Back to Chapter 51

Uncle Chuck, the kindly, middle-aged hedgehog, and Ben “Mutt” Muttski, his enthusiastic canine lab assistant, were hard at work in a recently constructed extension to Chuck’s lab. Chuck wasn’t specifically anyone’s Uncle- though since Sonic had been adopted by his brother Jules and sister-in-law Bernadette, he was technically Sonic’s- but everyone saw him a kindly uncle figure. That, over the years, had led to the Uncle Chuck nickname sticking.

“I can’t wait for this to be finished!” Ben grinned.

Chuck smiled back, “Why, are you that sick of working on it?”

“No! I just love that moment when you step back and everything’s done. Having something to show for your hard work, that’s an amazing feeling”

“Well, you’re right there,” Chuck nodded, “And we’ve worked particularly hard on this baby”

“Pretty big for a baby,” Ben noted.

“She’ll make a lot of noise like one though”

The two of them shared a laugh. Their attention was caught by the arrival of Sonic and his group of friends.

Sonic waved, “Hey, Uncle Chuck! Ben! How’s it going?”

“Sonic, my boy!” Chuck motioned for the youngsters to come over, “Good to see you. Here to admire our latest handiwork?”

“What is this place?” Sonic asked, “This room wasn’t here before”

“Well, it stands to reason that if you have an aircraft, you need an aircraft hangar!” Chuck said with pride, “Though I’ll admit, it’s only got room for this one craft”

Sonic looked at the craft in question. It was clearly an aeroplane, even Sonic could see that, but specifically it was an old-style bi-plane. You didn’t tend to see those so much anymore. There were two seats in the craft’s body- one for the pilot and one for a passenger.

“It’s not finished yet,” Chuck noted, “but, ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: the Tornado bi-plane!”

Porker took note of the plane’s engine system, “Looks like no engine I’ve ever seen”

“That’s because it’s not!” Chuck explained happily, “It uses my newest renewable fuel system. Rather than relying on fossil fuels, it collects particles from the air and converts them into fuel”

Rotor was gobsmacked, “You mean to tell me… you invented a plane that can fly forever without stopping?”

“Well, not forever,” Chuck admitted, “You’d need to get out for food eventually”

“He’s being humble again,” Ben nudged Sonic.

“Yeah, he does that,” Sonic smiled down at the pup.

“Oh?” Chuck noted the new face in the room, “Who’s this?”

“Hi, sir,” Tails stepped forwards, “My name’s Tails”

“I can’t imagine how you got that name,” Chuck smiled warmly.

“Uncle Chuck,” Sally began, “Tails is new here, so we thought we’d introduce him to the Green Hill Zone’s friendly uncle”

Chuck laughed, “Wonderful! Well, chances are if you spend time with this lot you’ll be seeing a lot of me anyway, so it makes sense that they want to introduce you!”

“Do you make a lot of things for them?” Tails enquired.

Ben interjected, “What Uncle Chuck can’t make isn’t worth knowing!”

Chuck waved a hand and shook his head, “Oh, come now, Ben, you know better than that. I’m a scientist. Goodness only knows part of being a scientist is exactly those things I can’t make- learning from failure is a crucial part in gaining the knowledge to improve and make things that really help. Then, one day, with any luck, we’ll be able to live in the world I’ve always wanted to create”

“Nature and technology in perfect harmony,” Sonic smiled, “Sounds good to me, Unc’”

“How about you, Tails?” Chuck asked, “Any interest in the scientific?”

“Actually, sir, where I come from…” Tails paused to formulate the words, “Well, we’re not so big on science, I’ll put it that way. I know a little bit from books, but not a lot. It’s not something we made a lot of use of back in my home”

“Still in the dark ages, eh?” Chuck chuckled.

“Uh, something like that, yeah…”

“Well! Ben and I could always use an extra pair of hands- and since Sonic here seems to spend more time fighting evil than assisting around the lab these days…”

“Hey, it’s not my fault!” Sonic protested.

“What do you say, Tails?”

Tails’ eyes widened with interest, “I’d be happy to learn from you, sure! Although, I don’t really have a place to stay…”

Chuck looked over at Sonic, “Well, we’ve been there before, haven’t we?”

Sonic smiled. It didn’t seem all that long ago since Chuck had found the orphaned hedgehog a place to stay and a new family.

Chuck continued, “When I added the hangar to the lab, I also added a sleeping quarters for those late nights. It’s not much but you’re more than welcome to stay here!”

Tails could hardly contain his excitement, “Do you mean it?!”

“Any friend of Sonic’s is a friend of mine,” Chuck crossed his arms.

“Yahoo!”

“Come on, Tails,” Ben walked over to an opened panel on the bi-plane, “I’ll show you some of the inner workings, no time like the present to learn how this all works!”

Tails followed Ben, subconsciously taking flight as he did so.

“That might take some adjusting to,” Chuck blinked with amused surprise, “Anyway, while I have you all here- Porker, any update on the Chaos Emeralds?”

“Well, uh…” Porker responded, a little sheepish for a pig, “They sort of, uh… disappeared”

“Disappeared?” Chuck blinked.

“They gave off tremendous energy- a big burst, in fact- then teleported away. I guess they could be anywhere”

“A burst of chaos energy? That sounds dangerous”

Porker and Johnny looked over at Sonic. Sonic glanced back at them, “What? I’m fine”

“Sonic…” Uncle Chuck looked the young hedgehog in the eyes, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Sonic took the full force of the blast,” Johnny noted, “He kind of… zoomed off”

“I’m fine!” Sonic insisted.

“Sonic, chaos energy is barely understood by even this world’s brightest minds,” Chuck responded, “There could be no telling what effect taking a burst from six Chaos Emeralds might have on you”

“Well, here I am. And I am fine,” Sonic was getting a little agitated, “Anyway, we should be thankful I did ‘zoom off’ because I managed to save Tails from drowning in the Swampland Zone and I couldn’t have done that if I was still in Kintobor’s lab, could I?”

“That…” Chuck struggled to find the words, “That’s obviously good, Sonic, but I do wish you’d have a little more concern for yourself”

“Look,” Sonic was getting miffed now, “Everyone, I get it. Something weird happened. But I am absolutely, completely, totally and utterly fine. This is me we’re talking about. This barely registers in the top three weirdest things to happen to me. You didn’t all lose your mind when I turned blue, so why are you all going mad over me turning yellow?”

“Well…” Chuck sighed, “I have to admit you have a point there. Porker, it would put my mind at ease if you could pass on any data you may have to hand about this incident”

“I’ll send it right away!” another voice spoke up. Sonic looked down at his watch, obscured by his glove. The face of the Kintobor Computer looked back up at him, “Sorry, just making myself useful”

“When do y’all think the Tornado might be complete?” Bunnie changed the subject.

Chuck looked over at the plane, “At present rate? Around two weeks should do the job. Of course, we’ll have to give it a nice paint job”

“I hear red makes things go faster,” Joe commented.

“Does the job for my sneakers,” Sonic grinned.

“Red it is then! When it’s done, I’ll be happy to give you all a ride in it!”

Sonic wondered how it’d feel to have the wind rush through his quills as he flew through the air. Little did he know he’d soon find out better than any other passenger the Tornado would carry.

On to Chapter 53