Keiko's POV
It was my brother's birthday, and my mom decided to get him an Xbox 360. Good thing she told me this beforehand; it gave me a pretty good idea of what to get him. I got him (you guessed it) Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, more commonly known as Sonic Next Gen. I really don't know why people hate this game. I mean, sure it had a lot of glitches and they got annoying after a while, but all in all, it was a pretty good game. And, knowing my brother, he was definitely going to play it, even if it was a bad one. So this was what I got him… this, and relieving him from his obligation to wash dishes for me. He was overjoyed when he opened my mom's gift, but I couldn't help but be a little surprised at his reaction to mine. Something along the lines of… "This was the best thing you could think of, Keiko?"
And then I did something like… "WHAT?!?! I SPENT LIKE A QUARTER OF MY ALLOWANCE TO GET YOU THAT, NOW YOU DAMN WELL BETTER APPRECIATE IT!!"
Of course, my mom was the one to break the fight by saying, "Keiko, LANGUAGE! And Haru, that's a wonderful gift. The reason Keiko got that for you is because she thinks you'll really enjoy it. Right Keiko?" And to that, all I could do was just smile and nod. So guess what? We went to play it… well I did. Haru wanted to open the rest of his presents first, but he wanted me to start the game. So the title screen appeared, but I forgot to plug in the controller, so I did that. By the time I did though, the title screen disappeared and this pretty-looking fire replaced it. But then it did the not-so-unexpected. It came out of the TV, grabbed me, and took me into the game. It felt hot as I fell through an infinite black void before landing, then immediately shivering. It was snowing. And I was wearing a sleeveless top and shorts (it was in the middle of summer, after all). It was cold. I took a look at my surroundings, only to find out I was in some kind of base. Weird… Was it Eggman's? Well if it was, I never knew he was so anal about security. There were searchlights and everything. I hid behind a barrel and saw a bunch of robots shooting at… something. Whatever it was ran through them, destroying them as it passed them. It landed in front of a searchlight and, using the little light it provided, I identified it. He backed up and hid behind the barrel, standing right in front of me. There was a beeping noise as he stared at his watch.
"Transmission from HQ," said a voice from the watch. "There's an SOS coming from Dr. Eggman's base. Our last contact with our agent was twenty-six hours ago. We expect an immediate rescue, Shadow the Hedgehog." Shadow's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Understood," he said in a low voice. "Initiating the mission now." I decided it was time to make my entrance.
"Hi!" I whispered, almost making Shadow jump in the process.
"What are you doing here?!" he hissed at me. "How the hell did you get here?! I thought you said—"
"I thought so too," I replied. He sighed.
"Any ideas on what to do?"
"Take me with you?" He stared at me blankly.
"Other than that.
"Then… no. I've never played this game before." He cursed under his breath.
"Great…" He grabbed my hand and Chaos Controlled away.
--
Haru's POV
Today was officially the best birthday ever! Not only did I get a new video game console and a new game, but Keiko actually agreed to play with me! And I didn't even have to beg or wash dishes for her or anything! Basically, I was in high spirits when I went to join my sister… that is, until I found out she wasn't there. I know what you're going to say: I should have asked my mom. Well I did, smarty-pants. Some help she was. She just said she thought Keiko was in my room. Well if Keiko wasn't here… then more for me! I wouldn't have to be stuck playing through Shadow's stupid stories… not that they're that stupid though. At least they aren't as stupid as Sonic's stories. But no. On the back of the cover of the game, it said there was a new character… some Silver… So I thought I might start with him. Sometimes, I wonder what would have happened if I picked Shadow or Sonic's story instead. Would what happened when I tried playing Silver's story still happen? I guess there's no point in over-analyzing it. What's done is done… wait… you're still wondering what happened, right? Sigh… I guess I should start from the beginning then. I went up to my room and pressed the start button, but nothing happened. I pressed it again, but nothing happened. This Xbox 360 was jacked up. The controller didn't even work! The title screen faded away and this weird fire took its place. Not that this surprised me or anything. The opening movie would always play if you waited at the title screen for too long. What happened next was surprising… and scary… The flames zoomed forward, like they were zooming towards me. Not that that bugged me or anything. But then the flames… came into my room? I stepped back, ready for anything… ok, maybe not. Right about now, I was wondering how the flames didn't set off the smoke alarm. The flames wrapped themselves around me (it didn't feel hot or anything. Weird…) and pulled me towards the TV. I thought I was going to hit it, but I didn't. Instead, I fell. It felt like I was falling from a skyscraper, only one problem. I COULDN'T SEE THE GROUND!! I screamed (not like a girl, that's just plain weird) as I continued to fall. There was a flash of white light and I could see the ground. But I fell past it. Under me was an inferno. No kidding. I closed my eyes and awaited my fate, but then I suddenly couldn't feel my body. Was I dead? No way, if this were heaven, it would feel so much different. Another sensation overcame my body. Was I… floating? I opened my eyes, and the inferno was still there. So why wasn't I falling? I looked up. A white anthropomorphic hedgehog with creepy-looking yellow eyes was frowning down at me. His palm, which had this weird glowing blue circle on it, was facing me. He slowly lifted his arm and I slowly rose. Don't get the wrong idea; I had no control over my body. In a few minutes, I was hovering a few feet above solid ground. The hedgehog closed his fingers and I fell to the ground with a thud. And the first thing out of my mouth…
"LAND!!" I attempted (and failed) to hug the ground. Boy, did I look stupid. "SOLID LAND!"
"Are you all right?" the hedgehog asked. I couldn't help but be a little creeped out.
"You're a hedgehog," I mumbled.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." I studied his features. He was white with yellowish eyes and seemed to be constantly frowning. "I'm Silver." He stuck out his hand. But I didn't shake it.
"Th-That's impossible! You can't be a hedgehog, how are you a hedgehog?!"
"If you stop spazzing, then I'll tell you." All was quiet… then… "I don't know."
"WHAT?! How can you not know how you're a hedgehog?!"
"Well… maybe because I inherited the hedgehog genes from my parents? I don't know." This couldn't be happening. There was no way I got sucked into a video game. I probably just fell asleep while waiting for Keiko and this was all just some crazy dream. Yeah… that seemed right. He sighed. "Actually I'm surprised to see someone else here. Life is a struggle and people live without hope. How did this happen?"
"No idea.
"It was a rhetorical question! Anyway, no one will answer me directly… But they always point to the flames." I looked back at the inferno and pointed to it.
"Those flames?"
"DO YOU SEE ANY OTHER FLAMES AROUND HERE?!" He sighed again. "They come from an eternal life form that we cannot truly defeat."
"Silver!" I heard a feminine voice call from behind. It came from an anthropomorphic purple cat, who seemed to be surrounded by flames.
"Her?" I asked, pointing to the kitty.
"Iblis isn't a she! It's an it!" Silver turned around and looked to where I was pointing. "Ok, wow. Really?" He then addressed the cat. "Blaze, what's wrong?"
"He's appeared again!"
"'He'?" I couldn't help asking. "I thought you said it was an 'it'."
"Oh whatever! He! It! Who the hell cares?!"
"So…" the cat broke in. "Who's your friend?"
"He's… wait, who are you?" I sighed.
"I'm Haru. I… was separated from my sister!" Not a lie. "And I'm looking for her."
"Come with us!" Blaze exclaimed. "We travel all over this city, so I'm sure you'll find her somewhere!"
"But Blaze—" Silver broke in.
"He's coming," Blaze told him firmly. "Come on! He's just like us! I'm sure he wants to reunite with his sister as much as we want to see Iblis defeated."
"I don't really see how they relate together…"
"Who cares? Come on Haru!" Then she took off and jumped on the next building. I stared as she leapt off into the distance.
"Thanks for leaving me behind…" I muttered to myself. Then Silver grabbed my arm and flew off into the distance… yes, he flew. This was getting weirder by the minute.
XX
I'm extremely worried about this one. What if I slack off on Keiko's part and Haru's part totally outshines hers (which is what's probably going to happen)? What if Haru starts sounding like Keiko or Keiko starts sounding like Haru? PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS HAPPENS! Anyway, Keiko chapters will alternate with Haru chapters. So the next chapter will be a KEIKO chapter… which you'll expect next Friday. PLEASE REVIEW!!