sonic and the ½ Genie Hero By Rodney Alexander CHAPTER 1: Grand Theft Jewelry on the Trail Ablaze It was a cool, calm and collective early summer day in the woods of the Midwest. Upon the road, driven for a rumored treasure were Sonic and Tails in a two person RV headed to a secluded campsite amongst a forest of an oak and maple variety. Reason for their travel was plain and simple in accordance to Tails, but to Sonic seemed rather random. “So like, what exactly is this supposed treasure people think is here?” Sonic questioned. “You know, the big statue of you, but in those Soap shoes you had!” Tails answered. “Rumor has it that somewhere deep in these woods, for some reason there’s a statue that looks like that standing within.” “Hmm… Okay. But how much do you think the owner would sell it for?” Sonic said, counting the string of gold rings in his wallet. “Oh Sonic,” Tails said, rolling his eyes “we don’t even know who owns it, assuming it is owned, let alone if its for sale!”. Tails approached their exit off the interstate and from the outlet soon came across a dirt path leading to the site. After eventually finding the most isolated camp space on the grounds, Tails paid the toll to stay for the month, parked the RV and got ready for the venture. “Okay Sonic, here’s a ring you can click to find me again or press down on to call me with,” Tails told Sonic “they’re like compass, walkie-talkie sort of bracelets I bought from Knuckles since he doesn’t use them anymore.” Sonic looked closely at the ring to figure it out. “So like those ones the Chaotix use?” he inquired. “Yep,” Tails nodded, “I knew they’d come in handy in any chance we ever went camping.” Sonic sighed. “Well, in case you need me I’ll be at Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero Page 2 the pond racing skipping stones.” “Alright, I’ll check back with you around lunch!” Tails replied, now waving back as he went into the woods. And so Sonic went to do so, meanwhile Tails searched the forest, all the while referring to his data on sightings of the mythical giant Soap Shoe Sonic in an attempt to narrow down wherever the supposed statue may stand during the season. And by lunch the two were back at the site’s wood picnic table with a submarine sandwich split in half and their appetite ready to be satisfied. “So,” Said Sonic, chewing his food “what did you find?” Tails scrolled through his chart on his PDA and mobile devices. “Well, it seems as though around this time of year Soapy Sonic doesn’t like to show off as much.” Tails said with a giggle. Sonic raised an eyebrow. “As in..?” He asked. “As in it just seems as though according to my data not many sightings of the thing,” Tails took a drink of water, “were ever taken during the summer.” Sonic shook his head slowly. “Well, that means we can go out to the city and do some skating or whatever instead, right?” asked Sonic. Tails finished his half of the sandwich. “I said not many, as in just a few, so no, were not leaving yet. Besides, I’ve got this spot for the next couple of weeks.” Sonic shrugged his shoulders, “Well then, I guess I’ll be here for you out there.” he said as he finished his lunch. “So where are you looking next?” Sonic asked. Tails pulled up his satellite map. “Well, I’ve scoped out the forest surrounding these campgrounds and still have yet to spot it, and I was wondering if you could scan the west woods while I look a bit further south.” “If we’ll be back at sundown, sure,” Said Sonic, “but last one back has to make the chili for dinner”. “Hey, no fair,” said Tails, “You’re faster than me!” “Yeah, but you can fly over trees. If I’m not careful I’ll just end up smashing into them.” Sonic replied. “Fair point there,” Tails said, “Well then, let’s get back out there!” he added, and so the two went back out to reengage in the search. Inevitably daylight ran out and the duo returned to the RV where Sonic heated the chili over the campfire, Tails grilled the hot dogs and they had chilidogs for dinner followed by some s’mores and slept under the stars in peace and quiet in the privacy of their own camper van. Page 3 Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero But by under the stars it was really only Tails who was, since he had the higher bunk with the overhead skylight from which he could actually see them. That made Sonic feel like he was missing out, and so that night he laid his sleeping mat, sleeping bag and rings out against the electrical socket starpost and slept with a good view of the night sky. Yet as slumberous as Sonic was now, at such an hour in a whole other reality there was not a moment of rest. It was in the high seas in which the pirate Queen Risky Boots this was so. For the crew upon a ship of which raised a mast of her own had just almost finished ransacking, slashing, and tossing overboard the deckhands of a rather small freight boat shipping valuable imported herbs, fruits and drinks worth many a man’s salary. But items such as those were only second priority to the Queen’s attack. What she was dead-set to get was a treasure map, rumored to have been sold to the captain of the ship and likely combination-locked within his quarters inside a safe of water-tight stainless steel. “All right you sea dog, where you hiding it?!” The Queen hollered, now scanning the room finally after having battery ramming the door down. But to little surprise she had seen the captain had already made his way out from the porthole and to the deck above. “Men, after him! He’s headed starboard of the bow!” Risky ordered. The bandits did so, and in a desperate attempt of escape the captain was sabotaged by the invaders slashing the ropes holding the captain’s escape boat. Risky Boots had now caught up to the sailor, who had with him the safe on his back and a handy bastard sword sheathed at his hip. But with his means of escape gone and his enemies now taking the ship for their own, his fate seemed sealed. Risky pulled him by his shirt collar and pointed her scimitar to his throat. “You drop the treasure before we take your life along with it!” She ordered. “No!” the captain yelled, as he kicked her in the stomach in retaliation, drew his own blade and made haste in stabbing overboard the few of her surrounding crew. The pirate Queen saw that this was a fight she would have to finish herself, and so she did. With a whistle she called to all under her rule to finish raiding the ship cargo in order for her to finish off the captain personally. And so their duel began. The captain slashed the straps holding the safe from his back and took a lunge head-on for Risky. Risky quickly countered with a block using her own blade, and Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero Page 4 pushed him back while tearing a rip in his left sleeve. The two were in heated combat on the bow, and with every clash and stabbing thrust they neared closer to the edge. And it was there, at the tip of the boat in deadlock with Risky that his weapon had finally been slashed from his grip into the vast, briny blue-black waters behind him, leaving him done for at last. “Any last words, buccaneer?” Queen Risky asked the captain with her scimitar pointed at his face. “Your greed shall be your folly, you marine crime lord!!!” he yelled just before being slashed upward from the face and kicked into the sea. Following directly this fatal exchange was Risky’s departure from the vessel with a Molotov cocktail to set the hollowed boat ablaze and the steel safe in her grasp. And so by means of riding the anchor back up on her own ship, she headed into the decorated captain’s quarters she called her own to attempt to crack into the safe she now had before her, as the Auto-Pirate sailed to an isle the crew could rest at for the moment. Upon Risky’s desk sat the container that held the map she sought after. And all that was left between her and it was a combination lock of which she had to figure out herself. So then she opened her desk drawer to get out an earpiece to listen for the combination. After some hours into the night, listening for sound and trying to keep record of possible codes, she had eventually done it. “Bingo, jackpot!” Said Risky when she finally cracked the safe open. Combing through the valuables she eventually came across the rolled up paper map. “Hmm, now where exactly does this pinpoint..?” she pondered, looking at the lower left portion of the map. It seems as though it doesn’t cross off the isle where the treasure may lay, but rather has a circle if India ink around the nautical miles in which a chain of a few tiny islands reside. “Alright, crew!” Risky hollered to her gang, “we’re headed southeast in T minus 10 minutes! Lock up the outpost, raise the anchor and get onboard!” and so they were back on the open seas, headed to the recluse, deserted keys of land out in the dead of night. When the Zubat in the crow’s nest gave the signal they were dead center between the islands, the ship dropped anchor and the Queen sent search parties out in small boats, one for each isle, in the hunt for the buried treasure. This treasure Risky Page 5 Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero knew was marked by a post of old metal, tinged in hue to disguise it within the plant life and to keep from those unknowing from investigating it if a soul was ever so curious to, assuming one would ever end up on the right island. The parties headed into the minimal shrubbery of the islands and searched using handheld magnets for the rusted post of cast iron and copper. This hunt was rather frivolous indeed, scanning high and low, between bushels and amongst palm trees, being sure not to mistake one pirate’s metal trash for another pirate’s buried treasure, but surely enough they would eventually find what they set out for. And when that moment had come, the discovering party had sounded their alarm trumpet. The signal was heard coming westward by the watchman in the crow’s nest, and the watchman told Risky resting in the captain’s quarters. They then set sail for the farthest west island, as did the other parties. When the Queen’s ship came ashore the crew onboard lowered a ladder for Her Majesty and so they went into the puny jungle with Risky at the forefront in search of the still blowing signal at the location of the treasure. They were in the thick of the marsh, shrouded in bounds of leaves and sharp branches. Risky with her scimitar, and the two Zubats beside her with their machetes chopped their way through until they finally came to where the sound was loudest. “Step aside you two,” said Risky to the two taking turns on the horn, “it’s about time I get me well earned booty.” and so she stepped toward the hunk of metal and kneeled to inspect it more closely. Using her bandana she rubbed some obscuring sand and dirt from the post for inscriptions. She noticed the curious shape of it, being cone-like from the base up, and having a stem coming from the tip of the cone, which had what looked to be a sphere blooming from the stem. It was now that Risky discovered deliberately cast grooves climbing up the left side of the base. This struck the Queen as a hint as to the method of accessing the puzzle-locked treasure. She pulled out a flask of rum and rubbed a bit around the grooves and to the right of them, and that’s what revealed the purpose of the indentures: this was a sliding door mechanism. “That’s it!!!” Said Risky with a pound of her fist in her palm, “This door holds the key to the buried treasure!!!” and with a scraping of the Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero Page 6 edges of the door and a prying with her blade, she finally had the door slightly ajar. She then continued pulling the rusty plate until she could completely see inside the cramped chamber. “What’s this now?” She pondered, seeing there wasn’t a key, but rather just a hollow chamber with a flat floor and some writing branded on the silver wall. Risky could barely make it out with the trees overhead obscuring the moonlight. “Bring the lantern.” The Queen told her nearby Zubat. She then held it up to the small hollow and read what was inscribed. What was written was this: “For those who seek power so bold, They must pay first the price in gold” Risky thought about the short verse for a minute. “Hmm… Gold it says now does it?” she wondered. She then dropped a roughly 2 centimeter wide coin of gold onto the flat surface on the inside. It didn’t seem to do anything...or so she thought. In the following seconds after placing the coin it started glowing, and the platform lowered, revealing itself to be a troy ounce scale. Risky was startled. “Men, quick, get some gold!” she ordered. The party amongst her retrieved some looted gold coinage from the ship and brought it her. She dropped in more and more one by one, until the chamber was shining a bright silver and gold color with a faint glimpse of an inscribed 50 at the base. “Stay back, crew!” the Queen ordered, “I may finally have it now!” and just then a ring of sparkling stars flashed out from the bulb at the top of the post, at which Risky jumped toward . The crew was briefly blinded by the piercing light and startled by the disappearance of their leader. But on the bright side they might finally get some rest while waiting for her. Speaking of sleeping, Sonic of course was fast asleep, too. And in his slumber he had an upmost spectacular dream, one of running in constantly morphing Mobius strips, collecting rings by the dozen, dodging bombs and chasing emeralds. He was dreaming of The Special Zone. These were some of his favorite dreams, because it was what gave him imaginary practice and mental preparation for if he was ever going to enter the zone for real. Page 7 Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero The dream began with Sonic forming into existence already running inside the half-transparent tube floating around inside a starry, sparkling void of outer space that looked to stretch out seemingly forever. Overhead of Sonic was a banner which read out “Collect 20 Rings!” and so he did. “Aw yeah,” Sonic said, “These are awesome!” as he collected rings and dodged bombs arranged in patterns within the half pipe. The next banner called for 50 rings this time, and so Sonic set a tighter focus on his objective. This was when the patterns came a bit more of a task to follow. “Ooh, man,” Sonic said, picking himself up from a crash, “Got to hold on! Can’t drop any more!” as he just about passed the last clear point with 61 rings. And now the final challenge was up: make it to the end with 100 rings. This was quite the challenge, indeed. Whether there were bombs on the left and right of the path, in the middle or ceiling of it, or speckled to and fro in a random manner, there was much to avoid. But luckily there was a good fortune of rings to be grabbed in this last stretch of pipe. Dodging curves, minefields and zigzags of explosives Sonic precisely snagged the rings he needed and a bit more in case if he took a hit, which had come to happen a few seconds before the end. Sonic was a bit unnerved by the hit, sure, but luckily he still came to pass with a solid 116 rings and got to finally take the Chaos Emerald for his own. “Yes! Perfect!” Sonic cheered, as he came running for the emerald he could see glistening just a hundred feet ahead. But that was when suddenly he had it all taken from him by someone with no business being there. Risky Boots had his emerald. “Hey!” yelled Sonic, “What do you think you’re doing with my emerald?!” Risky laughed. “Finally, the greatest treasure is mine!” Risky said, gliding through using her massive hat. “You’re not getting away with that!” Sonic said, now rushing for her, making with a swift spin dash up from the ramping half pipe after her into a dimensional portal that opened to return her to her world after attaining the gem. And although he made it into the portal…he didn’t make it to his emerald. He came out from his homing attack and saw he never hit the bandit. And worse of all, he was now falling down, headed face-first onto a hot, dry beach. Sonic nodded and thought “Not my day.” in the brief moment of falling through the air just before hitting the ground and losing consciousness. Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero Page 8 Page 9 Sonic and the Half-Genie Hero
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