A/N: Sorry for the crazy late update everyone! Thanks for all of your patience and support!!!!
Sonic skidded to a halt in front of Amy's door, taking a moment to soothe a panting and slightly irritated Tails.
"Heh heh, sorry about that, little buddy," he laughed sheepishly, "I guess I just got a little carried away."
"And then you carried me away," the kit grumbled and patiently forgave him. He knew he should have been used to it at this point anyways.
The brothers casually let themselves in and greeted the rest of the team. Knuckles was already chowing down on what looked like his third plate, and Sticks was hiding underneath the table, eating her breakfast and keeping an eye out for whatever bizarre creature she thought was coming for her this time. Amy looked up from her food and smiled at the two.
"Finally," she teased, "for the fastest thing alive, you can never get anywhere on time."
"I am not late," he replied dramatically, "You just started early."
"Whatever you say," she said with a knowing eye roll and motioned for them to join her at the table. The two brothers took their seats and were able to enjoy what was left of breakfast.
Sticks scrambled out from under the table and sniffed the blue leader, making Sonic beyond weirded out.
"Uh, what are you doing?" he asked and gently tried to push her away. The suspicious badger backed off for a moment to look into his pine green eyes.
"You smell different," she stated, "Are you wearing a new cologne? Or did you go on a midnight jungle hike looking for the crosseyed moose?"
"Uh, neither," he snapped with a surprising amount of fierceness, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm starving," he concluded and turned back to his food.
After five rounds of "seconds," Sonic had finally finished, and the group walked out of the cottage, ready to check out the cave Sonic had found the day before. This time, they were sure to bring some gear with them so they wouldn't get trapped inside like Sonic had. The blue hedgehog absently rubbed his arm where the "bite mark" had been as he remembered what was inside.
The hike there had been surprisingly uneventful, the silence broken up by the team's noisy chatter, but for once there was no sign of Eggman or any of the other Bygone baddies. After spending an hour navigating Shadow Canyon, emerald eyes landed on a familiar cave.
"Here's the place!" he cheered and extended his arms in a "ta-da!" motion. The five strapped up and propelled down the steep incline, lighting up the cave with their clothing accents.
Amy's eyes sparkled as she studied the cave drawings, and she approximated that they were made just a little bit after the disappearance of the Ancients several thousand years ago. She took as many pictures as possible, racing back and forth along the cavern with the excitement of a child given one too many pieces of candy.
"Wait till you see the end, Ames," Sonic chuckled, smiling at her as she perked up at his words.
Sticks, on the other hand, wasn't that thrilled, "I don't like any of this."
"Ah, come on, Sticks! What's the worst that can happen?" Knuckles bellowed good-naturedly.
"Don't get her started!" the others exclaimed, causing the badger to frown and roll her eyes in exasperation. She casually sniffed the air and scrunched up her nose.
"Hey! I think there's something down there!"
"Yeah, that's probably the skeleton I was telling you about," Sonic shrugged and led the way to the back of the cavern, doing his best to ignore how the fur on the back of his neck raised in apprehension, "And hey, its teeth are still pretty sharp, so don't touch. I learned that the hard way," he added and scratched his arm.
The others understood and explored the large cave, marveling at the grotesque imagery painted on its walls.
"Hey! Look! It's a dog!" Knuckles laughed as he pointed up at the snarling picture of the werehog.
"Wow," Amy breathed as she examined the skeleton, "I've never seen anything like this."
Sonic bit his lip as her hand trailed close to the deceased creature's mouth, his instincts shouting at him to jerk her away from it, but before he could act on them she had already moved away. The blue blur breathed a quick sigh of relief under his breath.
"We should bring this to the museum," Amy mused, and Tails readily agreed.
"No!" Sticks argued, "Didn't you see the paintings?! There's a reason that thing was left here!"
"I'm actually with Sticks on this one," Sonic added sheepishly. Everyone gawked at him, and he shrugged in response, "What? There's just some things we need to leave alone, and this feels like one of them."
I don't want anyone else to get into the same mess I did. And from the looks of things, it doesn't look like there's a cure for my problem.
"Well, if you say so, Sonic," replied Tails, his namesakes swishing dejectedly. Amy wasn't convinced but decided to drop it until she could figure out what was going on with the blue hero. His reluctance to move the skeleton had emphasized just how strange he was acting around them recently.
"Let's head back to town," she suggested instead, "I need to get a permit from the mayor to collect some of these ancient drawings."
Sonic sighed inwardly but nodded in consent. With the pink hedgehog desiring to be an archeologist, he knew she'd want to take something back, and denying her from taking anything at all would make him all the more suspicious.
"I still don't like this," Sticks grumbled with her arms crossed, blue eyes glaring down at the skeleton like it could jump up and bite her. The other members of the team ignored her statement as they trekked back to the entrance. Sonic was the first to scale up the rock face with his gear, and he turned back around the help his friends up. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was grateful to be out of that cave.
That thing was a mobian once, Sonic thought as he remembered the skeleton, And it was locked inside. I sure hope history doesn't repeat itself.
The blue blur was pulled out of his solemn thoughts as his teammates hauled themselves out of the cave. It was getting close to noon, and the sun's heat was pounding down in the barren canyon. All of them were wiping beads of sweat off their foreheads, and Amy reached into her backpack and pulled something out to relieve the heat.
"Water, anyone?" she offered and tossed the extra water bottles to her friends.
Sonic caught his with one hand and popped the cap, "Thanks, Ames!"
He downed almost half of the bottle when he stopped, brows knitting together in confusion.
Tails was the first to notice, "What's wrong, Sonic?"
"I don't know," he answered and twitched his nose. He could smell something, and his instincts warned him that whatever or whoever it could be was a potential threat. He couldn't understand why his senses were telling him this, but he pushed to the back of his mind for the moment and focused on trying to identify the scent.
"Hey, everything okay?" Knuckles asked, worried for his distracted friend.
"Sonic, you're scaring us," Amy told him and held his arm when he didn't answer. The azure hero had his head tilted up to the air, emerald eyes scanning the rock walls for any hints of danger. A streak of crimson flashed overhead on one of the higher pathways, and Sonic gave chase.
It took him longer than he cared to admit to catch up to the red blur, but once he was in range he pounced, tackling the speeding figure to the ground. The two tumbled along the dusty ground from the force of the impact. When they finally stopped rolling, Sonic was able to get a better look at the one he'd been chasing.
"Shadow?" he asked and cocked his head sideways. The darker hedgehog shoved his blue counterpart off of him and stood with a noticeable scowl.
"What's the idea trying to start a fight with me?" he growled back. Sonic grimaced, not only had he tackled Shadow out of all people, but he also caught him in a very foul mood.
"Yeah, sorry about that," he began and rubbed his neck sheepishly, "I didn't know it was you and well..."
The sable mobian narrowed his crimson gaze at the other. Something was off about the normally chipper hedgehog, and he scrunched his highly sensitive nose as he caught wind of a strange, yet somehow familiar scent.
"You smell different," he stated matter-of-factly. Sonic groaned.
"Why does everyone keep telling me that!?"
"Because it's true. Tell me, hedgehog, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" Shadow demanded and crossed his arms. His commanding tone left no room for argument, but Sonic didn't exactly feel inclined to tell him about his hairy situation.
Sonic returned his stare and mimicked his authoritative stance, "None of your business."
Shadow was surprised by his rival's snappish attitude but hid it underneath a mask of indifference. He had his own problems to worry about anyways.
"Whatever," he hmphed and turned to leave, "I don't have time for your personal problems anyway."
Sonic glared as Shadow vanished in a flicker of blue light. How dare he turn his back to me, he growled in offense but shook his head to clear it. He had been letting his temper get the best of him lately, and he knew he didn't have a real reason to be mad at Shadow.
"Sonic!" Tails called as he flew up to his big brother with the rest of the team not far behind, "What happened? Why did you take off like that?"
"Er, well," he hesitated and scratched his jaw absently, "I thought I saw something and went to check it out. Turns out it was just Shadow, and yeesh! Did I catch him in a bad mood."
"And you two aren't locked in some sort of death match?" Amy questioned. Her response was valid. Whenever the two hedgehogs met, it always seemed to end in a flurry of kicks and punches. Sonic shrugged. He didn't really have an answer for her either.
"Hey! What do ya say we all go to Meh Burger for lunch?" he suggested cheerfully, and the others readily agreed.
On the other side of the island
Shadow reappeared a few miles away from the Black Arms den. The jungle was littered with rocky outcrops, and he found this the perfect place to pause for a moment. The dark hedgehog slumped against a large boulder, his angry facade fading into a sullen one as he rested his arms on his knees.
The doctor is no fool. He will put two and two together sooner than I'd like. But what can I do? My pack is all I have, and I can't put them in harm's way again.
He lifted his head and gazed up at the clear sky between the jungle canopy in deep thought, I've been over every inch of this island. There's nowhere else we can go. It's time to stop running and face my fears. The pack is strong, and so am I...