Chapter One
Rouge the Bat sits in a folding chair by the pool on the Egg-Carrier, reading a magazine. She's wearing sunglasses, and a dark pink bikini in place of her usual outfit. She glances over at the pair next to her. Cocoa, a chocolate colored bat, and Reave, a black cat with gray stripes are in plastic lawn chairs a few yards down the pool. Reave has a pen in his hand, and is teaching Cocoa how to make it flip end over end between her fingers.
"You just need to relax, and focus," Reave smiles at Cocoa. "Here, watch closely..." He slowly demonstrates, emphasizing each movement of his fingers, and then he nods to her.
Cocoa licks her lips, and imitates his movements. It's halfway across her hand before she drops it, "Oops."
Reave chuckles, "You're just nervous." Cocoa blushes, and looks away. Rouge smiles to herself, there's a pretty peaceful atmosphere today.
"TARZAN!" From a high diving board Spike leaps into the air. He curls into a ball, his unruly quills sticking straight out. He hits the water, sending up a geyser-like explosion of water.
"It never lasts," Rouge rolls her eyes, and puts her sunglasses on her forehead. A minute or so passes, and then Spike comes up for air. She calls out to him, "If you put a hole in that pool, I will drown your ass!"
The Ash-Gray hedgehog floats on his back, putting his hands behind his head. "If you come in here looking like that, I could die happy, baby!" He winks, and then starts using his legs to propel himself in a slow circle.
Rouge rolls her eyes, and goes back to her magazine. Reave looks over at her, "I thought you said that you couldn't swim?"
"I said I don't like to, but that doesn't mean that I can't." Rouge puts her shades over her eyes, and sighs.
Spike calls out from the pool, "Y'know, I'm pretty surprised with Shadow. From what you've told us about him, Rouge, and from what we see of him, it just seems weird that he would accept this place after Eggman offed himself." Spike sits up, and starts treading water, "Not that I'm complaining or anything, it just strikes me as kinda weird. This last month has been heaven, I swear!"
"It has been kinda nice," Cocoa glances at Reave. "I'm glad you got to talk to your sister, Spike. If you don't mind me asking, why did you run away?"
Spike shrugs, "Nah, I don't mind. I just figured Amy would say I was being stupid, or something." Spike swims to the edge, and climbs out of the pool.
"It was our dad, y'see," Spike grabs a towel, a starts drying off. "Mom, and Pops had decided early on that Ma would teach Amy to be a good woman, and dad would teach me how to be a man. Didn't exactly go as planned, at least not with me anyhow. Dad was hell-bent on using me to dissolve the old status thing, as if I needed to do anything."
"Status thing?" Rouge raises an eyebrow, and sets down her magazine.
"Yeah, he was obsessed with the classes, and their skill-sets."
"Classes," Cocoa furrows her eyebrows. "Do you mean hedgehogs can learn to summon weapons, or run faster than sound?"
"Ah, no, I'm talking about social classes. Y'see, in the old days hedgehogs were considered some of the more powerful Mobians, but there was a divide in the species. You had the Alpha Class hedgehogs which were known for their speed, and an ability to use Chaos Powers. Shadow, and Sonic fall right into this category. Then there was the Beta Class, like my sister, and I. We can't use Chaos Powers, no Beta can, but we do have our own set of powers. Betas tend to be physically stronger than Alphas, and we can summon a weapon at will that resembles our temperaments. Endurance appears to be something of a shared trait, how else would Amy have spent so long chasing after Sonic?"
"What was that thing about tempers?" Cocoa tilts her head.
"Well, Beta hedgehogs can summon a weapon at will, right? Well more often times than not the weapon symbolizes what it's like when we lose our tempers. Amy has always been very blunt, straightforward with her feelings, hence the massive hammer. I have a bit more control, so I get my Katana."
"Wasn't that the weapon of the Samurai?" Cocoa scratches her head.
Reave nods his head, "It was considered to be a Samurai's soul, and courage. The only time they ever drew their swords was to take a life, that is if they were noble anyhow. I've only seen Spike lose his temper once in all the years I've known him, just be glad you weren't there."
Spike clears his throat, "Anyhow, like I said, dad was obsessed with making everyone forget the old standings, despite the fact that those who do know about them don't pay attention to them anymore. Eventually I just got tired of him ranking, and just left without looking back."
"How did Amy take it?" Reave grins at his friend.
"You were there, Reave, or do you not remember me running for my life? She smashed to a pulp at your feet!"
"No, I meant when you told her about this?"
Spike blinks, "Oh... Well she actually surprised me then. Apparently she takes my side of this argument."
"How sweet," Rouge rolls her eyes. Spike shrugs, and she pushes him back into the pool, towel, and all. When he doesn't come back up, she frowns. She stands at the edge of the pool, and bends over to peer into the water.
Spike shoot out of the water, and gabs her by the shoulders. Rouge yelps in surprise as Spike pulls her into the pool. Cocoa, and Reave glance at each other, eyebrows raised. "Five bucks says Spike comes out of there alive?"
"No way," Reave shakes his head, and stares at the water.
-Los Angeles-
Why is it so dark? ...oh, my eyes are closed. They feel so heavy...
Sonic's eyes crack open, and the light hurts his eyes for a moment. After a minute, he opens his eyes again, and glances around blearily.
Where am I? ...Looks like a hospital.
Sonic's eyes fall on a sleeping form by his left hand. He grins at Amy, and then frowns. What happened, and how did he get here? He groans, and Amy lets out a small moan before her eyes flutter open. When she sees Sonic's eyes open, she gasps, "Sonic!"
"Hey, Ames," his voice comes out hoarse, and dry.
She stands up, "Want some water?" Sonic nods, and she darts out of the room. She comes back a minute later with a bottle of water.
He sits up, and she offers him the bottle. He takes it, and takes a drink, "Much better."
Amy takes a seat next to his bed, "Do you remember anything?"
Sonic thinks hard, it hurts which he doesn't find funny, "I remember Tails flying me out to sea so I could have some fun with old Egghead. The Egg-Carrier was in the air, and I remember wondering how that was possible, because Chaos sunk it years ago. I remember grabbing onto his hovercraft as he got beamed onto it, and getting hit hard by something. It's a bit blurry after that, but somehow I can remember hearing Shadow's voice."
Amy nods, "He helped save you, Sonic. Eggman had you held captive for over six months! We had assumed that you had just gone for an adventure again when no one saw you again."
Sonic shrugs, "Sounds like something I'd do, can't blame ya." He takes another drink of water, "So did I miss anything?"
Amy gulps, and scratches her head. "Well, there were the Zombies..."
Sonic blinks at her, and starts to laugh, "Wow, okay, but really, what did I miss?"
Amy purses her lips, "Well it's the truth, Sonic. Eggman stole some nanobots from one of Tails's labs, and used them to turn everyone into Zombies. Shadow showed up, and helped us put an end to it. After that we found you on the Egg-Carrier, and brought you here. The doctors said that you were suffering from severe malnu- mal-, ugh, they said that you needed bed-rest, and lots to eat. Apparently Eggman had kept you just barely hanging onto life."
Amy's eye began to tear up, "Oh, I'm so happy that you're okay, Sonic!" She moved to give him a hug, but stopped herself for fear of hurting him.
"Really, wow, he can really hold a grudge, huh?" Sonic chuckles, and reaches for the TV remote. "When I get out of here, I guess I'll just go pay him a little visit."
Amy frowns, "Um, Sonic..."
"Yeah, Ames?" Sonic looks at her, eyebrows raised.
Amy opens her mouth, but stops. She wants to tell him about how Eggman's suicide, but at the same time she doesn't. She's not comfortable talking about it, the memory of that horrible scene still fresh in her mind. She decides to tell him later.
"Shadow asked me to tell you that after you're out of here, and back to full health that he's coming to, quote, "Put you back in the hospital." Honestly!"
Sonic laughs, "Okay, first I'll play with Shadow, and then I'll play with Eggy."
Amy smile slightly, and turns her attention to the TV. She blushes when her perfume commercial come on. Sonic laughs, "So you're an actress? Cool, good for you!"
-Egg-Carrier-
Shadow's ears twitch as he hears the approaching clanking of metal feet. He turns to find HTK-7 W.O.L.F. Standing there.
"Shadow, surveillance footage of the hospital shows that Sonic the Hedgehog has regained consciousness." The hulking cyborg stares down at his master with glowing red eyes.
"Thank you, Wolf," Shadow nods. "Let me know if anything changes."
"Yes, Shadow." Wolf nods, and turns to continue working on projects that Robotnik had left behind for Shadow to use.
Shadow stands on the tarmac on the Egg-Carrier's front. He watches the water under him in thought.
It's been a month since Rewind failed, It has to be soon. Metal Sonic knows that I survived, he has to with his mole inside G.U.N. Shadow narrows his eyes, and turns, heading for the walkway. I told him that he had the first move, now it's my turn!