Chapter One

Street Urchin

Lilianne blinked, and rubbed her eyes. She felt tired, and longed for sleep. Lilianne heard

a whine, and a bark. What did Bruno want now? Maybe he was hungry.

"I know you're hungry, boy." Lilianne said to the German Shepherd puppy. "But it's one

in the morning. You can't eat now." She gave him a reassuring pat on the head, crawled

into her hammock, and tried to go back to sleep. For some reason, she couldn't. Lilianne

then noticed that Bruno was sitting in front of a dumpster, his head cocked to the side.

"Watcha looking at, Bruno?" Lilianne asked. She leaped out of the hammock, and ran to Bruno's side.

"Bruno, draw." Lilianne commanded. The puppy immediately pulled out an Etch-a-Sketch, and went to work. Bruno had the power to identify good and evil people, and could draw people he caught the scent of, even if he never saw them before. As soon as the dog was done, Lilianne picked up the Etch-a-sketch. She looked the drawing over, and thought Bruno was lying.

It was a hedgehog. It didn't look like a real one, but a cartoony one. Lilianne tried not to laugh. Cartoon hedgehogs didn't exist in real life! Or did they? Bruno never lied, but the sketch- Lilianne pondered over the possibility when she heard a loud voice.

"Freeze, street urchin!" A policeman yelled. "We have you surrounded." The girl with the jet black hair and pink bangs stood still. She couldn't run, or hide.

Lilianne sighed. She thought she didn't do anything wrong. She only stole food, because she absolutely needed to. Why did the police make a big deal out of it? She put her hair up in her two signature ponytails, and considered her options. She could run, and get caught. Or, she could fly away. Then Lilianne realized she couldn't use her wings. If anyone found out about her wings, she'd be taken away.

Suddenly, Lilianne tripped over her feet, and fell backward. Instead of feeling the cold, hard ground, she felt two arms catch her. She looked at the police. They were absolutely speechless.

"You're a, um, a-," stuttered one policeman.

"A hedgehog? Why, yes. Yes I am." the blue hedgehog answered. He looked down at the strange girl, the one with the pink bangs, and smiled.

"You better hold on tight. It's gonna be a bumpy ride." the hedgehog said. He took a few steps back, counted to three, and ran toward the police. Lilianne identified the familiar feel of acceleration. Did this hedgehog have super-speed, like her? Lilianne held on for her life, just in case he did.

All it took was one leap, and Sonic was on a rooftop. He smiled. The police would never get him now. Sonic sat down, and thought about what happened to him so far. He had woken up in a dumpster, and had wandered around for hours until he found an alley. He had walked down the narrow alley until he stumbled upon a hidden courtyard. That's where he found the strange girl.

Now this girl didn't look like his kind at all. She was almost twice as tall as him, about five feet. She didn't have any fur, but had her hair in two ponytails. The girl didn't have a muzzle or a tail. What was she anyway? Sonic shrugged, and looked at her. All she had on was a white tank top, and ratty jeans. Her feet were covered in cuts and bruises. Her cat's eye green eyes looked down, with sorrow.

"Hey, kid." Sonic began. "You better run before the cops get to you."

"Run?" said the strange girl. "Who said I had to run?"

Lilianne closed her eyes. She focused on her wings. Opening her eyes, she looked back. There they were. Angel-like wings, white as snow, were perched on her back. Lilianne took a few steps back, ran forward, jumped, and flew off. She forced her wings to go faster. Then she felt the warm feeling of acceleration. But when she looked back, Lilianne saw the hedgehog in pursuit of her. Following her instincts, she flew done on to the rooftop he was on, and pinned him down with her bare hands.

"Will you stop that?"

"What?"

"Following me, that's what."

Sonic sighed. This girl had quite an attitude. Just like him.

"Who are you? And where are your alien friends?" Lilianne shouted.

"Me?" the hedgehog asked. "I'm no one important. But if you really want to know, I'm Sonic, the hedgehog."

Sonic silently stood up, and waited for the reaction he knew he'd get. Just like he expected, the girl, whose wings had disappeared, walked up to him. Her eyes, once serious and brooding, now had a glimmer in them.

"My name's Lilianne." the girl said, with a cocky smile on her face. "You still haven't answered my other two questions."

"Well first," Sonic began, "I have no idea where my friends are. I don't even know how I got here. And second, I'm not the alien, you are!"

Lilianne seemed confused at his sudden accusation. Her, an alien? No way!

"Haven't you seen a human before?" Lilianne asked.

"Oh," Sonic said. "So that's what they're called."

"So you've seen one?"

"Yup. His name's Eggman. He'd love to put me and my friends in cages and torture us."

Lilianne guessed that this Eggman guy, whoever he was, was someone she'd rather avoid, than pass by on a street. Suddenly she looked down, and saw a crowd in the street. The entire Station Square Police Department was there. Half of them were maintaining the crowd, the other half yelling through bullhorns at Lilianne and Sonic.

"I guess the police think we're in cahoots with each other." Lilianne groaned. "We can't run, fly, or hide. We're dead!"

"Of course we can run!" Sonic exclaimed. "Hold my hand." Lilianne did what he said.

"Let's go."

With perfect accuracy, Sonic and Lilianne hopped off the roof, landed on the ground, feet first, and ran. Lilianne felt both excited, and scared. What would happen next? Was this a dream? It felt so real. Sonic and Lilianne ran into an alley, and jumped into an empty dumpster. They waited for the sounds of the crowd to die off. After what seemed to be forever, the two came out of their hiding place.

"Your parents must be worried sick by now." Sonic commented.

"They can't." Lilianne frowned. "They're dead."

"Well," Sonic continued, "Don't you have any family?"

"Angel's my family."

"Who's that?"

"My twin sister. She's been my only family since Mom and Dad died. If she finds out I'm involved with your dilemma, I'll be in major trouble. Now, can you take me home?"

"Sure can." Sonic answered. "Where to?"

"The alleyway between the Coffee Nook and One Man's Trash." Lilianne stated.

"Ok." Sonic said with his cocky grin on his face. He took Lilianne's hand, hopped onto the roof, and headed to the courtyard home. In the morning, he'd get answers to this mystery.