This chapter's a little longer than the previous one, but hopefully it'll be worth it :)

Chapter 2: Friendship

It had been about a month since Dr. Robotnik had attacked South Island and G. U. N. forces were posted all over the place, making the remaining civilians feel secure but also frightened. The schools during this time were no longer in session, though the teachers still gave their students homework to do via online assignments. This didn't bode well for Sonny, who struggled to understand some of the subject material without a teacher to explain anything to him. He was also constantly thinking about whether he should tell his parents about the attack or not.

I feel I should tell them, but I know they'll freak out and probably send me somewhere else, Sonny thought as he lay in his bed one night. I know I haven't been here for long, but I don't think I want to leave just yet despite the danger this Dr. Robotnik guy presents.

Then Sonny yawned, and found himself drifting into sleep. Soon, he was dreaming, but it wasn't a pleasant one. There was a volcano erupting on a small island, with fire and lava spreading everywhere. In the midst of the fires emerged a small figure that looked like a fox with two tails spinning rapidly. But as the figure approached Sonny, another figure emerged behind it. This one had spikes coming from its head with glowing red eyes that pierced through the thick smoke that clouded Sonny's vision. Sonny tried to warn the fox-shaped figure, but then his alarm went off and he woke up.

Feeling beads of sweat coming down his forehead, Sonny sighed and wiped it away. He got out of bed and opened up his laptop, a blue Macbook with a white sticker shaped like a flaming orb on the back, which was located on a small wooden desk his parents bought him to go with the apartment. Next, he went onto the school's web-page and apart from the latest homework assignments, he found two emails in his inbox. The first was an announcement that school would be starting up again the following week as G. U. N. had determined that Dr. Robotnik wasn't going to strike again anytime soon. That email made Sonny feel relieved, but the second one made him cringe. It was from Mr. Chaplain, and he was offering Sonny a position on the school track-team because of his record-breaking run on the first day of school. Sonny pondered this issue over a breakfast of scrambled egg over a leftover chili-dog, but he couldn't decide what to do. Afterwards, Sonny got to work on the new batch of homework assignments.

###

Sometime around noon, Sonny decided to take a break and go outside. He took his skateboard out of the shed, and skated off to one of the parks on the island. Fortunately there was no one around, as most of the civilians preferred to stay indoors in fear of another attack by Dr. Robotnik, which allowed Sonny to test his new 'power' in secret. After stretching his arms and legs, Sonny ran as fast as he could. Eventually he got tired, but Sonny kept pushing on and that's when it happened. His legs got faster, the world around him suddenly blurred, and his exhaustion suddenly went away. After a brief period of running like this, Sonny willed himself to stop by braking his feet. The friction of his shoes rubbing against the cement forcefully caused the rubber on his soles to burn off and when he did stop, there was a trail of scorch-marks.

"If this keeps up, I'm going to have to buy new shoes every week," Sonny said to himself as he removed his shoes, which were worn down with the soles barely on. Then he looked at the stopwatch he wore around his neck and read, "Ten seconds."

Then Sonny looked around for a trail-marker to tell him how far he ran, and found one that said One Mile. Surprised, Sonny ran back the way he came, and did the same thing. By the time he got to his skateboard, the stopwatch read '00:09'.

"Either I just got a little faster or I'm starting to get the hang of this thing I can do," Sonny mused. "Probably should come up with a name for it."

He thought about it on the skateboard ride home, and one name seemed come up constantly in his head: the Sonic Phase. Sonny wasn't sure where it came from, but the name seemed fitting enough. Then as an experiment, Sonny tried to activate it while on his skateboard but nothing happened to his disappointment.

###

A week later when school was back in session, Sonny decided he would try to talk to Miles. He wanted to thank him for what he did when the robots attacked the school, but it seemed that Miles was too preoccupied. Not only was he constantly followed by Zak, Zaz, and Zom but Miles also tended to walk away whenever Sonny approached him. So Sonny decided to not do anything about it and let Miles come to him instead. Another two weeks passed and then one day during lunch period, Sonny was taking a nap at his desk in Ms. Hare's class when he heard a voice address him.

"Hey, um, Sonny?"

Sonny opened his eyes and saw Miles standing in front of him. He was a short boy with a child-like face, blue eyes, and wore an orange hoodie over tan-colored shorts. His shoes were sneakers with a red and white pattern and he carried a small yellow lunchbox in his hands that matched his short blond hair.

"Yeah, what's up?" Sonny replied casually.

"Do you, um, want to have lunch with me?" Miles asked nervously.

"Sure."

A smile beamed across Miles' face and he led Sonny to his favorite place. It was up on the school's rooftop, which Miles accessed with a key he copied with permission from the janitor's one, and behind a ventilation shaft. The cool air coming from it felt good against Sonny's back as he chowed down on a homemade chili-dog while Miles was eating a sandwich of some kind. For a while, neither of them spoke, and then Sonny said, "So I…wanted to thank you for bringing me inside while I was unconscious. If you hadn't done that I might've been captured or killed by those robots."

"Oh, it was nothing," Miles said as he blushed slightly.

"No, I'm serious," Sonny replied looking directly at Miles. "I owe you big time, Miles, and I'd like to make it up to you somehow."

"You don't have to do that for me. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Aren't you getting tired of those bullies picking on you constantly and making you do their homework?"

"Its none of your business, Sonny!"

Sonny was taken aback by Miles' sharp reply and said, "All right. I was just going to offer to be your friend."

"Friend? We barely know each other."

"Well, better acquaintances at the very least." Sonny finished his chili-dog and held out his hand. "For starters, I think we should properly introduce ourselves. My name is Sonny Hedge."

Miles hesitated for a moment, and then he took Sonny's hand. "I'm Miles Prower."

"Nice to meet you, Tails – I mean, Miles."

Before Miles could reply, the bell rang and the two left the rooftop quickly.

###

What the hell's wrong with me? Sonny wondered as he walked over to his school locker. Why did I say that? I don't even know who 'Tails' is.

After shaking his head, Sonny turned the nob on his combination lock and opened up his locker. Inside were his textbooks and backpack, but his skateboard was missing. Concerned, Sonny removed his backpack from the locker but found no trace of the skateboard anywhere.

"Hey, new kid. Looking for something?"

Sonny turned around and saw Zak standing behind him. Zaz and Zom where there too, and they seem pleased about something. Then before Sonny could answer, Zom reached under his T-shirt and pulled out Sonny's skateboard which was torn in half and the wheels were removed.

"How did you guys get into my locker?" Sonny said, trying to hide his anger.

"That was Miles' doing," Zak said as he took the broken skateboard halves from Zom's hands.

"He had lunch with you today, right?" Zaz said tauntingly. "Well, he did it so he could access the combination to your locker when you exchanged phone-numbers, which allowed us to break in and destroy your precious skateboard."

"How do you know all this?" Then Sonny realized what was going on. "You guys set him up to do it, didn't you?"

"Uh, maybe," Zom said.

"Shut up, Zom!" Zak snapped. Then he grinned at Sonny. "You can tell a teacher about it if you want to, but Miles will still get in trouble if you do."

Then Zak threw Sonny's broken skateboard down on the floor and walked away laughing. Zaz and Zom followed Zak's example, and laughed away while Sonny was speechless. He picked up his broken skateboard, his backpack, and slammed the locker shut before leaving. Once he was outside the school building, he saw Miles running towards him, but Sonny just ignored him.

"Sonny, what's wrong?" Miles asked, blocking Sonny's way. But when he saw the broken skateboard, Miles looked away. "I bet you hate me now."

"Why?" Sonny seemed perplexed. "It wasn't your fault. They made you get my combination from my cellphone, right?"

Miles nodded slowly. "Yes, but I didn't want to."

"So why should I hate you for doing something you didn't want to do?"

"But your skateboard—

"It's no big deal. I'll just buy a new one."

"No. Let me fix it, and I'll bring it to you tomorrow morning."

"Are you crazy? You can't fix a skateboard this damaged overnight."

"I still want to because…you're my friend."

A sudden cry came from a pink-haired girl who was standing nearby and pointing at something in the sky. The two boys looked up and were surprised to see a group of the same robots that attacked before flying overhead. They didn't seem to notice the kids, or pay attention to them, and they flew over the downtown area which caught the attention of some G. U. N. tanks who immediately fired at them. While most of the robots stayed behind to fire lasers at the tanks, a few pressed on towards a suburban area located near the tropical forests.

"Wait a minute, that's where my house is," Miles muttered, and took the broken skateboard pieces from Sonny. "I have to go."

As Miles ran in the direction of the downtown area, Sonny shouted, "Miles, wait! You could get killed out there!"

When Miles didn't listen, Sonny ran after him and tried to activate the Sonic Phase again. It worked, but then just as he caught up to Miles something amazing happened. The blue aura appeared again, and it clouded Sonny's vision till he could see nothing else.

###

Miles was just about to cross the street to get past the G. U. N. tanks when suddenly he was picked up by something. He looked down to see what it was, but all Miles saw was a blue blur carrying him above the streets which seemed to vanish beneath. Then before Miles could speak, the blur dropped him off at the nearest bus-stop and went off in the direction of where the robots were heading. At first, Miles was speechless, but then he followed along the blur's path.

"Chaos Emerald detected," one of the five robots said as the group approached a two-story house at the edge of the town. "It is inside that house."

The other robots responded by circling the house and firing their lasers at the windows. Glass and wood shattered instantly and the robots flew in through the openings. Then the robot who spoke made its way to the front door and was about to fire its laser when Sonic appeared between it and the door.

"Did you miss me?" Sonic asked coyly.

Immediately, the robot fired its laser, but Sonic immediately jumped up and curled into a ball. Then he landed on the robot's head causing it to shatter. From the wreckage emerged a small girl who looked around in confusion. Surprised, Sonic knelt down and helped the girl out.

"Are you okay, kid?" Sonic asked.

"I think so," the girl said sluggishly.

"What were you doing inside that robot?"

"I don't know, I—

The front window suddenly shattered open from the inside, causing the girl to scream and Sonic to shield her from the glass. A robot emerged carrying something in its metallic fingers. Then three others followed and they were just about to fly away when a yellow ball with tails came falling out of the sky and hit every single robot on the head. From these robots emerged small children as well, but they were caught by the yellow ball before they could hit the ground. In the process, the yellow ball uncurled itself, revealing it to be a boy with short blond hair, blue slanted pupils, and he had a pair of fox ears and two tails spinning rapidly to keep himself from falling.

"Tails!" Sonic cried, lowering the girl who had passed out after the window shattered.

"Sonic!" the boy replied, lowering the four children gently onto the sidewalk.

Like the girl, they were so dizzy that they collapsed onto the sidewalk and rubbed their heads in confusion. Meanwhile, the fox-eared boy Tails flew up to Sonic and the two embraced while laughing. After a few minutes, they let go and stared at each other quietly.

"I thought I lost you, buddy," Sonic said.

"Same here," Tails replied. Then he looked briefly around. "So where are we?"

"I'm not sure." Sonic looked down at his hand and gripped it tightly. "All I do know is that these bodies are not our own."

"Yeah, I thought I felt strange," Tails said as he looked at himself. "What do you think—

Then Tails suddenly passed out on the front lawn of the house, followed by Sonic.

###

"Sonny, wake up!"

Sonny's eyes fluttered and he found himself lying on a bed in an unfamiliar bedroom. He looked over to his right and saw Miles sitting in a chair next to the bed. When Miles noticed, he sighed with relief.

"Thank goodness you're all right," Miles said when Sonny didn't say anything. "You've been out for two days, and I was starting to get worried."

Sonny tried to move. "Where—

"You're in my bedroom. Apparently, Dr. Robotnik's robots broke into my house while the G. U. N. forces were preoccupied by the ones who stuck around downtown. Fortunately, nothing was stolen, but they did trash up the place pretty good. The robots were destroyed as well, but G. U. N. isn't sure how, and in their place were all these unconscious or confused children. My mom hid in the basement the entire time, and then when it was all over she found me and you passed out on the front lawn. Then when she learned you were living by yourself, she decided to keep you here till you recovered."

"You're going to have to repeat all that once I'm more awake, and my head hurts like hell," Sonny replied rubbing his forehead.

"Mine did too after I woke up, but it went away after a while."

"I wonder what those robots were after."

"I can't say for certain, but I think I have an idea." Miles reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out a large yellow gemstone that glowed brightly in the well-lit room.

"What is it?" Sonny asked.

"I don't know. I was out walking in the park one day, and then I found this lying in some bushes."

"Maybe we should give it to G. U. N."

"Yeah, I thought about doing that, but something tells me this is too important to give away."

"But if your theory is true, then those robots will come back to get it."

"I know, and that's why I'm not sure what to do." Miles put the gemstone away then he reached behind his chair. "By the way, I fixed your skateboard while you were out."

"Wow, really?" Sonny sat up in bed as Miles gave him the skateboard. It looked brand-new with no signs of being torn apart, with the same design and wheels as the previous one. However, one thing that was different was a blue flaming orb design underneath the skateboard with a name next to it in bold lettering.

"'Sonic'?" Sonny said reading the name out loud.

"I'm not exactly sure why I did that," Miles said sheepishly. "I could take it off if you want."

"Don't bother," Sonny replied. "'Sonic' is fine."

To be continued…