Sonic The Hedgehog Fanfiction Entry
by Dustinman 77 (dustin lawson)

Sonic, Tails, etc.  are İSega.  Princess Sally and others İDic, Archie, 
and whatever.  Gawain, Dimiter and Jakob are İMe!
Several story elements are İK.M. Hollar, whom also wrote the beginning.
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			Honor Among Hedgehogs
			       Part II
				¤¤§¤¤


Gawain awoke to find himself in strange surroundings.  As his eyes began 
to flutter open, he saw nothing but leaves.  He sat up, woozy, looking for 
anything familiar.  It was dark outside, the moonlight filtering through 
the trees.  He saw he was in the center of some sort of strange pit.  The 
grassy floor sloped up in all directions, leveling off about three feet 
up.  He didn't recognize this spot in the forest.

As he stood, he felt severe pain and dizziness.  He grasped his head and 
fell over.  After a few minutes, he tried again, this time making it to 
his feet successfully.  He took off his helmet and rubbed the huge lump on 
the back.  He didn't know what he had hit, but it was pretty hard.  He 
found that his sword was laying right next to him, and picked it up and 
sheathed it.  "Boy, I guess I'd better get home," he thought.  He replaced 
his helmet and started up the curve of the indenture.

He was about halfway up the side when he had an indescribable need to go 
back.  He fought it off and kept up the side of the pit.  As he neared the 
top, the urge became so overpowering, that he ran back to the middle and 
dove to the ground.

He stood up, not believing what he had just done.  He wanted to leave, but 
when he reached the top of the ridge, he couldn't bear leaving.  He had no 
idea what was rooting him to this place, but it wasn't normal.  He tried 
again, only to once again feel like he would die if he left.

He sat down and thought, wondering why he couldn't go home.  He once again 
searched the pit, desperate for a way out.  He stood up and looked around, 
then noticed that the center had no grass.  "That's odd," he murmured.  He 
tried to brush the dirt away, wondering if there was something buried in 
that spot.  Then, he took out his sword and used it to dig.

He had dug a hole about two feet deep when he finally hit something.  He 
eagerly scooped handfuls of dirt out, trying to get at the mysterious 
object.  Finally, as the sun was just beginning to rise, it was revealed.

It appeared to be a large stone ball, but only the top part was revealed.  
It looked to be made of obsidian.  In the center was a carved handprint, 
and above it were some strange markings Gawain took to be some kind of 
ancient alphabet.

He wasn't sure what to do.  He put his right hand in the print, but 
nothing happened.  He wondered if it had something to do with his metal 
gauntlets.  He took it off and put his hand back in the print.  He felt a 
slight tingle.  He wondered if that was it.

Then he noticed something he had missed; a small notch in the center of 
the strange writing.  He somehow knew it was important, but wasn't sure 
why.  He found his left hand drifing toward the hilt of his sword.  Then 
he realized the notch was about the size of the non-business end of the 
Masamune.  He drew the sword and pressed the end of the hilt into the 
notch.

Slowly, the sword began to shine a bright red.  At first it looked like it 
was merely the light reflecting off a red sword, but then it began to glow 
brighter than the dawn.  Then, the glow crept up his arm and began to 
envelop his entire body.  In a panic, he tried to break away, but he found 
he couldn't; he was stuck.  Slowly the light faded to a painful pink, and 
he could no longer see anything.  Then, he couldn't feel anything.  Then, 
he couldn't think...

				¤¤§¤¤


"Ga-WAAAAAAAAAIIIIIN!!!"

Sonic, Tails, Sally and Dimiter were stumbling through the forest in the 
early daylight.  Sally had shown them the last place she'd seen him, and 
they were looking from there.

Dimiter was afraid.  She knew he was a very capable warrior, but he had 
been gone so long that she couldn't help thinking the worst.  All she 
could do was keep looking.

As they entered a small clearing, she felt a strange feeling.  She didn't 
know what to make of it, but she felt strangely less tired.  It was almost 
as if some kind of healing power had settled over her.

"Hey," Sonic yelled, "look at this!"

He was standing at the edge of a hole.  She walked up beside him and 
looked into it, and saw a strange black ball at the bottom.

The thing that disturbed her was that Gawain's gauntlet was lying on it.

				¤¤§¤¤


A shimmering land of red.

Gawain had no idea what happened.  In fact, he was having trouble just 
having an idea.  Eventually his head cleared, and he realized that he was 
in a grand hall, decorated in red and white.  All around were various 
statues, many of them of other hedgehogs.  He recognized a few of them, 
but most of them were of complete strangers.

Then, he noticed a cloaked figure moving toward him from the far end of 
the room.  All he could see from under the brown mantle was his red-brown 
shoes with gold spats.  They looked so familiar...

As he was almost upon him, he realized where he'd seen them before.

"Dad?"

"Yes, it is I, son," the figure said.  He removed his cloak to reveal a 
kind old face.  He was light blue like his son, but had white eyebrows and 
a bushy white mustache.  He was carrying a sword as well, but it wasn't 
nearly as grandiose as the Masamune.

Gawain ran into his father's arms.  "Dad!  It-It's been so long..."

"Yes, I know, m'boy," he replied.  "I've missed you.  However, our reunion 
isn't just for reunion's sake."

He backed up to look into his father's face.  "What do you mean?  What's 
going on?"

"By a miraculous twist of fate, you've stumbled upon the Masamune Stone.  
I had meant to bring you here, but you weren't old enough.  Then when 
Robotnik took over..."

"Yeah," Gawain said.  "How did you get un-roboticized?"

His father hung his head.  "Unfortunately, I'm still a machine.  However, 
on this plain, I appear as my true self."  He looked at his son.  "The 
reason we are here is the Stone brought us here- me to teach, and you to 
learn."

"Learn what?"

"The magics of the Masamune, like I used, remember?  This is where I 
learned, from my father; your namesake.  This will take several months, 
but don't worry- only about ten hours will have passed on Mobius.  Your 
friends," he smiled, "and Dimiter, need you."

Gawain blushed.  "Yeah.  Well, uh, let's start training, I guess."

"Yes, we should.  You have a lot to learn, and trust me, these coming few 
months will _not_ be fun and games."

				¤¤§¤¤


Tails sat at the edge of the hole, his feet dangling down in it.  The sun 
above was beginning to top the trees.  He looked down into the hole at 
the strange object.  He wished he knew the connection between it and 
Gawain's disappearance.  He could tell the writing was part of it, but it 
was in a strange old language.

Dimiter was sitting across from him, clutching Gawain's gauntlet.  Her 
bright hazel eyes were on the verge of tears.  Tails got up and sat down 
next to her.  She looked up at him, brushing a stray hair from her face.

"Where could he be?  This is so strange, I don't know what to make of it 
at all."  She choked back the tears.

"Don't worry," he soothed.  "He'll show up.  I'm sure he will."  He put 
his arm around her, and that was all it took to cue her tears.  She 
sobbed uncontrollably onto his shoulder.  Tails was amazed at how deep 
her love for him was- that was a rare thing to find.  Now Tails knew they 
had to find Gawain; if not for his sake, then for hers.

				¤¤§¤¤


"Again, but don't be so unsure of yourself."

Gawain focused his mind into his chest.  His concentration moved down his 
arms, through his hands and into the Masamune.  He told himself, "This is 
easy.  Doing this makes breathing seem like the SAT.  I can do this with 
no effort.  Babies do this."  His confidence swelling, the sword began to 
glow a deep red.  "Fire is the fundamental product of intense heat," he 
recited.  "Therefore, fire is the easiest of the elements to produce, and 
the easiest power to master."  He pointed the sword at the target dummy.  
The sword shone a brilliant crimson, and a fireball the size of his head 
erupted from the end of the blade and crashed into the dummy, burning it 
to cinders.

His father stepped forward.  "Much better, son," he said.  "You have 
mastered the technique; all that remains to be learned is to do it fast.  
Your enemies are not likely to wait for you to charge up."

"Yeah," he replied, wiping his forehead.  "It just takes so much power out 
of me.  I feel like I just jogged a dozen miles."

"True, but after you train awhile and build up your mana, it'll seem more 
like a dozen jumping jacks.  Now, let's take five and get something to 
eat.  Chili dogs again?"

"Sure, I'm starving."  He started off toward the eating quarters, then 
turned to his father.  "Dad, it's great seeing you again."

"I know, son," he said, putting his arm around his shoulder.  "Likewise."

				¤¤§¤¤


"Blast those infernal Freedom Fighters," Robotnik muttered.  "They always 
ruin my plans."

He flipped a switch, and the wench cable tightened.  Slowly, the water-
logged hull of Metal Sonic was salvaged from the riverbed.

"I'm tired of rebuilding Mecha.  I need to somehow improve his design, add 
something.  But what?"  He pulled the dead robot, water pouring out of his 
machinery, into his circular hovercraft.  Suddenly and idea came to him.  
"Hmm, yes," he said, twirling the end of his mustache.  "That may work; 
after all, what's good for the goose..."

				¤¤§¤¤


Gawain pulled his cloak tight around his neck.  He had only gone five 
miles in the snow, and he was already starting to feel its effects.  He so 
desperately wanted to use his fire spell, but his dad had told him that 
this mission would only be completed if he didn't.

As he crested a snow-covered hill, he saw the icy cave that was his goal.  
He dutifully trudged toward it.  As he entered, he instantly sensed the 
strange power held within.  It seemed to counteract his own.  He continued 
through the frozen cave, and noticed, strangely enough, it was getting 
lighter the further in he went.  He rounded a corner, and saw why.

It was a huge cavern, with a ceiling that stretched so high he couldn't 
even see it.  In the center was a sort of raised dias, with a pillar in 
it's center.  On that was some sort of glowing blue orb, about the size of 
a soccer ball.

Gawain slowly approached the platform, wary of what it might be.  "It may 
be the mission I've gotta complete," he thought to himself.  He ascended 
the few steps and stood before the shining sphere.  

He saw some ancient script on it.  His dad had taught him how to read it 
last week, and this was probably the reason.  It took him few minutes, but 
he finally had it translated.  It read as follows:

"To equalize the Masamune, shalt thou so desire, touch thee the Masamune 
onto it."

Gawain was uneasy.  He wasn't sure he wanted to 'equalize' his sword.  He 
drew it and looked at it.  To his surprise, the red Masastone in the 
handle's bottom wasn't glowing, but more like flashing.  "It's never done 
that before," he said to himself.

Finally, he decided that his dad must've sent him here to do this.  He 
knew best, after all.  Slowly he touched the blade to the top of the orb.

Nothing.

He then realized the inscription probably meant he had to touch the stones 
together.  He turned it around, holding it by the blade, and touched the 
flashing red stone to the surface of the blue sphere.

Without any sort of build up of power, the orb, the sword and Gawain were 
enveloped in a blinding blaze of light, so bright he couldn't see 
anything.  "Well, this is familiar," he thought.  Then, just as swiftly, 
it was gone, and he was back in the cavern.

"Too many of these light shows, and I'm gonna need contacts," he said, 
rubbing his eyes.

As his eyes readjusted to the soft light of the orb, he realized something 
he hadn't paid attention to yet.  He now felt normal inside.  After his 
fire training, he had felt a burning in his heart.  He asked his father 
about it, but he said it wouldn't stay long.  It seemed that the orb not 
only equalized the sword, but him as well.

He looked at his sword.  It seemed unchanged.  Then he noticed the stone.

It was now glowing a deep violet.

				¤¤§¤¤


The sun was high above the trees when Sonic raced back into the clearing.  
"Hey, guys," he said, his tone flat.

"Hi, Sonic," Sally said, standing up.  "Anything?"

"No," he replied with a sigh.  "I didn't see any armor-clad me's anywhere 
around here.  Any ideas of where he might have gone?  Dimiter?"

She looked up with a sniff.  "Well, you could try the riverbank, near the 
stump."

"'The' stump?"

"It's a huge old stump, and there was a hole in the middle where we'd put 
things when we were kids," she replied.  "Some of our stuff should still 
be in there.  I should go back sometime and look."  She looked away.  "I 
wish those days were still with us.  Things were simpler then."

Sonic hesitated a moment, not knowing what to say.  He then simply said, 
"Right," and headed off for the riverbank near the villiage.  He hoped he 
could find the stump and that Gawain was there.  He couldn't stand to see 
Dimiter like this anymore.

				¤¤§¤¤


"Yes, you are ready."

Gawain was standing proudly in the center of the ornate red and white 
hall.  His armor was highly polished, and his helmet now bore a soft white 
plume.  On his left arm he bore an octagonal shield, emblazoned with a 
white Mobius crest.  In his right was the mighty Masamune, the stone in 
its bottom now dimly glowing pure, white light.  The most startling change 
was that his eyebrows were now a much lighter blue, almost white like his 
father's.  The older hedgehog was looking on his son with pride.

"Gawain, your powers are much greater than mine, now.  Now, it is time for 
you to go back and fight to free Mobius."

Gawain's eyes took on a sad disposition.  "Dad... I don't want to leave.  
I don't know when I'll see you again."

The elderly hedgehog placed his hand on his son's shoulder.  "I know, son, 
but you will.  You can be sure of that."

They began walking toward a curtain.  On either side was a statue of a 
hedgehog.  Gawain suddenly looked at them with realization, as he hadn't 
really studied them before because of his training.

"Those statues... that one on the left is you, dad.  And the one on the 
right is..."

"Yes, it's you, son.  We are the mightiest warriors of the hedgehog race; 
me, your cousin, and most of all, you."

"My cousin?  Who's that?"

His dad chuckled.  "You'll see soon enough.  Now, it's time to go."

He drew back the curtain between the statues to reveal a short flight of 
stairs.  At the top, where it met the wall, the smooth off-white marble 
walls ended, and there was a door made of obsidian.  It had no handle; 
instead, there was a notch with a familiar shape.  There was some writing 
on the door as well.  Gawain translated it to read this:

"Go forth, and seek thy destiny."

				¤¤§¤¤


Sonic entered the clearing in the late afternoon light and skidded to a 
stop.  Slung over his back was a tablecloth, tied into a sack.  They all 
looked at him, but when they saw Gawain wasn't with him, the depression 
settled over the camp once again.

Sonic walked over to Dimiter and dropped the bundle next to her.  "Sorry, 
Dimmy," he said softly. "He... this was all that was at the stump."

She looked up at him.  He could see the tear streaks in the fur under her 
eyes.  "Thanks," she said in a hoarse voice.

She opened it up and started looking at the things inside.  The first 
thing she pulled out was a battered plastic locket.

"This- He gave this to me when we were only six.  He said he thought I 
would like it."

She glanced at an old coloring book, then at a strip of cheap photo booth 
pictures of the two of them.  Then she pulled out a picture frame.

"Here he is with his father.  He was a kind old man."

Sonic looked at the old photo.  It was of two light blue hedgehogs, one 
about forty and the other about five.  The younger one was dressed in blue 
jeans and a white sweater.  The older one had brown shoes with gold 
stripes and a big, bushy mustache.

"Hey, Tails," Sonic said, a strange excitement in his voice.  "Take a look 
at this."

Tails walked over to Sonic and looked at the picture.  "Hey!  Is that...?"

"I don't know."  He turned to Dimiter.  "What was Gawain's dad's name?"

She was looking at an old faded valentine when he asked.  She looked up 
and wiped her eyes.  "Oh, um... Charles, I think.  Why?"

Sonic, Tails and Sally all stared at each other.  Sally was the first to 
speak.  "So, Gawain is-"

Suddenly, without warning, the hole in the center was filled with a 
blinding white light.  They all jumped back as the beam shot straight into 
the air.  Then it slowly dimmed and subsided, revealing a gleaming white 
knight, standing in the pit.

They all slowly moved back.  Gawain climbed out of the hole, lifted his 
visor, and looked at Dimiter, smiling broadley.

"Miss me?"

She leapt into his arms, hanging on as if for dear life, sobbing onto his 
shoulder.  "Oh, Gawain!  What happened, where were you, why did you run 
off like that?  Oh, I don't care, just hold me!"  He dropped his shield 
and hugged her back.

"That was quite the light show," Sally said.

"Yeah," Gawian said, rubbing Dimiter's arm with his hand.  "Well, I've 
been on quite the trip."

Then Sonic approached him.  He looked him over, wide-eyed.  Gawain stopped 
and stared back, realization dawning on his face.

"Oh my gosh," Gawain said, his other hand moving to his mouth.  "You must 
be..."

"My cousin," Sonic finished, his voice scarcely more than a whisper.  
"Your dad is my Uncle Chuck.  I can't believe, after all this time..."

"I think I remember you.  Is your name- oh, what was it... Sonic?"

"Yeah," Sonic said excitedly.  "How do you remember me?  I don't think 
I've ever seen you before."

"You stayed with us for a year," he replied.  "I was in school, so I guess 
you didn't see me enough to remember me.  Then, dad took you camping for 
a while."  He looked down.  "He never came back.  My mom and me eventually 
moved away from the city, to Rockcleft.  I grew up here, learned to use 
dad's sword."  He took it out, running his hand over the blade.  "I missed 
him so much."  He resheathed it.  "Then, one day I was on a mission in 
Robotropolis, when I saw him.  He looked so strange; all that metal.  I 
ran away, and I hadn't seen him since."  He smiled.  "Until now.  Gosh, 
I've been away for months, but you guys barely had time to miss me.  It's 
so weird."

"What are you talking about?" Dimiter asked him.

"I'll tell you all about it," he said, "when we get home."

				¤¤§¤¤


Jakob stood up.  "Who wants more chili dogs?"

Sonic and Gawain both said "Me!" at the same time.  The lion pulled two 
more hot dogs out of the package, skewered them with his stick, and held 
it over the flame.

Sonic, Gawain, Tails, Sally, Dimiter, and Jakob were sitting around a 
small campfire in the woods.  The stars were shining brightly in the night 
sky overhead, the ashes from the fire floating up and blending in with 
them.  Dimiter had a blanket wrapped around her.  She was content just 
being near her love.

"So I touched the end of the Sword to the door, and it brought me back," 
Gawain finished, taking a swig of lemonade.

"There's so many things I never knew about Unc," Sonic said, still amazed 
at what he had heard.  He turned to stare at his long lost cousin.  "The 
more I look at you, the more I seem to remember about us as kids.  Stuff 
like playing in the backyard."  He looked into the fire, lost in thought.

"I wanna see you do some magic stuff," Tails said.  "It sounds cool."

"Oh, it's way past cool," Gawain said.  "Especially the ice spell.  I'll 
show you that when we put out the fire."

"So the power doesn't come from the sword?" Sonic asked.

"No, the sword is just made to where it conducts the power.  The power 
comes from me.  I always had it; I was born with it.  It just took dad to 
teach me how to use it."

"Well, at least your sword is good," Sonic said, ruefully thinking of the 
green sword he had used a few times.  "You don't have to wrestle back the 
forces of evil every time you use it."

"What?"

"Nevermind."

Sally had been thinking a lot during this.  "So, it sounds like your power 
may make Sonic's pale in comparison."

"Hey," Sonic put in indignantly, "I don't know about that.  Remember, I do 
have the power of the super emeralds at my disposal."

"The what?" Gawain, Dimiter and Jakob asked in unison.

"Uh... more powerful chaos emeralds?"

They still looked at thim with blank stares.  "Oh, well," he said.  "I 
guess not everybody has heard of them.  If I had my belt with me, I could 
show you, but I didn't want to bring it on such a routine trip."

"Hmm," Gawain said.  "They sound something like the Masastone in the hilt 
of my sword.  It has great power as well.  The ancient race of echidnas 
built it, and my- OUR ancestors were the guinea pigs.  They volunteered to 
undertake the series of tests that would enable them to have a strong link 
with the stone.  A few unfortunate men died, and almost all who survived 
didn't acquire any powers.  But one man did; our far removed predecessor, 
Mason.  Just the right amount of power and chemicals were used when he 
went in, and he automatically felt the great power surge.  Unfortunately, 
he went berserk, destroying the lab.  Nobody was seriously injured, but 
Mason fled, fast as lightning."

"Maybe that's where us hedgehogs got our speed," Sonic commented.

"Probably, but sometimes it skips, or it's only born to one child.  I, for 
an example, don't have the trademark swiftness.  Instead, I carry the gene 
that enables the command of the Masamune.

"Which brings me to the sword.  The echidna scientists figured out that 
the reason Mason freaked was from the unstable properties of the eighth 
chaos emerald they used in the final test."

Sonic winced at the mere mention.  "I can't believe they actually used 
that crazy hunk of glass!"

"They found Mason in the Sandopolis section of the Floating Island.  He 
was laying in the shade of one of the buildings, foaming at the mouth, 
completely out of it.  When they handed him the sword, though, the healing 
properties of it brought him out of his madness, and he never relapsed.  
It neutralized the eighth's evil powers."

"Man, I wish I'd known about your sword."

"Why's that?"

Sonic sighed and looked at the scars on his legs.  "I... it's a real long 
story.  Let's just say I feel Mason's pain."

"So," Tails said, "You could possibly control it?"

"Yeah," Gawain said, grimacing, "but I've heard too many horror stories to 
want to try, especially now that dad unlocked my powers.  I wouldn't want 
me going insane and destroying a couple towns before I come out of it."

Tails yawned, and Sally noticed.  "I think it's time we went to bed," she 
said, nodding her head in the fox's direction.

"Yeah," Sonic said.  "There have been many discoveries today, and my head 
hurts."

They threw another log on the fire and zipped up in their sleeping bags.  
After a few minutes, they were all asleep.  Dimiter was the last to drift 
off.

If only she had stayed awake a few more minutes, she may have seen the 
flash from the direction of Robotropolis.

				¤¤§¤¤


"You should stop by sometime," Sonic said, shaking Gawain's hand.  "Meet 
the Knothole crew."

"I will, cuz," he said, grinning.  "You can count on it."

"See ya!" Tails yelled back as he, Sonic and Sally headed up the tunnel 
that lead from Rockcleft to the top of the cliff.

"Wow," Sonic said, a soft smile playing at his lips.  "More family.  It 
makes me wonder just how many of us are out there..."

"Well," Sally sighed, "I for one am ready to get back home.  There'll be 
quite a bit of work to catch up on, and I-"

It seemed the three were not to return home just yet.

They dashed back down the tunnel to see what had caused the explosion, and 
were met with a surprise.

Gawain dashed out of his hut, now armor-clad, with his sword and shield in 
hand.  He bolted over to face the sharp-edged form of a glinting blue and 
silver hedgehog.

Mecha was back.

				¤¤§¤¤
				t.b.c.