| Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic and the Tales of Deception |
— | Next book >> |
Sonic and the Tales of Deception[1] is a paperback book for 7-10 year olds published by Penguin Young Readers Licenses. It contains three original stories.
Official solicitation[]
- Time machines! Nanobots! Mind control!
- Strange things are happening to Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, and there can be only one dangerous genius who's responsible for them... Dr. Eggman!
- Longtime players and a new generation of Sonic fans will love these fast-paced adventures of an iconic digital hero!
Featured stories[]
Not-So-Fantastic Journey[]
Synopsis[]
Sonic and friends fight off Dr. Eggman's robot army in a city. When it appears that they have won, Eggman releases a swarm of robot bees to sting Sonic and inject him with nanobots to convert him into a robot at the cellular level. Sonic simply stares at the approaching swarm until Knuckles pushes him out of the way and gets stung instead. The others take Knuckles to Tails' lab, where Tails suggests they use his Super Shrink Ray to enter his body and destroy the nanobots. Meanwhile, Eggman laments that his bees missed their target, but takes comfort in knowing Sonic will suffer anyway as his friend disappears.
Tails shrinks Sonic to microscopic size, picks him up with tweezers, and drops him onto a metal spot on Knuckles' arm so he can step inside. Using a digital map, he locates Knuckles' nerves and runs along them towards his brain, destroying nanobots along the way. Eggman takes notice back at his hideout and orders the nanobots to attack him, pleased that he might get his initial target after all.
Sonic reaches Knuckles' neck and rides a gust of air from his lungs into his head. Inside the brain, he fights and destroys the nanobot queen, causing the rest to self-destruct. After exiting through his nose and returning to normal size, Sonic thanks Knuckles for taking the hit for him; Knuckles assures that he knows Sonic would do the same, but complains that he can still feel his footsteps on his spine.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Amy Rose
- Dr. Eggman
- Badniks
- Robot Bees (only appearance)
- Nanobots (only appearance)
- Other unnamed Badniks
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Sonic the Hedgehog
Trivia[]
- The title of this story is a callback to the title of the 1966 American submarine science fiction adventure film, Fantastic Voyage.
Fighting Shadow[]
Synopsis[]
On a night where he is more tired than usual, Sonic dreams of fighting Eggman's machines and beating the mad doctor for good, despite not liking sleep. Miles away, Eggman begins to activate his latest creation: a mind control device he intends to use on Sonic. The first phase of his plan had gone smoothly, as he had blasted sound waves that have left the hedgehog unable to stay awake. The deranged scientist puts the finishing touches on the device, adjusting it to transmit an audio frequency that only Sonic can hear. When the sound reaches Sonic's brain, he is startled awake and tries to resist it, but he is too late. Within seconds, Sonic succumbs to the mind control device's frequency and becomes Dr. Eggman's loyal minion instead of his hated enemy.
Under the mad scientist's orders, he travels to Eggman's lair and becomes eager to aid him in taking over the world. His memories of fighting Eggman and his robots now feel wrong to him, making him relieved that Eggman had freed him from his past. With Sonic now as Eggman's chief enforcer, the doctor informs Sonic that he will command twenty robots in an attack on the beachfront outside of the city to send a message to all of Eggman's enemies. Sonic is happy to oblige, believing the task to be fun.
Hours later, Knuckles and Amy alert Tails of an attack on the beachfront and tell him that they have been unable to find Sonic anywhere. Deciding to fight the robots without him, the heroes take off in the Tornado and head for the beach. While fighting back against the robot onslaught, Knuckles spots a familiar blue blur and calls out. Just as he does so, Sonic races for the Tornado and jumps onto the nose, grabbing the controls from Tails. Amy cries out for him to stop, and for a moment Sonic breaks out of his trance, releases the controls, and retreats with the remaining robots in tow. Tails brings the plane in for a landing while Amy and Knuckles express their sadness and anger of Sonic's "betrayal".
Tails remembers Sonic's expression and the look in his eyes, deducing that something is wrong with him. Amy pleads with Tails that there has to be a way to bring Sonic back to his normal self. Luckily, Tails has an idea: if they need to fix Sonic, they need to understand his thoughts. And there's only one person who knows that.
Tails, Amy, and Knuckles manage to track down that one person: Shadow the Hedgehog. They explain the situation to him, but Shadow is uninterested in helping them. Knuckles steps in and claims that Shadow is like an "Evil Sonic" and thus, he knows how Sonic thinks. If he does not help him, Eggman will rule the whole world with Sonic by his side. This earns Shadow's attention, as he dislikes being compared to Sonic. However, the Ultimate Lifeform has a respect for the Blue Blur, and if Eggman had done something to him, then it needed to be corrected. Finally, he agrees to help.
Back at Tails' workshop, Shadow reminds the group that he is only here to provide information and not formulate a plan. He asks Tails how Eggman was able to make Sonic work for him in the first place. Tails explains that he searched Sonic's home but found no evidence of a struggle. This leads him to believe that Eggman had used a sound-wave device that emitted a frequency that only Sonic could hear, and those soundwaves carry subliminal messages into Sonic's head and "re-wired" him. Thanks to this, Shadow realizes that Eggman has Sonic under his control and his orders are in Sonic's mind. Luckily, Tails has an invention that blast sound waves of the opposite frequency, cancelling out the device's control over Sonic. Unfortunately, it has a limited range and needs to be within a couple of inches of Sonic for it to work. And Shadow might be the only one fast enough to get close to Sonic.
Shadow becomes annoyed at Tails' belief that Sonic could be faster than him, and he snatches the sound device from the fox just as an alarm goes off. Sonic has returned with more robots, this time attacking the heart of the city. Shadow races to the scene without a word, and as soon as he is gone, Knuckles asks Tails why he didn't tell them of the countermeasure earlier. Tails smiles and says, "Did you really think Shadow would've come all this way just for that?"
In the middle of the city, Shadow confronts Sonic and his robot battalion, challenging him to a race. The two hedgehogs take off, but the robots interfere and manage to knock the sound device from Shadow's hand. While Tails, Amy, and Knuckles fight off the robots, Sonic picks up the device and asks Shadow what it is. Glaring at his rival, Shadow says that it's a device that makes him even faster than the Blue Blur. Buying the lie, Sonic turns it on and is immediately bombarded by the interference frequency. Both sound waves cancel each other out, freeing Sonic of Eggman's control. Ticked off, Sonic starts to race towards Eggman's hideout to destroy the mind control device when he notices Shadow starting to leave. Shadow explains that he was just there to get Sonic back to normal, but once Sonic says that Eggman could do the same thing to him, he agrees to join Sonic.
Unaware of Sonic no longer being under his control, Eggman is unprepared for the hedgehogs' arrival, who destroy the mind control machine in a blur. Eggman yells at the two that he'll get them for this, to which Sonic replies that he'll have to catch them first. As the two hedgehogs leave the lair, Sonic asks Shadow if he's up for a race, to which his rival obliges. As they speed off, Sonic is grateful for Shadow's help in freeing him... although he will never let him know that.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Amy Rose
- Dr. Eggman
- Badniks
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog
Doppelgänger[]
Synopsis[]
One day, Tails is working on a massive vehicle in his workshop while Amy and Knuckles assist him. When both of them ask him what it is supposed to be, Tails replies that it is going to be a solar-powered, tank-like ground vehicle. They then hear Sonic express his amazement for the vehicle, but when they turn to see their friend, they notice something is different about him: his blue fur is tinted grey, he is wearing an eyepatch, and his face appears worn. Upon further explanation, Sonic explains that he is from the future, which Tails finds difficult to believe thanks to the impossibility of time travel. When he asks Future Sonic as to how he got here, Future Sonic ignores the question and examines Tails' tech.
Just then, the present-day Sonic arrives at the lab and is stunned at the sight of the other Sonic. Future Sonic says that Tails had built a time machine, which allowed him to go back in time. When asked why, he says that in two days' time, Team Sonic will finally defeat Dr. Eggman once and for all, which will be "the most glorious victory in the history of all victories", which intrigues everyone except present Sonic. However, Future Sonic will not reveal how Team Sonic wins, but he does agree to help them prepare. Sonic's friends are easily won over, with Tails asking how he managed to build a time machine and Amy asking what will become of herself and Sonic in the future. Future Sonic refuses to answer any questions due to messing up the time-space continuum.
Sonic, on the other hand, becomes upset and suspicious. He feels like Future Sonic is replacing him and does not believe this is really his future self. Coming to the conclusion that this must be an impostor, Sonic sets out to expose him for whoever he really is. He confronts his doppelganger while Future Sonic is wowing his friends with stories from the future, challenging him to a race. Future Sonic is quick to boast of his superiority thanks to his age, furtherly irritating present-day Sonic. But right before the race begins outside, Future Sonic slips a small chip onto Sonic's shoe. When Tails blares the starting siren, the two hedgehogs speed through the hills, the beach, and through the city. Future Sonic manages to get the upper hand by using a wristband switch to surpass Sonic's normal speed, much to the Blue Blur's shock.
Future Sonic finishes the race in fifteen seconds, while present-day Sonic finishes in two minutes. Present-day Sonic is left gasping for air and Future Sonic tells him he won thanks to more experience, kicking Sonic in the foot as he does so. When Future Sonic leads everyone back into the workshop, Amy stays behind and asks Sonic if he is alright, since he has never been this winded before. Sonic expresses his suspicions about Future Sonic, saying he had to push himself to his limit only to still lose. Amy thinks it is nothing serious, since Future Sonic is better than him, and leaves. But right after she does, Sonic's feet begin to move on their own and he ends up running away from Tails' lab.
Back in the workshop, Tails gives Future Sonic a "refresher" on how the tank works while putting the finishing touches on it. With everything set for the final battle the next day, Knuckles leaves to train while Amy leaves to find Sonic and cheer him up. Future Sonic then gets a call on his communicator and departs to answer it in private. In the workshop's back room, he answers the call... and Dr. Eggman is on the other end. He explains to the scientist that he has access to Team Sonic's weapon and that the permanent running chip has been placed on Sonic. Eggman expresses delight in his greatest creation: a robot so lifelike that even Sonic's closest friends believe him to be an organic. After informing Eggman that the attack begins at dawn, Future Sonic hangs up... and sees that a petrified Tails had witnessed the entire conversation. Before the fox can escape to warn anyone, Future Sonic fires ropes from his right arm and ties up the fox, placing him in the closet.
After several hours, the running chip overloads and Sonic hurries back to Tails' lab. There, he finds and unties Tails, who reveals that Future Sonic is actually an advanced robot sent by Eggman. Sonic realizes that when Future Sonic kicked him, he activated the running chip. But there's even more bad news; Future Sonic had stolen the tank to use them against the heroes. Amy and Knuckles arrive and they are also brought up to speed, and Tails blames himself for teaching Future Sonic how to operate the tank. Quickly, Team Sonic follow the tank's tracks into the city just as dawn breaks over the city. Despite his friends' words, Sonic decides to face Future Sonic himself.
Future Sonic uses the tank to scare the population out of the city, leaving it ripe for Eggman to conquer. But when he detects Sonic approaching, he opens fire on the hedgehog. Sonic manages to reach the tank and make his way inside, wrestling his fake counterpart who boasts that he is better than Sonic in every way. The tank goes wild and blasts lasers everywhere during their struggle, and Sonic throws Future Sonic on top of the tank. Future Sonic gets the better of him and pins him to the tank, but Sonic kicks him away while saying that the real deal will always be better than a robotic replica. Before Future Sonic can retaliate, he trips over a large bolt and lands right in front of the tank, which crushes him beneath its treads. Sonic manages to shut the tank down, winning the day.
Back at Tails' workshop, Tails and Knuckles dismantle the tank in case Eggman tries to steal it again. Amy apologizes for not believing Sonic about Future Sonic's real motives, but Sonic brushes her off and says that he got to save the day like always. And better yet, everyone still has the chance to make their own future.
Appearances[]
Characters:
- Amy Rose
- Dr. Eggman
- Future Sonic (only appearance)
- Knuckles the Echidna
- Miles "Tails" Prower
- Sonic the Hedgehog