Back to Chapter 36

“We are the Sonic the Hedgehog band and we’re gonna blow your minds!”

Sonic gave a strum on his guitar and let out a kerrang of noise.

“That’s nice, Sonic, would you and your friends like something to drink?” Bernadette smiled sweetly as she peered into the garage.

“Mom, please,” Sonic folded his arms in a huff, “We’re practicing for the concert and it’s tomorrow afternoon. Of course we’d like something to drink”

The two hedgehogs shared a smile as Bernadette headed into the kitchen.

It had been over four months since Sonic and his friends fended off Robotnik’s attack on South Island. For the last several weeks of peace, Sonic had been upping his musical practice. This, it turned out, had caught the eye of a group of musicians who just so happened to be looking for a vocalist and frontman. Bassist Max the Monkey, drummer extraordinaire Mach the Rabbit, keyboardist and part-time rapper Vector the Crocodile and guitarist Sharps the Parakeet had all banded together been drawn to Sonic and his playing, not to mention his singing. For the more complicated songs, Sonic would jam on the guitar with Sharps as, in fairness, his fingers could move so fast it was like having four guitarists. But for the real heavy stuff, Sonic knew Sharps was more experienced and had him beat on the axe so he didn’t mind putting his guitar down and focusing on the singing.

Sonic had to admit, he thought there was more to Vector than the crocodile was letting on. He seemed very intelligent in technical matters, and not just sound checks. But, for now, he was a keyboard player and a good one at that so Sonic didn’t pry.

The band’s first concert was to be held the next day in the Green Hill Zone in honour of South Island’s freedom. Sonic was hoping they’d be able to put some smiles on the faces of the inhabitants of the Zone now that the rebuilding effort was almost complete. He was looking forward to seeing some of his friends who he had to admit he’d not seen much of in recent weeks as he’d been buried in his practice. He was particularly looking forward to checking in on Bunnie and seeing her progress as well as making sure Uncle Chuck was holding up okay. Sonic also had to admit he was missing Sally. She was probably the coolest of all his friends, Sonic reasoned.

“Wakey wakey, Sonic!” Mach called, snapping Sonic out of his Sally-theme daydream.

“Sorry, spaced out for a second!” Sonic smiled.

“We noticed!” Max laughed, “You okay?”

“Never better! How about you guys?”

“Yeah,” Sharps responded, not looking over his sunglasses.

“All ready for the big day tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Sharps responded, not looking over his sunglasses.

“Ready to give it out all and show everyone our band kicks some serious musical butt?”

“Yeah,” Sharps responded, not looking over his sunglasses.

Sonic paused, “You’re a parakeet of few words, aren’t you, Sharps?”

“Yeah,” Sharps responded, not looking over his sunglasses.

“And just to think, Sonic,” Vector put his arm around Sonic, “tomorrow, everyone will be cheering for your band!”

“Right. Still not comfortable with the name, honestly,” Sonic shrugged.

“Come on, Sonic,” Mach replied, “you’re the world’s most famous hedgehog. If anything, you’re doing us a favour by putting some eyes on us- you can’t buy advertising like that!”

“Yeah,” Sharps responded, not looking over his sunglasses.

“Well, when you put it like that…” Sonic grinned.

“Tomorrow’s going to be the coolest day ever, Sonic, I can just feel it in my bones!” Max was practically bounding up and down with energy.

“You know something, pal? I think you might be right. Once more through the set list!”

“Boys- drinks!” Bernadette re-entered with a tray loaded with various flavours of freshly squeezed fruit juice.

“Once more through the set list… after drinks,” Sonic put down his guitar.

***

The next day, the Sonic the Hedgehog Band stood in waiting behind a big blue curtain on the huge stage set up in the Green Hill Zone. Sonic felt a nervousness in his chest, which most people would probably think was a bit odd considering it wasn’t all that long ago he’d been out and about saving the planet- this seemed like small potatoes by comparison. Not so for Sonic, mind you- this time he was in the spotlight by choice and the nerves were real.

“Ready, Sonic?” Max asked.

“Ready. Are you guys ready?”

“Yeah,” came the predictable reply from Sharps.

“Alright. Let’s see if they’re ready too!”

With a press of a button from a remote on Vector’s keyboard, the curtains opened and a horde of screaming fans roared their approval, chanting Sonic’s name. Sonic eyed a group of extremely beautiful human girls in their early 20s near the front of the stage. They were dressed like your everyday skimpily-clad rock band group, except some of them had makeshift army-themed outfits, with one girl wearing a helmet. Sonic eyed the sign one of them was holding, identifying them as the “Sonic Bodyguard Platoon”, with a smaller caption revealing they’d go to war to protect Sonic. Cute. Sonic thought it was pretty cool to be so beloved, but there were some other faces he was looking for in the crowd as he and his band waved to everyone.

And there they were: Johnny, Porker, Flicky, Chirps, Joe, Tux, Antoine, Bunnie- with Bernadette and Uncle Chuck looking on with pride. And there, with them all, N.I.C.O.L.E. strapped to her leg as ever, was Sally. As everyone else waved or bounced up and down with joy, Sally simply shot Sonic a smile. Sonic returned it.

Sonic walked up to the microphone, “Ahem, good afternoon everyone! We are… the Sonic the Hedgehog Band!”

The crowd erupted once more with joyous approval.

“I’m not gonna hold things up for too much longer, I know some of you have been waiting for this moment for a while now”

Sonic thought he overheard one of the Bodyguard Platoon shout “Marry me, Sonic” but he couldn’t be certain.

“You know, the guys are here to have fun playing for you all and we’re not gonna spend too much time with the speeches and all that. But I did want to pass on a bit of advice to you guys. The events of a few months ago showed us all just how special life is. Things can be turned on their head in an instant. So… you’ve got to make the most of it. Don’t just sit there and waste your precious time. When you wan to do something, do it right away. Do it when you can. It’s the only way to live a life without regrets”

A low, extremely loud rumbling filled the air.

Sonic turned to Vector, “I thought you did a sound check?”

Vector shrugged, “It’s not coming from the stage, Sonic”

A familiar booming voice rang out, “Fine words, Sonic. Fine words indeed. And here’s what I want to do- right away!”

With an enormous shattering crack the stage burst into splinters as a gigantic bulldozer smashed through the back of it. Hovering not too far away in his Egg-O-Matic was Doctor Robotnik.

“Now, me personally,” Robotnik mused, “I’m not one for music. Perhaps one day someone will write a song about me and then I might be interested. But for now, it’s really all about science for me!”

“What are you doing, Robotnik?!” Sonic demanded, angrily.

“I would have thought by now that would be obvious: what I do best! You know what they say, if at first you don’t succeed…” Robotnik pressed a button on his control panel, “Try, try again!”

Hordes of Badniks appeared as if from nowhere and panic reigned. With another press of a button, the bulldozer started scooping up as many people attending the concert as it could. Sonic spun round to see his bandmates had disappeared. Looking skyward, he saw them in the clutches of a regiment of Buzz Bombers with manacles attached to their undersides, shouting for dear life.

“Oh no you don’t!” a woman’s voice rang out. Sonic turned to see one of the members of the Bodyguard Platoon brandishing a bazooka! Quite how she’d managed to get that past event security was a mystery. The woman fired her weapon of choice at the bulldozer, blasting a hole in it spectacularly as the captives scooped up by it fled.

Robotnik snarled, “Fine! Maybe this isn’t the way I planned it, but I got your bandmates, Sonic- come and get me if you can!”

Cranking up the turbo boost in the Egg-O-Matic, Robotnik whooshed away out of sight.

“Sonic, it’s terrible!” one of the Bodyguard Platoon cried, “Doctor Robotnik has our leader!”

“Your leader? You have a leader? Never mind, not the time, I guess”

“Yes- Madonna, Madonna Garnet- she’s got blonde hair and she’s wearing a red dress. Sonic, you have to save her, she’s your biggest fan!”

“Who am I to say no to a fan?” Sonic found himself saying, caught up in the moment, “Listen, you and your platoon need to link up with Princess Sally- the red squirrel over there! She’ll need all the help she can get to defend this Zone!”

“What are you gonna do?”

“Looks like I’m off for round two with Robotnik. Here we go again!”

Sonic whizzed up his legs into a blur and then sped out of sight in the direction of Robotnik, not knowing what awaited him this time.

On to Chapter 38