#doctor fukulokov

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 30

It’s finally here, and Happy New Year everyone 👋

2021 is finally here, and it’s the perfect time to wrap up the first cour with the big confrontation with Doctor Fukurokov. It should be the last major action for a while (though with this AU one can never say), so please enjoy...

    Sonic was far from in top form, and gathering Rings was proving to be far more time consuming than he had planned. Compounding matters was that he was having a hard time even holding on to his rings.

    “ACHOO~!” Sonic sneezed fiercely, a moment later a shot from a Battle Kukku cannon relieving him of his gathered Rings and sending him flying. Crashing headfirst into the wall of another airship, Sonic let himself slump down and sigh. “Well, the ole danger sense is working, but I’m definitely off my game today. Tearing up all of these airships manually is taking too long too.”

    Pulling himself free from where he took his short break, Sonic grabbed a nearby Ring and casually leaned to the side, letting two bird soldiers shoot each other. “Or maybe the danger sense is a little slow to– AHCHOO~!”

    Rubbing his nose as he walked to the edge of the airship deck, Sonic looked at the burning fleet. He had done plenty of damage in a surprisingly quick amount of time, but the presence of so many Rings made the ships forged with Rings in their development easy to repair with the golden loops.

    “Never thought I’d complain about there being too many Rings,” Sonic mused as he looked around for a solution to his problem. “No way I can gather that many fast enough to make a long-term dent in this fleet either before Amy gets herself in over her head. That Red Star Ring is going to cause me more trouble than it’s worth. …!? Wait a second!”

    With a sudden moment of realization upon him, Sonic turned his eyes towards Battle Kukku Island which now hung above him below the ever-mysterious tiny planet that loomed in the daytime sky. “Heh! I should have thought of it sooner. I can wake up all the Rings in the airships and let them crash on their own. The chaos from the ships crashing into each other and the Ring Gates formed in the process should be more than enough to put these guys out of commission.”

    Pulling the Ring Gate Rosy leant him in its dormant state from where he had hidden it in his spines, Sonic twirled it on the end of his finger while he checked the device he wore on his wrist. Pushing his glove cuff out of the way, he smirked as he noted the location of Rosy’s matching device. “Not bad kid.”

    Looking up at the island, Sonic tossed the small Ring out and missed it grow into a Ring-framed portal he could step through as he was taken over by another sneeze. As he looked up it was just in time to see an arrow come through and expend the gate’s energies.

    “Woah!” barely dodging the projectile, Sonic looked back at it as it lodged itself in a wood plank in the airship’s side. “Well, so much for Plan A. Guess I’m running instead. Fine by me, but what type of trouble did you get yourself into this time kid?”

~|~

    The trouble Sonic questioned about was in fact caused by his spectacular timing. The Ring Gate he opened had appeared just in time to catch the arrow Draw fired and the machine holding the Red Star Ring stood unscathed. “This is why I hate Rings!”

    Draw’s shout was accompanied by him desperately reaching for another arrow as Doctor Fukurokov dove over a low wall and began pulling a series of levers. In response the entire lab started to shake and the contraption that held the Red Star Ring rose up through the opening ceiling.

    “Wait!” Rosy called out, but she could not get her footing as the whole of the room started to collapse.

    “It’s over for you interlopers!” Doctor Fukurokov called from above as the giant propeller on the island’s underside came into view below the collapsing floor. “A shame I won’t be able to make use of you now, but no matter. When my armada rains terror upon the whole world unchallenged, the fool fox will surely know who the true rulers of the skies are!”

    Bursting out into maniacal laughter as rocket thrusters on the underside of the main platform of the once enclosed lab came to life, Doctor Fukurokov felt on top of the world. Or would have except for two things. The little planet hanging in the red sky above him, as though it were mockingly looking down on him, and an ever-irritating voice belonging to a cute, leotard clad, pink hedgehog girl.

    “Sorry, but my destiny is with Sonic!”

    “He’s dead!” Doctor Fukurokov shouted as he rushed over in the direction Rosy’s voice came from.

    “He looked pretty alive when I met him,” Draw countered from a different direction and pulled Doctor Fukurokov’s attention away from where Rosy’s voice came from.

    Looking back and over the edge of the main platform, Doctor Fukurokov’s eyes widened in horror as they followed a massive cable back towards the main wall of the shaft above the impossibly large propeller. “Get away from there!”

    “Oh?” Draw questioned with a sinister smirk. “Is this oversized wire important?”

    “OF COURSE IT’S IMPORTANT YOU USELESS FLIGHTLESS FOOL!” Doctor Fukurokov screamed at the top of his lungs. “THOSE CABLES ARE ALL THAT’S KEEPING THIS LAB CONNECTED TO THE ISLAND!”

    “So, we should break them then?” Rosy asked as she tilted her head and pressed a raised finger into her cheerfully smiling muzzle.

    “OF COURSE NOT! THE ENERGY OF THE RED STAR RING WOULD BE RELEASED UNCONTRABLY IF YOU DID!”

    Though he screamed it out of panic, Doctor Fukurokov knew he had made a mistake. Adjusting his glasses, he took a deep breath and tried pleading with the two troublemakers who threatened to unravel his ambition. “Perhaps being allowed to be left alive by the Battle Kukku Armada is enough to convince you to leave peacefully. Perhaps?”

    “What do you think Draw?” Rosy asked and revealed she had been standing on the central column that had lifted the lab out of the chamber it had been in. Doctor Fukurokov could hardly believe that the design oversight had given her a safe place to survive the collapse of the island’s center, and one that gave her access to where the four massive cables that fueled the whole island connected to the main platform. For all his terror, he knew he had to pay attention to the conversation taking place though.

    “You say Rings are taboo, and this one is threatening to give a bunch of mean old pirates way too much power.”

    “Then let’s break it.”

    “NOOOOO~~~~~!!!!!!!!!!”

    Draw may have gained the speed to keep up with Rosy, but he lacked her spin attack and was effectively helpless. Doctor Fukurokov was not so similarly inhibited, even as Rosy’s spin attack shook the whole platform as a cable was knocked free and crackling red energy erupted from the exposed socket. Instead, he managed to grab a jet pack and immediately flew about opening fire with integrated machine guns on Rosy.

    “Wah~!”

    There was barely any room to build up the speed she needed to leap to safety, and with Doctor Fukurokov firing on her it was unlikely Rosy would make it at all. Fortunately, Doctor Fukurokov had to dodge another fired arrow from Draw.

    “YOU WILL NOT STO–?!”

    “Hi!” Rosy cut off Doctor Fukurokov as she landed on his shoulders and offered him a pleasant wave. “We don’t have to do this you know. If you just turn off the machine and give me the Red Star Ring… Though you should give up this life of hurting people too. There are plenty of other exciting ways to live where you help people too. You’re really smart–!”

    “ENOUGH YOU IMPUDENT–!”

    Trying to dislodge Rosy, Doctor Fukurokov’s erratic flight instead allowed her to jump out and land on one of the outer cable ports. Turning to open machine gun fire on her anew, he was greeted by her pulling down on her eye and sticking her tongue out at him. That and an arrow which ruptured one of the twinjets of his pack.

    “NOO~!”

    As he struggled to recover and return to the main platform, Doctor Fukurokov refused to give up and continued to fire as he spiraled upward wildly. Rosy was more than fast enough to evade him, and then one and two more cables fell as she Spin Attacked through them. The last cable would not go immediately as she had to get herself and Draw safely up it to the main platform. This afforded Doctor Fukurokov the time he needed to land and turn his full attention onto Draw as he was tossed up over the railing.

    “Gyah~!” Dancing about to avoid the machine fire, Draw ran and leapt over a massive pipe to take cover on the other side of the device that held the Red Star Ring. He nearly over did his jump as Rosy’s attack on the final cable coupling caused the platform to wrench fiercely before the rockets holding it afloat were overwhelmed with power and launched the three who occupied it with tremendous velocity towards the little planet above.

    “Not like this!” Doctor Fukurokov denied the impending doom that was but a few seconds away from him and scrambled towards the main control console. As he approached a golden light which bested that of the Red Ring appeared above him and he looked up to see a Ring Gate spin open well above him and soon on top of him.

    “Sorry I’m late,” Sonic greeted everyone as he fell through and gave them a two fingered wave as he extended his other hand towards the Red Star Ring. “Woah!”

    As his outstretched palm neared the out-of-control Ring, the entire platform came to a sudden a stop. For a moment everyone hung in the air and Rosy turned her questioning eyes on Sonic and called his name.

    “Mote!” Draw called out a different name as his fairy companion took advantage of the momentary pause to fly between Sonic’s outstretched hand and the Red Star Ring as it suddenly stopped spinning and fell on its side. No sooner did it fell flat did it start to rotate perpendicular to its axis and start to grow rising up into the sky. As it passed Mote and Sonic, everyone fell to the platform, though Sonic scooped up the suddenly exhausted fairy.

    “Don’t know what you did little guy, but I hope it didn’t interfere with what I was trying to do. Anyway, time to go! Kid! Tyke! Grab on!”

    Running in their general direction, Sonic put his arms out for Rosy and Draw to grab, but Rosy took advantage of them both and jumped into Sonic’s arms while Draw latched himself onto Rosy’s back.

    “Really you two?” Sonic asked with an awkward laugh as he found himself carrying two people at once bridal style. Though with Draw clinging to Rosy’s back, Rosy was free to wrap at least one arm around Sonic as she nuzzled him joyfully. Her other hand was required to hold onto Mote who she pressed tenderly to her chest to keep safe. Sonic noted the motion and smirked a moment before growing more serious and putting on a fierce look of concentration. “Whatever. Just don’t let go!”

    Vaulting the railing, Sonic fell with the other’s hanging on into the collapsing shaft as everything seemed to transform into Rings around them.

    ~I never even saw the Ring Gate there were so many Rings. I didn’t know what Sonic had done either, and though I think Mote told Draw, he refused to tell me. Whatever it was that happened though, there was no denying that the entire world would know the consequences of Sonic’s actions that day.

    ~From the mountain peak we appeared on, and likely from anywhere else too, the Red Star Ring could be seen filling the sky. It was massive unlike what I had glimpsed of the last one Sonic used. But the effects of the Ring Shifts on the world were indisputable. I could see them happening everywhere I looked and there was no stability to the world at all. Even the Red Star Ring was not safe from the chaos it wrought.

    ~In a flash of red light, it exploded and a rain of red motes of light rained down all over the world. Beyond it, and that sinister little planet that was always watching me, a red crack appeared in the sky, like a bolt of lightning frozen in time that arced across from one horizon to the other. If you looked closely enough, you could see lands beyond it as though we were looking at another planet. And as my travels resumed, it became clear that those lands were also affected by Rings Shifts as the scenery beyond surely changed. But what else was beyond that crack in the sky was a mystery, but the world had changed. Everything but that ever watchful planet in the sky. Almost.

    ~It no longer only appeared in the day and had begun to watch me even after the sun had set. And at night, it was clear there were cities up there too as the lights twinkled so bright. But… But those lights didn’t bring me joy like the stars.~

Scene 30 · CLEARED Mark of a Red Star, End

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And with that, the first cour is done. From here and as we head into the new year, Sonic Ring Bond will go back to a more travel centric focus, but that is far from meaning there will be less enemies and grand encounters. It’s time for Sonic and Rosy to start learning what is really going on in the world, and whether they can afford to keep looking for their friends or try to stop what is coming.

I’m really excited to keep building up the world and really hope everyone will be able to join me and help the world grow through your prompts and partaking of the occasional survey. Let’s make 2021 a great year, and start it off with something amazing! thank you everyone! Happy New Year!

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Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Second Advent – Tsutomu Narita, GRANBLUE FANTASY – Granblue Fantasy Original Soundtrack: Chaos

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 29

At last, we come to part 1 of the end of of what I’ve been dubbing the first cour of season 1. From here Sonic and Rosy are going to be forced to really learn about the dimensional layers of the world they’ve ended up in and decide how big of a part they will play in the events to come. Before that though, they have to deal with the battle Kukku Armada in...

    ~Everything should have been better. It was Sonic. It was really him! I finally found him! I don’t even know how long it’s taken or if I remember everything I’ve been through searching for him. Yet, just finding Sonic alone didn’t make things better. Things were so, so bad.~

    Pipes and valves screamed and crackled with arcs of electricity within the heart of Battle Kukku Island. The spectacle terrified the pirates who called it home, but within those labs, Doctor Fukurokov, who had taken over the band of pirates as his own after their first terrible defeat by Tails smiled gleefully. The old owl’s twisted beak appeared even more twisted as the light within the lab he stood in flickered and flashed. Long shadows punctuated by moments of darkness and piercing flashes of light. From beyond his round spectacles Doctor Fukurokov was hypnotized by the glow of the Red Star Ring. His laughter though echoed far more hauntingly through the island than did the glow of the Ring.

    “So much power! It seems unlimited! So unlimited!” The mad owl laughed in maniacal glee. “With this! With this the Battle Kukku Armada and the name Doctor Fukurokov will become history itself! Who cares about the fool fox! We shall rule and plunder everything!”

    ~According to Sonic, at some point during his own travels, he had caught wind of the mean old pirates who had caused us to end up in these strange lands and had given chase. His current goal was to put an end to them once and for all. But… well…~

    “Sonic, you can’t! They aren’t robots or golems or anything else of the sort! They may be bad people, but they’re still people!”

    With Draw clinging to her back piggyback style, Rosy tried to plead with Sonic as they overlooked Battle Kukku Island from a vantage point provided by the torn apart ruins held high above by the vortex of sea water. Above them the mysterious little planet that seemed to always be watching Rosy observed the argument, perhaps amused from its nest within the storm.

    “Look kid,” Sonic began as he stuck his pinky finger into his ear and scratched around, “you haven’t seen what these bird brains have been up to. If you did, I doubt you’d be surprised how hard it’d be for you to forgive them too.”

    “Are you really in any shape to fight such a big battle?” Draw asked from Rosy’s back and Sonic cocked his head to the side to look at him.

    “You’re still here? Heh! You got guts tyke, but I think it’s time you take a Ring Gate somewhere safe.”

    “Not happening,” Draw shook his head. Sonic placed his hands on his hips in response, and as his foot began to tap Draw attempted to explain. “Mote says I have to stick with the medium, no matter what. Since I can’t run as fast as you two that means I’ll be staying right here.”

    “Not a good idea tyke,” Sonic warned Draw as he rubbed his nose with a finger. Looking back over his shoulder at the floating island below, Sonic eyed the red glow starting to seep through the whole of the island. “Things are about to get ugly either way, and I’d rather not involve any more of the locals than these bird brains already have. No reason for you to get hurt.”

    “Mote says it can find the Red Star Ring,” Draw started, but tilted his head and looked down at the fairy where it hid behind Rosy’s spines. “…And apparently make me as fast as you too.”

    Rubbing his nose more, Sonic exhaled loudly. “I have a hard time believing that. I’m the fastest around if you hadn’t heard, tyke.”

    “It doesn’t look like it at the moment,” Draw challenged.

    “Please don’t fight you two!” Rosy butted in having been overwritten by the two boys. “If the pirates have been that bad, and if Mote wants Draw with me, and if you’re really still that hurt Sonic, and, and, and…”

    Her eyes starting to swirl about from the weight of everything happening at once, Rosy began to lose her balance and footing. Able to free himself from her back, Draw found himself helping Sonic stabilize the distressed hedgehog girl and the two exchanged challenging and untrusting looks.

    “Look you two, maybe I’m not one-hundred percent yet, but that’s nothing a few extra Rings won’t solve.”

    “Then let Draw, Mote and me go get the Red Star Ring,” Rosy suggested as she let the two boys support her. “I shouldn’t have any trouble taking it from wherever it is. Knowing you’re here… Knowing you’re here Sonic, I can do anything!”

    Beaming at Sonic, Rosy’s good cheer and ever limitless energy made him take a nervous step back as he smiled awkwardly. Rosy was forced to take a step forward towards him though as she had not fully regained her own balance yet. As she stepped though, she put a firm foot down and her bright smile was promptly replaced by a threatening pout. “But no fighting Sonic! If you have to, wreck all their ships while you get the Rings you need. Wreck them so badly they they’ll never be able to repair them and have to live the rest of their lives here. But don’t hurt anyone! Please!”

    “Honestly, kid,” Sonic scratched at the back of his head as Rosy pleaded of him with her words and her eyes. Before he could say anything else though Rosy produced a Ring that was significantly smaller than a normal Ring and pressed it into Sonic’s free hand. “A Ring Gate?”

    “For when you get your Rings,” Rosy explained as she released Sonic’s hands and produced two more Rings of normal size. “And at least one more Ring to keep you safe. Come save me when you’re done, okay~♥”

    “Really?” Sonic asked with a sigh and roll of his eyes as he accepted the ring. “You really think the bird brain in charge is going to catch you?”

    “Yeah!” Draw butted in defending himself from an unintended attack. “Pirates may not be golems, but I can keep you safe anyway!”

    “Even from my back?” Rosy teased as she turned and offered Draw the second Ring she had. Draw swallowed loudly knowing what it entailed and Rosy giggled at him. “It’s either this or letting Sonic send you somewhere safe.”

    For a change, Mote presented itself before Rosy and shook itself to and fro in violent disagreement. “See~♥ Even Mote agrees with me. Though I think I should give you two some privacy~♥”

    “Don’t make it sound weird you weirdo girl! It’s already bad enough!”

    “It’s fine,” Rosy giggled as she let Draw take the Ring she offered him and turned back to Sonic. She could barely keep her giggling contained as she saw Sonic quickly change his own amused expression. “Having fun Sonic?”

    “It’s never boring at least when you’re around, kid,” Sonic admitted as he turned his back on Rosy. He could not ignore his curiosity though and looked back a moment as a golden light washed over the area as a new Ring Bond between Draw and Mote began. He could not focus on it though as Rosy embraced him from behind and pushed him to the edge of the piece of ruin they stood on.

    “You already know how those work. Though I have to tell you about a worse bad guy than these pirates who can also make them.”

    “What!”

    “See Sonic, we have to hurry,” Rosy refused to answer as she knew she was going to have to let go of Sonic. She could not miss the growing intensity of the red glow that was spilling out of Battle Kukku Island.

    ~It was hard to tell that it even still came from the island. Everything was engulfed by that eerie red light now. But Sonic’s eyes still shone like brilliant emeralds. Even with him not in his usual top form, those eyes, and that smile… Ooh~! Sonic is so cool and dashing! I just know he’ll be okay. But it still hurts letting him go. But Draw and I had to go to the heart of the pirate island if we were going to retrieve the Red Star Ring before those mean old pirates did something really bad. And maybe the ghosts agreed with me. And something more too.

    ~As Draw and I let Mote lead us into the heart of the island full of pipes and metal everywhere, the ghosts from the castle and the ruins filled it and the pirates were helpless against them. I feel kind of sorry for them. But doing bad things it was only natural that they would have bad things happen to them. But I can’t explain the plants that were starting to take over the island.

    ~I had seen Battle Kukku Island more times before than I cared to remember, even out of what I could, but I know there were never any plants growing there. It was all rock and metal. Those mean old pirates really didn’t care about making anything beautiful. They just stole the beauty from other people and hurt them too.

    ~Maybe Sonic was right, and I shouldn’t have been so forgiving of them. But they’re still people. If we stop treating them like people, can we still call ourselves people? Ooh~ I don’t know! And the mean old owl who leads them doesn’t make it any easier.~

    “Ah, the fool fox’s friend,” Doctor Fukurokov sneered as Rosy stepped out into a laboratory toward a glass sphere in the middle of a wild contraption she could make no sense of. Within the sphere though a Red Star Ring spun faster and faster, slowly becoming difficult to even make out as a Ring at all. “Come to steal my treasure, have you?”

    “Well, I won’t take it if you give it to me,” Rosy replied sweetly as she clasped her hands behind her back and began to sway her body back and forth. Just to make it clear that she was asking though, she added one more word for good measure. “Please~♥”

    “Don’t be absurd you flightless rodent,” Doctor Fukurokov scoffed at Rosy’s request. “I may be impressed that you made it this far at all, but your luck has run out. A pirate never gives up their treasure, and I rule over all of them! You need merely die so I can stuff and make a trophy out of you to torment that fool fox!”

    “That’s taking it a step too far isn’t it,” Draw asked as he stepped out from the shadows behind Rosy, his bow drawn back with a notched arrow ready to fly. “I never would have guessed there were people so nasty.”

    “Ha! I don’t know who you are boy, but be glad I need a survivor to spread word of the terror of my armada and the unlimited power I wield!”

    “You mean that Ring?” Draw asked nodding his head towards the Red Star Ring.

    Even behind his thick glasses, it was obvious that Doctor Fukurokov’s eyes widened. Pressing a finger to her muzzle, Rosy looked at Draw concerned.

    “Draw, what are you and Mote thinking?

    “This.”

    *Thwip!*

Scene 29 · CLEARED Mark of a Red Star, to be continued

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Not as action heavy as last time, but the end game with Doctor Fukurokov is at hand. I hope everyone is feeling the tension as things get ready to go sideways. Just one more scene and cour 1 will be finished. Please look forward to it and get ready for cour 2. it’s coming hot on the heals of cour 1.

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Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Second Advent – Tsutomu Narita, GRANBLUE FANTASY – Granblue Fantasy Original Soundtrack: Chaos

Fair Use Disclaimer

Sonic the Hedgehog and all affiliated characters and logos are the express property and Copyright© of SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS used without permission under Title 17 U.S.C Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 in which allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. “Fair use” is use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be considered copyright infringement. The Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and can and will be taken down without warning or prior notice at the request of the copyright holder(s) should it not be recognized under “fair use”.

*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.

[sonicringbond]

Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey - Scene 28

Here we go, my favorite scene out of the whole story so far. I had so much fun when I wrote this scene, and the emotions and action just came to me so naturally. Even the scenes that come after this one have yet to hit me so hard as this one did.

But let me not keep everyone away with my gushing though. instead, please enjoy...

    ~It was so noisy, which was not what I was expecting when I tried to take my cards out. As I touched them with my fingers it was like the voices of all the ghosts tore through me and I couldn’t make out anything. But there were flashes of images. They were so tinged with fear. So much fear. And it was all directed to that planet in the sky. What was it? Why was it so frightening? And how could they see it in this storm?

    ~And is it looking at me? Smiling?~

    “Come on! Snap out of it!”

    “Wha...?” Rosy barely mumbled her question as Draw shook her from her trance.

    “Come on, I hear voices, and they don’t sound like ghosts!”

    Rosy was barely able to connect reality with her hazy mind. The image of the small planet that hung in the sky watching her everyday was now watching her from within her field of vision as if she were having a half-asleep hallucination. Draw did not care however as she had at least responded and no longer resisted his attempts to lead her to a massive fissure in the tower floor.

    “–Talk big all you want flightless rodent! That Red Star Ring is mine and all the power it entails. Then I’ll make sure all the world knows the name of Doctor Fukurokov and his Battle Kukku Armada! Even that fool Eggman won’t be a match for me once I harness it’s power.”

    The voice of the mad owl that came up through the fissure was unfamiliar to Draw. The voice that responded to it was also one he had not heard before. However…

    “Oh yeah bird brain. I may not be looking my best, but that hasn’t stopped me before.”

    “SONIC!”

    Rosy snapped out of her daze in an instant. The voice of none other than Sonic the Hedgehog had that powerful of an effect on her and she missed the amusement that lingered uninvited within her being held by the vision of the small planet in the sky. That did not matter to her even if she did notice as she was more concerned about the fissure that Draw had led her too. The same koala who was holding his ear with both hands. “What was that for!”

    “I’m sorry Draw, but that’s Sonic! And it sounds like he’s in trouble! We have to go help him!”

    “We don’t even know where he is,” Draw tried to calm Rosy down, but she did not hear him as she pushed back the cuff of her glove and fiddled with the small device strapped to her wrist. As a holographic little screen was emitted from it, she whined out her frustrations.

    “Ooh~! Why didn’t I check like I always do! Sonic really is here, but…”

    Dashing to the edge of the tower in a blink, leaving Draw chasing after her, Rosy looked out at the raging ocean. “He’s out there…”

    “Out… there…,” Draw panted as he caught up and looked at the ocean. “Then those stories about underwater ruins…?”

    “We have to go find out now! Hold on!”

    “Gyah~!”

    Draw had noticed it before, but when Rosy was desperate or extremely emotional she seemed to handle her speed a lot more competently than when she was having fun. She demonstrated as such when she smashed into him with her back and snagged his arms pulling him into an awkward piggyback position. He wrapped his legs around her almost instinctually and was glad he did as she jumped down the fissure and charged through the castle.

    ‘I wonder, if she, does this on purpose,’ Draw pondered, faced with Rosy’s sudden competence.

    The koala failed to understand how much Sonic meant to Rosy though, and she herself could feel the warm glow of her Ring Bond with Sonic in her chest as she ran with everything she had. She was running so fast Draw could not hear Sonic or the voice that belonged to Doctor Fukurokov anymore. He could barely see where Rosy was running as she bounced off walls, columns, the ceiling, and any other structure that redirected her desperate run in pursuit of the warmth in her chest. Even the ghosts were no match for such, which made Mote keeping up all the more surprising.

    ‘Why didn’t you share that speed with me?’ Draw practically criticized the fairy with his thoughts. What he received in return was not the response he was expecting though as the fairy turned its eyes fearfully to the stormy sky. “What is that!”

    Creating a vortex within the clouds, a massive artificial island with an equally absurd impossibly large spinning propeller on its underside descended along with a fleet of airships. The Jolly Roger of the battle Kukku Armada flew high as countless rocket powered pods descended upon the ocean as it was pulled up into a swirling wall of destruction. Draw could not see the exposed ruins beyond the wall of sea water, but he knew Rosy was running towards it. And unlike the growing fear in his chest, or the fear shared by Mote and the spirits of the dead of the little planet in the sky, Rosy ran without fear.

    “No way!” Draw yelled trying to pull away from Rosy fruitlessly against her surprising strength. “You can’t run into that!”

    “That’s where Sonic is, and I’m not letting a wall of water stop me!” Rosy shouted back determinedly.

    “You’re crazy you WEIRDO GI~~~~~RL~~~~~!!!!!” Draw cried out in horror as Rosy truly ran right into the swirling wall of water as she ascended debris pulled from the ruins by the island above. ‘She’s going to drown me!’

    Draw’s fear was in vain as he suddenly found himself upside down as Rosy kicked off a ceiling she hit after emerging from the water.

    “Where are we now!”

    “Almost to Sonic! I’m sure of it!”

    ~I know Draw didn’t believe me. But he didn’t have too. I just had to reach Sonic. The ruins that floated within the swirling vortex of water wasn’t going to stop me. The ghosts and even the golems that occupied it weren’t either. I could swim fast enough even with Draw on my back. I could run fast enough even as the island above us made the water even fiercer. I could run to Sonic wherever he was. It didn’t matter. If I knew where Sonic was, I could always run to him.~

    “Wait for me Soni~~~~~c!”

    Draw was unprepared when Rosy suddenly tossed him across a pool of water full of rubble. As he landed on the steps on the other side, he drew an arrow from his quiver, shocked it was still there. Jamming it into the cracked brickwork to stop himself, he fought to hold steady against the pull of the island above’s impossibly huge propeller. As he did so he barely had time to see Rosy dive into the water, curling into a tight ball of destructive rotation as she hit the surface.

    “What are you doing now you crazy weirdo girl!”

    Beneath the water Rosy did not hear her companion who was less likely to survive the vortex than her. She believed in him though and knew that right now it was not him who needed her help. She knew exactly who needed her embrace right now as she hit the rubble and decimated it making her way fully to the bottom of the pool. There she found him and smiled so bright even as the sight of her stole what breath he had left away. That did not matter though.

    As she bounced off the ground, she revved her best underwater Spin Dash and smashed into the rubble that had pinned him and ricocheted back and off the wall behind her. She knew he was obviously feeling weak from lack of air as he otherwise would not have let her grab him.

    And she embraced him, shoving her head into his chest and him clear out of the water as she swam with everything she had. Every ounce of speed she could pour into her legs granted to her by the blue hedgehog whose life was in her hands for once.

    “Gya–!” Draw shouted as Rosy miscalculated her ascent and crashed straight through the stairs he was situated on. He did not have to risk being pulled away by the vortex though as he was promptly pinned by two hedgehogs. “Oof!”

    “Sonic!” Rosy cried out as she forced herself up by fully extending her arms. Looking down at none other than the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog, her heart skipped a beat as he was bent over backwards on Draw and she could not see his face. Or the awkward smile he offered Draw before holding up a hand and giving Rosy a thumbs up. “Ah… ah… ah… SONI~~~~~~C!!!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! WAHHHH~~~~~!!!!!”

    “Looks like you’ve been making friends though kid,” Sonic comforted Rosy as he sat up despite the force the hedgehog girl buried her face and tears in his chest with. Placing a hand atop her head, Sonic ruffled her quills soothingly and Rosy lost every ounce of strength she had left as she cried with overwhelming joy into Sonic’s chest.

Scene 28 · CLEARED A Tide of Ghosts, End

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And there we have it! Rosy has finally caught up with one of her friends, and of course it’s Sonic 😁 And I really did have so much fun writing this scene. It just felt so right and came so naturally. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it and are hyped for what comes next. I really hope you enjoy!

Thank you!

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Special Thanks to Cutegirlmayra Story by @JoshTarwater/SonicFanJ Inspiring Song – Second Advent – Tsutomu Narita, GRANBLUE FANTASY – Granblue Fantasy Original Soundtrack: Chaos

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*Sonic Ring Bond logo created by DEE Art – twitter.com/daryliscute.

Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond: The Journey are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein considered for all legal purposes the property of the Sonic the Hedgehog intellectual property (IP) and copyright owners, SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS. All story contributors via prompt, suggestion, written scene, art, and all and every other contribution acknowledge that all contributed material is forfeit for legal purposes to SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS upon official request from SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS.