Chapter 1: A Crimson Future

?'s P.O.V

I wished I would just disappear as the umpteenth person came by & gave their respects to my parents. They had been killed by someone trying to take the car from them. Police were still trying to find out where the person went. My brother, Rain, was standing beside me as frozen as I was. We didn't cry. We just stood there, staring at the two wooden coffins as they were lowered into the ground. As the dirt was piled onto them I couldn't help but wonder why people liked to be buried into the ground. I mean, they're just going be eaten by worms & other decomposing type animals, right? I decided right then & there that I'd be cremated when I died. Kind of a big decision for a fifteen year old to make, but nonetheless I made it.

On the ride back, Rain finally gave in & let the tears flow. I tried my best to comfort him & wiped a couple of his black quills out of his face. Oh, did I mention I wasn't human? I'm a hedgehog, name's Dimethos.

"It's going to be all right Rain, we'll manage by ourselves…somehow." I did my best to console him, but more tears flowed. I felt guilty, I felt like I could have prevented the accident somehow. I don't know why, I just did.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours, alright you two?" My uncle Dean shouted to us as we walked up the steps of the mansion. Dean wasn't really our uncle, he wasn't even related to us by blood, in fact, he's a type of Hawk (or at least that's what he says, I think he looks more like a Falcon); but he had taken care of us before & he was our Dad's closest friend, & our godfather. He ran an Extreme Gear store down in Station Square & we were going to back our bags & move in with him since, well you know & the title of uncle just seemed to fit him.

As I packed the things from my room, I started to linger towards Rain's room. He had packed everything & was closing his door behind him.

"Thanks for earlier…" He said through pinkish eyes. "But I wasn't crying because of them, I just don't want to leave." He read the surprise on my face & chuckled. "Some twins we are, huh? We don't even know what the other is thinking." That's right, I'm a twin. Not an identical one, a fraternal one & I'm older by a whole day! Okay maybe just two minutes, but his birthday is on the twenty-third & mine's on the twenty-second but we celebrate on the same day anyways.

We heard Dean's car pull up the driveway & so we headed out to the car. We threw our things into the trunk & hopped into the back seats as we headed to the city.

As we approached Megalo City I wondered to myself what it was like to die. I mean, what really happens to one's conscience? Their soul? Does it disappear, or does it transfer to another newborn? I shook my head at the thought, ridiculous. I shook my head once again & look at the towering buildings that surrounded the roads.

"Damn it!" Dean shouted. "I forgot about this!" I looked up & peered through the glass of the car & saw that there was a huge build up of all kinds of vehicles in the way & more were piling up behind us. But those people were getting out of their cars.

"What's up?" I asked. The people that were walking past us were talking animatedly & they all seemed really excited. I rolled down my window to listen in.

"There's an EX Gear competition going on throughout the main streets of the city today." He sighed. "I guess we'll have to…Hey! Where are you two going!" He roared out the window as he saw us running towards the track.

"What does it look like we're doing?" Rain yelled back as we took off full speed towards the track. We had never seen a race before. We had learned how to ride a Gear & everything from when we visited Dean a couple of months ago but we weren't old enough to compete. We made it to the edge of the track, just in time to see the participants shoot by us, the crowd roared & cheered as the last of the racers past by & we found ourselves joining in the cheering. Above us a monitor was floating with eight miniature screens on it.

"Sonic is riding Jet's turbulence & catching up!" A weird little robot with two yellow orbs for eyes was hovering near the monitor, announcing the words. One of the miniature screens got larger than the others; the screen had two figures on it, a blue hedgehog & a green hawk. I couldn't pick out the details too well because of the crowd, but I could tell that the hedgehog was about to pass the hawk.

"Dimethos, look!" Rain yelled, pointing to the skyscraper off on our right. "Some sort of machine is near that building!" I focused & saw a weird type of ball hovering near the building.

"Think it could be a camera for the race?" I asked. Rain shook his head.

"I don't think so; I saw it show up just a couple of seconds ago." I glanced over at the thing again & saw another spec flying towards the building. There was smoke trailing from the spec though.

"Look out!" I roared causing several peoples heads to turn towards me. I ran & saw a fox carrying an EX gear.

"Hey!" He yelled as I snatched it from him & threw it into the air. Parts of the track started to fly upwards & I saw the smoke fuming out of what was left of the skyscraper. Another explosion went off directly over my head; I urged the board forward & felt it move faster.

'This board is designed incredibly well' I thought to myself, looking at the board. 'It responds easily to my commands & can easily compare with one of Uncle Dean's boards. The design is a little bland though.' As I looked up I noticed a figure standing in the middle of the track & swerved to the right. I turned to hard however & was thrown off; I landed on my leg & was pretty sure I felt something break, I cried out in pain as the board hit against the back of my head.

Rain's P.O.V

"What the hell is he thinking!" I heard Uncle Dean say over my shoulder. My eyes had followed Dimethos until that building had collapsed. He had made it past it, that much I was positive about, but what had caused that thing to destroy the building? Why would it want to hurt so many people? I had to get my answers.

"Hey, Dean…" I started, bending one leg.

"What is it?" He snapped, I could see stress throughout his face.

"Sorry!" I said as I ran off towards my brother & the mysterious machine. I noticed another Gear in the form of a bike nearby & jumped on. I don't really like the combination of red & black on a vehicle but it worked on this. I followed my brother, after several seconds, the air rippled briefly & something appeared right in front of Dimethos! I saw him swerve, fall, & the thing start to advance on him!

Dimethos' P.O.V

All I could feel is pain. My head felt like it had a river pouring down it, my leg felt kinda…empty I guess. Well, more like when you burn your finger then place it in water. My vision was all blurry & my ears were ringing. I saw something come towards me…I couldn't really tell what it was; all I could concentrate on was the pain.

"Don't move." The thing said. Well at least, I think it said that. I couldn't really tell since I wasn't really focusing & I wasn't really in the position to argue. The figure pulled out some weird green jewel thing & it started to glow. "This will hurt." The thing spoke again & I closed my eyes. The thing had been right, pain seared through my leg & I screamed. The pain disappeared almost instantly after the first couple of seconds though, as did the pain in my head & the rest of my body. I opened my eyes & noticed a black & red hedgehog kneeling in front of me, the green jewel still in his hand & slowly dimming. There was blood all around me but when I checked myself I appeared to be in perfect condition, except for my slight weirdness of course.

"Thanks umm…" I rubbed the back of my head & lifted myself up. "How did you do that?"

"There's no time to explain, if you haven't noticed…" He gestured to the destroyed building. "We don't have time to be standing around."

"Dimethos!" I heard my brother cry as he came to a halt near us on a Gear. I looked over to where the other was & went to pick it up.

"You came too?" I said. I should have expected him to come as well but I guess with all that had happened in the past couple of minutes I had kinda got caught off guard.

"No, I'm just here as an image of what you last remember me looking like & on a random Gear that you somehow conjured up out of your own imagination." He said sarcastically.

"Really? Okay then, will you be coming with me to help out Mr. Mysterious Spirit?" I replied mockingly.

"So you two plan on heading towards the destruction…" The other hedgehog said, standing up finally. "Hmph, it's your neck I guess." He started to sprint towards the battle taking place & we followed him on the Gears. The entire road that had been cleared for the race had been ruined. There were pieces of asphalt in the nearby buildings & there were several wrecked vehicles through the track. I stopped by one of the cars & stood there, frozen. The car was the same as the one our parents had driven, except it was now ruined & an injured woman lay in it.

"Dimethos, is that…?"

"Yeah…" I swallowed, after checking the license plate. "This is the car."

"So that must be…" Rain growled as he grabbed the person sitting in the driver's seat. "You're the bitch that killed our parents!" He shook the lady several times. "They're dead! Do you hear me! DEAD! And it's all your fault!"

"Rain, we can save her for later. Right now we should help those other guys." I grabbed his fist as he raised it to hit her & released his grip on the woman. I shoved her back into the seat.

"But…"

"Look at the state she's in…" I motioned towards her bloodied & battered body. "She doesn't know where is. She isn't even capable of getting out of here without any help. She's not going anywhere." I had a lot of things I wanted to pay her back for myself. I could feel all my pent up anger towards her starting to get closer to the surface with each second I stood there.

"You're right. We can come back for her later." He closed his eyes & nodded.

Rain's P.O.V

"Let's go." I started the gear & followed as Dimethos moved on ahead of me. There was some rumbling up ahead & I heard a lot of gunfire. That black & red hedgehog had moved on without us when we had stopped at the car. It seemed like he didn't really care if we came along or not, just as long as we didn't get in the way.

I admit I was scared, maybe scared isn't the right word. More like terrified. Yeah, that sounds about right. I don't want to die, I don't want to get hurt either. But I do want to know why these guys attacked Megalo City. It couldn't be that Dr. Robotnik person. His company is in the city & the major provider for it, that's common knowledge now & due to the legalities of him officially establishing the company, the authorities couldn't do anything about it. So it wouldn't make sense for him to be attacking the city. So what in the world is going on?

A bullet soared by overhead, a second later we saw where the bullet came from. A blue hedgehog-looking robot with a red visor for eyes was walking towards a car in front of us & shooting at a silver hedgehog that was hiding behind it. I saw Dimethos grab the remaining half of a stop sign & speed towards the robot. I sped towards the silver hedgehog.

"Time to go!" I offered my hand to the hedgehog & he pulled out a purple looking jewel.

"Take it & get out of here!" He demanded as he placed the jewel in my hand.

"New target acquired " I heard coming from the direction of the robot. I looked up & saw him throw Dimethos. The robots arm that had the gun on it was broken & crackling electricity & worst of all, it was staring at me. I turned the bike & took off in the direction I came & I heard the robot following me. It seems like they were after this jewel. There was a loud bang & I saw something blue for a moment. The wind following it threw me off balance & the bike swerved causing me to crash. I moved to get up, but something grabbed my shoulder & pinned me to the wall; a different robot was pinning me to the wall. This one was sleeker & smaller in design. It also had to red glowing eyes. One of its hands was drawn back & the sharp claws on it were flattened out, looking ready to kill…

CHAPTER 1 END!