His Origin - Part 3

His Origin
Part 3


The fact that Shadow was laying right there, unconscious among the rubble, instantly cleared Chris' suspicions. He was right! If Shadow was here, then Sonic and the others might be as well!

But that wasn't the time to stop and think about it. He had to get those children to safety.

He noticed that the stage where he was supposed to make his big speech was still there, with a microphone attached to the stand. He quickly ran to the stage and grabbed the mic.

"Attention, students!" he began, soon having their full attention. "Everybody head to the exit! The staff will deal with the situation, just go to the main gates and wait there!"

The students heard him and bolted straight to the reception area, following the path to the main gates. When they all left, Chris jumped off the stage and ran to where Shadow was. He crouched a little to take Shadow out of the debris.

"Was he at the school this whole time?" he thought. "How did he enter without being noticed?"

While thinking about the possibilities, another explosion was heard behind him, big enough to throw Chris a few meters away. A squad of robots, similar to the ones that assaulted Shadow, started to invade the schoolyard and surround both Chris and the fallen hedgehog, but completely ignoring the young scientist.

"ANALYZING LIFEFORM." one of the robots stated. "SUBJECT: SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG. IDENTITY CONFIRMED. INITIATE CAPTURE MODE."

The robot's arm turned into a stun gun as he began to approach Shadow. Chris jumped right in front of him before he could get any closer.

"You're not getting anywhere near him!!" he shouted.

"OBSTACLE DETECTED." said the robot. "SWITCHING TO WEAPON MODE."

The stun gun became a laser as the robot aimed it at Chris. He closed his eyes, waiting for the imminent blast.

There WAS a blast, but Chris never felt it.

The scientist slowly opened his eyes to see what happened. The robot had been thrown against the ground, and it laid there completely damaged. But between Chris and the robotic carcass, someone stood triumphantly.

"I knew it...!" whispered the young man. "It's really you...!"

The figure looked at Chris with a cocky grin on his face and turned his attention to the robots. Chris was right! That alone just confirmed it.

Sonic the Hedgehog had returned.

They immediately began attacking, but fell down one after another with each homing attack dealt by the hedgehog. Chris watched in awe as the robots were quickly turned into scrap metal.

"Take him outta here!" shouted Sonic as more robots came in.

Chris nodded and took Shadow in his arms, running upstairs to the reception area while Sonic took out the robots. The human eventually reached the lobby and laid the black hedgehog on a couch, then ran to the windows overlooking the schoolyard to watch the fight.

It didn't last long, however, as the robots left the area after losing sight of Shadow.

"Heh! What's the matter? Scared to lose?" mocked Sonic as they left.

He looked around to see any signs of life, when Chris called him from the window. He boosted up the stairs and into the lobby, where he found Chris standing there, waiting for him.

"Good to see Shadow's still around. Nice running back there! You doin' alright, sir??" he said to Chris.

"Why is he talking like if he just met me?" thought Chris, which was actually true.

"Sonic! I found something!!"

A young voice shouted from the entryway. It was none other than Miles "Tails" Prower, Sonic's small, two-tailed friend who flew past the door and landed right in front of him.

"I hacked into one of those robots' systems and discovered that they are being controlled from somewhere on this school. We need to--"

"Wait a minute." interrupted Chris. "From this school!? Where, exactly?"

"I don't know... They cut off the connection before I could figure it out." he then looked at the unconscious hedgehog on the couch. "Shadow? He's here, too?"

"Yep." answered Sonic. "This doctor found him and took him away from those floating tin cans."

"'This doctor?'" asked Chris in disbelief. "Don't you recognize me, Sonic?"

Sonic took the time to glance at the young man. Slowly, something began to pop up on his head.

"Well... I admit, you DO look familiar." he said.

Chris chuckled as he walked closer to them.

"Try to remember, then: falling into a pool, Station Square, Danny and Frances, the Metarex battle, Cosmo..." he listed. "Does any of that sound familiar?"

It didn't take long for Sonic to finally figure it out. He stared at the young man in front of him in disbelief. He was so different from what they remembered, yet so similar. How did he miss the details so easily before? He couldn't even answer it.

"CHRIS!?" he and Tails asked in unison.

Chris knelt in front of the hedgehog and extended his hand, a warm smile appearing on his face as he held back the tears.

"It's been a long time..." he said.

Both Sonic and Tails shook his hand with a happy look on their faces. After all that time, they finally met each other again.

"DOCTOR THORNDYKE!"

A thick, British voice shouted from behind. It was Dr. Weever, followed by a red echidna with spiked gloves and a white mark on his chest. It was none other than Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic's rival/friend.

"Oh, thank goodness, you're fine!" said Ryan. "I was attacked by those robots near the kindergarten's house! But this brave fighter over here took them out with ease, thankfully. He said his name was Knuckles. I presume you are his acquaintances..."

"The name's Sonic." said the hedgehog while giving his trademark thumbs up. "Sonic the Hedgehog."

"And I'm Miles Prower, but call me Tails." said the fox.

"My name is Ryan Weever, but please call me Dr. Weever." said the gentleman while making a respectful bow. "Well, now that we're done introducing each other, I must ask you--"

He then noticed Shadow's unconscious form lying on the couch. His eyes immediately widened at the surprise.

"Is... is that... IS THAT SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!?!? HE'S ALIVE!?" he asked.

"Hopefully, yes." said Chris. "I had to take him here so he could recover."

Sonic noticed something odd about Ryan. He seemed nervous at the revelation, as if the news didn't please him at all.

"W-well... That's excellent!!" said the doctor. "Well, I'm off to dismiss the children to their homes. I'll be back in a few minutes. And watch over that hedgehog if you will, Dr. Thorndyke."

He headed to the main gate. Knuckles looked at Chris in confusion.

"Thorndyke?" he asked. "You're related to Chris? You do look a lot like him..."

"I AM Chris, Knuckles." said the young man. "I'm just older."

The echidna widened his eyes at the revelation.

"Wow, you sure changed a lot!!" he said. "And you're a doctor, too?"

"A lot happened during these years you guys were away." said Chris.

Sonic walked towards Knuckles.

"You still got 'em, right?" he asked.

Knuckles then showed all seven Chaos Emeralds as they rotated around him.

"Yep, still here." he said. "The robots didn't seem interested in them, anyway."

Suddenly, Tails heard a bleeping sound coming from his Miles Electric device. He picked it up to see his Chaos Energy detector, and when he checked its recent readings, he discovered something shocking.

"Hey, Chris..." said Tails. "Is there any source of Chaos energy around here other than the Emeralds?"

"Not that I have seen it." said the human. "Why?"

"Because when that Weever guy came in, my detector almost blew up!"