The following short story is based on characters created and
copyrighted by SEGA! Enterprises.  All other characters were created and
copyrighted by Roland Lowery.
	The author gives permission to distribute this work freely as long
as it remains intact and unaltered, and the transfer of monetary units is
not involved.
	Questions, comments, suggestions, complaints?  Send them to me at
.  I enjoy hearing from people who can
spell.

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Quote for the day:

		"Men don't change.  The only thing new in
		the world is the history you don't know."

							-Harry S Truman
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	Crystalline Fires - Prolouge
		by Roland Lowery


	FIFTY MILES above the planet known to its inhabitants as Mobius, a
battle was raging between a hedgehog and a scientist.
	The hedgehog was none other than Hyper Sonic, the Super Emerald
charged version of the self-proclaimed Fastest Thing Alive, Sonic T.
Hedgehog.  The scientist was the would-be ruler of the planet, Doctor Ivo
Robotnik, who was trying to keep his badly damaged Robo-suit aloft and
clinging to the Master Emerald.
	Hyper Sonic propelled himself forward and grabbed a few of the
Power Rings that were floating towards him.  As soon as they were absorbed
into his body, he blasted forward again and shot through the hull of the
Robo-suit, causing all of its systems to fail.
	As he grabbed the Master Emerald from the huge hands of the
trashed suit, Hyper Sonic watched as Robotnik cursed at him through the
cockpit window.
	A few moments later, and the last ring he had in reserve was used
up by the Super Emeralds, and he found himself falling as well . . .

	He awoke to the sensation of wind swirling all around him, all
around except for . . . below?  He sat up to find that he was laying on
the top wing of the Tornado, the plane that belonged to his buddy Miles
"Tails" Prower.  He looked down as Tails looked up at him from the pilot's
seat and gave him a thumbs up.
	The fox then jerked a thumb behind him to show that the Tornado's
rear clamp had been able to snag the Master Emerald in time, and then
pointed downward to show the crash landing of Robotnik's Robo-suit.
	Slowly, the plane banked towards the Floating Island, which was
slowly decending into the ocean without the Master Emerald to hold it up.
As they passed by, Tails released the clamp and the emerald fell into the
waiting arms of Knuckles T. Echidna, the Guardian of the island.
	Using a shortcut, Knuckles quickly made his way to the Hidden
Palace, where he set the Master Emerald in its rightful place.  He smiled
as the Floating Island once again began to float.
	Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, searched the Aquatic Ruins Zone, where
Robotnik's suit had gone down, but could find no trace of the doctor, only
some charred remains of his Robo-suit.
	Finally, it seemed that Robotnik was gone for good . . .

	Over the next year, the parts of Mobius that Robotnik had
corrupted were cleaned up and reconstructed by the planet's denizens.
Chief among the workers was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog, who was
now busy using his amazing speed to build rather than destroy -
	"Ah, this is the life, ain't it, Tails?" said Sonic as he sipped a
juice drink and relaxed.
	- that is, when he wasn't goofing off.
	"I guess so, Sonic," said Tails, "but shouldn't we be helping with
the-"
	There was a sudden flash of speed, and Tails was barely able to
get the impression that Sonic was gone for less than a second.
	"-Casino Night Zone," he finished lamely.  "Done already?"
	"Yup," said Sonic as he took another sip from his drink, which
hadn't even had the time to fall very far while he was gone.  "See, this
rebuilding thing ain't so hard with the power of the Super Emeralds
helpin' me.  I always make sure I got fifty Power Rings in me now,
y'know?"
	"Yah, I know," said Tails.  "I- . . . say, what's that?"
	"What's what, bro?"
	"THAT!"  Tails pointed out over the sea that lapped against the
beach they were relaxing on.  Sonic lifted his sunglasses and squinted in
the bright sun and finally noticed a small black dot on the horizon that
was getting larger and more detailed at an alarming rate.
	Suddenly his eyes grew wide.  "DUCK!" he yelled as he grabbed
Tails and dove for the sand.
	The dot suddenly became much larger as it blasted over them at
super-sonic speeds.  The dot was revealed to be an odd-looking blue robot,
which angled upwards as a sonic boom crashed over Sonic and Tails.  The
'bot then slowly began to decend, sputtering the whole way.  It eyed the
two Mobians with its one glowing red eye.  They other had long ago been
smashed inward and was as lifeless as its right arm, which hung limply at
its side.  The booster jet in its back barely held it aloft in a hovering
position, and it was hard to believe that it had been able to propel the
'bot as fast as it had.
	"Metal Sonic," gasped Sonic when he finally stood up.  He spat the
name and a mouthful of sand out.  "What brings your scraggly butt to the
Green Hill Zone?  I thought Knuckles trashed you!"
	"Incorrect assumption," Metal Sonic buzzed.  "This unit survived .
. . barely.  A few *bzzt* a few minor repairs was all that . . . *bzzt*
This unit has been ordered to distract one Sonic T. Hedgehog and one Miles
Prower."  His eye flared briefly.  "Prepare to die."
	"Yah," said Sonic, "Right."
	Sonic reached inside himself and sought out the power that would
transform him into Hyper Sonic with only a thought and-
	-nothing happened.  He hesitated, trying to sort out what
happened, which allowed Metal Sonic to get the first hit in, a body tackle
to Sonic's midsection.  They flew out over the water.
	"Okaaaaaay," said Sonic, "I don't NEED the emeralds to beat you,
you rust bucket!"
	Sonic quickly wrestled with the 'bot until he ended up riding on
its back like a cowboy.  His first punch sent Metal Sonic's lifeless right
arm flying into the sea.  The flurry that followed that left several dents
and rips in Metal Sonic's skull and back.
	"Changing tacticts," said Metal Sonic as he banked to turn back
towards the beach.  The Sonics, metal and flesh, flew by Tails, who had
flown out to help his hero.  Metal Sonic then turned towards a palm tree,
leaning down and forcing Sonic to stick out forward like a hood ornament.
	Sonic tried to jump clear, but the 'bot reached up with its left
arm and held him in place.
	"Hey, leggo!" Sonic yelled as grabbed Metal Sonic's head and
pulled up.  He then began to beat at the 'bot's arm with his other fist.
As soon as he felt the grip lessen, he wrenched free and jumped off with
only seconds to spare.
	Metal Sonic hit the palm tree head first.  The tree fell over as
the 'bot fell to pieces.
	"Aw," said Tails as he landed nearby.  "I never get to do
anything."
	Before he was able to complain further, he heard an insistent
beeping noise coming from the direction of his and Sonic's chairs.  He
recognized it as the communicator that they had been carrying around just
in case of an emergency.
	"I'll get it!" he yelled as he flew off.
	Sonic stood up and dusted himself off, then walked over to the
wreckage. Among the debris, he found Metal Sonic's head, its one good eye
still glowing.  He heard a slight sound come from Metal Sonic's speaker,
so he leaned closer.
	Instead of senseless garbage or a threat, as he expected to hear,
Metal Sonic said, "He's . . . coming *bzzt* more powerful than . . .
Robotnik alone *bzzt* . . . destroy . . . destroy . . . destrooooyyyy . .
. . "
	The light in the 'bot's good eye faded, then went dead.
	"Huh?" said Sonic.  "Whazzat supposed to mean?  WHO'S coming?
Throw me a clue here!  More powerful than Robotnik?"  The hedgehog shook
his head when he noticed that Metal Sonic wasn't going to be saying
anything else, ever.
	"SONIC!" yelled Tails.
	"Yah, what?"
	The fox flew up to him, a worried expression on his face.  "You
need to see this.  It's a recording that Knuckles sent us . . . "
	Sonic took the communicator from his companion's hand and hit the
play button.  Knuckles appeared on the small screen.
	"Sonic and Tails," the echidna said, "something is wrong.  I was
in the Hidden Palace, checking on the emeralds, and I caught someone
scanning them with a small device.  I tried to watch him unobserved, but
he apparently noticed me and ran off.  He disappeared into thin air,
something he should NOT have been able to do on my island.  I do not,
unfortunately, know who or what he is.  Something smells about all of
this, so I have broken the emeralds down back to their original Chaos
forms and hidden them.  They are . . . "  The image of Knuckles looked
around.  "Wait, he is listening. You will have to find them on your own
Sonic.  You're the only one that I tru-"
	The rest was static.
	"Well, at least he was able to hit the send button," Sonic said.
"This would explain why I can't access my Hyper form."
	"You can't?" asked Tails.  "Hold on."  The fox concentrated for
the second.  "I can't go Super, either," he finally said.  "What does this
mean, Sonic?"
	"My first guess, bro?" Sonic said.  "We're in deep ca-ca."

	TO BE CONTIUED

		Roland Lowery (aka Jim Doe)
			

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