Disclaimer: I do not own the Sonic series. Hope you enjoy!
A sudden blur swept through the Sherwood Forest of Nottinghamshire, England. The blur's shape changed, and became a figure, standing by the trees. This particular figure happened to be the unmistakable heroic outlaw, a thief who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. His trademark green hooded cloak, and a brown satchel slung over his shoulder , a sheath that beheld a sword and a bow upon his back made him recognizable anywhere. The hedgehog had five quills at the front, and two at the back. His fur was a silvery white, and he had unforgettable golden eyes. He was known as 'Robin Hood', a name he used to avoid being tracked, and he was most famous for being a master thief, skilled swordsman and archer.
On that particular day, his eyes had been set on the Royal castle, which was located in the heart of Sherwood Forest. No doubt the King's brother, known as Shadow, will be on a hunt for the thief. He had taken control whilst the real King, Sonic, had taken off for Battle. Despite all of the well trained guards, the thief's biggest fear was the Sheriff of Nottingham, a vibrant red, purple eyed Echidna that had a reputation for catching any criminal that was on the 'King' Shadow's Most Wanted List. As Silver, his real name, scanned the trees' shadows, he determined it was safe to proceed. Levitating himself into the air, he inhaled deeply and made his way through the wooded area, his sword ready to be drawn from his sheath at any given moment.
The Sherwood village, which was a mile from the King's castle, was peaceful, only a couple of residents were out of their stone huts, the rest were inside. Silver dropped by an evergreen tree, which had a WANTED posted nailed to it. He took a closer look, and a highly accurate drawing of Silver was apparent, with the words "Robin Hood: The King's most Wanted Thief." printed underneath his picture. Wordlessly, he tore it down, even though almost everyone in England had heard of 'Robin Hood'. Silver couldn't help but scoff at 'The King's most Wanted Thief'. The real King, Sonic, had always seemed to turn a blind eye to Silver's doings, and if he was ever to be caught, the King would allow him to run free. It was only now that the King's brother, Shadow, had taken over the Kingdom that the capture of 'Robin Hood' had become much more intense.
Shaking away his thoughts, the hedgehog heard a cluster of tapping from horse's hooves approach the village. He automatically assumed that it was Shadow's Knights travelling to the castle, and levitated himself into the tree, his green cloak and hood disguising his light fur well. His golden eye kept watch on one of the most viscious knights, Sir Jet. The hawk jumped down from his steed, and walked a frail old, yellow rabbit who was setting out his family's laundry onto a wooden plank upon the muddy ground. Jet disrespectively trampled on the old rabbit's laundry, before lifting his visor and revealing ice blue eyes. He pulled out a roll of parchment, and unravelled it, revealing it as the Most Wanted poster.
"Have you seen this hedgehog?" Sir Jet asked, his voice intimidating as he thrust the parchment in the old rabbit's face.
"No, no. P-please, I don't want any trouble!" The old rabbit begged, kneeling before the knight. Jet cackled, kicking the frail rabbit over, and leapt back onto his horse, closing his visor. Silver had to resist the urged to help the man at that second, or he would risk being caught.
"Onwards!" He cried, and his steed neighed, and Jet and his band of knights headed towards the castle.
As soon as they were out of sight, Silver jumped out of the tree and ran towards the old yellow rabbit. The male looked up in surprise. "R-Robin Hood!" He exclaimed quietly. Silver nodded, placing a finger over his own lip, and the rabbit nodded. "They're looking for you." The rabbit continued as Silver helped him to his feet.
"I know. Don't worry." The white hedgehog nodded. "I am going to the castle, and I promise you, I shall bring gifts far greater than you could ever imagine."
The old rabbit's grey eyes sparkled. "Bless you!" He cried, as Silver ran towards the heart of the forest.
A determined look appeared on the young thief's face as he was faced with an incredible challenge. The stone wall surrounding the castle reached 12 metres in height, and at least 6 metres thick (including the hollow inside where some of the Guards roamed). Of course, before this was a deep, dangerous river that circled the castle, but that was almost too easy to cross for Silver. After levitating himself over the water, he pulled his bow from the back of his cloak, pulled out an arrow from the side of his satchel and began to search around the castle, in hope to find somewhere he could enter.
Half an hour and no luck, Silver sighed. This was proving to more more diffcult than he imagined, there was too many Knights guarding the castle walls for Silver to climb over. At that moment, a loud 'ding-dong' of a bell echoed through the castle, and the knights left their posts. Silver assumed this was for them to swap over, and stand guard somewhere else in the grounds. Putting away his bow and arrow, he grinned at the opportunity.
With no delay, Silver allowed himself to float upwards, and onto the wall. Within seconds, Knights and Guards would flood back up to the stone wall, ready to protect the castle from people exactly like Silver. Neither his green cloak nor his silvery white fur would do him any good now that he was amongst a dark grey stone wall.
Quickly, Silver darted across the wall, and down some stone steps, which led to the inside of the castle's wall. He quickly hid in the shadows, behind a tall Suit of Armour as two Guards hurried past, eager to get to their posts. Quietly sighing with relief, Silver peered down the long corridor. Silver was curious to see what was behind a door that was at the very end of the room. He sprinted towards it, looked to the right to see if any guards were coming down the conjoining corridor, before pushing and pulling at the door. It was securely locked. Shame, that was were all of the Crown Jewels were often kept, behind mysterious doors. Sighing, Silver turned around, only to hear the voice of a certain Knight. Jet.
Panicked, Silver looked out of the nearby glassless, arched window. Without thinking, he lept out, levitating himself. As he was about to lower himself, he saw something out the corner of his eye. Looking up, he saw a brilliant stone tower. So that's where the door must of led to. He thought to himself, as he rose upwards. It was almost guarenteed that something worth of value could be brought back to the poor villagers.
As he crawled through the window, which was identical to the one he jumped out of, he was largely disappointed. It was simply a bedroom, not a safe for where the most prized gems in all of the Kingdom would be stowed. Wherever the Crown Jewels lay, they would most likely be guarded twenty-four seven.
Groaning, the hedgehog began to raid through the tower room. It quite clearly belonged to a lady of some kind, perhaps Shadow's daughter, the Princess. After twenty minutes of searching, Silver shook his head. He was not finding anything, but he refused to leave this castle empty-handed. The King's greedy brother owned too much, and the villagers owned too little. The balance was out of order, those who were not Royal nor noblepeople of some kind were treated as if they were vermin.
Spotting a chest over towards the bed, Silver grinned, walking towards it and knelt by it. As he opened it up, he smirked. Bags containing gold coins overflowed the chest, whilst strings of pearls and diamonds snaked between them. Putting all of the jewelry into his satchel, and grabbing one extrememly heavy bag, he stood to his feet. This would do the village well for a while. But no doubt he would have to return, money could only last so long, and Shadow's Knights believed that the King (Shadow's new title that Silver refused to use in his honour) deserved the money, diamonds and whatever else 'vermin' didn't deserve.
Shaking his head, he turned around on his heel and got ready to leave. But instead, he came face-to-face with fiery orange eyes. Silver stumbled back a bit, startled. The Princess stood before him. Even though she had been mentioned before by many people of the Kingdom, Silver had never seen her appearance. A cat, who's fur was a soft lilac and a white muzzle. Her attire, a purple layered dress, oddly covered up her arms and legs completely, not even below her neck was visible. Her gloved hands were on her hips, as she took a small step forwards. "And you must be Robin Hood." She said knowingly, the Princess' voice was calm, yet firm.
Dumbly, Silver nodded. She was in the way of the exit; the arched window. Yet his limbs acted as if they were stone, his mouth frozen. Surely, she would call for for her father's Knights. They would take him away, lock him in the dungeons beneath the castle, his execution would be arranged and his untimely death would come. Strangely enough, she didn't call for Jet or any of his guards. She simply eyed what he had in his hand, and turned towards her set of mahogany drawers and pulled out an aged parchment.
"Here. This is every detail of this castle." The Princess explained, pointing towards a drawn bird's eye view of the Princess' room. "We're here, at this moment of time." She looked at the stunned hedgehog up and down. "Now go, before someone sees you in here." She ushered, rolling up the map and handing it to him.
Silver's limbs finally allowed him to move, and he grabbed his stolen items and the map, before heading towards the window. He looked down, the drop wasn't too bad, not when he could use his telekinesis. It was a simple get away from here.
"Wait!" The Princess called. "Meet me by the Old Willow at nightfall." She intructed. A booming voice cried the name 'Blaze', and heavy footsteps began to echo louder and louder. "Quickly, Robin!" Blaze exclaimed.
"Call me Silver." The white hedgehog replied, his voice confident. She nodded, and with that, he hopped out of the window, landing safely at the bottom and ran back into the woods, his thieved items safely in his hand and satchel. Meet my by the Old Willow at nightfall. Princess Blaze's words replayed in his mind. "I guess I'll see you there." Silver muttered to himself as he fled from the Castle. This was going to be very interesting.
