Chapter 8
It was 7:30 AM and Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were finishing up a breakfast of cereal, toast, and orange juice. They piled the dishes into the sink and put their shoes on. "Ok" said Sonic, "We'll cover more ground if we split up. I search the city perimeter. Knux, you search the west side. Be careful though, a lot of the gangs hang out there."
The red echidna grinned as he cracked his name-sake, "Don't worry, I know how to speak their language."
Sonic shook a finger at him, "Don't start any unnecessary mess. Think you can handle the east side Tails?"
Tails nodded vigorously, "Yeah. The east side is mostly parks, residential areas, and shops. It shouldn't be a problem."
Sonic gave the fox a thumbs-up, "Cool. Alright, let's get moving boys. Keep your communicators on. Tails, you left the note in the kitchen right?"
Tails replied, "Yep."
Sonic continued, "Good. We meet up on Central Street at noon." The meeting adjourned as each Mobian dashed to their areas and began to search for Shadow.
Knuckles strolled down the sidewalk with his shoulders back and his head high. Here in the west side, you had to look tough. The weak were picked on and exploited but the strong were left alone. He sauntered up to two rats hanging out under a streetlamp, "'Ey! You boys see a black hedgehog up in here?" The rats looked Knuckles up and down and decided it wasn't the best idea to jump him for money.
Instead the taller of the two said, "What's this info worth to ya dog?"
Knuckles replied, "That hedgehog is mah homie and I need to find 'im ASAP"
The shorter of the two asked, "Does this dude owe ya some green?"
Chaos I hate talking like this. But when in Rome… "Nah, he's justa bonehead in some deep shit. You know what I'm sayin'?"
The tall one nodded, "Yeah we hear ya. Listen brotha, you seem cool so we'll cut ya a deal. 10 bucks and ya get your info."
Knuckles growled, "Howz bout ya'll tell me or ya gonna be missing your buck teeth?"
The tall rat backed up, "Whoa, chill homedog! Ahrite we did see us a black hedgehog. He went on down to the booze shop k? No need to get nasty."
Knuckles smiled, "Thanks, stay fresh dogs."
Sonic dashed about the city's outer limits searching for Shadow. He asked people if they had seen him but no one seemed to know. A sonic boom was heard as the frustrated hedgehog sped across the land. He skidded to a stop at a chaotic construction site. Everyone was gasping and few screaming as they stared upward at some scaffolding. A worker was dangling from a beam at the top of a 5 story drop. After taking a minute to see if a rescue was already in the works and finding good places to jump on, Sonic took a running leap and jumped and flipped his way to the top. He helped the worker onto a wide, sturdy platform. At once the crowd below began to burst in cheers and applause. Feeling uncomfortable with all the attention, Sonic grinded down the structure and a flash of blue was the last glimpse the crowd got. Sonic came to a small neighborhood on the outskirts of the city and stopped to catch his breath. He was about to go when a small female kitten ran up to him with tears in her eyes, "Excuse me sir, can you help me?" The girls pleading eyes struck Sonic's soft spot for kids dead center.
He bent down and said in his kindest voice, "Of course. What the matter little girl, are you lost?"
She sniffled, "No but my pet frog is. Can you help me find him?"
Mentally Sonic was screaming, SERIOUSLY?! WHAT IS IT WITH CATS HAVING PET FROGS?! OH MOBIUS WHY? WHY ME?! Out loud he said, "Sure kid, let's go find that frog.
Tails looked at the display on the screen of his communicator. 11:40 AM. I better start heading to Central Street. With a twirl of his tails and small hop, the fox was airborne. Tails thought, Hmm… I managed to comb through the maze of shops and residential areas but no sign of Shadow. I hope the others had better luck. Tails arrived at Central Street where Sonic and Knuckles were just arriving as well, "Any luck?" the fox asked.
Knuckles crossed his arms, a scowl on his face, "Nope. I got a bogus tip from a couple of wanna-be 'ganstas' and blew the morning on that."
Sonic rubbed his temples and said, "This little kitten lost her pet frog and asked me to help her find it. I couldn't say no, she was close to tears."
Tails' ears drooped, "I didn't find anything either. Where could he be?"
Sonic put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry Tails, we'll find him." After a lunch break at a sandwich shop, everyone split up once more. It was fall this time of year so it was pleasantly cool with a slight breeze. If he wasn't on an important mission, Tails would have been enjoying a flight over the many parks on the east side of the city. Growing tired, he descended into a particularly large park with a small wood on it. He decided to search the woods first for sunset would be around 5 PM and the last thing he wanted was to be in the woods after dark. He looked in all of the secluded placers, calling Shadow's name as he did so. Tails sat down at the base of a tree and leaned against the bark.
He closed his eyes and sighed, Where are you Shadow? I swear, when I find him… well Sonic will probably beat me to it. I just hope he's ok…
Tails awoke with a gasp. He jumped to his feet and looked around till he remembered how he had ended up in the woods. "Oh man! I must have dozed off somehow! Guess I had less sleep last night than I thought. Boy, Sonic is going to be mad. I better call him." Tails tapped the dark screen of his communicator to no effect. He hit the power button but the screen flickered than powered off. "Crap! I must have forgotten to charge it!" A snapping twig made Tails' head jerk upwards and his ears stand at attention. Tails now realized that the woods were dark and full of shadows. His ears swiveled around his head in an attempt to pick up any noises that warned of danger. Tails even found himself sniffing the air like he had seen Sonic and Knuckles do when they were some place strange. Upon doing so, a horrible pungent scent came to him. It smelled of rotting flesh and blood. Tails resisted the urge to vomit as he began to silently move out of the woods. He was attempting to remain calm but another twig snapped and sent Tails off in a sprint. He burst from the woods into a more open expanse of park only to run into what felt solid as rock. He stepped back and realized he had crashed into someone's rock-hard abs. Tails' eyes traveled upwards before widening in terror. A huge fist slammed into his face and caused everything to go black.
Earlier in the day around 2:30 PM while Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were split up again, Shadow had reluctantly returned to apologize for his outburst, explain his actions, and try to make peace in general. After a drawing up his courage, he turned the knob and pushed the door open. "Guys?" shouted Shadow as he entered and removed his shoes. Much to his surprise, there was no answer. The house was eerily quiet. The T.V. was off, no sound came from the basement and the low rumble of Knuckles' snoring was absent. Shadow entered the kitchen to look around and spotted a scrap of paper on the table. He picked it up and read, "Shadow, when you didn't come home last night all of us got really worried about you. So this morning we went out looking for you. If you come back and we're still gone, use the house phone and call one of the three numbers below. –Tails, Sonic, and Knuckles." Shadow continued to stare at the note in shock. They're out looking for me? So does that mean…? Shadow ran and grabbed the house phone from the living room and dialed Tails's number. The phone rang and went to voicemail. Speaking quickly, Shadow said, "Tails, it's me Shadow. I'm back at the house. So, uh, come back. I'll be here. Bye."
Shadow hung up and dialed Sonic who answered immediately, "Shadow is that you?!"
Shadow replied, "Yeah, it's me."
"I'm gonna freakin' kill you man!"
Shadow winced at the shout, "Ow, that's my ear!"
Sonic said, "Chaos dude, you had us all worried to death! It doesn't help that there's a serial killer the loose too."
Shadow said in a puzzled tone, "Serial killer?"
Sonic groaned, "Ugh. Never mind. Let me tell the others and we'll be home soon. See ya." A click was heard as Sonic hung up. Shadow hung up the house phone and sat on the couch to wait.
Around 3:00 PM Sonic and Knuckles arrived home but Tails was nowhere to be found. "Where's Tails?" Shadow asked.
Sonic's features creased into a frown as he checked his communicator, "Come to think of it, he didn't respond to my text."
Shadow put in, "I actually called him first but he didn't pick up so left a voicemail and called you."
"Maybe it's dead and he doesn't know it?" suggested Knuckles.
Sonic replied, "It wouldn't surprise me, Tails forgets to charge his communicator all the time. Well he should still be in the east side of the city."
Knuckles said, "After lunch he said he was going to search the parks so all we need to do is go find and get him."
Shadow stood from his spot on the couch, "Well what are we waiting for? Come on!" Shadow Chaos Controlled them to the east side of the city and they began their search. It was dark out when they reached a large park with a small wood on it. They stopped at the entrance to the wood as Shadow said, "Do you think he could be in there?"
Sonic shook his head, "No, Tails is smart. He wouldn't hang around the woods after dark." Unable to continue looking in the darkness the stressed and worried hedgehogs and echidna returned home to grab flashlights. Having retrieved what they came for, the three stepped back outside as a police cruiser pulled up.
An officer got out, "Excuse me, would any of you young lads happen to be Sonic the Hedgehog and /or Knuckles the Echidna?"
Sonic and Knuckles stepped forward as the former said, "That's us. Is there a problem officer?"
The officer's face became grave, "Your friend Miles Prower has been abducted."
Author's Note: *Gasp!* The climax of our story has arrived! Will Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles be able to put aside past transgressions and work together? Or will distrust and infighting cause them to be too late? Please read, review, and most of all, enjoy!