4. Blossom in Charge

Blossom had returned them to the SSR building, and they had now brought the Mobians to an interview room.

"Do we have to do this," Knuckles protested.

"I just want to have the accusations on record," said Blossom as calmly as she could, "and this way you won't have to repeat yourselves."

"Let's do it there way for now Knuckles," said Shadow in that polite yet commanding way.

"With respect," said Knuckles to Shadow with anything but, "I did not agree to come here to find Sonic, and I don't think Sonna should hear this again," he finished through gritted teeth. Shadow looked at Knuckles for a while, and then nodded.

"Okay, you and Sonna can go and look for the Chaos Emerald. Me and Tails will talk to them."

"Just remember," Knuckles said bluntly, "When we find the Emerald, we go home. Okay?" Shadow nodded.

"Err, the Chaos Energy detector is showing a lot of interference," Sonna interrupted.

"Well we'll have to hope it will sort it's self out!" Knuckles said.

The three puffs were watching the group's interaction with interest, and suddenly Blossom realised something. If what Sonic had told her earlier was true – that the puffs were created from chaos energy – then they who would be causing the interference.

"Hang on," she said abruptly, "I'll get some help for you. BOOMER!" The Blue Ruff appeared moments later.

"Yes Blossom? – hi Bubbles."

"You see these two 'people' here?" Boomer looked.

"Hey, they're sort of like Sonic."

"Yes, I want you to help them find their missing Emerald, and to make sure nothing happens to them while they're here. Okay."

"What about Sonic?"

"He won't be around for a while," Blossom could hardly hide the smugness in her voice.

"Very well then, if you'd like to follow me Sir and Madame," Boomer said to Knuckles and Sonna, "see you at home Bubbles!"

Shadow watched them go, as Bubbles waved good bye, and then he turned to Blossom.

"That really wasn't necessary," he said gratefully.

"No, it was," said Blossom, "This is a confusing planet, and anyway, if they didn't get lost they'd probably be attacked by some other Superheroes. It's only fair they have a guide to help them." And to mess up their equipment, she thought.

"Right, shall we do the interview then?" Bubbles said. The three Puffs, Shadow and Tails all proceeded into the room. Blossom clicked on a tape recorder.

"Okay," she said, "tell us your accusations."

Shadow thought for a moment before speaking.

"Right. Sonic the Hedgehog was a hero on Mobius, especially after the war of liberation against Dr. Robotnik. Robotnik was the evil dictator who turned people into robots by the way. But he wasn't entirely happy afterwards… how can someone be happy in times of peace when they've only know war. To cut a long story short, he married a hedgehog called Amy Rose, who'd he thought a long side in the war. They had two children, a son called Manic, and a daughter, Sonna who you've just met."

Blossom shifted slightly. "I've never thought of Sonic as a father."

"No…" Shadow paused for a moment; he was trying to think of a good way to phrase this. "Nor did he, I think. He never really got over the war. The names of his children hint at this."

"What, Sonna and Manic?"

"His brother and sister," Tails explained. Shadow nodded to his companion.

"Maybe you should continue. You knew Sonic better than most."

"Okay," said Tails. "Sonic was frustrated, generally. Amy wanted him to settle down, but he didn't. He didn't have anything to settle down from though, and that frustrated him more. He also hated the movies and books about the war, many of which the government produced. He thought he'd suffered and given more then anyone else for the freedom of Mobius, so wanted more credit. He became increasingly angry as enough time passed for people to feel able to criticise things he'd done in the war, and as other people's rolls were recognised more. He also became distant, even from his friends.

"When a new evil Dr, Eggman, arrived, he jumped at the chance to take up being a hero again. I know he cared about people, but I also think he did it for the… well or the publicity. He also involved his children, but they were only five and ten." Tails stopped. He wiped his face, and drunk a glass of water. He was obviously struggling to talk about his friend like this. Shadow put a hand on his shoulder.

"I can continue if you like," he said kindly. Tails swallowed, but signalled he was okay, and continued himself.

"You see what Sonic didn't, couldn't understand was that people wanted to move on. We were very grateful for what he'd done, but we wanted to get on with our lives, not endlessly dwell on the past. Amy begged him and then ordered him to keep the kids out of his… dangerous exploits, but he wouldn't listen. So she divorced him, and tried to get the court to stop him from seeing his kids. I was handling his case, and when I told him there was no way he could win he flew off the handle. Me and knuckles decided to go to appeal personally to Amy on Sonic's behalf, but when we got there, he'd… he'd…" Tails tailed off. Shadow patted him on the shoulder again. The Fox took a deep breath. "Do you have a bathroom?" he sniffled.

"Buttercup, show him were the bathroom is," Blossom order, and her sister silently helped him out. Shadow waited for her to return before turning to Blossom.

"He hasn't actually been convicted yet, so I'll try to stick to facts. He was found by Tails and Knuckles shouting at his hysterical daughter with a recently fired gun in his hand by the bodies of his wife and son, who'd been shot. They apprehended him immediately, and Knuckles took Sonna away with him to the Floating Island as a foster parent. Sonic escaped from prison, and tried to take his daughter back from Knuckles, but I stopped him. Then we lost him, and never saw him again."

"And a few months latter, he turned up here," Blossom finished. "But it still doesn't seem like Sonic to commit a murder.

"Other things came out afterwards. Like that Robotnik hadn't, as was previously thought, died in fighting at the end of the war. It turned out that Sonic had shot him in cold blood after the doctor had surrendered."

"How come that only came out after he'd been arrested?" asked Bubbles.

"The only witness to the murder was Tails, but Sonic threaten him into keeping quite about it."

Bubbles was silent for a moment. She looked at Buttercup. "I've had a thought," she said. "About Superman. Know what I mean?"

Blossom jumped, but Buttercup had latched onto her sister's idea. "Yeah," she said, "tell Shadow about fifteen years ago…"

Blossom did, with a heavy heart. The old story about her killing Brick after he'd killed Superman, and how Sonic was the first witness. Shadow listened intently and then thought for a moment.

"I think there's something fishy about that story," he said, staring at Blossom.

"I knew it!" said Buttercup, "and she's always letting Sonic walk over her. She never did that before the incident."

"I see…" Shadow smiled, reassuringly. But Blossom wasn't reassured.

"No no, that's the true story..." she said far too quickly.

"Don't worry Blossom, its okay. You're not going to be hauled before a court for perjury if Sonic threatened you, and he can't hurt you or your family now."

"What are you saying?" Blossom flustered.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shadow nearly laughed, "It's clear that the truth lies behind that flimsy story. Sonic killed Superman, his wife and Brick, and threatened you into hushing it up."

Blossom was stunned. "That's ridiculous," she stammered in shock, "Sonic would never threaten me! I'm not scared of him!"

"Then how come you always do exactly what he says?" Buttercup pointed out. Bubbles nodded vigorously in support. Blossom couldn't believe it.

"Anyway," she sweated, "Sonic couldn't kill Superman! He's too weak."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Really, I would have thought he was perfectly able to. He's a very good fighter."

Now all three Puffs were slightly shocked. Sure, Sonic was a good commander, but they'd never seen him win a one-on-one fight!

"The evidence relating to the case is all down in the basement," Buttercup said eventually, "I'm sure you can have a look at it if you want."

Blossom wanted to protest, but she didn't. It would look suspicious if she had. Shadow smiled.

"Great," he sounded genuinely cheerful, "Tails can do that. I'll go look for Sonic!"

"You'll need a guide," Blossom felt on firmer ground now. "Buttercup, get Butch to assist him."

"Well, what do you think of that?"

The puffs were back up stairs now, at Blossom's desk. Buttercup and Bubbles considered Blossom's question.

"Well, that Shadow's a lot nicer then Sonic," Bubbles said, "and I defiantly believe his story."

"Yeah," said Buttercup, "And if Sonic was threatening you, he's going to get it! Come on Blossom, was that true."

"No it wasn't," snapped Blossom, "and I'd appreciate it if you two didn't jump in like that and encourage such wild speculation! I'm in charge here, you should have talked to me in private about it first!"

"Yep," said Bubbles happily, "You sure are in charge." Blossom blinked.

"You mean..." she said quietly.

"With no leader, the second in command takes over," Buttercup smiled. "You Blossom." The Pink puff paused for a moment, and then drew her self up to her full height. They were right, she was in charge now.

"When are you going move in to his office?" Bubbles asked. Blossom paused.

"Not just yet. It would look like I was usurping him. Everyone should be told and given a chance to object to my leadership before then. But since I'm temporally in charge…" Blossom smiled. Bubbles and Buttercup semi-mocked jumped to attention. Blossom chuckled to her self.

"Bubbles, go search Sonic's office. I want every inch gone over in detail; it might give us a clue to his whereabouts. Buttercup I want you to arrange a general meeting for all the members of the SSR at nine o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. They all need to be informed, and to be given the chance to voice there opinions. Then we can decide how much of our resources we should dedicate to catching him."

"What are you going to do?" asked Buttercup as she set off.

"I'm going to call General Smith and tell him what's happening, and then I'm going to call the President and inform him. Once I've done that," she smiled "I'm going to do what I've always wanted to do."

"What?"

"Get some cubical walls for this desk."

Blossom arrived at home on time for the first time in years. She was, of course, going back in later, to find accommodation for the mobians when they got back. But for now, she was intending to cook super for her kids, and to be a good mum. They weren't in when she opened the door, but she knew this: Eddy had taken them to the doctors, who were checking on Edwards wound. They were hoping to take the stitches out today.

So she walked into the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea, before heading for the lounge to sit down. When she opened the door, she was surprised to find the light on, but hadn't got as far as thinking that Eddy was wasting electricity again when she spotted someone the last person she expected to see.

"Hi Blossom," said Sonic cheerfully, "How was your day?"

Okay, thanks for reading. It would be really useful to receive some reviews from you, especially details about which particular versions of "Sonic" you are familiar with, just so I know what you know, and don't miss anything. Thanks for reading.