Sonic Underground
First Fanfic ever!
Written and distributed Sunday 2/5/99 by David Bulmer
on the date of Sonic Underground's English language world premiere

The Decoy

Queen Aleena stared out at the vast metal city ahead of her and blinked back a 
stubborn tear. The rock felt cold under her feet. The wind pulled the hood from 
over her face, but she hastily dragged it back; she could not risk being seen by 
one of the robot guards.
	Doctor Robotnik had won, as had been prophesied. Now everything belonged 
to him. Her people, her kingdom, even the royal palace were property of the 
Doctor.
	Now she had only one hope. Or, more accurately, three: her three children. 
Sonic, Manic and Sonia were blessed with the three mystical pendants which would 
help them to fulfil their destiny as was foreseen, and overthrow Robotnik's 
empire. The pendants had the power to transform into the three musical 
instruments which would help the siblings in their quest.
	'My children are brave,' she muttered to herself. 'But they will soon meet 
another danger. I hope they can stay ahead of Robotnik and not allow themselves 
to be fooled.'
	Unfortunately, they had not yet reached the level of maturity which their 
mother, the once rightful queen of Mobius, had orginally hoped.

	'Are we ready, guys?' Sonic asked, and swept his hand over the strings of 
his electric guitar. A deep roar sounded from all around them as the instrument 
magically amplified its sound, ringing blissfully around every oil-stained wall. 
'We gotta practise. Not that we need any!'
	'So when's this concert gonna be, Sonic?' Manic asked, leaping from the 
roof of their van. 'I'm psyched-up about it already! It's gonna be such a 
blast!'
	'Is loud noise and explosions all you guys ever think about?' Sonia 
laughed, running her fingers through her hair for the eighteenth time since they 
got here.
	Sonic frowned.
	'Of course not, sis!' A yellow cart pulled up nearby. 'I'm insulted that 
you could think such a thing!' He turned to the salesman behind the cart. 'One 
chilli-dog please, extra chilli. No wait... Make that forty two.'
	He held the steaming snack in both hands and drew in a deep breath, 
closing his eyes in ecstasy as the smell swam deep into his nostrils.
	'Now my life is complete,' he grinned, striking another chord on his 
guitar. Sonia giggled.
	Manic kicked a small plank of wood he had found. He didn't benefit from 
this, but it had been annoying him that he wasn't kicking it. He was bored, and 
excited about the concert.
	Suddenly, a screen attached to a nearby post flickered into life, and the 
face of Doctor Robotnik appeared on the screen.
	'Aw nuts,' Manic groaned. 'Trust old butt-breath to show up.'
	'Just when we were having fun,' Sonia sighed.
	'Quiet,' Sonic snapped. 'I'm eating! Watch the show for me and tell me 
what happens.'
	'Hear ye,' Robotnik chuckled, an evil glint in his blackened eye. 'All 
citizens know this: Queen Aleena of the Mobian Council has been captured. She is 
being held in my deepest dungeon cells, and shall be released only upon the 
attendance of Sonic, Manic and Sonia, her three children.'
	'Trap?' Sonic asked, through a mouthful of chilli-dog.
	'Uh-huh,' Sonia nodded, then smoothened out her hair again.
	The face of Doctor Robotnik was replaced by a view of a prison cell. The 
camera was shaky and the light was dim, but the prisoner inside looked strangely 
familiar. Sonia and Manic braced themselves or a shock. Sure enough, a pair of 
pleading eyes looked up at the camera for a moment, and hedgehog spines could be 
seen protruding from the woman's head.
	'Mom!'
	Sonic looked up.
	'Mom?'
	The screen went blank.
	'Mondo problem, guys,' Sonic cried, gulping down the last of the chilli 
dog and jumping to his feet. 'We have to find mom!'
	As the instruments returned to their pendants, the sound hid the voice 
which was talking to someone just around the corner. Sonia put her finger to her 
mouth and they all fell silent. The voice, obviously talking to someone over an 
electronic radio, was unmistakable.
	'Copy. Yes. What...? W... The same thing we do every night, Dingo! Help 
Robotnik take over the world! Yes. Yes, I'll be right there. Over and out.'
	'Sleet!' Manic whispered, grabbing the plank of wood he had kicked 
earlier. He ran towards the corner brandishing it, ready to club the wolf out at 
the earliest opportunity. But Sonic jumped in front of him.
	'No!' He breathed, being sure Sleet couldn't hear him. 'If we follow him, 
we can find out where mom's being held!'
	Manic frowned and put down the club. They waited until Sleet was a safe 
distance away, then began to follow him.

'Ssh, there they are,' whispered Sonia as they crawled trough the building's 
ventilation system. Below them, Sleet and Dingo led a cloaked female figure 
towards a trap-door.
	'I hope you ate well,' he said loudly, kicking her towards the open door. 
'That was your last meal of the week!'
	'Unless you don't mind eatin' spiders an' rats, of course,' Dingo laughed, 
and pushed her in.
	The siblings gasped, and tried hard to stop themselves from attacking.
	'Wait until they're gone,' Sonic muttered under his breath, 'then we can 
follow mom!'
	Sonia's eyes filled with tears as she thought of her mother down there, 
right below them, locked in Doctor Robotnik's dungeon. She hoped they weren't 
too late.
	When the guards had gone, Sonia pushed open the panel and they dropped to 
the ground. Looking around to make sure they weren't being watched, the three 
slipped silently into the dungeon, where they landed on a metal floor.
	The dungeon was just like any other room in the building, but filled with 
prison cells, the bars to which were reinforced by strong metal plates and 
combination locks. Inside one of the cells was the cloaked hedgehog, who gave a 
fearful sigh and touched the corner of her eye briefly.
	'Mom!!' shouted Sonic, and ran to the front of the cell. The queen looked 
up and at the same time gave a squeak of happiness. At least that's what they 
assumed the squeak was.
	'Sonic! Manic! Sonia! Let me out of here!'
	'How can we get through the lock?' Sonia wondered out loud.
	'Play your instruments,' she requested, 'their power will set me free!'
	Without wasting a second, the trio had begun to play. A gently melody 
drifted around the bars of each cell, which began, one by one, to slide up into 
the ceiling. Finally the bars in front of the queen lifted, ad she was free.
	'Mom!' Sonia cried, leaping forwards and throwing her arms around the 
queen. As she did so, her hand brushed aside a part of her cloak, and a metal 
panel was revealed. Sonic called out but it was too late; the queen's robotic 
fingers were already clasped to Sonia's back, dragging her further into the 
cell. Sonic leaped into the air and cannoned into the impostor, whose robe fell 
away to reveal a metal replica of the queen, no different to any of the Doctor's 
other robot minions.
	Sleet and Dingo suddenly burst into the room, and fell upon Sonic and 
Manic. Throwing them aside, they grabbed onto the instruments as they began to 
glow. As Sonic tried to wrestle Sonia from the grip of the robot, Manic turned 
to see Sleet and Dingo clutching the three pendants. Robotnik's face appeared on 
one of the walls of the prison dungeon.
	'Excellent work!' he  exclaimed, thumping the desk with his fist. 
'Quickly, the pendants, bring them to me!'
	Sonic gasped and grabbed into Sonia's shoulders, running his legs in the 
air as fast as he could. They crashed into the chest of the robot which stumbled 
backwards, crackling with electricity as its shell began to fracture. There was 
a blue streak and Sonic was gone, but within seconds he was back, and chasing 
after Sleet and Dingo.

	'Doctor Robo-otni-ik?'
	The Doctor turned to see Sonia standing behind him, waving coyly.
	'Sonia? What are you doing here?' he demanded, rising to his feet.
	Sonia giggled. 'You really want to know?'
	Behind him, a blue streak zig-zagged across the monitor screens and 
grabbed at the pendants in Sleet and Dingo's hands. Manic leaped towards the 
door and began to fiddle with the combination lock.
	'I'm kind of the decoy,' she said, with a grin.
	'What??' Robotnik span around just in time to see Sonic and Manic 
disappear through the door. There was a brief breeze behind him and a flash of 
blue, and Sonia was gone.
	Robotnik stormed back to his chair and flicked his finger down on one of 
the buttons in the arm rest. The screen switched from camera to camera, viewing 
every room in the building. Sonic Underground were nowhere to be seen.
	'Blast!' Robotnik yelled, slamming his fist down on the controls. The view 
on the screens dissolved into white static. 'BLAST!'

	Outside, the wind rushed through their spines as Sonia and Manic held on 
to Sonic's hands. The three of them raced through the city, ducking between 
buildings and winding around narrow passageways.
	'That was close!' Sonia laughed, her heart still pounding.
	'I'll say! Don't scare me like that Sonia!' Sonic tried to frown but 
couldn't help but laugh as he thought of the look on Robotnik's face when he 
realised wat had happened.
	'Excellent,' said Manic, and nodded as best he could. 'Excellent.'

	Queen Aleena held on to the lamp post as the blue, green and pink stripe 
of light whizzed past her, sending her cloak flapping behind her back. She shook 
her head and smiled as she watched them disappear over the horizon. One day they 
would fulfil the prophesy, and on that day she would be right beside them.
	One day...

End.