RING BOND™

Darkness Heart of the Sky Ring Form of the Machine God The Memories of the Rings A single arm Warmth Fire Molten earth A sky once so blue Choked in smoke and ash Lit by crimson lightning All under Sky Ring and single blue eye

“Rosy, you’re awake!!” Tempest’s voice rang out with elation as Rosy’s eyelids fluttered and a soft groan escaped from her throat.

“…Tempest?” Rosy queried as the sound of thunder persisted like the ceaseless playing of drums beyond the thrumming of a biplane engine. “What happened? I thought we were fighting–

“!?”

As Rosy’s eyes snapped open, the sight of the towering bipedal form of liquid Darkness looming over the last sinking remnants of Amnesia Island filled her vision. Yet, for its nigh two-kilometer height and impossible thinness, the single glowing blue eye a hundred meters across trapped Rosy in its gaze. But she could not run.

“Wh-What–!?”

“Rosy, Calm down,” Tempest attempted to soothe Rosy as he focused on flying the bi-wing rotorcycle through the smoke and ash that filed the skies above Amnesia Island. A task that would have been easier if Rosy were not currently trapped withing his right arm, only her head and lower legs emerging. “I held out long enough for you to get fully pulled into my arm and I get a lot stronger while you’re trapped in there.”

“Though we hardly know the consequences inflicted on you for being held within that peculiar limb,” the voice of Mote found its way to Rosy’s ears. “The risk was worth it however, even if we have no idea how much longer we can stay ahead of our enemies.”

“But, what’s that thing?” Rosy asked, unable to take her eyes off of the two-kilometer-tall slender biped that began to reach a hand in the direction of her and Tempest. “I can’t stop shaking…”

“Little surprise,” Mote commented as a volley of cannon fire struck the arm and prevented the biped from reaching for Rosy. “That is the Machine God that was slumbering here. It woke but an instant before Tempest succeeded in extracting you from his rather dangerous opponent’s grasp.”

“That’s the Machine God? I was kind of expecting it to be more like a machine…”

Though Rosy commented on the lack of visible machinery in the god’s form, she could not deny the sound she heard beyond the plane, thunder, and cannon fire. A sound like the turning gears of a billion clocks or more. It unsettled her, but the warmth she felt from Tempest’s arm kept her relatively calm. Finding herself held beside the body of the plane brought its own concerns.

“Tempest, wouldn’t you be able to fly better if you let me out? I’m sure I can stay on the wing just fine.”

“If I do I think we’ll be in a lot of trouble actually,” Tempest donned a nervous smile as he risked a glance in Rosy’s direction. “This plane can’t outrun those airships or the machine god. It’s too slow, and even with the power up I get when you’re in my arm I barely got away from that woman. She’s crazy strong…”

“Who was she anyway?”

“She claimed her allegiance to the Empire,” Mote again supplied an answer. “Knowing more of her now though is meaningless. That she can best the both of you with ease and that only by weaving through the smoke do we stand a chance at avoiding capture is of more importance. Perhaps not as much as why the Machine God has not simply stripped the technology from our pursuers so that it might complete itself.”

“No way!” Rosy gasped and looked towards the Machine God once more. “That isn’t what it actually looks like? But it’s already so…”

“We should simply be grateful that it does remain in this incomplete state. As long as it remains as such our pursuers are able to keep it from reaching us instead.”

“Yeah,” Tempest agreed and added,” but whenever it reaches for us it gives away where we are. Sooner or later one of these airships are going to reach us, and if that woman is on them, we’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

Finding themselves under Rosy’s questioning gaze, Tempest and Mote exchanged looks.

“We don’t really have a plan actually.”

“Though, if Tempest’s piloting skills can keep us out of the hands of our enemies long enough, perhaps when the island is no more, we will be able to use a Ring Gate and escape. It is hard to believe that the Ring Gate Beacon can hold us here without the landmass it was attached to.”

The lack of confidence from Tempest and Mote both earned them a fussy look from Rosy as she puffed up her cheeks. “Ooh~! Why are you two always so quick to give up! Sonic would keep at it until he figured something out!”

Realizing that she brought up Sonic’s name, Rosy stopped herself from saying anything else and looked over in Tempest’s direction. It was hard to do trapped as she was and feeling the crystals that crawled across her, pulling the Darkness over her, creeping up her face made it harder. Yet she managed it all the same, and only realized as she looked for the red spark of electricity that always appeared in Tempest’s crystals at Sonic’s mention that she could not see his crystals. Where his crystals should have been only red light so bright as to obscure them could be seen. Red light that matched the lightning arcing around them and the shade his glowing eyes had taken on.

“…Tempest?”

“It’s alright,” Tempest smiled. “I don’t know what this appearance is, but I’m a lot stronger like this. Strong enough to tear down this whole fleet and let you get away.”

“What are you talking about now Tempest?”

“You mean to buy us time by striking back? You realize my vassal does not know how to fly and that you only have access to this power while she is–”

“No, Mote,” Tempest shook his head, “I managed to achieve it when I was fighting Bowlings. I’m sure I can maintain it and get Rosy out of here.”

“No way!” Rosy yelled and attempted to shake her head as she felt the crystals growing from her bottom lip. “We’re supposed to go on an adventure together and help each other find our memories, help Mote save the world, and come back to tell Nana all about our adventures! You can’t–”

Before Rosy could finish, even as she chose to ignore that soon enough there would be no Amnesia Island to return to, the crystals crawled over her mouth and stole her ability to talk from her. She could only look angrily at Tempest.

“I know, and I’ll catch up with you, I promise. Right now though…”

Leveling out the plane, Tempest jumped up onto the top wing himself and placed Rosy on the seat of the motorcycle body of the plane. With his now free left hand, he snagged a Ring out of the air as they passed by a string and smiled.

“Right now, you need to learn how to fly.”

Having not absorbed the Ring into his body, Tempest held it up so that he was looking through the golden loop at Rosy. Rosy shut her eyes fast in response hoping the crystal pulled Darkness would seal her eyes shut. But they did not.

Curious as Rosy was, she refused to open her eyes and allow Tempest to let them part. Behind her closed eyelids though she only tore at her own heart as all of her memories with Tempest on Amnesia Island replayed themselves. Most noticeably his promise to Nana to keep Rosy safe, and the confession he repeated to coax her from her desperateness.

“Rosy the Rascal, I love you.”

The words were too much to bear, and Rosy’s eyes snapped open with tears freely flowing. However, the anger she knew Tempest would never see dissipated in an instant.

“You scoundrel!” Mote gasped as she stared on in open mouthed shock as Tempest made himself a thief other than the one Mote sought.

Rosy had not even realized that the Darkness had pulled away from her mouth and found no words as Tempest withdrew his lips from hers.

“I’ll apologize later,” Tempest promised bashfully. “But know that I love you too much to stay away for long. You are my everything Rosy, and not even the gods will keep me from getting back to you!”

Having Rosy too stunned and red-faced to resist, Tempest again held up the Ring he had and looked through as his arm swelled and closed into a fist around the plane.

“I love you… Rosy!”

“TEMPE~~ST!!”

A flash of light A twinkling of golden motes of light Falling like snow with the ash Empty sky where once there was a plane Blue eye of Machine God watching Barrage of cannon fire meaningless All below the Sky Ring A story ended A boy’s love beginning another A story the Rings will always remember Under a sky so blue…★

EPISODE OF JOURNEY’S BEGINNING - END

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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 alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which 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”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, 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 regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.

Sky Ring peering through lightning riddled smoke Reflected on sea by burning ring of mountains Molten rock surrounding destruction born lake Sphere of Darkness rising up through cloud of steam A collection of airships reduced to giant gravestones Beach of burning black sand Sandaled foot pressing in Drops of Darkness dripping Dissipating as twinkling motes of the same

A side panel of a fallen airship was blasted out in a gout of flame and the black shadow on the beach casually leaned to the side as it flew by them into the lake behind them. The shadow was hardly so complete though, intense red light glowing from and disguising where the crystals grew from Tempest’s body. Even his normally blue eyes glowed red as he watched Bowlings stumble out of the wrecked airship.

“Absolute madness,” Bowlings scowled as he looked out across the beach at the black hedgehog. “A mere boy devastating an Imperial fleet. It shouldn’t be possible.”

“You talk to much,” Tempest declared coldly and stretched out his right arm to snag Bowlings.

“And I was right to consider you a threat to the Empire!” Bowlings snapped back as he conjured a wall of flame to protect himself from Tempest.

“Tch,” Tempest clicked his tongue as he was forced to retract his arm. His anger did not subside however, and he began to slowly approach Bowlings’ position. “I’ll bring your whole Empire down just like you did Rosy and our home. Just like you did our efforts to find ourselves in this world. I’ll bring it all down with this arm.”

“Don’t flatter yourself boy,” Bowlings scoffed as he sought some means to escape. “What are you distracted by Projector? I could use an extraction.”

“Did your friend abandon you?” Tempest asked as he closed in on Bowlings. “Like you forced me to abandon Rosy!”

“I don’t even know who you’re talking about, and frankly don’t care!”

Bowlings’ retort was accompanied by another gout of flame, but Tempest’s speed allowed him to easily avoid it. In fact, Bowlings’ attack became the opportunity he needed to fully close the distance between him and the general and his speed allowed him to take his back.

“Projector!!”

A response came as Bowlings’ eyes widened, but it was not from Brilliant as he had hoped. Yet unquestionably the response saved his life.

“Tempest! I found you! Thank goodness!”

“Rosy?”

The intense red light that had visibly replaced Tempest’s crystals faded and was replaced by the soft purple light that marked his confusion. Yet flakes of intense blue light intermingled as he raced away from the wreckage and out onto the beach. With eyes that were once again blue he nearly burst into tears at the sight of the white leotard clad hedgehog girl.

“Rosy!!” Tempest shouted as he raced across the beach and embraced her in a tight hug, not thinking about the consequences.

“Tempest, your arm is going to try and eat me,” Rosy laughed as she let Tempest express the relief that he was feeling. Smiling, she gave credit to where it was due however. “But you should thank Mote for finding me before things got too crazy. Hee-hee! Getting out of there while everything was falling down has to be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“Mote?” Tempest asked as he stepped back and looked up to see the fairy giving him a look.

“About time you noticed me,” Mote sighed before explaining herself. “Between you and my vassal it should have been obvious I would have sought her out. Though, you have proven yourself a worthy ally in my quest through this demonstration of destruction you’ve wrought.”

The destruction that Mote alluded to was not observed only by Tempest and Rosy, but again by Bowlings as he warily watched the two hedgehogs. “Just what is that monster?”

“That is what I’ve been trying to determine, General,” the calm male voice of Brilliant the Projector finally answered Bowlings despite his obvious physical absence.

“It took you long enough Projector,”  Bowlings sneered as he allowed himself to fall into a sitting position on the sand. “I swear, I was about to die if that girl hadn’t called out to him. Who is she anyway, I haven’t seen her before.”

“The companion I spoke of when I downed their aircraft,” Brilliant answered in a matter-of-fact way. “She also claims to have no knowledge of the Empire, but I’ve yet to test if she can damage my projections like the boy.”

“Then she’s harmless?”

“She saved your life General.”

Bowlings harrumphed loudly, but it was neither he nor Brilliant who spoke next. Rather, it was a deep woman’s voice that interrupted their conversation.

“And you nearly allowed her to be what ended your active service, Brilliant.”

“Hunter?” Bowlings asked surprised as he looked back to see a figure standing in the wreckage of the airship.

“Thorn, I was not expecting you to enter the mission field,” Brilliant replied with much less surprise at the horned figure.

Stepping away from the wreckage, with her hands clasped behind her back, Thorn the Crimson made her presence clear. Even without her heels she stood a quarter of a meter taller than Rosy, her faceless red helmet disguising any trace of what she was. Conversely, the spiked red armor she wore on her body over her red, tailed coat implied she could have been a quilled creature, but there was no way to be sure.

“I am here as a third party to assure the success of the mission,” Thorn reminded Brilliant of her role. “I’ve been scouring over your reports about the Ring Machines, and they did not match the data involving this Overgrowth.”

Stepping on a patch of grass that inexplicably grew on the black sand, Thorn ground it down with the steel toe at the end of her black legging and boot fused garment.

“What are you talking about Hunter?” Bowlings sought clarification from Thorn.

“The movements of the Stone Ghosts are focused on the Ring Machines based on their size, yet they move after that girl regardless. She is obviously the main target of whatever force is driving this vegetive phenomenon. If we are to save the Empire and understand it, then we must capture her.”

“You’ll likely have to get past that boy first,” Bowlings warned as he eyed the hedgehogs struggling to keep Rosy from being engulfed in the Darkness that made up Tempest’s right arm. “A task which may be even too much for you Hunter. Just look around you and see what he’s been able to do.”

“If he threatens the survival of the Empire, then he shall simply die here,” Thorn stated with little concern for Bowlings’ thoughts. She did not speak again until she was within speaking volume earshot of Tempest. “If you value your life, then surrender and turn over the girl to Imperial custody.”

“What?” Rosy and Tempest asked in unison as they turned to see the looming horned figure.

“What are you talking about?” Tempest managed a second question before finding himself lifted off the ground with a hand clasped around his throat. “Ghk?!”

“That was not the answer I sought,” Thorn informed Tempest, causally blocking his right hand with her left as he tried to strike her. Before he could withdraw it, she snatched it and bent his hand back, deepening his grimace of pain. “Your hostility shall only earn you a quicker death.”

“Get away from him!” Rosy demanded with a shout as she hurled herself at Thorn with a Spin Dash.

Things did not go as she expected though as Thorn would have broken Tempest’s neck if not for the explosion of Rings that threw him away from her instead. It mattered little as she shifted her attention to Rosy and kicked her up like a soccer ball before reaching into her spinning curled form and snatching her neck.

“Gah–!!”Rosy barely gasped as her attack was casually ended against her will.

“You need only be alive,” Thorn warned as she leveled a faceless stare onto Rosy. “That is all you need be.”

“I won’t let you hurt her,” Tempest butted in as he stretched his arm out and grabbed Rosy around the waist.

“Curious,” Thorn commented as she watched the crystals that erupted and crawled across Rosy’s body. “You truly are a problem. Then you have earned death without question.”

“T-empest… just run…!!!” Rosy barely managed to gasp out.

“Not without you,” Tempest gritted his teeth as he prepared to face Thorn, a number of Stone Ghosts closing in from all around.

Thorn did not answer as she turned her faceless gaze onto Tempest. At least not with words, as a toothy grin flickered into being on her helmet. ★

EPISODE OF JOURNEY’S BEGINNING 11 - END

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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 alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which 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”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, 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 regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.

Darkness greater than Darkness Giant spere resting in underground sea Ceiling of volcanic glass Molten rock Monolithic castle town Under water and distant ring like wall Stone brick staircase rising from the water Framework of stone awaiting it around the Darkness A cage like tower stretching far above

“Too much water,” Tempest moaned as he emerged from the water before spinning around and falling onto his back with his arms spread. Gasping for air, his eyes traced up the mysterious cage like tower stretching into the molten rock above. “A tower? That wasn’t there when I set out…”

Rolling over, Tempest forced himself unsteadily to his feet and took a better look at the structure. That it was large enough to contain the sphere of Darkness that was easily a kilometer in diameter was beyond impressive. How such a structure could stand was a question that surely would have raced through the minds of many, but Tempest’s thoughts were elsewhere.

“Did Rosy fight off more Guardians?”

“I can hardly guess as to who you’re speaking of boy, but you’ll see that the Empire’s forces can keep the troublesome stone constructs here at bay.”

“Bowlings!” Tempest shouted and lowered his gaze from the tower back to the top of the stairs.

Standing there with his arms behind his back and a mocking sneer pushing up his bushy mustache was indeed the general of the Empire. But there were none of the Armed Helms that Tempest had grown used to seeing with the general in their prior encounters. He was alone, yet his mention of them lured Tempest into scanning the environment where he did indeed spot them. The clockwork constructs hidden mostly within a great helm with arms, six-barreled flamethrower, and two-handed straight sword all held aloft on dragonfly like wings did indeed fill the air. They were not alone as the Guardians that had plagued his and Rosy’s journey through the Aqua Cell engaged them in combat, their larger size meaning nothing as neither party seemed capable of damaging the other. A sight Tempest found odd.

(I can get if Bowlings doesn’t know about the Ghost Stones of the Guardians, but why can’t the Guardians damage those flying helmets?)

“Impressed are you, boy?” Bowlings asked, unaware of why the light cast from the crystals growing from Tempest’s body would turn purple.

A spark of red cut through the purple light as Tempest was pulled from his thoughts and remembered he faced the man that had been bringing naught but destruction to Amnesia Island since his arrival. “I’ve wrecked more than enough of your tin cans to know they shouldn’t be putting up this good of a fight.”

“And that is why you are a threat to the Empire, boy, though your foolishness seems more genuine every time we meet.”

“Calling an amnesiac foolish seems pretty low,” Tempest gritted his teeth and dashed up the stairs.

The ability to reach speeds exceeding sound proved useless in allowing Tempest to catch up with Bowlings as the general vanished in a gout of flames as Tempest arrived. All he could do was bat away the remaining embers and again scan the environment around him. A series of ever higher stone Rings and stairs supported by monolithic yet intricate columns. All dominated by the sphere of darkness that the tower encircled.

“I’m far from here to fight today, boy,” Bowling’s voice mocked Tempest from above and he looked up to find the general perched on a higher Ring looking down at him. “Besides, my partner is still performing his investigation on the Machine God’s cocoon. It wouldn’t do to make a mess here of all places.

“The Machine God?” Tempest asked and risked a quick glance out of the corner of his eye at the sphere of Darkness and noted the panicking green fairies that flittered about desperately in the air. “So that’s it…?”

“I doubt you have any interest in it, boy, so you’re all but harmless here. But I will gladly kill you later.”

“Not if I can help it!” Tempest shouted and stretched his right arm out in a claw leading strike to where the general had been above him. But again, Bowlings disappeared in a gout of flame, and Tempest let out a minor oath.

“You’re wasting your time boy,” Bowlings’ voice echoed with laughter from somewhere above the black hedgehog. “You might as well enjoy the momentary reprieve you’ve been afforded. I wouldn’t want you to die at anything less than your best!”

Yet another oath fell from Tempest’s lips, and he quickly scanned his environment for where Bowlings could have been. Between the height of each ring of stone and the kilometer wide sphere of Darkness it was a vain effort.

“I don’t have time to deal with Bowlings. I need to find Rosy. Did she even get here yet?”

Remembering why he had made the sphere of Darkness his destination in the first place, Tempest sprinted around the lowest Ring of the tower for any sign of Rosy or Mote. But at every staircase like the one he escaped the water from, he found a series of Armed Helms ready to chase him back into the tower. They would have been just a minor inconvenience but destroying any of them would have forced Tempest to face a Guardian. Guardians were far more of a problem for Tempest and seeking out and destroying the Ghost Stones that gave them life consistently restructured the entire Aqua Cell. If he challenged them now…

“Now what?” Tempest asked aloud through gritted teeth as the light from his crystals had grown nearly entirely red with his frustration. “I’m trapped and can’t find Rosy from here. Maybe if I could get back to the last Ring Safe Point.

“?!”

The words barely left Tempest’s mouth before the purple light of confusion washed out the red that had been dominating his crystals. As he completed his loop around the tower, Tempest was greeted by the sight of a green Ring encircling a five-pointed star standing on end above a matching indentation in the ground. It was not a solid thing though, but more so a flickering hologram with the beam of light that cast it into the air serving as a lamppost of sorts.

“I didn’t even notice,” Tempest swallowed nervously as he approached the lamppost that marked a spot the Rings recognized as safe. “There’s no way back if this is here…”

“General,” the voice of Brilliant addressed Bowlings who sat high above in his floating chair that resembled a smile cut from a watermelon with a white rind. He had been waiting to hear the voice of the Projector and opened an eye. “The target has identified a Marker Ring as having been interacted with by themselves. The plan worked and we should be able to proceed with his elimination.”

“It’s about time,” Bowlings smiled sinisterly. “And your research?”

“The destruction of the island will not damage the Machine God or its cocoon. We will have to excavate, but your duties here will long be over by then.”

“Then let’s finally bring an end to this mission!”

Laughing all the while, Bowlings rose up towards the distant ceiling of the cave where an airship appeared out of thin air. The shimmering mirage like effect of its appearance belied its solid reality and Bowlings immediately made for the bridge.

“Begin Operation Caldera!”

“Initiating Operation Caldera,” Brilliant acknowledged the order in a vastly less excited tone of voice than Bowlings.

Above Amnesia Island in the late afternoon sky and below the Sky Ring, several more airships shimmered into the world. Unlike the research vessel where the massive Ring Machine that could take Rosy, Tempest, and Mote anywhere in the world, these were machines of war like the one already in the Aqua Cell. A place where many, many more were also appearing.

Like a submarine attached to the bottom of a steel cylindric balloon, the ring of black sails and giant propeller holding arms made them resemble a strange drone rather than the warships that they were. The opening of exterior shutters allowing for the deployment of massive cannons however quickly corrected that misconception. As the first shots were fired, Tempest found that he had a new problem as the distant ceiling of the Aqua Cell began to burst with lavafalls.

“What is he doing,” Tempest asked in wide-eyed shock as blinding bolts of purple light tore through the red light that his crystals were casting. “He’ll bury us!”

Little did Tempest know as he looked back at the Marking Ring that a fleet of matching airships opened fire on the island from above. In seconds the volley of destruction from above transformed the island into a hellscape that was quickly collapsing in on itself due to the destruction from below. Destruction that assured the loss of several Ghost Stones beginning the next massive transformation of the Aqua Cell.

“No! No! NO! NO~!!” Tempest yelled as the cage tower he had been trapped in began to disassemble itself, its transformation interrupted as massive chunks of volcanic glass and molten rock crashed down into the Aqua Cell.

The steam released from the sudden meeting of lava and water cost Tempest his Rings as he was hurled into the air. Fortunately for him he found solid footing on a rather sizable piece of volcanic glass held aloft by a block of monolithic castle town. That there were Stone Ghosts present also meant that there was a plentiful supply of Rings as the constructs attempted to save the Aqua Cell by converting the Rock once more into the Rings that comprised it. Tempest could hardly see his good fortunes however as he was full of rage marked by the red glow of his crystals.

“Bowlings, you better hope that Rosy makes her way out of this or that I find her okay!”

His words escaping through bared teeth, Tempest took off and began his ascent of where rising castle town was destroyed as it met falling volcanic cavern. But neither of those, the Stone Ghosts, Armed Helms, or even trapped airships that turned their cannons onto Tempest managed to slow him down. The same of which could be said for the sphere of Darkness that rose from its decimated cell and headed straight for the Sky Ring that loomed impossibly large in the skies above Amnesia Island. An island that was quickly becoming a ring of molten earth in the ocean.★

EPISODE OF JOURNEY’S BEGINNING 10 - END

-----

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 alternate universe (AU) consumer written work of fiction is a non-profit transformative work primarily for personal use and IP research which 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”.

The Sonic Ring Bond AU and Sonic Ring Bond story are the creation of Joshua David Tarwater/ynymbus/sonicfanj/@Joshtarwater and is to be, including all contents herein, regardless of creator, context, use/ function, intent, and time of creation, considered for all legal purposes without contest, compensation, employment, or offer of employment, liability, etcetera, 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 regardless of having read or possessing awareness of this disclaimer.