Chapter 1 (R)
There were moments in life that Sonic wished went on forever.
There he was, putting dishes away from the dishwasher. It didn't seem like fun to the average person but it seemed like a sort of privilege to him.
It was so...normal.
If he was to say that in front of his fans, they would think that he was joking. Sonic the Hedgehog never liked to rest. He was suppose to be bounding off the walls twenty four - seven.
But even heroes have to rest sometimes. Especially after the ordeal he had gone through three months earlier.
He had been doing the same thing as always, chasing after Eggman. When the doctor had pretended to surrender, the hedgehog had let his cockiness get the best of him. That gave the opening that the doctor had been waiting for and the next thing the speedster knew was that he was caught.
He knew he was in trouble the moment the emeralds changed color.
Right after he realized that, he felt the energy he had in himself change. The new force ate up the the power he was used to up to the point it changed his appearance. He could feel the destruction of everything around him, including the ground far below. He could feel the inhabitants of the planet panicking, scared of impending doom.
And he loved it.
It was the first time Sonic had gotten pleasure from the suffering of others. It wasn't the last, though. Every night when he transformed into the werehog, he felt happy that others were suffering. He even felt a slight hatred for Chip, but he didn't know why until much later. He felt like he fighting an inner battle trying to keep his thoughts sane every night for four and a half months. It was no wonder that he had fallen into a deep 27 hour sleep when he got home.
Yes, putting away the dishes felt like a paradise compared to his previous adventure.
He even took his time, making sure each dish was completely dry and placed in the correct cabinets. The hedgehog didn't know he had started to hum until he had finished the task.
Still humming, he gazed out the window that was above the sink. It was a clear early spring night, no sign of the rain that had fallen early this morning. Sonic barely registered the scene behind his house. His attention instinctively went to the moving figure in his backyard.
There, in the dip between the hill that supported their home and another smaller hill, was Tails. The lights from the building slightly illuminated him, showing his actions.
Sonic knew what the 9 year old was doing. The fox had gotten in his mind that he needed to have more experience in the biology of nature in order to apply the mechanical traits of his machinery. At least, that's what Sonic had gotten from the ten minute explanation. Tails had begun to search for insects both day and night a few weeks before the world had broken apart, drawing him into the mission with his big brother. After a week back, he continued where he had left off.
Seeing Tails enjoying the weather outside made the hedgehog yearn for fresh air. He took a few steps to the back door and push the screen open. The cool air that came after a rain surrounded him and he quickly undid the sweater that he had on his waist and put it on him. He sometimes envied his little brother's ability to stand the cold.
The back porch didn't have rails like the front did so he leaned against a post instead, watching the fox run around putting bugs in the jars that stood in the middle of the yard. Tomorrow they were supposed to Angel Island so that Tails could add more variation to his collection. It was to be the first outing since coming home other than the store, something that Sonic had been on the fence about. He liked going places with Tails but he wanted to stay home just a bit longer. This place was like a bubble. Eggman didn't know where it was so the risk of him blowing it up was minuscule. Their fans had no idea either so it was peaceful and quiet. The facts that finally got him to go was that any place that you stay in forever will get boring and that Tails will go off on his own to the jungle that was the island. Ever since Knuckles, a life long inhabitant of the place, had mentioned that even he didn't know about everything that grew there Sonic had been put in a state of unease everytime they went deep into the trees there. Tails had a bad habit of letting science getting in the way of safety. Sonic clearly remembered the scorpion that the fox had picked up on a mission when he was five. It had been dead and the kit managed to completely miss the stinger when he grabbed it, things that Sonic was grateful for. Even if that was a few years ago and Tails had more experience being alone Sonic wasn't going to let him go by himself into the jungle. Plus he hadn't seen a certain red echidna for a while.
The first and last reason were given to the fox. The younger one would have a fit if he caught wind of the other one.
"Sonic!" The excited voice caused the 17 year old to straighten his posture. The fox was running towards his direction with his arms full with glass jars. They were placed on the table that stood to the far right on the porch. Sonic walked over and peered in them. There were only two that were empty. The other five were filled with what seemed like a moth, nightcrawlers, a lizard, two grasshoppers, and a few mucus colored bugs that he couldn't identify.
"What are those?" Sonic pointed to to the glass containing the pale grubs.
"They seem to be some sort of larvae. Probably beetle."
Now that the fox was directly under the porch light, Sonic could see how bad the mud was on his body. Nobody would have been able to tell that this fox had been born with white patches. Thank goodness that he had the sense to take off the white gloves he normally wore. There would have been no way to get them completely clean. There was already going to be trouble with jeans and the originally blue t-shirt he had on. The shoes were a lost cause.
"Did you go swimming in the mud or something?" The fox briefly hesitated answering the question, scratching behind his ears instead.
"Well...the hills have no traction right now and grasshoppers can be fast..."
The scene that popped into the hedgehog's head was enough to send him laughing. Tails glared at his older brother, picked up the jars that were occupied, and marched in the house.
"Try not to get too much mud in the house!" Sonic gasped before following.
Sonic didn't know he was shutting the door on the last peaceful night he would have for a long time.
