Chapter 2: Welcome
March 11, 1938
Flock of Red Birds Sings During Naturalist's Funeral
Noblesville, Ind., March 10. —[Special.]—Perry Bray, 77 years Old, historian and naturalist interested in the study of birds, was buried this afternoon. A flock of red birds, perched on a tree near the church, sang all the time the services were in progress.
Before Sonic laid a dilapidated sign, with its oak rotting from exposure to the elements for countless years. The two ends were nailed to wooden spikes shooting down into the dirt. The sign towered over Sonic, with the bottom well over a foot above his head. He could tell the sign was once painted black with white lettering, but now it was more akin to the color of an expired banana with dirty milk powder letters. Sticking his feet out to catch the loose gravel on the path, Sonic slowed to a stop as he slowly made out the decaying letters.
"Halt! Ahster wretch-un, gariches, wretch vearl lassen? Ein rise in doytch kaizer wretch! What the? Uh, must be some sort of ancient language. Okay, time to flex my cultural knowledge. Stop! Ostrich rich-not garrisoned rich… high rise in duck rich? Ugh, this is ridiculous. I'm sure it's not that important, would'a've used more than one dead language if it was." Glancing at the sign one more time, Sonic revved up in place, and took off forward in his signature figure-eight style run.
Gradually, the trees became more lush as the path gently sloped down towards a clearing. The path joined another, creating a marginally larger gravel path, which then in turn intercepted a much larger concrete road running orthogonally to the path. Finding his first real sign of civilization, Sonic stopped to get his bearings. His situation had hardly changed, Sonic was still in a forest, flanked by trees on all sides. In the distance, he could spot mountains peeking through between tree branches with the last remains of winter at their peaks. He could hear the gentle ebbs of a river as it glid across a rock shore. Presumably, any sand which may have accumulated had been swept downstream. In the distance, Sonic spotted another, much better maintained, sign which stood on one leg with an arrow on the top to indicate direction.
"München, 60 km." Sonic, not understanding what a km. was, simply shrugged his shoulders, aimed himself in the direction of the arrow, and started off down his newfound piece of civilization.
To his left, Sonic finally spotted the river he had been hearing. To his surprise, the river was less a river and more a sad tributary. Like a leaky spigot running down a cement sidewalk. On the other bank, beneath the eternal evergreens and fleeting foliage, a cracked bed was sprouting. Still, Sonic was able to spot a grey fish sulking in the middle of the stream.
To his right, hills and trees. The road had been cut into the sides of the hills, exposing the ashy stones which normally hid under grass and roots. Looking off at a distant mound, the homogeneity of the pines and their color appeared like a loosely knit green quilt. Beyond, a clear square of trees was missing. Still, Sonic was able to hear general fauna bustling about.
Sonic followed the curves and bends of the road, which itself followed the curves and bends of a mighty river which once was. As sonic rounded a bend, homes finally came into view. Smoke lethargically escaped chimneys, forming spirals of nickel clouds as it climbed into the sky. Spires grazed the air looking for new space to fill. A soft pitter-patter of movement could be heard. The town was alive and had that rural chic vibe Sonic was enamored by. Approaching with speed, muddy rounded figures moved behind browned panes of glass with no sense of destination.
Becoming conscious of the gravel and dust Sonic was kicking up as he ran (and to not potentially cause any more collateral in an unknown place), he only figured it polite to slow down to a more back-alley walk speed. The now setting sun made Sonic's tropical lagoon blue quills pop in front of the walls of green which lined the path. His shoe buckle flashed as it was hit by the angled rays of the distant star. The walking antonym to subtlety approached the town with relief. Aware that he was to meet new people, Sonic licked his gloves and ran them through his spikes.
Out the nearest house ran a small child. Her gold hair shimmering off the descending sun, frayed cloth dress clinging to her shoulders, she did not notice the blue hedgehog who was now a stone's throw from the town as she ran to play in the remains of the day.
Sonic stopped.
"A human?! But the Emeralds separated our worlds years ago! Eggman mustn't've sent me across the globe, but out of this world! Erm, that world. Phft, not that it matters. I'm still galactic superstar extraordinaire, Sonic the Hedgehog! I saved this world from, what, at least 3 world death monsters. I'll show up, be showered with roses and gifts, pointed to some unexplained portal which randomly popped up and is terrorizing the town with aliens or robots or something, I'll beat them up, run into Eggs for brain, beat him up, and be on my way back home."
The girl, now finishing a lap around her house, turned to face the similarly sized, galactic superstar extraordinaire, Sonic the Hedgehog. Head crooked, one eye closed, mouth in a white side smile, Sonic gave a single wave to one of his admirers moving only his wrist.
Instantly, the girl began to cry. Unable to find strength to form understandable words, she let out an incoherent muffled shout, as if she had just been punched in the stomach. Running towards her door, she tripped over her own feet, and scuttered into the door on her hands and knees. Flabbergasted, Sonic stood with his back in a forwards arch and his mouth in an uppercase 'D' shape. He hardly noticed a woman inside draw the curtains back, look at the three foot tall, blue, thin-limbed, disproportionately head to body, human-hedgehog chimera, begin to let out her own muffled scream. The girl, regaining control of her brain and mouth, began to scream.
"Blauer teufel, blauer teufel! Monster!" Even behind a closed door, and in a foreign language, Sonic knew it was not his warmest welcome. Regaining his composure, Sonic briefly studied his arms and legs to make sure he was still the charming hero he remembered.
"Maybe not my biggest fans. Small town yeah, but how could they have never heard of all the times I SAVED THE WORLD. Did they miss the part where Eggman blew up half the moon, threatened Earth, and then I stopped him? I thought he did a good job advertising that. Like, how did they miss the Moon? The… Moon…?"
The setting sun gave rise to the glowing moon. Not that the Moon had particularly moved, but the approaching darkness made it finally visible. What especially stood out to Sonic, at least, was the fullness of the Moon. Not the phase, for the moon was waxing, but of the literal completeness the hanging Moon contained. No gashes or scars, face unchanged. Damaged only by asteroids wearing down the surface over billions of years. The grey patterns etched into the moon which Sonic recognized for most of his life, before Eggman destroyed them, had returned.
"Oh uh, hehe, looks like it's uh, mhm, yeah let's just, um. I guess I figured out the reaction." Scratching behind his ear, Sonic's voice faltered. He had been in other worlds and other dimensions before, but the news is always difficult to take in. Lost in thought over his new discovery, plenty of village folk had time to hear the commotion, and then make some of their own with THEIR new discovery. Figuring it was better to make his appearance known, rather than run off into the forest to become a myth and the cause of a town wide therapy case, Sonic began making his way down the road, formally entering the town.
"What, never heard a hedgehog talk before? I'm not the one yelling, really, I should be scared of you! Can anyone understand me?! Well I guess I'm an alien to these people, after all, so no." Sonic, now approaching the center of the deserted town, swung his arms back and forth, crossed a leg over another, and sighed at his predicament. "And here I thought I was being friendly. Guess I'll need to find a dictionary. Town like this, do they even have a libra-."
From behind, in the largest and most 'festive' building, the double doors burst open to reveal a trope of seven outfitted men exiting the building in a 'v' shape. In their hands, wood and steel rifles about the same length as Sonic himself. They were, of course, all aiming at Sonic. Spreading out, they formed a half circle around the hedgehog not losing sight once. Sonic had not changed his pose.
All were dressed the same. Their field grey jackets were adorned with various buttons, emblems, and insignia. Even in the reflective light of the moon, their buttons shined. But most prominent was the eagle above the right breast of each man. From Sonics distance, he could just make out that the wings were stretched out at a right angle, and that the talons carried some sort of 'X' circumscribed by a metal circle. The emblem appeared again on their caps, with a new design right below it: a silver grey flower with centered copper yellow pods. The edelweiss.
"Identifizieren Sie sich!" Commanded the middle man. Given how he had the most grey in his hair, Sonic guessed he was the leader of the posse. He was at the midpoint of the half circle, and behind him the building the group had exited. The building was unlike any other in the town. Precision crafted out of various lifeless stones, decorated with reds and blacks. The 'X' appeared on various parts of the building: banners draping besides the door, on flags flowing out from the roof, displayed on the buildings gables, formed on the skirts connecting the foundation to the rest of the building. It was brazen and fierce, unashamed and proudly displayed.
"Sorry bud, but I think there's gonna be a language gap for our little chat. And I don't have a translator this time." Despite the gravity of the situation, Sonic found himself lax and calm. Sonic closed his eyes and smirked. "You guys weren't planning on using those on me, were you?"
"Halt die Klappe, englischer Schweinehund!" He then twitched his rifle towards the two outermost men on the ends, and then back at Sonic. Immediately, the two men started making their way towards Sonic. Sonic's eyes snapped back open, bent his knees ever so slightly, and sprung himself towards the middle man. The five center men fired at the sign of movement, but all of them hit the surrounding buildings not expecting Sonic to leap into the air. Sonic somersaulted in midair, flinging himself over the head of the leader. Outstretching his arm and twisting 180 degrees, he snatched the man's cap in a swift gesture as he flew over head. Now descending towards the ground and facing the men from behind, Sonic brought his knees up to his chest and, with all the strength he could muster, kicked himself off the back of the group leader. The man was toppled head over heels to the floor crashing into the stone brick ground shoulder first. Sonic used the force to propel himself into the air in a backflip motion. Upside down, he watched as the two outer men, who had not yet shot, become distracted by their invincible leader collapsing in front of them. Like a dancer, Sonic landed with his toes on a flagpole sticking out the top of the building. Standing on top of the red, white, and black flag, Sonic spun the cap around its inner lining with his forefinger before throwing it down to the ground.
"Sorry 'bout that, but you did try to shoot me." And with that, Sonic brought his right foot up and then back down, driving it into the flagpole. The pole bent downwards under the force of his foot, and then snapped back upwards, springing the hedgehog up into the air before splintering in the center of the pole. Sonic grabbed hold of the roof with both his hands, and vaulted over the side. He heard the gunfire of the two men who had regained their focus on Sonic.
Now lying flat on the roof, Sonic breathed softly. There was shouting from below but he could not hear properly to listen. He began to roll on his side towards the middle of the roof to avoid being possibly seen. Instantly he felt it. At the end of his right shoulder blood was slowly trickling down his arm. A line of dark, almost black red had formed on his shoulder from where one of the men's bullets had sailed through his flesh. The bullet had not entered the shoulder fully, only grazing the skin. The pain rolled in waves. First, nothing. The adrenaline pumping through Sonic as he evaded capture in conjunction with the skin nerve endings being instantly torn through allowed Sonic to feel unscathed. But the waves came crashing down. The scorching copper had melted away at Sonic's skin, making him feel as if he was on the wrong end of a blowtorch. And in the uncontacted skin, the kinetic energy of the round made his surrounding flesh ripple up and down from the power of the shot. Sonic threw his left hand over his shoulder and applied pressure. He could see his glove slowly start to stain with blood.
Meticulously rising up without the use of his hands, Sonic's eyes flickered back and forth looking for an escape. Shouting could be heard from inside the building, and rising as the men climbed the stairwell approaching the roof. With no other option, he stood up straight, aimed himself at the forest on the outskirts of town, and assumed the runners pose. He clenched his fists hard, causing more blood to flow down his skin and drip onto his short leg quills. He took off.
The door to the roof flew open, but they were too late. Sonic was already gone.