His Origin
Part 1


Darkness. Everything Shadow the Hedgehog could see at the moment. He began to slowly open his eyes, allowing the light rays to clear his vision little by little. When he finally opened his eyes, he tried to take a look at wherever he was.

Apparently, it was some sort of research laboratory, easy to tell due to the circular room he was at, with a big observation glass above him on the wall. He was bound to a chair by some sort of rope that completely restrained him. He searched for a possible sign of Rouge or Omega, to no avail.

"Enjoying your stay, hedgehog? Sorry for the lack of comfort, but I thought chaos-proof material was just your 'thing'"

A voice was heard coming from the room. It was heavily altered and metallic, as if the person was speaking through a radio or transmitter. The owner of the voice appeared as a silhouette in a TV screen that disconnected from the ceiling, standing against a white background. Shadow could only see a figure with spiked hair, speaking with an accent he couldn't identify.

"My dearest apologies, hedgehog, if you feel uncomfortable like this." he made a brief pause. "You see, your current state is, indeed, one of my doings. But I assure you there IS a reason behind it: revenge, to be frank."

"Revenge? Then why don't you come down here and do it the right way?" taunted Shadow.

The figure chuckled a little, still keeping his proud tone.

"Why, Shadow! You kept your trademark hostility! How delightfully forgettable! You see, revenge does not require close combat or violence at first glance. Besides, don't worry about seeing my face, it shall be revealed in due time. After all..."

His voice tone changed from outspoken to dark and menacing.

"When you are rotting into oblivion, I want you to remember my face."

"What are you talking about?! You're gonna leave me here until I die of starvation? Because I don't know if you know, food's no big deal to me!" asked Shadow, showing for the first time a genuine, but minimum amount of panic. He couldn't explain, but something about that figure gave him goosebumps.

"Dear lord, no!" said the man. "I'm going to gather some of your DNA and test the results on you. And about dying, you still can be shot, right?"

"What the heck is your problem!?" asked the hedgehog in a fit of rage.

"YOU, YOU IGNORANT LAB RAT!!" he shouted in absolute anger. He then cleared his throat and proceeded. "I apologize for that outburst. Anyway, enjoy your stay."

The screen faded to black, leaving nothing but silence.

Shadow kept looking for a way to leave the chamber. Now he REALLY needed to get out of there.


======Meanwhile===============================================

February 3, 2011
São Paulo, SP – Brazil


Christopher Thorndyke was very nervous. In a few moments, he would make a speech about Mobius in front of a whole audience of an elementary school. What's worse, it was a school in São Paulo, Brazil. He didn't know how the country's educational system worked; he didn't even have time to read about it anywhere. But on the other hand, it was just a bunch of 8th graders. He could talk to them and get the speech over with really quick.

He just needed to find the right words.

"So, Chris... Are you ready?" his grandfather, Chuck Thorndyke, asked him.

"I'm not sure, grandpa… I know it's just a bunch of 8th graders, but even so, I can't bring the words to my mouth!"

"Oh, come on! You already had that age before, you know. It can't be that hard..."

A confident look appeared in the young man's face.

"...Yeah, you're right. I can do it! I will get over it!"

Chuck then glanced at his watch with a serious expression.

"I'll have to leave you alone, now, Chris. I must make a speech myself at UNIP. Call me if anything goes wrong." said Chuck as he went to the stairs that leaded to the exit.

Chris had grown up a lot since he came back from Mobius and the Metarex battle. He was now 22 years old, wearing a lab coat over a red and white shirt (much reminiscent of his old shirt), jeans and black shoes. His hair remained the same, although it was a little less spiky than during his childhood.

He climbed onto the stage and waited for the students to calm down.

"Boy, this is gonna be hard." he thought.

The audience had stopped talking, but there were still some whispers between one or two students.

"Hello students of São Paulo Metropolitan!" he began. "I am Dr. Christopher Thorndyke, and I'm an astro-physicist, which means I'm a scientist in both the physical, AND astronomical departments! So, how are you all doing?"

The crowd remained silent.

"...I'm fine, too!" he said awkwardly. "So, I'm here to talk about my recent disco—"

"You're that guy who met Sonic some years ago, aren't you?" one of the students interrupted.

"Well, yes! Yes, I am! It was because of those incidents that I decid—"

"How come he's not around, anymore?" another student yelled.

"Well, you see, if he and his friends were to stay here for too long, there would be an interference in time and—"

"Yeah! We want him back!" another one yelled, this time a girl. "If I remember, he was the one who made the portal that took him home!"

"So he must know how to bring him back!" another one yelled. "Come on! Tell us how you did it!"

The crowd began to press him on the matter further and further, until…

"Quiet, students! Where are your manners?"

A big, imponent voice spoke through the microphone. Chris looked at the stand to see the voice's "owner". A very imposing figure indeed, wearing a very expensive dark green suit and pants, much like an executive, complete with black leather shoes. His hair was blond, and had a somewhat spiked shape. Also, he was holding a cane on his hand, which had a golden ornament on the top, with a shape that Chris couldn't define very well because his hand was gripping the ornament so tightly it was difficult to see, but he did see some details around the ornament's base, looking like small, rectangular panels. To complete his expensive wardrobe, he had a long cape behind him made of some sort of pelt, with white borders and some black lines over it.

"I told you to remain silent until the end, when you would ask your questions!" he then turned to Chris. "My apologies, Mr. Thorndyke, they rarely do so. I suggest you take a break to regain your confidence, while I let these students have their so-desired recess."

"Thank you, mister…"

"Doctor, dear boy. Doctor Ryan Cornelius Weever, PhD. Call me Dr. Weever." he said in a thick British accent.

He then returned his attention to the students.

"You may now have your recess, and we will continue shortly after." and right after he said that, the students rushed to the exit, straight to the schoolyard.

He turned his attention to Chris again, still keeping his pose.

"Again, I must apologize, Dr. Thorndyke. May I refer to you like that?" he asked.

"I don't see any reasons to forbid it." consented Chris. "So, in which department do you work at?"

"I work for the biological department at the moment, but as I mentioned before, I am graduated in psychiatry, and I'm also pretty good at robotic engineering. You can say it's 'in the family'."

"So what are you doing teaching in this school?" asked a curious Chris.

"...Let's just say that some events happened on my life that left big traumas, one after another. In fact... you might have heard about Dr. Gerald Robotnik, right? Well, I worked for him, before."

At the sound of those words, Chris immediately froze in place.

"You... don't... mean..."

"Yes, Dr. Thorndyke. I was one of the scientists from Space Colony ARK. And as you can see, I had the blasted bad luck to survive".

Knighthood
Part 9


The skies above the city became even darker than the night already was, as clouds began gathering out of nowhere. Over the many buildings, Morgause, Mordred and their captives flew on a small land platform she created to fly around. And as she flew over the city, she took her time to create some mayhem.

Flying over the Ibirapuera Avenue, she launched lightning bolts at the cars on the street, immediately causing their motors. She destroyed street lights and even bent the metal of two of them to create a big metal ring, which she threw at a needle-shaped sculpture out of mockery.

After a bit of teasing and witnessing the city below, she finally flew towards the Paulista Avenue and, after once again paralyzing the cars, created loud roars of thunder and lightning in the skies to get the attention of everyone down on the streets. All of the pedestrians, the drivers and businessmen looked at the skies to see her as she began speaking.

"Citizens!!! Inhabitants of the 21st Century!!" she began. "I am the great sorceress Morgause, the true leader of Camelot!!! I am taking over this city, and soon this whole world!!! And my first decree as Queen of the New Camelot will be the destruction of ANY technological advance made in my new kingdom, past and future!!!!"

One of the bystanders down below was none other than the History teacher, Dr. Marc Hanes. He glanced at Morgause in awe, but then his awe turned into cynical disbelief as he walked towards her in disgust.

"Who are you trying to fool???" he shouted as Morgause looked at him. "You're not a witch!! You're that news woman who got fired on international TV!!! Oh, nice special effects, by the way!! I can't remember the last time I've seen an animatronic that good, although he looks like a crystalline Shadow!!!"

He was then lifted off the ground, and stopped right before Morgause, suspended meters above the ground. The sorceress looked at him with sarcasm.

"Does this look similar to those 'special effects' of yours?" she asked.

But then, something blasted her on the shoulder, causing her to lose focus and drop Dr. Hanes. But he was caught by the real Newsflesh, who looked at him as she put him on the ground.

"Nice try, hun, but I refuse to use special effects when I do my job." said Newsflesh. "I'm a reporter, realism is my goal."

He ran away to a safe place as the whole rest of the group showed up, Hanes watching in awe as he saw Sonic's friends and their equivalents standing side by side against the witch. Morgause grunted in anger at their sight.

"Not YOU again!!" she complained. "When will you ever learn that you have LOST?? This world is MINE to command, you FOOLS!!"

"I'm not down yet, Morgause!!" shouted Sonic. "None of us are!!"

"But you will, soon enough!!!"

She began conjuring wave after wave of Underworld Knights behind her, soon forming a whole army behind her on the ground. Sonic looked at the army, then at Morgause above. Seymour and Flavio stepped forwards and stood by Sonic's sides.

"I ask that you don't stop me, Sonic." said Seymour. "I must save Anaya, and I will do whatever it takes to do so!"

Sonic looked at him and nodded with a serious look on his face.

"Okay, but be careful." he said.

Merlina then approached Flavio.

"Before I forget, there is something you should know about your sword and armor..." she said.

"I don't think this is a good time..." said Flavio, trying not to sound rude.

"I know..." she answered. "It's just a quick spell."

She uttered a few words, and Flavio's armor began shining. He was astonished to see it happening, until the glow finally disappeared. His whole armor was gone, only his normal clothes were visible. He looked at Merlina as she began speaking to him again.

"I have granted you a new power." she said. "Together with your sword, now you can defend yourself and your friends against the powers of Morgause and any evil that comes before you..."

"How do I use this power?" he asked.

"You will discover soon enough..." answered Merlina.

Flavio nodded and prepared himself as the group stared at the army before them. Everyone wished good luck to their allies as they prepared.

"Alright, guys!!!" said Sonic. "Let's do this!!!!"

They all gave out a battle roar as they ran towards the army of Underworld Knights, weapons in hand. The fiends also began rushing towards them, and once they collided, chaos broke loose as it should. The Knights of the Round Table fought bravely, joining their equals in battle as they combined sword and punch attacks to fight the creatures, many of them vanishing after defeat, while others were a bit more resilient. Swords clashed as spells were cast at the monsters, mostly by Nimue and Merlina. Seymour fought alongside his brother and Silver, as Sir Galahad, Blaze and Sir Percival came to his aid. Shadow and Sir Lancelot fought side by side, as Johnathan threw many of the Underworld Knights at each other with his telekinesis to help them. Knuckles and Sir Gawain drove off some lancers, the echidna showing the Knight how to use his bare fists when one of the lancers knocked his swords on the ground. He took them back, however, and alternated between sword and punch attacks.

Sonic and Flavio were fighting along with Newsflesh, who just then remembered Morgause and Mordred standing on the sky above. She noticed that Morgause was about to leave, when she prepared her cameras.

"Oh no, you won't, sister!" she said.

Newsflesh threw a camera at Morgause and the rubber band wrapped around the sorceress and pulled her out of the platform, causing everyone on it to fall on the ground. Once Morgause got up, Newsflesh wasted no time in attacking her as she pulled Morgause up by her robe's collar.

"You want 21st Century??" said the reporter. "Well, here's the New York welcoming!!"

She began punching Morgause right at the face. The witch tried to attack Newsflesh with lightning bolts, but then Ryan appeared and deflected the rays with his sword, hitting Cyrus and Anaya in the process and freeing them from their prison. Seymour ran towards her and helped her up.

"Are you okay??" he asked. "We must get you to a safe pla--"

She suddenly kissed him on the cheek.

"You... You like me too??" asked Seymour as he blushed.

"I always did, young inventor..." she answered.

Morgause, meanwhile, finally got the upper hand on Newsflesh as she was about to deal a final blow, but something pulled her back by the neck. Cyrus was holding her against him with his cane.

"Don't." he said.

"Let me go...!" she said. "You would not like to have me as an enemy...!"

He pulled her backwards with full force, causing her to fall on the ground.

"I ALREADY have!" he yelled.

She began gritting her teeth in anger and raised her head to look at Mordred.

"MORDRED!!!" she yelled. "KILL THEM ALL!!!!"

The creature got up and fiercely looked at Sonic, setting him as his first target. He immediately rushed towards him, but Flavio stood in his way and attacked him with his sword. He took the hit, but recovered rather easily and looked at the boy.

"You surely wanna die young, don't you?" asked Mordred.

"I would ask ya the same!!" said Flavio.

They began fighting each other, sparks flying out of their swords as the blades clashed. Mordred even tried to attack with energy balls, but Flavio dodged with caution.

"How can you, a child, face the mighty Rogue Knight?" asked the creature.

Flavio extended his hand to grab him, but then something hit Mordred on the chest, causing him to fall back. Flavio looked behind him to see a small floating sword made out of energy floating over his shoulder. He looked at Mordred again and pointed at him. The small sword hit the creature again.

"Wow..." said Flavio. "Did I do that??"

He grinned and ran towards Mordred, this time really putting all of himself into the fight, managing to land consecutive hits on Mordred, wounding him greatly.

Finally, the creature fell on the ground as Flavio stood over him with his sword ready for a final blow.

"Go ahead! Finish me!!!" said Mordred.

Flavio rolled his eyes and stepped away.

"I won't go down to your level." he said. "But..."

He turned back and clonked Mordred on his head with Nostalgia's hilt, knocking him unconscious.

"It's not like you could get any lower, anyway." finished Flavio.

Seymour and Anaya walked over to them as Sir Percival attacked another Lancer, defeating it. The Knights all looked at her, who was about to burst into tears.

"Thank you all for helping me..." she said, before finally crying a river and knelling on the ground. "But why did you even bother...! I lied to you!! For a long time, I lied to you!!"

Sir Percival approached her and gently lifted her face so she could look at her with her beautiful heterochromatic eyes.

"And why would we let you suffer for that?" she asked. "You are a Knight of the Round Table. You would never disappoint any of us, regardless of who you are. You are not just a colleague, but a fellow warrior. A part of our family."

Seymour helped her get back up and looked at her eyes.

"And, if you allow me, the woman I love." he said.

He hugged her tightly, but then noticed over her shoulder that Morgause was preparing a spell to cast at her. Ryan also saw that and shouted:

"Look out!!!"

Seymour suddenly turned them around so he was in front of the blast, taking the full impact of the blast. He fell on the ground, motionless.

"SEYMOUR!!!"

Ryan ran towards his brother and knelled next to him, taking his seemingly lifeless body on his arms. They all looked at Morgause with extreme disgust.

"My power is already too strong!! This was just a demonstration!!!" she said. "And you ALL shall be joining him, VERY soon!!"

She began making tons of hand movements as a dark aura began enveloping her and pulling Mordred's unconscious figure towards her. He suddenly woke up to look at her in fear.

"Mistress!!" he shouted. "What are you doing!?!?!?"

"MY JOB!" she yelled back. "Copias tenebris det tibi veram virtutem, qui vocat vos in HOC!!"

The dark smoke enveloped her form as she and Mordred vanished into a large funnel of darkness and lightning. Soon, everyone saw that something, neither Morgause or Mordred, emerged from the funnel, but something entirely different: not only it was huge, it had a crystalline body like Mordred, but the color was now the same as Morgause's robe, and it had a quadruped body with huge wings on its back. It also had a large muzzle with sharp teeth and piercing brown-and-red eyes, and red scales going down its spine, following into its large tail, which was filled with bone-like spikes.

Everyone at the ground stared in shock at the creature above them.

"Typical of witches..." commented Flavio. "They all turn into giant freaking dragons...!"

"Only one way to defeat that..."

They all looked at Caliburn.

"We must show this creature what Excalibur is capable of!!" said Caliburn. "Hurting a child is just too much to let go!!"

Sonic nodded. Flavio looked at the Knights.

"The swords, guys!" he demanded. "You know what to do, now!"

The Knights all nodded and joined their swords in a circle, as the power was transmitted into Caliburn. Suddenly, Sonic was lifted into the air as a glow began enveloping his body. Armor parts began gathering around him and forming a full set on his body, a golden color shining bright all over it. Caliburn himself went through a change, becoming longer and adorned with golden details above the hilt and around the blade. To finish the transformation, a long red cape appeared behind Sonic as he floated above the ground, his new helmet's visor closing over his eyes.

"Is this Excalibur-Sonic?" asked Newsflesh to herself.

"Whoa...!" said Sonic's friends.

The golden warrior looked at Ryan and Seymour, who was still motionless on Ryan's arms. The gentleman looked at him infuriated, although not with Sonic.

"You get up there..." he said. "And show that witch the meaning of a '21st Century SLAYING'!!!"

Sonic nodded as he flew towards the dragon, standing before its hideous face, looking into its eyes.

"Wow, and I thought you were ugly before..." he said. "But to be fair, this form looks like an upgrade!!!"

The beast roared as it tried to slash at Sonic with its new claws. He dodged it and prepared.

"This one's for Seymour!" he said.

He invested against the dragon as it began flying away while firing a giant burst of energy from its mouth. Sonic dodged it and followed the beast towards the other end of the Avenue. The creature also used most of Mordred's attacks, like energy bolts and rays, but Sonic deflected them all with his sword. As the dragon turned around to the Avenue again, it tried to swat Sonic away with its spike-filled tail, but this time he actually managed to land a hit on Sonic as he was knocked into a building, the whole top floor falling over him as the dragon knocked it over.

"SONIC!!!" shouted Flavio from the ground.

The dragon suddenly began laughing, both Morgause and Mordred's voices coming out of its hideous mouth.

"AT LAST!!!" it shouted as thunder echoed in the sky. "WITH ARTHUR DEAD, CAMELOT IS MINE!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

But a ray of light pierced through the debris and hit Morgause/Mordred on its chest, causing it to fly back and stay over a building with a huge antenna on the top. Excalibur-Sonic came out of the debris and stood before the dragon. Meanwhile, on the ground, Flavio found the book and took it.

"IMPOSSIBLE!!" shouted Morgause/Mordred. "YOU CANNOT STOP ME!! THIS LAND IS MINE BY RIGHT!! ONLY MAGIC CAN RULE THIS WORLD!!!"

Sonic prepared his sword and pointed it at Morgause.

"It's not the magic." he said. "It's the one behind it!"

"YOU MAY KILL ME IF YOU WISH! I CAN NEVER DIE!! UNLIKE THAT FOOL MERLIN, I AM IMMORTAL!!"

"No, you're not!" said Sonic. "It's written!!! Now it's time to go down!!! IN HISTORY!!!"

Sonic prepared his attack as a large symbol appeared around Excalibur's blade as Sonic bolted towards Morgause and pierced through both its wings, causing the beast to lose balance and fall over the antenna, which stabbed the dragon in the heart. The giant beast roared in agony as a green light began coming out of its mouth, and soon from the rest of its body, finally blowing up into raw energy which unleashed a massive shockwave on the ground that destroyed all of the Underworld Knights that were left. The blast also dispersed the dark clouds on the sky, returning the skies of São Paulo into its normal nighttime appearance, which was already beginning to fade due to the light of dawn.

Above on the building, the body of the dragon had disappeared into nothingness. There was no sign left of the sorceress or Mordred, as the golden Knight began flying back to the ground. Once he got back, he saw that there was still one matter left to attend.

Seymour was still not moving.