(Authors Note) Okay the next chapter will show Shadow. Sonic Characters do not belong to me. THANK YOU! Review please! :D

Chapter One

I found myself entering a large city. There were people bustling all around me. Children screamed and played. Adults blabbed on their phones. Car horns honked at the traffic. The tall buildings stared me down.

"Whoa." I whispered at the sight. Pigeons flew between the skyscrapers. They chirped along with the other loud noises all around me.

I heard children giggling as they played jump rope and drew their thoughts onto the sidewalk with chalk. I smiled at the sight of a small girl.

She was very thin. Her brown hair was cut at her jaw line. She had long bangs that covered her eye brows. The little girl had her pink tongue sticking out in concentration. Chalk covered her tiny hands. Her right hand was purple while the other was blue.

I kneeled down on the opposite end of her artwork and smiled at her great gift. There was an image of a beach. It looked so realistic. She had drawn seagulls and fish leaping from the water. I was so amazed at the great amount of talent in her tiny hands.

Her brown eyes looked up and met mine. She smiled at me with tiny rows of teeth. Her porcelain face was perfectly round. There was a small crease on her chin. There was chalk on her forehead and on her cheek was a cut mark that was healing over.

"You are a really good artist." I complemented her.

She smiled at me "Thanks. I think your dress is really pretty." She spoke in a high squeaky voice.

"Thank you so much. What's your name?" I asked still gaping at the drawing.

"Jenna." She replied as she drew a blue wave in her ocean image. "What about your name, Miss."

I smiled "I'm Maria." I wasn't too worried about a little girl recognizing me. Heck, she probably didn't know I existed until now. She was so polite and kind. I glanced back at the cut on her cheek.

"What happened to your cheek?" I nodded to her cheek as I sat completely down with my dress spread around me.

Jenna reached up and touched her cheek. A frown had spread across her face. She was deep in thought for a moment.

"Daddy never really liked me. Mommy says that when I was a baby that my real Mommy couldn't take care of me so she gave me to my new mommy. Daddy didn't like me. He thought I shouldn't have been born. So Daddy hit me all the time and when Mommy tried to stop him he would hit Mommy. If Kayla tried to stop him Daddy would kick her. Daddy is gone though. Mommy told the cops on him." She explained to me as tears escaped down her cheek.

I could see the pain in her eyes. She had been abused by the man who didn't see the true potential in her. He didn't see the beauty in her and the talent of art in her. It pained me to see a child like this. I wanted to pick her up and give her a hug. Tell her that she was okay.

"I'm so sorry, Jenna. I wish there was something I could do to help you." She wiped away her tears and smiled.

"You can be my friend. I don't have a friend."

I smiled "I would love to be your friend."

"Yay!" Jenna cheered leaping to her feet and doing a victory dance. I giggled and clapped in rhythm. At the end of her dance Jenna did a bow and blew a kiss to an invisible audience "Thank you, thank very much!" she chanted to the crowed that wasn't there.

"Jenna, Mom says that it's time for dinner." Called out a young female voice. I glanced up to see a small fox.

She looked about thirteen. She was short in size and had light purple fur with a lime green dress and boots. The fox had golden earrings on her perked up ears. Her eyes were shining amber. She had long white hair that drifted into long curls that framed her face perfectly.

The young fox looked at me with a curious expression. Then a small smile crawled onto her face.

"Kayla, I want you to meet Maria. She's my new friend." Jenna rushed over to the fox and grasped her hand. Kayla smiled down at her adopted sister and looked back at me.

"Nice to meet you Maria." Kayla nodded to me.

I stood to my feet and gave a small wave. Kayla eyed my dress. I knew that she thought I was some kind of creep on the street since the way I was dressed was strange for this type of city.

Then a door swung open to a nearby house. There stood another purple fox. The fox looked a lot like Kayla. Her hair was up in a messy bun and she wore a tired expression on her face.

"Come on Jenna." Spoke the woman staring at me with wide eyes. Jenna held Kayla's hand as they walked onto the porch. Jenna looked back at me.

"Will I see you again?" She asked in her sweet voice. I smiled and nodded.

"I promise to see you again but, right now I need to find another friend of mine."

Jenna smiled and walked into the house, hand in hand with Kayla. The older fox stared at me intently.

I could basically see her life's story in her amber eyes. She had adopted a sweet human girl. Her husband must have disliked a human in the family and thought it was right to beat his wife and daughters. It was an odd family but, it was still so kind of the woman to take in the small girl.

I was just happy that the man was out of their life and could no longer hurt them. I gave her a smile and began to walk away. I heard a door shut closed.

A city full of strangers sat all around me. I had to find Shadow as fast as I could.

I felt everyone's eyes on me, the strange girl in the street with a white dress and bare feet and looked lost in the unknown city.

I shrugged off their gaze and continued down the street with pebbles digging into the bottoms of my feet.