Author's Note: Chris' Story started as a collab between myself and a friend. As a Sonic the Hegehog fanfic based off of the Archie Comics continuity, this story gets pretty bad later on, what with plot holes, cliché elements and questionable characterization (it never gets horrendous, though). But I had fun writing it, and that's all I wished to do. So, without further ado, here's Chris' Story.

Chris' Story

Chapter 1

August 3rd 2009 – Calaway Park, Alberta – 4:54 PM

"Here's your prize, kid," I said as I handed a plush doll to the eleven-year-old boy who managed to win the plinko game.

"Yay!" he cheered as he grabbed the stuffed dolphin and hugged it practically to death. His father smiled and held the boy's hand as the two walked off cheerfully; Just two loving family members having a fun day at the theme-park.

Not me. I smiled at the father-and-son walking off in the distance, and then went back to grumbling like I usually do. "God, this job sucks," I muttered.

My name is Chris Derreson. I'm just an average teenager trying to work a part-time job at an amusement park to make some cash. After the horrible conditions from the previous year working at the Calgary Stampede (my city's annual week-long attraction) working as a park greeter, I wanted to stay as far away from that job as possible. To be fair, this new occupation as a game-worker wasn't nearly as bad as last year's, but it was still incredibly repetitive and boring. I was just glad my shift was almost over. Honestly, there just wasn't much that really made me happy these days.

I sighed and took a photo out of my pocket, despite the fact that I knew very well it would only make my mood worse. I looked at the photograph like I had done many times before; two teenagers sitting down at a table in a pizza restaurant, smiling at the camera. The person on the left was me; despite the picture being more than a year old, I still had the same messy chestnut hair and greenish-hazel eyes, and I was wearing my favourite hockey jersey. The picture also revealed that I wore braces back then.

The person on the right was what I was focusing on; a teenage girl, almost a year younger than I was. She also had chestnut hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing a pair of glasses that covered her brownish eyes. A huge smile was plastered across her wide face; like me, she used to have braces, but hers were gone shortly after, as well. As I held the photo, I couldn't stop staring at this girl.

Erin Bruce.

Erin and I had met back in junior high school, and we steadily became good friends. Of course, we had our differences; although we were both on the nerdy side, I was the kind of guy who liked firearms and violence, usually kept to myself, and preferred the more "black and white" subjects like math or science (I still am, actually). Erin was more social than I, was more into the "artsy" subjects like LA and plain old art, and she was also a huge fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. To this day, I still honestly believe she was discretely trying to convert me into a fan, as well (I wouldn't have even known that a comic existed if not for her).

Last December, right after her 16th birthday party even, Erin disappeared; Vanished completely without a trace. Her mother went hysterical, and despite the efforts of the police and everyone who knew her, myself included, we never even came close to finding her. If it wasn't for her mother's persistence, the cops probably would've given up long ago, and even now there are only a couple still on the case.

I put the photo back in my pocket because my eyes were starting to water. I still couldn't believe something like this could actually happen, let alone to a friend I cared deeply about. Erin, I thought, what happened to you?

I shook my head and tried to clear these thoughts. My shift was almost over, and I was planning on taking the bus home to see if my friend Jason could hook me up with some more rifle ammo. As I casually looked out of my booth into the park, I saw crowds of people all around; there were people leaving the park, people just coming in, people heading to the more thrill-ride populated side, people entering the gift-shops, people everywhere.

That's when I saw it; a group of about twelve people were walking on the bridge separating the games area and the log flume. By the way things looked, only a couple of them were actually together; the rest were just travelling in the same direction. For some reason, the group had caught my eye. I examined the group more closely when suddenly… no, it couldn't be!

Erin?

There was a girl in the group, about sixteen. She wasn't looking at any of the others, but I saw her head turn, and even from afar, I could pick off that she had a pony tail and was wearing glasses.

I shook my head again. Who am I kidding? I thought to myself. On several occasions over the past two-thirds of a year, I thought I had seen Erin multiple times; they always turned out to be false-alarms.

But still, I suddenly thought, I've just got this… gut-feeling. I gotta check it out. I looked at my watch and cursed; I still had four minutes left on my shift. If I factored in that time with how long it would take me to change out of my work uniform, I'd probably lose all sight of her.

I looked back up at the girl, and sighed with relief; she was getting in line for the log flume. Good, I thought. That means I have at least twenty minutes to get over there. Still, I should probably get changed as quickly as possible, just in case. I placed an "out to lunch" sign over my stall, and quickly scurried off to the employees' change-room.

I was fully changed into my casual wear about ten minutes later, and I quickly scurried off to find that girl I saw. I just had to see if it was Erin. When I arrived at the log flume, I didn't bother searching through the queue; she would've at least gotten to the indoors part of the queue by now. Instead, I looked at the logs in action on the ride; she would show up on one of them eventually.

After about three minutes, I saw another log come around the corner, and I saw her; I still couldn't tell if it was Erin, but it was definitely the same girl. I stared at the log as it was carried up the hill, went though a short water-way, and then finally came splashing down a minute later.

As the splash started to part, I stared even closer; I would be able to get a good look at her at this distance. As the splash fully parted, I moaned in disappointment; it wasn't Erin. This girl's face was too long, and her hair was black, not chestnut.

I turned around, planning on buying a sno-cone before I left, when I accidentally bumped into someone. "Oh, jeez!" I cried, and I heard her yell in surprise, too. "I am so sorry about…" I started, when finally I got a good look at the person's face. "Erin?"

She looked back up at me with those same glass-covered eyes I hadn't seen in months, and she recognized me, too. "Chris!" Erin replied in surprise. "Um, hi…"

We just stared at each other for a good ten seconds, and suddenly, something in me snapped, and I reached out and squeezed Erin around the middle with a hug.

"Ow!" Erin yelled. "Geez, someone missed me. This is the fifth death-hug I've gotten today."

I finally let go of her after about a minute. I started sputtering concerns and questions uncontrollably. "E-E-Erin," I stammered. "I can't believe this! What happened? Are you okay? Where were you? And…" I paused and took another look at her. On her right arm was some sort of mechanical device that gave it the appearance of looking like a robot's. "What the hell is that thing?"

Erin looked at me uncomfortably, and then casually glanced down at the device on her arm while twitching her fingers. "Um, I'd rather not say," she told me.

"What do you mean you'd rather not say?" I almost yelled back at her. Great; Here I was, ecstatic that a friend who had been missing for months had suddenly reappeared, and now I was this close to actually yelling. "You've been gone for more than half a year, and you just think people will accept if you don't tell them anything?"

Erin looked around nervously, and then an expression appeared on her face that told me all too well she was thinking something over. Finally she said, "Come with me," and started to pull me out of the crowd.

"Ow!" I yelled as I bumped into a huge crowd. "Where are we going?" I asked her.

"Getting someplace private," Erin answered without looking back. I continued slamming into people as she kept pulling me.

Eventually, she had dragged me into a tight alley section between a couple of buildings. "Alright, Chris, listen," Erin started to explain. "What I'm about to tell you, you can't tell ANYONE. And even then, I can't tell you the entire story, anyways."

"Why not?" I asked. "Why can't I tell anyone and why can't you tell me everything?"

Erin sighed. "Because it's really private and creepy, and you probably wouldn't believe it, anyways," she explained. "Now listen; you see this thing on my arm?" She showed me the mechanical device again.

"Yes," I answered, staring at it.

"It's called a chaos dampener," she told me.

"Oh, okay," I responded. Then I shook my head and said, "Wait, what?"

Erin sighed again and pulled off the device, the "chaos dampener", whatever that was. The moment it was off, an aqua blue aura erupted from her bare arm like flames. The brightness of it was almost enough to blind me, although I was able to see that her fingers on that hand were closer to claws.

Erin reattached the "chaos dampener" thingy to her arm, and I could feel my eye twitch involuntarily. "You know what?" I suddenly blurted. "On second thought, I don't want to know everything."

"Long story short, I was experimented on by a mad scientist," Erin told me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I guess you were right about me not believing everything," I commented. "I'd have trouble believing the abridged version if you hadn't shown me… that."

"That's not all," Erin said darkly, as she turned around and lifted up her shirt, revealing her back.

"Oh!" I suddenly yelled, and I cringed simultaneously. Her back was covered with bloody wounds and scrapes. They looked old and had the appearance that they were starting to heal over, but they still looked painful. "Ouchies," I commented.

"Yeah, that's what whipping will do to a person," Erin commented quietly as she put her shirt back down.

"Does, uh… anyone else know about this?" I asked nervously.

"Just my parents," Erin admitted. "No one else knows."

My God, I thought. Erin's back, but… by what she's telling me, she's gone through hell. I mean, she looks the same… mostly, but she barely sounds like she used to. What, a mad scientist experimented on her? If that's true, I don't think I want to be around much…

"Chris?" Erin suddenly spoke up.

"Huh?" I suddenly snapped back to attention.

"You okay?" Erin asked.

"Oh, I'm fine," I responded. "Just thinking… and just relieved that you're back in one piece… more or less." Erin chuckled slightly at that comment. Finally, I said, "Well, would you like to go on the roller coaster before we head home?"

Erin grinned. "Hell yeah!" she replied.

"Then let's go!" I chanted, and we rushed off to the towering thrill ride.

Closing notes: Yeah, nothing real fanfic-ish happens in this chapter. That stuff comes at about chapter 3. But it's a decent way to start, I think.

I NEED CRITICISM!