The Problem

It was on an ordinary day that our 'problem' started. Now, honestly, I don't understand how it was really a 'problem' as such. But then again, I'm the easy-going one, so what do I know?

A lot more than everyone else on the specific subject that we encountered, that's what.

I was on a run through the arctic, just enjoying what I felt to be a nice cool breeze. So far that day, nothing had gone wrong. Why should I begin to suspect something would, when everything was so perfect? I didn't know, I just worried about it, trying not to by slowing down and watching everything—the snow, the wolves running in the opposite direction, anything that could get my attention.

I have some notoriously accurate bad feelings, and at the moment I had one that was telling me something bigwas coming. I, of course, had no idea what it was, which irritated me to no end. Yeah, I was getting irritated, that should really tell you something wasn't right.

I finally gave up ignoring it and fell back on some mental training I'd gotten from Espio and Silver. What little psychokinetic abilities I had were put to use trying to get a mental picture of what could be wrong. All I got was a large abyss with glowing gray smoke coming out of it. Yeah, it was a great help…not. But I had gotten something, which was worth noting. Better than last time, at least, when all I got was black.

Hey, Dark, do you have any idea what might be wrong? I finally asked my darker half. Yeah, my dark side can talk to me. Maybe I'm crazy, but he's there alright.

'I don't know, Blue. You know I'm limited here in your head. Unless you wanna let me have control for a little while, there's not much I can do.' He replied.

Then I'll just deal. I don't really trust you outside of a fight.

'Suit yourself.'

In retrospect, letting him out might've prevented a lot of things later on, but can you blame me for being cautious about letting something like him out? Instead I just kept running. I eventually made it home, immediately going to Shadow. His bad feelings are just as accurate as mine.

"Hey, Shadow." I said, approaching him.

"Hello, faker." He nodded. His usual frown was deeper, his eyebrows were creased, and his eyes were even more alert than usual.

"I know that expression. You have a bad feeling about today too, don't you?" I asked, fidgeting slightly.

"Yeah… I just get the feeling that something incredibly horrid is going to occur today."

"So do I… So do I. Got any idea what it might be? I tried to get a mental picture of it earlier, but it wasn't anything useful."

"Not a clue. What about this mental picture? I might be able to interpret it."

So I told him. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I… can't make heads or tails of that. Maybe your kitsune friend can help you."

"Maybe."

Instead of going straight to Tails like I normally would have, I just wandered around, wondering what could possibly be wrong and what that abyss could possibly refer to. And that glowing smoke… It was all so confusing, I couldn't even begin to guess at it. Eventually I did mosey into Tails' workshop. He seemed pretty distracted, staring out the window and twitching occasionally. His namesakes were puffed up like bottlebrushes and his ears, despite the rest of him being pretty much still, were constantly twitching. And the hair on the back of his neck was standing on end, making him look kind of feral.

"Hey, Tails."

He jumped and looked at me. "Oh, Sonic! When'd you get here?"

"Few seconds ago… I've got a bad feeling, and by the looks of it, so do you."

He merely nodded, "Everyone's on edge today. And I can't figure out why, it's so weird… And if you've got a bad feeling, something is definitely going to go down."

"Yeah… Hey, can you help me decipher a mental picture I managed to get?"

"Sure." He listened intently while I told him. "I think I might know something about that… Let me check my computer, I'm pretty sure I saw a picture that was similar to that—"

He never got to finish his sentence, because as soon as he took a step, everything went white, then faded to black.