Hm… Seems I've decided to upload something. Admittedly, I probably shouldn't have, but hey! I did. What'cha gonna do about it?

So. This idea came to me (several different times, actually) and though, "Wow, that's cool! I should write that!" And here we are. Now; if anyone reading this has checked out my profile, or will/is going to/might later, you'll notice that in the notes I had for this, I jokingly called this "Sonic pulls a Shadow". Well, I have a document saved in my folder with that exact name and stuff. To anyone that has no interest in my somewhat lengthy 'file, here's the notes, straight from the Word document on my computer:

Before you ask, yes, this IS a Sonic amnesia fanfic, and NO Sonic's not gonna be emo or pervy or anything else. A bit immature, yes… In my eyes, before it had a title, I jokingly named it "Sonic Pulls a Shadow". But I had difficulties trying to wrack my brain for a good title. I was thinking about 'sound', 'memories', and 'blank', and came up with something halfway decent. And I didn't think that "Past the Speed of Sound" would fit a story like this… Anyway, I really like the ideas/concept behind this story, and the interesting dynamic makes it a story I really hope to finish. It's more along the lines of a canon-esc story (set more along the game lines with elements from the OVA and Sonic X).

So, I repeat: YES, this is a "Sonic gets amnesia" kind of fanfiction. He'll be a bit OOC, but hopefully I can convey my points clearly without making it too awfully apparent. That, or make it look like I'm trying too hard.

I wasn't going to have a prologue and was gonna jump straight into chapter 1, but it's late and I needed to write something; that, and this really helps to widen the exposition and the character development.

I had fun searching up synonyms. I like synonyms. They're my friends.

If any of this doesn't make sense, then blame it on me. Straight up – It's 5:40 AM and I've been writing this since about 3 or 4. . Yeah, so wut.

I wrote these first three lines a couple weeks ago and thought they'd make for a good introduction. Whatever; maybe they are, maybe not. I'm tired. But we have no coffee. Oh- coffee sounds niiice… I have a Dr. Pepper. That's good, too. I'll stop now.

Oh- a Merry Christmas, and happy reading! This may look intimidating now, but no worries! There'll be plenty of action and adventure later; just stick with me and I'll show you what this story's made of!

Disclaimer: Disclaiming disclaimer is disclaiming!

That Moment of Silence Before Everything Moves

Prologue

Finally… after years of trying to destroy his enemy, he finally found the solution for his problem. It seemed so deceptively simple, yet…

It seemed way too easy.

But…crazy enough to work. Besides – "Crazy" seemed to fit his foe to a perfect T.

o0o

He was running; trying to work off some built stress. He had just gotten out of an argument – one decidedly uncalled for – and felt like letting the early summer/late spring smooth his nerves and smoother his frayed patience. He felt his needed this run. He'd been too high strung for the past couple weeks and then one of his best friends comes to visit and starts to cause trouble. And then, to top it all off, another of his friends – this one with a bit too much interest in him – comes to pester him about something he rather wouldn't go through. It also didn't help that this friend, the same one that caused the irritating mess, just recently had his 17th birthday, roughly a month before his own 16th. Speaking of which, said important date was close to two weeks away and because of that, he was in a weird, mixed up mood. He wasn't sure if he should be excited to be celebrating his – supposedly – "Sweet Sixteen" or on high alert for any incoming threats.

Thus, it was enough to say that Sonic's mind was thoroughly mussed and confused. Of course, when a brain works as fast as his, it was no wonder. He was used to sorting out mental issues quickly and effectively. So when these lingering thoughts and recent events didn't organize themselves neatly into the folds of his psyche, he was disoriented and scatterbrained. He'd distanced himself from his companions for the past month or so, sensing a bitter wind on the horizon that made him shudder in the cold. He could just feel that something bad was going to happen very soon and he hoped that whatever it was, they would all be prepared for it. Nothing was more important to Sonic than making sure his friends were unharmed.

But that didn't stop the creeping sensations that he got from thinking ahead. Ever since his rise into heroics not quite so long ago, Sonic always placed others before himself. Coming from a childhood where getting by was tough enough, he had constantly thought that his own existence was insignificant but his strong will to survive kept his lift from being snuffed out by old suppression. In the start, when it all begin, he could care less if he died doing what he felt he was at least halfway responsible for, and if he died doing what he loved best, then more power to him. But ever since his panicked escape from South Island in the tiny bi-plane he happened upon, and ever since he met Tails, he felt- no, he knew he had to keep going; if not for himself, then for the tiny kitsune that had nowhere else to turn. Their backgrounds weren't much different. Sonic himself had been a bit more sheltered but also a number of years older. That led to the only possible result, in the hedgehog's mind. The kid had been exposed to a lot less in a short amount of time.

Sonic had been around ten years old when he first began his mission into heroism and chased the evil mastermind all around the place his grew up. By the time he beat the bloated villain, he was closer to eleven. That didn't stop him from rigging up the Tornado and hitching a one-way ride out of there and to the nearby Westside Island. As freaked out and shattered as his fragile childish mind had been at the time, it was no small miracle that he had managed to fly the rickety aircraft and not crash – that is, until the ground was in sight and his panic conveniently blanked his memory on landing procedures…

Around a week later, he had managed to right the plane (which he still wasn't sure how he managed that at the age of ten) and was off on another scavenge for food and supplies, when he ran into Tails. Back then, the fox was little more than skin and bones, but yet he was (unchangingly) the smartest little 3-going-on-4 year old he'd ever situated his eyes on. He'd caught the child in the act of painting the Tornado and going by the tools laying all around the genius, he'd fixed the parts that Sonic himself had given up on forcing into operation. The opened panels were all closed and the entire body polished and looking close to brand new – not counting, of course, the slightly bent and warped propeller. Sonic had been in disbelief at the time, and still incredibly unstable from his previous escapades, but (at the time, admittedly unwillingly) let the younger stay with him, not trusting the others' odds for survival alone in the jungle.

So for the next three months, Sonic had allowed the fox to camp out with him and gave him his namesake nickname after learning of real name. (Although the fox had been generous to give out his true birth name, Sonic was frantically trying to hide and erase the idea of his own birth name – a title he had hated the majority of his short life and was more than happy to be rid of; he liked his self-proclaimed nickname tons more.) And around the date of the hedgehog's eleventh birthday, the doctor decided to try and resume his evil plans in the exact same place that he himself was currently residing in. At the time, he had full intentions of leaving and taking the kit to another Island or maybe even the mainland and placing him in the care of an orphanage – he was eleven years old; he wasn't a babysitter! But the smaller had taught him of his signature "Spindash" as they called it, and he supposed that maybe an orphanage wasn't the best idea. So, however reluctantly, he let Tails tag along.

As they made their way to Metropolis Zone, the unlikely pair became the best of friends. They both owed each other their lives and then some several times over. And when his – no – their plane got hit and went down, taking the recently turned 4-year-old with it, Sonic about lost it. He was incredibly tore up and when he was finally face to face with the lunatic human in the final Death Egg Zone… Well, he supposed that was part of the reason he could reach the Super Sonic state in the first place. Until that point, the Chaos Emeralds were nothing more than incredibly power, incredibly shiny gemstones that felt warm to the touch. The sense of victory and the thrilling rush of adrenaline when he destroyed Robotnik's mechs made him rethink what he had to live for; and when he finally came back down to the planet below, and discovered Tails alive and mostly well, he was so overjoyed that he felt he might explode. And for a few days after, he felt he still might, as he was still on a sort of hyper-sensitive high from the Chaos energy that was coursing through his veins for no longer than a few hours.

After they had both recovered and wound down a bit, they made a unanimous decision to leave Westside and travel around. They spent several months just wandering around and flying where ever the wind took them, until they happened upon Angel Island and its lone guardian, Knuckles. The last of his kind, Knuckles was quick to temper and always the first to throw a punch. It didn't help that Robotnik had found him first and conned the solitary echidna that Sonic and Tails were the enemies and the doctor was nothing but generous. Thus began their newest adventure; recollect the Chaos Emeralds and make their way unharmed into the heart of the floating island. After painstakingly making it the Launch Base Zone and avoiding the many traps and defenses the Emerald guardian established, the dynamic duo managed to force the criminal into submission and force his broken version of the truth out. They had then tried to chase him down, but their plane was too far away, and the fat man had already taken air.

Knuckles had joined their small crew then, though it was with some hesitation. He hadn't wanted to admit he was wrong, and just like any other 13 year old, he was stubborn to boot. As soon as the human made himself re-known, the red one was just as quick to help them defend his home. He assisted them in traveling through the other half of the island in the sky and when they reached Hidden Palace, he had made the mistake of going straight for the Master Emerald instead of trying to take out the Egg-mobile. In turn, Robotnik had taken precautions and electrocuted the mammal. The removal of the Master Emerald was unbelievably dangerous as the entire landmass would drop out of the sky. But this all happened after the Chaos Emerald had reacted in their mystifying ways to the mother of all Chaos jewels in its shrine in the 'Palace. According to the echidna, the smaller Emeralds only reacted this way with direct contact with the Master when it was in the Hidden Palace shrine. If contact is made when it's on the Master alter (which wasn't underground like the shrine), the only thing that would result was sizable expansion of the energies that would temporarily fry the senses and numb the nerves. Sonic wasn't sure he wanted to know how the older knew this.

But as it was, Knuckles used the remainder of his strength (and consciousness, as the two later found out) to see them through the Sky Sanctuary Zone and onto the Death Egg Zone once more. Sonic and Tails tracked Robotnik down and bested the bosses and were sure they won; until the villain escaped out into what was dubbed the Doomsday Zone. Sonic trekked on from this point alone, as he ordered Tails (in a nice-so-nice tone) to stay where he was and to make his way back down to the floating island. As expecting, passage through the Doomsday Zone was difficult, but Sonic found that his newfound Hyper Sonic form made it increasingly easier than the Super Sonic did. He dodged and blasted his way past dozens of meteors and finally reached the fleeing monstrosity. He successfully destroyed it and relieved it of the Master Emerald and made his way back to the planet's surface. The Emerald was replaced in the shrine, the Chaos Emeralds returned to their former glory, extra powers worn out, and the island regained its rightful place in the sky.

For a while after, Sonic and Tails were allowed to stay on Angel Island, but it wasn't long before Sonic took the Tornado and took off again. This time, he found that Robotnik had a nasty plot for the Little Planet using these small little gems called the Time Stones. But the evil genius had something more deadly up his red sleeves. He had constructed another robotic replica of Sonic; but instead of just being an annoying nuisance like the previous, this one was extremely dangerous. Added to the mix was "Rosy the Rascal" (though Sonic doubted that was her real name), a somewhat annoying and not entirely unwelcome addition that formulated into one bad concoction. So unexpected were the girl and robotic copy, that after the fairly strange passing of the Palmtree Panic and arriving in the Collision Chaos that he could only stare in dazed awe as 'Metal Sonic' kidnapped the female and taken her hostage. His route through the remainder of the Zones passed similarly to the first two. That is, until reaching the Stardust Speedway and having to complete in an intense battle of speed against his metallic counterpart. Though he managed to beat the robot and defeat Robotnik while simultaneously rescuing the eight year old.

After assuring her safety, he took the Tornado back to Angel Island and was promptly scolded and hit respectively. But after telling the two the trouble he found, they agreed to let him slide past with the move he pulled. The duo stayed on Angel Island a while longer before taking off again. They soon found the Mystic Ruins and settled there for a while and eventually built a home and workshop there. Over the next few years, they would meet many more new faces and make many more new friends. Each would be brave and true and willing to do anything for each other and especially Sonic (well, most of them). Though it was never really said by, well, anyone, it was deadly obvious who the apparent leader was. Sonic was the one that held everyone together and kept them all form conflicting too awful much. They would all go on many new adventures and see many new places, but they were all Heroes, and they were on Sonic's side; and Sonic made the impossible possible. It was a small in-crowd rumor that Sonic possessed some sort of mystical ability for keeping people together or even for inspiring hope. But to Sonic, he was just fighting for something to live for.

And though no one ever knew it, when the hedgehog was completely alone, he was hurting. His childhood was ripped so suddenly away from him. But unlike the rest of the group of members younger than him, he never had anyone to look up to. He was the one looked up to. He was never able to sit back and let someone else do it because he was either too scared or felt too unsure about doing something. Everyone always turned to him when things got too rough to handle. The children of the group (Cream, Charmy, Tails and Amy) always looked up to him (or Big or Vector/Espio, respectively) and he never wanted anyone to feel hurt or upset. He had a great deal of compassion to all living things, though he wasn't afraid to fight for what he believed in or what he felt was right.

The snarky grin he kept pasted on at all times was a comfort Zone. Whenever things got too rough to too tense or serious, Sonic would always try to make a big joke out of it. In order to keep himself from falling apart like he did not so long ago, he strengthened his resolve, gathered his wits, pushed it all into the 'filing cabinets' of his mind, and tried to be funny. He called it his way of coping and dealing with stress in the comfort of his own mind. Not that anyone'd believe that he was at any point in time reduced to a paranoid, sniveling and desperately miserable child that saw no point in moving on. Before, his only will to live was that if you were to die, you'd stop running. His motto for the longest time was, "Never turn back, keep on running, speak with your heart, and live life, because the possibilities are endless." His life was reaching adulthood and he never had the chance to really sit back and watch time pass by.

But then again, Sonic was never much one for standing still.

Sonic realized that his trip down memory lane had majorly distracted him from his surroundings. As he looked around he saw that he was at the edge of a forest after just crossing a large, open field. He stood there blankly for a moment, trying to catch his bearings. He was about to turn and run back the way he came (and hopefully make it back before the sun rose) when a tiny pin prick touched his neck. Thinking it to be a tiny insect for a moment, he furrowed his brow in annoyance and grumbled for a second. But he soon realized that it was no bug as he began to feel nauseous and tired. He collapsed in a heap of limbs and quills before he could take a step and he felt his eyelids get heavy. All he could see was blurry shapes and a mess of smudging and rapidly darkening colors. A soft chortle reached his ears and it took everything he had to mumble a broken, "Eggman…"

And then the world faded into nothing.

Dun dun duuuuun! And so we end with the most clichéd passing out ending line in the history of writing. But I'm just original like that.

Note: I've never played Sonic CD past Collision Chaos, so sorry if any of that sounds weird. I've also never played Sonic 2 past Metropolis, but I have beaten Sonic 3 & Knuckles (using Save States-hurrhurr I'mma cheater. XP)

And anyone who can tell me the sources of the lines in the "motto" gets a prize. A simple one that you get to name; a quick sketch of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Shadow; a short drabble about a plot/idea of your choosing; or a small cameo in a story of mine (likely this one or TBotHaV). Remember; you have to tell me the immediate source of the lines and/or what game. If you send in a review (hinthint) I can give you a hint of you need it. So, good luck and happy guessing! ((Me likes this motto. It's now mine as well. (smiles))

What'dja think of my theories? I think they ROCK. Whatever. This could be the exhaustion talking (almost put "dropping"). I need to go to sleep. Good night. ((drops dead asleep))