Chapter 11:

You can Run But You Can't Hide

3Thank you to my beta reader 3

Tails blinked back tears. He was talking to Professor Pickle via the landline telephone on the front desk of the hotel reception. He was barely able to keep his emotions in check as he explained what had happened to the Tornado-1. The engines had both been so mutilated, as if great hands had gone right inside them and twisted the machinery. He'd never seen his precious plane so beat up before and it rather distressed him that he couldn't fix it straight away.

"…Send me your co-ordinates and I'll do my best to have the parts sent to you quickly." The voice of Professor Pickle spoke kindly through the other end of the receiver.

"You can do that?"

"Two days is all it should take."

"Thank you, Professor, you're a life-saver!" Tails exclaimed, his voice almost cracking with overwhelming relief.

"You are most welcome, my dear boy. Is there still no sign of Dr Lantroe?"

"No Professr," the fox replied, " but theres something odd…"

Tails told the professor about his visit to the museum. He explained he could find no trace of anyone by the name of Lantroe who worked there, but there was someone with a similar name of Landron, who was on vacation. Something really strange was going on. And by strange he meant something other than the planet splitting and releasing an ancient entity, and his best friend/big brother being turned into a creature of the night. He felt it in his gut and Sonic had drummed it into him since they had first met to always go with your gut.

"I haven't been able to find any publications of Lantroe's," the professor explained. "And the name doesn't appear to be listed on websites regarding Dark Gaia. It's all very mysterious. Maybe I should've been more reluctant to let you go."

Then Tails could hear a very agitated Amy Rose bombarding the professor with a load of questions.

"Whats mysterious? Is Sonic there? Is he ok? Did he pack enough clean socks? Oh why didn't Tails let me go with them?"

The young fox could imagine the pout the pink hedgehog was pulling. He heard the professor kindly ask her to prepare him one of those delightful sandwiches she had become so good at making, promising to fill her in on the details of the phone call later.

"In fact," Pickle continued, having managed to distract Amy for the time being, "It's almost as if this Dr Lantroe was indeed not even real, don't you think?"

Tails furrowed his brows and glanced over the letter from the mysterious doctor. He hummed, face scrunched up in concentration….he was missing something.

His thoughts were disturbed by a delivery boy plonking down a pile of newspapers on the desk.

"It's weird alright." He replied, peering at the glaring headlines that read DANGEROUS HEDGEHOG LOOSE! Well, at least now he didn't have to come up with a plan to try and free his big brother. Might need one to help him avoid being chased down by the law though…

"And how is Sonic, I hope he's faring well?" The professor asked with perfect timing.

"Um…yeah…you know Sonic…off gallivanting."

Tails face palmed. Technically it wasn't a lie…he just didn't know exactly where he was off gallivanting to now. He hadn't told the professor about his big brother being arrested because he hadn't wanted to burden him with two problems simultaneously. Helping Sonic get out of prison had seemed a less impossible task for him to accomplish than fixing a biplane without the correct spare parts.

"Uh - I gotta go professor. Thanks! Call you later."

"Tails what did the professor say?"

The fox replaced the receiver as very excited Chip flitted up to him from across the lobby holding two bars of chocolate. "Can you believe I got these out of a machine!?" Then spotting the frown on his friend's face he asked concernedly, "can we help Sonic?"

Tails picked up a newspaper, "there's no need," he stated, holding it up to show his winged companion. He peered closer at the article, "looks like somebody's already helped him escape…"

There was a sketch of a supposed accomplice, along with a description:

Dark furred and/or clothed. Prominent white chest. Wearing gold jewellery. Voluminous, spiky hair.

"Woah, who is that?" Chip peeped over his shoulder to get a good look at the article.

Tails had an inkling as to who it might be describing (though the sketch of him did not do him any justice whatsoever). But after their last encounter with him on the moors, after the plane crash, the idea of it didn't exactly make him feel like jumping for joy. He remembered having seen Shadow the Hedgehog standing not far from the crash site, and a strange sense of dread that he had brought along, but not much else. If Shadow (or something that looked like him) had been responsible for their time lost on the moors and it was the same person or creature that was with Sonic now, then the hero could be in real danger.

"Why is nothing ever simple?" Tails groaned.

His brain was starting to hurt. He huffed loudly and closed his eyes, trying to allow his mind to clear. Chip began to paw at his shoulders affectionately trying to soothe him. Then his eyes shot open as a thought suddenly struck him. He folded up the newspaper and tucked it under his arm. Again, he looked at the letter from Dr Lantroe.

"Not real huh…?"

Before Shadow could even turn back to Sonic and tell him to hide, the hero had vanished from sight. Only the ruffling of curtains and bedsheets was a sign he was ever there. Shadow couldn't help being just a little impressed. The knocking at the door came again.

"Shadow?" A female voice whispered from the other side.

Shadow's keen hearing recognised the voice belonging to Jo, the girl who had made him coffee at the Green Lion Inn. It was her he had been about to call on the phone just now. She had fast become a friend to Shadow over the past few days and the agent had been grateful for it. He peered through the keyhole to check she was alone. She was and she fell into the room as the door was opened. Shadow caught her to stop her stumbling over.

"Shadow, I came to warn you."

From his hiding spot, Sonic could see small brown slip-on shoes standing ever so close to Shadow's feet and delicate hands clasped in gloved ones. He saw one of those petite hands reach out and briefly fumble with white chest fur. He couldn't see their faces but all kinds of thoughts rushed through his mind. New ally? Old friend? Secret girlfriend? Sonic gulped and wondered why he felt a heavy lump sink down to the pit of his stomach.

"I saw you both last night…the one they say is Sonic the Hedgehog."

Shadow stared at Jo with incredulity as she glanced around the room behind him. He thought he'd been so careful. Who else had spotted him? Then again she did seem to be exceptionally observant to the point of being nosy. She handed him the days newspaper. The front page read DANGEROUS HEDGEHOG LOOSE. Shadow skimmed over the article and raised a brow at the 'artist's interpretation of the accomplice'.

"It couldn't have been him that attacked us could it? At the inn the other night?"

Shadow thought he heard a faint gasp and splutter come from underneath the bed.

"No it wasn't him. Sonic is…an ally. You can come out now, hedgehog."

"Phew!" Sonic scrambled out from underneath the bed and stood up. He dusted himself off and smoothed his spikes back into shape. This really wasn't a great way to be introduced to someone new. He wasn't even wearing his shoes for cripes sake. He glanced between Shadow and the newcomer. She was a young human, late teens most likely, dressed in beige, brown and teal colours with long dark hair framing her face.

"I'm Sonic," the hero smiled, holding out a hand.

Shadow saw a dozen questions in the speedster's eyes. He hoped he wouldn't bombard the young girl with any of them. He'd discovered she was even more of a chatterbox than the blue motor-mouth.

The girl gasped. "Wow Is that awful thing in the papers really you? You look so different."

Shadow had also found out she often let her mouth run ahead of her brain.

"Well they say no publicity is bad publicity, right?" Sonic shrugged.

"Ah sorry," she flustered, grabbing his hand. " Of course it isn't you. You're a world famous hero-"

Sonic waved his free hand to try and dispel her fretting, "It's nice to meet you…"

"Jo," she smiled, "my names Jo."

"Nice to meet you Jo. Any friend of Shadow's is a friend of mine. So how did you two meet?"

"Ahem," Shadow interrupted, "you came to warn us…?"

"Oh jeez yeah," Jo slapped a hand to her own forehead, " Look, I'm sorry to burst in but the police are searching the area."

Shadow cursed under his breath.

"I'm sorry. You can leave through the back way downstairs. I don't think you have much time. I'll be waiting in the back lobby to help you sneak out. Don't let anybody see you. Be there in ten minutes if you can. Sonic, it was nice to meet you."

Jo left the two hedgehogs and Shadow leant against the door as he closed it. It was sooner than he had anticipated but he knew they would be tracked down at some point. He'd hoped they might have had the day to make a plan.

Jo wasn't sure exactly why she felt she had to help the two hedgehogs hiding in the furthermost room on the top floor of her parents hotel. Maybe she was caught up in the excitement of it all. It certainly was a once in a lifetime opportunity to help out two heroes. In all her nineteen years nothing much above the daily routine of the mundane had ever happened here. Sonic, she knew, was known worldwide for his heroism. Shadow, she knew, was less known and apparently associated with some crazy extra terrestrial event some time ago. She had read a few articles about him and decided she admired him just as much as Sonic. They were innocent of the crimes they were accused of by the police, that much she she was sure of but there was something more. She felt a genuine connection with the dark one. Something in her empathetic nature felt a need to help him. She was sure it had been the right move deciding to give him the amulet. Whether he believed in charmed things or not she didn't know but he had taken it graciously and still wore it around his neck. The wire-wrapped gem stone lay nestled in the thick fur on his chest. That spoke volumes of the respect he held for her. Shadow the Hedgehog was truly a friend now, even if she would never see him again after he left the hotel.

As she walked the corridor leading to the reception area she heard unfamiliar voices. She stopped to peek and listen from the doorway. Her father, who was working on reception that morning was speaking with two police officers.

"We have sixty-two guests staying here at the moment. Almost all our rooms are booked out for the festival this weekend." Jo heard her father say as he slid the register across the desk towards the police.

"And none of them look like this?" One of the officers, a female brown-furred canine, held up a picture. Jo could see it was a copy of the artists impression of Shadow the Hedgehog.

Jo's father squinted at the photo before shaking his head.

"This room," the officer tapped a gloved finger on the register, "is empty?"

"Yes it would appear so," the older man adjusted his glasses as he looked closely to where the policewoman was pointing.

"Then we'll start with that one. It's on the top floor so we will start there and make our way down."

Jo panicked slightly. That was the room she had put Shadow in the night they had met at the inn, after the monster attack, when he had reluctantly agreed to take a room in her parents hotel. Her father didn't know about it since Shadow had requested strict confidentiality and she had agreed to help him. She hadn't thought any harm would come if she was the one who took responsibility for cleaning the room but that thought was coming back to bite her in the butt now. She needed to divert the attention of the police elsewhere. Sonic and Shadow wouldn't make it past all them all now. She had to come up with another plan. She took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts and walked purposefully towards the reception desk.

"Dad, can I help?"

Both police turned towards the young lady. Her father introduced his daughter to the police, Sergeant Berry and Sergeant Quint.

"Miss, we are searching for a dangerous criminal and his accomplice. We have reason to believe they are hiding in your hotel. Have you seen him?"

The one called Berry held up a blurry image of the creature Jo recognised as the monster that attacked the green Lion Inn some days ago.

"I have not seen that creature here," Jo said, relieved she could answer honestly.

"How about him?" A photo of Sonic the Hedgehog was held up between gloved fingers.

'Oh thats Sonic the Hedgehog? He's not checked in here. I think we would all recognise such a celebrity." Jo smiled, pleased at having avoided directly lying to the police.

"Ok…" the officer raised an eyebrow and pulled out another photo, "how about this person?"

It depicted the artists impression of Shadow she had seen in the paper that morning. She managed to suppress a giggle. They really didn't get such a good view of him did they? That could work towards their advantage…

"I can honestly say I have never seen them before."

The canine officer glared just a little but the girl retained her cheerful disposition, giving nothing away.

"Um we have cellars!" Jo blurted out, "I guess thats a good place to start searching. Right dad?"

"You are welcome to search the cellars," he agreed, with a suspicious side glance to his daughter.

The officer looked dubious for a second but then nodded. She spoke into her radio. Jo overhead the orders and excused herself quickly. The police wouldn't take long to search the cellar. Though she was relieved she had bought the two hedgehogs some time, she had to get back up to them before they started to head down as she had instructed them to.

"She seemed cool. How do you know her? Is she a friend? What was she talking about?"

Shadow sighed. He knew Sonic would start asking questions.

"I know her because she works here."

"You seemed a bit too friendly just for that, Shadow."

There was no playful tone in the blue one's words. His eyes wouldn't leave Shadows.

"What happened at the inn?"

"Now's not the time." Shadow turned away and proceeded to clear up the coffee cups and wrappers from their makeshift breakfast.

Sonic huffed loudly, feeing irritated by Shadow's unwillingness to be forthcoming with him. His eyes fell onto something that distracted him for a moment.

"Oh heck, dude! This is…"

Shadow caught the crinkling of papers behind him. He looked up and froze. Sonic was looking at the newspaper with a colossal grin spread across his muzzle, trying (and epically failing) to suppress a giggle.

"…the best picture of you I've ever seen!"

The giggle escaped into full blown roaring laughter. Tears spilled from the corners of his eyes. That awful 'artist's interpretation' of him was flashed in front of his face as Sonic waved the newspaper about. Shadow made a move to grab it but Sonic was ready for that and moved faster.

"Oh no you don't, this ones for the album!" Sonic wiped his eyes and began to tear out the page from the newspaper.

Shadow lunged again but like before, Sonic dodged. He knew Sonic was playing with him, purposefully trying to get a rise out of him. He should have ignored it, they didn't have time for games, but he felt his temper caving rapidly.

As Sonic tucked the piece of paper away carefully between his quills, Shadow had already dived forwards. They both ended up on the floor in a heap of black and blue. Sonic on his back, Shadow face downward with his chin on a peach midriff and arms spread either side of blue hips.

"Uh-uh not without permission this time." Sonic propped himself up on his elbows, face in a dramatic faux pout.

Shadow's muzzle turned pure scarlet as he scrambled up. In hindsight, perhaps he shouldn't have rummaged through his unconscious rival's quills. He wouldn't have appreciated it himself but was Sonic really going to hold it against him forever?

"You know it was only for the emerald and I would have been able to teleport us both to safety." Shadow glared down at the hero and folded his arms defensively.

"Yeah, yeah I know." Sonic waved a hand dismissively as he got up off the floor, unable to suppress the grin that stretched across his muzzle. It was delightfully amusing to throw the agent off his edge game. How many times had he managed to do it that morning?

"We need to make a move." Shadow said, remembering they were on a time limit. He opened the bedside table drawer, ready to gather up his few belongings, "Your shoes are in the wardrobe, remember?"

"Thanks. Just gotta use little hedgehogs room."

"Be quick."

"Who do you think you're talking too?" Sonic grinned before disappearing into the bathroom.

Shadow shook his head, huffing to himself. The sooner they were out of this damn place, the sooner they could go their separate ways. He quickly retrieved his items from the drawer before securing them into the quills at the back of his head.

Sonic was finished within minutes and came bounding out of the bathroom feeling a bit neater, refreshed and ready for whatever the day had to throw at him. He was itching to get into his shoes and running again. He found he was looking forward to spending more time with his rival. If they could make time to race and get those endorphins flowing, Shadow might start to relax just a bit and open up to him.

The hero flung the wardrobe open only to find it pretty much empty, save for some wire hangers and a pair of shoes that were definitely not his awesomely cool red trademark sneakers…

"What…the heck?"

He held up the shoes, staring at them with wide eyes, lower jaw hanging slack.

"Shadow…?"

The ebony hedgehog looked over his shoulder.

"Those are your shoes from last night?"

Sure enough they were the deep red cleats he had removed from Sonic's feet when he put him to bed. The metallic spikes covering them would have torn the sheets to bits if he hadn't.

"These are my night form shoes. They're supposed to change back to my normal ones by now. What the heck happened?"

Realisation found Shadow's face and bore a deep frown onto his forehead. The cleats looked about four sizes too big for Sonic's feet now. The hero wouldn't even be able to keep them on his feet, let alone run in them.

"I took those off you last night… I didn't…think anything of it…" Shadow shut his eyes and began to rub his forehead in an attempt to calm the headache that was suddenly brewing, "how does Dark Gaia magic even work like that…?"

"No idea but nice going!" Sonic spat out.

"How the hell could I have known about your damn shoes?!" Shadow huffed, turning his back to Sonic. He was frustrated with himself for screwing up. He knew running, to Sonic, was second only to breathing.

"I'm sorry…"

Sonic suddenly felt a little bad for the other. He hadn't expected an apology. It really wasn't a complete loss as he would only have to wait til tomorrow morning to get his old shoes back (he hoped). It just figured that today fate would send police chasing after him while he didn't have the means to run fast. Friction burn through his socks would be a killer if he tried it. He could attempt to pick up some regular running shoes from somewhere but they would just burn up within a few hundred miles. A day without running at Sonic speed was going to be a very long one….

"Look, I guess it really isn't your fault. We'll figure something out."

Shadow let out a deep sigh. Just like him to be so quick to forgive and optimistic. Though really he couldn't have known about the shoes anyway.

"Looks like I'll be carrying you through the woods. Again." Shadow recovered.

"Well at least I won't be as heavy this time. Easier your back, old man."

"Or maybe I'll just let you walk through sharp debris and wet mud in socks."

"Ok, point taken. Hey, Tails may have packed me a spare pair of shoes. He always thinks of things like that. If I could call-"

An even more frantic knocking at the door startled both hedgehogs. A quick peek through the keyhole told them it was Jo again. They let her in, both of them catching her this time as she stumbled forwards when the door was pulled open.

"The police.." She breathed, "…are here."

"They were fast" Sonic grimaced.

"But we're faster," Shadow retorted, "well one of us is. Can we still leave through the back?"

"No. They've got the place surrounded. You're going to have to go out in disguise."

Jo looked just a bit too excited for such a dire situation. A wide nervous grin spread between her freckled cheeks. The hedgehogs exchanged wary glances. Uh oh this better not be heading towards…

"So which one of you wants to wear this?" She asked, holding up an outfit that looked suspiciously like a maid's uniform.

Sonic and Shadow face palmed in unison.