Section 1: A Puzzling Prelude
Rainbow light and neon glow filled the hall. The walls were barely able to keep in the booming music. It was the Station Square School's student disco night. 5 months had passed since the chaos incident, and 2 months since the ARK scare. To show their praise and support Chris had been asked to invite Sonic and all of his friends along. Shadow had been found and physically recovered from his fall through the atmosphere. However, the cause of his resulting amnesia had not yet been identified. However Sonic saw this as a chance for Shadow to have an enjoyable night out away from the troubles he was facing. Everyone was determined to get Shadow to dance, to which he playfully denied to do to tease them. And Tikal, after discovering that it was no longer necessary to remain inside the master emerald, was warmly welcomed in to live with Sonic and the others at Chris's mansion. The party was stated as casual, so everyone dressed in their normal clothes. Cream on the other hand was feeling unwell and so was not able to join the others.
"Thanks for inviting us Chris" Said Amy, who was captivated by the flashing lights of the disco, her red dress flowing in the wind let though every time the door opened and her green eyes dancing with the light. "Yeah this is a great night out. It's so nice to do something like this now and again" Followed Tails who was so excited his golden and white tipped twin tails floated him off the floor from time to time. "Hey don't worry about it" Chris replied, he was also dressed in his casual clothes, a red and white jumper and blue cargo pants. "After all this is the least you deserve for everything you've done since you got here. I still can't believe you gave up a night with the president to be here though". "We must have seen that guy about five times this last couple of weeks" said Sonic, who had combed his aqua blue quills specially for tonight making them sharper and polished the metal buckles on his red running shoes, had just stopped passing by after hearing the start of the conversation. Sonic continued "Besides I don't think I could stand another second of the paparazzi cameras flashing in my eyes", "And yet you can come to a disco" Chris pointed out to the fast flashing disco lights with a puzzled look on his face. "At least they have some colour" replied Sonic. Chris chuckled as a bright orange light flashed right into Sonics' eyes revealing the bloodshot lines.
"Thank god, you got to help me" said a panting and exhausted Knuckles, his deep red body bathed in his own sweat and his violet eyes heavily diluted and shaking with what the others presumed was fear, something they rarely saw in Knuckles. "Have you been dancing all night?" Asked Amy. "No" Knuckles took another deep breath to continue "I've been running laps around the school all night". "Running why?" she replied. "Rouge keeps asking me to dance with her and frankly I plan on surviving tonight". At that moment a distant and cheeky "yoo-hoo" could be heard. "Knuckles, did you ever think that Rouge would even dare follow you into the boys' bathroom" Smirked Tails. In an instant Knuckles hugged him so hard that when he let go Tails was gasping for air on the floor, had thanked him and ran off in search of this sanctuary. Tails rose to his feet and everyone let out a laugh as they saw Rouge follow in pursuit.
The night was now half over, but the energy of the party was still present. Over at the drinks desk, which was dispensing free glasses of water, orange juice and lemonade for the students, stood Tikal. She always dressed in her diamond patterned dress and a white tank top and necklace in honour of her late father. She had just spent the last half an hour dancing with Shadow and needed to rest her blue eyes from the disco lights and adjust the white bands on her light orange quills which were starting to come loose. Shadow and Chris joined her when they saw she was alone. Shadow unlike Tikal had not broken a sweat and the red streaks on his quills seemed to be glowing over the black underneath. He also had the added advantage at dancing as he could use his white, black and red air shoes to perform much more complex moves which nobody expected he was capable of doing. Despite Shadow's menacing appearance the smile on his face said much more about his calmer and fun loving side. As they grabbed a drink Chris whispered in Tikal's ear "oooo, so you've been dancing with Shadow have you. Typical that he broke his no dancing policy for you". Over the past couple of months there had been speculation as to whether they had feelings for each other, but they had both honestly dismissed it. They were simply very good friends. They both met feeling as if they were the two newbie's of the group and have been close friends since. However the others would still playfully tease them both over it. Tikal smiled and gave a light kick to Chris's shin.
However, while they were dancing there was one thing the two of them could not figure out as they spiralled round the room. A solitary figure, alone in the darkest corner of the room. From what they could see it was a boy, the same age and very slightly taller than Chris, who had hardly moved except to dance to a couple of heavy rock songs, and refill his glass. "Chris?" Asked Tikal. "Who is that boy in the corner of the room?" she added. "Is he here on his own?" Shadow followed on. "That's Matt, I don't really know him, but he is in my class and from what I have heard he is pretty strange, I think he's got issues or something, I wouldn't take any notice if I were you" Chris answered. Tikal and Shadow were about to speak when Matt started to walk to the drinks desk. As he walked through the disco lights his appearance became clearer. He was indeed slightly taller than Chris; he had mid length dark brown hair which had a windswept slightly messy look about it, brown eyes, spotless skin and a slim build. He wore an orange t-shirt with black industrial stripes on the sleeves, black three-quarter length trousers and dirt brown trainers. With a smile on his face he turned to them and said "Hi, are you having a good time?" His voice had already broken and he sounded similar to Shadow. His voice was only a slightly higher pitch and less gravelly than Shadows' voice. He was met with silence from the other's who were uncertain on what to say after what Chris had told them. After a short awkward silence he lowered his eyes slightly, nodded his head and refreshed himself with a drink.
To break the silence after he left Tikal said "Thanks again for bringing us here Chris; we've been having a great time". But as she finished, a massive crash filled the room which made everyone leap in fright, as a table in the outer corridor was slammed over, sending numerous glasses smashing on the ground. A loud slam of the exit door followed, which caught a cable connected to the music system and turned it off. The first person had left the disco.
Matt walked through the chilling back streets of Station Square, MP3 player in hand listening to aggressive rock music. Frozen tear lines were faint on his cheek, but still he managed to find strength to walk with his head held high. He had no idea of the uproar he had just caused, but his mind was elsewhere. His mind filled with rage, pictures of the disco filled his brain. He could not understand why not one person spoke to him the whole night, his few friends were staying with other people, and the girl he was going with had stood him up for another guy. He eventually reached a small old, slightly derelict building. He entered and walked up to the 3rd floor of the building. "No one understands" he muttered as he entered the room. People usually say this when they are upset, but in Matt's case this was probably the truest thing he could say. His parents, who were his only know family, were tragically killed when he was only 4 years old. He closed and locked the door behind him. The apartment was basic. A bed in the corner and single table which he would stand his TV on when he wanted to watch it and basic kitchen and bathroom facilities. The most peculiar aspect of the room though, was that the walls were filled with technical blueprints, notes and models. He was dubbed by his teachers as a technological prodigy from his early years. On the walls were sketches of radical, but completely feasible machines and inventions. Highlighted on the wall however, was a machine that he had perfected and created in an old abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. He had successfully been able to use this machine to erase all memories of his parents from his mind, a dream he had since they died to forget all the pain and suffering their death caused, leaving him with only memories of raising himself as a child. He sat at the table, pencil in hand, dried his eyes and whispered to himself "Now then. The solution to jumping dimensions without chaos control". He smirked and started to draw.