Disclaimer: I do not own anything Sonic the Hedgehog or Harry Potter. The story however, is mine to tell.

Sonic ducked and weaved through the jungle vines, drawing ahead of his darker counterpart. If he got caught this early in the race, he'd never hear the end of it. Glancing behind him, the black blur that was slowly closing in was almost an arm's-length away. 'Only a few more seconds...' the hedgehog thought, picking up the pace.

"GET BACK HERE FAKER! WHERE DID YOU PUT MY EMERALD?!" Shadow yelled angrily. The fury in his eyes was unmistakable, however Sonic only laughed at his 'rage'.

"Catch me to find out!" He yelled over his shoulder. The wind was howling in his ears, and he was sure Shadow was in the same boat. At the speeds they were going, even a missile impact sounded a bit like normal speaking, if you excluded flying debris.

The cocky hedgehog sped up even further, feet churning through the leaf-strewn ground. They were almost to the last stretch. 'Come on, almost there! Just a few...more...seconds! ' Sonic reached his destination and skidded to a halt, while at the same time Shadow, having lightning fast reaction time, tackled his rival, who had just grabbed the emerald out its hidden spot in a large oak tree to his right. Sonic was not expecting that, so both of them ended up tumbling down to the ground, legs in the air and quills poking into each other's faces. The Emerald rolled to a stop a few feet away. Both hedgehogs scrambled up and clawed for the gem, hoping to Chaos Control somewhere far away from the other. Simultaneously, each called out the fateful command, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Of course, Shadow, being the Ultimate Lifeform, woke up first. With a splitting headache. 'What happened...? ' he thought, sitting up while nursing his pounding head. 'The race ...' And with a groan the ebony hedgehog remembered. He remembered the stupid faker, challenging him to a race for his stolen chaos emerald. While he wasn't particularly in the mood for one, he wanted his emerald back, and who was he to turn down a challenge from the cocky blue hedgehog? Any chance to wipe that idiotic smirk from his face and teach him a lesson in respecting other people's property. But at the current moment, he had more pressing issues to think about. Oh yes, the genius ideas to teleport two places with one emerald. However Shadow knew who the true culprit was. Of course, this was ALL the faker's fault. Now he was stuck who knows where with an agonizing headache, and he did NOT have his emerald. 'Perhaps it teleported with me ?' It was a faint hope. He searched around where he was (an alley, really?) and saw no sign of the mystical gem. He couldn't feel it with his chaos energy either. However, he did see one sight that made him sigh in disappointment.

There was the faker, his body laid out right next him. Damn it all. With another sigh he got to his feet, fought off a wave of nausea, and (gently) kicked the other hedgehog in the ribs. With a sound that seemed like a mix between a pained grunt and air getting kicked out of him, Sonic opened his eyes and rolled onto his other side, cradling his ribs with his arms, all the while blinking groggily.

"Ouch... Jeez Shads, give me a warning next time!" Sonic complained.

"This is no time to be laying around. Get up and see where your idiocy has gotten us." Shadow would have admonished Sonic on using 'Shads', but he had learned long ago that no matter how hard you punched him, Sonic would never give up on his nicknames.

Sonic scrambled to his feet, stumbling a bit dizzily before righting himself. "Did you have to hit me that hard?! Jeez..." He rubbed his 'injured' side with an arm before placing his hands on his hips.

"Stop complaining, I didn't even kick you that hard. Take a look around you Faker. This is nowhere close to where we were." Shadow said, crossing his arms. Today was really not his day.

Sonic glanced up, turning in a circle and surveying their surroundings. Shadow ignored his small noise of surprise as he glanced around the filthy alley they were standing in. A stack of yellow and crumpling newspapers sat in one corner, next to a slimy dumpster. Shadow also noted the graffiti that was scrawled across the dirty gray walls, pinks and blues forming words and pictures. He squinted at one of them, which seemed to depict a place rather than an abstract idea. Perhaps these drawings would yield clues as to his and Sonic's location? He studied a particularly eye-catching piece.

Many shades of grey and black were used to paint a large, dull, tired city onto the filthy bricks of the alleyway. On the bottom of the drawing there seemed to be humans dressed in rags, reaching for a roll of what seemed to be toilet paper. Underneath the picture was an exceptionally tiny caption. He squinted at it, unconsciously reading aloud, "London, city of filth." He shook his head and stood back. He called Sonic over and watched him read the caption. Sonic backed up a bit to get a better view of the drawing, then turned to look at Shadow. His brow was drawn in confusion.

"I've never heard of London before. I would've thought we were in Station Square, based on the cars and buildings, but…" Sonic crossed his arms and studied the drawing some more. His foot started tapping against the concrete.

Shadow shrugged, walking over to the newspapers. He knelt down on one knee and started to go through them. The ones on top were unreadable, most likely due to time and elements, so he began to sort through the pile for ones on the bottom. He disliked getting his gloves needlessly dirty so he picked each paper up by only a corner, quickly setting them down and forming a 'useless' pile beside the original. Finally, near the bottom he managed to find a somewhat readable copy.

"Faker, stop that infernal tapping and get over here." He grunted.

Sonic quickly knelt down beside him and the two studied the paper. They began to read, but they both sucked in a breath through their teeth when they read the date.

"No way… Shads, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Sonic murmured, stupefied.

"Unfortunately, I believe I am." Shadow responded, eyes slightly wide.

AUGUST 13TH, 1994, the paper read.

Shadow whirled on Sonic, standing upright and bristling his quills. He clenched his hands into fists, shaking with anger. " DAMN YOU FAKER! It's not enough you have to ruin my day, you also have to teleport us to another goddamn dimension!" Shadow barked.

Sonic held up his hands placatingly an uncomfortable smile planted on his muzzle. "W-Well, it's not completely my fault! You were trying to Chaos Control too!"

Shadow trembled, glaring at the blue hedgehog. " We are only in this situation because you stole my emerald . Do not forget that." He turned around and stalked off. He was going to get his emerald and teleport back home. He would worry about finding the faker again once he had the emerald safely back in his hands.

Sonic attempted to get his attention, but Shadow ignored him. The last thing he needed was another annoyance today. Without turning around, he said, "Faker, I am going to find my emerald. Don't follow me. I'll find you again once I have it. Then , we're going to have a talk about respecting property."

Shadow skated out of the alley and turned the corner, and though Sonic could follow him if he wanted to, he decided against it. He really didn't want to give Shadow another reason to be angry at him. He wouldn't usually dismiss the chance for a good workout, but this whole 'stuck-in-another-world' crap was sort of messing with him. Sonic stretched his legs, preparing to go for a short run to explore this new world. Hey, at least it would be another adventure!

As he ran out of the alleyway, he was unaware of the flabbergasted man who had just witnessed not one, but two over sized animals running faster than cars from his office window across the street.