Chapter 2 - Red Runner
After stopping yet another one of Eggman's scheme's nearly two weeks ago, Sonic and Tails hung around New York for a bit and even stayed at a rather nice hotel, to which Sonic took advantage of the luxurious beds for his abnormal sleeping habits.
One night, he headed back their room alone, as Tails was still out doing whatever. Sonic yawned and plopped down onto his bed, too tired to watch TV; he didn't even bother to check on the Chaos Emeralds, which were lazily stuffed into a satchel on an armchair.
He just turned over without pulling over the covers or taking his shoes off; the pale light of the full moon shining through the window, and went right to sleep.
Unfortunately, being a heavy sleeper, Sonic failed to notice the conspicuous shadowy figure that lowered itself over the window with a rope and safety harness. Sonic and Tails' room was on the fifth floor, meaning one slip and he would fall many stories, likely to his death.
It was hard to remain stationary with the wind blowing through his black trench coat, causing him to swing a bit. But soon enough, he pulled out a razor and performed another cliché spy move by smoothly and soundlessly cutting a perfect circle in the window.
When the circle was completely cut, it suddenly leaned in, and it would've shattered and woke Sonic up if the shadowy figure hadn't caught the glass circle just in time; he then pulled it out and tossed it, not caring about who or what it would hit on the way down.
The shadow unclipped his vest and jumped in without a sound, and Sonic only snorted in response. The shadow stood up straight and rolled his eyes at the sight of the arrogant blue hedgehog, and that's when the glimmer of the Chaos Emeralds caught his eye.
The stranger threw the satchel strap over his shoulder, and secured the Emeralds inside by shutting the satchel tight. But the intruder's luck ran out when the door opened, and Tails walked in, immediately screaming when he turned on the lights and finally noticed the stranger.
"AHH! THEIF!" Tails' screams woke Sonic with a fright, but he was even more surprised to find a red hedgehog, dressed in a leather black trench coat, and wearing a mask Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle style, with the Chaos Emeralds in his grasp.
Before Sonic could even get off of the bed, the thief jumped back out the window and secured the rope, blowing a raspberry at Sonic before falling straight down.
Sonic wasn't going to give up that easily, though; without even thinking, he jumped out the window, too, plummeting towards the descending thief.
"Give those back!"
The stranger only looked at Sonic with a cocked brow, and he once again rolled his eyes at him before grabbing out a grappling hook gun, unhooking from the rope again before shooting the grappling hook at the corner of another building across the street. But just before he could swing away, Sonic grabbed the satchel and clung to it for dear life.
The two hedgehogs were now swinging around the corner of a building, the thief holding the grappling gun with one hand and satchel strap in the other; Sonic refused to let go, no matter how hard the red hedgehog tried to shake him off.
With Sonic's added weight, the thief wasn't able to focus on pulling himself up, and the two were sent swinging to a lower floor of the hotel, crashing through a window and landing in the gym.
The satchel flap flipped opened, and the seven Chaos Emeralds all spilled out. After the thief stood up and rubbed his head out of pain, he wiped off any little shards of glass, but was utterly shocked to find that the Emeralds had shattered.
The Chaos Emeralds are indestructible object of power, so a single fall would never break them. He glared at Sonic, who was chuckling as he picked himself up, holding his left arm from the pain.
"What? You thought I'd be stupid enough to take the Chaos Emeralds with me? I knew Eggman would be stupid enough ta come ta me for 'em, but you, too?" Sonic boasted, staring back into the thief's bright green eyes with confidence.
Luckily, the gym was closed hours ago, so no one around to get caught up in the line of fire; not even Sonic and the red hedgehog was fatally injured, just a few scratches and bruises.
"So, what do ya say? How about a good old fashioned bash, Buddy?" Sonic taunted and stood in a fighting stance, ignoring the pain in his arm, readying himself for anything…almost anything.
The red hedgehog, fast as lightning, ran up to Sonic and kicked him between his legs hard. Sonic screamed like little girl, collapsing to his knees and grabbing his crotch in pain.
Sonic slowly glanced up to see the thief turn and leave towards the exit, as he grabbed the satchel and dumped out the fake Chaos Emeralds, swinging the empty satchel over his shoulder to begin his search for the real emeralds.
But even though he didn't get away with the real Chaos Emeralds, Sonic wasn't going to let this pain in the neck get away that easily. But with all the pain in his groin, he could barely move. He frantically looked around for anything for anything, anything that could be used as a weapon. And then he found it.
He grabbed a fifteen pound dumbbell from the shelf, throwing it with all his hoped for the best. Next thing he knew, there was a loud thud and a grunt of pain. Bull's-eye.
Sonic was finally able to withstand the pain and get back up again, still holding his crotch, and the thief was stomping and holding his head with both hands in agony. He then pulled his hands away to check for blood, but there luckily wasn't any. The red hedgehog then gave Sonic the death glare, and he pulled his mask down around his neck.
"You hit me in the head with a DUMBBELL?!" When the thief finally spoke and removed his mask, he revealed a shocking feat: He was actually a she.
"You're a girl?!" Sonic gasped with just as much shock.
But he suddenly felt an aching pain in the back of his head, too, and grunted loudly while gripping his throbbing skull.
"You're pathetic, Sonic. Can't admit that you were beaten by a girl, so ya try ta bash her skull in? What is wrong with you?" the she-hedgehog growled, and Sonic's eyes widened when he heard her say his name.
"How do you know my name?"
"Why wouldn't I know the name of my sworn enemy?"
"What do you mean…wait…"
Sonic examined the red hedgehog closely, finally realizing how familiar she looked. He then recalled rescuing Tails from Eggman, and that red orb in the vat was burned into his memories. And then it hit him.
"You. You're the mutation Eggman created from my DNA…you're Red Runner!"
"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Red Dash cheered sarcastically, as she clapped slowly.
"What's Eggman planning?! Tell me! And what does he need you for?!" Sonic demanded.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm your doppelganger, Sonic, meaning anything you can do, I can do it, too. Except, I'm meant to do it all better, and you'll be gone once and for all."
"Ugh, you sound just like Eggman."
"I can't help it. The fat man created me!" Red Dash sounded like she was trying to tell a joke, and Sonic couldn't help but smirk. But out of nowhere, Red Runner suddenly broke down in a fidgeting mess, her quills charring from a bright light.
And as he tried to figure out what was happening, Sonic suddenly felt like her was being shocked in back of his neck as well, as if someone had stabbed him with a cattle taser. He soon collapsed in pain and paralysis, but unlike the red hedgehog, he powered through the agony and remained conscious.
"Sonic!" Tails exclaimed after the prods retracted back into his taser gun, and he rushed to the blue hedgehog's aid, "What happened?"
"If you're talkin' about the electric wave that just hit, I have no clue," Sonic meekly replied, "But I do know that we've met Eggman's little protégé."
Sonic and tails apologized to the hotel manger for the damage they caused, but miraculously got away with it due to Sonic's heroic reputation; after that, they didn't hesitate to bring the female hedgehog back to their room, making sure to tie her to the armchair tightly.
"Wow, I guess Eggman's a better doctor that he let on," Tails admitted in awe, as he examined the unconscious red hedgehog, "What I don't get is this strange connection between you two. You said you felt it when I shocked her, right?"
"Yeah. But each time she hurt me, she was totally unphased—it's a little unfair, if ya ask me," Sonic grumbled while crossing his arms.
"Well, what should we do now?"
"I say we keep her close by, try to get some information on Eggman's plan outta her."
"Sorry to burst your bubble, but this bird isn't gonna sing for you," Red Runner groggily informed after finally coming to, and she wore a confident smirk on her face.
"You say that now, but you'd be surprised to find just how persuasive I can be, Sister," Sonic joked with a wink and a thumbs up, making the female hedgehog scoff.
And then she growled, her words rolling off of her tongue like poison, "I despise being related to you."
"And vice versa, but that doesn't mean we can't help each other."
"And why would I help you?"
"Listen, he may be your 'dad' or whatever, but Eggman's a pretty horrible guy," Sonic began with air quotes.
"Definitely not a family man," Tails added dryly and shook his head.
"So, if you help us stop him, you won't have ta listen ta him, and you can be a free hedgehog. Deal?"
Sonic held out a hand to seal the deal, but the she-hedgehog only gave him a deadpan look, "My hands are kinda tied up. And even if they weren't, I still wouldn't indulge this stupid-GAH!"
All of a sudden, Red Runner's back arched and she threw her head back, her teeth were clenched and her hands balled into tight fists. She tried to move to make the pain go away, but her arms and legs could only fidget within their bindings.
"What's happening?" Tails questioned in fear, as both he and Sonic stepped back.
"My…chip…is short-circuiting…" she hissed through clenched teeth, "P-Please…you have to…get it out…"
"Where is it?" Sonic inquired.
"My…neck…UGH!"
Tails quickly approached to examine her neck, and he found a stitched up scar running down the back of it.
"How do we get it out?" Tails asked.
She was silent for a moment, a secret grin forming on her face as she leaned forward, "You can't."
In the blink of an eye, Red Runner reared her head back and bashed it into Tail's, nearly knocking him out. After leaning her head back, her quills cut through the bed linens that held her, and she went to work on freeing her ankles.
"You lied!" Sonic snapped, preparing for another fight.
"Sure I did. I'm a bad girl," Red Runner simply shrugged, "Au revoir!"
With that, she jumped and curled into a tight ball, glowing as she performed a Spin Dash and attacked Sonic, sending him flying back onto the bed. After ricocheting off of him, she flew out of the hole she cut in the window after grabbing her belongings.
Dazed and confused, Sonic stumbled off the bed and watched as she used her grappling hook to swing from building to building again.
"I ain't done with you yet, Sister," Sonic snarled and got a running start, jumping out of the window and breaking his fall by landing on a bounce pad below.
Be flew all the way up to the roof of another building, and set chase to Red Runner by jumping from rooftop to rooftop. His running proved to be faster than her swinging, but Red Runner wasn't going to let him get too close. At the trough of her swing, she kicked her legs up and pulled the hook back, landing on roof a few buildings ahead of Sonic.
She started sprinting at unimaginable speeds, taking Sonic by surprise; although, he knew he couldn't let this get to him, and picked up speed as well.
Unlike Red Runner, Sonic collected a few golden rings lined up on the roofs, quickly gaining more speed than her. Sonic went off and made a large turn, curling around until he met up with her in mid-jump between buildings.
The red hedgehog never expected it, and she was helplessly caught in the line of Sonic's spin dash; intense pain coursed through both hedgehog's ribs, and Red Runner swore she heard one snap upon impact.
Despite a rib breaking for Red Runner, Sonic only felt like the wind was knocked out of him. But now, both hedgehogs were plummeting, the busy streets of New York growing closer and closer. But maybe being the righteous hero he is, or not wanting to risk feeling her deadly landing, or maybe a combination of both, Sonic desperately reached out to Red Runner and held her close before landing on yet another bounce pad on the side of a building.
He held the meek red hedgehog bridal style as he bounced up to another rooftop, landing safely and gently putting her back down.
"You…didn't need…to do that," Red Runner grunted as she hunched over, holding an arm against her aching chest.
"Sorry, Sis, but you know what they say," Sonic protested while wagging a finger, "Twins can feel each other's pain."
These two sure do have a strange connection. Maybe it'll come back to bite them?
Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!