Sonic Rebirth

Author's Notes: Make sure you still understand the author's notes from Chapter 1 since they still apply for the whole fiction.

And, just to clear up a few things in the physical descriptions of the characters, at the end of this chapter there is going to be descriptions clearifying what the characters look like. Of course the best way is to go to my site and if you look in my fan art under the 2002/2003 colored art you'll see a colored group picture of the cast. The only characters that won't look exactly like the pictures is Crimson (I changed her shirt) and Skye who has a few different outfits.

Also, in the story I'm not sure that's how you really would sing "happy birthday" in Japanese but it goes nicely to the tune and makes sense.

Chapter 6

My name is Dusk the Hedgehog. Dusk for short. My parents are Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, and I have a younger sister Crimson. We just arrived at the house of Sonic the Hedgehog; we were the last ones to arrive. It appears that all the parents know each other, I'm afraid I can't say the same for us. The only other person I know besides my sister is Circlet, who is Sonic's daughter. But I don't know her very well despite being in the same grade and having some classes together at school. I like to keep to myself and this get-together for her birthday party was no exception.

Dusk sat by himself in the living room in the black, leather armchair resting his head on his hand as he watched nearly everyone else flutter about through the living room and the dining room. The only other person he could see apart from the main group was that echidna girl, Seraphim. He could barely spot her across the two rooms sitting outside on the edge of the concrete slab outside the patio. He could only catch glimpses of her through the occasional gaps in the flock; she was just sitting there slumped over her knees lazily popping diced pieces of various fruits and melons into her mouth.

He shifted his attention back to the other furries; he could spot his mother talking with Amy, Cream and Nahkas. They were sitting at the kitchen table, which was just barely in sight. They were obviously too far away for him to make out their conversation but he knew for a fact that there are only a few things his mother loved to talk about: jewels, her treasure hunting adventures, and Crimson and him.

Back in the dining room were Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and Shadow talking while standing or sitting around the dining table. Dusk could only pick out a few words here and there, but not enough to make much sense of the conversation. He finally glanced over to the three in the living room just a couple of yards away. Circlet was sitting in the middle of the couch with Crimson on the side nearest to him and the much younger fox girl, Skye, on the other end.

He hasn't moved since they arrived over an hour ago, he looked down at his styrofoam divided tray sitting on the edge of a small table with a lamp on it. Only half of the food on it was eaten, when he looked back Circlet was watching him for a moment before she turned back to Crimson who was talking to her. A few more minutes passed before he could hear Amy announcing to everyone that presents were going to be opened soon.

"Oi, Dasuku, [Hey, Dusk,]" someone called to him, he turned to see Circlet standing a few feet away, "Why are you sitting alone by yourself?" she asked.

Dusk thought for a moment, deciding if he should answer or not. He has heard from friends of his father that his personality seems just like his, only he speaks more sparingly. Today he decided to break the mold.

"Because I don't socialize well in groups," he replied, even toned.

"You aren't going to get any better if you don't try," she said sweetly, "How about you sit next to me when I open my presents, okay?"

He looked down for a moment, before nodding his head and resuming his stare towards the front door. It took Amy and Cream a few minutes to clear all the food off the dining room table and transfer it into the kitchen, while Nahkas and Rouge went to fetch the gifts. Dusk watched everyone clear off the tables to prepare for the five or so presents that were now gathered in the center of the table. They were brightly wrapped in mostly shiny wrapping paper with nearly half sporting decorative bows and ribbons.

Circlet looked down at her shoes, she already opened one of the presents from her parents, she knew at least three of them were from the guests, leaving the remaining two from her parents as well. She spotted the three not from her parents since they each had a card partially tucked beneath their bows.

Amy shuffled into the room, "Come on now, everyone. It's time for Circlet to open her presents."

Skye and Crimson were the first to exit the living room, Dusk didn't move at first until he noticed that Circlet was still standing there waiting for him.

"Come on, Dusk. You said you were going to sit by me, so let's go before everyone else opens up my gifts for me."

He stared at her for a second longer before getting off the chair and following her into the dining room, and indeed did take up the seat next to Circlet. On the other side of him was Crimson on the other side of the corner, Skye sat on the other side of Circlet as Seraphim sat across from Crimson, resisting the urge to lean forward and rest her elbow on the table top.

Circlet first opened the presents from her parents' friends starting with Shadow and Rouge's, which were two of the latest CDs from her two favorite music artists. The one group was an all furry girl rock band and the other was by a single female punk artist. Next, she opened the gift from Skye's parents who gave her a video game, lastly was the gift from Seraphim's parents. She was stunned when she opened the long, flat box to reveal a bright red yukata with yellow flowers on it and a matching yellow obi with small pink flowers on it.

"Konnatt! [This..!]" Circlet gasped, partially unfolding it, "Kirei desu ne! [It's very pretty!]" She refolded it back in the box, "Arigatou gozaimasu. [Thank you very much.]"

The last two presents were from her parents, the one containing a T-shirt saying "Angel" in light blue lettering. Finally the last present was a small box wrapped in shiny gold paper; she easily removed it and carefully took off the top to the white box. There was a shiny gold necklace inside she lifted it up by the clasp; around its chain was small ring only an inch in diameter. It glowed brightly and was gold like the rest of the necklace; she sat it in the palm of her hand, its yellow light washing over the white of her gloves, before turning to her parents.

"Kirei desu, kedo nani desu? [It's pretty, but what is it?]"

Her mother unfolded her hands, "There's a legend that says that at one time hundreds of thousands of Golden Rings used to exist. But since their power was too great the gods destroyed the cities built off the power of the rings and scattered the rings throughout the world. These rings still exist today but everyone has lost the ability to harness their powers."

Circlet listened spellbound, staring at the pulsating ring almost unable to believe that this ring was a legendary Golden Ring.

"That ring there, is one of those rings and is why you are named Circlet, small circle," Amy finished.

Everyone was silent for the next minute. Circlet, Crimson and Skye stared fixated at the small ring, while Dusk tried to act uninterested only glancing over to it a few times. Seraphim carefully studied everyone in the room, before looking at the ring; she was all too familiar with legends that no one wants to believe but are true.

The whole time Amy explained about the rings, Sonic stared away blankly. He already knew about the rings as did Tails, Knuckles and the rest. During the silence all of the adults at least once glanced over to Sonic.

"How about we cut the cake now?" Amy said, braking up the silence.

Everyone mumbled in agreement as she stood up and went to fetch the cake from the kitchen counter. Circlet stacked the gifts up, leaving the ring necklace in her hand. Sonic quickly jumped up and ran the boxes with the gifts into the living room and sat them onto the table without pausing more than a second before zooming back and taking up his position sitting on the kitchen chair in the corner of the room again. Circlet delicately undid the necklace clasp and brought it around her neck before clasping it shut just as her mother brought in the cake.

Amy glanced over to Knuckles who was standing next to the light switch; he didn't even look as he snapped the switch down. The cake was frosted in white with a purple, scalloped border and two roses in the upper left corner; one blue and the other pink. "Happy Birthday Circlet!" was etched in perfect English cursive with thin purple icing and fourteen candles were scattered across the cake flickering as she brought the cake over to the table.

"Yukai tanjoobi wa, yukai tanjoobi wa, yukai tanjoobi wa Shikuretto, [Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, Circlet]," everybody started singing pretty much at the same time, except for Dusk who only uttered the last line of the song, "yukai tanjoobi yo! [happy birthday to you!]"

Circlet took a deep breath before managing to barely blow out all fourteen candles first try. Everyone clapped as Knuckles turned the lights back on without being directed to. Cream handed Amy the plastic handled, metal cake server that she fetched, along with the plates, from the kitchen during the singing.

"You get to cut the first piece, Circlet dear," her mother said handing her the utensil. Circlet started in the lower left hand corner, and cut out her piece and set it on her plate before handing it back to her mother. In a matter of minutes Amy cut out a piece of the cake for everyone and passed them out, even to those who tried to decline.

Dusk slowly broke off pieces of the pale cake with his fork, eating his piece slowly. He watched the adults and the other children while mindlessly cutting and sticking the pieces into his mouth. It didn't take long before Circlet finished her piece, but before getting up to toss her paper plate away she turned and leaned in towards Dusk.

"See? It's not that hard to get along with others, you just have to try," she whispered, "I even heard you sing the last verse," she said smiling.

He watched her walk to the kitchen and deposit her plate into the garbage can. He sighed very softly closing his eyes and turning back, continuing to finish his piece of cake.

Nahkas the Echidna, Zero Velocity, Dream Circlet the Hedgehog, Seraphim the Echidna, Skye Prower, Milo Prower, Dusk the Hedgehog, and Crimson the Bat were created by me, KnucklesGirl, and cannot be used without my permission.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Dr. Eggman, Amy Rose, Metal Sonic, Cream, Rouge, Shadow and any other Sonic characters are copyrighted to Sega and the Sonic Team.

This fiction is not any part endorsed by the Sonic Team or Sega or by those weirdos at Archie Comics; this is purely fictional and was formulated in my delusional mind. It cannot be reproduced in part or in whole without my permission. And if I'm forgetting to mention some copyright law then I'm sorry; I'm not trying to infringe on anything so please don't sue me, because I don't have any money.

If you'd like to email me for any reason (questions or would like to comment to me personally) feel free to email me at knucklesgirl at email.com. (Look in my profile if you can't figure out my email address.) If you'd like to visit my Sonic website go to: www.angelisland.ssxh.net.

For Videociraptor and other curious minds

Character Descriptions:
Circlet - Fur color is a palish purple and she has 2 regular quills like Sonic and 4 quills like Amy (the ones that lay flat), on the tips of the Amy like quills there is a bit of pink. Her eyes are green as well, she has a beige belly, muzzle and arms. She wears a deep blue braclet on one of her arm (her right), plainish white gloves, her shoes are red and with a white "T" on them (the horizontal is a strap) and gold buckles on the outsides.
Seraphim - Fur color is a redish-magenta has the typical 7 echidna dredlocks with the back one being smaller. Her eyes are lavendar, her muzzle is beige, and she has a white crescent on her chest like Knuckles and Nahkas. Her gloves are pale purple with black loose cuffs, her socks are black, and her shoes are purple with a black "plate" on top and two red straps. She also wears a pair of translucent purple sun glasses and purple fishnet arm warmers.
Dusk - Dusk is a dark grey with five quills like Shadow, only difference is that only the top quill has a deep red stripe, all the rest don't. He has yellow eyes, and a small pair of bat wings that are red on the underside and he can only glide with them not fly. His gloves are white with red cuff and gold braclet, and his shoes are similar to Shadow's but minus the air jet things. Meaning they have the red "piping" sole, and the back diagonal section black. His socks are also red with a gold ring. Also his ears are bigger than normal hedgehog ears, but still beige in the middle, also has a beige muzzle.
Crimson - She's a pale grey with a purple stripe on her head and the hair tuff things that she has like Rouge are longer and are sharp like quills. Her eyes are kinda like Rouge's in that you can see part of her eyelid the all time (her eyeshadow is purple) but her eyes are slanted to the sides like Shadow's. Her eyes are pale aqua, and besides her beige muzzle (and the stripe) the rest of her fur is grey, no other beige (unlike Rouge). Her boots are white with a black strap like top with a gold buckle, and her gloves are the same and go up to her elbows. She wears black vinyl shorts and a black and white tank with a purple geometric like heart. Also her wings are fully formed and are purple on the underside.
Skye - Fur color is an orangy cream color with her muzzle, belly and the tips of her two tails being a cream color. She has those circles around her eyes like Cream only her's are the light cream color and has the three bangs like Tails. Her ears look mostly like Tails' only smaller with beige in the inside. Her gloves are white with red cuffs, and her socks are white and her shoes are like Tails with the back half being sky blue and has a red tongue strap across where her socks are at. She also has blue eyes and she wears a few different outfits, but mostly dresses like a tomboy but has to wear a Japanese sailor school uniform to school that has a sky blue skirt and collar with a white stripe on the color and skirt, the scarf is red and the blouse is white.
Milo - Fur color is orange like Tails and his muzzle is white along with his belly. His eyes are brown, but not dark brown. His ears are shorter than normal and flop to the sides of his face not the back like Cream. His shoes are kinda plain, orange and white like Tails' style with yellow socks.