Alberta, Canada

Amy Jubiliee Rose, and Sonic Hedgehog both hugged each other under the tarp, shivering next to the cold metal of a motorcycle, as the camper slid to a stop on a slick road. For a moment the two thought about making a run for it, but where to? The truckers? The bar? It was snowing, and even though Sonic's speed can make the two of them reach the bar in a matter of seconds, the ice and the snow made Sonic's speed useless, and they would both freeze to death before they both got very far.

Maybe the guy was stopping for another reason, if they can just stay in here until they reached a town, then they can get out and work something out from there. They both held their breath, trying not to move at all as the intense quiet of the Canadian wilderness closed in around the camper, both thinking about all the events that led her to this moment.

Amy remembered a particularly stressful maths homework session about volumes. Her mother was getting a bit frustrated, "Come on Amy! It's so easy!" However, the diagram of the swimming pool seemed to have been designed by someone who drew it while drunk, blindfolded, and they had drawn it with their feet. She wasn't very good at school work, the only thing that so much as interested her was History and Chemistry, unfortunately in order to take Chemistry she would also have to pick up maths, and her austere maths teacher, a Miss Lewis, loves to hand out daily homework that can take a ridiculous amount of time to complete unless if you had a computer in your brain. Why can't she be like Mr. Queen, her Chemistry teacher who always did some kind of experiment with them, and you are more likely to win the lottery, get struck by lightning and get hit a meteorite on the same day than end a lesson with Mr. Queen that doesn't involve an experiment that doesn't involve some kind of fire, or explosion of some sort.

She remembered holding the paper straight up to her face as if she can find the answer written in small print, and then the paper burst into flames, she heard loud bangs that sounded like firecrackers, she saw colourful sparks, millions of them, colours that didn't exist. Her fascination quickly turned to horror as she realized the colours set fire to everything it touched, her peaceful, well decorated room immediately turned into an inferno, her mother...turned into a fireball…and…Amy surprised the memories of what happened after the fire, she refused to think about it.

Her only best friend, Sonic Hedgehog was thinking the same unpleasant thoughts as his friend. Ever since he was young Sonic was a superstar at every sport imaginable, that winning to hm was like blinking. He won so many awards and trophy's that they had to turn the garage and the basement as his trophy room. At school he was the centre of attention, everyone wanted a piece of him, most of the girls there had a crush on him, as did half of the boys, everyone wanted to sit as close to him as possible and if you sit next to him or were on a 1st name basis with Sonic or get invited to one of his parties, you were treated like god.

That was until he was doing a relay race during sports day against another school. He was the penultimate person before the final person who crosses the finishing line. He was reluctant to let someone else do this, let alone the 4th fastest person in the school, Miakh or whatever his name is. However, his teacher told him of for his lack of teamwork and threatened to pull him out of the running race that was after the relay race, and Sonic reluctantly agreed. He remembered waiting for his partner that was moving slower than a snail, he remember the passing of the baton which felt as if it had been in the centre of the sun, he remembers the cheering of the crowd some of which were cheering his name, then the slight slip and fall, and the groan from the crowd. Apparently, somebody had found it amusing to place a pencil on his track, and Sonic was down on the ground the instant his foot made contact with it. He picked up the pencil, it had the logo of the other school, and it seemed to be raising the middle figure at him. He remembered the students from the other school laughing, and that made Sonic see red, he was going to go through the finishing line, teamwork or not. He started running and running, for some reason, he felt that with each second he seemed to be getting faster, and before Sonic had time to blink, he wasn't just getting up on the racetrack floor, but far ahead of everyone else, but he didn't care he kept on running, his anger getting the better of him, he was through the finishing line! He had won! He had made a victory for the red team! Red team? No. He was on the white team, the other school was in red, so why had his bib turned red? He turned his head to look behind him, nobody was making a sound, in fact everyone was a quiet and as still as a statue. He saw what remained of…of…Sonic nearly threw up thinking about it.

It was at that moment that the entire world had turned against him, he turned from the most respected person in the community to an outcast in a matter of seconds. He can't remember everything that happened the day after, all he can remember is that everyone whispered the word 'mutant' and 'should have known' and 'he almost killed him!'. So, that night he packed up his bag and left. He knew that even if he decided to stay, the result would be the same, and he chose the right time because if he had left an hour later, he would have been confronted with an angry mob wanting to blow up his home.

He found Amy at the same stretch of highway. He knew that she vanished ever since her home burnt down a week ago, and he can tell that the two of them were both alike and they both unanimously decided to stay with one another. They even made a blood oath to swear to never leave one another.

That was almost a year ago, and after so many things happening to them, they were now here they were hiding in the stinking bathroom of a black and red hedgehog who clearly had strange abilities like them. The two of them didn't know why they asked for him for help in the bar. Something about him, even though he was the hairiest person they had ever seen, had seemed to have drawn to them. He looked like a beast, and when those claws had popped out of his fist it had scared them.

So why were they here? How he had easily dealt with the three truckers had startled them, but they can't defend the fact that one of them had made them permanently left handed, and made the other be on a wheelchair for a considerable amount of time, and one does not catch 6 bullets as they were being fired without some sort of bravery. But then why did they run away? God only knows.

Outside in the snow, they both saw the camper, and for some reason they can tell that it must be his, figuring he would be leaving right behind them. They had thought it would be their best choice from getting away from there. They can hide until they stopped in a town, then jump off and run away.

But now, with the camper at the side of the road, a good distance from anywhere, it didn't seem like a good choice at all.

The door to the camper bursts open, and the trailer rocked as the hairy man climbed out. They can both smell the biting odour of his cigar. Maybe he was getting something, then would get back to driving. They both held their breath, embracing one another.

"Get out."

The voice seemed to come down on them like a sledgehammer. Even though it had spoken in a relatively calm voice, it sounded as if it was their executioner speaking to them. He knew that they were there. Sonic made the move first, he eased the back of the tarp, and for once in his life, slowly climbed out, with Amy following him.

The black and red hedgehog stood there, facing them across the small space. The door to the camper was still wide open, Sonic could run out of there, but he would have to face to elements and abandon Amy, which the two had sworn never to do.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Amy demanded with faint defiance.

"I don't know." The black hedgehog said "Get out"

They moved past him, the cold air biting at their face. "You don't know, or you just don't care?" Amy mumbled under her breath.

"Pick one" The black hedgehog replied as if he had sonar ears "Get out"

They stepped down into the snow and walked a few steps away, stopping behind the trailer.

The black hedgehog turned on his heels, got back into the camper and slammed the door. A moment later the truck's tires were spinning, and the camper pulled away.

Sonic looked behind him and glanced around. There was nothing out here, the cold was getting to him, and the route back to the bar was snowy, icy and hilly, which goes as well as gasoline and fire in terms of his superspeed. He found that out after an incident in Oregon.

The camper's taillights were almost invisible in the snow when suddenly the brake lights flared. After a moment, a voice called out.

"I am not going to wait forever."

Sonic and Amy exchanged a look and they both smiled. For all his gruff exterior, he can't leave someone out to die.

They walked out where he was parked on the road and climbed into the passenger seat, which was full of everything in the alphabet, from a model of an abbey to a shield from a Zulu warrior, it was littered with everything imaginable. "Thanks" Sonic and Amy said in unison as Shadow started up the engine.

Shadow didn't say anything as she shoved the camper into gear and spun back into motion. The silence in the cab was tense.

Amy fiddled with her gloves and a rubrics cube that she had acquired that she can now solve with her eyes closed. Sonic chose this was the moment to take one of his quick power naps, and had decided that Amy's legs was the ideal pillow, and Shadow smoked his cigar and drove. The windshield wipers were hopeless against the now blizzard, and Amy doubted if she can see the road in front of her. Considering that the two landed road was tree lined and had sudden curves, he was driving too fast, but he drove as if he and the camper were one.

"So, what is your name?" She asked tentatively.

The back hedgehog chewed on his cigar for a moment, focusing on the road, then he finally answered "Shadow. Yours? And what is your boyfriend's name?"

Amy Rose was tempted to say her first name, but she decided to say the nickname that her late father had given her before he died when she was 9. "Jubilee, and he calls himself Sonic, he likes to call me Jubilee Rose, but I prefer Jubilee"

They sat in silence once again for a few long moments. The snow seemed to be coming down even harder as if the snow had decided to experiment if can bury the car when it is in motion.

"What kind of a name is Jubilee? And Sonic?" Shadow said gruffly

She liked the name Jubilee, it was almost sentimental to her, and Sonic liked his name as much as she liked her nick name. "What kind of name is Shadow?" Jubilee Rose replied.

Shadow nodded, chewing at the end of the cigar as if Jubilee Rose had made a reasonable point. The silence continued broken only by the sound of the hostile environment outside.

Finally, after a long period of silence, she asked "How long have you known?"

"Known what?" he asked glancing at her.

"That you were, you know, like me and him?" Jubilee Rose said. She knew that other mutants had existed with special powers like her and Sonic. She knew a boy who can make multiple copies of himself however he disappeared before she can even speak to him.

"I'm not like you" Shadow replied withdrawing another cigar and lighting it up. He blew a large cloud of smoke between his face and the windshield. Jubilee Rose knew that he was telling a lie.

"Right" Jubilee Rose said chuckling "Your just a normal, everyday claw guy who has metal claws in his hands like almost every guy around here. Ya! Just your normal every day guy"

"Listen kid" Shadow said "Right now the only thing you two have done to endear yourself to me is to get three big truckers to attack me. Now granted, that was kind of fun, and I found your act of nearly blowing up that guys hand amusing and your boyfriends speed act was impressive. So I am cutting you some slack. Any more chatter and the slack will run out. So the only time I want to hear something out of your voice is only in emergencies or if I speak to you understand?"

She smiled, staring through the snow at the faint outline of the mountain road. Then she said "You know, you should wear your seatbelt"

"What did I tell you?" He asked, but she could tell that he was almost smiling. Almost.

"You said to speak only in emergencies or when spoken to. I think you not wearing a seat belt counts as an emergency."

Shadow was about to think of some sort of retort when the next instant the world seemed to end. Something big toppled in front of them from Shadow's side falling directly across the road. He reacted, but he had no chance of success. The camper came to an almost instant stop.

Jubilee Rose was smashed against her seatbelt. He head snapped forward, then backward, banging on the panel behind her.

Sonic was thrown of the seat, and his head came into contact with a large baseball bat, effectively knocking him out cold before he had the chance to open his eyes.

Shadow was tossed hard through the windshield, bouncing and tumbling down the road like a rag doll.

Out her side window the trailer full of wood and the motorcycle shot past, tumbling end over end, the trailer's contents scattering like leaves in the wind. To Jubilee Rose it seemed as if everything in the camper suddenly piled around her, shoving her forward, and half burying Sonic. She could see Shadow's body through the broken-out windshield. Snow swirled in and around her face as everything finally came to a stop.

They had hit a massive falling tree. The force of the impact had shoved it forward and to one side. From where she sat, it was clear that this truck wasn't going to be going anywhere again anytime soon. The hood and front end were wrapped around the log. The silence now seemed almost heavy. She sat there, trying to catch her breath, trying to stop her heart from pounding out of her chest. It was the first time she had ever been in an automobile accident. It had happened so fast. Then through the snow she saw movement. Shadow was alive. How was that possible?

In the road ahead, he climbed to his feet, brushing himself off "Damn It!" He cried

She sat there, staring at him in shock. Nobody can survive being tossed through a truck windshield, then bouncing down the asphalt like he had done. He had to be dead, or at least seriously injured. Yet here he was, walking to her, swearing under his breath, as if he had got a paper cut.

As he got closer, she could see that there were gashes in his cheek and forehead. Deep, bleeding cuts that were going to need treatment immediately. Then, as she watched, the gashes stopped bleeding and began to heal up. That wasn't possible.

Shadow didn't seem to notice, or think anything was out of the ordinary. Then she realized that her ability to create fireworks was also not possible. Yet she did it.

"You aright?" Shadow asked, stopping in front of the truck and staring at her through the windshield.

"I'm fine" She said, peering down at Sonic, she can tell that he is still breathing, and is perfectly fine. "So is he"

Shadow nodded and studied the tree they had hit, walking along it toward the shattered trunk, shaking his head. From what Jubilee Rose could tell, the tree had come off the side of the cliff, probably brought down by the heavy snow.

She was still shaking so much that she didn't even want to try to move. Instead she just sat, trying to get herself to relax, and tried to wake Sonic up, by pulling him up to his seat. As Shadow climbed up to check the base of the shattered tree, a hand punched out of a large snowdrift right beside him: a huge, clawed hand that grabbed him by the back of the jacket.

Jubilee Rose screamed as a snow-covered monster rose up, towering over Shadow. It picked him up and swung him around, tossing him into the cliff side with enough force that Jubilee Rose could feel the ground shake even from where she was. The creature stood there, staring at where it had thrown Shadow. Jubilee Rose saw that it wasn't actually an animal, but a large hedgehog with black and grey fur with long yellow hair, wearing animal hides, and he had no visible mouth, but at intervals it appeared to show rows of iron like teeth and he had cat's eyes, and he was the ugliest thing Jubilee Rose had ever seen.

As the creature stepped toward Shadow, Jubilee Rose tried to move. The seat in front of her had been shoved forward and was jammed by it. Her legs were trapped under the chair, and the lever was out of her reach and looked to be broken. The more she fought to get them free, the more it hurt. She tried shoving the passenger door open, but it, too, was stuck, so she went back to feeling around her legs with her hands, trying to find anything she could move to get free.

Then behind her she heard a slight crackling sound. She twisted around, expecting to see another creature, but what she saw through the cracked camper was something far worse. Fire. The camper was on fire. She went back to fighting to free her legs. Through the windshield she could see Shadow emerge from the snow, clearly angry. With one backhand slap, the fur-covered man smashed Shadow into a tree how strong was this thing?

Shadow came up rolling, his claws extended. "You want a fight Mephilius? I will give you a fight old friend!"

Shadow slashed at the man.

Missed.

Slashed again.

Missed again, as the man creature moved quickly out of the way. The thing grabbed Shadow's wrist and, using Shadow's wrist and, using Shadow's own forward momentum, picked him up and swung him 360 degrees, smashing him into the log. The log shattered like a brick on glass.

Jubilee Rose fought even harder now, she had to get away from the fire, to pull Sonic out to get away from this beast.

Shadow was stunned but he still tried to stagger to his feet. The huge hedgehog picked Shadow up like a pillow, held him in the air, then tossed him 20 feet back through the remains of the truck's windshield.

Jubilee Rose managed to cover her face and turn slightly in the seat as Shadow smashed into her, unconscious as Sonic.

Behind her the fire spread, smoke was pouring through the cab and up into the falling snow.

The man-creature stood, staring at her with its cat's eyes. They almost seemed to be glowing. "Mister," Jubilee Rose said, shaking Shadow. "Mister, wake up, okay?" She shook him harder, while still trying to pull her legs free. "Come on, come on," she said as the man-creature stepped toward the burning camper. "Please wake up."