Hey guys! I'm back with the next chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Gang Chase
A cold wind blew through the air, carrying the acrid scent of garbage and gasoline with it. Outside the motel, Sonic, Knuckles, Mighty, and Vector stood, all four inspecting the general area. Alley ways, old buildings, and a couple broken cars were all over the place. It also wasn't the cleanest of places...The four had uncomfortable looks on their faces as they looked at it all.
"Guys...I'm not liking this area..." Mighty finally spoke up nervously, hugging the baby kangaroo, Squirt, closer to him.
"This place is a dump." Knuckles muttered in agreement. "Where are we, even?"
"I have no idea." Vector replied. "That's gonna have to be the first thing to figure out if we want any answers." Right as he finished his sentence, Shadow, who was still slung over the crocodile's shoulder, slowly slid off him and fell head-first into a trash can behind them.
After seeing this, Sonic sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "This is gonna be a 'fun' experience..." The doors to the motel opened and Espio exited from it. He mad his way to the others and faced them.
"Okay, I just checked us out of our room." He told them. "I also asked the desk clerk where we are and they said we're in Spagonia."
"This is Spagonia?" Sonic repeated in disbelief, turning back to their surrounding area. "Yeesh, I've never seen this side of it."
"Well, it's not exactly Spagonia." Espio explained. "This is one of the surrounding areas near Spagonia. Like, the outer city limits."
"By the looks of it, we're waaay out of the limits..." Knuckles mumbled.
"So we know where we are now." Mighty said. "Next, we just need to find out what we did, where the money came from, find Squirt's parents, and find Silver."
Sonic gave a determined grin. "Let's hop to it!"
"Hold on a sec." Vector spoke up. The four turned to see the crocodile digging all around in the trash can. After a moment, he stood back up and pulled Shadow out by his scruff. Shaking the bits of trash off the dark hedgehog, Vector slung him back over his shoulder.
"Can you please stop tossing him around like that?" Espio asked in annoyance, scowling. "He's not a rag doll."
"Well, how else am I supposed to hold him? Like this?" Vector then took Shadow and held him bridal-style.
"...Please don't..." Knuckles told him bluntly.
"Hey guys!" Sonic called back to them. He was already walking ahead, away from the group. "Our questions aren't gonna answer themselves. Let's go!" Deciding to drop their subject, Vector put Shadow back on his shoulder and he, Mighty, Knuckles, and Espio followed after, leaving the motel and heading into the area.
(Page Break)
Flickies chirped and flew about, pecking at the ground for any sign of food. Inside one of the dark alleys, a group of Mobians stood together. All of them were canines of different species. They had rugged fur and wore leather jackets; they were gangsters. As they all stood in a group, talking to each other, one of them, a coyote, came running from within the alley.
"I found them! I found them!" He shouted frantically, getting the others' attention. One of them, a dingo, perked his ears and stepped forward, facing the coyote.
"Are you sure? Where?" He demanded. The coyote motioned for all of them to follow and went back in the direction he came from. The group of gangsters complied and walked behind him as he led them through. Soon, they came to an alley opening that faced a long, lone road with a cracked up sidewalk on the far side.
The coyote pointed out to the sidewalk. "There." He said. At a distance away, the gang saw a small group walking down it. This group was a blue hedgehog, an echidna, a chameleon, an armadillo holding what looked like a baby kangaroo, and a crocodile holding another hedgehog, a black one, over his shoulder. Upon seeing them, the dingo's eyes widened.
"It is them. It's those pests from last night." He said, then narrowed his eyes and smirked. "Let's go get 'em. We have some business to finish." Back out on the sidewalk, Mighty was glancing up and down the lone, empty street beside them.
"I can see this isn't a very busy place." He commented. "So what are we doing first?"
"I think first, we should search for Squirt's family." Espio answered and glanced back at the baby in the armadillo's arms. "I can only imagine the distress his parents are feeling right now."
"You have a point." Sonic agreed. "Buuuut, how are we gonna find the kid's parents?"
"Good question." Vector mumbled as he thought about it. "Uuuh, I guess we just go around and ask people if they're missing a child."
"I guess that's all we can do." Knuckles said. As the group continued to head down, the shady-looking gang of canine Mobians then stepped out of the darkness of the alley. Keeping their eyes on the five, the dingo motioned all of them to head toward them. Quickly walking across the street, they reached the sidewalk and stood in front of the group. Sonic, Knuckles, Espio, Mighty, and Vector came to an abrupt stop and stared at the gang in confusion.
"Uh...can we help you?" The blue hedgehog asked. The dingo stepped forward and faced them all with narrowed eyes.
"We've been searching for you six vermin all night." He growled. "Now let's pick up where we left off." The gang members all cracked their fists and advanced toward them with growls. The five's eyes all widened in alarm and they backed up.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold your horses, now." Sonic said frantically. "First, we have no idea what happened last night, so we're just lost and confused. Second, as much as I wouldn't mind kicking your guys' butts, we have a mindless friend," He then pointed to Shadow. "And we're with child." He then motioned to Squirt, who was being held protectively by Mighty.
"Look, we've had a rough night that we're trying to figure out, so we don't want any trouble." Espio told the gang calmly. "So whatever we may have done, we apologize for that, but we have to get going." The dingo kept the glare on his face as he glanced between the five Mobians in front of him. Finally, his gaze rested on Squirt. The little kangaroo's hazel eyes were wide and shone with fright as he whimpered at the sight of the gang.
Finally, a sinister smirk crept on the dingo's muzzle. "Well then, why don't I relieve you vermin of one of your 'problems'." He said. "We'll be takin' that kid." Before any of them could object, he reached toward Mighty to grab Squirt, but the armadillo held him away.
"Hey, hey! Back off pal!" He warned. The dingo's smirk then turned into a glare.
"Give me the kangaroo." He snarled quietly. Just then, Knuckles came between him and Mighty and shoved him away.
"Listen, buddy. We may not know who you are, but if you want that kid, then you're gonna go down in a fight!" The echidna threatened, raising his fists.
"Um, Knuckles." Espio whispered to him. "I don't really think we should provo-" The gang members then pulled guns out of their jackets and cocked them. This caused Vector to yelp in surprise and Mighty to lean toward Sonic.
"Sonic, they have firearms." He said nervously. "We don't..."
"I can see that Mighty." Sonic said back. The hedgehog then showed his trademark grin and stepped toward the gang with a chuckle. "Okay, okay, fellas. I'm sure you all have your reasons for aiming guns at our heads, so here's what we're gonna do for ya."
"And that is...?" The dingo asked with a raised eyebrow. Sonic continued to grin at him and remained silent for a few moments. Finally, after about 10 seconds, he suddenly sped away and took off running down the sidewalk.
"Time to go!" He shouted at the others as he passed. Knuckles, Espio, Mighty, and Vector wasted no time and quickly ran after him. The gang of canines watched them go for a few seconds, blinking in confusion. The dingo regained his senses and growled.
"Hey!" He shouted then turned to the rest. "After them!" Farther down the road, Sonic slowed his pace so Espio, Mighty, and Knuckles could keep up.
"I don't understand why we're even running." The echidna grumbled. "I could've taken those guys on, guns or not."
"We're trying to keep our blood in our bodies, Knux." Sonic replied simply. Just then, loud banging sounded and many bullets flew right past their heads. Looking back, the three saw the gang giving chase, firing at them.
"Speak of the devil." Espio muttered. Sonic's ears twitched at the sound of whimpering and he looked over at Squirt. The baby kangaroo had his eyes closed tight and was burying himself in Mighty's chest, completely terrified. Sonic's eyes then gained a determined gleam.
"We gotta find a place to hide." He spoke up. "We need to keep Squirt safe." The other three nodded in agreement. Behind them, however, Vector was running frantically, dodging bullets and struggling to keep up.
"Guys, don't run so fast!" He shouted after them. "It's not fair that you're all smaller than me!" Fur brushing on his shoulder got his attention and Vector looked over to see Shadow slip and fall off him from the running. Immediately, he grabbed the dark hedgehog's leg. "I got ya, Shadow!"
However, he was only dragging the hedgehog on the ground, his face scrapping against the sidewalk. "Oops, let me hold ya higher." Vector raised him up off the ground, but only resulted in his face being hit by a fire hydrant, a sign, and the pole of a street light as they passed. Rolling his eyes, Vector just held Shadow under his arm and continued on. All of a sudden, a hand grabbed his tail and pulled him into an alley. The crocodile gave a startled yelp as he and Shadow were yanked into a dumpster.
"Alright, you guys wanna piece of me?! Come get-" A gloved hand grabbed his snout tightly to cut him off.
"Shut up." Knuckles, who was the one that grabbed him, whispered. Vector then saw that Sonic, Espio, Mighty, and Squirt were in there as well. The group fell silent and listened intently to the outside. The pounding of many feet running was soon heard and got louder as the gang drew closer. The five froze up as they listened to the members shout at one another, commanding to find them. After a while, their foot steps were heard again but were getting fainter and fainter. Soon, all was quiet. Sonic cautiously peeked out of the dumpster. The gang was gone from sight.
"We lost 'em." He said in relief and flopped back inside. "Whoo! Okay, that was a lot to take in."
"What just happened, though?!" Vector questioned loudly. "They said they wanted to 'pick up where we left off' from last night. I know I've said this before, but what did we do last night?!"
"I'm just wondering what they were going to do with Squirt." Mighty said quietly. He looked down at the infant, who still kept his eyes closed.
"Man, if only Shadow still had grip of his mind." Vector said. "He probably could've Chaos Blasted those guys and it would've been over sooner."
"We definitely have to get to the bottom of this." Espio said with narrowed eyes. "Now there's a gang chasing us? This is beginning to get out of hand." The others then nodded, but fell silent. After a few moments, Knuckles glanced around.
"...Why are we still in a dumpster?" He asked.
And that's all! Hm, now Sonic and the others have a gang chasing after them? What could've been the cause of that? We'll see later in the story...
Thank you all for reading! The next chapter will be up soon! See ya!
