Sonic ran and ran and ran as fast as he could, only stopping to interrogate a back-packer.
"Do you know where I can find Professor Oak?"
"Oh sure, he's in Pallet town!"
"How do you get there?"
"Roughly that direction for a few days and there you go." The man beamed, but Sonic was gone and arrived their a few minutes later.
"Do you know where I can find Professor Oak?"
"His office is that way..." He ran again, but skidded to a halt when he saw the man himself in the middle of the streets, who stared at him in shock.
"You look awful." The professor told him gently, but Sonic wasn't in the mood for sympathy.
"What time is it?" He demanded sharply and Professor Oak hesitated before glancing at his watch.
"Quarter to five." The hedgehog sucked air between his teeth in frustration.
"Listen, I need help and while you seem more curious than kind, I don't have any other option. Tomorrow I'm going to come back to exactly this spot at this time half an hour ago and you'd better be here." Then he ran off and hoped with all his might that he'd made sense.
Meowth was waiting for him at the gate when he got there, ten minutes later.
"Five minutes to spare." He muttered disapprovingly. Sonic grinned slightly.
"I like to live dangerously, what can I say?" He stretched himself out as they walked towards the mansion.
"Say thank you to the boss." Meowth suggested, a little too seriously for Sonic's liking, but before he could reply, Giovanni walked out onto the path.
"There you are. You've had your fun, now let's get back to training." He ordered and turned to walk back into his mansion, but Sonic blocked the way.
"Before I listen to you, I just want to know that I'll get an hour to run each day." The hedgehog narrowed his eyes "Otherwise I won't be very co-operative." Giovanni scowled at him.
"Fine, but you'll regret being so rash. A single quill out of line and your run is cancelled." He folded his arms "You'll do every task without question." He walked around him "By the way, if you try to negotiate with me again, it won't work. A Pokemon is lesser than mankind and they should know their place."
"I'm not a-" Sonic clenched his fists as he clamped his mouth shut, before loosening it slightly "Yes sir."
Sonic skid to a halt at the professors feet the next evening and panted, exhausted.
"You're covered in blood!" The professor cried, alarmed, but Sonic waved away his fears.
"It's not mine. I had to. Where's your lab place, doc? We gotta be quick!" He gasped and the professor sped walked off on up to the building Sonic had arrived to. "Call Eggman."
"Dr Robotnik? Why?" He frowned as he moved over to his computer screen and began typing.
"Just do it." Sonic demanded before sliding into a chair tiredly.
"I am doing it, have a bit of patience." Professor Oak scowled slightly and the hedgehog smiled lightly.
"Sorry, it's never been a strong point for me. Patience." He gave a small chuckle at the word, but his face turned serious as Eggman appeared. Sirens could be heard, and occasional explosions that seemed to get louder by the minute.
"This is a really bad time. By the way, I'm sending your Pokemon back, professor. He's not safe here anymore. I can't look after livin-" He stopped suddenly and smiled cruelly "Sonic."
"Bring me back Eggman, don't make it worse for yourself!" The hedgehog snarled instantly, but the evil genius was grinning so much that he didn't bother to continue threatening him.
"You look absolutely awful." He purred, his voice filled with contained laughter "You're covered in blood, you're weak... is that a shock collar?" Dr Eggman laughed and rubbed a tear from his eye "This is brilliant! It's beautiful! I suppose you've realised by now that I've taken the chaos emeralds from you?" He added and Sonic's eyes flew open. It had been hard to tell before, when he'd been so weak, but now he could feel it, they were gone. How could he have not seen that?
"EGGMAN BRING BACK SOONIIC!" Amy's voice screamed as a final explosion was sounded and the wall behind him turned to dust. The hedgehog's figure could only just be seen as she stalked towards the genius, but then stopped as she saw the screen. "S-Sonic?" She gasped "What have they done to you! Are you ok? EGGMAN WHAT DID YOU DO?!" The evil genius didn't reply, he just laughed and laughed and laughed as a massive, emerald fueled robot stomped in and cornered Amy, who tried to dart under it, but the robot grabbed her and she screamed.
"Looks like I'm busy, Sonic! Cherio, have fun!" The screen went blank and Sonic ran out, finding a good place to scream words that no child should ever hear.
"I called my grandson in and Ash, the boy I was talking about before. They'll be here in a few days," 3 hours of freedom had gone now and Sonic was as frustrated as ever. Professor Oak hadn't been able to get the collar off of him, so now he was calling in others who could help "They're both very talented, Sonic, they'll think of something."
Gary Oak got there first, after two days. He listened to Sonic's story and shot off ideas that the hedgehog easily dismissed. Every plan had a fault, the main one being the collar. When Ash got there, Sonic didn't raise his hopes. Gary seemed much sharper than this boy and he'd had no hope. If he had no hope, then what did this boy have?
A pikachu. As soon as Sonic had finished his story for the second time, Ash cried out "Pikachu! Iron tail, now!" To the hedgehog's amazement, the yellow mouse cut through it easily and it dropped to the floor with a clatter. He was free. He blinked. He felt his neck. Then, he grinned like hell.
"Revenge time."
