Chapter 8: The Unforgettable Kiss

*Pumpkin Hill*

Knuckles arrived at Pumpkin Hill, the buildings shaped like pumpkins with Jack-O-Lanterns in their windows and their tops lit up with lanterns, just as the sun was beginning its descent into the horizon. It had been a long day for him. He found 5 shards of Master Emerald in every location he'd explored that he could remember.

"So this is the Pumpkin Hill. And this place sure looks haunted," Knuckles muttered to himself. He glanced around uneasily, looking around for signs of life. He wasn't afraid of ghosts, but they always creeped him out when they were in his vicinity. He'd even seen one of them on multiple occasions. They didn't exactly look friendly. "No time to waste. I have to get these shards of Master Emerald."

He landed atop one of the buildings and began searching for a good vantage point where he could watch the town. As he surveyed his surroundings, he sensed movement nearby.

'A piece is near!' thought Knuckles, as he started digging next to a pumpkin. As soon as he touched it, he found a jade shard of Master Emerald underground. He picked it up and looked at it closely, inspecting every facet. 'Yes!' he thought triumphantly.' The Master Emerald has been here! He took several steps back from the pumpkin, which now had an iridescent glow coming off of it. 'Now if I can just find more…'

A ghost suddenly appeared in front of him out of nowhere. Knuckles jumped backward, nearly dropping the shard, but caught it just before it shattered.

"Shit!" Knuckles swore, holding up the gem protectively. He glanced around for another ghost, who might appear at any moment. Just the hauntingly eerie glow emanating from the pumpkin. He backed away from the ghosts as well, keeping a wary eye on both of them. "What do you want?!" demanded Knuckles. "Are you trying to scare me?"

The ghosts smiled maliciously, revealing razor-sharp fangs that glistened under the light. Knuckles stood in martial art offense.

"Well, I have no choice, but to fight them off!" yelled Knuckles as he launched to fight these and let out the battle cry.

*At the Meadow*

That night, Tails unpacked the emergency food supply box from his biplane and put it down. It had energy bars, water bottles, a bottle of soda, cookies, porks, slices of beef, and plates of seafood.

"Good thing I bring emergency ration packs." Tails grinned. He took out a plastic bag filled with fish and vegetables and bottled water. He then grabbed the pot and walked to the campsite. Amy had already set up the campfire and the fire itself was starting to burn nicely. She cooked the grilled fish over the fire while Tails set the pots and pans around the camping fire and placed two large, plastic bags full of rice and beans on top of the pots.

"All set?" asked Tails as he came closer to his friend. Amy turned to look at her fox friend and smiled. She nodded, "Yup. Everything is almost ready for tonight's meal." Tails grinned. "Great! Where's Sonic?" he asked, looking around.

"Maybe he went to take a nap or something?" she suggested. "Maybe we should wake him up so we can start cooking dinner, though."

Tails nodded. "Good idea," he said. Tails went to the meadow and gently shook Sonic awake. Sonic groaned and opened his eyes. "Hey, sleepyhead. C'mon, we're gonna go eat some dinner."

Sonic yawned and sat up, stretching lazily. He got up and walked to the campfire. Amy greeted Sonic with a smile. "Hi, Sonic." Sonic returned Amy's smile. "Hey," he said, sitting next to Amy. He looked over at Tails. "You have a food supply?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Tails. He gave a portion of food to Sonic. "I brought my emergency ration pack, too."

"Thanks, man," said Sonic as he took food from Tails. "I've never eaten anything like this before." He began to eat his food. "It's awesome," he told Tails as he chewed. He looked at Amy. "It's tasty, too."

Amy chuckled, "I'm glad you like it."

The three continued eating their meal and talking about everything and nothing as they ate. Sonic stared down his half-empty food, his mind imagining Shadow kissing him back in the jungle, causing him to blush slightly and frown. Tails and Amy noticed him zoning out, and they looked at each other curiously.

"Sonic? You okay? You look quiet," said Amy.

Sonic blinked and snapped out of his thoughts."Oh, yeah," he said. "Just thinking about something."

"About the black hedgehog?" asked Tails.

Sonic frowned at Tails' question, so he nodded. "His name is Shadow," he said in a low voice. "He's an Ultimate Lifeform."

Amy and Tails gasped and looked at each other in disbelief. "You know about him?!" asked Tails in surprise. "How come you never mentioned him?"

Sonic shrugged, "Shadow doesn't really talk to anyone except for me."

Amy was about to ask why, but Tails interjected first. "That's odd. He may look like you, but he seems to act differently."

"Differently?" asked Sonic, tilting his head in confusion. "I can tell he's very mysterious..." said Sonic.

Tails seemed puzzled by that comment. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

"Well, it's just that sometimes he came here, I started to fight him twice, this guy was pretty tough, but somehow I managed to beat him in a sparring match," explained Sonic. "And when I asked him why he was visiting, he told me he was finding the Chaos Emeralds."

Amy frowned, thinking hard. "Do you think he knows where the Chaos Emeralds are?" she asked.

"Well, I guess he must be working with Eggman and I don't know what he's planning, but it sounds pretty farfetched," responded Sonic.

"Well, what's the plan, anyway?" Tails asked. "Does he intend to destroy the worlds of reality as a whole and take control of the universe?"

"I'm not sure, but he says there's a war coming," said Sonic. "If Eggman's trying to create a world where the universe exists for only him and his precious Chaos Emeralds, that will be destroyed," finished Sonic. Amy and Tails nodded thoughtfully.

Sonic sighed. "I'm getting tired," he stood up and stretched his body, and he yawned again, "We should try and make our beds, Tails. Tomorrow will be long and full of adventures." He gave this bowl to Tails.

"Sure," said Tails, taking the bowl from Sonic.

"Thanks for the meal, Tails. Better go to my spot where I was sleeping. Night, guys," said Sonic, heading to the meadow.

"Night, Sonic," responded Amy and Tails together.

When Sonic left the campsite, Amy and Tails began cleaning up the camp. Sonic sat down on the soft grass and watched the stars above him as he lay on his back. He stared up at the sky and let out a small sigh. Then, he closed his eyes and drifted away into unconsciousness once again.

A few hours later, Amy and Tails were still sleeping while Sonic was having a strange dream. He was fighting Shadow back in the jungle again. They were both equally tired, panting heavily, drenched with sweat.

Shadow smirked and Sonic stared at him in confusion.

'Why is he grinning like that?' thought Sonic.

Shadow walked toward Sonic, placed his hands on his face, and kissed him on the lips. It wasn't a rough kiss, it was deep, sensual, passionate, yet innocent and gentle. Sonic felt his stomach drop, his heart race uncontrollably, and his blood boiled with passion. After what seemed like an eternity, Shadow pulled away. But even when he removed his hands from Sonic's face, his radio buzzed in with Eggman's voice, telling him the island was going to explode.

Sonic awoke with a start. His ears rang and his heart pounded, but he quickly regained his composure. He realized the dream had lasted only seconds, but it had taken a lot longer than usual for him to wake up since he'd stayed asleep through most of his dream. And the last part of his dream was definitely vivid. Sonic touched his lips where Shadow kissed him, and the feeling alone made his heart pound wildly.

'I didn't tell them when Shadow kissed me,' thought Sonic. He remembered his dream vividly, he placed his hand on his chest as his heart was pounding so fast that he could feel it beating through his fingers.

'That can't be right. My heart is pounding because I dreamt about him?' he questioned himself. 'But it doesn't make sense! He's the bad guy! I know he is!' he exclaimed.

He ran his hands through his quills and groaned. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he muttered. He stood up and went to the lake, he scooped his hands and drank water until he was completely refreshed. He wiped his mouth and went back to sleep, hoping there was no dreaming about Shadow.