I own none of the characters except for Linda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC'S POV ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A flash of light tore across the mountaintops. It screamed through cities and erupted through forests. It was the fastest thing on Earth—me!
I whipped around the world on my super-fast feet. It didn't matter that I couldn't really see anything going a thousand miles an hour, because I had already seen everything. China, Europe, Africa, I'd seen it all. I had been so bored these days with nothing to do. Strangely enough, Eggman hadn't been showing up to try and beat me. And Sam, the racer, had oddly lost interest in racing me.
At some point in time, I had suspected something was up. I mean, Eggman not coming after me; Sam not wanting to race me; it was totally off. But somewhere along the line, I had just dismissed it. My friends, especially Chris, said that I should stop for a while and 'rest'. But I can't rest; I'm a constant ball of energy. And you can't keep a ball of energy restrained. There's just no way.
The others always said to 'sit back, relax, and enjoy the things that are happening around you', but I never listened. So I would just run around the world a couple dozen times to pass the time—although only about five seconds passed by anyway.
So why did I go around looking for trouble? you might ask. Because I wanted thrill, I wanted adventure, I wanted something exciting to happen. That's why.
Adventure hadn't come in so long, I lost hope in it. I stopped wishing that it would come. I felt like the world was coming to an end.
And then…something amazing happened.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was running around the world, like I had said earlier, and looked up for no reason. I saw, in the sky ahead of me, something falling. I picked up speed and stopped on the spot directly under where the thing was falling. As it got closer, I saw that it looked kind of like a person.
"Wait a minute," I murmured, squinting, then shocked myself. "It is a person!"
I couldn't just let the person hit the ground, but I didn't know what to do. So I just held out my arms in an attempt to catch him or her, and closed my eyes. The next thing I knew, I was knocked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I woke up, my head hurt. I tried to sit up, but something was pinning me down. I looked down to see a white bat wearing a blue tube top, black rocker-girl pants, and black rocker-girl boots. At first I thought it might be Rouge in a new outfit, but then I noticed that she had a large bang with a purple stripe covering half of her face. She also had purple eye shadow and purple lip gloss, and she was thin.
'Who is this girl?' I thought to myself.
Then she stirred, and slowly fluttered her eyes open. When she saw me, she asked, "Where am I?"
Apparently when her vision cleared, and she saw me staring at her, she jumped up and started backing away quickly, but I tried to calm her down.
"Hey, hey, it's ok, nothing happened," I explained. "I was running and I saw you falling from the sky, so I ran over and caught you so you wouldn't die."
"Well, at least I know you're telling the truth," she commented.
Then she stumbled and started to collapse, but I caught her.
"We need to get you somewhere safe," I said, and picked her up and held her bride-style.
I ran at top-speed to Chris' house (mansion…whatever) and met Amy, Tails, and Cream in the living room. Cream was watching her favorite TV show, and Tails and Amy were bickering over who I would sit next to when I got back. When Amy saw me holding the strange girl, she jumped up and clasped her hands to her cheeks.
"Oh, my goodness!" she exclaimed, "what happened? Who is this?"
"I saw her falling from the sky, so I rescued her," I told them.
Then Tails jumped up also and cleared a path to the couch. "Lie her down, and I'll get Mr. Tanaka."
"And I'll get Ella," Cream said, unattached from her show.
They went in different directions as I placed the unconscious stranger on the couch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Will she be ok?" Cream asked as Ella placed a bag of ice on the girl's forehead.
"I'm not sure, dear," Ella answered. "She doesn't look so good."
The girl was as pale as her snow-white hair as she lied on the couch. Ella pulled a blanket over her and they left the room so to let her get better. I, however, stayed in the room with her. I studied her features.
She looked just like Rouge, only with a large bang and purple everywhere.
'Could this girl be her sister?' I thought.
She stirred under the blanket and made faces.
'She's dreaming,' I thought. 'But of what?'
Suddenly, the girl sat upright and let out a small scream. I jumped, but finally collected myself after I realized what had really happened. The girl buried herself in my chest, seeing as I was the only one there. She was shaking.
"Hey, what happened?" I asked softly as I put my arms around her in a hug.
"It was horrible. Horrible!" she cried.
I looked down and realized she really was crying.
"What was horrible?" I asked. "What did you dream about?"
Now she was calming down. She gently pushed away from me and sat upright. Then she took a deep breath.
"I dreamt about what happened to me."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We all sat around her, each of us a cup of hot chocolate in our hands. We listened closely, interested to hear what had happened.
"So there I was, on Dr. Eggman's hovercraft-thing. My partner was holding a gun, and pointing it at Dr. Eggman. He had already destroyed the other two bots, and now he wanted to kill Eggman. I tried to stop him, but I wasn't fast enough, and Dr. Eggman was killed. Then my partner turned to me and was about to shoot me as well, but I stopped him that time. I slapped the gun out of his hand; but he didn't care, because he knew he could kill me anyway. So he kicked me in my head and knocked me out, and I fell off the hovercraft. The next thing I knew, I was alive, and staring into the eyes of my rescuer—Sonic."
"But, I don't understand," Amy said. "Why were you with Dr. Eggman in the first place?"
"That's…kind of personal," she answered.
"Wait," Tails interrupted. "What was your partner's name?"
"It was…" she began, "…Shadow the Hedgehog."
The gang looked at each other, shocked, exchanging gasps and whispers of Shadow's name.
"Shadow's known for being evil!" Tails explained. "He's known for wreaking havoc among the cities, and the deaths of hundreds of people!"
"My God, I had no idea!" she said worriedly. "That must have been before I moved to Station Square."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Linda."
"Well, Linda, don't worry, 'cause we'll protect you," I promised, and gave her a thumbs-up. "No doubt Shadow will be after you if he ever finds out you're alive."
Linda nodded and said, "Thank you."
"No prob. That's what buddies do."
I shot her a cheerful smile and she shot a shy one right back. I could tell that she belonged in our group. This was her place, where she needed to be. And I knew that this friendship would last for a long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SONIC ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Ella made us breakfast like she always did. Chris went to school, leaving with a delightful, "See ya, guys!"
"I'm glad that you all accept me here," Linda told us. "Thanks for making me feel like I belong."
"No problem," Amy replied. "Like Sonic said, 'That's what buddies do!'"
"Well, I'm gonna go ahead and take a walk," I said, after finishing my breakfast.
"I'll go, too," Linda said.
"We left and walked outside along the sidewalk.
"So, you feelin' better now that you got a bodyguard?" I asked playfully.
"Well, yes, I do feel quite safer," Linda answered. "And I am happy that we are friends. I mean, I've never had a friend like you. I thought Shadow was my friends, but…"
"It's ok," I said, so that she wouldn't have to finish that painful sentence. "Shadow doesn't deserve a friend like you. You're so good, he doesn't even deserve to go on missions with you."
She blushed then, and I could really tell that by the look in her eyes, she had never had a real friend before. That made me sort of sad, because I had always had friends, ever since I was little.
"Say, why don't I get you some ice cream?" I offered, ashamed that it was out of pity.
"Sure, that'd be great!" she answered, a little more cheerfully then I'd expected.
So we went to the local ice cream parlor and got some ice cream. I got vanilla and she got chocolate, but something didn't feel right. I suddenly felt sad and empty. I didn't want ice cream anymore. I just wanted to run around the world like I normally did and just think. Think about everything that had happened, and everything that she had told me.
"Hey, um, no offense or anything, but I'd like to be alone for a while," I told her. "I need to think for a bit."
"Ok," she said. "I was ready to head back anyway."
She didn't seem upset or disappointed or anything. She was happy. I wondered how a person could be so darn happy after everything that had happened to them.
So I watched as she walked in the other direction, waving, a smile on her face. I wondered about her, and when she was out of sight, I began my run.
'Why? Why is she so happy?' I thought. 'She lost Dr. Eggman, who was apparently like a father to her. And her partner/friend is evil. She got knocked out and was almost killed by a hundred foot fall. It just doesn't make sense. And what of her past? She's obviously not evil, so why would she be hanging around with Shadow? And I guess that explains why Eggman hasn't been coming to kill me; he's been so busy with Shadow—probably training him or something. This is just so much to take in. And all so suddenly.'
I ran for about an hour—which must've been more than a billion times around the world—then decided to go home. I'd thought enough of Linda.
When I got there, Amy, Tails, and Cream were huddling in a spot under the front 2nd story window. When I got closer, I realized that they were huddled around glass, and that the window above was broken. Amy was holding Cream, who was shaking, and Tails was examining the broken glass. I also noticed that there were grocery bags on the ground by their feet.
I went up to them. "Hey, guys, what's going on?"
Tails turned to me. "Linda's gone. We have no idea where she went, or even what happened. All we have is glass from the broken window."
"My theories are that she either left because she didn't like it here," Amy added, "or someone kidnapped her."
I looked down at Cream, and Amy followed my gaze.
"She thinks that Linda committed suicide," she whispered to me. "But I told her that if Linda had done that, we would have found her body somewhere."
"Plus," I whispered back, "she doesn't have a reason to do that. She's always so happy."
"Hey, guys!" Tails called. "Look what I found!"
We crowded around Tails. He pointed to a piece of broken glass—there was a black hair on it.
"It's a clue," he told us. "Amy, could you go get the tweezers?"
Amy nodded and left. When she did, Cream clung to me.
"Think it could be Shadow's," I asked Tails.
"It's highly likely," he answered. "Linda doesn't have black hair."
Amy came back and handed Tails the tweezers. He then picked up the hair and dropped it in a plastic bag.
"Let's go see who this hair belongs to," he said, then we all followed.
We went to the computer room. There were tons of things there to use for solving crimes. Tails walked over to an analysis computer and placed the hair under a scanner. He pushed a few buttons and a picture of the hair showed up on the right side of the screen. Pictures of billions of people flashed by as the computer searched for a match. So many faces to choose from, yet so little time. Suddenly, a face showed up on the screen—the match for the hair—and we all gasped.
"Sh-Shadow!" Tails stuttered.
"Come on, guys, we gotta go find him!" I exclaimed.
"Sonic, if I didn't know better, I'd say by the way you said that, it sounded like you have a crush on Linda," Amy said, somewhat jealous.
"Trust me, Amy, I don't have a crush on Linda," I said calmly. "I just want to make sure she's safe; and I really want to take Shadow down before he kills anyone else."
"Sonic's right," Tails agreed. "She's a member of our group, and what's more, we promised to protect her if he ever came looking."
"We failed her," Cream said quietly, her eyes tearing up.
"No, Cream, not yet," I told her. "We're going to get her back from Shadow, and destroy him once and for all!"
"I'm with Sonic," Amy agreed.
"Me, too," Tails also agreed.
"Great," I said. "Cream, stay here. We don't want you at risk."
Cream nodded and left the room.
"Guys, it's up to us to save Linda," I shouted. "Let's go."
So then began our journey for Linda, and we weren't going to let anything stop us. We were going to find her and bring her back safe and sound. And we would finally have our chance to get rid of Shadow. Although, I had to admit that I was going to miss Dr. Eggman. This would probably be my last chance at adventure. And I was going to live this one out to the very end. No matter how long it was going to take, I was determined to find Linda and Shadow. I was going to take Shadow down hard, and then the world would be free from the chaos that he caused. I would be the hero of Station Square, the greatest creature to ever live. And everyone would know the name Sonic the Hedgehog!