2. No Xenophobia Here

It was late at night now. Sonic was still in his office, enjoying a drink. He was quite pleased with his days work: the meeting with the President had been productive, he'd stamped his authority on the SSR again and he'd humiliated Blossom. He briefly considered whether he'd been too harsh on Blossom, but it was only briefly.

Sipping his drink again, he decided to turn on the radio, and started flicking through static, trying to find a station. He found something, but it wasn't a broadcasting station:

"Shhssssssshssssshtry this frequency Tails. Hello this is the spaceship HMS Acorn from the planet mobius, requesting permeation to land. We come in peace… Hello? No that's not working, try another one…."

The radio returned to static, but the listener was no longer in the room.

"What am I going to do Eddy?" Blossom asked the following morning. "I can't spend the rest of my life being ruled over by Sonic."

Eddy looked up from his frying pan. "No, only for the rest of his. I mean how old is he? Must be at least fifty. So that's not too long."

"I can't wait that long," Blossom sighed. "It's the only bad things in my life at the moment, yet somehow it makes me dread every time I go to work. I should enjoy my job," she pointed out, "you enjoy yours."

Eddy sat down. "Okay, let's look at your options. You could quit."

"I could, but then the truth of what happened might leak."

"Fine, get Sonic prosecuted for bulling at work."

"Then it would defiantly leak."

"Then you need to bargain with him," Eddy said, "tell him that if he leaks the truth about Superman, you'll have him charged of harassment or something."

Blossom sighed. "I have more to lose then he does."

"I wouldn't know," Eddy laughed, "you might not mind getting the electric chair." Blossom shot him a look.

"Don't talk like that," she said tetchily, "I want to see the kids grow up. I still want to spend time with you," she finished, with a change of tone.

"Well, Sonic could always…" he stopped.

"What?"

"You know, have an accident. Fall out a widow."

"EDDY!"

"He could trip on some of MJ's webbing, that bloody stuff nearly sent me down the stairs yesterday! I wish you'd teach her about her puff powers, it would stop her practising with that sticky stuff."

"I'm doing that on Saturday," Blossom reminded him, "it's only another two days. But I'm not pushing Sonic out of a window… yet."

"I don't know then," Eddy sighed, "but he holds you hostage to your past right, that's his weapon?"

"Yep."

"Then you could try finding a weapon in his past to fight it with. Something more powerful."

"Yes, that could work," Blossom admitted, "But where am I going to find something worse then killing Superman?"

Blossom arrived at work to find Bubbles and Buttercup playing chess on her desk.

"Erm, what are you doing?" she asked, "I've never seen you play chess before."

"Well me and Boomer were clearing out my apartment," Bubbles explained, "and we found it lying around. So I though it would give me and Butters something to do while were on call."

"You owned a chess set?"

"Yeah, I didn't realise till I found it!"

Blossom had a closer look. "Hey! This is my chess set! I 'lost' it when I left home!"

Bubbles looked puzzled. "It must have gone in the wrong box…"

"WIILL YOU TWO BE QUIET," Buttercup snapped, "I'm trying to concentrate!" She ran her eyes over the board once more, then moved a piece, kept her finger on it for a long time while she studied the board again, and eventually she sat back. Bubbles glanced at the board, and then made an instantaneous move.

"Checkmate."

"Dam it!" Buttercup smacked the board over, "stupid game."

"Buttercup!" scolded Blossom, "Firstly, were not six anymore, so there's no need for a temper tantrum, and secondly, that's mine!" she finished with a whine.

"Now who's being immature?"

Blossom was about to take issue, when the phone rang on her desk. Funnily enough, she answered it.

"Hello, SSR headquarters, Blossom Panner speaking, how may I direct your call?" She ignored Buttercups mimic of her telephone manor.

"Mrs Panner, this is General Smith speaking. Can you put me through to Sonic please?"

"Yes General," Blossom said instinctively, and she pressed the intercom. Then she took a deep breath, and spoke as naturally as she could. "Sonic, I have General Smith on the line." There was no response. "Sonic?" she repeated. Nothing.

She put the phone down, and walked over to the door of Sonic's office. She knocked on the door.

"SONIC!" Nothing. She opened the door, had a quick look, and returned to the phone.

"I'm afraid he's not in his office General, can I take a message?"

"Humm, I'm afraid not, it's urgent. We have a UFO that has landed in Virginia, near Richmond. The in occupants haven't emerged yet, but our scanners suggest they may be superhuman, so we need you to send a team to investigate for us."

Blossom hesitated. She really hoped these aliens weren't friends of Superman. "I'm not sure I'm allowed to," she said, "I need Sonic's authorisation, I can go find him if you…"

"We can't wait that long," the General replied, "I out rank Sonic, I'm authorising you. Send a team at once."

Blossom smiled. Someone who outranked Sonic! "I'll come myself sir," she confirmed, before putting the phone down. It would really annoy Sonic when he found out she'd operated on someone else's orders!

"Bubbles!"

"Yes Blossom?"

"We're going to Richmond. Can you teleport us there at once."

"Where's Sonic?" Buttercup asked.

"Don't know," Blossom shrugged. "Where ever he is, let's hope he stays there…"

The spaceship was smouldering on the ground: the landing had not been smooth. The Puffs observed it from behind a bush.

"Okay," Blossom commanded, "here's what were going to do. Buttercup, you're going to fly up directly above the ship and observe it from above. If they make any funny moves, do what you do best."

"Right!" she moved into position stealthily.

"Bubbles, I want you to walk up to the ship, and listen in to see if they are saying anything. If they are, work out their langue, and come back to me when you have, and I'll tell you what to say to them. If they're not talking, we'll rethink. Okay?"

"Got it." Bubbles approached slowly, and pressed herself up against the side of it. Sliding around it, she found a point from which she could hear the conversation.

"… so it wasn't my fault. The wind caught me out."

"Oh come on Tails, I could have landed it better then that!"

"I take that as a grievous insult Knuckles!"

"Are you implying I can't fly this thing?"

"No, I'm saying it!"

"Quiet you two! Sonna's got the environment monitor working."

"Okay, what does it read?"

"It says the air is breathable Shadow."

"Great, let's get some fresh air!"

Bubbles hurried back to Blossom.

"There's four of them and they're about to get out," she reported.

"Have you got the langue?"

"Yes, I've got it."

"Then ask them to emerge from there craft bearing no weapons, but that we mean them no harm."

"Okay." Bubbles stood up to her full height, and hovered slightly above the ground to emphasise it. Blossom signalled to Buttercup to be ready. Bubbles took a deep breath, and bellowed in Standard English:

"HEY, ALIEN GUYS! WE MEAN YOU NO HARM! TO SHOW US THAT YOU MEAN US NO HARM, PLEASE EMERGE NOW BEARING NO WEAPONS! THANKYOU!"

Blossom taped her on the shoulder. "If you'd told me that they spoke English, I could have spoken to them!"

Bubbles shrugged. "You never asked."

The door opened and four figures emerged. One of them, a black hedgehog, spoke politely to them:

"Hello, my name is Shadow, I am from the planet Mobius, and I come in peace. We are here because my associate here, Knuckles, (he gesturing towards a grumpy looking red Echidna) had an accident with his Chaos Emeralds and may have teleported one here a few weeks ago, so we are hear to find it. It is very dangerous, so we would appreciate as much help as you could give us. My other companions are Tails (the orange two tailed fox) and Sonna (a pink hedgehog, late teens, much younger then all the others.)"

Blossom waved Buttercup down and replied.

"Hi, welcome to earth. My name is Blossom Panner, and these are my sisters Bubbles and Buttercup Jojo. We work for an organisation called the SSR, and I'm sure our leader would be happy to help you regarding chaos emeralds."

"Yeah," said Buttercup, "and you look just like Sonic."

There was deafly silence from the visitors, although they all flinched except Shadow. He paused before speaking.

"Sonic the Hedgehog," he said flatly.

"Yes," Blossom confirmed, slightly nervously.

"Right," Shadow said calmly but directly, "we're going to need to get to know each other, because we're going to need your trust."

"Sonic isn't greatly trusting," Bubbles said.

"No, not Sonic's, your trust."

"Why?" Blossom was now very confused.

"Because," Shadow said, "Sonic the Hedgehog is wanted on our planet for a double murder seventeen years ago…"

Okay, please review. Please ask any questions you may have, especially if you don't know Shadow, Tails or Knuckles. Thanks.