Chapter 12: Playground (I)

Sonic sat on the couch beside Allan, who'd somehow managed to bunch up the blanket between the two of them into a miniature wall. The guy looked stiffer than an armadillo with a backache, flinching ever so slightly whenever Sonic even so much as blinked. Sonic couldn't imagine how twitchy the guy would be if he had been the one being twice the other's height.

"Alright," Jen said. "I think we can park up here. Then we hike the rest to what I hope is the right spot." She sat across from both, hovering above the printed-out museum's map and a road map beside it, both spread out on the coffee table.

The spot she'd picked out was so close, Sonic had actually passed it twice during his runs in the area. How the heck had he missed a Star Post there?

Either way there was no need to mull over the map any longer. The trip would make for a nice warm-up run after being cooped-up for so long. He'd never been around anyone this adamant about him getting some rest than Jen was. Though, admittedly, he also never had to be this careful about sneaking in and out of houses. Using the roof wasn't a sane option right now, and during the day her place was too busy to just go in and out through the front door. And during the night, Jen managed to sleep lighter than a frickin' cat, so he'd barely managed to catch a breath of fresh air during the past days. Contrary to what Mr. Awkward over there seemed to be thinking about him, Sonic was trying to stay out of sight. Around this building, at least.

Sonic leapt to his feet, ignoring the sting in his chest. Allan flinched (of course).

"Okay. I see you there." Sonic said, heading for his shoes.

"Waitwait. Where are you going? We drive there, together. The car." Jen made a steering gesture.

Sonic paused. "You, 'the car'," he managed. "I go."

"Yeah, no. Forget it." Jen shook her head. "I wanna get there today, not next week. Just because you're on painkillers now doesn't mean you're fine."

"Today." He shrugged. "I run."

"Right." Her lips formed a line.

Sonic groaned, crossing his arms. This was the kind of communication you apparently understood in every language. He knew he wasn't fully healed yet, but it wasn't the first time he'd dealt with bruised ribs. There was no need for him to get into a car of all things. If he didn't need an escort out of the house, he'd be halfway there already.

"Maybe he's afraid of your new car." Allan muttered under his breath.

Jen gave him a flat look. "Seriously? He leaves the house through the roof window. The only thing I've seen him 'afraid of' was my razor—and doing the dishes." She paused. "Besides, the car's not that bad." Jen crossed her arms.

Allan rolled his eyes. "Right. But if he's so hell bent on going alone, then why don't you let him? His problem."

Sonic's brows furrowed in concentration. He'd gotten used to hearing Jen talk and still didn't get most of what even she said. So what the heck had Allan just said about him and cars?

Jen grumbled, then turned the road map towards him, pointing at it with a pen. Sonic took a step closer.

"Alright, mister. We're about to get from here to there. This is the map's scale, and this is how often you can fit it into the road we're gonna take." She held the pen to some kind of gauge, then seemed to measure the road with it. "It's too far to walk. You're not gonna get there in time. If you want to know whether we see images near those poles, you'll have to come with us. You can do whatever breakneck thing you do after that."

Sonic shook his head. "I don't—" Chaos, how was he supposed to explain that he wouldn't have trouble keeping up with her car, running backwards? He'd tried to tell her before, but all he earned was a skeptical and amused look. He could've gone for a demonstration, but that never went well indoors, so he kinda put it off until they'd found a way to meet outside somewhere. Now they had one—only the timing sucked. He could still take off the moment after they left the house, of course, but he grudgingly had to admit that he wasn't sure how fast (and stealthily) he could make it through town at this time of the day. Running would most likely be fine by now, but he wouldn't want to do any major stunts at the moment. Could he have a world where being reasonable was as fun as being fun, please?

Sonic sighed, then nodded. "Alright," he said.

#

"Is he going to keep his head down for once?" Allan hissed.

Sonic's eyes briefly met with Jen's in the rear mirror when she apparently tried to relay Allan's complaint by pursing her lips. But Sonic ignored her for now, watching the passing city streets. Seeing things from the ground and in broad daylight was a whole new perspective. Usually he either watched from above or snuck around at night. From down here though, everything seemed way more lively—despite him sitting in a car of all things.

A kid waiting by a bus stop stared at him as they passed. Sonic waved.

Allan buried his face in both hands, groaning. "I bet half the city got your number down by now."

Jen rolled her eyes. "Sonic, could you get your head down before Allan goes into cardiac arrest, please?"

She'd used way too many words for someone sounding perfectly calm.

And, she was probably right. If he'd wanted to draw attention, he wouldn't be in here.

Sonic puffed a breath, then laid down on his back. He closed his eyes for a while.

Allan seemed to prepare a comment but got interrupted by Jen before he could actually say it out loud: "If you start talking about seatbelts now, you're going to share the back seat with him."

It was quiet after that.

#

They made it to some road through the woods that Sonic didn't bother to sit up for. This was the kind of place he could hang out all day. Nothing new around here.

Jen and Allan had been quietly fussing about something for most of the ride, and Sonic had futilely tried to catch their words. Now he was just bored, dozing halfway. This was taking at least ten times as long as if he'd gone on foot.

The passenger seat creaked and Sonic cracked one eye open to find Allan halfway turned to face him.

"Do you have cars?" Allan asked somewhat stiffly.

Jen groaned.

Had he heard that right?

"No?" Sonic said. What would he need a car for?

"Ah." Allan seemed kind of pleased with himself. He cast Jen a smug glance.

Sonic could sense Jen rolling her eyes even from the backseat.

"What he obviously wants to know, is whether there are cars where you come from. On Mobius," she said.

"Huh?" Sonic blinked. "Sure." He propped himself up on his elbows but instantly ran out of ideas how to voice anything else. What was it about him and cars today? And how long was it gonna take until he could at least talk about everyday stuff? Both of this wasn't going anywhere near fast enough.

Jen had started smirking, slowly shaking her head, and Allan kept looking back and forth between the two. "Y'know it's not easy to imagine a place where cars have a higher priority than pants. Just saying."

He slid back into his seat, face growing serious as he looked at the road ahead. "What's up with that guy?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Jen said.

Sonic felt the car slow but not stop. He propped himself up between the two front seats, prompting a flinch from Allan.

They were on a fairly straight road through the woods—now, with some distance following a truck that seemed to have trouble staying in lane. It began veering to the right, front wheels threatening to slip off the paved area and into the earth next to it.

Jen blew the horn. Maybe the driver had fallen asleep or something.

Nothing changed.

Then the right-side tires came off the road, getting caught in the shallow ditch beside it and chafing against the edge of the tarmac.

As long as the road went on straight, the truck would probably stay on track like this for a while, but if there was a bend, there'd better not be anyone on the opposite side of the road.

Jen kept driving, gradually increasing distance and watching the thing somewhat mesmerized. Allan gripped the sides of his seat.

Sonic jumped for the door handle. "Don't stop!" he called.

Jen started. "What?"

He pushed the door open and leapt outside, ignoring Jen's second shriek. His ribs protested when his feet hit the road running, but they'd get over it—he should've jumped out of the car ages ago.

Jen hit the brakes.

Sonic yelped, barely sidestepping the door that now swung fully open and right into his path. It almost managed to shave the fur off his sides.

Why did everyone always do that?

At least this time he hadn't been behind the car.

A moment later she'd apparently realized what had happened and accelerated again. Sonic slammed the door shut beside him, throwing her bewildered self a thumbs up.

He picked up the pace. The truck was still going somewhat steadily, but whoever was in there didn't seem to react for some reason. Sonic caught up to the truck's side in a blink and scaled the wheelhouse, latching himself to the struts of the truck's protruding mirror then allowing himself to pause for the tiniest of moments in a semi-curled position to explore the depths of his still aching chest with a deep breath. The one moment he could've used a good stretch before doing a stunt like this, and he didn't have the time.

Sonic reached an arm out and started banging his fist against the truck's side window without even looking inside. If the guy had been awake he clearly would've reacted by now. But the truck didn't change direction. Sonic straightened and peered inside. There was a slightly overweight, black-haired man slumped in the seat, one arm still loosely resting on the wheel. Sonic grimaced. His track record with unconscious people in vehicles wasn't all that good, apparently.

The truck hit a bump in the ditch and Sonic had to tighten his hold on the mirror. A quick peek ahead told him they were heading for a right bend in the road. If they kept going the way they did the truck would break free and crash head-on into the woods as soon as they got there. He had to wake the guy up somehow.

...Or steer the thing himself.

Sonic hugged the mirror and began kicking at the window, wincing with every high-speed hit that only seemed to recoil into himself and his ribs instead of breaking the glass. He roared, kicking the window one final time and shattering it into zillions of tiny pieces that now hung like a sheet in their frame. He broke through with his feet, showering the guy in shards, then barely managed to stay perched inside the frame instead of crashing into him. Through the windshield, Sonic could see the bend coming in fast.

He reached for the wheel, nudging it both ways, then had the sudden mental image of the thing going completely off-road and toppling over. What was the guy doing that it still accelerated, anyway? Sonic had had driving lessons (even if he didn't know what he'd ever need them for), but human stuff probably worked a bit differently.

Okay, Jen had used her feet at some point, so maybe not that differently.

Sonic held onto the frame, then kicked the guy's leg off of the pedal it still sat on, instantly feeling the truck's speed decrease. But the thing still didn't seem as if it would come to a halt before crossing the bend ahead. He reached for the wheel again, trying to hold his breath.

Chaos, he was gonna regret this.

#

Jen gaped, still driving after the truck as if stuck in some kind of trance.

Sonic had passed them with ease, scaled the truck's wheelhouse, and eventually broken into the driver's cab. In the truck's now misaligned mirror she could vaguely see him (or rather, his butt, mostly) as he reached past a motionless person for what appeared to be the steering wheel. The truck slowed, then came to a grinding halt driving into a mound right-side of the road only a couple of meters before reaching the bend.

After a moment, Sonic clambered out of the window, standing in its frame with one arm across the mirror. His ears swiveled, then he turned his head towards a car approaching from the opposite side of the road. His eyes searched Jen's, who was currently letting her car crawl to a halt, then he began gesturing. Something about the guy's heart…? Sonic shrugged.

The car on the opposite side decided to halt the moment its driver had noticed the crash, and Sonic took it as a cue to flip to the top of the truck's roof and disappear into the woods.

"Jen," Allan said probably for the seventeenth time. "Jen, how in the world could you not know this?"

She turned to look at him, still hypnotized. "Well, excuse me for not thinking of this when he told me he was 'fast'."

"But— How—" Allan threw his hands into the air. "You didn't ever notice him do anything crazy-fast? Like, catch a glass just in time or something? How is it possible to miss something like that?"

"There was nothing strange, believe me." She thought for a moment. "He did put the remote's batteries into one of my plant pots the other day, but—"

"Well, that settles it." Allan interrupted, looking dead serious.

Jen sobered up on the spot. "What?"

"You said he's looking for an overweight man with a mustache and odd clothes?"

Her brows furrowed. "Yes? What about it now."

"He's looking for a ringmaster."

It was at about this point that Allan's facade of seriousness broke apart and he fell into a snickering fit.

Jen laughed in disbelief. "I hate you, sometimes."

Ahead, the other driver had gotten out of her car and carefully crossed the road. She tried opening the doors to the truck's cab and failed. Then she sped around the front of the truck, apparently looking for something.

Allan made a face.

"Come on, we should help," Jen said.

He nodded, already opening the door. "If she saw him, you're the one who's explaining."

"You bet I'm not going to let you explain." She stuck out her tongue.

#

They'd waited until an ambulance had arrived, and were now trudging through the woods in search for Sonic who for some reason hadn't decided to reappear again after everything was handled.

"I still can't believe you just went with it," Allan said, crossing a fallen branch.

Jen pushed a bunch of twigs out of her way, glancing backwards. "You really would've told her that you saw nothing after all that?"

"Yes, obviously," he said, dodging the same twigs.

"And then what? We know each other—she'd only have gotten suspicious. Now she'll probably just go home and forget about everything in a couple of days… I would've. And who's she gonna tell, anyway? Not even you really believed me when I first told you."

"Yeah, thanks for bringing that up again."

"Sonic," she called.

"Jeez, keep it down." Allan made it to her side, looking around. "He's probably already checking out that Star Post without us."

"No, he's not," Jen said firmly, marching off in a straight line. Allan caught a glimpse of blue where she was headed and his intended retort died on his lips. He quickly caught up with her.

"Hey!" She tried, crouching down.

Sonic sat slumped against the base of a tree, unconscious and with one arm hugged around his chest. Jen seemed to try and find a proper spot to shake him awake, then drew her hand away, lips forming a line. She faced Allan.

"We should carry him back to the car," she said.

Allan felt his eyebrows arch then crumple. "I assume by 'we' you mean 'me'?" he asked, pointing a finger at himself.

"I, uh, well, my shoulder is still a bit sore…," she said, rubbing her arm and looking sheepish.

He knew it wasn't an excuse, but: "I'm not going to touch him!" It was already disconcerting enough that he had to sit on the same couch the guy was sleeping on; he wasn't going to carry him around now.

"Oh, please." Jen rolled her eyes. "He's showering, like, seven times a day, I bet there are more germs on you than there are on him."

"I hope you're exaggerating, because I don't want to hear anything about your water bill anytime soon—especially not after you've told me about one of his quills, or… spines or whatever clogging the drain—"

She gave him a flat look.

Sonic stirred.

"Oh, thank God," Allan muttered.

He jerked awake, drawing in a sharp breath, then instantly hugged his side with a groan. »Urgh, so much for a ›nice jog‹. Who would've thought breathing was that important…,« he commented in whatever his first language was.

He pushed himself to his feet and uprighted himself, carefully stretching his chest and taking a few more deep (and probably not too pleasant) breaths. Jen stared at him as if he was some kind of fragile construct.

Sonic exchanged a look with both after gathering himself. "Is he OK?" he asked.

"Er, what?" Jen blinked.

"The-" He paused, frowning, then made a steering gesture. "The guy," he said, letting his arms drop.

Jen snorted. "Yeah, he's okay. They've taken him to a hospital. What about you, though? You're the one doing crazy stunts around here and I can't exactly take you to a doctor."

Sonic shrugged, apparently reading her energy. "I'm okay when he's okay," he said.

Jen facepalmed.

This is not the best break and I know it. But this one had become a bit too long overall. Next part is gonna be up faster than usual!

If any of this still makes you feel like leaving a review, please go ahead :D.