Chapter 16: Blue Wave Island

"So... the fox boy wants to pass on his knowledge, eh?" a voice said while he watched from behind of screen, spying on his nemesis.

The person chuckled. "If anyone should pass on their legacy, it should be me! Hm..." he began to muse, before pushing a comms button on his dashboard. "Metal Sonic, prepare to stand by for a new mission!"

Sapphire was tinkering with her hardlight tech, trying to see with she could make shapes out of it, following up on the project she had started a while ago with Tails. Sonic and Tails had taken the Tornado out for a joyride an hour prior, leaving Sapphire to her experiment.

Sapphire had managed to make a sphere, and was trying to flatten it into a simple circle, while recording the magnetic parameters, so she could later program them to be done automatically via a controller program on her Miles Electronic.

Once Sapphire got the hardlight sphere to become a circle, she recorded the new parameters, and began setting up her beta controller program. Testing the program, she reshaped her experiment between a sphere and a circle a couple times, which made her happy to see her project progressing well, but she wanted to go a bit further. She knew it was probably a bit early to try this, but she wanted to make a more complex shape.

Figuring a five-pointed star wouldn't be pushing it too far, she decided to try to program it into her controller program, hoping to get more control on making new shapes with it.

She continued to mess with it... until finally, she managed to make her star!

"I did it..." she said softly. "I did it! Yay!"

"Hey Saph!" a voice called out.

Not expecting this, Sapphire freaked out, and accidentally dropped her device on one of the power plugs for the hardlight's magnetic generators. Because of this, the magnetic field cut out for a split second, but it was enough for the hardlight star to be launched off at high speeds, unfortunately towards the one who spoke and scared Sapphire in the first place.

"Woah!" they freaked out, barely avoiding the hardlight star, which got stuck in the wall by her.

Sapphire immediately looked up to who she practically just attacked, finding it was Amy, and following behind her, was Cream and Cheese. "S-s-sorry!" she quickly exclaimed.

"What the..." Amy leaned over to look at the hardlight star, but it only lasted about five or six seconds after getting stuck in the wall, before it basically evaporated. "Huh?"

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Sapphire repeated as she rushed over to her friends.

"I-it's okay, we could tell it was an accident!" Amy exclaimed. "But was that a... glowing ninja star?"

"I- Uh... it's uh... it was my hardlight... thing," Sapphire explained. "I was trying to make shapes out of hardlight, but when power cable got bumped, it shot off towards you. I'm sorry!"

"That was light? How did just... stick there?"

"Um, the magnetic field must have been able to retain its form after being separated from the generator, at least for a moment."

"Are you feeling alright, miss Sapphire?" Cream asked.

Sapphire went silent, still freaked out by the... well, freak accident.

"Let's go make some cocoa," Amy said. "It might help us all calm down a bit. I think Tails keeps some in the kitchen."

"Okay. Where are Mr. Sonic and Mr. Tails, by the way?" Cream asked.

"Um, they went out in Tornado for a joyride, I don't know..." Sapphire started to say, before started to hear something outside. She took a closer listen, and realized it was the sound of a plane's propeller and engine.

"Sounds like they're back, I guess," Amy noted.

After Sonic and Tails landed, and the girls made hot cocoa for everyone, they settled down a chat.

"Geez," Sonic sounded, after hearing about what happened. "Glad no one got hurt."

"Yeah. Amy, Cream, I know we let come and go as please, but maybe it's time to start knocking. You know how easily spooked Sapphire is. If she's here alone, and... something like that happens again..."

"Yeah, I know," Amy replied.

"We're sorry for scaring you, miss Sapphire," Cream apologized.

"Uh, th-thank you," Sapphire replied.

"What brings you guys here anyway?" Sonic asked.

"What, is there something wrong with seeing the guy I love?" Amy said affectionately.

"I- uh..."

"Well, to be completely honest, me and Cream's mom talked, and we've decided to pull money together so we can go on a vacation together with all our friends!"

"Wow, that sounds fun," Tails replied.

"And we wanted to invite you guys," Cream added.

"Awesome," Sonic said. "Where to?"

"Oh, this amazing place, a romantic island with the sand and the waves, it's sounds so magic..." Amy replied dreamily. Everyone else sweatdropped.

"S-so, what's the name of this island?" Sapphire asked.

"Blue Wave Island..." Amy continued in the same tone.

"B-Blue Wave?"

"Yeah, momma says to super pretty there!" Cream said.

"W-well, I'm sure you'll have fun there..." Sapphire replied.

Amy snapped out of her lovely-dovey daze to say, "are... are you saying that you don't want to go?"

"Why don't you want to come with us, Saph?" Cream added.

"I- I just-" Sapphire started, but Sonic interjected.

"Allow me, sis. Amy, Cream, Sapphire is... she's from Blue Wave Island," he explained.

"Oh, then, you could show us around, Saph," Amy replied.

"Yeah, is that why you don't want to come? You don't want to do that?" Cream continued.

"It's not like that," Sonic said. "You remember that Sapphire is an orphan, right?"

Amy and Cream went silent. It was a while since Sonic took Sapphire in, that it slipped their minds that Sapphire was an orphan. But now they understood why Sapphire didn't really want to go.

"It must have been so lonely for you," Amy said. The magic of the resort island was lost when thinking of how much Sapphire probably felt different about that.

"Does thinking about that place really make you that sad?" Cream asked.

"I... I..." Sapphire started, unsure of what to say.

"It's okay, Saph, you've got a family with us now," Sonic said to comfort her. "But if you don't want to come with us, it's alright."

Sapphire thought about what her adoptive brother said, and decided, "n-no, I'll come, but... could we stay away from my old orphanage?"

"Sure."

Sapphire smiled, and Amy and Cream leaped out of their seats to give her comforting hugs.

Sonic smiled in return, but he felt something more was going on as to why she didn't want to go back to her old home. Sure, it may have felt lonely to her, but now that she had friends and family, it wouldn't be so lonely now, would it? So why did she not want to go?

Sonic felt that maybe he should ask a favor of someone to watch her, and make sure she was okay, just in case.

Shadow was leaving a forest, when a blue blur rush in front of him.

"'Sup, Shads!" Sonic greeted as he skidded to a stop in front of his look-a-like.

Shadow groaned. "Could you not go bother someone else right now?"

"Aw, but I've got a favor to ask you."

"Go away."

"It has something to do with Sapphire," Sonic teased.

Shadow paused for a moment. "I'm listening."

"So, you remember that Sapphire is an orphan, right?"

"Yes, I am still aware of that."

"Well... you see, Amy and Cream invited us on vacation to Blue Wave Island, and Sapphire agreed to come with, but... not without some hesitation. You see, that's where Sapphire is from, that's where she lived as an orphan."

Shadow thought about this new information for a moment. "It sounds like she didn't have a good life there."

"Well, she never elaborated on that. I mean, sure, she said that the other orphans didn't like her very much, and just the idea of being an orphan sounds awful, but I feel like there's more to this."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Well... don't tell anyone else about this, but I want you to come with, and keep an eye on my sister, okay? I know you like her."

"I told you before, it's not like that!"

"Well, those weren't you're exact words. Eh, whatever. I can't get you a ticket with us, but I'd figure you'd have a way to get there by yourself."

"Blue Wave Island, correct? I haven't been there, but I've heard it's a G.U.N. territory. I can request a transport to the island. When are you leaving?"

"Two days. Time for us to pack, and then it's a week of island fun!" Sonic exclaimed.

"You sure it won't be difficult for you, to be surrounded by water?" Shadow teased.

"Oh, haha. I'll be fine. It's not like a small boat, it's a fairly sizable island, I here. So, can I expect to meet you there?"

"Of course. And no one will hear of this, trust me."

"Thanks, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy."

The flight over was a little nerve-racking. Sonic was getting claustrophobic, since he didn't like enclosed spaces, and would've much rather have flown on the Tornado, and Sapphire was still nervous about coming back to her old home, though she tried to distract herself with a book.

Amy sat by with Sapphire, while Cream and Vanilla, along with Cheese, sat across the aisle from them, and Sonic and Tails sat in front of them.

"You sure you'll be okay, Saph?" Amy asked.

"Yeah..." Sapphire said, looking up from her book.

"You must've done something fun here, right?"

"Well, I liked reading, and tinkering... like I do now. Um, I used to enjoy the beach, when we were allowed to go..."

"Oh, do you swim, Sapphire?" Vanilla asked.

"Yeah, I do. It's really fun!"

"Well, that's better than Sonic," Tails said from the seat in front of her.

"Hey!" Sonic replied. "You know I'm not good with water! Plus, I'd rather go out for a run."

"Perhaps we should go swimming, that might calm you down," Vanilla reassured her. She had heard from Amy and Cream what Blue Wave Island was to Sapphire, so she wanted to make sure Sapphire was okay.

"Y-yeah, that sounds fun!"

A short while later, the plane landed. Sonic was the first off, already planning on running off.

"Finally, open space!" he exclaimed. "I'm gone, I'll see you later!" He was happy to be in an open running space after a few hours of flight in that small space, though, unbeknownst to the others, he also had to go find Shadow.

Sonic didn't wait for anyone to say anything he disappeared in a blue blur, leaving Amy fuming.

"The very least he could do is wait for us to check into the hotel!" she exclaimed.

"You know Sonic is a free spirit," Tails replied. "He'll be back soon."

"Let's go get checked in," Cream replied, "then we can go swimming!"

"Y-yes, I can't wait!" Sapphire said, genuinely excited to go swimming at the beach once again.

A few hours later, the group had traveled to the beach.

Sapphire put on a blue bikini with transparent blue wrap around her waist, a butterfly clip on her hairband, and blue flip-flops.

Amy had on a red bikini with yellow hearts in a polka-dot style, and a swimming-skirt, and red flip-flops with a green and purple striped strap with a yellow heart.

Cream wore a yellow one-piece swimsuit with a purple skirt and flowers on the purple straps, along with purple flip-flops with flowers on the straps.

And Vanilla had on a maroon-colored one-piece swimsuit and similar colored flip-flops.

Sonic (who had since rejoined the group) and Tails were present too, though they had on the same outfits as before.

Sonic and Vanilla chose to relax on the beach (the latter to watch her daughter), while the girls, along with Tails, approached the water. Without any waiting, Sapphire jumped in and began swimming.

"It's been so long since I've done this!" Sapphire replied.

"Well, no time like the present," Amy said, as she joined her yellow friend, followed by Cream, Cheese, and Tails.

While the group began to play water, splashing each other, Sonic smiled. "I guess Saph's going to be alright."

"Why don't you go join them?" Vanilla teased.

"You know I don't like water," Sonic reminded her. "Besides, I'd like to take time to relax right now."

Vanilla turned to the blue hedgehog. "Have you been a good brother to her?"

"Well, I tease her, which is something siblings and even good friends do, but I treat her well. I make sure she knows she's loved, and I do what I can to protect her."

"You know she got caught up in that business with Gemerl's kidnapping."

"Yeah, Saph told us about that. I wish I was there, not just for Sapphire's sake, but Gemerl's, too. I won't let anyone mess with my friends."

"Sapphire didn't want to come here for some reason, what you will do if her past catches up to her?"

"I'll rush to her side, and I'm even willing to ask my friends to help. In fact, I already have."

Vanilla was confused, so Sonic decided to tell her about Shadow. Meanwhile, back at the water, the others were considering a way to add to their fun.

"Why not play some volleyball?" Cream said. "That always seemed fun on TV!"

"Okay, but we don't have a ball to use," Amy replied.

"Maybe we could ask Sonic for help?" Tails joked.

"I'm okay with hitting Sonic around in his Spin Attack if it's a combined attack, but I'm not going to use him as a makeshift volleyball!"

"Yeah, that's really mean. Plus Sapphire isn't as combat capable as we are, so she couldn't play with us," Cream added.

"Hey, hey, I'm just joking," Tails replied.

"I think there is a place where we can buy volleyballs and other beach stuff nearby," Sapphire replied. "And they should be cheap. Let me go grab my ring purse, and I'll get us one."

"Okay, Saph, we'll be waiting," Amy said.

Sapphire smiled as she ran over to where they were keeping their stuff, which was by Vanilla and Sonic, waved to them as she grabbed her ring purse, and headed over to the shacks that sold stuff.

She was happy. She was back home, but she didn't feel like she was trapped here like she did before. She had friends, family, people who were helping her grow, and showing her how to enjoy life.

Even the beach didn't feel the same as before. In the past, it was one of her places of solace, along with the library and that one workshop that kindly let her tinker there for free. But now it felt like a truly fun place, thanks to her new friends.

Sapphire reached a shack where she could see that they sold volleyballs, but no one was up front at the moment. She was about to hit the service bell, when someone called her out.

"Well, well, if it isn't Sapphire," they said with a voice all too familiar to Sapphire.

"I'm guessing that Tails couldn't stand you, so he finally sent you back, right?" another familiar voice said.

Looking over, Sapphire found a dark-skinned, overweight human and a dark red mouse mobian, both about Sapphire's age.

"T-T-Tom? Jeremy!?" Sapphire replied. "Wh-what are you doing, h-here!?"

"Hm, just as pathetic as always, ain'tcha," the large human, known as Tom said.

"Well, good to have you back. Now we can get down to business," the mouse Jeremy replied. "Now... give your good friends all your rings."

"N-n-no, it's my money," Sapphire said, trying to stand up to them.

"Ah, that's cute," Tom said, and then he punched Sapphire in the stomach, causing her to keel over and drop her ring purse. Tom picked up the purse, while Jeremy pulled Sapphire's headband off.

"Stupid idiot," Jeremy said as he was about to try to snap the headband in half...

...Before someone behind him smacked him on the head, HARD, causing him to drop the headband on the ground.

"You bastard... How dare you!" Jeremy shouted as he spun around punched whoever was behind him in the face.

Except he didn't flinch. The black hedgehog who hit the mouse mobian just stared down at him, clearly not happy.

"I've felt lowly Badniks with more impact than you," he replied.

Jeremy backed away, as did Tom when he realized who it was.

"Th-the Ultimate Lifeform!" Tom exclaimed. "What do you want with us!?"

Shadow's expression did not change, as he demanded, "give me the ring purse."

Tom looked down at the stolen bag of rings, then at his buddy. Both of them nodded and ran past Sapphire...

...Only for Shadow to teleport in front of them, blocking their way.

"I said... Give... Me... The ring purse... NOW!" Shadow repeated.

"N-no, it's our's!" Tom said.

"And you think I didn't notice you take it from Sapphire?"

"I don't know what talking about!"

"Let me... remind you..." Shadow replied. He then hit Tom in the stomach, harder than he did to Sapphire. And to add insult to injury, after he had the wind knocked out of him, Shadow grabbed the top of his head, and slammed him to the ground.

Shadow turned to Jeremy. "Do you want to eat the asphalt too? If not, then tell me, why did you attack Sapphire?"

"W-well, she's a nerd, and you know nerds deserve to get beat up," the mouse explained, which only served to anger Shadow further.

"Choose your next words... wisely."

"Y-y-you beat up that Eggman nerd, right? So, I'm r-right!"

Shadow immediately grabbed the mouse shirt, and lifted him off the ground. "You don't seem to understand. We don't fight the doctor BECAUSE he's smart. we fight him, because he is a threat to others. JUST... LIKE... YOU!"

Shadow tossed Jeremy onto Tom, who was trying to get back up, only to collapse again when Jeremy smacked into him.

Shadow leaned down and grabbed the ring purse from Tom's weakened grip, and walked over to Sapphire. She was crying softly, looking down at her hairband.

Shadow kneeled down, and pick that up as well. "It's not damaged," Shadow said as he kindly placed it back on her head, brushing the hair out of her face.

"...What are you doing here?" the yellow hedgehog asked.

"Admittedly, your brother asked me to come. He was... let's say, concerned your past would catch up to you while here. So, he asked me to watch over you, and make sure you were safe."

"Wh-why didn't he tell us about this?"

"Good question. I imagine that he just wanted you to have fun, and not worry about looking over your shoulder. He really cares about you, you know that, right, Maria?"

"That name again..." Sapphire noted. "What does that mean?"

Shadow looked away, cursing to himself.

At that moment, they heard Amy's calling out. "Sapphire! What's taking you so long!?" She came up, and was shocked by what she saw. "Shadow! What are you doing here!?"

"Cleaning out the trash," Shadow replied, pointing behind him, towards the two bullies.

"And you are?" Amy asked them.

"Sapphire's friends, of course," Jeremy said.

"Don't lie," Shadow responded. "Because if you do, she will not treat you as kindly as I did," he continued, putting emphasis on the word "kindly".

Amy glared at the duo. "What did you do to my friend?"

"We just asked her for her money," Tom defended.

Amy pulled out her hammer. "You mean 'steal her money', don't you?"

"N-no..." the two said together.

Amy turned to Shadow, who shook his head in response. Then she turned back to the duo, saying, "if you think you can steal from my friend... then you've got another thing coming!"

Amy went to work, beating them up with her hammer, while Sapphire tried to hide behind Shadow. "She's really scary like this."

"That's why I don't get on her bad side," Shadow told her.

After Amy's beating, the group gathered around the beaten up Tom and Jeremy.

"So..." Sonic started, his arms crossed. "I was right."

"You could have at least told us you asked Shadow to come," Amy said. "I understand why you did it, but you still should've let us know."

"I didn't want anyone to worry. That's Shadow's job!"

Shadow just glared at Sonic. "I should've known."

"Why- why are you guys here?" Jeremy asked.

"We wanted to come on vacation," Sonic explained.

"But- but we would've thought you'd tell that idiot to go home," Tom said. "She's pathetic!"

"You do realize that I officially adopted Sapphire as my sister, right?"

"But why!? She's too stupid to be with cool guys like you!"

"Because I thought she deserved to have a family."

"So this is why you didn't want to come back?" Cream asked. "Because these two bullied you?"

"B-because... everyone bullied me," Sapphire admitted.

"What!" Everyone else exclaimed together.

"Well... not everyone, but most of the other orphans either teased me or bullied me."

"Sapphire," Vanilla spoke up, "didn't you try talking to your orphanage's caretaker?"

"She never cared..."

Vanilla took a deep breath. "Well, I would like to talk to her then, if you don't mind."

Sapphire looked up in surprise. "Wh-what!?"

"I'm with Vanilla on this one," Sonic said. "You're a good kid. Nobody like you should be treated like this."

"Yeah, and if she's that awful..." Amy pulled her hammer again, which freaked Sapphire out again. "...She's going to get what's coming to her!"

Tails leaned towards the look-a-like hedgehogs. "Are we going to TRY to stop her?"

"I'm not," Shadow flatly said.

Sonic smiled nervously. "I just want people like Saph to be treated right, so... I don't know."

"Let's just go," Amy called out. Then she glared at the bully duo. "You still belong to that orphanage right?"

They nodded.

"Well, you're getting into trouble, I promise you," the pink hedgehog continued.

"Huh... I would've thought a resort island would've had something a little more... fancy," Sonic said, looking up at the building in front of them.

The orphanage was completely run down, with an old playground off to the side, and a broken-down sign that said "Sunny Day's Home for Orphans".

"'Sunny Days'?" Amy said. "Sure... always fun, sunny times around here..."

"It was brighter at the beach," Sonic added.

"Yeah, this place desperately needs a renovation," Tails noted. "Maybe we should give some donations later?"

"Sure..."

Shadow had taken the task of holding the bully duo, while Vanilla, Cream, and Cheese took to guarding Sapphire.

"Let's not just stand around," Vanilla said. "Let's go. I want to talk to this caretaker."

Sonic nodded, and everyone went inside.

Sapphire was the first to enter the main area, and everyone noticed her, and recognized her.

"Oh look, it's Sapphire," one said unamused.

"Guess it didn't work out," another said.

"Of course it didn't," a third said, "she is so stupid and boring, they probably tossed right out!"

At that moment, Sonic appeared at Sapphire's side, along with Amy. "Do you watch the news?" the blue hedgehog jabbed.

Suddenly, everyone's focus was on the hero of the planet. "It's Sonic!"

"Oh, wow he's so cool!"

"Could you take me with you!?" an orphan asked.

Sonic shook his head. "Yeah, I'm cool, but the only guys here who are UNCOOL here, are you!" he explained. "Sapphire was right when she said no one liked her, the first thing you guys do is make fun of her. You should know, I adopted her as my sister... because she was kind, and smart, and deserved much better than this!"

"Look, we get you're all orphans, but no one is going to adopted if you act like this," Amy added. "You should treat people with kindness, help build them up, not tear them down! If you act like jerks, nobody will like you, not even your heroes."

All of the kids and teens went quiet, looking away in shame.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it," Shadow said as he walked by with Tom and Jeremy. "Where is your caretaker?"

"Over there." Someone pointed over to the door in the back corner.

"Thank you." Shadow dragged the bullies over.

Shadow, followed by Vanilla and Sapphire, then everyone else.

Walking inside, they found a human woman with short, messy brown hair, and sloppy clothing. "What do you want?"

"I have some 'gifts' for you," and Shadow dropped Tom and Jeremy. "They attacked my friend."

Sapphire walked into view, and the woman groaned. "Ugh, you again!" She looked down at teens on the ground. "You two, screw off!"

The duo nodded, and ran out of the room a quick as they could.

"Um, are you not going to discipline them?" Vanilla asked.

"Who cares, so long as they don't bother me"

Vanilla huffed. "Isn't it your job to raise these kids?"

"Yeah, I feed them, I get them to school, but other than that, I don't care what they do."

"You should be nurturing them! Not forcing them to fend for themselves!" Vanilla argued.

"Why should I care!? No one else cares about these kids, so why should I!?"

Everyone went silent at that statement. Well, except for Shadow, who was very clearly angry. "It's your job to care," he replied.

The caretaker stared at him, then at the rest of the group, particularly Sonic, Tails, and Amy. "You're a famous group, aren't ya?"

"What's it to you?" Shadow answered.

The caretaker looked towards Sapphire and said, "wow, you are so desperate for attention, aren't ya? Got yourself mixed in with celebrities. News flash, kid, you're their feel-good project. They took ya in to make themselves look good to the public."

"What? N-no, that isn't-" Sapphire stuttered.

Sonic intervened, slamming his hands on the desk, genuinely angry. "Who do you think we are!? She's not our 'project'! We actually care about Sapphire, unlike you!"

"Really, can you prove it?" the caretaker replied.

"I don't have to prove ANYTHING to you!"

Sapphire started to tear up, stepped back, and said, "I- I want to be alone!" before running off and out of the building.

Vanilla glared at the caretaker. "You are a horrible woman!"

"Yeah, Sapphire didn't need to hear that, because it's not true!" Cream added.

"Says you," the caretaker replied.

Shadow stepped up, and placed his hand on her desk. "You know, I work for G.U.N. I can get you fired. And I will."

"I don't work for the government, moron."

"This is G.U.N. territory. I have more pull in this situation than you think." And then Shadow turned and walked out.

"I think for once, I'm going to follow Shad's lead," Sonic said, doing just that. Tails, Amy, and Cream followed, and Vanilla crossed her arms and made one less glare at the woman.

"You don't even know what it's like to be a parent, do you? You're supposed to care for your children, not ignore them and let them harm each other. I think it would be best if you never bothered Sapphire again, and that you told the children the same," the mother rabbit before making her leave.

"Whatever," the caretaker replied as her last statement.

Sapphire made her way into the nearby jungle, just walking by herself.

She knew what was said wasn't true. Sonic, Tails, and everyone else did care for her. But coming back home... it hurt her so much. At first, she was having fun with her friends, not worrying about her past. But then it came hitting her harder than anything, and even though her friends stood by her, it didn't stop the pain from coming back...

She should have never decided to come back.

For now, she just wanted some solace, time to calm down. Surely, Sonic would come looking for her at some point.

After a half an hour alone, Sapphire heard a noise behind her. Looking back, she thought she saw her brother.

"Sonic, I'm sorry, I just wanted to be alone for a bit..." Sapphire said. "You... you do love me, right? You want me as your sister, don't you?"

No response.

Sapphire started to cry. "Please, you do-"

Before she could continue, "Sonic" shot forward, and Sapphire could see that it WASN'T the blue hedgehog.

It did look kind of like Sonic, but it wasn't him. It wasn't even a mobian, or a living being...

It was a robot, designed to look like Sonic, with red eyes focused on the yellow hedgehog.

"Who- what- why do you-" Sapphire didn't get the chance to form a question, as the robot grabbed her, and then shot into the sky, flying away from the island.

"Ah! No! Let me GO!" Sapphire screamed as she was taken away from land... and her friends.

Following the sound of Sapphire's voice, Sonic ran into the area Sapphire was just at. "Saph! Where are you!? Are you okay..." he trailed off as he looked up. The robot and Sapphire were too far away to make out any good details. But he knew what this was. "Dang it! Why- Grr! I need to get Tails and the others!" And then Sonic ran back to tell his friends what happened, and make a plan of action.

Author's Note: So this is the story arc I've been wanting to write for a while now. This is the first chapter in a new story arc.

Now, this first chapter more so deals with Sapphire's background more than anything, but it's probably good to see this finally, but the next few chapters are going to focus on... well, you know who it is.

By the way, at this point, each story I am currently writing (this one, Fallen Determination, Smolgear, and Nepsisters) are going to have an "unnamed and undescribed character in the dark says things" scene. I didn't intend it that way... it's just happening to work out like that.

In case you're wondering, Blue Wave Island is my version of a Sonic-version of Hawaii, because... why not.

I really didn't want to name any character in this chapter, but I ended up using Tom and Jeremy for the bully's names... mostly so Sapphire could have something to call them. But they're all supposed to be throwaway characters that are just there to show how bad Sapphire's past really was.

And... I really don't have much to say about this chapter. I've been planning it for a long time, and that's about it.