A few minutes passed, and Sonic skidded to a stop. He looked back.
"Hey, slowpokes! Hurry up!"
Silver and Shadow both emerged from the trees, running at top speed. They both stopped in front of Sonic. Shadow folded his arms.
"Eager, aren't we?"
"Yeah! Eager to find out what the heck is going on!"
The gray hedgehog's annoyed face softened. "You're right." He approached the fated sap tree and stood looking at it. "Did you see anything different?"
Silver walked up to it too. "I don't see anything, besides the usual bite marks in it."
Sonic crouched beside it, peering at the hole. And then it hit him.
"Guys! The bark around the hole is darker than the rest of the tree!"
The three took a step back. Now, they all saw that the bark around the bite marks was indeed darker, and was getting blacker slowly by the minute.
"If that's not tampering, I don't know what is," Shadow remarked.
"There has to be evidence around here somewhere that points towards who did this," Silver said, and proceeded to peering at the ground.
Sonic had sharper eyes than both of them, and started examining every inch of grass, looking for clues.
It wasn't him who found it.
"Take a look at this!" Silver called from a few yards away, pointing at the ground.
Shadow and Sonic sped to his side and looked in the direction he was pointing at.
A rather large vial was lying in the ground, almost entirely concealed by the grass.
Sonic reached for it, but Shadow slapped his hand back. "I don't think so. If this really holds what made you crazier, then I should touch it."
"Crazier?" Sonic muttered, but complied.
Shadow grabbed it and held it up. "It's empty," he said, disappointed.
Silver peered at it closer. "Wait! There's an insignia on the side!"
All three hedgehogs squinted. A barely legible mark was on the side. It looked awfully familiar…
It hit Sonic first. "Eggman!" he snarled, balling his fists.
Silver looked unsurprised. "That checks out."
"It doesn't make any sense," Shadow objected. "GUN hasn't seen any trace of him for years on end. No chatter from his base, no sightings, nothing."
"If there's anything that guy is good at," Sonic interjected, "it's hiding."
He turned to the other two. "I know him better than you guys. I've fought him longer. This kind of stunt practically screams Eggman. And we know he hates our guts, so of course he would try to eliminate us!"
"We need more proof," Shadow said reluctantly. "For all we know, this vial could've been here for years."
Sonic's eyes blazed. "I know exactly where we can get proof."
"Good call, Sonic," Silver approved. All three hedgehogs were standing in front of Eggman's base, gazing up at the huge building.
"We better be careful," Shadow cautioned. "We have no idea if he's here or not."
Sonic nodded. "We better be quick. There's no way to tell if Egghead has motion detector cameras."
He turned to the other two. "I'm fast enough to elude them since I'm…you know. And I know Shads is fast enough. But Silv…"
"Hey! Way to rub it in!" Silver protested, and then sighed. "But you're right. I should just wait out here…"
Shadow rolled his eyes. "Stop being dramatic, you two. I'll take Silver."
"Fantastic!" Sonic said, and then disappeared. He had sped into the base.
"No warning or anything…" Shadow muttered, and then turned to Silver. "Grab me with your psychokinesis."
Silver nodded, and thin blue tendrils emerged from his hands. They wrapped gently around Shadow's waist.
"Hold on," Shadow warned, and then took off.
Sonic was tapping his foot when the other two caught up to him. "Seriously! You kept me waiting!"
Both gray and white hedgehogs glared at him.
"While you two were taking your time, I checked the other rooms. He's not here, so we don't have to be all sneaky-sneaky."
"Well, that's a plus," Silver commented, and his power withdrew back into his hands. "Where should we start?"
"The most logical choice is the lab," Shadow said, gesturing to the huge room that was just behind Sonic.
"Gee, your wording is making me feel dumb," Sonic said playfully, and then sighed. "But seriously, you're right. Let's go check it out."
The three walked in together, sticking close to each other just in case there were other defenses hiding. However, they walked into the middle of the room unscathed.
"Unimpressive," Shadow scoffed.
"I would rather have no defenses than a laser pointer that turns us to ash!" Silver said. "Do you still have the vial?"
Shadow nodded and held it up again. "If we can find traces of the liquid that was in this here, then we could see if it was used to poison Sonic."
The other two nodded, and they all split up.
It wasn't long before Sonic came across a huge flask. It was filled with a putrid yellow liquid that was still bubbling gluttonously. Just looking at it sent chills down his spine.
"I think I found it, guys!" he called.
In no time at all, the other two were at his side, peering at the stuff. Silver analyzed the remains in the vial and then looked at the flask. His psychokinesis flared around his body as he concentrated. After a few silent minutes, he opened his eyes.
"This is definitely the same stuff that was in the vial, and I could feel traces of it in the tree. It feels so…wrong."
Sonic grabbed the flask. "Then we have our proof! We need to take this to the judge and get that man on trial for nearly killing us!"
"One problem with that," Shadow interjected. "We have no idea where he is."
The three looked at each other with dread.
To be continued…
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