Chapter 1 - Just the Beginning

Sunlight flooded into the bedroom of Sonic the hedgehog, reflecting off the baby blue silk sheets. As the light hit Sonic''s eyes, he moaned and pulled the sheet over his head. After a little while, he found he couldn''t go back to sleep. He sighed as he removed the sheets, staring at the celing above. He was thinking about Shadow, but this was no suprise to him. He would think about the dark hedgehog day and night, wether he wanted to or not. Sonic slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes before looking at the clock that rested upon his night stand.

8:47 am

The azure hedgehog let out another sigh as he slid off his bed. He slowly made his way out of the room and into the kitchen to get something to eat. After a few minutes, he found himself eating a small bowl of cereal at the table. Sometimes, he felt really lonely; like he was vulenerable to any kind of attack, be it physically or emotionally. When Sonic finished his food, he put the bowl in the sink and went back to his room. Slowly, he took off his silk, blue pajamas and put on his gloves, socks and shoes. Sonic then made his way out to the living room and out the front door, ready to begin the day with a nice run.

The blue hedgehog ran as fast as he could, enjoying the feel of the wind rushing through his quills. He smiled widely as he pushed himself over the limit, running far beyond the sound barrier. His eyes were closed as he only continued to pick up speed. When he was running at these speeds, he felt like he was on top of the world; like nothing could hurt him. With his eyes closed, he didn''t realize what was about to happen next. Sonic didn''t realize that he was about to run right into a building. The bad part of it was, was that the building was on fire and slowly collapsing.

When Sonic ran into the building, he ran right into a door. When he did, he fell backwards, his nose bleeding slightly. "Ow.." He muttered rubbing his nose and opening his eyes. They quickly widened though when he saw flames all around him and thick smoke comming close. He breathed heavily, afraid of what might happen. He began to run around, trying to find an exit, but had no such luck. He knew it would be only a matter of time before he was engulfed by the flames. The smoke had already began to make him dizzy, causing him to sway this way and that as he ran. It was becomming harder and harder for him to breathe with every passing minute. He soon found himself, collapsed onto his knees, coughing madly. The smoke and flame filled room began to spin and slowly darken as he collapsed fully. He heard a voice before everything became dark and his senses failed him.

----

The blue hero slowly woke, feeling terrible. He quickly remebered what had happened and his eyes shot open, looking around wildly. He found himself in a familiar room, that of which belonged to Knuckles the Echidna. He then noticed a few bandages around his torso. Sonic sighed, releived everything was fine. He heard some footsteps and looked in front of himself to see Knuckles walking in with a smile.

"Glad you''re ok. You had us all worried!" The echidna said, walking next to the bed.

"Heh. I thought I was a gonner. Thanks for finding me." He said with a smile.

"You shouldn''t be thanking me. I didn''t save you. It''s odd who did though.." He said, looking towards a window.

"Who did then?" Sonic asked as he sat up. He wanted to know who had saved him, so he could thank him or her. It was rare that he had someone save him from an incident like that.

"Shadow..." Knuckles said, closing his eyes. Sonic''s eyes widened at the name. It''s a name he adored more then anything, but he never thougt his counterpart would.. Save him. Sonic''s heart stopped for a moment, thinking that the hedgehog had saved him because he wanted to.

''Nah. He probably did only because he wants to fight or something..'' Sonic thought with a sigh.

"You were badly burned, Sonic. You''re lucky Shadow brought you here. Tikal healed you for the most part, but..." Knuckles started, opening his eyes. He didn''t finish his sentence though, which somewhat bothered Sonic.

''Could it be something bad?'' Sonic thought with worry.

"But what, Knux?" Sonic asked, wondering if he even wanted to know.

"While Tikal was healing you, your body seemed to be affected by the chaos energy. I''m not sure if there are side effects or something." He sighed. Now Sonic knew why Knuckles didn''t want to tell him.

"Oh. Well, thanks for the warning. I just hope everything is fine.." He said with a small smile of hope.

"Yea. Me too.. Come on. Everyone is going to be up here to check on you. You''ve been out for two days straight." The red guardian said as he walked out of the room. Sonic was quite suprised at what Knuckles said, but eagerly got out of bed and followed him. When he stepped into the sun, he had to sheild his eyes for a moment because of how bright it was. He wasn''t paying attention and accedentally walked into the alter. He chuckled slightly to himself as he backed away and went up the stairs, towards the Master Emerald. He saw Knuckles talking to Tikal, but didn''t really hear anything that they were saying. when he approached them, they stopped and Tikal hugged Sonic, glad he was alright.

"Hi Sonic! How are you feeling?" She asked, releasing him.

"I''m great, thanks. When is everyone getting here?" Sonic asked the two echidna''s curiously. As Knuckles was about to speak, a plane was heard roaring overhead, making the three look up and see a familiar blue plane.

"There''s your answer." Knuckles said with a smile as the plane grew nearer. After a moment, the small plane landed at the bottom of the large staircase. Tails, Amy and Rouge climbed out and started to walk up the stairs, but were meeted half way by Sonic.

"Hi guys!" He said with a smile.

"SONIKKU!!" Amy cried, latching her arms around him and knocking him back. The back of his head his the edge of one of the stairs, nearly knocking him unconsious again. he quickly pushed her off, but tried not to hurt her.

"I''m so glad you''re ok!" Tails cried, practically jumping up and down. He was excited and thrilled that his best friend was ok.

"Yea. you gave us all quite a scare, Sonic." Rouge said, putting her hands on her hips but smiling.

"Sorry. I was running with my eyes closed and apparently, I ran right into a fire.." He said sweatdropping. It was kind of embarassing that he ran himself into what might have been his own grave.

"Yea, yea. You going to stay on the island for another day or two? Or do you want to come back to the city?" Tails asked as his tails moved around quickly.

"I think I''ll go back." Sonic said with a smile as Knuckles and Tikal approached the group of furries.

"Hm.. Alright, Sonic. just remeber what I told you and be careful, alright?" He asked sternly, like a mother would a child when she leaves him at a friends house.

"Alright, Knux." Sonic said, playfully rolling his eyes.

"Then let''s go!" Tails said happily as he and the other two started back for the plane. Sonic would have gone along if Knuckles hadn''t caught his arm.  


"Sonic.. Promise me you''ll be careful." He said, looking into Sonic''s eyes. You could easily tell he was worried for the blue hedgehog, who seemed to be accident prone.

"I promise, Knuckles." He said with a smile as the echidna let him go and he started to walk towards the plane. When he got to it, he jumped onto the tail and awaited for lift off.

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