Chapter Three

The two friends were chattering lightheartedly when they were finally able to make it to the store together. They decided to just go to one of the general dollar stores to save money, but this particular store had a wide selection of fun items. Amy had texted Sonic earlier asking for them to bring balloons, somehow both her and Cream had forgotten them, and despite his reassurance that he didn't need any balloons, they had both insisted. One thing was for sure, though, Amy's chili was one of the best and the smell of it filling his home almost made it unbearable to leave. As if on cue, his stomach gave a loud growl and Tails tried to keep a straight face. "Thinking about Amy's chili?"

"Oh shut up," Sonic scoffed, trying not to grin himself, "You can't say that it's not good. Anyway, what were we up here for again? I know Amy wants the balloons…"

Tails gestured towards the rack of CDs. "We could pick out some music too. I know that you have a few back at your place, but it might be fun to have something new to listen to." As he spoke, he plucked a Kid's Bop CD off of the rack, giving Sonic a wide grin. "You did promise me you'd let me listen to some of my music during your last birthday."

"Oh all right," Sonic chuckled, flipping through some of the CDs himself, "just as long as it's not only Kid's Bop."

It didn't take them too long to have a stack of CDs in hand. Before they headed off to purchase them, however, Sonic remembered at the last moment that Amy had told him to get the balloons. "Here, you check these out and I'll head back over to the party section for those balloons." He handed Tails the CDs he had picked before heading off through the aisles in search of them. It didn't take him too long to find them—of course they were near the back of the store—and as he was heading back with a pack of them in hand, he came across a shelf with a few mirrors upon them. Taking a moment to admire himself, Sonic smoothed back a few stray quills and gave the mirror a grin. That grin was quickly wiped away when his image began to morph and ripple in the mirror, almost as if he was looking at his reflection in rippling water, and he almost fell back into the wall behind him, when a familiar figure grinned viciously back at him. Red eyes gleaming in amusement at his startled expression, the creature gave a low cackle as its whispery voice teased his ears. "Hello… Sonic The Hedgehog."

"Sonic?"

Sonic nearly jumped a foot in the air when Tails' voice reached his ears, and he quickly looked away from the mirror. Tails was standing there with a disco ball cradled in his arms. "Oh, uh sorry. I got distracted."

"By yourself?" Tails wondered, seeming amused as he held up the disco ball for him to see, "I saw this while I was checking out the CDs. I thought it'd be fun to have at the party. But are you all right? You look a bit pale."

"Nah, I'm fine," Sonic laughed, "Let me buy these balloons and we can head back."

I really hope Knuckles didn't destroy the place while we were gone. He and Amy don't really see eye to eye sometimes. Oh geez, why did I leave them two by themselves there.

"Let's hurry back," Sonic grumbled, "Who knows what's been going on back there while we were gone." He was beginning to forget his strange encounter earlier with the mirror and the dark being within it. For the moment, he was just writing it off as a hallucination. That dream of his last night had been quite vivid, so maybe his mind was still subconscious disturbed by it. He was determined to make sure that it didn't ruin his night, though. Everyone seemed very enthused about having his party and he wanted to make sure that they weren't disappointed. Giving a quick thanks to the cashier, Sonic zipped out of the store, Tails right behind him as the duo hurried back to his place.