Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visit
It was dark in the night. One would need to squint in order to see their own hand in front of their face. There was a new moon that night, so it was even harder to see than usual. The only light came from above. The stars shimmered in the midnight sky and sent their small amount of light down to the ground below, which could only be seen reflecting off of wet grass as if the stars themselves were shining from the ground, not space.
Sonic broke through the plain like a rock shattering a mirror. He didn't have time to admire the surroundings; he had to get away. And besides, he could barely see anyway. His almost invisible blue body raced across the damp blades of grass, hoping he could find somewhere to hide for now. As he ran at the speed of sound, he took notice of a large tree to his left. It was tall, but he could easily jump up into it and linger on one of the more sturdy branches until the coast was clear. He leapt up into the tree and waited.
For about five minutes he sat there on the limb, not moving except to get a better view of the ground beneath him. He heard no movements except the shuffling of rodents in the brush or birds taking flight to and from nests above him. For the most part everything was as silent as it should have been on a summer night. Sonic took another look below him, and when he saw that no one was down there, he decided it was safe to start running again. He couldn't stay up there forever; they would find him eventually. So he jumped out of the tree, ready to run. But when he landed, he was startled to see someone else down there.
He was a hedgehog, like Sonic, but black and red, not blue. He also had a distinguishable white spot on his chest, which could be seen even at this time of night. As soon as Sonic saw the creature, he turned and fled in the direction he came from, hoping that the black hedgehog couldn't keep up with him. The black hedgehog, however, could keep up indeed. He ran as fast as Sonic did, with his black body even harder to make out in the darkness than Sonic. Sonic started to pick up the pace, but the pursuing hedgehog was able to push himself to the same limit. Sonic tried jumping and swerving and doing anything he could to lose the black hedgehog. But no matter what he tried and no matter how many times Sonic thought he lost him, the black hedgehog was always behind him, smirking. He would stop at nothing to catch Sonic, and Sonic could see the determination on his face. But Sonic would not give up. Not now.
They continued to run at supersonic speed, and the black hedgehog was starting to gain on Sonic. Sonic pushed himself harder, but it seemed as if the harder he pushed, the closer the black hedgehog got to him. The black hedgehog was soon five feet behind him and gaining. Sonic tried desperately to lose him with unexpected twists and turns, but they weren't as unexpected as Sonic had planned. The black hedgehog was almost able to follow Sonic's every move in the exact same place and form. Sonic tried turning to the left and right and zigzagging and turnarounds, but no matter what he did, the black hedgehog continued to gain until finally he was a foot behind Sonic.
They approached the road ahead at blinding speed. Sonic could hear the black hedgehog's breath behind him he was so close. He turned around and saw the hedgehog's hand stretched out ready to catch him like a hunter catching a scurrying rabbit. The black hedgehog's hand was centimeters away from Sonic when he dove across the road and rolled along the grass on the other side. Then he got up and sighed a relief. He was safe.
"Wow, Shadow," Sonic said to the hedgehog standing in front of him. "You almost got me that time!"
"Just you wait, Sonic," Shadow replied. "I'll get you one of these times. Just you wait."
"Have you seen any of the others around?" Sonic asked the other hedgehog. "I hope they can get past you guys."
"No, and I doubt it. Tails and Tikal aren't that fast, and I'm sure Knuckles, Rouge, or Cream would have been able to catch Amy."
"Are you kidding? Amy is almost as fast as us, and I know Rouge and Cream aren't any speed demons. It's just Knuckles that I'm worried about."
"You guys won't win again, I promise you. Oh, and by the way, what do you mean 'as fast as us'? You're not trying to say that we're equal in speed, I hope."
"Well, I had thought that, but now that you mention it, we're not. I'm clearly faster than you."
"What are you talking about? I almost caught you!"
"Yeah, almost. That's the key word there. You just couldn't get me before I got back, could you? If you were really faster than me, you would have been able to catch me earlier."
"You must be joking! I followed your every move to the dot, including all of your turns and zigzags, and I still caught up to you!"
"Maybe I wasn't pushing myself as far as I could have."
"You really think you're faster than me?"
"Is this a challenge I hear?"
"Are you up for it?"
"I never thought you'd ask."
They both walked to the other side of the road and got ready for the race. "See that tree way over there?" asked Shadow as he pointed in the direction of the large maple directly ahead of them, but right between them. "Whoever gets there and back here first is the faster hedgehog. Are you ready?"
"I'm always ready," replied Sonic as he stood up from stretching.
"OK, then. On your mark. Get set…."
"What are you guys doing?"
Both hedgehogs stumbled over on their faces at the sound of Amy's voice. "Well, it's about time, Sonic. You've fallen head over heels for me," she giggled.
"Amy! We were about to have a race!" Sonic shouted to the pink hedgehog's face. He dusted himself off and sighed. "Now where were we?" he said as he turned back to Shadow. "OK. On your mark. Get set. Go!"
They both took off at lightning speed. They only appeared as blue and black blurs against the setting of the night. They ran towards the tree, both equal in speed. They tagged it at the same time and turned around and started running in the opposite direction. They ran even harder back to the starting point, neither one of them able to pass the other. Both hedgehogs looked at each other, determined to phase the other out. They were so busy doing this that they paid no attention to what was in front of them and collided with the rest of the group.
They all fell to a heap just in front of the road. Everyone got up and dusted themselves off. "What were you two doing?" asked Knuckles. His long dreadlocks looked disheveled and his brow was dripping with sweat.
"We were having a race," said Sonic as if it were typical of him to be doing such a thing. Actually, it didn't surprise anyone.
"So, who was tagged?" Shadow asked the others.
"Well, I got Tails," said Rouge in a very proud voice. She too looked worn and tired, her wings spread far from having just landed. "And I think Knuckles tagged Tikal."
"But I managed to return to the safe area without being tagged!" exclaimed Cream. Her long ears were still flopping from running and flying. Her Chao Cheese hovered around her head also looking satisfied.
"Well, I guess that means we win again!" shouted Sonic. "So, Shadow, what were you saying about us not winning again?"
Shadow grumbled under his breath. "Wait till next time," he warned. "You may have evaded me long enough to reach safety and lucked out with the little collision we had, but your luck will run out eventually."
"What! You think you were going to win? I would have definitely won that race and you know it!"
Shadow just shook his head and smiled. "You want a rematch?"
"You bet! Let's do it!"
"Would you two stop?" interrupted Rouge. "We're going to Carvel for ice cream now, so if you want some, you'd better come with us."
The two hedgehogs decided that they could put off this little challenge for one night, so they walked over to Tails' large Storm airplane and hopped in. But instead of following them, Rouge stood there with her back to them and looked up at the stars.
"Rouge, are you coming?" asked Tikal from the airplane. "I know you don't want to miss out on getting any ice cream, do you?"
Rouge turned around and walked over to the airplane. "I was just…admiring the stars," she said vaguely. She jumped in the plane and they flew off.
They landed in the parking lot of the nearest Carvel and walked in. The plane combined with their selves entering the ice cream shop attracted a lot of attention, so they had to deal with an unnecessary amount of staring from passerby and associates of the shop. But as soon as they explained who they were, the employees were suddenly cheerful and happy to take their order. They all got their favorites: Sonic got chocolate chip, Knuckles got cookies 'n' cream, Tikal got French vanilla, Rouge got a vanilla and chocolate twist, Shadow got chocolate chip cookie dough, Amy got strawberry, Cream got chocolate, and Tails got cherry vanilla. They all walked back out to the plane and flew back to Tails' house, where they continued to talk about the game of manhunt they played that night.
"I say we have a rematch tomorrow," suggested Knuckles. "We should have definitely won!"
"You had four chances to win!" said Sonic. "It's pretty obvious that we had the better team."
"No way!" said Rouge. "We had me, Shadow, Knuckles, and Cream! We just didn't want to go all out because we didn't want you to feel bad."
"Oh, please," said Amy. "Just admit we were better. Why would you hold back during something like that?"
"Maybe Rouge was afraid she was going to break one of her nails," Tikal whispered into Amy's ear. They both started giggling.
"I heard that, you rat!" yelled Rouge, and she began chasing Tikal and Amy around the house trying to hit them with her pillow.
After several minutes of mayhem, the girls settled down and got changed in one of the other bedrooms. They went back to go say good night to the boys, but they ended up staying there for a while talking about the game and ice cream and anything else that would pass the time until they would have to go to bed.
"…and so I finally saw her digging underground trying to get away," Knuckles was explaining his pursuit of Tikal during the game. "I followed her down the tunnel and back up to the surface, and that's when I was able to get her," he finished proudly.
"You sound like you were a hunter trying to trap a rodent," said Shadow.
"Who says he wasn't?" Rouge said coolly.
"Ooooooooooooo," everyone sounded together.
Tikal, having been blushing throughout the whole story to begin with, was now looking very red in the face. She rose to her feet, but Knuckles stopped her and gently pulled her back to the floor. "At least I don't resort to stealing jewels for a living!" Tikal yelled at the bat.
The moment Tikal finished her statement Rouge leapt into the air and dove right at her, looking furious. Shadow grabbed her leg and pulled her back, but Rouge seemed very determined to break free. Soon Knuckles and Shadow were standing between the two of them trying to stop a potential fight. "Girls, come on," Knuckles scolded them. "We're supposed to be having fun here. Let's change the subject to something we can all enjoy. Like Eggman being locked in jail."
Soon they were all deep in conversation about how they had saved the world previously from Eggman's control and how they had him thrown in jail. They all agreed how good it felt knowing that they wouldn't have to worry about his annoying world domination attempts for a long time. Rouge seemed particularly quiet on the subject, but no one seemed to notice.
"Well, thanks to Shadow, we all know how to bring the world back if we ever need to," Tikal said optimistically. "How did you say you found that out?" she asked him.
"I remember the Professor saying something about the Chaos Emeralds having the power to restore the planet Earth and all its inhabitants if a group of true heroes and friends unite their spirits and friendship," he replied sheepishly.
"So the Professor's own words turned out to be his plan's undoing, then?" Sonic confirmed.
"Yes," replied Shadow. "I still can't believe my whole life, my eternal life, would have been a lie. But it won't be. And I owe that to Eggman."
"Yeah, usually the bad guys end up doing something stupid that messes up their own plan," Tails pointed out. "It's kind of ironic."
"Yeah," said Sonic. "But I'm just glad that egghead's in jail now. Now we can all live peacefully without anymore interruptions in our lives…."
As Sonic finished his statement, there was a loud knock on the door. They all jumped and turned in the direction of the door. Sonic was the closest, so he got up and went downstairs to answer it. He looked through the little window to see who it was, and he saw two tall men in black suits and shades standing on Tails' door step. He opened the door and said, "Can I help you?"
"We're looking for a Mr. Sonic the Hedgehog," one of the men said simply.
"Who are you?" Sonic asked the men, wondering if he should let them in or something.
"That's classified information. We're just asking if Sonic the Hedgehog is here."
Sonic could here the others walking down the stairs behind him, and he could tell by their slowed steps that they were staring at the men at the door. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog," he said confidently, knowing that if these men were up to something, his friends would back him up.
"Come with us, then," one of the men said.
Sonic hesitated before asking, "To where?"
"That's classified. You've been ordered to come with us immediately. We aren't here to harm you or your friends or anyone else. We just need you to come with us."
Sonic was still a little hesitant, but he followed them nonetheless. His friends watched him and the two men walk down the sidewalk to a car in which the three of them got in and drove away out of sight. Just like that, Sonic was gone. The rest of them walked back into the house and began discussing possible reasons for Sonic's mysterious abduction until they all went to sleep early that morning.