CHAPTER 2

LIFE OF A STREET PUNK

12 YEARS LATER

That day on the roof of the Street Punks' hideout, Shadow and a red porcupine were standing there enjoying the city's great view. Shadow turned to the porcupine, "Hey Appex, do you ever think that the boss will ever get what he want?"

Appex shook his head, "If we keep screwing our objectives up then the answer is no."

Shadow chuckled, "I guess you're right."

Appex looked over to Shadow with a glare, "I don't find this funny."

"Come on Appex, lighten up for once."

"This is the Street Punk life. We steal for the boss' purposes not ours."

"You think I don't know that."

Appex grabbed Shadow by his brown cloak.

Shadow pushed him away, "You asking for something?"

"Yeah a fight."

Shadow smirked, "That's what I thought."

Before Shadow and Appex could begin their usual morning fight, they were interrupted by a brown chipmunk. "Stop it you guys. Don't fight. The boss said to stop fighting. He said we have to work together and as one big family."

Shadow had his attention on the chipmunk looking at him like he was crazy, "Maxcell, that is the most gayest thing I've ever heard you say."

"But..."

"Get out the way", Shadow said as he pushed Maxcell out of the way as he left the roof.

Maxcell let out a sigh, "What's wrong with that hedgehog?"

Appex crossed his arms, 'Lance made a huge mistake.'

Later on the streets of Tech city, a purple chameleon was walking along the sidewalk with his hands shoved down in his brown pants pocket while listening to Utada Hikaru with the song Passion on his CD player. He sighed, "Great my rent is way overdue. I have to find a job soon or I'll lose my apartment. Now where could I get a good paying job?" He continued to walk down the sidewalk thinking about a good job.

Later at the Street Punks' hideout, the Street Punks had met up with Lance for their next heist.

Lance confronted his gang and started to explain their next mission, "Okay guys, listen up. That old hag, Anita Hedgehog is roaming around the city today."

Shadow shrugged his shoulders, "Who's she and what does she got to do with money?"

Maxcell looked over to Shadow, "You don't know? She's your..." Before he could say the rest, the green and black squirrel beside him punched him in the stomach. Maxcell fell to the floor holding his stomach, "...Zena...", he said in a hoarse voice.

Lance nodded towards the squirrel, "Thank you, Zena."

Zena smiled, "Glad to be of assistance."

Shadow looked back at Lance, "Well? Who is she?"

Lance didn't want Shadow to find out the real truth about her so he left out all the details, "She's nothing but a rich hag."

"Rich? We can easily steal her money while she's not looking."

Lance shook his head, "It isn't as easy as it looks. Her driver is a high ranking martial arts student. We'll get beaten to a pulp if we try to pull off a move like that."

"Then what do we do?"

Lance continued, "Okay here's the plan..."

Later at the Chaotix Detective Agency building, a green crocodile was leaning back on the desk chair with his feet on the desk. He stretched his arms in the air and yawned. He looked over to a kid boy bee that was sweeping the floor with a broom, "Sure is boring around here isn't it, Charms?"

The bee turned and looked over to him with a glare, "Maybe it's you because you're not doing anything!" He shouted.

"I am doing something. I'm supervising you."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'm making sure you're doing your job."

"What!" The bee threw the broom down on the floor and tackled the crocodile to the ground trying to hit him, but he knew he couldn't really harm him because he wasn't strong enough.

The green crocodile tried to push the kid bee off him, "Get off me, Charmy!"

"No way you lazy croc!"

Their fighting was then over when they both heard a woman shouting from the doorway, "Vector, Charmy stop it!"

The crocodile and bee stopped their fighting and had their attention on the woman that came through the door.

The woman was a purple cat with a red headband on her head. She wore a white long sleeved shirt with buttons, a purple dress, and brown boots. She faced the fighting creatures with annoyance, "What's wrong now?"

"Tonya! Tonya!" Charmy got off of Vector, used his wings and flew beside the purple cat, "The boss tried to kill me!"

Vector got off the floor and faced the bee with anger, "You little liar!"

Tonya held Charmy close, "Don't blame Charmy. He's only a child you know."

Vector sighed, "You say that so many times, it lost all meaning."

Tonya stomped her foot on the ground, "Vector! You're just upset because we're not making any money.."

"Shut up, Tonya! We're making money just not...a lot."

Tonya sat at the desk that Vector was sitting at, "Face it, Vector. You, me, and Charmy aren't enough. We need more employees."

"That's not true."

"Oh yeah then why is that 'HELP WANTED' sign in the window?" She said as she pointed towards the sign in the window.

"Uh...for...looks?"

Tonya sighed and began to type on her computer.

Later on the streets of Tech City, the Street Punks were in the alley about to put their plan to action. Lance looked over to Maxcell as a black limousine was about to come their way, "You're on, Maxcell."

Maxcell stuck out his thumb, ran out into the street and ran into the side of the limousine on purpose.

The limousine immediately stopped and the driver and a pink hedgehog got out of the car. They ran up to the chipmunk that was laying on the asphalt in front of the car. To them the chipmunk looked really hurt. A crowd started to surround the chipmunk.

The driver was a grey male rabbit with blue eyes and was wearing a butler suit. He ran over to the chipmunk that was faking his unconsciousness, but he never knew it. The pink hedgehog stood behind him, "Will, what's going on?"

The rabbit looked over to her and shrugged, "I don't know. He looks hurt and I never saw him crossing the road."

The hedgehog shook him, "Do something, Will! He's unconscious for god's sake!"

Will started to shake the chipmunk, "Hey are you okay? Wake up, you."

While Will was trying to wake him up, the pink hedgehog thought she saw a black hedgehog going into an alley.

A purple chameleon saw what was happening and glanced at the chipmunk, 'Something's wrong', he thought. He looked away from the chipmunk and saw a pink hedgehog going into an alley, "Huh?"

While everyone was having their attention on Maxcell, Lance, Zena, and Appex were taking the peoples' wallets from their purses and back pockets with ease while the people were looking at Maxcell.

Once the pink hedgehog made it into the alley, she saw the black hedgehog leaning against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest looking at her menacing.

The pink hedgehog started to smile and bursted into tears happily, "...Shadow? Is that you?"

Shadow's eyes widened, 'Huh? How does that old hag know my name? I never saw her before.'

"It's me, Shadow. Anita, your mother."

Shadow said nothing and just stared at her, "M-my...mo-mother?" He almost walked over to her until he felt a terrible pain in his brain. He kneeled to the ground and held the side of his head.

Anita was concerned so she walked slowly over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, "Shadow?"

Shadow felt her hand touching him and he didn't like it, "Don't touch me!" He took his fist and punched her in the face.

Anita fell on the ground while holding her bleeding nose. She looked up at the hedgehog once more, "Shadow, what's wrong? Why can't you remember me?"

Shadow continued to hold his head, "These images...in my head...get them out. You're not my real mother. I know it. My real mother died...12 years ago!" Shadow's headache was over so he stood from the ground and took out a machine gun and pointed it at Anita, "Just give me your money and I won't kill you."

Tears once again came to her eyes, but this time with sadness, "Shadow, please."

Shadow was about to pull the trigger, until the gun was knocked out of his hand. He looked towards the ground and spotted a small shuriken star lying on the ground beside his gun. He looked over to the person responsible and saw a purple chameleon staring into his eyes with an angry look.

The chameleon clenched his fists, "Leave her alone, Street Punk."