As the two hedgehogs made their way back from a local gas station, Prim asked many questions about Sonic's current life. The blue blur thought some of these questions were rather personal, but, he tried to answer the best he could. After all, she was a fan of his, wasn't she?
"So, Sonic, I've been dying to ask you something.." Prim said nervously as they walked down a peaceful sidewalk. Sonic looked over to her, trying to see past the full gas can in his arms."What is it?" he asked. Prim looked away and seemed to be hesitating. Sonic frowned, and leaned over to her as much as he could without falling over."What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. Prim sighed deeply, and stared at Sonic with a longing expression.
"What's it like?!" she blurted out. Sonic stared at her for a moment, confused. He stopped and set down the gas can."What's...what like?" Prim clasped her hands together and bounced on her heels."Being a hero?!" she finished, staring at him with hopeful eyes. Sonic opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. He never really thought about that before. Maybe it was because he never really considered himself to be a "hero". In his mind, he was just a normal hedgehog. Sonic scratched the back of his head, looking away.
"W-well, I'm flattered that you think that way, but...I'm no hero, I'm just a guy who helps out when I'm around..heh.." he answered, walking ahead. Prim stared at him perplexedly, and then smiled."Oh man, it must be so much fun! Being able to explore and travel the world, oh, I wish I could be free like you!" she exclaimed. Sonic grinned.
"Well, what's stopping you?" he asked. Prim thought for a moment. Her eyes widened in realization.
"You know what? You're RIGHT!" said Prim, catching up with the blue blur.
The two finally made it back past the clearing and in front of the cave as Sonic set down the full gas can and wiped the beads of sweat off of his forehead. It was really hot that day. Both hedgehogs flopped down on some boulders poking out of the ground. Prim huffed, and reached inside of her green backpack, pulling out a bag of chips with a brand Sonic has never seen before. He stared at it.
"What's...E-Corp?" he asked. Prim froze, and quickly swallowed the handful of chips in her mouth."Uh..w-well I'm-It's...I'm...from another country! Yeah!" she exclaimed, nodding her head obnoxiously. Sonic gave Prim a suspicious look. She wore a very over the top smile that reminded Sonic of a generic infomercial actor on T.V.
"...Really? You...don't seem like it." he replied. Prim frowned, and stuffed the bag of chips back into her backpack."What do you mean?" Sonic shrugged his shoulders."I dunno, you just...well you seem like you come from around here. In fact, you don't seem foreign at all. Where are you from?" he asked, curious. Prim's face suddenly turned white. She never wanted to just disappear from existence so quickly before."U-uh...I...um..." she stuttered. Sonic stared at her impatiently."...Are you okay?" he asked. Prim awkwardly giggled, avoiding his question. Sonic's eyes slightly widened, indicating that he was a little weirded out by her behavior.
Without another word, Sonic stood up, and curiously made his way towards the cave. Prim jumped up."What are you doing?!" Sonic didn't look at her."I'm gonna explore a bit.." he replied casually, peering inside the cave as he hopped up a little ledge. Prim rushed over, looking anxious."U-um..you don't want to go in there!" she warned. Sonic glanced at her."Why?" he went back to squinting his emerald eyes as he tried to see as far as he can.
Prim felt her stomach do a back-flip."U-uh..Just trust me on this! It's not worth it!" she explained. Sonic shrugged his shoulders, and ignored her warnings. He dashed inside. A frown was plastered on Prim's face."Sonic, wait!" She frantically ran after him. Sonic carefully sped down the dark path leading towards the end of the mysterious cave, pursing a seemingly endless darkness. The cold and quiet atmosphere sent chills down Sonic's spine. Prim suddenly appeared in front of him to block his path, holding her arms out in front of her."Hey! What?!" Sonic quickly glanced behind him. "How did you-"
"Sonic, please, you don't wanna see what's in here!" she advised. Sonic blankly stared at her in awe."You...but...how?" His mouth hung open in shock. Prim raised an eyebrow."What? What's wrong?" Sonic gawked at her, completely dumbstruck.
"How did you keep up with me?!" he asked. Prim gave Sonic a look as if she had no idea what he was talking about."I..um..never mind that! Let's just..go!" Prim insisted, tugging at his arm and walking in the other direction. Sonic was about to say something when he noticed a red speck of light in the distance. He looked up, realizing that there was a small crack on the roof of the cave, creating some sort of spotlight over whatever the speck of light was. Staring harder, he could barely make out the silhouette of some sort of machine or a weird car or..
Sonic's eyes widened in realization.
An aircraft.
'Is this the shooting star?' he thought to himself.
"H-hey, wait a second...what's that?" Sonic slipped out of Prim's grip and slowly walked over to the object. Prim let out a whimper, and reached for him, but it was too late. Sonic ran forward and halted in front of the dark object. He carefully observed it with his emerald eyes, and noticed that it was covered in a blue tarp. He reached for it."WAIT!" Prim called from behind him. Sonic's hand gripped the tarp and he tore it off. His eyes widened in awe as a bright red aircraft was parked before him. It was sleek and bullet shaped. On either side of it there were wings that were pointed backwards. On the front of it, the nose ended in a sharp point, and the only door was a dome-like glass window that sat at the top of the aircraft. It looked as if you had to press a button and the glass will open upwards. Sonic could see dozens of tiny blinking lights on the inside. The back of the machine had a giant slim tail that was about half as long at the aircraft itself. Also, two giant rocket thrusters were placed along either side of the end of the machine. To finish the look, there was a name painted in glistening silver on both sides of the plane.
Hypermiles 2.0.
Sonic stood awestruck at what he was seeing. It was a beautiful work of art. Prim awkwardly stood behind him with a nervous look on her face."U-uh...I..I can explain-"
"Whoa! This is AWESOME! Is this yours?!" Sonic asked excitedly as he ran over to it. Prim placed her hands behind her back."...Noooo..." she mustered. Sonic sensed that she seemed a little uneasy at the moment, he wondered why."Oh..well, whoever it belongs to must be either super rich, or super smart!" he exclaimed. Prim started sweating, the longer the moment went on, the more she felt a pit in her stomach grow.
"U-uh...yeaahh...riight.." she awkwardly replied. The blue hedgehog gave Prim a perplexed look, and hesitantly stepped away from the aircraft."Um..anyway, I wonder why they parked it all the way back here? It seems like they were trying to hide it or something.." he wondered. Sonic looked over to Prim, waiting for a reply.
"What do you think?" he asked. Prim switched her gaze from the Hypermiles 2.0 to Sonic and nervously smiled. She scratched the back of her head, looking even more anxious to get outta there."You know, Sonic? I think we should...leave it alone! I don't think the owner would want a couple of kids touching his-erm-plane..." she giggled with a fake smile. Sonic 'hmphed' and shrugged his shoulders."I guess that would be the logical thing to do, buutt..." his voice went a little high pitched in opposition to her offer to leave. He looked over to her.
"You see, Prim, last night, I was running when I saw this shooting star."
Prim gave him a clueless stare.
"Well, it wasn't a shooting star..it looked like a..well a plane or something! It was glowing, and it landed right here in the park! I tried to investigate last night, but it was too dark.."
"But, this morning, I was determined to find what it is, and..." Sonic grinned toothily and leaned over to Prim. He excitedly pointed over to the Hypermiles 2.0."I think that's it!" he whispered. Prim didn't answer him. She stared open-mouthed at the end of the cave, a look of pure terror on her face. Sonic's smile slowly faded away.
"..Prim? What's wrong?" he asked. The young, pink hedgehog didn't answer. She appeared to be rethinking recent choices she's made in her life.
"You...you saw me?" she muttered. Sonic gave Prim a strange look. He started to become more and more suspicious.
"What...do you mean?" he asked. The young girl glanced at Sonic, nervously.
"U-um...nothing!" she said, still looking as worried as ever. Sonic frowned. There was something...off...about Prim, yet he didn't know what it was. It was at that moment that he realized how much he doesn't really know her, and how much she seemed to know him. He felt slightly freaked out, wondering if she could have been stalking him for ages.
But, that wouldn't explain the gas...
He thought to himself.
A random explanation popped into his mind, he glanced at the Hypermiles. Then, her backpack that was packed as if she were going on a trip. Finally, he remembered the look on her face when he described what he saw the night before. Slowly, he started to put the pieces together.
"...Prim, were you...were you the shooting star?!" he asked. Prim's muzzle turned white with fear.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about.."
"Yes you do! That would explain how you know how to get here, and the gas, and the backpack!" Sonic explained. Prim opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Sonic.
"It all kinda makes sense now!" he exclaimed. He gave Prim a strange look.
"But...why? Who are you? Why are you hiding this?" he asked, pointing at the Hypermiles 2.0.
Prim bit her lip, she knew that her secret would come out sooner or later, yet she still pretended to have no idea about any of Sonic's accusations."Sonic, I...I don't-"
"Don't lie to me, Prim." he warned. The young pink hedgehog stared at Sonic for a moment, and stared at the mouth of the cave behind him. She made a break for it. Sonic was caught off guard as Prim dashed away at breakneck speed, he whipped around as she sped out of the cave.
"WHAT IN THE?!" he yelled in shock, dashing after her.
Prim ran as fast as she could, desperately trying to lose Sonic. Her feet glided across the ground as she swiftly dashed through the trees. Her heart stopped when she heard Sonic pursing her from behind. She broke through the trees and into the clearing. She ran only more than half of the way to the other side when Sonic suddenly appeared in front of her.
"STOP!" he said firmly. Prim skidded to a halt, her eyes full of defeat. She was panting hard. Sonic crossed his arms.
"What...in the WORLD, made you think that you could just dash outta there like that and think that I wouldn't catch you?" he asked. Prim balled up her fists and held them to her chest.
"You're...faster than I thought..." she said airily. Sonic stared at her for a moment, confused."Um...hello? Fastest thing alive?" he pointed at himself.
"Well, I-I know, it's just...you've gotten faster when you grew up..." she mumbled. Sonic awkwardly looked around.
"Uh...we just met, I don't know you..how would you know that?"
Prim nervously looked around. She sighed."...You...you don't me, because...I-I don't exist yet.." she admitted. Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"...You look like you exist to me.." he chuckled. Prim groaned. She turned around, took a deep breath, and faced Sonic again.
"Sonic, I really didn't want to do this, but...you leave me no choice.." she took his hand. Sonic looked at it.
"Uh..what are you doing?"
"I'm about to answer all of your questions.."
"Oh, so...where are we going?"
"Back to the cave..or..back to see the Hypermiles 2.0, actually.."
"So, what I'm guessing is..that is your plane, right?"
"No, Sonic.." Prim stopped, and looked Sonic right in the eyes with a smile.
"..A time machine.."