Authors note: All non-original characters property of their respective owners. Shade and Aero property of us!
Chapter 1: Out for a stroll…
It was another warm summers day on Mobius as the two creatures strolled through the forest. The taller one was more human-like than his black, feathered and smoking comrade, but the trio of tails twitching with every step, coupled with the moonlight hue of his skin, gave away that this was indeed no human.
The pair continued to walk in silence, the raven taking long draws from his cigarette. And as the pair came to a small clearing, the bird finally asked "Hey Aero, remember that one time at Revos?"
Aero the Highwind lit up with a grin "Sure I do, Shade. I remember you being drunk off your feathered butt!"
"Well, true, there was that. But I meant before that. Do you recall why we partied so hard that night?" Unlike his friend and brother in war, whose voice always reflected what he felt, Shade's voice was almost always calm, controlled and devoid of emotion. Just like a raven.
Aero scratched his chin as he pondered, and it came to him with a snap "Oh yea! That was when Robotnik sent all those swatbots after us, and we turned them all into WD-40!"
"Exactly" Shade replied. And just as fast as he had said it, a kunai tipped in plastique flew out from under his wing and struck one of the assassin robots that had been following them, exploding it into confetti.
And no sooner that Aero heard Shade's reply that he too sprang into action. With a leap over the raven, he focused several days worth of anger and frustration into his knuckles and punched right through the other robot, sending it flying toward the sunset.
The two warriors held their ready poses until it was obvious nothing else would spring out at them. Then, they both proceeded to burst out in laughter.
"Dude, that throw was SWEET! Where did you get more of those?"
"Same place I always do, Aero. But I think you might have beaten me with that fist of yours. I think that thing must be halfway to Cybertron by now."
The taller Highwind shrugged "Hey, its been a bad couple of days."
"Indeed sir. Feeling better now?"
"You bet, Shade"
The pair turned to face each other. And came the long-honored victory bow. In the time since its creation, this bow was more than a symbol of victory. For only the two finest warriors in all of existence could perform this bow. Both Aero and Shade took this gesture very seriously, and the many bodies of those who dare mocked it proved that.
The two held the pose until both began to burst out laughing. And so they began to walk again, Shade's cigarette secure in his beak and Aero grinning as he pondered his next furry conquest. Until the thought struck him.
"Hey Shade. How come you are always smoking that thing, and why cant I get a hit?"
The raven simply shrugged "Cause I'm special and you're not."
A pair of explosions stopped any further conversation.
Aero nearly jumped at the noise "What the holy hell was that?!"
Shade took to the air, and saw the smoke rising from the south "Dunno, but its coming from Knothole!"
The Highwind was off before the raven realized it, the ground itself sparking into embers in his wake "GOTTA… GET…TO… SALLY!!!!" he panted.
"Whoa!!!" Shade fluttered "get back here, numbnuts!" He took off after Aero, eventually matching his friend's speed, nearly losing grip of his light.
"Shade, can you see whats burning?"
As the raven climbed to survey, a familiar blue blur wooshed past both of them, followed by a massive sonic boom.
"Oh, no you don't Sonic!" Aero growled and kicked up his own boom to catch his old friend and rival.
Shade shrugged Dammed ground-pounders
Sonic was first into Knothole. All around, the villagers and Freedom Fighters were scrambling around to quell the fires caused whatever had exploded. In the middle of it all was Princess Sally, trying to bring order to chaos.
The blue hedgehog came to a screeching halt right in front of her "Hey Sall, what just happened?!!! I was on my way to the South Sea when…"
Before Sally could before reply, another echo grew from the forest.
"shhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!" In a flash of white and blue, Aero and Sonic were lying in a heap against a tree.
"Holy crap Aero! Didn't somebody teach you how to stop?!!" Sonic groaned.
"ME?!" he retorted, out of breath "YOU were ….the one who…. stopped! I was only… trying to help…and you were in my way!"
As the two speed demons bickered, Shade landed softly behind the Princess. "Please pardon our intrusion Sally"
Sally shrieked at the top of her squirrel lungs and leapt into the air, delivering a swift boot to the bird's beaked face. Shade stumbled backwards and tripped over a tree root.
"Ow!! I think you brode by node!!"
She gasped when she realized who it was "Shade!!! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up.
That's when it happened. As soon as her hand enfolded his wing, he felt the spark. And as he rose to meet her caring eyes, he felt his temperature rise with him.
With, those big blue jewels, she asked "Are you alright, Shade?"
The cracks in his voice were obvious "My dear princess, I think… I'm … on FIRE!!" Indeed, a small stream of smoke was emanating from his back where a few stray sparks had latched on to his feathers. Sally gasped and jumped back "Get some water over here, quick!!"
Shade swung his wings wildly about, and finally snuffed the embers out. Right before the villagers drenched him with a dozen buckets of water. It steamed off the raven's face and wings.
Yet another scream broke the few brief seconds of awkward silence. "AIEEEEEE!!! My house is burning!"" And out of one of the closest cabins bolted an orange blur. It was almost the same twin-tailed fox Shade remembered seeing many years ago. But something with much different than he remembered. Then again, I always thought that fox was too-high pitchd to be a boy Shade thought. Indeed, the small towel Tails wore protectively around her did nothing to hide her endowments.
The Highwind's eyes locked on to the figure, and he was instantly entranced. Aero was captivated by this beauty that stood before them. My god, she's beautiful! his mind screamed. It wasn't until Sonic poked him in the ribs that Aero heard the blue one complaining
"Dude, Aero, get off me!!!! That's disgusting!"
"Huh?"
Sonic gave him the dumbest look in a long time "Well, you're a little…excited"
That was when Aero noticed the massive bulge in his cargo shorts. "WAAAAAAGGGH!" He leapt up onto the nearest rooftop and held onto its chimney for dear life.
Meanwhile, Shade and Sally were busy sifting through the rubble.
"Rotor! Rotor! Where are you?!" Sally yelled.
Shade peeked his beak out of a ruined foundation "Princess, I've found the walrus! Summon help!" Indeed, Rotor needed it, as he was stuck under the ruins of his workshop.
With all his might, Shade managed to lift the pieces of rooftop off of the unconscious Mobian and hauled him outside. The medics arrived quickly, and quickly drug him to Dr Quack's clinic, which had suffered little damage.
"What a mess" Shade said
"So much for the new jetboard prototype" Sally replied as she sifted through the wreckage.
"All this for a simple jetboard?" Shade asked "Why, I know someone back on Rigel II that…"
His sentence was rudely interrupted by a massive wind.
Meanwhile, Aero still clung to the chimney, all the while still in awe of the beauty he saw on the ground.
"Aero, come down from there! I don't want you to fall and break something!" Tails yelled.
Yea right, the only thing I would break is you, Aero thought himself. (Bad Aero…BAD!smack)
The sudden gust of wind caught the villagers in surprise. It was strong enough to blow down the older buildings, yet graceful enough to lift Tails's towel right off her slender form.
Aero's eyes widened along with his grin, and the pressure from his grip and his pants was more than enough to crack the chimney into pebbles. The hapless Highwind fell to the ground head-first, and the wind carried him to Shade, who was shielding himself with one wing and caught Aero with the other.
"What the hell is doing this?!" Aero yelled.
"You mean, this isn't you?" Shade replied.
"Not this time! I don't have the Chaos Emerald!"
"Well, maybe we should consult…THAT!" Shade pointed, as the answer had presented itself in the form of one of Robotnik's warships hovering over their heads. Bristling with cannons and hyper-missile launchers, it spelled trouble for anything on Mobius.
Unfortunately for the warship, it had come alone.
"Alright Aero, Golan II, or Palm Isle?" Shade asked. Aero knew just what the bird meant, and only had to think for a second which solution would work.
"Looks like a Palm Isle to me." He replied.
Shade nodded, and grabbed Aero with one leg as he took off. The warship began firing at Shade before it would attack Knothole, just as Robotnik always had it do. Once he was high enough, Shade began to spin himself, flipping Aero end over end until he had enough speed built up to launch the Highwind straight at the enemy.
Once he was close enough, Aero began the patented Spinball, slamming into and through the power reactor, while Shade followed close behind, smashing through the command tower. The poor cruiser detonated in midair, but it exploded with far more ferocity than Shade or Aero could have guessed. Both were thrown in different directions by the shockwave. Aero was thrown through several buildings before slamming against the metal wall of a factory, losing consciousness on impact.
Shade's wings caught a lot of the effect, lifting the bird further in the air than he had ever been. In the last few seconds of awareness, Shade could've sworn he saw something among the blackness of space. An odd shape with forest green and cold grey skin.
Then Shade blacked out for the long road down…