Chapter 33: Encounter

Sonny hung out in the Mystic Ruins till nightfall, then he made his way back to the city as Sonic. There were G. U. N. tanks and soldiers posted on the outskirts, but Sonic managed to slip past them. However, there were ten-foot tall G. U. N. armored mechs patrolling the streets. For this reason, Sonic mostly stuck to the rooftops. However, something was firing missiles at him from behind. This in turn forced Sonic off the roof and into an alleyway below. He then sped from one alleyway to the next, but whatever was following him kept shooting missiles.

"All right," Sonic said, stopping at a vacant roadblock surrounded by wooden crates. "I've had enough of this game of tag. Show yourself!"

In front of him, a yellow, red, and green aircraft flew down from the sky. A pair of mechanical legs appeared from underneath it and its wings turned into arms. Then in a split second the hands turned into mini-guns.

"I see you learned a few tricks from Eggman's robots, G. U. N.," Sonic said. "Now let's see if you fall apart as easily."

The G. U. N. mech fired its mini-guns immediately, which Sonic managed to dodge easily. Next he jumped up on one of the crates and spun rapidly in the air. He hit the G. U. N. mech in this form several times, before it fell apart. Then Sonic jumped away from the mech as it exploded.

"Well, it lasted a little longer than the average Eggman robot," Sonic said as he walked away.

"Hello, Sonic."

Sonic flinched, and looked behind him to see where the deep quiet voice was coming from. On top of the mech stood a boy about his age. He had spiky black hair with red highlights, matching red eyes with slanted pupils, and with black hedgehog ears and a tail. His clothes consisted of a black jacket with white fur trimmings, matching black jeans and white sneakers, and his arms and legs were bound by gold-colored rings.

"Shadow," Sonic said, recognizing the boy immediately. He then noticed a bright green gem in the boy's left hand and his eyes widened. "What are you doing with that Chaos Emerald?"

The boy with the black hair, who was apparently named Shadow, scuffed. "What does it look like?"

Then Sonic realized, "You were the one who stole it from the jewelry store, and now G. U. N. thinks I did it because you're almost as fast as I am! Did Doctor Eggman put you up to this?"

"I don't have time for your stupid questions," Shadow responded. "There are five more Chaos Emeralds waiting to be found."

"Not if I can help it," Sonic said, and ran towards Shadow at increasing speeds.

Before Sonic got to him, Shadow held the Green Chaos Emerald up high and shouted, "Chaos Control!"

In the blink of an eye, Shadow vanished before Sonic got to him. Looking around, Sonic eventually spotted Shadow on a nearby roof. While Sonic scowled, Shadow grinned and tossed the Green Chaos Emerald up and down in his palm.

"You fell for the same trick as before," Shadow said. "Remember? When we first met?"

Sonic froze and thought about it. "Yeah…I do remember."

Shadow caught the Chaos Emerald in mid fall and said, "Judging by that pause, it seems your memories are fragmented like the Doctor's."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sonic asked.

"I remember everything that happened in our previous lifetime, and that's all I'm going to tell you." Shadow said as he disappeared. "Farewell!"

Then just as Sonic was about to go after Shadow, a bunch of G. U. N. soldiers came out of the nearby alleyways with their guns pointed at Sonic.

"Don't move, or we'll shoot!" shouted the G. U. N. soldier who didn't have a helmet on in the helicopter through a megaphone.

Armed drones suddenly circled above Sonic's head and police-cars were pulling up at both ends of the roadblock.

After looking all around, Sonic sighed and said to himself, "This sucks."

###

Later, Sonic found himself inside a dimly lit cell with thick walls and electrified bars. On the other side two guards stood posted on either side of the bars. Their backs were turned to Sonic, and they had automatic weapons at the ready. Then a set of footsteps approached the cell, and the two guards straightened themselves. They saluted to a man whom Sonic immediately recognized as Rouge's father, who was carrying a file labeled 'The Blue Blur'.

"Mr. Baxter?" Sonic said in slight shock.

Rouge's father looked up from the file and snapped it shut. "I take it you learned my alias from your unwilling host Sonny Hedge, Sonic the Hedgehog?"

"Well, if you knew my real name then why'd you keep calling me 'The Blue Blur'?"

"I'm the one who will be asking the questions around here," Mr. Baxter said firmly. "And I would prefer it if you address me as 'Commander' in my presence."

"I could see why Rouge wanted to get away from you this past Christmas. You're a difficult man to be around."

"On the contrary," Mr. Baxter responded. "I ordered Rouge to go with you and your friends on that vacation to observe your behavior and record anything that would be useful to our organization."

"Are you saying that she was working for G. U. N.?" Sonic chuckled. "I don't believe it."

"If you want proof, here are some interesting pictures she took during the trip."

Mr. Baxter then took pictures out of the file and threw them through the bars onto the floor in front of Sonic. The first one showed Sonny, Amelia, and Miles standing in the Chao Garden with their eyes closed. In the second picture, the three were surrounded by three different-colored auras. Then in the last one, it showed Sonic, Amy, and Tails standing in the same place as their hosts.

When Sonic didn't respond, Mr. Baxter took a silver watch out of his coat-pocket and said, "She also recorded an interesting conversation on this recording device."

Mr. Baxter pressed the nob on the side of the watch and Amelia's voice came out of it:

"Three years ago, Sonny was possessed by a kind of spirit that gave him super-speed and extreme durability. This spirit's name is Sonic the Hedgehog, though G. U. N. calls him 'The Blue Blur'. He's the one who has been stopping Dr. Robotnik from taking over the world. But Sonic isn't the only spirit. There are others who have possessed different people and given them powers as well."

Before Amelia's voice continued, Mr. Baxter pressed the nob again and there was silence.

Sonic backed against the wall and then he clenched his gloved fists. "What do you want from me?"

"Information," Mr. Baxter replied. "About what exactly you are, whether you're a threat to us or not, and the location of that Chaos Emerald you stole from the jewelry store."

Sonic shook his head. "I don't know what I am, but I'm not a threat and I certainly didn't take that Chaos Emerald. It was Shadow."

"Shadow?" Mr. Baxter raised an eyebrow. "What do you know about him?"

"He's a spirit like me who has possessed someone, though I'm not sure of the identity of his host, with a very complicated past and unpredictable motivation due to his moral ambiguity."

"I see," Mr. Baxter said thoughtfully. "Well, I'd like to make a proposition for you: if you agree to work for me I'll let you go, but you must keep everything we've talked about a secret, including Rouge."

Sonic scuffed. "I would've said, 'yes' but I don't appreciate being kidnapped and thrown into a jail-cell against my will, so I'm going to have to say, 'no.'"

"Very well, then you'll remain here until we learn everything we can about you."

Then Mr. Baxter walked away, causing Sonic to run up to the bars. Forgetting they were electrified, he was zapped and thrown back. The shock caused him to suddenly change back into Sonny, who writhed on the floor in pain.

To be continued…