Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter in this story. Just in case I didn't mentioned it sometime before, each of these chapters that switch off from Shadow's point of view to Sonic's and vice-versa happen right after. In other words, right after Shadow left the breakfast nook area in the last chapter, the event in this chapter is taking place. It's not one of those things where it's like "this was happening during this event". It's all flowing while switching from the two characters.
Now that that confusion is hopefully all cleared up, I hope that this would allow any of you who were wondering about this to follow the storyline a bit better. I also hope that you are all liking howthis story is starting to take shape. Please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading.
And for those of you who are interested, I posted another Sonic Fanfiction called "Sonic Hedgehog Investigations". As the title suggests, it's a kind of mystery fiction involving the Sonic characters and in combination with another DS game. If you'd like to read it, there's the title for you to see. Hope to see some of you there and leaving some reviews on that one as well.
Now let's go ahead and start reading. Until the next update everybody!
Chapter 12: Of Friends and Memories
"Wow, being up here on the deck in the morning is almost just as good as being here at night," Sonic said excitedly as he was now back at the same spot where he and Shadow were shot at last night. He had just gotten there and was now leaning over the railing while Tails and Knuckles were just about to enter the area. "Just look at how that bright sun reflects off of the ocean and gives it a nice sort of sapphire gleam to it. It's almost as if you're standing right on top of one of the rare Chaos Emeralds, you know? I mean, have you ever seen anything more beautiful than the sea sparkling against the morning sun before?"
"Of course I have," the red echidna simply responded once he made it to the left side of the blue hedgehog; the young fox had taken residency to his right. "I see the most beautiful thing every morning when I look at myself through the mirror. This well-toned body isn't exactly the easiest to get or maintain on a daily basis, you know? In fact, I think I look better than some stupid piece of rare rock any day."
"You know that wasn't what I was referring to Knucklehead," the cobalt hedgehog responded with a somewhat sour glance at his buddy for that smart remark. "Then again, I should've suspected that you would come up with an answer as stupid as that. How about you Tails? What do you think about this?"
"Well, I guess it looks kind of like the sapphire Chaos Emerald," the young fox simply responded with a small shrug of his shoulders as he stared out at the long expanse of sea and sky. "I never really had much of a chance to see much of anything since I was either too young to remember or on the run from officials. But I guess this could definitely beat any of the greatest inventions I could ever see or make."
"Oh, does everything have to be compared with inventions and machines with you?" the hedgehog questioned with a small chuckle leaving the back of his throat as he gave a brotherly pat on the head to the younger. "I guess what you said is kind of true though. You and I met in the streets only three years ago when you were having trouble trying to find somewhere to spend the night. I think it was raining that day and you were trying to use a cardboard box to keep yourself from getting soaked."
"That was the only thing I could find at the time apart from a heavy piece of metal that I couldn't even lift off of the ground. I might have been a homeless for as long as I could remember, but that doesn't mean that I know every single thing about surviving on my own out in the streets."
"It sure sounds like we found you there just in time before things ended up getting even more out of hand," Knuckles said with his arms crossed as he thought back to that very moment they were discussing. "I think my family had just lost their business and tried their hand at getting a new life then. You weren't the only one in the dark then about this whole poor business, you know?"
"Hey, you're starting to make it sound like I've been poor for the whole of my sad little life," Sonic responded with a teasing scowl at the red furred echidna who only gave him a small smirk in return. "My Uncle Chuck was still alive and kicking then while working at the ship harbor as the person who makes sure that nothing illegal gets smuggled on or off those docked ships. I lived a pretty good life myself at the time with a roof over my head and a warm bed to call my own."
"Yeah, I'm sure you did there Sonic," the echidna simply said in a tone that was both teasing and seemingly suggesting something else. "I'm sure that you were living the high life with all those bribes your uncle got from those guys who wanted to make sure he kept quiet about all their illegal activity and all that other good crap."
"Now you know that wasn't what happened with his job," the cobalt hedgehog responded in a surprisingly calm tone despite just hearing his uncle get badmouthed by his good friend. Then again, he knew that the other was simply attempting at making a joke in his own sick little way, so it was not much of a surprise for him to be so calm. "You know that I could be saying the same exact thing with your parents and their business before it went belly-up."
"Of course I know that. I also know that you're not capable of doing something like that because you're too laid back and cool for that kind of stuff. I, on the other hand, am cool on a totally different level than you," he added with his arms crossed and a defiantly cocky smirk planted on his face.
"You two just love arguing with each other, don't you?" Tails responded with a sigh as he butted in between the two teens' conversation that was clearly going nowhere. He had been leaning against the railing and listening to the two go at it the entire time without saying anything. "I swear, I think this was how I left you two when we last met. If I honestly didn't know who you two were, I would've guessed that you were brothers."
"Hey, being that we practically knew each other since we were little because his uncle worked closely with my dad, we might as well be brothers. I'll bet you anything that there isn't anybody on this planet that's alive who knows just as much about Sonic than I do."
"Too bad you didn't really bet anything there, because I know just as much about him as you do," the young fox said with a small smile as he gave the blue hedgehog a friendly pat on the back. "I know that he likes to pretend nothing bad is happening around him at time while acting all nonchalant and stuff. He pays more attention than we give him credit for, although his laidback attitude kind of offsets that hidden talent of his."
"And what hidden talents are you talking about little buddy?" Sonic questioned with a raised eyebrow as he fixed his gaze on the two tailed fox. "There isn't any talent to me paying attention to more than I like to let other people let on. I just don't like stating the obvious and all that other good stuff that people tend to do."
"Sure you do," Knuckles answered with a sarcastic tone in his words. "What are you going to tell us next? Are you going to say that you hate chili dogs so much and that you'd love to go have a nice long swim in the ocean?"
"You could've just said that you didn't believe me instead of going on one of your stupid sarcastic raves, you know?" the cobalt hedgehog replied with an annoyed raise of his eyebrows at the red furred echidna before diverting his gaze back onto the sparkling ocean in front of him. "Oh well, at least this spectacular view sure offsets your sour mood this morning."
"Heh, only you could change topics so casually as if what we were talking about was no big deal Sonic," the echidna simply stated with a shake of his head before turning his own gaze to the spectacular view in front of him. That action was short-lived, however, when he heard somebody coming from behind them.
"I figured that voice belonged to you Knuckles," the person that was behind them said, causing all three of them to turn and see who was talking to them. "There's nobody else in this world that I know of who would say something with such sarcasm while putting a lot of what you liked to call brotherly love into it."
When they saw who it was that had come unannounced and spoken to them, two of them were confused as to why this hedgehog with silver fur and a black bowtie on him would want to add on to their conversation. It was clear that he was a first class man, so there shouldn't be any reason as to why he would want to strike up a conversation with them. However, only Knuckles seemed to have an expression different from confusion as his face clearly showed.
"Long time no see Knuckles," the silver hedgehog greeted the echidna with a smile on his face, his yellow eyes fixed solely on the teen while his peripheral vision kept watch on the other two beside him. "I didn't think I'd get to see you again after your dad's company caved in on itself."
"S-Silver?" Knuckles replied dumbly as his facial expression, however funny it was for both Sonic and Tails to see, said more than any of his words could have said. The cobalt hedgehog even snickered a little bit at seeing his buddy act so speechless for the first time since he had known him. "Is that really you?"
"Well, who else do you know who happens to have silver fur and one-of-a-kind golden yellow eyes like mines?" the other responded with a sort of humor that sounded almost like the red echidna's. "It doesn't sound like a question somebody like you would be asking. If anything, it should be me who should be acting shocked, not the other way around."
"Knuckles; who is this guy?" Sonic asked, feeling that he was not going to be getting his answer anytime soon if he did not somehow steer the conversation towards introductions. "I'm sure you know something about him being that you're acting all spacy right now in front of him. Is he an old friend of yours back in your days of living the rich life?"
"And I'm guessing that your name's Sonic, right?" the other hedgehog stated more than asked as he focused his full attention at the cobalt hedgehog. This time, it was his turn to look dumbstruck as he tried to figure out how this person knew his name. "Knuckles here told me a lot about you a long time ago when he was still a first class kid. I guess he was right in saying that you were quite a blunt person."
"Uh, guys, this is Silver," the red furred echidna said after a couple more seconds of silence before he regained a bit of his regular composure. "He's someone I grew up with at school. And no, it wasn't one of those rich schools that you know most of us rich guys going to. I'm talking about when we were around ten years old and just going to the normal everyday schools."
"Well, it's nice to meet you Silver," Tails responded politely as he walked up to the silver furred hedgehog and brought his hand out in a signal for a handshake. "My name's Tails. I didn't know that Knuckles knew someone like you."
"Uh oh, sounds like somebody was desperate to go hiding their tracks after becoming third class," Silver said in a teasing tone as he nudged at the echidna's ribs. "You didn't even go about introducing me, your only good friend from so long ago, to your other friends?"
"Silver, you know that I don't like to talk about the past like some old woman," Knuckles responded with a weird look on his face directed at the other. This earned a chuckle from both Sonic and Tails when they saw the guy being teased.
"Sounds like there's somebody else out here who knows all your annoying habits and stuff," the cobalt hedgehog teased as he placed his hands on the other's shoulders from behind. "You really are easy to read like a book, aren't you?"
"Oh, put a cork in it Sonic!" the echidna growled out before turning his attention fully to the first class teen in front of him. "It's been so long since I last saw you Silver. Just what is it that you've been up to lately?"
"Nothing much worth saying," the silver furred hedgehog simply answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "My parents are practically the same as you remember them, all laid back and all about being charitable. I'm just glad that they didn't get too affected by the Robotropolis money meltdown that has everybody moving away from there. Don't get me wrong; I'm still living with them, but I'm kind of working for another company now."
"Uh, do you two mind leaving us alone for a little bit?" Knuckles asked as he looked at his two friends and indicated for them to move away with his eyes. "I would like some time to catch up with Silver here if you don't mind."
"And just why can't you do that with us around?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow as he got himself off of his buddy. "Wouldn't just be the same thing if we were here? You're just going to be talking aren't you? Or are you telling me that you two want to have a welcome back kiss and are too shy to do it in front of us?"
"In your dreams, you hormonal hedgehog! You better get yourself out of here before I decide to pop you one upside the head. Don't think that I'm not capable of doing that to you. I can and I will!"
"Alright, alright! I'm going now, okay?" the hedgehog said defensively with a joking smile as he quickly backed up from the hot-headed teen and towards another area further down from where they were. "Geez, couldn't you learn how to take a joke every now and then? You'll get yourself a heart attack with all that stress."
"Eh heh, sorry about Sonic's behavior there," the small fox apologized with a sort of shy smile as he moved to catch up with his cobalt buddy. "He kind of likes to joke around with his friends a lot. You learn to know that it's all just a bunch of harmless fun to him once you get to know him though."
"I'm really sorry that you had to watch that embarrassing scene," the echidna apologized to Silver with a small sigh and a shaking of his head. "Sonic never could know when he's supposed to act serious. I really see him as one of my best friends, but he can sometimes really embarrass me more than he could to himself."
"Oh, I've no problem with it," Silver stated as he chuckled away the previous scene. He then added once he was sure the other two were out of earshot, "If I remember correctly, I was kind of like that back at elementary school around you. You always threatened to stop being my friend, and I always kept up with those antics."
"Oh, don't remind me about you back then," the teen responded with a slight bite in his words, but he could not resist the small smile approaching his lips. "You practically made me a part of the laughing stock of our class. I don't think I really felt that embarrassed before in my life."
"Yet I also think that I haven't seen you having so much fun before," the silver furred hedgehog stated with a chuckle as he thought back to the memory of them as little kids. "Oh, what I wouldn't do to go back to those times just once more. I don't think I've ever been happier than I was then. Um, let me take that back. I do remember being happier than when we were playing as kids."
"Wait a minute. Just what are you leading up to here? Every time you try to correct yourself like that, you usually have something better to replace it with. Come on, spit it out already! What are you hiding from me?"
"Are you really going to be interrogating me right after we met after being apart for so long? You really haven't changed a bit, have you? I guess I just can't keep anything away from you for long. Well, you know that I'm right now seventeen, right?"
"Of course I remember that. And if I remember correctly, your birthday's in just a few more months. What's so special about it?"
"Well, whether we're in Robotropolis or in Mobius, you know that a marriage can only be legally officiated when both couples are eighteen. Despite that, I've already found somebody to marry and got both my and her parents' blessings."
"What? Are you being serious with me here? Are you telling me that you're going to be married in a few months?"
"Funny, I didn't know that there was an echo machine somewhere onboard this ship," Silver teased as he chuckled a bit at Knuckles's disbelief. "Yes, there are plans on me getting married with a woman named Blaze. She's just one year older than me, yet she can hold up her end of the bargain when it comes to businesses. I'm not sure if you heard, but her father's suffering from a heart condition. Thankfully, he won't be leaving us anytime soon, but he's been bedridden since then. She was allowed to take over the business while I took over the second highest position, a sales representative travelling to different countries to advertise our merchandise."
"Wow, it sure sounds like you're living the life you always told me you dreamed of when we were little," Knuckles said after the other was done explaining the accomplishments he managed to set for himself despite not even legally being a man yet. "I always knew that you had something special in you."
"Hey, don't go about selling yourself short," the silver furred hedgehog responded with a raise of his eyebrows. "If I remember right, you had a set of dreams that you wanted to get taken off the ground. You said that you wanted to teach people martial arts and was teaching yourself all the moves that you could do? Did you end up giving up on that after losing your status or something like that?"
"Are you kidding me?" the echidna questioned with a scoff as he shook his head in disagreement. "Since when have you known me to give up on anything that I've got my mind set on? I never gave up on teaching myself those moves. In fact, I think it's safe to say that I'm pretty damn good with the stuff now? You want a demonstration?"
"As long as you don't end up destroying the benches and other stuff here on the deck, then go ahead. I don't want to become partly responsible for replacing these potentially expensive stuff because of your recklessness."
"Ha, if you wanted reckless, then you should've asked Sonic to show off some stuff for you," the red furred teen stated before he moved onto a spot near them that was clear of any kind of distractions and objects. He noticed that Sonic and Tails have been watching them from the other side of the ship, but he knew that they could not hear them. And besides, he wanted to show off his stuff to his other friends as well.
As he stood still at the center of the clearing, the teen took a deep breath of the fresh sea air, thinking of what it was he was going to do for the next couple of minutes. After he let the breath out, he paused for another second or two before he started moving. Amazingly, he was moving faster than probably even the fastest runner in the world could while occupying such a small amount of space. He made a variety of punches and kicks meshed together to create stylish and damaging moves that would definitely injure some unsuspecting sap. He even knew how to jump probably a good couple feet into the air and perform regular, double, and dizzying spinning kicks while aloft. It was clear that he had spent a lot of time practicing all of this in order to have made everything look so flawless and professional.
"Whoa, I never seen Knuckles do all those fancy moves before," Sonic whispered under his breath in awe as he continued to stare at the show the echidna was putting up. Amazingly enough, none of the passengers came around to where they were and saw what it was that was happening here. It was almost as if this moment was reserved especially for these four. "I knew he was good at that stuff, but never that good. The most he ever taught me was how to pull some fast punches and combine them with basic kicks."
"He probably only taught you that much because you started to get impatient and whiny about the whole thing," Tails responded as he easily saw in his mind the hedgehog doing that. "But you are right. I've only heard you tell me he knew how to perform martial arts. To actually see him do it is almost like having a rare treat."
"Well, he never really had an opportunity to go flaunting his talent back at Robotropolis, and I'm guessing he just couldn't help but to show off to this Silver guy," the cobalt furred teen said with a smile on his lips. "I guess those two really are long-lost friends. You know that Knucklehead would never do all this stuff in front of just anybody."
After another minute of performing random moves into smoothly flowing combos and having his friends watch him, Knuckles finally planted both feet firmly to the ground and stopped everything. Despite having moved nonstop in such a fashion that any non-martial artist would call sporadic and possibly idiotic, he did not seem to be out of breath; in fact, he still looked as if he were breathing normally from before he even began the workout session! It was almost as if he were a robot that did not require any amount of air whatsoever in order to perform such strenuous tasks.
"Wow, that certainly looks a lot better than what you were trying all those years ago," Silver said with awe clear in every word he said. "You could barely even make some of the punches work along with those pitiful swish of your legs you called kicks. You did get better after a week of practice, but I never saw you being as good as you were now. You're definitely a natural when it comes to this."
"Ain't that the truth?" the echidna stated as he rubbed the under of his nose in a cocky and proud fashion. "My parents might have had to sell everything just so that they could try and scavenge a living after losing their business back then, but I made sure I hid a few of my martial arts books before they had a chance to get their hands on them. I've been practicing as much as I could ever since past midnight in the park until gangs started to call it their own turf. I may be hotheaded, but I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with notorious gang members."
"Speaking of your parents, I got something that I have to tell you about them," the hedgehog asked with a small smile. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. It's more of a message than anything else."
"Oh, for a moment there, I thought that you were going to say something bad happened to them," the red furred teen stated with a sigh of relief when he first heard the other say something about them. "Don't go about scaring me like that."
"They told me to give you this if I ever ran into you during my travels," he said in a serious tone as he pulled something out of his glove and handed it to the other. It was an envelope that was folded twice so that it could rest easily inside the glove. "They had no idea where you went after you told them you were going to live with Sonic shortly after they moved into my place and then hearing his uncle dying soon after. They figured I was their best bet at running into you. They're worried about you, you know? Hell, even I was worried about you for these past few years."
"I'm sorry for making you guys all worry about me. I wanted to try my hand at living on my own without my parents having to worry over everything I do. That and Sonic had just lost his uncle. I knew he wasn't going to be considering living with you anytime soon, and I wasn't going to go abandon him in his time of need, so I did the next best thing. I stayed with him all these years and made sure that he had a chance to survive on his own. It may have not what I had planned as living away from my parents, but it was still an experience that I would happily do all over again if I were given a choice."
"That's what I thought happened to you, but I just wasn't sure this whole time. You promised me that you would've came back if things got too hairy; and I know that you aren't the type of guy to go back on your promises. So you lived on the streets this whole time trying to make sure Sonic didn't do anything stupid."
"Ever the observant one, are you? You always knew how to get things right to the point. And speaking of points, do you think you can do me a favor?" Knuckles asked as he seemingly remembered something and shot a quick glance at Sonic who had since lost interest in him and continued to look out at the ocean along with Tails.
"Well, it kind of depends on what the favor is," Silver said with an eyebrow raised in an inquiry. "I am surprised, however, that you're even asking me a favor to begin with. Unless living on the streets changed your mind a bit, you never really liked asking for those from others."
"Trust me; living as a homeless hasn't warped my normal way of thinking. What I'm really doing is asking a favor in Sonic's place. You see, he rescued some first class guy around his age from being shot at last night."
"Are we talking about the same incident that's been going around the entire ship like wildfire?"
"The same exact one. It seems that the guy he rescued felt in debt to him and invited him over for dinner tomorrow night. Not only does he have nothing suitable to wear to their dinner; he doesn't really have the attitude needed to hold a proper conversation without angering someone. I was kind of hoping if you'd be able to lend him one of your suits and give him some etiquette 101 lessons. I would if I could teach him that myself, but I'm kind of out of practice after not using it for so long."
"I guess I could do something along the lines of that for him," the silver furred hedgehog said as he looked over Sonic from afar as if sizing him up. "He looks as though he'd be able to fit nicely in one of my rarely used suits. Have you ever considered him just wearing a bowtie though?"
"Do you honestly think that rascal can pull off the gentleman act with only a bowtie on him?" the red echidna questioned with a what-the-heck look on his face. "You're able to pull it off because you've had lots of practice with properness. He's never had that kind of practice, so any first class person worth their salt would be able to see through the bowtie."
"I suppose you're right on that. After all, you are the one who knows him the best. I'll go look through my clothes as soon as I can and let you know if I find anything suitable. Just tell me where you're crashing on this ship and I'll try to come by sometime later this afternoon. Does that sound good to you?"
"It sounds perfect. Thanks for helping me out here."
"Not a problem. Something tells me that I'll have to get back to my place now if I want to find something nice and come over to teach Sonic some proper table manners. Those things take more than just one day of practice to at least get the basics down, so I'll have to start teaching him today and tomorrow."
"Alright, I'll see you later," Knuckles said as he watched the silver furred hedgehog walk away and presumably back towards his quarters. "Just make sure you don't forget about it or I'll kill you for it."
"My, aren't we starting to get a bit violent this morning," Sonic called out from the other side as he glanced at the echidna and saw that he was now alone. He took this as a cue to now be able to be next to him and dragged Tails along.
"I'm only cranky right now," the red furred teen corrected with a small scowl towards the blue hedgehog. "And I'm only like this because I just finished managing to find you a suit for your dinner tomorrow night."
"Alright, you're really a lifesaver Knuckles!" the teen exclaimed happily as he gave a big hug to the other who only rolled his eyes at the action. The fox nearby simply watched with a small smile and a chuckle leaving his throat. "I knew that you had a chance of knowing somebody on board this ship. And here you were telling me that you had no chance of having that happen to you."
"I doubt that you'd be this clingy after I tell you what you'll have to do today and tomorrow just to get ready for that dinner. Besides convincing Silver to put a suit on loan for you, I asked him to teach you some things about participating in a first class dinner. This also means you'll have to learn how to act all formal and all that."
"You want me to do what?" the hedgehog exclaimed, this time out of surprise as he released his grip on the other and backed up a bit. "Why the hell would I have to learn all that formal crap on top of having to wear some stuffy ass suit?"
"Because I'm sure that you don't want to get yourself kicked out because you don't know what to say when to say it. I expect you to listen to him when he teaches you or I'll make sure your entire trip on here is nothing but a living hell. Don't even think about making a fool out of me in front of him. And just to make sure you know that I'm serious about it, I'll be watching you closely, so don't even think about it."
"Uh, I got it sir," the blue hedgehog answered with a mock salute to the other while his face showed that he understood the other was dead serious about it. He may have liked to have messed around with the other teen, but even he knew when to stop pushing his buttons lest he really wanted to be on the receiving end of a beating. "I'll make sure to be on my best behavior when your buddy comes over."
"That's good, my untamed little friend," Knuckles stated happily in a playful tone when he added the last part about being untamed. "Now how about we go ahead and get some lunch now before we go back to our room? We've already been out here all morning. Would you like to join us Tails?"
"You don't even need to ask if I'd like to come Knuckles," Tails answered with a smile as he followed Knuckles to the dining area for some food. Sonic, on the other hand, was still standing where his feet were planted as he allowed his mind to mull over what he heard the past few minutes. "You know that I'd never be too busy to pass up any chance to have a good meal with my friends."
Do I really have to torture myself with all this stuff about wearing suits and learning proper first class dinner manners? he thought to himself as he finally got his legs working and tailed the two in front of him. Oh well, I guess it's something that can't be avoided. Shadow seems like a pretty good guy, and I don't want to sound like a stupid person for saying I'll be there and end up embarrassing myself. I guess even a laid back guy like myself with close to nothing to lose has to sacrifice something just to make a good first impression.
