Chapter 2
As the thieves ran through the forest, they passed by a few wanted posters of themselves. The hedgehog stopped to look at it before ripping his off.
"Oh no, this is bad. This is really, really bad." He showed the picture to his friends. "They can never get my quills right!" he stuffed the poster in his satchel.
"Who cares." Jet said.
"Easy for you to say! You guys have feathers." They all turned to see soldiers on a hill. A blue hedgehog in particular was glowering at the hedgehog with hatred. As the soldier ran towards them, the boys ran for their lives.
Suddenly, they all stopped in front of a rock ledge too high for them to get on top of it.
"Alright, give me a boost and I'll pull you up." The hedgehog said.
The 2 birds looked at each before Jet said, "Give us the satchel first."
"What?!" he exclaimed, "I just...I can't believe after all we've been through together, you don't trust me?"
They just stared at him.
"Ouch." The hedgehog gave them the satchel. They piled on top of each other against the wall as he got to the top.
"Now help us up!" Jet said.
"Sorry, but," the hedgehog said with a smirk, "my hands are full." He had the satchel in hands and ran off.
"What?" Jet looked to where the satchel was before. "CURSE YOU ULTIMATE LIFE-FORM!"
The hedgehog ran off with the bag until skidding to turn the other way. The soldiers were not too far behind.
"Retrieve that satchel at any cost!" the commander yelled.
"Yes sir!" the others replied. The blue hedgehog started to run faster.
The ebony hedgehog ducked under a log as arrows hit it. He ran the other way trying to throw them off, but it was no use. He jumped through a tree with thick branches and the soldiers stopped because they couldn't go through. But the blue hedgehog did.
"Go get him, Sonic!" the commander yelled from the tree.
The other hedgehog jumped and grabbed onto a vine swinging around until he hit Sonic. "Ha!"
Sonic got back up and saw the satchel. He lunged for it, but the hedgehog pulled it back.
"No," he taunted.
Sonic wasn't going to give up that easily. He lunged for the satchel and tried to pry it out of his hands, but instead they seemed to play tug-of-war.
"Give it back!" the hedgehog said.
"It dosen't belong to you!" Sonic replied.
The bag flew from both of their grips and landed onto the end of a long branch that was attached to the side of a cliff.
Both boys looked at each other before the ebony hedgehog ran towards it. Sonic got in front, but the other pulled him down by his legs and ran ahead. Sonic pulled him away before walking onto the branch. The hedgehog teleported in front of Sonic, but fell off the branch hanging onto dear life upside down.
Sonic walked ahead trying to step on his hands but it wasn't working. The satchel started to slip off the branch and the hedgehog grabbed it at the last second waving it in front of Sonic's face taunting him.
Although, because of their weight, the branch started to crack.
"Uh-oh." The 2 said.
Soon, the branch broke with the 2 hedgehogs screaming and clinging on the branch. A rock broke the branch again sending the 2 off to different places. Sonic landed face first turning up dirt and grass, soon prying his head out of the dirt.
"Where are you, Ultimate Life-form?" he said to himself. He picked up a scent and started to follow it. He passed by some moss on a rock, but kept going. Little did he know that the moss was covering a hole that the hedgehog hid behind.
Sonic thought he heard something, and ran back to where he was until he turned away again. The hedgehog ran away from Sonic, still inside the hole, until he came to an opening. There he stared at a tall tower.
The hedgehog started to climb up the tower using the arrows that were shot at him as climbing tools. When he got up to the entrance, he closed the windows and panted.
"There." He thought he said to no one. He opened the satchel. "Alone at last. Ugh!" The hedgehog was whacked in the head by a frying pan by Shade.
Shade screamed and hid behind a moving mannequin. She looked at the hedgehog again and walked towards him with the mannequin in front of her. She took out her frying pan and poked the guy in the head. She looked at Espio and he shrugged about what happened.
He then made a face showing his teeth. Shade used the handle of the pan and lifted his lip up to see if they were sharp, and they weren't. Shade lowered the pan and calmed down. She stared at him as if he was normal; he was actually kind of cute.
His eyes popped open and before he knew it, Shade whacked him in head again.
She started to figure out ways to hide him by putting him in the closet. She tried pulling, pushing, and even swung him by her hair inside the closet. When she thought she finally got him in and walked away, he fell out and on top of her.
Finally, after an hour or two he was inside the closet and to make sure he stayed there, Shade put a chair under the door handles.
"Ok, okay, I've got a person in my closet..."
She looked at herself in the mirror and got excited, "I've got a person in my closet! Too weak handle myself out there, huh, Dad?" she twirled the pan around and hit herself in head. "Ow…"
Shade noticed something in the satchel on the ground and took it out. It was a tiara. It was made of a dark, cool iron and had 7 different colored jewels in each part of it. Emerald green, ruby red, silver, gold, dark blue, sea blue, and violet.
She looked at it and put it on her arm thinking it was a bracelet. Espio shook his head on that. She looked back at the mirror and placed the tiara on her head, and for a split second, she thought she looked like a princess. Espio looked at her in awe, but shook his head again.
"Shade!" Mephiles called.
She looked at the window and threw the tiara and satchel in a vase before throwing her hair out the window.
"One moment, Dad!"
"I have a big surprise!" he said holding on to her hair.
"Uh, heh heh, I've got one too." Shade said pulling him up.
"I bet my surprise is bigger!"
Shade mumbled, "I seriously doubt it."
When he got up Mephiles said, "I brought strawberries. I'm going to make ice cream and cake for dessert. Your favorite. Surprise!"
"Yeah, well, there's something I wanna tell you and..."
"Oh, Shade. You know I hate leaving you after a fight, especially since I did nothing wrong." Mephiles put the basket on the table. Egotistical much?
"Well, I've been thinking alot about what you said earlier, and-"
"I hope you're not still talking about the stars."
"Floating lights, and yes, I'm leading up to that..."
"Because I really thought we dropped the issue, sweetheart."
Shade walked toward the closet, "No, Dad, I'm just saying you think I'm not strong enough to handle myself out there-"
Mephiles looked at her. "Oh darling, I know you're not strong enough to handle yourself out there."
"But if you just..."
"Shade, we're done talking about this."
"Trust me..."
"Shade..." Mephiles was starting to get annoyed.
"If would just listen..."
"Shade..."
"Oh come on!"
"Enough with the lights, Shade! You are not leaving this tower! EVER!"
Shade widened her eyes at him. He never yelled at her like that in her life and it scared her. Shade's burgundy eyes turned light blue showing how frightened she was. He sat down on a table.
Mephiles held his head, one arm propped up on his lap. "Great. Now I'm the bad guy."
Shade looked at the picture of the lights on the wall again. She could never really see them at all no matter how she begged.
"All I was gonna say, Dad, was..." Shade sighed, "...I know what I want for my birthday now."
"And what is that?"
"New paint...the paint from the white shells you once brought me."
"Well, that is a very long trip, Shade. Almost 3 days' time."
"I thought it was a better idea than... than the stars."
Mephiles walked up to Shade. "You're sure you'll be alright on your own?"
Shade hugged him, "I know I'm safe as long as I'm here."
Mephiles was lowered down the tower.
"I'll be back in 3 days' time. I love you very much, dear."
"I love you more."
"I love you most."
Mephiles waved to Shade as he walked out of the canyon through the moss surrounding the tower, disappearing from her sight.
Now back to the intruder, she thought.