My Sonic AU fic in the works, Hedge SS, is an off-and-on project that likely won't be finished, so I'll pump out short stories that briefly describe events to take place in it. I don't really care if it spoils the main story; as long as it makes enough sense without all of the AU's context, and as long as I can share some amount of writing, I'm content.

Two hedgehogs are lab-born. The first born had dreams about nature before discovering that he was a product of human genetic engineering. The second born had dreams about nothing, because nature was cut off from him in the test tube.

Subject A: Life Should Be Outside With Friends

"Welcome to the world!"

Those were the words exclaimed by a group of scientists witnessing the birth of their greatest creation. After the chemicals from a mechanical womb had completely drained, Sonic was found crouched inside. He uncurled, opening his eyes to the sight of his creators. They were tall, dressed in white, and holding clipboards in their hands. They were ready to record whatever they observed from him.

Sonic squinted and blinked. In all the womb dreams he experienced where he was running with animals of every species, he had never once seen these creatures before. It was odd, but it sparked his curiosity regardless.

His ears pricked, and his eyes opened fully. "Umm, hi!" he went. He smiled up at each scientist, awaiting their response as much as they had awaited his. "What are you guys supposed to be?"

"Hello," said the lead scientist warmly with a wave of his hand. "We are humans." He bent over to spell out the word. "H-u-m-a-n-s. We are your lifegivers."

"Hm?" Sonic scratched his head. He didn't seem to care about their creator status. "That's funny. You're all standing on two legs. I've only seen things that walk on four."

The lead scientist, a.k.a. the director, was a little taken aback, as was the rest of his team. "How does he know about quadrupeds?" whispered one scientist to him, unaware of Sonic's dream-to-nature connection. Freely, the director shrugged as if it weren't a big deal.

"Haha! Yes, well," he smirked toward Sonic, "you only walk on two legs yourself." He gave the crouching blue hedgehog a fingerpoint. "That's how we chose to design you."

"Huh." Sonic glanced at his hands that were gripping both sides of his womb pod, then down at his electric shoes. "...Guess you're right. Does that make me a human too?"

"Not quite." The director pulled out an examination mirror and held it to where Sonic could get a good look at himself. "You may be a bipedal humanoid, but you're not the same species as us. You're a hedgehog. A super hedgehog!"

Sonic leaned toward the mirror to see just what exactly the scientist was talking about. His reflection showed him his blue coloring, animal nose and ears. When he had finished studying his reflection, the director pulled the mirror away. Sonic stared at the science team blankly, now confused, and no longer curious at all.

"Is something troubling you?" asked the director in a fatherly tone. "We created you from a real hedgehog, but gave you very special human qualities. You are... unique."

Sonic widened his eyes, and his spines began to bristle. He challenged the scientist as would a discontent child. "Why does that matter?! Where are the others like me?"

The scientists shot disturbed glances at each other, while the director kept his eyes on Sonic. "There aren't any others like you, but there's no reason to be upset. We're here to help! You don't need to be around other hedgehogs."

Yet Sonic was not convinced. While dreaming in gestation, he remembered feeling a kinship with animals, surrounded by green grass. He didn't know what he looked like at the time and just assumed he was a mirror image of each animal. Now that he was awake, aware of his alien appearance and the metal laboratory in which he was fated, he became utterly spooked.

"Gah..." His fight-or-flight response activated, and his heart started racing a mile a second. This is unnatural. I can't hang around here. So he stood up to the humans, clenching his fists.

The science team stepped back. "No! Is he going to attack us?" one of them fretted. The director raised an arm to shield her.

"Nice meetin' ya!" cried Sonic with terrified sarcasm. He jumped out of his pod, clear over the scientists' heads. They watched in awe and dismay as he landed behind them and kicked his legs into motion, revving them into a blur and speeding his way out of the birthing room.

Months later, after struggling to train Sonic for his function, the scientists decided to create a twin brother for Sonic so he wouldn't feel lonely. (Although that wasn't the full reason.)

Subject B: Born In Hell's Lab

Shadow awoke on a cold table. He lay motionless but peeked around to gain his bearings. He was in a white room - a bright white room that was nearly blinding. With a hand over his chest, he realized he had wires attached to his head. If he were Sonic, he would have flipped out, tore them off and ran away.

But he wasn't Sonic.

"Ah! You're awake!" chirped a joyful nurse to him, causing him to turn toward her. "Aren't you happy to be alive?"

Shadow blinked. "'Happy'?"

"Do you know where you are?" she asked next.

"No," he replied.

"You're in the recovery room!" The nurse acted much too joyful as she took a wet cloth and dabbed it on his forehead, around the wires. "You were really burning up coming out of your pod but you're doing better now."

Shadow's eyes stung as he recalled trying to step out of his womb hours prior, but failing to walk because his body felt like it was on fire. A fever threatened his life. Then he recalled floating in and out of consciousness and seeing the silhouette of a woman injecting him with a remedy. He asked the nurse a question of his own.

"...Were you the person who saved me?"

The nurse shook her head with a sad smile. "No... I'm only here to look after you for a little while. We've still got to keep an eye on your condition."

Suddenly, Shadow shivered from his head to his rocket shoes. He was experiencing bad chills. "What was that?" He urgently needed an answer.

The nurse's smile disappeared quickly as she checked the thermometer box above him. The number on display read "185 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Oh no," went the nurse, "you jumped a few degrees. Here, maybe some ice will help."

She left him to go fetch a bag of ice from a cooler. He lifted his head slightly to watch. When she returned with the bag, she put it in his hands, so he could then place it on himself. After about a minute of ice therapy, his temperature dropped to 184. Shadow sighed as he laid his head back down to rest.

"There, that helps, doesn't it?" The nurse smiled again.

"Yeah. Thanks." The black hedgehog fixed his eyes on the ceiling.

"Uh-huh! We want you to be ready for when the director pays us a visit."

"Who's that?"

"You'll see. For now, just relax, okay? Close your eyes, and collect your thoughts." With that, the nurse stepped away for a routine handwash.

"Hmm." Shadow took her advice and let his eyes close. He drifted into his mind, into a void of darkness. His anchor was the persistent tick of his heart. But it wasn't strong enough - he felt an emptiness beginning to pull him away.

In the space of the void he didn't feel anxious, or frightened, or even lonely. It was nothing but a realization... that something was wrong. Very wrong. Like he wasn't supposed to exist. Shadow grunted as his eyes shut tighter and he shivered once more; his temperature climbed to 186.

When the nurse finished washing and drying her hands she came back to see that her black hedgehog patient had worsened a bit. She gasped, but then observed another change. As Shadow rolled over to his side hugging the bag of ice, his temperature dropped down to 178. A rapid improvement - as long as it didn't drop too low. Death meant cold, not hot.

"Wow." The nurse walked to the side of his table and checked the wires attached to his head. They were all fully connected, so the temperature reading was accurate. She lifted a finger to her lip. Soon, she heard a knock on the recovery room door.

To be continued...

Some hedgehog science: Sonic and Shadow are both "hypermetabolic life forms." Sonic has high kinetic electrical energy whereas Shadow has high radiant heat energy. Their shoes transform their internal energy into speed-boosting power, but also prevent it from destroying their own bodies. In Shadow's case, a near-fatal glitch happened.