CHAPTER 1, War!

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"Got my back?"

"I'm right here, relax."

"They're right over there, you know."

"I can see them!"

"Good, cover me."

"What? That's suicide!"

"Would you rather run out there?"

"There's ten people, one of which has a bazooka! Of course not I'm just running out there-"

"Ok, then. Cover me."

"Sonic! You are an idiot!"

"At least I'm not a coward! Oh, by the way, watch out for that guy over there, Silver…"

"HOLY CRAP!" Silver unloaded his pistol into the oncoming soldier's head. His dead opponent slumped to the ground, blood pooling around his body.

"Nice save. Here we go…" Sonic ran out into the midst of battle.

"Wait, they've got backup!" Silver shouted.

"Oh, no! No wonder there's only ten guards!" Sonic turned, but was quickly gunned down. "Aaack! Get out of here, Silver! Save yourself!"

"But I can't leave you!"

"You two are a duo of drama queens," Knuckles sighed, turning the TV volume down halfway. The sounds of the war game ceased almost entirely, except for the shouts of Sonic's dying character.

"We're in the moment, man! Don't distract us!" Sonic growled, respawning at their base's spawn unit. He picked up a rifle and darted out into the onslaught again, yelling into his headset, "Blaze, get your people around to meet us!"

Knuckles just sighed and turned his attention on the two gamers, who were more interesting than what was happening on-screen. Their expressions were downright hilarious.

"I'VE GOT THEIR FLAG! I'VE GOT THEIR FLAG! I'VE-never mind," Silver growled as he retrieved the opposite team's flag and was then brought down by a grenade.

"Nice try." Sonic muttered, shooting randomly into the battle.

Silver tapped the side of his headset. "Um…hey, Tails, know where Shadow is? He wasn't online today…or the many weeks before this."

"Oh, so now you've got Tails playing this?" Knuckles demanded.

"Yeah. He's the best player." Sonic pointed to the screen, where a guy in camouflage was lying out bombs. "Strategy and defense specialist. All of us guys are just there to be sacrificed. And to find him weapons."

"You should play, Knuckles." Silver said. "We have our own team on here…whenever we're online together we team up and ambush the other guys. It's awesome!"

The bomb lying out guy was now shooting, luring a tank into the trap. With a loud explosion and a burst of flame, the tank was sent sky-high. Sonic and Silver cheered.

"Now that was an awesome explosion!"

"Do it again!"

"Oh, look there! Rouge's online too!" Sonic pointed to a character dressed in dark purple holding what appeared to be an armload of grenades. "She bombs people like an expert. Blaze, can you patch me through to her?"

Knuckles grabbed the last remote. "Let me in on this. I'll win for you."

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"I've never seen anything like that before…" Sonic said.

"Me neither. At least we won." Silver said back.

"Barely."

"But we won."

"I didn't know Eggman played this game too."

"I didn't know he was actually good…"

"Man, that was intense battle."

"Tell me about it."

"Why don't you FaceBook it, then?" Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Hey, yeah!"

So while they were doing that, Knuckles disconnected the X-Box and switched to cable to see if anything worth watching was on.

A 'breaking news' bulletin caught his eye.

"I THINK YOU TWO SHOULD SEE THIS!"

Sonic and Silver were over in a flash, staring wide-eyed at the screen. The scene on the screen was only a slight distance down the road…the small prison of the county. But it was who was being brought to the high-security doors that made them worry.

"That's…that's Shadow!" Silver stuttered.

"What happened?" Sonic demanded.

"They caught him a little ways out from Emerald Town." Knuckles said. "But…I don't understand it. The charges he's accused with are outrageous! Twenty plus charges of death and mutilation… it sounds like that's right out of the game you two were playing."

"That's kinda what's so scary about this." Silver whispered. "Shadow never did anything like that…did he? I mean…"

"Not that I remember." Sonic answered. "Something doesn't seem right."

"Really," Knuckles said sarcastically.

"Maybe Rouge knows something. She is a spy, after all. But something tells me this is serious; and sort of out of her department."

"Worth a try, anyway." Silver picked up the phone.

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"I don't understand this either. And the president of my group won't tell me anything."

Sonic, Silver and Knuckles sighed heavily. "I guess that means we have to head over there for ourselves and get to the bottom of this." Sonic muttered.

"That's the best we can do right now." Rouge admitted, shrugging. "Later I can see if I can hack into the computer at base…see if I can find anything at all on this."

"All the help we can get will be greatly appreciated." Silver promised. "Until then we're investigating Emerald Town….asking people stuff…you know."

"Very specific." Rouge sighed. "Good luck, anyway."

She flew away, leaving the other three to decide what to do.

"See you slowpokes in about an hour," Sonic ran off.

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"To tell you the truth, I haven't heard a word of this until it got onto TV," The citizen scratched his head. "Sorry…"

"It's ok." Silver shrugged. "I just want to hear the full story. It didn't say anything really on the news; just that Shadow had been captured outside your town."

"Exacally what I heard," The man turned and left, entering into a small café. Silver was left standing nearby a bench, sort of frustrated. No one had been able to tell him anything else about Shadow's capture…even the people that lived on the outskirts of Emerald Town. In fact, a few of them didn't even know what he was talking about.

"Any luck?" Knuckles came up behind him.

"No…you?"

"Nothing. Just a few people saw a few military helicopters. Nothing out of the ordinary. Where's Sonic?"

"No clue. Maybe he found something."

The two of them began wondering the town, finally stumbling on their friend who was standing and staring into an ice cream shop.

"Do you see that?" Sonic demanded.

"What? A new flavor?" Silver asked.

"No, on the TV in there!"

"Shit! Get in, I've got to hear this!" Knuckles pushed them both into the shop, where they quickly claimed a table and stared intensively at the TV.

"How much of this did we miss?" Silver asked.

"No clue. Be quiet!"

The subtitles were quickly scrolling across the screen, and that was the only reason they were able to keep up with what was going on. Another report was being filed on Shadow's case, saying ten more people had turned up dead with complete evidence he had murdered them. Ten ordinary people…

"This is messed up." Sonic sighed.

"They're taking him to Prison Island in a few weeks, I think," Silver whispered. "But why him? Why is someone framing him like this? Is it intentional? Accidental? What the heck is really going on here? Is this all just a mistake? Is this…"

"Be quiet!" Sonic and Knuckles hissed.

But the news bulletin had passed, going on to the latest news about a break-in. Knuckles stood and headed for the door. "Come on. We've got work to do."

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"Anything?"

An explosion of gunfire.

"No, sorry. The computer's blocked…and coded. It's beyond my abilities. I really wish there was something else I could do, but-"

"Rouge, We've literally spent all day asking around about the news clip. No one can confirm it. It's as though it never happened in Emerald Town, which means GUN just found Shadow and used these murders as an excuse to capture him." Sonic tapped his headset. "Besides…this whole thing is really scaring me. If Shadow didn't do these murders, then who did?"

"I don't know."

"Then we're getting nowhere."

Sonic played the war game for a few minuets. Rouge did the same. Finally the silence was broken as a new voice came over the headset.

"What if we talk to Shadow? I mean…they'll probably let us see him."

"The only probablem with that is they say he's a murderer and they would want nothing more than our safety when in reality he's not the real threat. Sorry, Tails." Sonic sighed.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Rouge said thoughtfully. "We'll head over there in a week; I've got an assignment from GUN until then. And if they refuse us I can get us in."

"Great. I don't know about you, but this game isn't the same without him."

And so the search begins. What will they find? This chapter isn't exacally M-ish, but the later ones will be…*Shudders in horror yet to come* This chap was more 'comic relief'. Because horror and humor for me are like bread and butter. Can't write stories without one or the other.

And I like Halo.

Reviews are appreciated! Until next time:

Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28

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