"How did I get here?" I asked myself again.
Somehow I had let myself be talked into performing with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles at party, we were the entertainment. I wasn't too sure about it now. Sure I had sang in school concerts but I hadn't done that in years! I wasn't even sure if I could get myself to sing now, when I did at home, my brother would say I couldn't sing.
"C'mon, Shell, didn't you tell me you started singing rock and roll when you were only three?" Sonic asked.
"That was a long time ago, Sonic." I corrected.
"Yeah, but if I remember correctly, you said that you were one of the four chosen for your last school concert?" Sonic asked.
"That was four or three years ago, I haven't sung in public since then."
The look on Sonic's face told me he wasn't going to give up that easily. The weapon he used, I never could have dodged or guessed: puppy dog eyes. He made himself look extremely cute, I didn't know what to do.
"I'll stop if you sing." He said.
"Alright, alright, just stop." I said.
"HA! Score!" He said, returning to normal.
"You know I'm gonna get you for this." I teased.
"Yeah, I know." He said, picking up his guitar.
"What song are we doing anyways?" I asked.
"Well…I sort of bored one of your CDs." Sonic said sheepishly. "The one that read "Sonic Blast". We learned that last song."
I sighed in relief, the song was "You're my Hero" I'd be able to do that one…I hoped.
"We're on in five minutes guys." Tails said.
"Hope you're ready to rock." Sonic told Knuckles.
"You know I am." Knuckles said, twirling his drumsticks.
"I didn't know you could play the drums Knuckles." I said.
"You didn't?" Knuckles asked.
"Nor did I know that Tails could play the keyboard."
"You didn't?" Tails asked.
"Well the series never showed you guys playing them." I shrugged. "In nearly half of them Sonic has played the electric guitar."
"Then who were those two other singers in that Sonic Underground CD?" Tails asked.
"Just a couple of characters you've never met." I said.
I didn't want to cause any confusion with questions about characters that weren't even in that universe.
"Three minutes!" Tails said.
"You guys ready?" Sonic asked.
"I was born ready." Knuckles said, twirling his drumsticks again.
'I hope I am.' I thought.
"C'mon, you'll do great." Sonic reassured.
"Would you get out of my mind?" I asked.
"Just messin' with ya." Sonic laughed.
I just sighed, Sonic loved to be a clown sometimes, mostly when it was to annoy Sally or Sonia.
"We're on!" Tails said.
"Okay, let's get out there guys!" Sonic said.
As the blinding light filled the dark stage, I began to have second thoughts. This was probably nothing new to the guys but this was an all time first for me. Sonic walked up to the microphone and said,
"Hello, Knothole City!"
The crowd cheered loudly.
"We have an awesome show for you tonight! Our first song is called "You're my Hero" sung by Knothole's newest resident, and my new friend, Shelby Hedgehog!"
"Huh?" I whispered. Had Sonic just called me, Shelby Hedgehog? Well whatever he called me, the crowd cheered wildly. I walked up to the microphone and glanced at Sonic. He gave me an assuring wink and looked at the others. I sighed, closed my eyes, the boys started with the music and I began singing.
How could things turn out so wrong?
You came along to save the day I knew that everything would be okay
My knight in shining armor came my life would never be the same
'Cause you're my hero
You came to rescue me
And now you set me free
There's so much, that I wanna make you see
You're my hero
Don't ever let me go
I just want you to know
There's so much inside and I wanna let it show
And now I owe so much to you
Is there anything that I can do?
I want to show you that I can
When you need me I'll be there
I hope that you don't go away I always wish that you would stay
'Cause you're my hero
You came to rescue me
And now you set me free.
There's so much that I wanna make you see
You're my hero
Don't ever let me go
I just want you to know
There's so much inside and I wanna let it show
'Cause you're my hero
You came to rescue me
And now you set me free
There's so much…that I wanna make you see
You're my hero."
Once the song ended I opened my eyes. The crowd was motionless. I looked to the floor.
'I should have known this would happen.'
As soon as I thought that, a wild cheer came from the crowd. I looked up to see, that they were going wild!
"Way to go, Shell." Sonic said.
I looked at him, confused.
"They're cheering for you, and you did great." He finished.
"Sonic…"
"Way to go, Aunt Shelby!" Tails said.
"Yeah, you really stepped it up." Knuckles said.
"Guys…"
I could barely get my sentence out.
"You did great, that's all that matters." Sonic said, wrapping his arm around me.
"Knock it off Sonic, you're making the girl blush." Knuckle said.
Sonic let go after a few seconds but it was too late to stop the blush.
"C'mon, there's someone else after this." Sonic said, taking my hand.
As we left the stage I looked to the back of the crowd. I cocked my eyebrow when I saw two figures, one pink and the other green. Why they stood out I didn't know, but at the other end of the room, I saw a purple figure dressed in a deep red cloak, but for some strange reason, I felt like I had seen them somewhere before.
Once we were back stage another group our place and began playing a wild song.
"Sonic?" I asked after a while.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Have you seen Shadow?"
"No, why?"
"He hasn't been acting like himself."
"How so?"
"Well, you two haven't had a single fight yet, I haven't seen him so much as make eye contact. He's also been talking to himself, avoiding me as much as possible, he hasn't even left Knothole yet like he normally would."
"Hm, good point."
"Plus, I had this strange dream last night."
"So what?"
I told Sonic all about the dream, not sparing a single detail. By the time I was done, I felt spent.
"That's the craziest dream I've ever heard." Sonic said.
"I know, but I think it might be saying something." I said.
"Maybe."
"I'm going to find Shadow and have a little "talk"."
"Hold on, I'll go with you."
Sonic and I left the Dining Hut, still leaving me wondering about the three figures I saw. After a few minutes, we finally spotted him by the river, saying,
"Come in Doctor, this is Shadow, over."
"Shadow, where are you?" The angry voice of the doctor yelled.
"I'm in Knothole, the girl is here as well." Shadow said.
"What? Shadow's working for Dr. Eggman?" Sonic asked. "I thought he saw the light."
"He has." I said.
"Then why's he working for the doc?" Sonic asked.
"Because that's NOT Shadow!" I said sternly.
"How can you tell?" Sonic asked.
"Watch."
Sonic and I had been on an old rotting log near its uprooted roots, so I was able to creep down easily. I snuck up on the hedgehog before me, and pushed him right the water. There were sparks of electricity jumping out of the water like crazy! After nearly a minute Sonic asked,
"YEESH! Is it done?"
"I'll say, and what a stench!" I replied.
"Yeah, it smells like an electrical fire." Sonic agreed.
He carefully reached into the water and pulled out the form of Shadow.
"How'd you know?" Sonic asked.
"An true Shadow fan would know that Shadow would have picked up on us by now…that and the fact that his sneakers aren't even remotely close to the color they're supposed to be." I said.
Sonic took in the fact that Shadow's sneakers were all grey, perfectly suitable for Egg-belly.
"So, where's the real Shadow?" Sonic asked, tossing the android.
"I don't know, but I bet this robot can tell us." I said, gesturing to the android.
Sonic ran back to Knothole to get the Brain Trust on the robot. Once he was gone, I let out sigh. I once again wished I didn't have to tell such a vicious lie again. I knew very well where Shadow was and I had to help him, I promised him but I couldn't tell the Freedom Fighters that, they'd think I was working with Egg-belly if I tell them we have to rush in there without a plan and only a promise and a dream to lead them. There was only one option: I had go on my own to save him.
---
Sonic returned to the android as fast as he could. He nearly missed it because it was laying on the ground without Shelby anywhere in sight.
"Over here!" He called to the others following him.
Tails was the first one there.
"This the thing?" Tails asked.
"Bingo." Sonic said.
Tails began to take the robot apart as the others arrived.
"Man, Robotnik's good, this thing fooled everyone." Rotor said.
"Except Shelby." Sonic said.
"What, what are you talking about, Sonic?" Sally asked.
"She's the one who figured out that this thing was a robot." Sonic said.
"Well right now MY question is: where is she?" Sally asked.
"Huh?" That was when Sonic realized that she wasn't there. "Oh man, she must have gone after Shadow herself!"
"You think so?" Bunnie asked.
"She WAS the one who figured it out, and she told me about this mondo weird dream she had." Sonic said.
"What was it about?" Dulcy asked.
"It was way weird, she and Shadow were switching places for control over his body while trying to escape from Ro'butt'nik's prison." Sonic explained.
"You don't think she went there, do you?" Amy asked.
"Afraid so, Ames." Sonic said.
"Then what do we do?" Sally asked.
"We wait." Sonic said. "If she's able to break out of Ro'butt'nik's prison on her own, then she should be able to break in no problem. Who knows, she might just run into Espio and convince him to come home."
"I hope she'll be alright." Amy said in a whisper.
"Don't worry, Amy. I'm sure she'll be just fine!" Tails said.
'I hope.' Tails thought.
However, unbeknownst to the Freedom Fighters, one of them was being watched.
---
The green dragon eyes watched, unblinking. His cruel plan would soon take place.