Chapter 1: Good Morning
"What did you think of it?" The thick book made a loud thump as it hit the surface of the glass coffee table. Tails winced at the sound, afraid that his brother's unintentional carelessness may have broken the glass. Noticing his expression, however, Sonic picked up the book, glanced at the glass below, and set the book back down, gently this time.
"It was… an interesting read." Sonic picked at his left ear with his corresponding pinky finger. "Humans have an… interesting way in believing in things."
"Yes they do, and even more! All around the world, there are different cultures and beliefs! As it is difficult, in concern with tolerance, it is fascinating!" The fox's expression was priceless. His twin tails were dancing behind him as his crisp blue eyes shone with great passion and understanding. He rocked back and forth, ears pricked up, and wore a great child's smile. If there was one more thing that made the fox happy and excited, other than the completion of a long-awaited vehicle or the sight of his hedgehog brother, Sonic, it would be discussing his studies on anthropology.
Beep! Beep!
"Ah! Breakfast is ready!" said Tails.
Sonic pulled up a chair next to a wooden table in the middle of the kitchen. The house was small, but livable. They built the home on their own, anyways. There wasn't much space between the living room and the kitchen, and from the kitchen to the left, there was a hallway with only two rooms. The bedroom and the bathroom stood straight across from each other. Sonic and Tails slept in the same room, but with different beds. While building the home, Sonic still felt the need to keep his brother close. It was out of protection, although, the hedgehog didn't bother to admit his feelings to his fox brother. Whenever Tails argued about being old enough to have his own room, Sonic said out of a rebuttal, "And what are ya going to do once a thunderstorm breaks out?"
Luckily, that was enough to convince the ten year old fox. At least, until he was thirteen.
Sonic burped out his last bit of pancakes, without the syrup, and orange juice.
"You're welcome," Tails giggled. He sat right across from Sonic and had little ways to go before he was done with his meal. In return, the hedgehog shot his an embarrassing smile and a shrug.
With satisfied stomachs and dishes cleaned, Sonic retreated to the couch to watch TV and Tails reached for the book and gone off to place it back into the shelves in their bedroom. Upon returning, the fox spotted his brother half glued to the TV and half glued to his own thoughts, so it seemed. Tails sat down where Sonic once had his breakfast and asked, "What do you think about those beliefs?"
The hedgehog shifted his head to the left, his peach muzzle resting on the arm of the rather, small couch where his left arm had hung over. He pricked his ears to symbolize more clarity. "Whadd'ya mean?"
Tails shifted a little in his wooden seat for his tone almost sounded like the hedgehog didn't want to listen to any more religious gab. Sonic always had his own way of looking at the world, not that believing in things that cannot be scientifically proven was an issue. Mobians believed in an inner being. But it was the idea of laws and regulations of how one should live their own lives that which Sonic found very unattractive. The hedgehog never liked living between the rules.
"I mean… Do you believe in a He—"
Tails was interrupted by a sudden blast of small missile fire, which shot through the front door and made an impact on the fox and the rest of the kitchen. Pieces of wood and shards of glass flew into the air, but all noise was drowned out by a harsh ringing in Sonic's ears. The blast was small; not meant to kill, but to scatter. Yet, Tails still got the worst of it. The ringing continued and Sonic tried desperately to regain his senses, as if it could be done psychologically.
The blue hedgehog hated having any of his senses deterred. The humans found Sonic much more sensitive than most animals on Earth, such as spiders, snakes, and dogs. How else was he able to navigate through the planet at such high speeds? Anything that a dog couldn't handle was multiplied almost by ten for Sonic.
The ringing was finally diminishing, but the shot also left Sonic staring through a thick cloud of smoke. It was a clever shot.
"T-Tails… Tails…" Sonic began to crawl off of the couch when a sudden sharp pain deriving from his right side had stopped him. He winced, barred his teeth, and started to remove the glass shard that was embedded in his side. Although there was smoke, Sonic kept his eyes looking into the direction where Tails once was sitting. After a quick and small yelp of pain and after regaining a slight panicked breath, Sonic removed himself from the couch, held his side with his right hand, and began limping towards the direction of Tails.
It was a clever shot.
Midway to Tails, Sonic was unexpectedly jumped by a black, four-legged creature which then threw him violently against the refrigerator. Sonic hit the floor sitting and his vision began to blacken.
Right before falling unconscious, the hedgehog noticed his brother being dragged away from him by the same creature that threw him over.
Three hours later, Sonic came to. He felt himself breathing again and checked the reflexes in his ears. The smoke had cleared, but shown the real damage done to his home. The living room got the least of the impact, other than the glass table and the television. The kitchen, however, was obliterated, other than the refrigerator and the oven, thank Chaos!
Speaking of Chaos, Sonic thought quickly of the Chaos Emeralds. Slowly lifting himself up on his feet, Sonic limped more hastily toward a secret floor door in the hallway. He lifted the hatch and walked carefully down the stairs.
Once below, Sonic found that the Chaos Emeralds were gone!
The hedgehog grunted his way back up the stairs and closed the hatch. He looked at his wound. It healed, but with a painful scar and left his remaining blood caked with his blue fur. He would have to clean it out.
Returning to the living room, Sonic noticed an envelope hidden underneath a few shards of glass and a few splinters of wood. Pulling the envelope from underneath, Sonic turned the paper over and found that the flap was taped by a sticker of Eggman's symbol.