Hello everybody! Welcome to the first month anniversary of the creation of this experimental story that I came up with on a totally random thought that I explained in my very first note on that I wrote of the first chapter. It's all starting to fall into place for me, and I hope that this will be able to continue to add on to the plot.

Anyway, to the person who sent me a review saying that I should start moving things faster. If I moved things any faster than this, then I'd be sacrificing character growth and working as if this were one of my action stories. For something like this, there is more character interaction rather than action and stuff and kind of requires the details I'm putting in, or at least it's necessary for me.

Anyway, I do enjoy hearing when people enjoy reading my story. On that note, please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading. Until the next update everybody.

P.S,

Sorry if this note sounds kind of random at times. It's right now 3:15 here on my part of the world, and I'm as tired as I could possibly be right now. Got to go to sleep now. Hope you all like this chapter created during one of my many sleep deprived moments. Later everybody!


Chapter 8: Two Hedgehogs' First Meeting

"Alright, can we stop playing poker now?" Sonic asked with a groan leaving his mouth as he saw the cash pile in front of him slowly disappear before his very eyes to the experienced poker player that was his buddy. They had been playing for who got to keep how much money for the past hour now, and the hedgehog was starting to get both bored and dejected at the game. "I would like to keep at least some of the money that I managed to win for the both of us instead of you hogging all of it."

"Sounds like that lucky break you had back at the bar isn't going to be coming back anytime soon," Knuckles said with a triumphant and smug look on his face as he took the money that was in the pot in front of him towards his pile. "Oh well, you can just consider this as revenge for trying to give me a heart attack during that game. Besides, you also borrowed some money from me before this windfall that you never paid back, so I can now say that your debt to me has been paid in full."

"But couldn't you just give me a little bit of your side of the cash so it wouldn't seem so lopsided like it is right now?" the cobalt hedgehog questioned with a weird look on his face as he looked at both piles and saw that he had less than a fourth of what the other had. "I don't think I really owed you that much money. That and I'll probably be in the poor house by the time we get ourselves settled in on Mobius. Do you really want me to be in that kind of a situation and not help me out when I need it?"

"Hey, that sounds like a pretty great idea you just gave me there," the red echidna said with a mock happily thoughtful look on his face, one that caused the other to look at him in disbelief. "That'll just mean that I'll have one less thing to worry about in the place that I'll soon proudly call home."

"Y-you're not actually being serious about that, are you Knuckles? I thought that we were going to keep a lookout for each other's backs no matter what happened to either of us. What happened to that sudden change of heart?"

"Are you kidding Sonic? Don't you know that I was just joking around with you? Since when in the entire history of our friendship has I ever really left you out to dry when you were in trouble? You really should learn how to unwind a bit on here. I think the stress of being forever surrounded by water on all sides is starting to get to you."

For a moment, both teens were quiet as they continued to sit where they have been sitting for the past hour. One was busy counting up the money he managed to win while the other seemed to have been silently contemplating something in his head with a thoughtful look on his face. It did not look like any of them was going to be doing anything outside of what they had already been doing anytime soon.

About another minute of mindless staring that cleverly masked his musing thoughts; Sonic stood up rather abruptly, although not so much so that Knuckles looked up from his money counting. Without saying much, he began to shove what little money he had left under his name into his bag before throwing it onto the top bunk.

"If I'm really stressed, then I guess I'll just have to go for a little stroll," he said with a cocky half-smile at his version of a simple answer. "I just lost a good chunk of my money to you, and you're here trying to rub it in to me. Of course I'll be acting a bit stressed after all that. At least I don't have to shell out more money just to go for a nice calming walk. And being surrounded the water isn't bothering me right now as much as you say."

"Why is it that I just can't believe that when you say it? And I thought you said that you wanted to stay in here for the rest of the night. I'm sure you said something to that effect after we finished having dinner with Tails."

"Oh, screw what I said. That was one whole long hour ago. Ever heard of having a sudden change of heart? Besides, I really want to see the ocean while it's night out," Sonic added in a tone that he hoped sounded convincing to the other while trying to change the subject. "I never had the chance to see the ocean out in the middle of it with the moon shining down on it. You can call me a romantic guy if you want to, but something about the moon hitting the ocean really sounds beautiful. Speaking of which, have I ever told you about a night like this when I figured out that I had thing for guys more than I did for girls?"

"Alright, hurry up and get out of here before you start boring me with your boring talk that you always do whenever I start getting on your nerves," Knuckles responded as he closed his ears with his hands and began walking as far away from the hedgehog as possible. "You know how much I hate it when you start getting like this. I don't want to be hearing that stupid story again about how you found out you were gay and how hard it is to find someone you're really in love with and all that. I have no problem with who you are, but that story is getting real old. Now get out of here before I beat you to a pulp and force you out of here."

"Not until you pay me some of your winnings to get me to leave," the cobalt hedgehog responded in an attempt to try and get some of his lost money back from his buddy. All he received instead was a scowl from his buddy who probably did not hear what he said since he was still covering his ears with his gloved hands.

"Guess you can't hear me, huh? Alright, I'll get out of here. No need to be glaring daggers at me and hoping that I'll melt into a puddle of goo here."

Once again not getting a response from the now annoyed echidna, the hedgehog made his way to the door and exited the cabin.

Yeesh, he makes it sound like I'm hard to be around sometimes, Sonic thought as he began to walk through the cramped hallways and look for the way up to the upper decks. Then again, that's what makes him fun to hang around; he's always too easy to make fun of and tease. You'd think that after spending a good chunk of our lives as friends together and living on the streets, his temper would've mellowed out a bit.

With a smirk that would not be leaving his lips for a good while, he continued to make his way up to the upper decks where the fresh sea air was awaiting him. Being that it was still somewhat early in the evening, there were quite a few people walking back and forth in the hallways, making his trek to the upper levels of the ship a lot more cramped than it had to be. He eventually made it to the stairs that led him up to B Deck and to another hallway that was a lot less cramped and more maneuverable.

I don't understand why they had to make the C Deck hallways so cramped and hard to move around, he thought in an annoyed fashion as he saw some children playing what seemed to be a game of tag in the more spacious area with a small smile. Did they end up going over their budget or something like that when it came to that level and had to drastically downsize the original project? I bet they'll have a lawsuit on their hands when somebody who's a claustrophobic ends up fainting and hitting their head hard on the wall or something like that. Then again, whoever takes care of those finances must have more money to burn that they could care less of a potential safety suit.

With his continued inner rants continuing to play out in his mind, Sonic passed by a couple sitting on a bench and smiling a smile that expressed their love for each other. They were a boy and a girl, both of which looked to have been in their mid-teen years. He inwardly sighed at this loving gesture as he continued on his way to the next set of stairs situated just a few feet away from him.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have someone like that sitting next to me and loving me for who I am, he thought with a dopey smile on his face and a slight daydream look in his eyes, causing him to nearly trip over the first step as he accidentally kicked it. With a small stumble before regaining his balance and heading up, he continued on with his train of thought. Almost every guy who saw me to be attractive were either unattractive themselves or were just plain old. God, I never thought that Robotropolis had that many pedophiles roaming freely on the streets. I may be a handsome devil, but do I have a sign on my back that says 'cute hooker boy looking for some action' on my back?

And you'd think that having other guys my age hitting on me would be a much better improvement from the old farts, he continued on with his thought process as he finally reached A Deck and proceeded to find the door that would lead him to the upper deck outside. Most of them are just way too hormonal; they just want to get into my figurative pants for some fun and call it a day. I thank god I'm not that hormonal, but would it kill to just find someone around my age who wants more with me than just some nice action in bed and all that? I may seriously be different than other teenagers my age in this, but I want to have a relationship instead of a hormonal driven one-night stand.

With his brain continuing on with this rather strange track of thought, he barely registered a few high class people walking right by him. Most of them, a good majority of them being well dressed women, threw him a dirty look at both his looks and his so-called rude behavior at not moving out of their way quickly enough. He completely ignored all of that and soon found himself at the designated door a few seconds later.

Once outside, he felt the cool sea breeze hitting against his azure pelt and the smell of salt assaulting his shiny black nose. His smile, which had disappeared some time during his strange thought process, came back to his lips as he looked up and saw the cloudless sky shining brightly with the dim light of the moon. It was full and calmly dominated the sky full of stars with its bright and almost holy-like majestic presence.

"Ah, nothing like the fresh scent of the sea breeze to help with the relaxation period," Sonic replied with a sigh of contentment while taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. He then moved towards the railing and leaned against it. "As much as I hate water, I can't really say that I'm not enjoying this. This is definitely one of those rare moments where I actually like to be out here surrounded by water. The only gripe I have with this is that we have to be out here for more than a month. Couldn't they have found a way to make this trip even faster without being out here for so long?"

After a couple minutes of silent admiration of the ocean surface brightly illuminated by the moon's light, the blue hedgehog stood upright from the railing and began to move towards the back of the ship. He had no idea why he was heading that way, but he just felt like moving somewhere rather than just staying in one place. Unless in some rare occasion, he did not like to stay in one place very long; although it looked like he was going to have to learn how to get used that that idea while on board the ship.

As it was when he was in the B Deck hallway, he saw some children running around laughing and having fun. There were a lot more of them, all of them ranging from humans to other anthropomorphic animals such as him, otherwise known as anthros, playing tag and hide-and-seek. They were of varying ages, and it was also nice to see that there were children on board the ship rather than just adults from both sides of the social ladder. It definitely gave a sense of a relaxing contrast to the hedgehog's mind and assured him that he was not going to be surrounded by people who were all stuffed up and serious.

After walking by them with a small smile given to one who happened to pass him by, he passed by another small group of people. They were three adults sitting one the folding chairs with clothes that looked a lot like they were first class people. They were a combination of humans and anthros who sounded like they were talking about business matters with papers and folders in their hands and briefcases resting idly beside them.

I guess some of them are on a business trip and decided to be the first ones to ride on this ship in the process, Sonic thought as he walked by them without a second glance, whereas the others took a moment to look watch him pass them by and shoot some nasty glances at the process at him. No need to start getting nasty with me, you rich snobs. I could care less about whatever it is you guys are talking about. I highly doubt that I'd be anywhere remotely near interested anyway.

Now passed the three rich people talking with each other about who knows what and shooting him looks for no good reason whatsoever, the teen did not pass by anyone else on his way to the destination his feet were choosing to take him to. He was now able to enjoy the scenery that passed by him ever so slowly thanks to his walking pace, although the scene was hardly anything memorable enough to worth remembering or mentioning. It was really just ship parts and areas of the ship that he would not be allowed to enter under any circumstance. The one thing he never really got tired of looking though and kept gazing at was the surface of the water, its clarity not once being marred by unnecessary ripples and shining brilliantly under the wondrous gaze of the full moon above. And it was not long before he heard the sounds of the water slowly being churned underneath him reached his ears and indicating that he was close if not already at the back of the ship where the propellers were working as hard as they could with the engines to keep the ship moving on its course.

"Wow, I didn't think that the sound of the water moving like this would sound so calming," Sonic said out loud as his eyes involuntarily closed ever so slightly in a relaxing manner while moving towards the source of the sound. "I still can't believe that I'm actually going back home after so long. Sure, I don't even remember a single thing about it, but it really is nice to be able to see what it looks like for the first time in my life in person rather than just in books and flyers."

Now next to the railing, the cobalt hedgehog leaned over it ever so slightly so as to get a better view at the thing that was making the subtle splashing noises and keeping the ship moving on its course. Once he had a good view, he saw the propellers as nothing but a complete blur thanks to how fast they were moving. The one thing he could see clearly though was that they were a rather dull form of red.

With a relaxing sigh escaping his lips, he allowed his mind to forget about the loss he had against Knuckles in their game of poker and sat on a bench that was nearby. Now completely relaxed with only the calming noises of the water keeping him company, he closed his eyes and began of random things that liked to make their way into his head from time to time for no apparent reason. He soon felt himself doze off and was fast asleep with his mouth hanging slightly open and showing off his perfect set of sharp teeth.

Unfortunately for him, his dozing period did not last more than ten minutes at the most when his sensitive ears picked up the sound of light footsteps making their way to the area. They flicked a bit to the barely noticeable sound against the wooden floor, causing him to stir a bit and open his eyes ever so slightly. Once he was fully awake and regained his bearings, he turned his head around to see if he would be able to see who it was that was approaching his position. Luckily for him, he was able to do so without too much of an effort.

"I'm sorry, but am I disturbing something here?" the person, a black furred and red streaked hedgehog with a black bowtie situated above his tuft of white chest fur, asked in a tone that was pure apologetic without a hint of sarcasm.

"No, nothing to really disturb on my end," Sonic responded in a slightly groggy tone while subconsciously taking note of the other hedgehog's appearance all the way down to his shoes that looked nearly identical to his sneakers. "I wasn't doing much of anything. I was just relaxing a bit here and probably dozed off by mistake."

"Well, this is probably the most relaxing place on this ship, what with the cool crisp sea air blowing lightly by your face and the soft subtle sounds of the calm water churning away right underneath us," the other admitted with a small chuckle as he took a seat on the free space next to the cobalt hedgehog. "That's practically the reason why I came here myself; I got some stress that I would rather forget than deal with right now."

"Really? No offense, but I didn't think that you'd have anything to be getting all stressed about," the other responded rather abruptly as his brain finally started working at full capacity and he finally identified the other to be a first classman. "Aren't you a bit young to be having any kind of stress, especially when you look like a pretty young first class guy with no business to take over until a few more years?"

"Humph, you're a direct hedgehog with a sharp mind, aren't you?" the black hedgehog responded in a surprisingly calm voice for one who had just been talked to in a rather unrefined way that it could have almost been considered insulting. He then responded with a smile that practically screamed of amusement, "And just so you know, I'm only seventeen years old. In terms of being a teenager, I hardly consider that to be young."

"Wow, you're one of those rare first class guys I've seen who have some bite in them that works alongside with their humorous side. Just to see if I'm right on this, do you mind telling me what your name is?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything, but I think I'll humor you on it. After all, you seem like a very likable fellow, although your attitude can easily drive one to think that you might be a bit brazen and rough around the edges."

"Hey, I resent that comment you tall, dark, and deceivingly handsome hedgehog!" Sonic exclaimed with a playful scowl on his face and his tongue stuck in an equally playful manner out at the other. "I think I'll take back my earlier comment about you being different from the others. You're starting to sound just as bad as them."

"Oh, there's no need to get your quills all riled up over something as simple as that," the ebon hedgehog joked with a small chuckle at the childish behavior Sonic exuded. "I don't think it really suits your overall personality. Then again, I suppose it just comes along with the 'rough around the edges' feel about you. Anyway, my name's Shadow Robotnik," he introduced himself as he politely placed his gloved hand in front of the other in a greeting manner. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Nice to meet you Shadow," the cobalt hedgehog said as he took the hand that was being offered to him and shook it warmly, but not before shooting the other a strange look at his previous comment. "My name's Sonic. I don't really have a last name or anything like that; but if you really want to attach one to me, then I guess Sonic Hedgehog should work well enough for formal manners. Even if I had an official last name, I doubt that there's any other seventeen-year-old third class passenger on this entire ship with a name as cool as mines." He immediately cringed at the words he naturally said without thought, feeling as if he had just placed a gap between him and the guy he had just met.

"A seventeen-year-old third class hedgehog, huh?" the other now known to Sonic as Shadow repeated with a sense of thoughtfulness more than anything else in his tone. It was hard to tell whether it was a good type of thoughtfulness or the bad type. "I don't think I ever met anybody from the third class before."

"Uh, guess I'm not putting up a very good first impression for people of my level," the hedgehog asked nervously as he chuckle in the same manner along with a shrug of his shoulders. "Oh well, I guess us third class guys are destined to give bad impressions to anybody outside of our social circle no matter how hard we try."

"And just where is it that you managed to get such a notion planted into that head of yours?" Shadow asked with a frown appearing on his face when the cobalt hedgehog made the discouraging comment about himself and quite possibly his friends. "Unlike what most other first classmen think, I am not what you would consider the typical out of all of them. I like to get to know the person underneath the clothing, or fur in your case, before getting any kind of predetermined thoughts. It's a habit I learned when I was little, and it's one that I don't intend to abandon anytime soon."

"Wow, you really are what some would say the black sheep of the family, no pun intended of course," the other responded with amazement written all over his face that was grinning at his small joke. "Either that or you managed to hit your head some time ago and think you're a first class guy with an attitude usually reserved for people like me."

"I assure you, I've never been hit in the head so hard that I would have somehow lost my memory. I did get hit in the head with a fast moving beach ball before, but that's a different story that has nothing to do with this."

"A beach ball? Despite that probably sounding something that would be funny as hell to see, I can't really see you playing around with something as simple as that. I see you more as someone who'd be at school studying on how to take over your family's business when the time is right. Wouldn't that kind of take away any and opportunities for you to have some fun with your friends?"

"Unfortunately, the private boarding school I attended concentrated more on our good work ethics rather than our friendly social habits. Any kind of talking we did with others was just meant as exercises on how to properly speak and what to talk about during potential business meetings. Boring, I know; but that was the life I was forced to live through during my young teenage years, living the same lives as others before me.

"Then again, I wasn't exactly one of the typical students who only worked his butt off at the academy," Shadow continued on as the other continued to listen intently to the person whom he had just met a few minutes ago share a few things about his personal life. "I managed to make a couple of good friends with people who had the same mindset as me. We found ways to squeeze in some fun while keeping up with our work and not getting caught. If there was one thing the academy didn't like to enforce, it was to have any kind of personal fun with anybody while there was important work to be done."

"Jeez, it sounds like you had it pretty rough growing up," Sonic responded with a low whistle when the red striped hedgehog finished talking a little bit about his life at the academy he attended. "It sounds even rougher than mines. I was a pretty poor guy at the start of my teenage years. Been living on the streets of Robotropolis with my best buddy from then to now, but we always managed to survive all these years while having some fun at the same time. I guess the thing we both have in common with these different scenarios is that we managed to make the better out of our bad situations."

"I can sense that there's something more to your story; however, it's not really any of my business to pry any further from what you've already told me," the ebon hedgehog stated without any indication of curiosity beyond what was projected in his response.

"The same could be said with you," the cobalt hedgehog countered as he got up from the bench and walked forward a few steps towards the railing. "I get the feeling that you are a pretty rebellious guy underneath this façade you call acting like a first class. I'm sure I don't need to ask, but am I anywhere near right on that?"

"Humph, you sound like a pretty good judge of character," the other said with an amused huff of his breath as he, too, got up and leaned against the railing. "Either that or you're just one of those people who always manage to have luck on their side no matter what they do. Which one do you think it is?"

"I like to think that it's a combination of the two, although my buddy likes to call it dumb luck that always results of my stupidity. I'm telling you, he's too stubborn for his own good. I still can't believe that I consider him to be my good buddy."

Before he could say anything else, Sonic saw something shimmering out of the corner of his eye. Interested, he turned his head a bit to get a better look at what it was. What he saw completely shocked him, so much so that the next few seconds of time were acted solely on his instinct.

"Look out!" he shouted as he brought his arms around Shadow and pulled him down to the deck floor along with him. Just a little over a second later, a sharp sound reverberated through the night sky, shattering the quiet peacefulness and replacing it with a strange ghostly sense of tension.

In the next second, Sonic picked up a small object next to him, a metallic toy that was most likely left by a child that was playing around there earlier, and threw it right at where he remembered seeing the shiny object. He soon heard the sound of the object hitting its mark, confirmed by the sound of a man shouting in both surprise and pain accompanied with the sound of something falling to the ground.

"Don't you dare run away, you coward!" the cobalt hedgehog shouted angrily as he got up to his feet quicker than any ordinary person was able to and ran to where he heard the voice. By the time he got there, however, he was greeted with empty space and the object that the assailant was forced to abandon resting in front of his feet.

"Wh-what the hell was that?" Shadow questioned, stunned by the suddenness of the past few seconds' events rolling by like a boulder flattening him to the floor. "What'd you find there Sonic?"

"Not our attacker, that's for sure," he responded as he bent down and picked up the object forgotten by the assailant, a simple handgun made of silver and a brown plastic hand grip. He could feel the heat emanating from the butt of the gun, clearly from when it was fired at them. "It looks like I managed to make him leave us a little parting gift before he left."

"Don't go picking up that damn gun!" the ebon hedgehog exclaimed as he picked himself up onto his feet and walked back to the railing where he was at before being pushed to the ground. "Leave it for the authorities to mess around with."

"Is the bullet around there?" the other asked as he continued to examine the weapon in his hand, clearly not heeding the first class hedgehog's warning.

"If it weren't for you, that bullet would've most likely be in one of us right now. It managed to get itself lodged into the railing here. What the hell kind of person would want to kill us here on this ship?"

Before he could say anything else, he heard the sound of rushing feet quickly approaching their position. It was most likely some passengers and crewmembers running to check in on what the sound was.

"What's going on around here?" a voice that was quite familiar to Shadow was heard questioning as the footsteps soon came to a stop. When he turned around, he saw Mephiles standing right in front of Sonic and eyeing him suspiciously before quickly placing his hands on his wrists and behind his back. "So, you thought that you could go ahead and kill off Mr. Robotnik's only son on this ship did you? Well, that's not going to be happening on my watch anytime soon."