Sonic The Hedgehog - Grub Shimmering white snow, grey rock and dotting evergreen trees made up the landscape of the Ice Mountain Zone. So named due to the large mountain that consumed the entire region of the zone's boarders. An area far in the north that was exposed year round to temperatures that ranged from light snowfall to chilling winter winds. Thankfully during the late Spring the temperatures were a little easier to stand, leaving the lake that surrounded and sometimes went through the caverns of the mountain unfrozen and still. This weather would at least make the job of the zone's current visitor easier to handle. A blue streak sped by, cutting though the white snow and clearing a path as it shot into the air from rapid foot steps. The blue would have stood out if the speed of the creature running through hadn't been too fast for the naked eye. But Sonic the Hedgehog, blue hero of the planet, could really move. Some even said he had an attitude. Others claimed he was the fastest thing alive. While all of that might have made for a catchy theme song to describe himself, Sonic didn't have time to dwell on the exact reasons he was so awesome today. Instead he was focused on searching the zone for a very particular item that he was all too familiar with. Stopping atop a cliff of the mountain, Sonic looked down at the device attached to his wrist and pushed a button located on the side. A video screen popped up shortly after to reveal the face of an orange fox boy. "I made it Tails, with time to spare." Sonic reported happily. "Good, if our information is correct there should be a Chaos Emerald located somewhere on that mountain. Are you going to be okay looking for it on your own?" Sonic smirked at the question. His little buddy Tails was quite the intelligent kid but Sonic always thought he worried too much when it came to him going it alone. They were stronger as a team but Sonic wasn't afraid to solo an adventure time and again. "Don't worry about me, the rest of you just keep following leads to the other Emeralds. Whatever Egghead has planned for them can't be good." It was the old arms race again against Dr. Robotnik. Otherwise known by his alias Doctor Eggman. The mad scientist was always trying to get a hold of the emeralds for some nefarious scheme and Sonic always had to step in to stop him and grab the emeralds first. By themselves they could be dangerous but all seven together could be catastrophic. If only keeping a hold of them after they were all assembled was easier, then Sonic wouldn't have to keep playing the same song and dance. "Roger on that, good luck Sonic! Give me a call after you're done and I'll come pick you up." "Cool, later buddy." The wrist watch went black again on its screen and produced an image of a clock to keep the time. It wasn't really necessary but showed how Tails liked to cover all the little details with his inventions. Would have been better if the device had come with a Chaos Emerald tracker but unfortunately something like that couldn't be made light weight enough for Sonic to run with comfortably. Not that it mattered, he'd found the emeralds plenty of times without any tech help before. This would just be another one to add to the list. Heading down the curves of the mountain and traveling deeper into the snowy region Sonic sighed a bit and hoped this would be over quick. Sure it would be nice to resolve the issue before his old nemesis came into the picture but really he wanted to grab the emerald and run before he had to travel too deep. Many of the caves on the mountain were under water and while Sonic was a master and traveling over land he wasn't as well equipped for being submerged. In fact he downright hated it. But you have to do what you have to do sometimes. After almost an hour of covering the surface of the mountain Sonic was getting annoyed. The snow could have been playing a part in keeping the emerald out of sight but the snow fall wasn't deep enough to hide the glow the gem gave off, even if it had been buried. Sonic would leap through trees, roll down steep hillsides and plowed through the thick snow but all to no avail. It was fun running through the mountain but each failed attempt to find his target brought him closer and closer towards the inner cuts and caverns below. Closer to the areas where the lake had seeped in and filled the rock with frigid liquid. Before long Sonic found himself standing outside a cave and looking in with a dower expression. This part wouldn't be as fun. "That looks deep." Sonic commented aloud to himself as he stood at the lip of the cavern, staring at the still water. "Real deep... darn it, I'll have to look for air pockets. Maybe I should have called tails instead of going it on my own. He doesn't mind getting wet." Neither did his rough Echidna friend Knuckles actually. Or even Amy, his female hedgehog friend who had the foresight to learn how to swim. In fact now that he thought about it it was just him that had avoided the water like the plague. "Then again... I don't wanna admit I had to ask for help." Sonic tapped his foot on the ground impatiently as he awaited an answer to magically appear that kept him from going for a dip. Funny enough one presented itself shortly after. "Do you mind doing that anywhere else?" A voice spoke out and Sonic jumped up in the air when it surprised him, looking around frantically to figure out who had spoken but not seeing anyone around. "Uh... sorry? Is someone there?" "Yeah, just a sec." The voice spoke out again and suddenly a patch of snow began to move. Sonic watched as someone emerged from the deep pocket of snow, shaking it off of their body and holding a root or plant of some kind in his hand. He turned to Sonic and shortly after bit into the root, chewing and swallowing it up quickly. "Had to dig that out first." "Oh... okay." Sonic said still absorbing the sudden appearance of this new individual. He was about Sonic's height but had a more stocky look about him compared to Sonic's very lean runner's body. The new comer's fur was a mix of light and dark browns with the dark patches making up his muzzle and the thick stripes going down his limbs and back as well as a patch on the end of his stubby tail. His chest and hair was a lighter cream color, with his hair pulled back in a short pony tail to keep it out of his eyes. He looked gruff and even kinda dirty, like he'd been digging around on the mountain for a while, his green boots and white gloves covered in a black soil that must have come from under the snow. "You get stuck up here or something?" "Nope." The stranger said as he pulled himself completely out of the snow and wiped the dirt off his hands. "Was just looking for something to eat. Name's Grub." "Grub?" "Grub The Wolverine, if ya need the full title." It wasn't the most flattering name, but considering Sonic met him while digging things out of the dirt and eating them immediately after it seemed to fit. "Who'er you?" "Oh, sorry about that. Name's Sonic the Hedgehog, you might of heard of me." Sonic said with a smirk. He was lectured sometimes by his friends for letting his reputation go to his head but the way Sonic saw it his ego was well earned. You should be allowed to gloat a little bit when you've saved the world as many times as he had. "Doesn't ring a bell." The wolverine said and took some of the wind out of Sonic's sails. "What ya doing up here? Looking for food too?" "Not exactly, I'm actually looking for something called a Chaos Emerald. A gemstone of great power that's part of set of seven, harnessing the powers of chaos itself." Grub just sort of stared at him with confusion and disinterest, Sonic realizing it might not be a stretch if he's never heard of them if he'd never heard of Sonic himself. "It's a glow-y rock." "Oh that, I've seen that." "You have!?" "Yeah, it was green and glowing, about this big?" Grub made a shape with his hands that was just about Chaos Emerald size and Sonic confirmed it for him. "I found it when I was looking for fish about two caves further down the mountain." "You found it, you have it!?" Sonic said sounding thrilled, this stranger he met about to become his new best friend if he was able to get him that emerald without having to jump into the water. "Oh no, I tossed back into the cave once I figured out you couldn't eat it." Sonic's smile slowly dropped down into a face of sad realization at the wolverine's words. "You... threw a Chaos Emerald away... because you couldn't eat it." Grub nodded to him. "I... I'm kinda speechless. I mean I'm glad you didn't but... if you wanted food that badly why didn't you just sell it?" "Seemed like a lot of trouble when I could just catch some fish, y'know? Besides towns really aren't for me if I can help it." Grub was hitting him with surprising shots over and over again but Sonic tried to just keep himself together and be glad he had a lead now. This guy didn't seem bad or slow, just kind of simple and down to earth. "I guess if you want I can show you where it is." "Yeah I'd appreciate it if you could." "Alright, follow me." The wolverine instructed as he lead Sonic down the hill. Grub wasn't as acrobatic or fast as Sonic but the rough terrain didn't seem to slow him down any. He made difficult downward jumps with ease and was able to climb down the jagged surface with little trouble or discomfort. Anything that got in his way like snow or rock he pushed through without complaint. Sonic himself had little trouble traveling and held back to allow Grub to keep leading the way, hopping acrobatically between ledges, trees and rolling down snowbanks. "You're light on your feet." "And you're heavy on yours." Sonic replied with a smile. "You kind of remind me of one of my friends. He's a tough customer too." "Gotta have a thick hide if you want to make it in the world." Grub said as if it were some sort of motto for himself. "Tougher you are, easier it is to get to the good food hiding out there." "You sure have a one track mind when it comes to chow. Ever had a chilli dog?" "Don't meet many dogs up here, though I bet most of them would be chilly with the snow." Clearly the question had gone right over the wolverine's head but something else stopped Sonic in his tracks. "What?" "Bro, you've never eaten a chilli dog before?" Grub shook his head and Sonic walked over and put an arm around him. "Well then after we're done with this I'll take you back to town and treat you to the best food anyone's ever had." "I'm gonna hold you to that." Up until this point Grub had seemed a pretty somber guy but when Sonic offered to take him out to eat it was the first time the hedgehog had seen him smile. "No backing out now either, we're here." Two more easy hops down and they were at the entrance to a large cave that sat in a slightly narrow crevice in the mountain. Even with how big the opening was for the ceiling went even higher inside, the dark interior making it difficult to see just how far up it went. Sonic's focus however was on the water in front of him which was also black, hiding the bottom. "So... it's down there huh?" Sonic asked sounding less enthusiastic now. Like a kid being forced to do a chore he didn't want to take part in. "Guess there's no other option, huh?" "You don't like swimming?" Grub asked. "Not if I can help it. Running and jumping and even flying through the air is all good but... water, man. You can barely get any traction down there." "Alright." Grub said as he left the rock they were standing on and leaped directly into the frigid water. Sonic was surprised and nearly jumped in after him when he realized that Grub was the one that found the Chaos Emerald in the water first. In fact he'd said he'd been fishing but didn't have a fishing pole that Sonic could see. With how much of an outdoors man the wolverine came off as he probably wasn't new to swimming through difficult waters. So it looked like Sonic was left to wait. Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot, watching the surface of the undisturbed pool and wishing he could do more. It was bad enough someone was doing his job for him but now he wasn't even able to help out in the process. But even if he did jump in it wouldn't be any faster, Grub was the only one that knew exactly where it had been. Pacing, leaning and playing with rocks helped the hedgehog pass the time as an excruciatingly long four minutes went by before anything happened. Finally the water's surface broke and Grub came up gasping for air. "Did you find it?" Sonic shouted out to him and Grub held up his arm in the water to show the glowing green rock he'd retrieved. "Awesome! You did great, man." Grub opened his mouth to respond but his words were cut short as he realized his hand no longer possessed the emerald. Instead watching it rise up towards the ceiling of the cave while in the grip of a mechanical claw. A voice spoke from above them to where the claw had disappeared in the darkness. "How kind of you to go to so much effort to retrieve my Chaos Emerald. You both have my thanks." Even before he lowered down to appear in the dim light of the cave, Sonic knew who that voice belonged to. "That was some pretty petty thievery, even for you, Eggman." A metal, round shape floated downward to reveal the man sitting inside the strange vehicle. Small maneuverable jets supported the weight of the machine as it moved around effortlessly, the mad doctor holding the glowing Emerald in his hand. From the perspective of sticking out of the machine even Grub could tell why Sonic called the doctor Eggman; he was very much shaped like an egg. Despite such a comical shape the man had a sinister look about him, dark glasses covering his eyes and an exaggerated mustache under his nose. He had on a very militaristic red coat and metal, welder's style goggles on his bald head. "Thievery? Why I'm just taking back what's mine, you blue rodent." The last few words were said with a full history of aggression behind them, Doctor Eggman making a fist in Sonic's direction. "I'm not feeling very tolerant of your insults today however, so in appreciation for doing all the hard work I'll let you leave here alive." With that Eggman's personal hovercraft flew out of the cave with Sonic in hot pursuit. Grub meanwhile was left to swim back to the edge of the pool in hopes of catching up to them both. "Hey Robotnik, wanna know how to scramble an egg?" Sonic called out to the scientist as he ran behind him. "Save your little jokes for-" Robotnik however didn't get the opportunity to finish, when he looked over his shoulder to check on his adversary's progress he found Sonic was no longer behind him. Instead the blue hedgehog had managed to appear directly in front of Robotnik's personal craft and knock it downward towards the mountain again. Having used the inclosed parts of the mountains jagged and uneven surface, Sonic was able to run up the rocks and prevent Eggman from having an easy escape. His ship spun around a few times before coming to a stop and maintaining a hovering position. "Give it up, Egghead. You can't get away from me here, there's no where to go. Drop the Emerald and I'll be nice this one time." Sonic said with a smirk, turning Robotnik's earlier offer of mercy back on him. The doctor wasn't defeated however. "Try to remember you asked for this, Sonic." The bottom of the hover craft opened and instead of the crane and hook he'd had before a missile appeared hooked to a launcher. "Good luck dodging this one, there's no where to go." With a wicked grin Robotnik slammed his fist on the launch button, causing the rocket to ignite and fly forward. Even if Robotnik was right Sonic wasn't worried, tracking something like a rocket was a walk in the park for him with his speed. Unfortunately for anyone that didn't know about Sonic's speed it looked like he was in a great deal of trouble. "Sonic, look out!" Grub shouted running forward from the cave a lot quicker than Sonic thought he'd be able to. Leaping forward the wolverine shoved Sonic out of the rocket's path. "Grub, don't!" It was too late though, the rocket made its direct line of assault and hit the wolverine in the stomach. However he managed to keep it from exploding, catching it in his hands as it slid him backwards on the ground. Even with having taken the impact of the weapon it wasn't enough and the force of the rocket's jet propulsion shoved him high into the air and kept going up. Sonic and Robotnik both watched on in surprise as he traveled out of sight and shortly after there followed the sound of an explosion. "No..." "Well that was unexpected." Robotnik said genuinely taken off guard by what just happened. "But what's the phrase? Ah yes, if you want an omelet you'll have to break a few eggs." "He didn't have anything to do with this, Eggman!" Sonic shouted angrily but the doctor wasn't bothered in the least by his opponent's outrage. "Then you shouldn't have drug him into this, Sonic. Don't worry though, if you're so worried about him then I'll have you join him shortly." Using the controls on his hover craft, the bottom of the vehicle produced a launcher with three more missiles. Pressing the launch button all three missiles fired in sequence at Sonic, the hedgehog standing still and seemingly ready for the attack to land on its mark. However when the missiles flew his direction Sonic leaped upwards and hopped on each one, using it as a stepping stone towards Eggman. Before the doctor could react Sonic leaped forward and curled into a spiky blue ball, slamming his mass against the hover craft with enough force to knock it to the ground. The missiles flew off harmlessly into the distance and exploded away from the mountain. When Eggman looked up from his sprawled position on the floor of his hover craft, Sonic was standing over him on the hull of his vehicle. "You're not escaping this time Eggman, I've let you get away with hurting people too many times now." "Don't be so melodramatic, Sonic. It doesn't suit you." Eggman said with a cocky tone in his voice despite being at the disadvantage. However he managed to kick a button on his control panel and activate a trap on the device, causing an electrical current to run through his hover craft's exterior and shock Sonic enough to force him off the vehicle. Once he was no longer pinned down Eggman leaped to the controls and took to the air again, Sonic sitting up from where he'd been toppled and rubbing his head. "Don't be so down Sonic, sure you lost the emerald and let some innocent bystander be killed. But on the bright side things are finally looking up for me! Now I'll be off to... what is that noise?" Both Sonic and Eggman looked up to hear the sound of someone yelling as they approached. It didn't take long for the person to become apparent as Grub seemingly fell from the sky and landed right on top of the front of Robotnik's craft. The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Now I'm going to have to scrape this off before I go. He could have at least died with dignity." Eggman put his hand out to shove Grub's carcass off his vehicle when suddenly the wolverine reached out and grabbed the doctor by the wrist. Looking up, Grub growled deeply as he made eye contact with the man that had tried to blow him up seconds ago. "What the, unhand me you flea bag." Eggman tried to pull his wrist away but Grub didn't let go, using his other hand to pull himself closer to the doctor. "I said let go!" Slamming his fist down on the control panel, Eggman activated the electrical trap he'd used earlier to repel Sonic. However he failed to take into account that he was still being held onto by his aggressor, causing an electric current to zap both of them. Sonic watched the light show above him take place, more surprised than anyone. "He actually survived a missile explosion?" Sonic wondered aloud about the wolverine as he covered his eyes. Once the light show faded Grub's hand was no longer on Eggman but the doctor was leaning back on his vehicle, his body jittery and his mustache flailed outward more than usual from the sudden jolts. Grub was frozen in place from the heavy shocks, but still on the hover craft. "W-w-w-worthless m-m-m-mongrel!" Eggman said through chattering teeth as he attempted to use his foot and kick Grub off the hover craft once and for all. However before he could Grub lifted his arm and took a swipe at the doctor with a loud roar, just barely missing his body. "Y-y-you're still alive!?" "No more shocks!" Grubs shouted and pulled himself up on the ridge of the hover craft, punching downward with his other hand to put a hole through the control panel. Between Sonic and the now rabid wolverine in front of him Eggman seemed to know when he was beat. "Not that this wasn't fun shocking and blowing you all up, but..." Eggman pulled out a remote from his pocket and hit a button, the back of the hover craft he was standing on separating from the main front portion unexpectedly. Suddenly Eggman's side of the vehicle produced an extra thin sheet of metal, enclosing him in a small egg shaped rocket that took off directly upward into the sky and leaving the two furry individuals behind. As Grub looked upward and watched Eggman make his exit he suddenly realized that his half of the hover craft was still floating and it had started to beep. "Grub, jump off before-" Too late however, the vehicle self destructing in the air and flinging the wolverine down to the ground. Fortunately he managed to hit an area that was covered in thick snow, but it couldn't have felt nice with the solid rock beneath it. Sonic raced over to Grub's side to check on him. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Speak to me man, let me know you're gonna pull through." Sonic reached out to help clear away the snow that had covered him from the impact, but was surprised when Grub suddenly sat up on his own, coughing roughly. "Easy there buddy, that was one heck of a beating you took." "Yeah. Ow." Grub said simply and sonic chuckled a little. "Who was that guy?" "That would be Doctor Eggman, basically the worst piece of work on the planet. He's the guy I'm trying to keep that Chaos Emerald away from, but..." Sonic sighed looking upward. "Guess I screwed up that mission pretty hard today." "Oh, right. The glow-y rock." Grub said and felt around on his left side until he found what he'd been after, pulling out the Chaos Emerald from the snow. He handed it to Sonic who looked it over in amazement. "I stole it when I took that punch at him on his floating metal thing. Guess I was lucky he wanted to get away more than keep this." "Grub, you're an alright guy." Sonic said with a laugh and helped the wolverine get to his feet, looking over the Chaos Emerald with pride over a job well done. Sure Sonic did most of the fighting but his new friend's quick thinking managed to save the day in the end. "That reminds me, how did you survive being blown up by a missile?" "You mean that thing that hit me? I didn't." Grub answered simply. "I fell off it when it was going up and hit a tree on my way down. After that the branch broke and I rolled down the hill for a little while till I landed on that floating metal thing." "And then you managed to steal the Emerald from Eggman after falling down a mountain and being electrical shocked? Gotta say, I'm impressed. You're a lot tougher than you look." "Comes with the territory." Grub answered simply and Sonic nodded. It wasn't the kind of response full of bravado Sonic would have given, but that didn't seem to be Grub's style. He could respect that. "But hey, I saved your glow-y rock. Does that mean I get that food you promised?" "You mean the chilli dogs? Sure thing, I could use some myself after a day like this. Why don't we head into town and I'll treat you to the best dinner you ever had." "Well... okay. Don't really like towns that much but I guess this will be worth it." Grub agreed and Sonic nodded, the duo traveling down the mountain together to go secure a delicious lunch. "You know, I got about six more of these to find. If you ever want to help out I know I wouldn't mind and I think my friends would be grateful for it too. I already think you'd get along pretty well with Knuckles, he's hard headed and loves to stay all by himself all the time too." "That sounds nice but... think I'll just stick to eating lunches and taking naps. Hero stuff isn't really for me." "If that's your speed I understand. While we're eating I can tell you all about that Egg Jerk and how many times I've kicked his butt." Even if the stories of heroic deeds didn't excite Sonic's new friend as much as the hedgehog thought it should, he was still grateful for having made a new friend that could appreciate his lunch food of choice as much as himself. edit this paste or clone this paste RAW Paste Data This is a non-profit fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. Sonic The Hedgehog is not owned by myself and I did not profit from this writing. Please support the official release. -------------------- Sonic The Hedgehog - Grub Shimmering white snow, grey rock and dotting evergreen trees made up the landscape of the Ice Mountain Zone. So named due to the large mountain that consumed the entire region of the zone's boarders. An area far in the north that was exposed year round to temperatures that ranged from light snowfall to chilling winter winds. Thankfully during the late Spring the temperatures were a little easier to stand, leaving the lake that surrounded and sometimes went through the caverns of the mountain unfrozen and still. This weather would at least make the job of the zone's current visitor easier to handle. A blue streak sped by, cutting though the white snow and clearing a path as it shot into the air from rapid foot steps. The blue would have stood out if the speed of the creature running through hadn't been too fast for the naked eye. But Sonic the Hedgehog, blue hero of the planet, could really move. Some even said he had an attitude. Others claimed he was the fastest thing alive. While all of that might have made for a catchy theme song to describe himself, Sonic didn't have time to dwell on the exact reasons he was so awesome today. Instead he was focused on searching the zone for a very particular item that he was all too familiar with. Stopping atop a cliff of the mountain, Sonic looked down at the device attached to his wrist and pushed a button located on the side. A video screen popped up shortly after to reveal the face of an orange fox boy. "I made it Tails, with time to spare." Sonic reported happily. "Good, if our information is correct there should be a Chaos Emerald located somewhere on that mountain. Are you going to be okay looking for it on your own?" Sonic smirked at the question. His little buddy Tails was quite the intelligent kid but Sonic always thought he worried too much when it came to him going it alone. They were stronger as a team but Sonic wasn't afraid to solo an adventure time and again. "Don't worry about me, the rest of you just keep following leads to the other Emeralds. Whatever Egghead has planned for them can't be good." It was the old arms race again against Dr. Robotnik. Otherwise known by his alias Doctor Eggman. The mad scientist was always trying to get a hold of the emeralds for some nefarious scheme and Sonic always had to step in to stop him and grab the emeralds first. By themselves they could be dangerous but all seven together could be catastrophic. If only keeping a hold of them after they were all assembled was easier, then Sonic wouldn't have to keep playing the same song and dance. "Roger on that, good luck Sonic! Give me a call after you're done and I'll come pick you up." "Cool, later buddy." The wrist watch went black again on its screen and produced an image of a clock to keep the time. It wasn't really necessary but showed how Tails liked to cover all the little details with his inventions. Would have been better if the device had come with a Chaos Emerald tracker but unfortunately something like that couldn't be made light weight enough for Sonic to run with comfortably. Not that it mattered, he'd found the emeralds plenty of times without any tech help before. This would just be another one to add to the list. Heading down the curves of the mountain and traveling deeper into the snowy region Sonic sighed a bit and hoped this would be over quick. Sure it would be nice to resolve the issue before his old nemesis came into the picture but really he wanted to grab the emerald and run before he had to travel too deep. Many of the caves on the mountain were under water and while Sonic was a master and traveling over land he wasn't as well equipped for being submerged. In fact he downright hated it. But you have to do what you have to do sometimes. After almost an hour of covering the surface of the mountain Sonic was getting annoyed. The snow could have been playing a part in keeping the emerald out of sight but the snow fall wasn't deep enough to hide the glow the gem gave off, even if it had been buried. Sonic would leap through trees, roll down steep hillsides and plowed through the thick snow but all to no avail. It was fun running through the mountain but each failed attempt to find his target brought him closer and closer towards the inner cuts and caverns below. Closer to the areas where the lake had seeped in and filled the rock with frigid liquid. Before long Sonic found himself standing outside a cave and looking in with a dower expression. This part wouldn't be as fun. "That looks deep." Sonic commented aloud to himself as he stood at the lip of the cavern, staring at the still water. "Real deep... darn it, I'll have to look for air pockets. Maybe I should have called tails instead of going it on my own. He doesn't mind getting wet." Neither did his rough Echidna friend Knuckles actually. Or even Amy, his female hedgehog friend who had the foresight to learn how to swim. In fact now that he thought about it it was just him that had avoided the water like the plague. "Then again... I don't wanna admit I had to ask for help." Sonic tapped his foot on the ground impatiently as he awaited an answer to magically appear that kept him from going for a dip. Funny enough one presented itself shortly after. "Do you mind doing that anywhere else?" A voice spoke out and Sonic jumped up in the air when it surprised him, looking around frantically to figure out who had spoken but not seeing anyone around. "Uh... sorry? Is someone there?" "Yeah, just a sec." The voice spoke out again and suddenly a patch of snow began to move. Sonic watched as someone emerged from the deep pocket of snow, shaking it off of their body and holding a root or plant of some kind in his hand. He turned to Sonic and shortly after bit into the root, chewing and swallowing it up quickly. "Had to dig that out first." "Oh... okay." Sonic said still absorbing the sudden appearance of this new individual. He was about Sonic's height but had a more stocky look about him compared to Sonic's very lean runner's body. The new comer's fur was a mix of light and dark browns with the dark patches making up his muzzle and the thick stripes going down his limbs and back as well as a patch on the end of his stubby tail. His chest and hair was a lighter cream color, with his hair pulled back in a short pony tail to keep it out of his eyes. He looked gruff and even kinda dirty, like he'd been digging around on the mountain for a while, his green boots and white gloves covered in a black soil that must have come from under the snow. "You get stuck up here or something?" "Nope." The stranger said as he pulled himself completely out of the snow and wiped the dirt off his hands. "Was just looking for something to eat. Name's Grub." "Grub?" "Grub The Wolverine, if ya need the full title." It wasn't the most flattering name, but considering Sonic met him while digging things out of the dirt and eating them immediately after it seemed to fit. "Who'er you?" "Oh, sorry about that. Name's Sonic the Hedgehog, you might of heard of me." Sonic said with a smirk. He was lectured sometimes by his friends for letting his reputation go to his head but the way Sonic saw it his ego was well earned. You should be allowed to gloat a little bit when you've saved the world as many times as he had. "Doesn't ring a bell." The wolverine said and took some of the wind out of Sonic's sails. "What ya doing up here? Looking for food too?" "Not exactly, I'm actually looking for something called a Chaos Emerald. A gemstone of great power that's part of set of seven, harnessing the powers of chaos itself." Grub just sort of stared at him with confusion and disinterest, Sonic realizing it might not be a stretch if he's never heard of them if he'd never heard of Sonic himself. "It's a glow-y rock." "Oh that, I've seen that." "You have!?" "Yeah, it was green and glowing, about this big?" Grub made a shape with his hands that was just about Chaos Emerald size and Sonic confirmed it for him. "I found it when I was looking for fish about two caves further down the mountain." "You found it, you have it!?" Sonic said sounding thrilled, this stranger he met about to become his new best friend if he was able to get him that emerald without having to jump into the water. "Oh no, I tossed back into the cave once I figured out you couldn't eat it." Sonic's smile slowly dropped down into a face of sad realization at the wolverine's words. "You... threw a Chaos Emerald away... because you couldn't eat it." Grub nodded to him. "I... I'm kinda speechless. I mean I'm glad you didn't but... if you wanted food that badly why didn't you just sell it?" "Seemed like a lot of trouble when I could just catch some fish, y'know? Besides towns really aren't for me if I can help it." Grub was hitting him with surprising shots over and over again but Sonic tried to just keep himself together and be glad he had a lead now. This guy didn't seem bad or slow, just kind of simple and down to earth. "I guess if you want I can show you where it is." "Yeah I'd appreciate it if you could." "Alright, follow me." The wolverine instructed as he lead Sonic down the hill. Grub wasn't as acrobatic or fast as Sonic but the rough terrain didn't seem to slow him down any. He made difficult downward jumps with ease and was able to climb down the jagged surface with little trouble or discomfort. Anything that got in his way like snow or rock he pushed through without complaint. Sonic himself had little trouble traveling and held back to allow Grub to keep leading the way, hopping acrobatically between ledges, trees and rolling down snowbanks. "You're light on your feet." "And you're heavy on yours." Sonic replied with a smile. "You kind of remind me of one of my friends. He's a tough customer too." "Gotta have a thick hide if you want to make it in the world." Grub said as if it were some sort of motto for himself. "Tougher you are, easier it is to get to the good food hiding out there." "You sure have a one track mind when it comes to chow. Ever had a chilli dog?" "Don't meet many dogs up here, though I bet most of them would be chilly with the snow." Clearly the question had gone right over the wolverine's head but something else stopped Sonic in his tracks. "What?" "Bro, you've never eaten a chilli dog before?" Grub shook his head and Sonic walked over and put an arm around him. "Well then after we're done with this I'll take you back to town and treat you to the best food anyone's ever had." "I'm gonna hold you to that." Up until this point Grub had seemed a pretty somber guy but when Sonic offered to take him out to eat it was the first time the hedgehog had seen him smile. "No backing out now either, we're here." Two more easy hops down and they were at the entrance to a large cave that sat in a slightly narrow crevice in the mountain. Even with how big the opening was for the ceiling went even higher inside, the dark interior making it difficult to see just how far up it went. Sonic's focus however was on the water in front of him which was also black, hiding the bottom. "So... it's down there huh?" Sonic asked sounding less enthusiastic now. Like a kid being forced to do a chore he didn't want to take part in. "Guess there's no other option, huh?" "You don't like swimming?" Grub asked. "Not if I can help it. Running and jumping and even flying through the air is all good but... water, man. You can barely get any traction down there." "Alright." Grub said as he left the rock they were standing on and leaped directly into the frigid water. Sonic was surprised and nearly jumped in after him when he realized that Grub was the one that found the Chaos Emerald in the water first. In fact he'd said he'd been fishing but didn't have a fishing pole that Sonic could see. With how much of an outdoors man the wolverine came off as he probably wasn't new to swimming through difficult waters. So it looked like Sonic was left to wait. Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot, watching the surface of the undisturbed pool and wishing he could do more. It was bad enough someone was doing his job for him but now he wasn't even able to help out in the process. But even if he did jump in it wouldn't be any faster, Grub was the only one that knew exactly where it had been. Pacing, leaning and playing with rocks helped the hedgehog pass the time as an excruciatingly long four minutes went by before anything happened. Finally the water's surface broke and Grub came up gasping for air. "Did you find it?" Sonic shouted out to him and Grub held up his arm in the water to show the glowing green rock he'd retrieved. "Awesome! You did great, man." Grub opened his mouth to respond but his words were cut short as he realized his hand no longer possessed the emerald. Instead watching it rise up towards the ceiling of the cave while in the grip of a mechanical claw. A voice spoke from above them to where the claw had disappeared in the darkness. "How kind of you to go to so much effort to retrieve my Chaos Emerald. You both have my thanks." Even before he lowered down to appear in the dim light of the cave, Sonic knew who that voice belonged to. "That was some pretty petty thievery, even for you, Eggman." A metal, round shape floated downward to reveal the man sitting inside the strange vehicle. Small maneuverable jets supported the weight of the machine as it moved around effortlessly, the mad doctor holding the glowing Emerald in his hand. From the perspective of sticking out of the machine even Grub could tell why Sonic called the doctor Eggman; he was very much shaped like an egg. Despite such a comical shape the man had a sinister look about him, dark glasses covering his eyes and an exaggerated mustache under his nose. He had on a very militaristic red coat and metal, welder's style goggles on his bald head. "Thievery? Why I'm just taking back what's mine, you blue rodent." The last few words were said with a full history of aggression behind them, Doctor Eggman making a fist in Sonic's direction. "I'm not feeling very tolerant of your insults today however, so in appreciation for doing all the hard work I'll let you leave here alive." With that Eggman's personal hovercraft flew out of the cave with Sonic in hot pursuit. Grub meanwhile was left to swim back to the edge of the pool in hopes of catching up to them both. "Hey Robotnik, wanna know how to scramble an egg?" Sonic called out to the scientist as he ran behind him. "Save your little jokes for-" Robotnik however didn't get the opportunity to finish, when he looked over his shoulder to check on his adversary's progress he found Sonic was no longer behind him. Instead the blue hedgehog had managed to appear directly in front of Robotnik's personal craft and knock it downward towards the mountain again. Having used the inclosed parts of the mountains jagged and uneven surface, Sonic was able to run up the rocks and prevent Eggman from having an easy escape. His ship spun around a few times before coming to a stop and maintaining a hovering position. "Give it up, Egghead. You can't get away from me here, there's no where to go. Drop the Emerald and I'll be nice this one time." Sonic said with a smirk, turning Robotnik's earlier offer of mercy back on him. The doctor wasn't defeated however. "Try to remember you asked for this, Sonic." The bottom of the hover craft opened and instead of the crane and hook he'd had before a missile appeared hooked to a launcher. "Good luck dodging this one, there's no where to go." With a wicked grin Robotnik slammed his fist on the launch button, causing the rocket to ignite and fly forward. Even if Robotnik was right Sonic wasn't worried, tracking something like a rocket was a walk in the park for him with his speed. Unfortunately for anyone that didn't know about Sonic's speed it looked like he was in a great deal of trouble. "Sonic, look out!" Grub shouted running forward from the cave a lot quicker than Sonic thought he'd be able to. Leaping forward the wolverine shoved Sonic out of the rocket's path. "Grub, don't!" It was too late though, the rocket made its direct line of assault and hit the wolverine in the stomach. However he managed to keep it from exploding, catching it in his hands as it slid him backwards on the ground. Even with having taken the impact of the weapon it wasn't enough and the force of the rocket's jet propulsion shoved him high into the air and kept going up. Sonic and Robotnik both watched on in surprise as he traveled out of sight and shortly after there followed the sound of an explosion. "No..." "Well that was unexpected." Robotnik said genuinely taken off guard by what just happened. "But what's the phrase? Ah yes, if you want an omelet you'll have to break a few eggs." "He didn't have anything to do with this, Eggman!" Sonic shouted angrily but the doctor wasn't bothered in the least by his opponent's outrage. "Then you shouldn't have drug him into this, Sonic. Don't worry though, if you're so worried about him then I'll have you join him shortly." Using the controls on his hover craft, the bottom of the vehicle produced a launcher with three more missiles. Pressing the launch button all three missiles fired in sequence at Sonic, the hedgehog standing still and seemingly ready for the attack to land on its mark. However when the missiles flew his direction Sonic leaped upwards and hopped on each one, using it as a stepping stone towards Eggman. Before the doctor could react Sonic leaped forward and curled into a spiky blue ball, slamming his mass against the hover craft with enough force to knock it to the ground. The missiles flew off harmlessly into the distance and exploded away from the mountain. When Eggman looked up from his sprawled position on the floor of his hover craft, Sonic was standing over him on the hull of his vehicle. "You're not escaping this time Eggman, I've let you get away with hurting people too many times now." "Don't be so melodramatic, Sonic. It doesn't suit you." Eggman said with a cocky tone in his voice despite being at the disadvantage. However he managed to kick a button on his control panel and activate a trap on the device, causing an electrical current to run through his hover craft's exterior and shock Sonic enough to force him off the vehicle. Once he was no longer pinned down Eggman leaped to the controls and took to the air again, Sonic sitting up from where he'd been toppled and rubbing his head. "Don't be so down Sonic, sure you lost the emerald and let some innocent bystander be killed. But on the bright side things are finally looking up for me! Now I'll be off to... what is that noise?" Both Sonic and Eggman looked up to hear the sound of someone yelling as they approached. It didn't take long for the person to become apparent as Grub seemingly fell from the sky and landed right on top of the front of Robotnik's craft. The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Now I'm going to have to scrape this off before I go. He could have at least died with dignity." Eggman put his hand out to shove Grub's carcass off his vehicle when suddenly the wolverine reached out and grabbed the doctor by the wrist. Looking up, Grub growled deeply as he made eye contact with the man that had tried to blow him up seconds ago. "What the, unhand me you flea bag." Eggman tried to pull his wrist away but Grub didn't let go, using his other hand to pull himself closer to the doctor. "I said let go!" Slamming his fist down on the control panel, Eggman activated the electrical trap he'd used earlier to repel Sonic. However he failed to take into account that he was still being held onto by his aggressor, causing an electric current to zap both of them. Sonic watched the light show above him take place, more surprised than anyone. "He actually survived a missile explosion?" Sonic wondered aloud about the wolverine as he covered his eyes. Once the light show faded Grub's hand was no longer on Eggman but the doctor was leaning back on his vehicle, his body jittery and his mustache flailed outward more than usual from the sudden jolts. Grub was frozen in place from the heavy shocks, but still on the hover craft. "W-w-w-worthless m-m-m-mongrel!" Eggman said through chattering teeth as he attempted to use his foot and kick Grub off the hover craft once and for all. However before he could Grub lifted his arm and took a swipe at the doctor with a loud roar, just barely missing his body. "Y-y-you're still alive!?" "No more shocks!" Grubs shouted and pulled himself up on the ridge of the hover craft, punching downward with his other hand to put a hole through the control panel. Between Sonic and the now rabid wolverine in front of him Eggman seemed to know when he was beat. "Not that this wasn't fun shocking and blowing you all up, but..." Eggman pulled out a remote from his pocket and hit a button, the back of the hover craft he was standing on separating from the main front portion unexpectedly. Suddenly Eggman's side of the vehicle produced an extra thin sheet of metal, enclosing him in a small egg shaped rocket that took off directly upward into the sky and leaving the two furry individuals behind. As Grub looked upward and watched Eggman make his exit he suddenly realized that his half of the hover craft was still floating and it had started to beep. "Grub, jump off before-" Too late however, the vehicle self destructing in the air and flinging the wolverine down to the ground. Fortunately he managed to hit an area that was covered in thick snow, but it couldn't have felt nice with the solid rock beneath it. Sonic raced over to Grub's side to check on him. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Speak to me man, let me know you're gonna pull through." Sonic reached out to help clear away the snow that had covered him from the impact, but was surprised when Grub suddenly sat up on his own, coughing roughly. "Easy there buddy, that was one heck of a beating you took." "Yeah. Ow." Grub said simply and sonic chuckled a little. "Who was that guy?" "That would be Doctor Eggman, basically the worst piece of work on the planet. He's the guy I'm trying to keep that Chaos Emerald away from, but..." Sonic sighed looking upward. "Guess I screwed up that mission pretty hard today." "Oh, right. The glow-y rock." Grub said and felt around on his left side until he found what he'd been after, pulling out the Chaos Emerald from the snow. He handed it to Sonic who looked it over in amazement. "I stole it when I took that punch at him on his floating metal thing. Guess I was lucky he wanted to get away more than keep this." "Grub, you're an alright guy." Sonic said with a laugh and helped the wolverine get to his feet, looking over the Chaos Emerald with pride over a job well done. Sure Sonic did most of the fighting but his new friend's quick thinking managed to save the day in the end. "That reminds me, how did you survive being blown up by a missile?" "You mean that thing that hit me? I didn't." Grub answered simply. "I fell off it when it was going up and hit a tree on my way down. After that the branch broke and I rolled down the hill for a little while till I landed on that floating metal thing." "And then you managed to steal the Emerald from Eggman after falling down a mountain and being electrical shocked? Gotta say, I'm impressed. You're a lot tougher than you look." "Comes with the territory." Grub answered simply and Sonic nodded. It wasn't the kind of response full of bravado Sonic would have given, but that didn't seem to be Grub's style. He could respect that. "But hey, I saved your glow-y rock. Does that mean I get that food you promised?" "You mean the chilli dogs? Sure thing, I could use some myself after a day like this. Why don't we head into town and I'll treat you to the best dinner you ever had." "Well... okay. Don't really like towns that much but I guess this will be worth it." Grub agreed and Sonic nodded, the duo traveling down the mountain together to go secure a delicious lunch. "You know, I got about six more of these to find. If you ever want to help out I know I wouldn't mind and I think my friends would be grateful for it too. I already think you'd get along pretty well with Knuckles, he's hard headed and loves to stay all by himself all the time too." "That sounds nice but... think I'll just stick to eating lunches and taking naps. Hero stuff isn't really for me." "If that's your speed I understand. While we're eating I can tell you all about that Egg Jerk and how many times I've kicked his butt." Even if the stories of heroic deeds didn't excite Sonic's new friend as much as the hedgehog thought it should, he was still grateful for having made a new friend that could appreciate his lunch food of choice as much as himself. Pastebin.com Tools & Applications iPhone/iPad Windows Firefox Chrome WebOS Android Mac Opera Click.to UNIX WinPhone create new paste | api | trends | syntax languages | faq | tools | privacy | cookies | contact | dmca | advertise on pastebin | go pro Follow us: pastebin on facebook | pastebin on twitter | pastebin in the news Dedicated Server Hosting by Steadfast Pastebin v3.11 rendered in: 0.010 seconds This is a non-profit fanfiction created for entertainment purposes only. Sonic The Hedgehog is not owned by myself and I did not profit from this writing. Please support the official release. -------------------- Sonic The Hedgehog - Grub Shimmering white snow, grey rock and dotting evergreen trees made up the landscape of the Ice Mountain Zone. So named due to the large mountain that consumed the entire region of the zone's boarders. An area far in the north that was exposed year round to temperatures that ranged from light snowfall to chilling winter winds. Thankfully during the late Spring the temperatures were a little easier to stand, leaving the lake that surrounded and sometimes went through the caverns of the mountain unfrozen and still. This weather would at least make the job of the zone's current visitor easier to handle. A blue streak sped by, cutting though the white snow and clearing a path as it shot into the air from rapid foot steps. The blue would have stood out if the speed of the creature running through hadn't been too fast for the naked eye. But Sonic the Hedgehog, blue hero of the planet, could really move. Some even said he had an attitude. Others claimed he was the fastest thing alive. While all of that might have made for a catchy theme song to describe himself, Sonic didn't have time to dwell on the exact reasons he was so awesome today. Instead he was focused on searching the zone for a very particular item that he was all too familiar with. Stopping atop a cliff of the mountain, Sonic looked down at the device attached to his wrist and pushed a button located on the side. A video screen popped up shortly after to reveal the face of an orange fox boy. "I made it Tails, with time to spare." Sonic reported happily. "Good, if our information is correct there should be a Chaos Emerald located somewhere on that mountain. Are you going to be okay looking for it on your own?" Sonic smirked at the question. His little buddy Tails was quite the intelligent kid but Sonic always thought he worried too much when it came to him going it alone. They were stronger as a team but Sonic wasn't afraid to solo an adventure time and again. "Don't worry about me, the rest of you just keep following leads to the other Emeralds. Whatever Egghead has planned for them can't be good." It was the old arms race again against Dr. Robotnik. Otherwise known by his alias Doctor Eggman. The mad scientist was always trying to get a hold of the emeralds for some nefarious scheme and Sonic always had to step in to stop him and grab the emeralds first. By themselves they could be dangerous but all seven together could be catastrophic. If only keeping a hold of them after they were all assembled was easier, then Sonic wouldn't have to keep playing the same song and dance. "Roger on that, good luck Sonic! Give me a call after you're done and I'll come pick you up." "Cool, later buddy." The wrist watch went black again on its screen and produced an image of a clock to keep the time. It wasn't really necessary but showed how Tails liked to cover all the little details with his inventions. Would have been better if the device had come with a Chaos Emerald tracker but unfortunately something like that couldn't be made light weight enough for Sonic to run with comfortably. Not that it mattered, he'd found the emeralds plenty of times without any tech help before. This would just be another one to add to the list. Heading down the curves of the mountain and traveling deeper into the snowy region Sonic sighed a bit and hoped this would be over quick. Sure it would be nice to resolve the issue before his old nemesis came into the picture but really he wanted to grab the emerald and run before he had to travel too deep. Many of the caves on the mountain were under water and while Sonic was a master and traveling over land he wasn't as well equipped for being submerged. In fact he downright hated it. But you have to do what you have to do sometimes. After almost an hour of covering the surface of the mountain Sonic was getting annoyed. The snow could have been playing a part in keeping the emerald out of sight but the snow fall wasn't deep enough to hide the glow the gem gave off, even if it had been buried. Sonic would leap through trees, roll down steep hillsides and plowed through the thick snow but all to no avail. It was fun running through the mountain but each failed attempt to find his target brought him closer and closer towards the inner cuts and caverns below. Closer to the areas where the lake had seeped in and filled the rock with frigid liquid. Before long Sonic found himself standing outside a cave and looking in with a dower expression. This part wouldn't be as fun. "That looks deep." Sonic commented aloud to himself as he stood at the lip of the cavern, staring at the still water. "Real deep... darn it, I'll have to look for air pockets. Maybe I should have called tails instead of going it on my own. He doesn't mind getting wet." Neither did his rough Echidna friend Knuckles actually. Or even Amy, his female hedgehog friend who had the foresight to learn how to swim. In fact now that he thought about it it was just him that had avoided the water like the plague. "Then again... I don't wanna admit I had to ask for help." Sonic tapped his foot on the ground impatiently as he awaited an answer to magically appear that kept him from going for a dip. Funny enough one presented itself shortly after. "Do you mind doing that anywhere else?" A voice spoke out and Sonic jumped up in the air when it surprised him, looking around frantically to figure out who had spoken but not seeing anyone around. "Uh... sorry? Is someone there?" "Yeah, just a sec." The voice spoke out again and suddenly a patch of snow began to move. Sonic watched as someone emerged from the deep pocket of snow, shaking it off of their body and holding a root or plant of some kind in his hand. He turned to Sonic and shortly after bit into the root, chewing and swallowing it up quickly. "Had to dig that out first." "Oh... okay." Sonic said still absorbing the sudden appearance of this new individual. He was about Sonic's height but had a more stocky look about him compared to Sonic's very lean runner's body. The new comer's fur was a mix of light and dark browns with the dark patches making up his muzzle and the thick stripes going down his limbs and back as well as a patch on the end of his stubby tail. His chest and hair was a lighter cream color, with his hair pulled back in a short pony tail to keep it out of his eyes. He looked gruff and even kinda dirty, like he'd been digging around on the mountain for a while, his green boots and white gloves covered in a black soil that must have come from under the snow. "You get stuck up here or something?" "Nope." The stranger said as he pulled himself completely out of the snow and wiped the dirt off his hands. "Was just looking for something to eat. Name's Grub." "Grub?" "Grub The Wolverine, if ya need the full title." It wasn't the most flattering name, but considering Sonic met him while digging things out of the dirt and eating them immediately after it seemed to fit. "Who'er you?" "Oh, sorry about that. Name's Sonic the Hedgehog, you might of heard of me." Sonic said with a smirk. He was lectured sometimes by his friends for letting his reputation go to his head but the way Sonic saw it his ego was well earned. You should be allowed to gloat a little bit when you've saved the world as many times as he had. "Doesn't ring a bell." The wolverine said and took some of the wind out of Sonic's sails. "What ya doing up here? Looking for food too?" "Not exactly, I'm actually looking for something called a Chaos Emerald. A gemstone of great power that's part of set of seven, harnessing the powers of chaos itself." Grub just sort of stared at him with confusion and disinterest, Sonic realizing it might not be a stretch if he's never heard of them if he'd never heard of Sonic himself. "It's a glow-y rock." "Oh that, I've seen that." "You have!?" "Yeah, it was green and glowing, about this big?" Grub made a shape with his hands that was just about Chaos Emerald size and Sonic confirmed it for him. "I found it when I was looking for fish about two caves further down the mountain." "You found it, you have it!?" Sonic said sounding thrilled, this stranger he met about to become his new best friend if he was able to get him that emerald without having to jump into the water. "Oh no, I tossed back into the cave once I figured out you couldn't eat it." Sonic's smile slowly dropped down into a face of sad realization at the wolverine's words. "You... threw a Chaos Emerald away... because you couldn't eat it." Grub nodded to him. "I... I'm kinda speechless. I mean I'm glad you didn't but... if you wanted food that badly why didn't you just sell it?" "Seemed like a lot of trouble when I could just catch some fish, y'know? Besides towns really aren't for me if I can help it." Grub was hitting him with surprising shots over and over again but Sonic tried to just keep himself together and be glad he had a lead now. This guy didn't seem bad or slow, just kind of simple and down to earth. "I guess if you want I can show you where it is." "Yeah I'd appreciate it if you could." "Alright, follow me." The wolverine instructed as he lead Sonic down the hill. Grub wasn't as acrobatic or fast as Sonic but the rough terrain didn't seem to slow him down any. He made difficult downward jumps with ease and was able to climb down the jagged surface with little trouble or discomfort. Anything that got in his way like snow or rock he pushed through without complaint. Sonic himself had little trouble traveling and held back to allow Grub to keep leading the way, hopping acrobatically between ledges, trees and rolling down snowbanks. "You're light on your feet." "And you're heavy on yours." Sonic replied with a smile. "You kind of remind me of one of my friends. He's a tough customer too." "Gotta have a thick hide if you want to make it in the world." Grub said as if it were some sort of motto for himself. "Tougher you are, easier it is to get to the good food hiding out there." "You sure have a one track mind when it comes to chow. Ever had a chilli dog?" "Don't meet many dogs up here, though I bet most of them would be chilly with the snow." Clearly the question had gone right over the wolverine's head but something else stopped Sonic in his tracks. "What?" "Bro, you've never eaten a chilli dog before?" Grub shook his head and Sonic walked over and put an arm around him. "Well then after we're done with this I'll take you back to town and treat you to the best food anyone's ever had." "I'm gonna hold you to that." Up until this point Grub had seemed a pretty somber guy but when Sonic offered to take him out to eat it was the first time the hedgehog had seen him smile. "No backing out now either, we're here." Two more easy hops down and they were at the entrance to a large cave that sat in a slightly narrow crevice in the mountain. Even with how big the opening was for the ceiling went even higher inside, the dark interior making it difficult to see just how far up it went. Sonic's focus however was on the water in front of him which was also black, hiding the bottom. "So... it's down there huh?" Sonic asked sounding less enthusiastic now. Like a kid being forced to do a chore he didn't want to take part in. "Guess there's no other option, huh?" "You don't like swimming?" Grub asked. "Not if I can help it. Running and jumping and even flying through the air is all good but... water, man. You can barely get any traction down there." "Alright." Grub said as he left the rock they were standing on and leaped directly into the frigid water. Sonic was surprised and nearly jumped in after him when he realized that Grub was the one that found the Chaos Emerald in the water first. In fact he'd said he'd been fishing but didn't have a fishing pole that Sonic could see. With how much of an outdoors man the wolverine came off as he probably wasn't new to swimming through difficult waters. So it looked like Sonic was left to wait. Sonic crossed his arms and tapped his foot, watching the surface of the undisturbed pool and wishing he could do more. It was bad enough someone was doing his job for him but now he wasn't even able to help out in the process. But even if he did jump in it wouldn't be any faster, Grub was the only one that knew exactly where it had been. Pacing, leaning and playing with rocks helped the hedgehog pass the time as an excruciatingly long four minutes went by before anything happened. Finally the water's surface broke and Grub came up gasping for air. "Did you find it?" Sonic shouted out to him and Grub held up his arm in the water to show the glowing green rock he'd retrieved. "Awesome! You did great, man." Grub opened his mouth to respond but his words were cut short as he realized his hand no longer possessed the emerald. Instead watching it rise up towards the ceiling of the cave while in the grip of a mechanical claw. A voice spoke from above them to where the claw had disappeared in the darkness. "How kind of you to go to so much effort to retrieve my Chaos Emerald. You both have my thanks." Even before he lowered down to appear in the dim light of the cave, Sonic knew who that voice belonged to. "That was some pretty petty thievery, even for you, Eggman." A metal, round shape floated downward to reveal the man sitting inside the strange vehicle. Small maneuverable jets supported the weight of the machine as it moved around effortlessly, the mad doctor holding the glowing Emerald in his hand. From the perspective of sticking out of the machine even Grub could tell why Sonic called the doctor Eggman; he was very much shaped like an egg. Despite such a comical shape the man had a sinister look about him, dark glasses covering his eyes and an exaggerated mustache under his nose. He had on a very militaristic red coat and metal, welder's style goggles on his bald head. "Thievery? Why I'm just taking back what's mine, you blue rodent." The last few words were said with a full history of aggression behind them, Doctor Eggman making a fist in Sonic's direction. "I'm not feeling very tolerant of your insults today however, so in appreciation for doing all the hard work I'll let you leave here alive." With that Eggman's personal hovercraft flew out of the cave with Sonic in hot pursuit. Grub meanwhile was left to swim back to the edge of the pool in hopes of catching up to them both. "Hey Robotnik, wanna know how to scramble an egg?" Sonic called out to the scientist as he ran behind him. "Save your little jokes for-" Robotnik however didn't get the opportunity to finish, when he looked over his shoulder to check on his adversary's progress he found Sonic was no longer behind him. Instead the blue hedgehog had managed to appear directly in front of Robotnik's personal craft and knock it downward towards the mountain again. Having used the inclosed parts of the mountains jagged and uneven surface, Sonic was able to run up the rocks and prevent Eggman from having an easy escape. His ship spun around a few times before coming to a stop and maintaining a hovering position. "Give it up, Egghead. You can't get away from me here, there's no where to go. Drop the Emerald and I'll be nice this one time." Sonic said with a smirk, turning Robotnik's earlier offer of mercy back on him. The doctor wasn't defeated however. "Try to remember you asked for this, Sonic." The bottom of the hover craft opened and instead of the crane and hook he'd had before a missile appeared hooked to a launcher. "Good luck dodging this one, there's no where to go." With a wicked grin Robotnik slammed his fist on the launch button, causing the rocket to ignite and fly forward. Even if Robotnik was right Sonic wasn't worried, tracking something like a rocket was a walk in the park for him with his speed. Unfortunately for anyone that didn't know about Sonic's speed it looked like he was in a great deal of trouble. "Sonic, look out!" Grub shouted running forward from the cave a lot quicker than Sonic thought he'd be able to. Leaping forward the wolverine shoved Sonic out of the rocket's path. "Grub, don't!" It was too late though, the rocket made its direct line of assault and hit the wolverine in the stomach. However he managed to keep it from exploding, catching it in his hands as it slid him backwards on the ground. Even with having taken the impact of the weapon it wasn't enough and the force of the rocket's jet propulsion shoved him high into the air and kept going up. Sonic and Robotnik both watched on in surprise as he traveled out of sight and shortly after there followed the sound of an explosion. "No..." "Well that was unexpected." Robotnik said genuinely taken off guard by what just happened. "But what's the phrase? Ah yes, if you want an omelet you'll have to break a few eggs." "He didn't have anything to do with this, Eggman!" Sonic shouted angrily but the doctor wasn't bothered in the least by his opponent's outrage. "Then you shouldn't have drug him into this, Sonic. Don't worry though, if you're so worried about him then I'll have you join him shortly." Using the controls on his hover craft, the bottom of the vehicle produced a launcher with three more missiles. Pressing the launch button all three missiles fired in sequence at Sonic, the hedgehog standing still and seemingly ready for the attack to land on its mark. However when the missiles flew his direction Sonic leaped upwards and hopped on each one, using it as a stepping stone towards Eggman. Before the doctor could react Sonic leaped forward and curled into a spiky blue ball, slamming his mass against the hover craft with enough force to knock it to the ground. The missiles flew off harmlessly into the distance and exploded away from the mountain. When Eggman looked up from his sprawled position on the floor of his hover craft, Sonic was standing over him on the hull of his vehicle. "You're not escaping this time Eggman, I've let you get away with hurting people too many times now." "Don't be so melodramatic, Sonic. It doesn't suit you." Eggman said with a cocky tone in his voice despite being at the disadvantage. However he managed to kick a button on his control panel and activate a trap on the device, causing an electrical current to run through his hover craft's exterior and shock Sonic enough to force him off the vehicle. Once he was no longer pinned down Eggman leaped to the controls and took to the air again, Sonic sitting up from where he'd been toppled and rubbing his head. "Don't be so down Sonic, sure you lost the emerald and let some innocent bystander be killed. But on the bright side things are finally looking up for me! Now I'll be off to... what is that noise?" Both Sonic and Eggman looked up to hear the sound of someone yelling as they approached. It didn't take long for the person to become apparent as Grub seemingly fell from the sky and landed right on top of the front of Robotnik's craft. The doctor sighed and shook his head. "Now I'm going to have to scrape this off before I go. He could have at least died with dignity." Eggman put his hand out to shove Grub's carcass off his vehicle when suddenly the wolverine reached out and grabbed the doctor by the wrist. Looking up, Grub growled deeply as he made eye contact with the man that had tried to blow him up seconds ago. "What the, unhand me you flea bag." Eggman tried to pull his wrist away but Grub didn't let go, using his other hand to pull himself closer to the doctor. "I said let go!" Slamming his fist down on the control panel, Eggman activated the electrical trap he'd used earlier to repel Sonic. However he failed to take into account that he was still being held onto by his aggressor, causing an electric current to zap both of them. Sonic watched the light show above him take place, more surprised than anyone. "He actually survived a missile explosion?" Sonic wondered aloud about the wolverine as he covered his eyes. Once the light show faded Grub's hand was no longer on Eggman but the doctor was leaning back on his vehicle, his body jittery and his mustache flailed outward more than usual from the sudden jolts. Grub was frozen in place from the heavy shocks, but still on the hover craft. "W-w-w-worthless m-m-m-mongrel!" Eggman said through chattering teeth as he attempted to use his foot and kick Grub off the hover craft once and for all. However before he could Grub lifted his arm and took a swipe at the doctor with a loud roar, just barely missing his body. "Y-y-you're still alive!?" "No more shocks!" Grubs shouted and pulled himself up on the ridge of the hover craft, punching downward with his other hand to put a hole through the control panel. Between Sonic and the now rabid wolverine in front of him Eggman seemed to know when he was beat. "Not that this wasn't fun shocking and blowing you all up, but..." Eggman pulled out a remote from his pocket and hit a button, the back of the hover craft he was standing on separating from the main front portion unexpectedly. Suddenly Eggman's side of the vehicle produced an extra thin sheet of metal, enclosing him in a small egg shaped rocket that took off directly upward into the sky and leaving the two furry individuals behind. As Grub looked upward and watched Eggman make his exit he suddenly realized that his half of the hover craft was still floating and it had started to beep. "Grub, jump off before-" Too late however, the vehicle self destructing in the air and flinging the wolverine down to the ground. Fortunately he managed to hit an area that was covered in thick snow, but it couldn't have felt nice with the solid rock beneath it. Sonic raced over to Grub's side to check on him. "Oh my gosh, are you okay? Speak to me man, let me know you're gonna pull through." Sonic reached out to help clear away the snow that had covered him from the impact, but was surprised when Grub suddenly sat up on his own, coughing roughly. "Easy there buddy, that was one heck of a beating you took." "Yeah. Ow." Grub said simply and sonic chuckled a little. "Who was that guy?" "That would be Doctor Eggman, basically the worst piece of work on the planet. He's the guy I'm trying to keep that Chaos Emerald away from, but..." Sonic sighed looking upward. "Guess I screwed up that mission pretty hard today." "Oh, right. The glow-y rock." Grub said and felt around on his left side until he found what he'd been after, pulling out the Chaos Emerald from the snow. He handed it to Sonic who looked it over in amazement. "I stole it when I took that punch at him on his floating metal thing. Guess I was lucky he wanted to get away more than keep this." "Grub, you're an alright guy." Sonic said with a laugh and helped the wolverine get to his feet, looking over the Chaos Emerald with pride over a job well done. Sure Sonic did most of the fighting but his new friend's quick thinking managed to save the day in the end. "That reminds me, how did you survive being blown up by a missile?" "You mean that thing that hit me? I didn't." Grub answered simply. "I fell off it when it was going up and hit a tree on my way down. After that the branch broke and I rolled down the hill for a little while till I landed on that floating metal thing." "And then you managed to steal the Emerald from Eggman after falling down a mountain and being electrical shocked? Gotta say, I'm impressed. You're a lot tougher than you look." "Comes with the territory." Grub answered simply and Sonic nodded. It wasn't the kind of response full of bravado Sonic would have given, but that didn't seem to be Grub's style. He could respect that. "But hey, I saved your glow-y rock. Does that mean I get that food you promised?" "You mean the chilli dogs? Sure thing, I could use some myself after a day like this. Why don't we head into town and I'll treat you to the best dinner you ever had." "Well... okay. Don't really like towns that much but I guess this will be worth it." Grub agreed and Sonic nodded, the duo traveling down the mountain together to go secure a delicious lunch. "You know, I got about six more of these to find. If you ever want to help out I know I wouldn't mind and I think my friends would be grateful for it too. I already think you'd get along pretty well with Knuckles, he's hard headed and loves to stay all by himself all the time too." "That sounds nice but... think I'll just stick to eating lunches and taking naps. Hero stuff isn't really for me." "If that's your speed I understand. While we're eating I can tell you all about that Egg Jerk and how many times I've kicked his butt." Even if the stories of heroic deeds didn't excite Sonic's new friend as much as the hedgehog thought it should, he was still grateful for having made a new friend that could appreciate his lunch food of choice as much as himself.