SONIC THE HEDGEHOG AND FRIENDS IN THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG VOLUME 2 EDGE OF HEAVEN By Knux of Australia Knux_911@hotmail.com All ideas are protected by Copyright (1998) and as are all SEGA characters. Suggestion: If you don't know what's going on or who the all characters are, then read Volume 1 first, as each story is built on after the last one, like a proper series. From previous zine:- Sally picked up the compass and doing as the following instructions said, held it up and in her mind asked for the way to the artefacts. The compass responded by spinning yet independent of the chain and a blue beam came out of the stone and went straight out the window. "Nicole analyse the compass, what's happening" Sally instructed, "PLEASE WAIT ANALYSING" replied Nicole. Now in Edge of Heaven:- "ANALYSIS COMPLETED, THE COMPASS EMITTING A TRANSPONDER SIGNAL AND IS COMMUNICATING WITH ANOTHER DEVICE, THE RESPONDING DEVICE IS OUT OF SENSOR RANGE." said Nicole. Sally paused at this laid the compass down on the table, which stopped glowing and returned to it's normal state. Sally sat back on her bed, and thought out aloud to herself "Trust the compass for it never lies", she said this over and over in her head before getting back into the sheets and going to sleep. Next morning there was a loud voice echoing through Knothole, an all too familiar voice of Sonic the Hedgehog but amplified though a megaphone. "Sal has called a meeting ev'ry-body to the hall!!" he announced. "Don't you think you could call me 'The princess' in this case, it sounds more formal" asked Sally who was standing next to him. "Oh okay" replied Sonic, "Princess Sal's got a meet on, so ev'rybody get to the hall real quick" Sonic re-announced. Sally put on a dis-enchanted look on her face, just shook her head and walked off to her meeting. Bunnie was walking past Sonic wearing a light pink shirt when he stopped her, "Yo Bunnie, is that everybody?" he asked, "Everybody except Antione" she replied. "You want me to go wake him sugah?" she asked, "Oh no!, I'll handle this" said Sonic putting his arm across her to stop her and trundled off towards Antione's hut. Inside, all was quiet, the shutters over the window opened and a megaphone suspended on a stick floated it's way towards the sleeping Antione's ears. A pre-recorded sound of "WAKE UP ANTIONE!!" at a high volume burst out of the speaker, Antione screamed and lept out his bed like a kangaroo on steroids. Bunnie burst into the hut, "Where's tha' fire?" she asked, "Zere is no fire, just zat crazy edge-og is trying to give mwa a heart attack!!!" Antione replied in a loud tone. "Sal want's everybody in the hall now 'cause there's a meet on" said Sonic, "I will zere as soon as possible" Antione replied. Sonic walked off and Antione began to unbutton his night-shirt, "And what are you waiting for?" he turned to and asked Bunnie. "Oh sorry sugah, I'll see you there then" Bunnie replied and ran off to the hall. In the hall there was huge crowd of freedom fighters all around a metal table, where Sally sat at the top. "So what's this gizmo you got Sal?" asked Sonic, "The compass" she replied and held it up, "This will lead us to the fabled great artefacts of Mobius and maybe help us win the war against Robotnik" Sally continued. "How are we going to get these artefacts?" asked Rotor, "We'll send a team in to recover the first one soon" Sally replied. "Where is the artefact?" asked Bunnie, "The compass tells me, in the dark swamp" Sally replied. CHAPTER 2 "The team just left, Sally" said Rotor, "Thank you Rotor" Sally replied while deep in thought. "What's on your mind Sal?" asked Sonic, "I've been thinking that we're going to need some help with these artefacts" Sally explained. "I was thinking of asking Knuckles to join us again, after all he has knowledge of ancient origin we do not" she continued. "But will he join us?" asked Sonic, "I'm not sure" Sally replied, "Well there's only one way to find out" said Sonic. "Very well, Alysia I'm leaving you in charge" Sally called out, a dark grey mouse in a purple jacket and matching skirt about the same height as Sally, turned around to Sally. "Sure thing Sally" she replied "You want me to get you a cruiser?" Alysia asked. "That would be great, come on everybody we're going to the floating island" Sally said as she led them away. 15 minutes they were in the air and soon to be approaching the floating island. "I hope we won't be bothering Knuckles, just barging in and asking him to join us" said Sally, "Again" finished Antione, who was flying the cruiser. "Nah, I'll bet he's not doing anything important right now" re-assured Sonic. The warm tropical sun bathes the grassy green hills of the floating island, a deck chair, table and a radio sits are all laid out, ready for someone to use. A familiar Knuckles the echidna slips on a pair of sunglasses and grabs a cool fruit drink from the table, he flicks the radio on, "THIS IS LRR, LONG RANGE RADIO FOR ALL YOU ISLANDERS OUT THERE, COMING UP NEXT WE'VE GOT HITS FROM BEAVIE WONDER AND THE BACKTREE FROGS". Knuckles sat back in his chair and began to relax, which he had not been able to do for some time. He turned the radio up, L.R.R. was probably the only long range broadcast that existed at it was amazing that it hadn't been destroyed yet. But that didn't matter, "Finally some peace" said Knuckles out aloud, but his rest was short lived. As if someone had timed it, his wrist-pager-alarm was beeping it's irritating tone. He got up and ran off to his house which he had to relocate since the discovery of the control centre. There was no knowledge of who put it there and who was in control of the master centre, as knuckles had only found the secondary control centre. He zipped down to the underground facility, a screen showed a craft approaching, a freedom fighter cruiser, but he couldn't take any chances. "RAISE SHIELDS?" asked the unrealistic computer voice, "No, activate passivist ray" replied Knuckles, "RAY ACTIVE" said the computer. Knuckles hand aimed the target onto the cruiser and pressed the fire button. Meanwhile in the cruiser, a red light flashed on the control panel. "Zut alors!, zey are readying zere weapons" announced a worried Antione, "What?!" asked an exasperated Sally. The long slender beam weapon unleashed a green ray at the cruiser, "Incoming ray" announced Antione, "Take evasive action and raise the diffract... " said Sally but they were too late as the beam contacted with the ship. But instead of the sound of twisting metal and the shock sideways, there was just a low humming sound that pulsed through the ship. "Zere is a transmeeshion" said Antione, "On screen" said Sally. Antione pushed a button and Knuckles' face appeared, "Attention you have been hit with a passivist ray which has temporarily disabled your weapons, this is a precautionary measure and not intended as a hostile act" he said. "Knuckles, it's me Sally", Sally spoke into the screen, "Hello Princess, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you" Knuckles replied. "We've been meaning to get in touch with you" said Sally, "Things have been a little hectic lately" replied Knuckles. Sonic could see the look on Knuckles' face, it was a look that was itching to hear something new and interesting and Sally could talk for hours.(He'd found that out the hard way) "What was that thing you used on us?" Sonic asked to change the subject, "That was a passivist ray, developed to temporarily disable weapons as a peaceful protection method" Knuckles explained. "Now, what can I do for you?" Knuckles asked with a smile. Meanwhile in the dark swamp the grove frogs croaked and the insects hovered around the muddy tree roots, the dark swamp never changed, no matter what the weather. The teams of Knothole officers crunched their way through the dense foliage, Tails and Rotor were among them. "Over there, that's it" said the higher ranking officer, "Come on Tails, lets go get some treasure" said Rotor with an almost child-like pleasure in his voice. They stepped into a grove like area where a simple looking, metal box was just sitting on the ground. Rotor picked it up and was just leaving when he looked around, Tails was no longer in the grove, "Tails?" he called out, but there was no answer. He put the box down on the ground, there was a small break in the foliage, a tunnel leading further into the grove. He walked in uneasily and found Tails and the high rank standing in awe in a large rectangular box about as big as four-wheel-drive and covered in dark grey mould and dust. "What is that?" Rotor asked, Tails went up to the box bravely and scraped away at the dust, finding that the container was transparent. "Look at this everybody" he said, the others took a look inside, though it was dark inside there was the faint outline of a vehicle, but like none they had ever seen before. "What's going on in here" said a concerned officer, "Get me Knothole on the tri- send" said the high rank, the officer fiddled with a black device and then handed it to him. "Knothole this is recovery team 2, come in please" he said, "Hello commander, I hope everything is going Ok" said Alysia. "Mission is a success, we have recovered the artefact and there's one other thing" he replied, "What's that?" Alysia asked, "We're going to need a grav loader, to carry something big" he replied. "Like what?" she asked "I don't know exactly but it's some sort of vehicle, but of a technology I've never seen before" he said. "The grav loader is on it's way now, I wish you safe journey" Alysia replied. CHAPTER 3 The dark green canopy of the jungle appeared beneath the cruiser, as it slowly descends. "Are you sure zis is zee right co-ordinates, zere is nothink but jungool down zere" asked Antione, "Jungool?" asked Sonic, "Jungle" replied Sally. "These are the co-ordinates Knuckles gave us, I don't think he would get them wrong" said Sally, "Maybe he got the numbers mixed up or something" suggested Sonic. As they descended a clearing came into view, "There, that's it!" said Sally pointing towards it, Antione carefully landed the cruiser and they all disembarked. Sonic looked around but Knuckles was not within sight, "He said he'd meet us shortly" said Sally. "Well lets go then" said Sonic impatiently, so they all began to trek through the jungle. Sonic ran ahead while the others tried to keep up, but the jungle was slowing Sonic down greatly, and he approached a very shallow river. He found where it was no more than half knee depth and raced across, a twang was heard as he came in contact with a taut rope beneath the water surface and Sonic came to a stop with a tremendous splash. A familiar echidna laugh echoed from the opposite bank, Sonic got his head out of the water to look and saw Knuckles sitting under a tree looking most pleased with himself. Knuckles then sang a song to annoy Sonic further: "There was a hedgehog from far away, who tried to cross a river, What a dope, he tripped on a rope, Now look at him shiver!" "What happened here?" asked Sally as she and the others entered the scene, "Somebody just made a ham out of me!" replied Sonic not at all pleased. "Well if I hadn't have stopped you, you would have missed me and would've been running all over the island for days, it's a big place you know" explained Knuckles. Knuckles then hopped over to Sonic to help him out of the river, he held his hand out and Sonic pulled himself up, and immediately tripped Knuckles with an ultra quick side-step. Knuckles crashed into the river with a splash, Sonic just laughed and helped him up, "It's good to see you again Red" said Sonic, "Likewise" replied Knuckles as they both returned to the bank to meet the others. "Hello Knux, it's been a while" said Sally, "Too long, princess" replied Knuckles, "Ahem!!" coughed Antione who was wanting some attention, "Oh yes, Knuckles this is Antione" said Sally. "Pleased to meet you" said Knuckles, "Yes, I am zee likewize" replied Antione, Knuckles paused for a second to figure out what he said and then turned to Sally. "So what brings you to my island?" asked Knuckles, "We've come for your help, your expertise in ancient knowledge would be greatly appreciated" replied Sally. "We have this book...." Sally started, "Lets do all this at my place where we can sit down" said Knuckles and there were no objections, so Knuckles showed them a quick way out of the jungle and they proceeded along to a thin forest full of grassy hills. "It's very beautiful here" said Sally, "Yes, that's mainly the reason why I made it my new home,.. behold!" said Knuckles as they reached the top of the last hill. An amazing sight met them below, at the bottom of the hill where the water from the rainforest collected, a small lake had formed. Beside the lake was a wooden home of fantastic proportions, with multiple stories it had an antenna sticking out the top and an upper deck on the roof and many, many other features, compared to Knothole housing, this was a mansion. "What a house, man!" said Sonic, "It's incredible!!" said Sally, "I had to move since I found the new control centre but enough of that, come, come and sit down" replied Knuckles as he led them down the hill. The micro-hydro power plants hummed as they walked past and entered the front door, the inside was furnished and was decorated with marvellous landscape photographs of different parts of the floating island hanging on the walls. "Oohh zis is ze very nice" said Antione commenting on the room, "Thanks, I did it myself" replied Knuckles, "So lets have a look at this book of yours" said Knuckles. Sally handed him Nicole with the translated details, Knuckles flicked through it quietly, he seemed interested by the notes on the emperyam chaos crystal. "So what do you think?" asked Sally, "You were right when you said that you'd got some useful information, this is top stuff, but how will you find the artefacts?" asked Knuckles. Sally then held up the compass which began to spin with it's usual resonating tone, "We need you Knuckles, will you help us?" Sally asked, Knuckles just stared at the spinning compass and got up, "I need to think about it" he replied as he left the room, up the stairs and onto the roof balcony. Sonic got up and followed him up onto the balcony, Knuckles was leaning forward on the rails and staring at the forest, he looked back for second as Sonic came up the stairs, "We need you man, the war's gettin pretty ugly" said Sonic. "That's just the point, I don't want to get involved in your wars, but I have little choice" replied Knuckles, "What do you mean?" asked Sonic, "Eventually Robotnik's evil will reach this island unless I help, but I already have my work cut out for me" Knuckles explained, "Well maybe you can come help us sometimes and be on your island at other times" suggested Sonic. "Hmm that's not a bad idea,.....why not" replied Knuckles, "Cool, red, just cool" said Sonic, they both walked back down the stairs to see the others. Sally and Antione got up, "He's in Sal" said Sonic as he entered, "Welcome back Knuckles" said Sally, "Shall we go then?" asked Knuckles, "Before we ze going, all of zis walking iz making me ze thirsty, can we have a reefresherments before we go?" asked Antione with a smile on his face, the others laughed and sat down Knuckles went into the kitchen. CHAPTER 4 The whine of the cruiser engines faded as Sally and the others touched down again at Knothole, Alysia ran up to meet them. "Was everything okay?" asked Sally, "Yes fine, and you'd better come and look at what we recovered" replied Alysia, "Did you get the artefact?" asked Sally, "Yes and Tails found something very interesting, well if you're into that mechanical stuff boys like" said Alysia. "And what's wrong with mechanical stuff?" asked Sonic but no-one heard him as they moved quickly over to a small shed-like building. Meanwhile inside, Rotor was polishing a fantastic open top, red sports car with a large, soft rag and dancing around to a small radio, "Every-time.. I.. see.. you.. smile" he said as he whistled away with delight in bringing the vehicle to a perfect sheen. "See what I mean" said Alysia as they entered without Rotor noticing, who was still dancing around to the typical workshop music, he spun around to see them all watching. Sonic clapped to add to the amusement, "Oh hi everyone" said Rotor putting the rag behind his back, "You've been in here for ages, don't tell me you've just been polishing it" exclaimed Alysia. "Oh no, we've been cleanin ev-rythin' too!" said Tails, popping up from the back seat with a sprayer of plastic polish, "So where are is the artefact?" asked Sally with anticipation. "Oh, Tails has got it, hey Tails, bring us the box would you?" asked Rotor, Tails picked up the box and flew it over to Sally and placed it at her feet. Sally opened the metal lid and pulled out the contents, inside were three simple looking audio cassettes with metallic skins, "That's it?" asked Sonic, "I'll have a look at the book" said Sally, opening the book of lore. Knuckles suddenly popped in, "Hi everyone, sorry I'm late but they were just fixing up my place to stay, heya Tails!" said Knuckles, "Hi Knuckles" replied Tails as Knuckles opened a door on the car and got in a front seat. "What have I missed?" asked Knuckles, "We were scoping out these cool tapes" replied Tails with a definite quirk of language he got from Sonic and he handed a golden cassette to Knuckles. "Hmm, what's on em?" asked Knuckles as he went over the instruments and found a tape player and quickly inserted it in without a thought, Rotor's eyes widened, "You didn't do what, I thought you just did?" he asked with worry. "What, why?" asked Knuckles unaware at what he'd just done, "All I can make out is that the tapes, perform some sort of energy conversion, but I can't seem to make out what they do exactly" said Sally, over the unusual tone of the tape player. "I think we're about to find out" said Rotor as the car was covered in a glowing energy shield, the light then became extremely intense, "Everybody out!!" shouted Alysia, "What about Knuckles and Tails" asked Sally, "There's nothing we can do for them!!" replied Rotor as they all ran out of the vehicle shed. There was a loud ring noise and then it was all silent so they all returned inside, it was incredible, the car had grown to fill almost all the shed and was twice as high and looked more like a gruesome red assault tank. "Cool!" said Sonic, every feature of the car had been magnified and improved, a now 2 metre side door opened downwards with a pneumatic hiss and Knuckles and Tails stepped out, "I think I hit wrong button somewhere" said Knuckles. The others just stood there for a second and then Sonic broke the silence, "Well that's another mystery solved, let's go eat" said Sonic as they all left the shed and Rotor went to retrieve the tape. Knuckles was just leaving when he met Alysia at the door, "You're Knuckles aren't you?" she asked, "Yep, that's me" Knuckles replied, she put out her hand, "I'm Alysia, welcome to Knothole" Alysia said. He shook her hand, "Thanks" Knuckles replied as they walked after the others, "I've been dying to ask you all sorts of things about the floating island" Alysia said. "Well I be help you" replied Knuckles as they walked to go get a bite to eat before there was nothing left. The End- For now But Sonic, Sally, Knuckles and the others will return in: Volume 3 - Species