’m sure this could have been solved without any violence.”

He then spent several minutes lecturing Sonic about the need to show some restraint and keep his temper in check. Sonic, relieved that he was in less trouble than he thought, actually pretended to listen to this and even endured the looks Lance shot him when Mr Lightfoot’s eyes were elsewhere, although he did tap his foot against the ground impatiently.

The rabbit’s words to Lance were shorter but far more ominous:

“I think you, me, and your parents need to have a little chat.”

Lance gave the three other youths a look of pure malice as he was led away, protesting that he was too old to be treated like this.

“Oh dear…” Porker muttered.

Sonic just smirked.

--

It took them a while to gather up all of Porker’s things, by which time the clouds had retreated further, even the puddles seemed to have shrunk in size, and Johnny’s hands were just as muddy as those of the other two.

“All my books are ruined,” Porker said, gazing despondently at the two wet suitcases.

“They’ll dry out,” Johnny replied. The pig shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter. Most of it’s up here anyway,” he tapped his temple with a finger, then sat down heavily on one of the damp suitcases. It wasn’t as if his trousers could actually get any wetter.

Porker looked up at the hedgehog and rabbit with a puzzled expression. They were complete strangers, younger than him, and as far as he was concerned had just saved his life. In Porker’s experience that simply didn’t happen.

“Why did you stand up for me just now?” he asked, instantly regretting the question because that accusing look was on Sonic’s face again.

“I had to. You didn’t even try,” he said harshly.

“Sonic, don’t be like that-“

“No, he’s right.” Porker sighed. “I’m sorry. And I didn’t mean to run away like that, I was just frightened…” The pig smiled sickly. “Oh dear… he’s going to get me for this, isn’t he? That Lance will knock me into the Special Zone the first chance he gets...”

“Not when my dad finishes with him, he won’t. We would’ve been in trouble if you hadn’t come back when you did,” the rabbit said, looking pointedly at Sonic.

The hedgehog thought about it for a few moments. Johnny had a point, he agreed grudgingly.

“Yeah. Thanks, I guess… Porker, was it?”

He nodded. “I felt so guilty for running off like that. So I came back… I know there’s not much I could have done to help, but I had to do something…”

Sonic eyed the pig, re-evaluating him. He had assumed Porker was simply a coward, but he had shown something- maybe not bravery, but certainly decency- in coming back to explain. Sonic’s respect for him went up a notch.

“It’s a good thing you did,” he said after a moment, “’Cause otherwise Johnny’s dad would have had me weeding his garden again.”

“True,” Johnny confirmed from long experience.

Porker managed a smile; he was a friendly Mobian when he wasn’t being terrorized.

“Is your name really Sonic?” he asked curiously.

“Is yours really Porker?” said the hedgehog. “Seriously, that is weird.” Porker looked nervous again for a second and went ‘um’, but Sonic didn’t seem to notice and carried right on. “Yeah. That’s Johnny, he’s the quiet boring one. I’m Sonic, and I’m not.”

Being used to this kind of thing, Johnny rolled his eyes and replied, “You’re not what? Quiet or boring?”

“I dunno, pick one…” a smirk.

Porker sighed.

“I thought this was going to be a nice, quiet Zone. But from what I’ve seen so far it doesn’t seem like one.”

“It is a nice quiet Zone.” Sonic’s lips quirked in amusement. “It’s so very nice and so very quiet that I could probably die of boredom right now.”

“Not everyone here is like Lance,” Johnny added.

“Yeah,” the hedgehog chimed in. “Put it this way: even a nice, quiet village like this needs an idiot.”

Porker brightened a little and even grinned at this. The hedgehog had scared him a little earlier, but he seemed okay once you were talking to him rather than watching him throw punches at someone.

“So what brings you to the Emerald Hill Zone?” Johnny eventually asked. “You said you were looking for somewhere to stay. Are you here on holiday or something?” he glanced at the cases. Why a tourist would fill his luggage with books, he had no idea. And there seemed to be too much of it for the usual summer visitors.

Emerald Hill did have its share of tourists in the summer months, but the village had successfully resisted invasion by them. Mostly people came on day trips to enjoy the views and the beaches. Sometimes they camped out, but usually for no more than a few days. The main tourist destination on South Island was the Star Light Zone and that was some distance away. But it was summer, so the most likely explanation was that the pig had come to explore the scenic Hill Zone.

But Porker was not a tourist. He explained that he was looking for work and somewhere to live. He was seventeen- and a very intelligent seventeen, as he claimed to have been at university for the past three years in some city neither Sonic nor Johnny had ever heard of, most likely somewhere distant since his accent was not one they recognised. The pig had a degree in science and engineering, and a talent for inventing things.

“What sort of things?” Johnny asked him as soon as he could get a word in. Porker proved to be an especially talkative pig; once he got going he was difficult to stop.

“Well… all kinds of things,” He replied. “Anything technological, really. Computers, science equipment…”

“Heh, you won’t find much of that around here,” Sonic remarked.

Porker looked disappointed. “I was hoping to find a job here,” he sighed. “I was told this was one of the most peaceful places on the island.”

“It is,” the hedgehog replied disgustedly. “Although why you’d want that is beyond me.”

“Who wouldn’t want peace and quiet?” Porker wondered. “Um, could you two do me a favour? I heard there was a house vacant around here, but I haven’t got a clue where it is…”

Sonic and Johnny exchanged glances.

“Ah…” said the rabbit.

“What?”

“I think you’re about a month late,” Sonic clarified. “There was only one empty house in the village, and, well- sorry pal, but I’m living in it.”

“Oh, dear…” Porker said, for the third time. “Er… isn’t there a hotel, or…?”

Johnny shook his head apologetically. “The closest is in Green Hill.”

Anyone who looked at Sonic at that point could have clearly seen the cogs turning in his brain. Suddenly his eyes lit up. “Hey, idea! You invent stuff, right Lewis?”

“Um… yes?”

“Does that mean you can fix stuff, too?”

The pig nodded. “Most electrical things…”

“Cool!” Sonic grinned hugely. X-rated horror films, here I come! “Okay, here’s how I see it: you need a place to sleep until you find somewhere permanent, right? And I have a TV that needs fixing. I also have a very comfy sofa…”

This was how the first three freedom fighters came together: purely by chance and completely unaware of the parts they would play in the years to come.

As the hedgehog outlined his idea to Porker, a breeze rippled the grass of Emerald Hill.

Sonic had been right. There was change in the air.

--

So, that’s it for this chapter. :)

A bit cliché, I know, but what the hell. There’ll be more action and such later on, I just wanted to do a chapter focussing on Sonic’s life pre-blue.

Any reviews would be highly appreciated.

Notes for non-STC readers:

1- Yes, Porker has a past. It’s explained in a STC issue but I won’t be going into it much in this fic, as it’s not really important. His real name is Oscar in case anyone cares.

2- Yes, Sonic has brown eyes. They’re not due to turn green till Sonic Adventure, which is seven years after this fanfic.

Completed 14 September ‘06