Chapter 3

This is where things get super Wraith-enhanced!

Wraith woke up in his room and immediately looked at the lamp in the corner. He wanted to kick that lamp so hard in the face because it reminded him of when his dad used to turn the lights out before going to his night job in Metropolis. He then thought about how much the lamp looked nice and wanted to walk up and sing into it like he was on Mobian Idol. He was an avid fan of this show and also loved to sing, dance, and have fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun fun. He quickly slapped himself in the face after realizing he was acting like a meme. He hated those and the internet. He only liked Facebook, but only because it was the only way to communicate with his Uncle Jerry from the Ice Cap Zone.

Wraith trudged into the bathroom and combed his hair. He thought he looked good for a guy who just got clobbered by a big bad baddie. He had no sign of bruises or scars and looked like the average Joe who only fell off a bike and lived.

Wraith applied a pea-sized amount of toothpaste to his toothbrush and began to clean his teeth. "Cleanliness is next to Hedginess!" he said with a smart face. He spit out the old toothpaste and smiled even bigger. He thought that last night was bad, but today was definitely in the process of looking up.

At the breakfast table in the cafeteria…

Boy, was Wraith wrong. The cafeteria was destroyed from last night's battle with Sonic and things were looking rather bad for the chefs. They could only make some sort of bizarre tuna fish cuisine. Wraith was not the biggest fan of this and was not even sure if what he was eating could actual constitute as tuna fish. He still powered through the feast of sludge because he was strong. His stomach was not as strong and he spent the rest of the next two hours in the bathroom.

Wraith eventually met up with Knuckles at afternoon timing. He showed him his jacket to prove it was okay and did not get torn in the fight last night. Knuckles saw one tear by the collar though and felt really bad. Knuckles felt the collar on his thumb and sighed for a long time.

"What happened when I passed out, Knuckles?" asked the young Hedgehog. "I heard that you defeated my dad, but why do you look so distraught about the gnarly matter?"

Knuckles sighed again and set down Wraith's jacket. "I think we need to be careful about the Treasure Hunters. They have gotten a bit stronger since last time, homie."

"My dad works for them? I guess I never figured that out yet."

"Yeah, he does, Wraith. I didn't know Sonic had a wife and kid. This must be really bad for you. I'm sorry if I was hard on you without knowing that kind of stuff. I'll make it up to you someday. We'll go and eat chicken teriyaki at Casinopolis or something."

Wraith was opposed to this because he found gambling an accursed activity, but he was very good at gambling because he watched poker on cable TV and knew how to trick the dealer into giving him a double royal flush in one turn. "I won't be opposed to hanging out with you more though, Knuckles. You can teach me a lot more power, right?"

"Wrong," said Knuckles sadly. He took off his cowboy hat and scratched his dreaded head. "The Sonic incident was only the tip of the iceberg. I cannot teach you any more power because you seemed to have instincts that made you strong enough to fight him back. My mission last night did not end with a success and the bad thing is that Sonic got away without much negativity. We do need to be stronger, but I can't really do much else for you."

"That's a bogus bummer. Perhaps you could at least explain to me why I got a strong all of a sudden that night in the fight?"

"Well, that is something that is strange." Knuckles grabbed his fists and punched the ground in thought. He thought he smelled danger in the air, but it was just his imagination. Wraith looked confused and asked if Knuckles was all right still. "No, son. You are okay, but I didn't tell you everything. Like what I saw that night when we were at the full moon and looking."

"You seemed immensely disappointed about some attribute that day."

"You did not transform when you looked at that glowing orb. Do you know why?"

"Know why?"

"Yeah, did you know?"

"I didn't know."

"Oh-no." Knuckles sounded weird when he said this.

"What can I transform into?"

"Your dad turned into a werehog. That is what his monster form was called. You do recall he looked pretty different, right?"
"Oh yeah. I did notice that he was like Marvel's Hulk, but he wasn't quite Brucing his Banner."

"Which leads to my final point. You did not transform into that menacing guy, but you did transform into something else. You had strong aura emanating from all of your power and now you show other power instead of werehog."

"Well, what did I turn into?"

"This is where I got disappointed, homes."

"Uh-oh."

"You became a different transformation of unnatural sorts. This is unlikely."

"Uh-oh."

"Yeah, you became the opposite of the normal werehog. You turned into the menacing Hedgepire."

"Dear me… A Hedgepire? I thought those were the mythical beasts that stormed Rodia long ago and killed a lot of innocents."

"Well you though only half-correct. The Hedgepires did do those offenses, but they are totally no myth. They were as real as a stick on a tree in summer time."

Wraith gasped and held his head in fear of what Knuckles just said to him about Hedgepires. "Knuckles, did you ever watch Mobian Idol?"

Knuckles gasped back and nodded his agreement.

"I thought so…" Wraith started to get powerful anger as he remembered fates. "I love that show a lot and I remember the year that my father won Mobian Idol."

"That's right… I remember that too. Sonic did win one season and it was the first. He almost won the second season too so that's the only reason Scotty the Rabbit won by default."

"It's really a serious matter. I think my dad may have gotten strength from the trophies material. According to the legends, Werehogs fear silver bullets, but have a strong connection to gold. My dad won a gold trophy from the competition and due to that, he must have become a werehog because of that connection."

"Which explains a lot about who Sonic is now. He must have left the family in fear that you would encounter his new side. This is quite troublesome now that I see it. What do you suggest we do to get you ready since you are a Hedgepire?"

"I don't know, Knuckles. I know very little about Hedgepires aside from what I just told you already. Other than that, I'm totally blank. I need you or someone else to instruct me."

"I know someone who can help you, but it may come to be a surprise…" Knuckles stood up with Wraith and they walked down the hallway to the room labeled above the door. The label read a mess of smudges and it looked like this room was very old and the doors were not opened in ages, but it still looked somewhat inhabitable. Knuckles knocked on the door and said his name. There was no surprise, so Knuckles sighed and opened the door by force. "Ring-a-ding-ding!" announced the Echidna of the Empire. He and Wraith took some steps in and walked further. They almost tripped on all the stray junk scattered about the entire room. There were really useless items scattered like pillows, snack wrappers, and soda cans. Wraith stepped on a rubber duck and it quacked loudly. He was really freaked out by the squeaks and was relieved that it was just a duck. He hated those dorky toys though because he hated how his sister sang the rubber duck song from Sesame Sonic back when they were two-years-old. He kicked his hatred at the wall and the duck squeak some more as it bounced like ricochets. Knuckles shot Wraith an annoyed look and looked like he would sock him but didn't because he was well.

"Did somebody kick my duck?" said a voice from the back darkness.

"Yo," said Knuckles as he heard the voice. "I'm hearing you're still alive in here. What now?"

The owner who had the voice slowly walked into the room with his cane and hunched over. It was an old guy who Wraith recognized, but was very old with a long brown beard. "Doctor Eggman!" gasped Wraith in his way.

"Indeed, Wraith," said Eggman. "Long time, no see…" He coughed and then reached for his cup of coffee on the counter of the desk. Eggman took a sip of the coffee and exhaled with trust. He looked at Knuckles and was concerned. "So, I heard about the happen of last night and I knew you'd be in here and asking questions for me. I can't tell you much because I wasn't there, Knuckles. However, we can talk some…"

"Some is all we need, Eggman," said Knuckles. "What is most important right now is that you have a discussion with Wraith my homie here." Knuckles pointed to Wraith with a good passion that condoned his trust in the young hedgehog. Wraith felt important by the pointed finger. "You need to tell him everything you know about the Hedgepires because Wraith himself is a Hedgepire."

Dr. Eggman twirled his mustache and stood up straight such that he was now towering above the two anthropomorphic animal comrades. He was now much taller even though he was like giant people before. Eggman was looking to be a pretty chill guy unlike Wraith's previous encounters with him and he was curious as to why this was especially now. "Are you surprised, Wraith. I'm sorry if this is shocking," he said to Wraith.

"Dr. Eggman…" started Wraith and he couldn't still believe it. "You're here helping the Empire? Is this true?"

"Yes, and Knuckles can confirm it." Knuckles shrugged at this statement and seemed to not care much because it was up to Wraith to make decisions for himself even if they were really hard and could end up on permanence. "Anyway… I do work here ever since the Treasure Hunters started messing with my machines back in my lab."

"What did they do?"

"A lot of the members of the Treasure Hunters gang do transform, but some rely on special timing to pull of these awful powers. Thus in the meantime they send off their robot henchmen a lot like how my badniks used to oppose Sonic before he met up with my boss mech. It makes sense. And I also joined because even though I hate that Hedgehog, I couldn't bear to see him become what he had become… I'm a bad guy, yes, but I'm not a terrible person who would laugh at every other pain. That was Sonic's pain and he deserved to be saved, but I couldn't think of a way even with the assistance of the folks and friends he was with like Knuckles."

"What do you do here now?"

"I'm the head scientist and chronicler of this establishment. I record the data and build robots and refinements for the Empire. What I can do for you is give you some strong info about Hedgepires. Do you need help?"

"We need all the help we can get. But I hope you don't mind me asking, but I have a pressing concern about you."

"Go ahead and ask away."

"I understand you're here to help Sonic, but what will you go from when you actual accomplish the task of bringing him back to his old status?"

"Wraith, there's a reason I kidnap woodland creatures and convert them in mechanical monstrosities. That being, I have ideals for this world that no others see fit. However, as a scientific genius with an intelligence quota of over 300, there is no excuse that my vision for a utopian society isn't the right direction in which to progress. However, with the Treasure Hunters in my way, I can never achieve my goal of ridding the planet of true evil."

"So you're still a rotten egg!"

Eggman chuckled. "You can't change everyone from their old villainous ways, but when it comes to philosophy, the enemy of my enemy is most definitely my friend…"

"Why are you so beat up?"

"It's a long story and it has to do with another member of the Treasure Hunters… I don't feel comfortable deluging all that information just yet, especially with a newbie like yourself. Let me just tell you about the Hedgepires so you can be on your way to get me back in business."

Wraith hesitated in frustration for a second, but then understood his position and reconsidered the bosses personality. "Okay, you have my trust for now, but only for Knuckles and that you wanted to help my dad. I understand a lot more now. You need to tell me as much about the Hegdepires as you possibly can. I need to know it all and do better with my powers. Please help me."

"Good. Let's get started then, shall we?"