"Taylor Sawdean?"

"Present!"

"Jerry Tamworth?"

"Here!"

"Flash Watts?"

Silence.

"Flash Watts? Are you here?" he teacher barked. The whole class swivelled round to look at the desk in the corner, where a small girl was asleep. Jerry Tamworth, who was sitting next to her, whacked her table with a ruler.

"You can't have the-oh. Sorry Miss," Flash woke with a start, greening sheepishly. Miss Flatworth gave Flash a stern look, closing the register with a SNAP.

"Right, ten minutes until the bell goes. You can all talk until then. Miss Watts, TALK, not SLEEP!"

Ignoring the teacher, Flash put her head on the desk and thought about Silver. After spending ten minutes that morning reassuring her partner that she would be fine at school without him, he had sat miserably in front of the TV with a whole bumper pack of pretzels. After nearly being shot twice last night, first by a fat, bald doctor and then a miserable hedgehog, Flash couldn't blame Silver for being paranoid.

Miserable hedgehog. That was one word for Shadow.

He had haunted her dreams, tiptoeing through the darkness, a wild but empty look in his eyes as he pulled the trigger. She had been dreaming about him just before her rude awakening.

Jerry Tamworth turned to her and said, "Loser." Flash threw him an awful look, but then smirked, thinking of Eggman's graceful swoop into the side of the spaceship.

"Tryin' to be a big, brave girl and ignore me?" jeered Jerry, "Think you're better than us, don't you?"

"Oi!" a voice behind Jerry said, "Leave Flash alone."

Craig towered over Jerry, arms folded. He was taller and stockier than anyone else in the year. Flash would have been terrified, even if Knuckles hadn't been standing next to him. Jerry gave Flash an 'I'll get you later' look, and then walked off.

"Just try," said Flash, "you'll be sorry." Then she turned to Craig. "I can fight my own battles, thanks."

"Just helpin' you out," shrugged Craig, "come and sit with us." Flash didn't even have time to object; Craig pulled her by the sleeve over the Mollie, Toby and Gemma.

"Flash! Mollie's voice sounded so sugary sweet that Flash could have been sick. "You look great today!"

Flash almost laughed out loud. She wanted to contradict Mollie so badly, but Silver and she had fooled the eight fools into believing that Eggman hadn't landed in Flash's garden last night. After tossing and turning or hours, plagued by nightmares, Flash had only got two hours' sleep.

"So what do you have next?" asked Gemma.

"Science with Mrs. Knightbridge," said Flash.

"OMG SAME!" Gemma frightened Flash out of her skin.

"Okay, okay!" she said, backing away from Gemma slightly. Unfortunately the bell rung.

"Come on, then!" Gemma said to Flash, and dragged her off to science.

Flash didn't get a moment's peace. After Science with Gemma, she had English with Mollie and Craig, and then Drama with Toby and Craig. Only Knuckles had come in that day, and spent the whole time staring at Flash like she was a bomb. Just when she thought she could sneak off at lunchtime, the hysterical Gemma returned. They sat on the grass watching some year 7 boys play football.

"So Flash, how's Silver?" asked Tobias.

Flash opened her mind, transmitting the conversation to Silver.

"Uh… exactly the same as he was yesterday," said Flash.

"What were you guys doing out there in the garden last night?" said Mollie, "I mean, 2am and out there? What happened?"

"I should say the same to you," Flash retorted, "What were you doing in MY garden at 2am?"

"We heard a gun being fired. Also, we got word that Eggman had landed on Earth. Know anything?" answered Knuckles smoothly.

Flash kicked back casually against a tree.

"Gonna answer?" said Craig.

"I'm just waiting."

"For what?"

Toby stood up. "Oh no. No you don't. Not again."

Flash shrugged. "You followed. Sonic gave me the chaos emerald." She opened her hand, and there it was. The five of them gasped.

"Give it back!" Toby made a grab for it, but it disappeared. "It's Sonic's!"

"Tough luck," replied Flash.

"Guys!" yelled Mollie, "here comes the cavalry."

Indeed, the cavalry was coming. Silver, riding a lawnmower, sped towards them. It would have been funny if he hadn't meant to run anyone over. Flash hitched a ride on the engine where silver sat on the seat and steered.

"SILVER!" yelled Flash, "WHY ON EARTH ARE WE ON A LAWNMOWER DRIVING AT 20MPH?"
"IT WAS THE ONLY AVAIALBLE TRANSPORT I COULD USE CHAOS CONTROL ON!" replied Silver.

To other people, it looked like Flash was stuck on an out-of-control lawnmower that was inconveniently chasing Tobias, Mollie, Craig and Gemma. All of a sudden, Sonic, Tails and Amy appeared.

'Oh great,' Silver's voice wafted into Flash's head, 'here come the cavalry.'

Tails whipped up a large whirlwind which threw Mollie out of the way. Sonic grabbed Toby's arm and sped up the side of a tree, where Toby could take refuge on a branch. Knuckles chucked Craig up onto Toy's tree branch. Gemma went to join them.

"If you're playing it that way…" Silver flicked his hand and Flash shot into the air too. All the breath was knocked out of her body.

"Silv-" Flash's mouth locked; Silver was always one step ahead of her. No begging.

In moments, the battle had begun. Silver leapt off the lawnmower, which careered into the fence that ran around the perimeter of the school grounds. Silver sent them all flying to the ground. Sonic and Knuckles were the first to recover, Sonic sending a sonic boom. Silver dodged easily and sent Knuckles spinning through the air. He careered into the tree, where Craig, Toby and Gemma were situated.

"Knuckles!" Craig slid down the trunk to tend to his injured friend. The echidna had looked so big and strong. It proved just how strong Silver was. And if Flash was his partner… Mollie shivered. They had been picked because of how similar they were to their partners. What did this say about Flash? Something told Mollie that Craig shouldn't have made that joke about her name. She glanced over at Flash, and saw that she was fighting with the air, trying to get down to help her friend. Not only was she strong, but she was loyal to the ones that she cared about. All of a sudden, she felt a pang in her chest and saw that Tails was being whisked round and around in the air. She aimed a whirlwind at Silver, who was blown sideways. All of a sudden, a huge blow of energy struck her straight in the stomach.

"Hey!" Tails yelled at Flash, "Watch it!" This was the distraction Silver had been waiting for. Tails also joined Knuckles at the bottom of the tree. Rubbing the place where Flash's energy had hit hardest, Mollie went to see to Tails.

Flash struggled to get down. She could feel Silver getting weaker. She wanted to send him a mind message, but he had closed off his mind. All she could do was hope and pray. Amy lunched at him, but he was ready. A quick punch to the face sent her sprawling in the mud. Gemma ran to Amy and took her safely to the tree. Now it was just Sonic and Silver.

Attack… Defend… The battle went on. The pair were wounded and weak, but neither would give up. Their moves began to get slower, weaker. All that Flash and Toby could do was watch and wait. As their partners ran out of energy, so did them.

And then it happened.

Pupils screamed and ran as several explosions went off at the same time. Flash dropped to the ground and stood beside Silver. Toby and Sonic joined them. Mollie helped Tails to his feet, and Gemma and Craig revived their two partners. They stood in a long line, ready to face this new enemy.

All of a sudden, the sky went dark, and there were no stars. All sounds were muted, and a wave of fear and grief passed through the land. Flash could hardly breathe in the darkness.

'Thin positive,' said Silver in her mind.

With all of her strength, Flash brought up her hand to unleash the chaos emerald. It lay lifeless in her hand.

'There's no energy in the chaos emerald!' she thought.

But then, before Silver could reply, a dark, booming voice echoed out of nowhere.

"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Silver," Silver shivered as the creature spoke his name, "and their partners. You stand divided. You have what I need, and most importantly, what I want. Give me the chaos emeralds, and light shall return to the world. Fail to do so, and I will crush you all."

"We have to do it," whispered Sonic. The power to speak had been returned at least. He threw two chaos emeralds into the air, and they glowed brightly. Silver did likewise. At first they were dull, without light, but began to glow as he threw them.

"That's four," Silver spoke to the creature, "but Shadow has two of them."

All of a sudden, two more chaos emeralds flew over to join the four that hung in midair.

"Partner of Silver. You have absorbed the chaos emerald," said the creature, "therefore if I cannot take the chaos emerald by itself, I will take you too."

Before Flash could refuse, before her brain could even register what was going on, she found herself flying through the air, all the breath knocked out of her body.

"No!" she heard Silver scream. The whispers of his powers, trying to bring her back, touched her hands and feet, but they were whisked away. Flash fought against the cold breeze that pulled her away from Silver.

'Silver?' she thought.

Silence.

'SILVER!' she screamed in her mind.

Nothing.

The wind wrapped around her, taunting, jeering. Despair swallowed her up, and she found herself hurtling into the darkness….