Kago No Naka Ni Tamago

"I know what you want from me!" The girl cried desperately. "I can tell you right now that you'll never get it! Never!"

The evil man turned from his computer. "You'll regret ever saying that to me, Princess."

"WARNING! WARNING! ALL SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN! PREPARE FOR CRASH LANDING!"

"Oh no!" The girl sobbed.

Midnight, 5 June 2020

Princess Cosmo was standing beneath the burning flames of the statue, all royalty and elegance. The two pink flowers that had bloomed perfectly on her head seemed to rejoice with the rest of her as the Seedrian lifted her pale yellowish hand to the sky amidst cheers and whistlings from the massive crowd around her. People had come for miles to see the marvelous Goddess of Light Festival—known to all as the Hikari no Megami Festival. She wanted to make a good impression for all of Soleana, a town generally disliked for its stench.

Presently, a great shadow came over her head, and a great hoard of strange metallic monsters fell from the clouds above and landed upon the podium, shaking it with their weight. They stood at great attention, their guns perfectly held in their clawed hands. They looked oddly regal in the dark twilight.

"Princess, are you all right?" One of her maids chattered in her ear.

"Fine, Blossom."

"I'm Buttercup, m'lady."

"Buttercup, then." Cosmo was busy paying attention to the small craft that was now descending from the great shadow—a larger airship built for battle and other comforts. A warship. That made the young princess uneasy.

The form that now greeted their presence was a man with a distended stomach dressed in a red jacket with golden buttons, which served no purpose, and faded white fasteners across the chest. He wore black leather leggings—quite unflattering to his chubby legs-and boots from the sound of it. Instinctively, Cosmo took a step backward, unwillingly shaking with fright in her green satin slippers.

"Ah, the Princess of Soleana," the fat man introduced himself with a flourish of hand and body gestures. "You may be wondering who I am and why I'm here. I am Doctor Eggman, and I've come here to learn the secrets of the Flames from you, and to take the miracle gems that are the key to its secret—the Chaos Emeralds! Ah, I see you have one right now."

The Chaos Emerald hidden beneath the folds of her dress had now begun to glow brightly. What a wretched time to show yourself, thought Cosmo, looking with angry determination at Doctor Eggman, who had now extended her hand towards her.

"Now, Princess, this way, please."

Cosmo shook her head, shouting at him. "I'll never go with you, you gluttonous fool! Get away from my city or you'll regret it!"

Suddenly, there was a whirlwind of blue air, and Cosmo found herself standing next to a handsome young hedgehog with cobalt blue fur. His green eyes danced against the flames as he flashed a confident smile towards the Doctor. He didn't seem at all afraid, and this fed Cosmo's confidence and bravery. The flames also seemed to react to him, as did the Emerald she was now holding.

"What she said, Egghead!" Shouted the hedgehog, cupping his hands over his mouth for further effect. "You're not getting this Chaos Emerald, or this Princess, on my watch!"

"Not that irritating hedgehog again!" The Doctor shouted. "Fire away! All of you!" This seemed to be directed at his robots, for, indeed, they did begin to fire at the hedgehog.

Her three maids, who were triplets, began to tug and pull at her sleeves. "Let's go, Princess," they urged. Cosmo, however, couldn't move a step. She was watching the blue hedgehog with admiration as he performed feats of acrobatic merit and made short work of the robot hoard which had overwhelmed her before.

A short gust of wind, and the blue hedgehog was beside her, leaning against thin air with perfect ease, arms hugging his upper body. "I think your ladies are right, Princess," his gaze hugged hers for a moment. There was a look of burning confidence within. "It's not safe here for you." He closed his eyes and was gone. Minutes later, he could be seen in front of them, the remains of a robot lying at his sneaker-clad feat.

Two of the triplets, Blossom and Bellflower, had Cosmo by either arm. The Chaos Emerald was tucked away carefully out of sight—hidden cleverly in Buttercup's sleeve. Buttercup herself was urging her sisters to tug and pull the Princess forcefully towards the boat. But, Cosmo had one more duty to perform. "I must have your name, great runner!" She implored him.

The blue hedgehog bowed. "I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!" In another second, he was nothing but wind as the Doctor cried in despair at the destruction.

"Fire! Fire, you idiots! FIRE!"

"Your boat awaits, Princess!" Bellflower insisted, giving one final tug. Reluctantly, Cosmo went away with them, all the while looking back towards the blue lad that had saved her.

Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog.

Midmorning, 5 June 2020

"Would you care for breakfast on the deck, m'lady?" Her servant, Aster, a young tom cat with black fur, asked.

"Thank you, yes. Is it ready?" Cosmo had been studying in her room, but was feeling hungry now.

"Yes, m'lady."

"Good then. You may go, Aster." Cosmo arose from the stool at her vanity and walked to the deck.

The deck, like everything else at the palace, was made of fresh white marble the color of an unhatched egg. It had a lovely domed half roof trimmed with a silvery turquoise color in case of rain or excess sun, and a small white wire table and chair for one, covered with a powder blue silk tablecloth which was replaced once a month with one of a similar or different color, as the Princess chose.

Princess Cosmo's breakfast consisted of a miniature wedding cake the size of a small pastry, served with a vanilla milkshake and a glass of lime flavored sparkling water. The deck was fenced in with great pillars that reached to her waist when she stood, decorated with white water lilies and (for the occasion) some sort of flower that looked like a burning flame, and had a great view of the city. Cosmo sipped her vanilla milkshake and watched the merry cleanup crews going about their business, using fish nets and butterfly nets to fetch the flowers from the canals. Life in Soleana had resumed as if nothing had happened that morning. And no one had seen head or tail of the lad called Sonic. It was almost as if she had never existed.

Cosmo sighed, leaning back against the wire frame of her chair. She had liked the feel of adventure she got from watching and listening to Sonic. His voice sang of triumphs for the Greater Good and many days spent running across the endless ground. All Cosmo had ever seen throughout her life was the palace and, as much fun as it was to explore the many millions of corridors, and play hide-and-seek with any servants or servants' children who would humor her, life was idle and boring for the Princess of a nothing town like Soleana.

Cosmo took a forkful of cake and put it to her lips when Bellflower, a blue Seedrian with shoulder-length hair and a dress that mimicked Cosmo's, but for its color, that was much shorter for the sake of her station, entered the deck from the inside and curtsied. "Princess, the information you wanted on Sonic the Hedgehog has just arrived." She held a light blue folder tight in her hands.

"Let me see that, Bell," Cosmo, intrigued, held out her hand for the folder. Bellflower handed it over and curtsied, leaving with a courteous 'm'lady' over her shoulder.

After Bellflower had left, Cosmo opened up the folder. Instantly, she saw a score of newspaper clippings with headlines like: "Sonic Saves the Day Again" and "Superfast Hero: Protector of All." The newspaper stories told of heroics against Doctor Eggman, and various other smaller scale crime circles, and the quotes reporters caught from Sonic—a score of "It was nothing"s and "All in a day's work"s—even these told her nothing of what she really wanted to know. She studied full-color and black and white photographs of him, caught in action and sometimes blurry, but they told her nothing, save that whatever he was doing in the photos, he had fun doing it!

"Oh!" She said in despair, throwing down the folder. "But they don't tell me about his personality at all!"

"I hardly want them to." The sudden intrusion of a voice that was not her own or her maids' startled her, so she jumped, upsetting her water in the process. "I think half of my appeal comes from my mystery. I hope you'll forgive me for scaring you? I made you upset your drink." He was smirking, sitting precariously perched on the edge of the deck, his fur strikingly beautiful in full sunlight.

"Yes, it's all right." Cosmo was both surprised and delighted from his intrusion. "Did you stay the night in Soleana?"

Sonic shrugged. "I slept on a rooftop in a nearby town, there-" he thumbed toward the west, "I came back to see if any of the vendors were still up. Guess not." He closed his eyes a moment, facing the wind.

"Yes. Most of them stay the night in the city and close down early in the morning. Most of them are gone by now. Were you looking for anything in particular?"

"Not…so particular, thank you, Princess. And I can hardly ask a sovereign to serve me, even if I don't live here." Sonic was smiling again, facing her. His eyes glowed with vivacity.

Cosmo found herself laughing though he had made a joke. He made her feel joyful. "I think, sir, I would be just like everyone else any other place on this planet," She waved her arm out to demonstrate.

"You can't escape who you are," Sonic answered, wagging his finger at her. "Find out who you are, and be that well. That's all anyone asks of you."

"What I wouldn't give to travel the world like you!" Cosmo beamed, sipping her milkshake again. "I'd love to see it all."

Sonic frowned a moment and looked away. "Sorry. I'm in ill temper. I think it best if I take my leave."

"Please don't go!" Cosmo pleaded.

"On my honor, I cannot refuse your orders," Sonic replied with a sigh. "But I'm afraid I'm quite out of sorts."

Cosmo giggled. "If I know the little boys in the castle well—and I think I do—then I know what's bothering you. Why else would you come back?" She laughed aloud. "You're hungry!"

Sonic flushed. "I suppose…a little. But my ill humor is due to other sources, I assure you. I-"

"Relax, adventurer. I'll have Aster fetch you something to eat and we can talk. I'm afraid I only eat pastries. Will that do?"

"Your Ladyship," Sonic bowed, "I cannot be picky in your presence. Pastries are fine."

After some pastries had been fetched for Sonic, Cosmo had finished her own breakfast, and the two were sitting comfortably, the Princess looked to her companion, sitting with his knees to his chest atop the dome, soaking up the rays of the sun from the beautiful summer day.

"I should like to see the east," she said.

"It's cold there. It snows nearly all year round." Sonic replied. "The air even tastes of snow, when a storm isn't around. They make this treat called Flavored Ice out of real snow! It's pretty good."

"It sounds like it!" Cosmo exclaimed. "I'd like to try it!"

"As Princess, you could probably get it." Sonic responded, winking. "I can be there and back in a couple of hours."

"Really? You travel faster than my late father's airplanes!"

Sonic rested his head on his knees. "Yeah. Usually, it would take me two days to get to the east from here, but…I can rush. I travel more for leisure than anything else."

"Perhaps I will send you out to get some for me! But I have a question first."

"Go ahead." Sonic tightened his shoe straps.

"Do you follow Doctor Eggman? I've seen a lot of newspaper clippings that depict you defeating him."

"Eh…" Sonic squinted. "Yes and no. It's hard for me to tell if I follow Eggman or Eggman follows me, but either way we cross paths occasionally. And I stop him."

"All right. That's enough question and answer. Can you get me that Frozen Ice?"

"Flavored Ice. And can I refuse?" Sonic jumped down until he was perched like a cat on the fence around the deck. "Back in a few hours, my Princess." And with a bow, he was gone in a flash of blue wind.

Cosmo called to Aster to clear away the table and retired inside to her own room to wait for Sonic. Presently, a great commotion came from the first level of the palace. At first, she thought it was the servants' children getting into trouble and paid no mind to it. However, she was forced to when Buttercup and Blossom, purple and pink Seedrians looking identical to their sister otherwise, burst in.

"Princess!" They cried, quite out of breath. "The palace is under siege!"

Midday, 5 June 2020

"So glad to see you again, Princess. I hope your temporary lodgings were to your liking?"

Cosmo, tied to a chair, watched the evil Doctor pacing to no end in front of the largest computer she had ever seen with as much distaste and hatred as her twelve-year-old body could hold. "Sonic will stop you!" She growled.

"He may, he may not." Doctor Eggman continued to pace, staring at intervals at the computer and the floor below him. "That all depends on his timing. Which is usually annoyingly punctual. How pleasant for you." He smiled sardonically at her. "Mind, he won't rescue you until I get what I came here for."

"I know what you want!" Cosmo cried desperately, determined to be defiant to the end. "You'll never get it! Never! I don't even have it with me!"

"Liar!" Eggman growled, pounding his fist on his computer. "You will give it to me! NOW!" His eyes, behind the tiny circular glasses, seemed to glow bright red.

"Never." Cosmo was firm in her decision. Eggman knew he couldn't win.

"You'll regret ever saying that to me, Princess."

"WARNING!" The ship's computer bleeped. "WARNING! ALL SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN!"

"WHAT?" The Doctor bellowed. Cosmo, both relieved and afraid, realized she was not prepared for everything that meant.

"SYSTEMS FAILING! ALL PASSENGERS PREPARE FOR IMMINENT CRASH LANDING!"

"Oh no!" Cosmo sobbed. All she could think about was Sonic. Why hadn't he been there to save her?

Why?

Why?

Why indeed. As Sonic stood helplessly, watching the warship crash, he felt a sinking in his heart. A big empty hole began to tear itself in his chest. "COSMO!" He cried out as if in pain.

But it was too late.

He couldn't return to Soleana, he couldn't face his friends, he couldn't face anyone. There was only one thing left to do. He had to turn himself in as a murderer and hopefully be sentenced to death or life in prison. It didn't matter. There was no worth to his life now that someone had died under his watch.

As he came upon a clearing just outside of Soleana, the internal warning system which alerted him when danger was near went off in his head, but he chose to ignore it.

Sweet pain thus ended his world.

We are what we are in this world. A hero is a hero.

However,

When a hero becomes too confident and stupid, and a life is lost...

That is called putting all your eggs in one basket.