Disclaimer: Don`t own many things in that story. Besides, some usual characters make an appearance in this chapter...

Chapter 13

Alexis came out of the room, still disguised as the chilidog seller. Sonic was hidden inside the cart, and Shadow was inside the ventilation conduct. Alexis talked with the guards. "Guys, I`m really sorry… I think King Sonic caught a little digestion problem… He wolfed down a lot of chilidogs, and it`s having its effects right now. You might want to keep him alone for some time." Sonic, inside the cart, was embarrassed. Couldn`t Alexis find a better lie, or something less… embarrassing? Well, all that counts is that he would be safe. The guards nodded and let Alexis pass.

In the conference room, which was a room open to public, humans and anthros from Four-Lakes were waiting for the speech. A beaver mascot was going around, hugging kids and taking the pose for amateur photographs and their children. Tails, who took some time to co-ordinate the whole thing, was talking with Amy. They were wearing formal three-piece suits, which game them an extremely serious look. A slightly bald human, wearing the same type of suit, came to them.

"Mister Prower, do you have any idea what King Sonic might have been doing? He`s not answering."

Tails didn't know either what was happening. He had no idea. "The guards told us about a chilidog seller… we all know how King Sonic loves this kind of treat. Don`t tell me we got a schedule to respect, I know all that." Tails, who was now 21, was a lot more serious than before. He was in charge of the castle`s machines, as well as the transportation and some affairs. Did I mention Tails learned French, German and Japanese? He yelled to the crowd: "No worry, everyone. King Sonic should be there soon."

Amy Rose was going around the room, probably giving orders to people. She still had a small crush on Sonic. She might be 25 and more mature than before, she`s still the pink fan girl she has always been. She saw the chilidog seller (Alexis) leaving his cart around, and saw it was a chilidog cart. "Maybe I can go and bring Sonic some chilidogs… I`m now his servant, in a way… and he always liked that." She walked to the chilidog cart. But where was that seller going? He was leaving his cart around… didn't he fear there might be someone who steals what`s inside the cart? Buns, sausages, chili sauce?

Alexis walked to a locked door, and used a mater key to open it. Behind, the ventilation conduct was ending. Alexis heard some English curse words as Shadow followed the conduct, and landed right in front of the Four-Lakes cop.

"Still not using French curse words, Shadow?" Alexis joked.

"Osti…" Shadow replied, to cut him off.

"That`s the spirit, man. I let the chilidog cart in the conference room. Nobody will know Sonic`s in there. How`s it going with the plan?" Alexis asked.

"Well, as of now, we should just bring King Sonic to the car and put him in the trunk. Then we`ll see. Wait, you left the cart without any surveillance?"

"…shit." Alexis realized his mistake.

Just then, Amy Rose was moving the cart to King Sonic`s room.

"Sorry, Amy, you are not allowed to pass," the taller guard told her.

"Why?" Amy asked. "I`m just bringing him some food. He must be dead of terror just to talk in front of a crowd."

"Wait, this is chilidogs, right?" The smaller guard asked. "That`s what made King Sonic a little... sick. He`s apparently confined to the washroom after he ate one too many."

"Oh, you know, guys chilidogs are to him what bologna is to an old singer; such a tasty snack he always eats too much and throws up, but he`ll soon be back for his, his, his, his, woo! Hi-hi-hi-his chilidogs."

"Seriously, I doubt it is the best time to go see him."

"Come on, let me enter… I have always been his friend, since I couldn`t be her lover."

Sonic held his laughs in the cart, but it was really difficult. Did she just know she was traveling him around? Apparently, she didn`t.

"You`re really pitiful. If you really want to enter, go ahead, but if he asks you to go out and you don`t, we`ll take out of by force."

Amy entered, and went to the washroom, hoping to help her forever crush, but there she found… nobody? She looked around, and the place was totally empty. She began panicking. However, she was also wondering why the cart was that heavy. Buns and sausages aren`t that weighty usually… she decided to look inside, fearing some kind of trap. As she saw who was inside the cart, she almost fell unconscious.

"…Amy?" Sonic said, contorted in the small space of the cart. "What are you doing?" He saw Amy`s face turning red of anger.

"King Sonic the Hedgehog! Were you trying to escape your duties?"

Sonic stepped out and explained the situation. "Now, thanks to you, I`m back to square one, and I might as well be found."

"Wait, why would someone try to kill you?" Amy explained.

"There`s nothing to explain, it`s a lunatic who wants me dead. Now, unless you bring the cart back to where it was, with me in it, either I call the guards."

"…Okay," Amy said. "I`ll even explain the situation to Tails… if you peck me on the cheek."

Sonic blushed. "I`m married to Sally, you know it."

"Aw, I`m not asking for a real mouth-and-tongue kiss, Sonic! Come on, just a little peck!"

"…no way."

***

Somewhere else in the Sports Center, someone was lying unconscious, half-undressed, as the mascot was looking at itself in the mirror. The mascot? Sorry, I`m wrong. The new person in the costume was none other than Luck. After he put on the ridiculously oversized beaver head, the walrus looked at himself in the mirror. "Are you talking to me?" He acted scenes from an action movie, as if he was a godfather about to kill an enemy. "Are you talking to me?" He turned from the mirror, then jumped back to look at his reflection, yelling: "Ah-Ha!" He tried to pick up his gun from the sink, but his big plush mascot hands were a pain in the neck. Then he moved to the door, but slammed in it. "Ouch, tabarnak!" He finally opened the door and prepared for his mission, which had already been thwarted by Alexis and Shadow. This, Luck didn't know, but even if he did, he couldn't do a thing.

***

Alexis and Shadow showed their badge to the guards, who let them in immediately. "Is there a problem, agent Shadow?" the small one asked.

"Yes, we are here to take back a chilidog cart that might contain explosives. Apparently someone who had no idea what was in it brought it here for King Sonic."

"Where do you get that information from?" the tall one asked.

"Uh… we have been informed, and it was confirmed. The explosives have been hidden after a chilidog seller came out of here, and probably let someone else come in with… now can we enter?" Shadow lied.

"…fine. Get inside."

As Alexis and Shadow entered, they saw Sonic pecking on Amy`s cheek. They didn`t want to know.

"King Sonic?" Shadow asked. "It`s time for your safety. But… wait, what`s Amy Rose doing here?"

Amy recognized him. "Shadow? What happened for the ten years I have never seen you?"

Sonic answered for him. "Shadow married Rouge, as she gained a lot of importance to him, and as for that other cop, it`s Antoine`s cousin."

"Hey, pinky cutie," Alexis said, trying to flirt, until Shadow smacked him behind the head.

"Business first, flirting later, okay Alexis? Now, Sonic, get in the cart and we`ll go and protect you. You`re gonna spend some time in a car trunk."

"When I`ll be gone, Amy, explain the situation to Tails. He`ll understand. I didn't peck you for nothing, right? You got a mission, you better do it. I have a meeting with destiny."

"Fine, King Sonic," the pink hedgehog said, with hearts instead of her pupils. She knew she had no chance now with him, so she felt down.

"You know, I`m alone for now, pinky beauty…" Alexis began. Shadow face-palmed.

"That`s enough! First you spend a night in Rouge`s sister`s bed, then you`re hitting on Amy Rose… that`s it, you`re really trying to be more a Casanova than Scourge. Sonic, get in the cart."

***

Alexis and Shadow passed the security with the "disarmed" explosives hidden in the cart… but it was a lie. Sonic was hidden there.

"We`re hiding these explosives in our car`s trunk. Sonic is safe again… though we recommend not going in the washroom for a while." Sonic almost had a nervous laugh at the thought.

As they put Sonic in the trunk, the King was complaining.

"Why in the trunk? I thought you were kidding! I thought you would leave me in the back seat or something!"

"It's a Four-Lakes tradition, King!" Shadow jokingly said. The hedgehog closed the trunk, and they left again for the conference room.

Amy had told Tails the story, and they were now trying to keep it all secret. Shadow and Alexis arrived in the room, so Tails went to see them.

"Hey, Shadow… been a long while, eh? Last time I really saw you, I was eleven!"

"Tails, if you want to speak French, no problem. I think Alexis here would prefer that."

"Okay, okay. So, is that entire story true? The lunatic, the coup d`état, everything? Sorry, but it just sounds so weird."

"Yes it is," Alexis said. "I know it; he got my daughter captive. s fro Sonic, he`s safe and sound. If he gets in danger even more, we`ll do everything we can to save him."

"That`s somewhat funny to hear, you know? Because Sonic was a hero thirteen years ago. How he defeated Perfect Chaos… how he won over Solaris…"

Shadow coughed. He had helped on that battle too!

"Anyway, now that Sonic is a king, he`s over-protected, he no more has to be a hero… that`s weird. Now, what…"

Alexis looked to the beaver mascot. Some anthro kids were running to the mascot, hoping to get hugged, but the character in the mascot pushed them away. That looked suspicious.

Shadow was too busy planning with Tails a plan to avoid the scandal. All the newspapers would take that info to front page if they knew Sonic was targeted for a coup d`état. Alexis couldn't really disturb them. Finally, they planned a little something. Shadow arrived on the stand, approached the microphone, and said: "Testing, one, two…"

Someone came to ask him what he was doing. Shadow showed his police badge. "Everyone, I have some bad news. King Sonic the Hedgehog will not come for a speech, as he got food intoxication. No worry, everything will be fine."

Alexis spied on the beaver mascot. It was listening to what Shadow was saying. The tattoo killer, behind his computer screen, watching the conference, was turning on his cell phone.

"The press conference is thus cancelled for today, and will occur another day. Sorry for the inconvenience."

The cell phone rang on Luck, and he couldn`t easily pick it up because of his mascot disguise. Alexis heard the cell phone ring however.

The bald man from before began yelling. "What the hell? You`re kidding, right? You`re laughing at all the French people here!"

"I am not laughing at all. If I am, it`s to everyone here, including the English people. The press conference will be back in some days, hopefully King Sonic will have recovered until then."

The mascot was now finding its way through the crowd, pushing cameramen and parents aside. Alexis decided to follow him. But before, he dialed Shadow`s cell phone number. Shadow answered. "How was I?"

"Good, but you`re followed. Don't turn around. It`s the mascot. Bring it down the stairs, I follow you."

To be continued…

Author`s notes: I hope I wasn`t too OOC with Amy and Tails... Remember, it happens 13 years after the continuity, a lot of things change in thirteen years! Personalities change, characters change a bit... or sometimes a lot.