Chapter 1: Found
"Where the hell am I now?"
A black hedgehog with red stripes along the dorsal side of his quills, and some running halfway up his arms and legs glances around himself as he limps through the woods he just recently entered.
"If I'd have known that I'd be lost and in this much pain, I would have let myself burn up and die instead of wasting my last bit of energy using that damn chaos control-" he cuts himself off after his foot meets an overgrown tree root, who sends him in the wrong direction – face first into the dirt. After hacking up the mud and pebbles lodged in his mouth and throat, the miserable hedgehog wipes his mouth with his tattered white-gloved hand. He stands and brushes away the dirt and grime from his fur. Once he attempts to continue walking, his legs refuse to cooperate and send immense pain streaming through his legs and feet, causing the hedgehog to wail.
"Alright..." he winces, "I think I'll rest here, then." The black clump of matted fur eases himself down onto a large, flat rock and lies down, "There better be a village nearby." He ponders a moment before realizing aloud, "I need to stop talking to myself." He surveys around him, thinking and wondering. I wonder if Sonic is close? In some ways I hope so, even if he is troublesome. Regardless of who it is I need someone...He soon drifts into a much needed rest, unaware of how close to Sonic he really is.
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"Amy, Tails and I are goin' out. Be back later!" Sonic the hedgehog, a beaming, blue hedgehog, shouts before opening the front door.
Amy the hedgehog, whose pink fur illuminates the white walls of the house, rushes over to them, "Wait! Where are you guys going?"
"Just for a walk," Tails, the yellow, two-tailed fox, replies.
"Oh, okay then. Just be back soon for dinner."
"Uh...okay," Sonic and Tails mumble in unison.
Once Sonic and Tails walk outside, Tails peeks up at Sonic and mumbles, "Are you sure we should go out?"
Sonic quietly whispers back to Tails, "Yeah, it's fine! Just hopefully we'll get home before Amy burns the house down."
Tails nods, "Yeah, hopefully."
After playing around for a while at the beach, Sonic and Tails decide to hike around the woods.
"Sonic, it's starting to get dark, don't you think we should be heading home now?" Tails asks.
"Come on. Lets just walk a little further."
Tails sighs, "Okay, fine..."
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Not so far away from Sonic, Tails, and Shadow, a figure runs through the trees.
"I need to continue moving. They cannot find me. I will not let them find me! I'll die first! I need to calm down, or else something could happen. I'm acting too recklessly. Okay, so, where am I now? Well, if I find a village I'll ask someone there. I must be careful. I can't trust anyone," a troubled hedgehog mulls. "What was that? I heard something. What is it? Oh, it was probably just my paranoid mind making stuff up. I'm so paranoid that I'm starting to hear things!" she mutters to herself. "Hell, I'm even talking to myself! I must be going insane," she throws her arms in the air in a frustrating gesture.
The girl's run slows to a tired walk, trying to find a village. She breathes heavily and staggers as she walks. After hours of walking, the dirty, green hedgehog finally slumps to the sienna muck, blacked out.
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Sonic and Tails are about to head home when they hear someone mumbling.
"Did you hear that, Tails?" Sonic whispers to Tails.
"Yes I did. Who do you think it is? I hope it's not some scary, murderous man."
Sonic silently looks at Tails, twisting his facial features into a confused and addled expression. Tails merely flushes deep red and ignores Sonic's bewildered contortion.
Sonic and Tails peek through nearby bushes. They crouch speechlessly. Lying there, only a few feet away from them, is Shadow, who is known to be dead.
What's that? Shadow thinks to himself as he notices the bushes move. He scrambled off the rock and to his feet, "Who's there?" Sonic and Tails emerge from the bushes. Shadow's jaw drops, "Sonic? Tails? Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's us...but...but I thought you were dead." Sonic answers, astonished.
"No, I didn't die. I managed a chaos control and ended up in some deserted town. I've been trying to reach another town for days. I entered these woods not too long ago. I never knew I was even close to you guys."
"Well, it's good that you're alive," Tails smiles, though a bit uneasily.
"Yeah, it is. Come on, we should get back so we can eat. Shadow, you come with us. We'll get you cleaned up and give you something to eat. I hope Amy hasn't already blown up the house," Sonic says, already walking toward his house.
"Thanks, guys." Shadow mutters, annoyed at himself for appearing so useless and beat up. He attempts to follow behind Sonic and Tails, but the pain of his legs surge once more, sending him to his knees with a grimace.
Sonic pauses because of the lack of Shadow's footsteps and turns to face him, "Hey, Shadow, are you alright? Do you need some help?" Sonic and Tails approach him and each reach out a hand, but Shadow ignores them and tries to stand up on his own, but fails once more. "Just take my hand, Shadow."
"I'm fine," Shadow sneers, smacking Sonic's hand away foolishly. Sonic responds with a sigh and takes a step back, tugging on Tails for him to step back too. Shadow hesitates for a moment, then pushes himself off the ground quickly and regains his balance. "See? I'm fine." He takes a few steps, now in front of the other two, but on the fourth step, he begins to teeter. Tails hurries next to him, supporting him. "What did I just say?"
"Stop being stubborn!" Tails states firmly, staring up harshly into Shadow's red eyes. Shadow sighs loudly, but doesn't push Tails away. Sonic returns to their sides and grins at Tails, silently praising his assertion, although secretly surprised as well.
The three of them walk for about ten minutes until Shadow says he sees something, "I've never seen that kind of animal before." Shadow points Sonic and Tails to where he notices the figure. They study it. It seems to be a female lemur. A very unusual lemur. Her silky green fur appears rather dull and matted with dirt. Her hair flows slightly past her shoulders in a tangled mess. Cuts and bruises stain her body, some spots darkened with dried, mahogany blood. Her body looks weak, as if she has not eaten for days. The right sleeve of her black t-shirt is completely torn off. Rips and tears decorate the rest of her shirt. Her blue jeans are torn, with a few thorns imbedded into the material. She wears no shoes, causing slices and gashes all around, and the only part remaining of the gloves she equips are the cuffs. She's a complete mess.
"I think we should help her out," Shadow poses, feeling pity and empathy, considering he was just in the same situation.
"Yeah, sure. I think we could lend her a helping hand." Sonic replies as he and Tails lift the oddly colored lemur up. "I hardly ever see lemurs anymore...and never with such a color..." he mumbles quietly to himself, then addresses his fox friend, "Tails, fly up and see how much longer it should take 'til we get home."
"Okay, Sonic." Tails flies up and scans the area. When he comes back down, he reports, "It should take only about another ten minutes."
"That's good," Sonic says, carrying the injured animal while Tails helps support Shadow.
They reach the house and rush inside. Rain begins beating the ground.
"It's about time that you guys got... oh my God... Shadow?" Amy stands, shocked as they hurry in.
"Yes, it's me..." Shadow mumbles as he watches Tails and Sonic carry the female lemur inside and place her gently on the sofa.
"Who's that?" Amy asks Sonic as her eyes shift to the motionless figure.
"We found her when we were heading here. She seemed like she needed help so we brought her with us."
"Oh, I see. I'll get some ice, she looks like she's very swollen," Amy says quickly without analyzing the situation too harshly..
"Good idea," Shadow says as he cautiously limps to the green, swollen lump on the sofa. He feels the hedgehogs forehead, "Get some for her head too, she feels warm."
"Okay, I will," Amy shouts in return from another room.
The girl moans and everyone's attention focuses on her. She tries to get up, but she can't move. "Where... the hell am I?"
"Well hello there. You are at my house. My friends and I found you lying unconscious in the woods," Sonic replies with a friendly grin.
"We thought that you looked like you were in need of some help," Shadow mumbles.
"Well... um... thank you," she stammers.
Amy returns with a few towels with ice wrapped in them. She places them on the major swollen areas of the girl's body, putting the last one on her forehead, "Here, this should help you feel better."
"It's cold!" Andrea gasps, nearly knocking all the ice towels off.
"It's supposed to be cold," Amy chuckles. "If it's not cold then it wouldn't be of much help."
"By the way, I think we should introduce ourselves. I'm Sonic the hedgehog and this is my house."
"I'm Amy, I live here with Sonic."
"Hello, I'm Miles Tails Prower, but you can call me Tails. I also live here with Sonic."
Shadow merely mumbles, "I'm Shadow the hedgehog..."
"Hello, and thank you for helping me. My name is... Andrea. As I'm sure you can see, I am a lemur..." Andrea says quietly as she starts to doze off.
"Good, she's falling asleep. She needs it. Lets go figure out what to eat now. I haven't made dinner yet," Amy whispers as she tip-toes into the kitchen, motioning for everyone else to follow.