Shadow was fully ready to strangle Sonic. What could I do?! If he did something in the cafeteria, really bad things could happen! Like the entire school's collapse! What could I do?! Sonic had that smug grin on his face at the seething expression on Shadow's face. It was only making Shadow angrier.
I had to do something! But, if I did anything, everyone would notice something was up.
"I could tell him to spread the secret right now," Sonic said, grinning wider. "Plenty of witnesses."
I felt like I could punch him through a wall right about now. Now was not the time for stuff like this! We had far more important things to be doing right now! Why did he insist on going to school and participating in it?! It's only making things more complicated than they have to be!
"Come on, Shadow. This is how I get you to do things you don't wanna do." Sonic chuckled. "So, yes or no?"
If Shadow responded with either of those, bad things would happen later. Sonic would die by Shadow's furious hand in the future when we get home, or the school would be torn down…and Shadow would still kill Sonic. Either way, Sonic was looking at a death sentence.
I panicked when I saw Shadow reaching for one of the inhibitor rings on his wrists. Sonic didn't flinch but he noticed the movement and raised a cocky eyebrow.
"What happened to fair? Even if you do get to me, Tails is my insurance."
I stomped on both Shadow and Sonic's foot to stop them from causing mayhem. Both winced and glared at each other but calmed down…slightly. Sonic backed off, and Shadow narrowed his eyes at him in warning before walking out of the cafeteria at a quick stride.
Silently, I facepalmed, watching Sonic return to his seat with Bonnie as he side-glanced Kim's table.
There was something about that girl that reminded me of Amy. Sonic was the one that brought up the subject to begin with, but, when he said it, I realized that it made sense. From what I'd seen, Kim was kind, sweet, and all around friendly. From what I'd heard, she could be fierce when she wanted to. The very definition of Amy Rose. But, in the same way, she was nothing like Amy at all. Kim was more mature, not to mention more responsible. She was leader of the cheer team, head commissioner of several committees for student council, part of the school newspaper, on top of saving the world every other day! Somehow, she managed to balance that. She accomplished more every day than Amy could in a month!
The cafeteria's volume rose to the normal level after the incident. One thing I hate about this is that I can't get anything to eat! If I tried, bad things would happen. Food and a tray floating in midair would in no way be obvious. I sighed internally and slid out the cafeteria doors…away from the smell of food. My twin tails swished impatiently as I sprinted down the hallways toward Sonic's locker. Some of my gear was in there so I could track chaos energy while I was here.
When I reached his locker, I swung it open carefully and took a radio from his bag. The screen remained blank, save for the radar line that spun its course around the center. Suddenly, a large red dot flashed on the screen far off in the top right corner. I nearly dropped the radio in excitement. Chaos energy! One of the chaos emeralds! But, it was pretty far from where we were. With a dial on the side, I zoomed out to see a larger span of land. A grid appeared.
Sonic had been right. We did need help. It was nowhere near our current location.
I tapped the comm in my ear briefly before speaking in a whisper. "Found the last emerald. We need backup."
A moment of silence passed, then it buzzed with static. "No backup. I'll get it myself," grunted a rough voice. It was the closest Shadow could get to a whisper anyway.
I tapped the earpiece again. "Sonic was right. It's on the other side of the world. We can't do this alone anymore, Shadow."
"We cannot get help, kid. You know why. Give me the location."
I audibly sighed this time. "Sending it to your watch." I tapped a button on the top of the radio, and it showed a list of two people—Shadow and Sonic. Clicking Shadow's name, a green arrow appeared, notifying me that the location had been sent to his watch. "Be careful," I added, putting the radio back into Sonic's bag and shutting his locker quietly.
"Stay out of sight," Shadow responded sharply before the click on the other end sounded, meaning he'd shut off his comm.
I shook my head out of annoyance. Sonic is not going to be happy, I thought. One of my tails stiffened in warning. I spun in the direction of its warning.
"I'm telling you something is up! Things just don't add up!"
"Ron, I get it, okay? What did you drag me over here for? We left our food on the table getting cold!" The voice sounded disappointed but not by much.
"KP, there's gotta be some clue in his locker, right?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! You're a locker thief now? What's going on? This isn't like you."
"We've been through this before, Kim. A new guy comes to school, steals the spotlight, takes you to prom, and he turns out to be evil! Not this time! He's not the getting the jump on me this time!"
"Ron! This is different! I'm not head over heels for him!"
"Yeah, well, there are the other questions I have that you couldn't answer."
They appeared around the corner. I didn't move, knowing that these people would be the first to find out about me if given the chance. But, they were talking about invading someone's locker. Whose?
"It's against the rules. You can't get into his locker. You know that!"
"Since when have you and I ever cared about rules?" Ron replied indifferently, approaching where I stood silently.
"Hold on, Ron!" Kim said, grabbing his shoulder. "First of all, Sonic's not like the guy before, okay? He's not evil in disguise. And, second, his conversation with Shadow yesterday doesn't match up with Draken at all!"
"He probably knew you were there."
"He didn't, though! You saw the reaction we got this morning when I said something. He had no idea!" Kim grabbed a firm hold on his arm and dragged him sideways, away from the locker hallway. "Let's go back to lunch."
They left me standing there, a little confused but relieved, invisible. A crashing noise echoed down the hallway. Worried and surprised, I sprinted in its direction, finding the cafeteria doors held open by Kim and Ron, watching a spectacle inside. They glanced at each other and pushed their way inside through the group standing right there at the doorway. Following the path they made, I took to a secluded corner of the room, and, seeing what was happening, facepalmed again.
Sonic just didn't learn!
He was up in the face of a tall, particularly muscular boy with blond smoothly gelled hair. The teenager was wearing a sweatshirt with the logo of Middleton High Scholl on the back and a football on the front. The guy didn't look happy…And, there was a tray of food scattered across the floor.
Well, things are already out my control, I thought, shaking my head in dismay. I probably shouldn't have left in the first place. Things got even worse, sadly.
"I want you to stay off my terf, punk," growled the teenager, clenching his fist threateningly.
Sonic rolled his eyes, almost enjoying this. "And, here's where you punch my face into the ground and walk away like you've won, right?"
The teenager blinked, registering what he'd said. After a moment of spluttering to the get the words out, he nodded. "That's exactly what this is. And, stay away from my girl, too." He stepped back and wound up for a right-handed punch.
Sonic, don't do it! I thought-screamed at him. But, he went ahead and did it anyway.
He waited a full half second, standing there, staring at the balled-up fist flying at his face, before he reacted. Shifting his head slightly, he avoided it, letting it slide past his head by a fraction of an inch. The teen paused, still outstretching his arm from the strike, confused. Sonic grinned at him, grabbing both his arm and shoulder. With unbelievable strength, he flipped the guy over his shoulder, turning on the spot to keep balanced. The guy landed hard on his back, the wind completely knocked from his lungs.
I facepalmed again. Way to go, Big Blue. Now questions will be asked. I spotted a red apple under the lunch serving counter. My mouth immediately started watering, my disappointment lost as my tails twisted impatiently again. On second thought, he had to have planned that. I grinned and snatched it, taking a bite. In that moment, I had completely forgotten about being invisible.
Uh-oh.
A small pink rodent clambered onto the counter and squinted in my direction, sniffing furiously. Dropping the snack in my shock, I backed away quietly and quickly. I glanced up at the group still watching Sonic. Only two people had turned from it, curiously staring at the rodent. Ron walked up to him, slightly confused.
"What's up, buddy?"
The creature instantly started bouncing up and down, chittering wildly, pointing at my invisible self.
"What's wrong with Rufus?" Kim asked worriedly.
"Don't know," Ron said thoughtfully. "He thinks something is over there, but there isn't."
Kim sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised if there was. What with all this chaos happening. Let me see." She walked around the counter purposefully, keeping her hands in front of her, in case she ran into something.
I panicked as she approached. Oh chaos! What should I do? Sonic! There was no way to avoid her because the aisle was too narrow. The end of the counter was right behind me with no exit. I may be invisible, but I'm not able to move through objects. At this rate, she would walk right into me! The only option was to go upward. My tails twisted and lifted me upward quickly right as she reached me. A part of me breathed a sigh of relief; the other part panicked again at the draft my tails were creating.
She glanced upward, more confused than ever. Then, she walked back to Ron, shaking her head. "A breeze? With no windows or doors? What's next? Draken showing up with a glowing gem and taking over the world?"
Lowering myself back to the floor, my eyes widened at that. I couldn't help but think she was referencing a chaos emerald. But, who was this Draken person? He didn't sound like one of the good guys. If anything, he sounded exactly like Eggman. I needed to know more. One thing was for sure—this Kim girl was good. Really good. Almost too good. I did my research when Sonic proposed her name for help. But, apparently, I needed to do more and find out who Draken was.
Something warm and with pricking claws hit me in the face. "Hey, that—!" It was Rufus. Uh-oh. And, I'd accidently said something, too. Chaos, could this get any worse?! I dropped to the floor out of sight before anyone could see it hanging in midair. A little too late, unfortunately. I ripped Rufus off my face and set him down gently, holding him in place until I stood up. I turned and ran, leaving him on the floor, and promptly smashed into someone standing there. Despite my short height, with as much force as I had been running with, we both fell backward. I jumped up and over the counter without looking back.
The rest of the cafeteria started dispersing from Sonic's showdown, murmuring about how cool he was. I started to relax as the crowd enveloped me. Soon after, the end-of-lunch bell rang overhead, and the cafeteria cleared. Sonic took his time clearing up and shouldering his bag. When the place was completely empty, he glanced directly at me in a chair next to him.
"So?" he asked expectantly.
I slammed my face onto the table in response. "Yesterday was so much better," I said, voice muffled by the table.
He chuckled. "Kim almost caught ya. Twice." He began walking toward the doors, me following him.
"Who did I run into? I didn't even look back to see."
"Kim."
"Oh, chaos! I wanted to apologize, but I panicked! I—"
"Relax, little bro," he reassured me, ruffling my hair affectionately. "We need to bring them into this anyway. I'm telling them after school. By the way, where did Shadow run off to?"
"He—uh—" I rubbed a hand through my hair. "—he went to find the last chaos emerald. I tracked its location, and he decided to go it alone. I told him that we couldn't do this alone anymore, but he went anyway."
Sonic sighed, shaking his head at how like Shadow this was. "He calls me dense. Alright then. Kim and Ron'll get the full story later, and, then, we can go after him."
"Sounds good," I replied anxiously. "Uh—don't you have Physics class next?"
"Gah! Yeah, I do!" He flung open the doors and started running down the hallway. Strangely, not at full speed.
I wonder why he tries so hard, I thought before following. I mean, he doesn't need to go to class. He doesn't need to take it seriously. Probably to impress Amy. I smiled at the thought. Then, I paused. Or, maybe Kim?