Chapter Seven
A sonic boom crackled through the morning silence, causing flocks of birds to startle from their roosts upon in the trees. A blue blur was rushing through the streets, causing quite a few of the early risers to leap out of its path at the last second. A few of them exclaimed angrily, and Sonic looked over his shoulder, shouting out a quick "sorry" as he rushed past them. Normally he would have screeched to a halt and would have helped them pick up the mess he made, but this time he had a particularly angry hedgehog on his tail. This morning, Shadow had refused to race with him, so the speedster decided to give the other a little bit of motivation by snatching his red emerald. His motivation had worked better than he had intended.
"Sonic."
Shadow's voice growled from behind him, however Sonic simply cackled in delight, zipping through the alleyways of the buildings in a zigzag motion. It was quite enjoyable teasing the other, especially now that Shadow couldn't cheat by using Chaos Control. Sonic whipped around, starting to run backwards, his arms folded as he watched Shadow. The other was now catching up to him despite his head start.
"I think those fifty years are catching up on you, pal. You're too slow!" Sonic laughed, feeling himself again. After having all those weird dreams and strange hallucinations, he had been having trouble settling lately. Shadow's only response was a growl and suddenly the black hedgehog sped towards him in a speed boost, his hand out to pluck the emerald from Sonic's hand.
"Whoa!" Sonic leaped over him, chuckling as he landed upon a nearby lamp post and Shadow whirled around, his crimson eyes burning in irritation.
"Give me back my emerald, Sonic!"
Sonic grinned down at him, "Are you tired already? If you want it, then come and get it!"
Shadow just smirked, "I won't have to come up there."
"Huh?"
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted, sending a row of yellow spears at the azure hero.
Sonic jumped away from the destructive spears of energy at the last moment, landing lightly upon the sidewalk, "Hey!"
"Why must you be so annoying," Shadow muttered under his breath, loud enough for Sonic to overhear.
Sonic tossed the emerald up and down with a taunting gleam in his eyes. "If you would have agreed to race with me, Shads, this wouldn't have happened."
Shadow scowled at him, his arms folded, "I will get it back one way or another, so it's in your best interest to give it to me now before I take it away forcefully."
In response, Sonic stopped tossing the emerald and gave the other a playful smile. "If you're fast enough, that is."
Shadow's fist clenched and he was about to punch the other hedgehog when Sonic's gaze was drawn towards the wide, glass window of the store to his left. At first he thought it was just one of the clerks or employees moving about in the store, but there was a sickening twist in his stomach when he saw the familiar form of the dark figure from before slowly appear. Not again… why here? He groaned silently. As soon as those scarlet orbs met with his, he felt himself trapped within them and unable to look away. The other hedgehog—or at least he thought it was a hedgehog—gave him a slow, pleasant smile. Almost as if he was regarding Sonic as some long lost friend that he hadn't seen in ages. Their connection broke, however, when someone shoved into him. "Sonic!"
Sonic shook his head, trying to clear it as he turned away from the display window quickly. Shadow stood there, his red emerald now in hand. "Heh, sorry. I spaced out there for a moment." He gave a nervous chuckle.
Shadow raised an eyebrow at him. "More like a trance. Are you all right, faker? Usually you don't let your guard down like that. Especially during our little "racing" moments."
"'Course I am," Sonic huffed, "I just got distracted."
Shadow harrumphed, "If you say so. Now if you'd excuse me, I have some business to attend to. Chaos Control, now." There was a bright, yellow flash as he disappeared into thin air.
Sonic started walking down the sidewalk, daring to spare another glance towards the display window. It was just his normal reflection now, but a chill ran down his spine and through his quills. "Who are you?" He murmured lowly, his breath clouding the glass. He received no response, of course. After a moment he finally sighed, rubbing his face, and as he turned to continue down the sidewalk a certain pink hedgehog ran into him.
"Sonic!" Amy gasped, seeming delighted to see him. Behind her, Krum was walking up with his hands full with shopping bags.
Snatching a pink blouse before it could fall to the ground, Sonic handed it to her and gave her a smile. "Hey there, Amy. Shopping?"
"Yes!" She smiled happily, "Krum and I are going to Emerald Coast Café now."
Surprised flickered across his face, "You are?"
Krum, who had been silent for most of the encounter, finally spoke up. "Yes. Yesterday evening she agreed to accompany her during her little outing. So I offered to take her out to lunch in return." The fox gave a slow smile.
"Well, okay, I hope you both have fun then." He was directing his words more towards Amy as he spoke. It was almost as if Krum could sense his jealous because at that moment, the fox met his gaze. There was a smugness there that made his quills bristle.
Amy, however, seemed oblivious to the rising tension between the two males. "Thanks, Sonic! See you around."
Trying to keep his jealousy in check, Sonic watched the two of them leave before he sped away, heading off to Tails' workshop. In all honesty, watching his best friend fix up his plane and other projects helped him relax. To his surprise, Knuckles was standing outside of Tails' garage, watching as the younger fox worked on his plane.
"Ey, Knuckles! Tails, what's up?"
Tails, his voice a bit muffled since he was under the Tornado, replied, "We're upgrading the Tornado's speed."
"Cool." Sonic approved, leaning against the garage door, "Hey, what do you guys think about that Krum guy?"
Tails slid out from under the plane, splotches of oil here and there upon his body, "I don't think he's too bad. I guess we haven't really gotten to know him too well yet."
"I don't like him," Knuckles narrowed his eyes, his mouth set in a frown, "The guy seems off to me if you want my opinion on it. I don't know what it is, but he just gives me a strange feeling whenever he's around."
"I saw him out with Amy today. They're heading off to Emerald Coast Café. I'm not saying I'm jealous or anything, but it's just weird… how quickly he got her attention." Sonic murmured, seeming troubled.
Knuckles just snorted. "Maybe she's just trying to make you jealous. Y'know, like when she had "Dexter". I doubt she'd get over you that quickly."
"Well I'm not jealous," Sonic grumbled, "and I'm not lying. She's acting all mushy around him."
Tails laughed under his breath, "Definitely jealous."
"Pfft. Fine. I'll prove that I'm not. I won't even bring it up again." Sonic gave them both a smug smirk. "I'll see you guys around. I'm going to go for a run!" With that, he ran off in a blur, leaving dust in his wake.
Tails cleaned off the oil on his hand, appearing to be entertained. "Do you think he'll be able to keep that promise?"
Knuckles grinned, "Of course not. I'll bet five hundred rings by the end of the week that he's going to deck Krum in the face."
"You're on."
