Libra: Yay! Another story!

Aquila: Yeah, but what about the other one, she's not just abandoning it is she?

Aquilibra: Of course not! I just uh...had a random spark of inspiration last night and just HAD to write a story about Sonic the werehog!

Aquila: Sure...

Libra: Oooohhh! This one's loooong! OMG, over 2,000 words! *dies*

Aquila: *poking Libra* Are you okay? 2,000 words isn't that long. It's hardly even a chapter. There are longer paragraphs out there.

Libra: Oh my gawd...really? *dies again*

Aquilibra: Okie dokie, that's...um...nevermind. On with the story!

Note: I do not own any of the Sonic the Hedgehog characters, SEGA does and if you didn't already know that, why are your reading this note? Anyway, Sonic rules, Sonadow forever an' all that good stuff, now read the story!


Chapter 1 - After Dark

The werehog roared with unbridled rage at his pursuers. For days they had tracked him through the thick forest and even when he'd crossed several rivers in the hope of throwing them off, they still managed to find him. During the day, he could rest easy knowing that they couldn't find him, in daylight he returned to his normal form, thereby becoming effectively hidden. How he wished the dawn would hurry up and COME ALREADY! The determined hunters were edging far too close for comfort tonight. Especially their leader, a red dreadlocked Echidna with a white sideways crescent on his chest, and sharp violet eyes. It was that one Echidna who had caused the werehog the most trouble. Because Red had the eyesight of an eagle and the nose of a bloodhound. (Not to mention the temper of a great white shark) The cobalt werehog had no idea what he'd done to get the angry mob of warriors after him, but he wasn't about to stop and ask. By the looks on their faces and the weapons in their hands, a beating would be the only answer he'd get anyway. Despite that fact, he really did want to know why they were after him. He couldn't remember anything at all really albeit a few days back. Except his name. Sonic. Apart from that, whatever had happened to him was a mystery. Or whatever he'd done.

That wasn't a very pleasant thought.

Focusing back onto his unwanted followers, Sonic did a double take. They were GONE. Jerking his head back and forth, he slammed to a halt. A cloud of dust rose as he suddenly went from full on run to a dead stop. The azure werehog rose from his four-legged stance to just two legs. Sonic sneezed when some of the dust went right up his nose. Clearing his nose of the rude invasion, he again swept the area with his eyes in search of the Echidna warriors. Again, NOTHING. But for all the time they'd been chasing him, Sonic had never seen them falter, or for that matter even pause. The sudden silence and foreboding air seemed even more horrible than being chased. Warily turning his head back to the forest ahead, the blue werehog dropped to all fours and continued on. His triangular ears flicked at every small noise and he jumped at the hoot of an owl. Sonic wasn't sure what was worse. Paranoia or knowing exactly where your enemy was.

-O-

Unbeknownst to him, the Echidna warriors had disappeared suddenly for a reason. Their leader, the red dread-locked Echidna with purple eyes, was currently addressing the other Echidnas. "Remember your rolls well. One slip-up and the whole trap goes to hell. Got it?" He questioned the assembled warriors with a quirked eyeridge. They all nodded silently, faces set and resolute. "Good." The red Echidna smiled grimly. "Now, does anyone know where our volunteer helper got off to?" Unsure looks passed between the sitting warriors until one finally spoke up. "Knuckles…I mean Guardian…he said he needed his space and left a few minutes ago." The speaker, a young-looking reddish-orange Echidna by the nickname of Kneecaps glanced worriedly at Knuckles. A string of curses followed the young warrior's answer as Knuckles turned to find his 'volunteer'. "Damn Shadow, when I find him I'm gonna dye his friggin spines pink then shove a dress on his ass…" even after he entered the woods to look for the other hedgehog, his cursing and grumbling could still be heard. None of the other Echidnas said a word.

-O-

Sonic had relaxed considerably as nothing had happened in the past hour. No attack, no ambush, not even any noises that might suggest an oncoming assault. He was still uneasy though, as dawn had yet a few more hours till it would make its appearance. Only a few more hours, then I can escape this hell. The thought was like a promise, one Sonic sincerely intended to stick to. But if the Echidnas weren't pursuing him further, he could at least push his luck and catch up on some much-needed rest. Checking one last time for any pursuers, the werehog trotted over to a nearby tree. Making sure that its branches were sturdy enough first, he climbed up and settled himself on the lowest one. He sighed as he stared up at the night sky. Millions of stars glowed around the full and bright moon. Sonic felt powerful and carefree just gazing at the full moon. His transformations hurt far less when there was a full moon; the other times…Sonic shuddered. The other times it felt like every bone in his body was breaking into a million pieces… He sighed and tried to get comfortable against the tree. The moon's warm glow seemed to envelope him in a cloud of warm bliss, almost protectively wrapping him in its light. Closing his eyes, Sonic melted into that gentle radiance and let the darkness of sleep overtake him.

-O-

CRACK. The small noise hit Sonic's ears like the sound of a gunshot, and in less than a second, he was on the ground, alert and ready to fight. Growling, he swung his head towards where he thought the sound had come from. Crouching behind the bushes opposite Sonic's tree, Shadow cursed quietly. Damn twig. It had given his position away and now he had to move, quickly. Focusing on another set of bushes across the clearing, he closed his eyes and whispered, "Chaos Control." and vanished leaving only a cloud of green smoke. Peeking his head out of his new position, Shadow saw that he was now directly behind the blue beast. Well Knuckles, whenever you want to put your brilliant plan into action, fire away. He thought sardonically. Sonic dropped from his upright position back to all fours, still unsure of what the crack had been. Looking at the moon's position in the sky, he calculated he'd only been asleep for about half an hour or more. Whatever had made the sound, it was gone now, or at least to Sonic's sensitive hearing.

Shadow watched the cerulean werehog shake his fur roughly, as if to calm himself. Then the creature turned and made his way back towards his tree. Yawning, the lumbering beast began to pull himself up once more. And that's when Shadow struck. Summoning a chaos sphere in his palm, he chaos controlled behind the unaware werehog. Rising his hand behind his head, and muttering a quick apology to the poor beast for doing this, he brought his hand down. Sonic leaped away with a quick yelp as Shadow hand came down hard against the tree. Shadow briefly wondered how something so big could move so fast, and those reflexes… He was jerked out of his pondering as he saw the werehog turning to bolt. Summoning another chaos sphere, he jumped in front of the frightened animal and forced him to turn the other way. Without further obstruction, Sonic took off in the direction Shadow had forced him too. His senses were too far on basic animal instinct to listen to the reasoning side of Sonic, which screamed at him that there was something wrong. Sighing softly, Shadow followed after him. He had wanted to simply knock the creature out so that Knuckles didn't have to use what he had insisted was best to capture the beast; brute force. But seeing as he had just scared the werehog instead, he had no other choice then to turn him in the direction of Knuckle's trap and hope that no one got hurt. Too badly. Even though Shadow wasn't big on attacking creatures that he felt had done nothing wrong, that hot-headed Echidna was a different story. Knuckles had the habit of sometimes accusing before any solid evidence was found. Henceforth the current situation. Shadow didn't particularly care about some stupid tree that had been torn down in the Echidna's village. Nor did he care that immediately after spotting the giant werehog, Knuckles had pinned the attack on him. Shadow wouldn't have even gotten involved in this mess unless he hadn't owed Knuckles a favor. Which brought him back to his current task. He had been told to lure the werehog into the Echidna's trap. But judging from the creature's wide scared eyes and panting breath, he didn't want to chase anyone. So that made Shadow the predator; he would have to chase the beast right into the trap so Knuckles could do the rest. Sorry werehog, but you're midnight romp ends here, he thought as he saw the well-hidden trap coming into sight.

-O-

The before-mentioned Echidna was tapping his foot impatiently. What was taking Shadow so long? For an 'Ultimate Lifeform', he sure was ultimately slow. "Guardian, the werehog is headed this way, with Shadow right behind him!" Kneecaps called out to him. Knuckles nodded his head sharply to two other echidna warriors standing adjacent to Kneecaps. "Bone, Rath, move into positions!" he ordered the two warriors. Bone, a very pale red Echidna, scaled an overhanging tree skillfully, something rope-like in his grasp. Rath, a dark blood-red Echidna, snuck onto the other side with a similar object also in his hands. When the duo were both in their correct positions, they shot a thumbs-up to Knuckles. Satisfied that both warriors were ready, he narrowed his eyes at the oncoming werehog followed closely by Shadow. That's right, come on you hulking monster. You're gonna pay for what you did to the Emerald Tree. Knuckles cracked his fists together in preparation for the approaching bout. He would make sure it was a short one though, for the werehog that is…

Sonic's breath came short and quick, his legs burning in exhaustion. Though he could move quite fast in this form, it wasn't near the speed he could achieve during the day. He knew that even Shadow wasn't going his full speed. Which was weird. Unless… It's a trap. His rational side finished the thought, able to finally break through to his conscious. Shadow wasn't chasing him, he was herding him. And he had to get out. NOW. Changing his direction sharply, Sonic tried to break off from wherever Shadow was trying to herd him. However, Shadow was still watching the werehog closely and swiftly drove him back on course. Snarling more out of fear than anything, Sonic tried again. Same result. Shadow wasn't about to let him change course. Which just confirmed Sonic's suspicions. It had to be a trap.

Trees quickly came into view as Shadow pushed him to even greater speeds. Then, at the last second before he got to the woods, he pulled up abruptly, allowing Sonic to slow down from their breakneck chase. Gasping for air, the weary werehog made his way into the forest. Maybe Shadow can't run at that speed in the forest, maybe— Sonic's thoughts were cut short as a loud command rang out to the side of him. "NOW!" Suddenly, *bolas were twirling in the air towards him from two different directions. He dodged the first, but the second caught him on his hind legs, causing him to drop like a rock. He struggled to get his feet untangled when Echidnas burst from all sides of the clearing and attacked. They swarmed over him like angry ants (or more precisely like wasps) and held him down. With alarming speed, Sonic found his front legs being bound together along with his back. The restraints were just so that he was hobbled, but could still walk. Running away though wouldn't be an option. The leader Echidna approached, crouching down so he was eye level with the tied werehog. Grabbing his snout roughly, he thrust a muzzle on and secured it tightly behind his head. Sonic whimpered pitifully. Knuckles rose to his feet again, looking disgustedly at the pleading gaze of the secured beast. "Not so tough now that you're finally gonna pay for what you did, huh, monster?" the red Echidna said harshly. Sonic, who couldn't reply with a muzzle on his mouth, simply whimpered again. Shadow watched impassively from the shadows, turning his head from the scene with hidden anger. He didn't think it was fair to tie the werehog down until he was defenseless and taunt him like that. It reminded him too much of what G.U.N. had tried to do to him. Knuckles tilted Sonic's chin up so he was forced to meet his gaze. Violet eyes stared angrily at emerald before he dropped his chin and stood back up. "Okay. Let's move out. We need to make it back to the tribe before dawn." He ordered the surrounding warriors. Closing his eyes sorrowfully, Sonic didn't think this night could get any worse than it already was.


Well, that's Chapter 1 folks! No, I'm not abandoning I Won't Give Up, I plan to finish it in the next two or three weeks, even if it kills me! (Well, maybe not, but you get my drift) By the way, anytime you see those stars in my stories, it just means I'm gonna explain what that word is, so here:

*bolas - a length of rope weighted down on either end with a heavy ball; used by whirling above head in a circular motion, then thrown at the target.

Yay! Now you know what a bola is! Aren't you so proud? Thanks for reading and please rate and review! All critique is appreciated as long as it's polite. (Meanies eat your heart out!)

Note: If you see any grammer errors or just spelling mistakes or I dunno, wrong verb usage, please, please, please, PLEASE tell me! I don't want my story to be difficult to read because there are glaring errors. HOWEVER, DON'T write me about fragments, I know my story has them, and I love the things! They're like...vanilla extract! Rarely used but they make the whole thing taste better...or er...write better? I dunno, but I LOVE my fraggies and they ain't going nowhere!