ZONE 3: STARLIGHT CITY

ACT 1: BUGGY

Sonic didn't sleep. He couldn't–despite his own exhaustion, he knew it would be a huge risk to rest out in the open. So, he stayed up all night. He kept watch over Shadow until the stars began to fade from the sky, and the dark hedgehog stirred.

When Shadow awoke, he found himself tangled in a flower bed. He wasn't pleased at the soil that fell from his quills when he sat up, but it could've been worse. Instead of seeing a lush meadow and bright blue sky, he could've been looking at the pale green walls of the haunted hospital. For that reason, he decided to let it go.

Sonic looked up from the sunflower stem he was toying with. "Good morning, sunshine," he said cheerfully.

Shadow frowned. "What did you do?"

"Nothin' much," was Sonic's response. He spoke casually, his fingers still twisting the stem in his hands. "You did all the heavy lifting."

Shadow noticed the dark circles under Sonic's eyes, and understood. Not only had Sonic gotten them out of that ghost town, but he'd also sacrificed his own rest in order to ensure their safety. "I didn't need to rest," Shadow said, his frown deepening. "You shouldn't have–"

"Yeah," Sonic interrupted with a shrug, "but I did." Finally, Sonic stopped fiddling with the sunflower in his hands. He had tied it to a bunch of other flowers, creating a floral circlet which he then plopped onto his head with a lopsided grin. "You had me worried back there, Stripes. When you dropped like that, I figured it was about time I took the night shift. Simple as that."

Shadow wanted to get defensive. There was nothing to worry about, he was fine, and so on. But the truth was, he was a little concerned too. That searing pain was still fresh in his mind, and even though he was feeling better now, it bothered him not knowing what had caused it.

Of course, he had his suspicions… and that red hot energy–Chaos Energy, if that accursed ghost was to be believed–was his prime suspect.

Shadow folded his arms over his chest. "Your worry would be better spent on yourself," he told Sonic pointedly. "Instead of a stranger."

Propping his chin up with his hand, Sonic leaned forward and asked, "You really believe that?"

The clouds drifted lazily across the sky. There was no wind to fill the silence. Shadow knitted his brows, thinking over Sonic's question carefully. But there were no answers to be found, since his memory was still a black hole, filled only with empty hallways and distant echoes.

In the end, Shadow responded by pushing himself to his feet. He shuffled through the flowers until he was standing right in front of Sonic, who was watching him intently. Shadow offered him his hand. "The world is a stranger to me," he said. "You should understand that."

Sonic took Shadow's hand with a smile. Then, he pulled himself up. "From where I'm standing," Sonic said, "you look pretty familiar to me."

It wasn't long before they were off again. Shadow headed in the opposite direction from whence they came, trying to put as much distance between them and the ghost town as he could. Hopefully, they'd be able to find a real town next, and not another horror show.

During the trek, Sonic slept soundly in Shadow's arms. He didn't wake until Shadow shook his shoulders several hours later. The sun was hanging high in the sky now, and the flowers had disappeared. Where there once was endless greenery, Sonic could only see dirt and heavy steel beams strewn about. It looked like a construction zone.

Crinkling his nose, Sonic said, "Looks like things have gotten pretty ugly."

"Keep your voice down," Shadow hissed. "We're being watched."

Sonic's ears stood straight up. He looked around, but couldn't see anything moving among the beams and orange cones except for a few ribbons of caution tape, which swayed slightly in the breeze. It was only when he looked down at the dirt that he noticed it–a dark shape hiding inside of a hollow beam about 20 feet away.

Whatever it was, it was small. And when it noticed Sonic looking at it, it retreated further back into the beam, its glowing eyes blinking rapidly.

Frowning, Sonic whispered, "Stripes, I think it's… scared."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Or, it's bait."

The figure trembled in the darkness. It didn't look like bait to Sonic, but he could understand why Shadow might think that. After all, they'd already been attacked twice, and one of those times was by a building of all things. Even so, Sonic wasn't about to turn his back on a frightened little creature.

Sonic turned to Shadow. "I wanna check it out."

With an incredulous look, Shadow said, "What if it's dangerous?"

Sonic countered with, "What if it's hurt?"

Shadow pursed his lips. The intensity of Sonic's stare read like a challenge. So, Shadow set him down.

Once he was standing, Sonic started to creep forward, toward the shadowy figure. Shadow immediately grabbed him by the arm and gave him a hard look, but Sonic just waved his hand. Compared to the parasitic paranormal threat they'd just faced, this thing was small potatoes.

When he reached the opening to the beam, Sonic sat down in the dirt. His broken leg made it impossible to crouch, so that was really his only option if he wanted to keep his eyes on the thing hiding in the darkness. It watched him with wide eyes, eyes that Sonic now realized were electronic.

"How cool is that," Sonic whistled. "What's a thing like you doing in a place like this?"

Shadow knelt beside Sonic. He peered into the beam with a guarded expression. So, it was a robot?

The little robot didn't look at Shadow. It was focused entirely on Sonic, its glowing blue eyes still blinking rapidly. It was impossible to read its expression, since it had none, but it was clearly thinking hard about something. And after a few more seconds passed, it began to slowly inch forward toward the hedgehogs.

Shadow tensed, but Sonic grinned.

When the robot stuck its head out from inside of the beam, Sonic's grin widened. "Check it out, Stripes! It's a ladybug!"

Shadow didn't know of any ladybugs that had claws attached to their arms. He also didn't know of any ladybugs that rolled on a wheel instead of walked with their legs. But the little robot's dotted red pattern was definitely ladybug-like.

Shadow was still tense. "It's possible," he said slowly, "that this robot is a worker here."

Finally, the little robot looked away from Sonic. It stared at Shadow, unnerving him with its electronic gaze. But it remained silent. Maybe it was unable to speak?

"I dunno," Sonic said, "it's kinda small to be cartin' around all this scrap metal. The way I see it, this little guy's probably just lost." He waited until the robot's eyes were back on him before holding out his hand to it. "Don't worry, buddy. We won't hurt you."

Cautiously, the little robot tapped Sonic's finger with one of its claws. Then, it watched his eyes light up at the touch with confusion. The gears in its head were turning at mach speed. To the robot, it didn't make any sense. None of this did. Its sensors indicated that this was Sonic the Hedgehog, but if that was true, then why was he acting like this?

When Sonic petted the motobug's head, the poor robot just about blue screened from surprise.

"Blue, we should get moving." Shadow suddenly said. Now that he knew the robot wasn't a threat, he was starting to regret waking Sonic up.

The little robot's antennas twitched. Then, it looked down at Sonic's broken leg, and came up with an idea. Even though it was still questioning the validity of its scanners, it knew one thing for sure: Eggman wouldn't be happy if it let the real Sonic escape.

So, the motobug tapped Sonic on the chest, and then motioned to its back. Get on, it seemed to say.

It took Sonic a second to understand, but once he did, he could hardly contain his excitement. Before Shadow could stop him, he climbed onto the back of the little robot. It was the perfect size for a Mobian rider.

"It's not a worker, it's a buggy!" Sonic said, snickering. "Now we'll really be movin'! Yeah!"

Shadow looked like he was ready to send the robot to the junkyard. But after a few seconds passed and nothing bad happened, he had to admit that his reservations might be unwarranted this time. If the thing was going to transform into a giant mech bent on destroying them, surely it would've done so by now, instead of letting its engine purr when Sonic scratched the underside of its chin.

Exasperated, Shadow said, "Don't get your hopes up. We haven't seen the extent of its abilities yet."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. Then, he looked down at the motobug, his eyes bright with excitement. "Whaddaya say, little guy? Wanna go for a test drive?"

The robot twirled its antennas and revved its engine. A race was the perfect excuse to give its processors time to sort out the mystery of the blue hedgehog's true identity.

"Don't hold back," Shadow told the robot. Then, a small smirk appeared on his face when he added, "But know this–I won't lose to you."

Like a shot, Shadow took off toward the city skyline at the far end of the construction zone.

Sonic's eyes widened at the cloud of dust he left behind. His heart beat fast in his chest, the challenge exciting him. He grabbed the motobug's antennas and ushered it forward, saying, "C'mon, little buddy! Let's show Stripes a thing or two about speed!"

The motobug chirped, and then sped off in pursuit of Shadow, with Sonic cheering the whole way.