Sonic Unbound, Chapter 3

The metal corridors were so sterile it sickened Shadow. It was a cheep copy of his original environment, a mere parody of the near living mechanical world in which he had been raised. The robots passed by him silently and without a word, all of them assigned tasks to complete their various projects on schedule. It would not be long before the race began and the Empire intended to get a head start.

Construction at the Raganrok front lines was nearly complete. As soon as it was, the G.U.N military was going to be in for a surprise. Still, the near infiltration of a spy from the Federation had forced them to update their security measures and it was slowing down development a little.

Even through most of the Empire’s infrastructure was automated, some of the work had to be done by hand. As robots didn’t have the delicate touch needed to work with fusion power generators, the workers brought in from captured territories had to do it for them. When they saw him coming, they instantly got out of the hedgehog’s way; bolting for the safety of a side room to leave the corridor vacant for him alone.

For he was Shadow; the right had man of the Doctor himself.
A hedgehog with long fused black quills, a red streak lancing across the top ends until tapering off; white chest fur stood out across his chest and shoulders. He didn’t wear a shirt very often, only a dark grey jacket across his shoulders and arms leaving his stomach and chest bare. A pair of golden rings almost glowed on his wrists, attached to the gloves he wore.

But it was the eyes that caught most people at once; the piercing blood red eyes that held back like a damn a flood tide of anger and rage.

“Sire, the senate convenes at Eve city in five days. The personal jet will be ready for whenever you wish to leave.” An echoed voice came out of the chamber just ahead and Shadow stopped, almost instinctively to listen.
“Yes, yes of course. I’ll be along in an hour or two. Now please… I have matters to attend to here.”
“As you wish sire.”
Shadow grunted and moved into the chamber, out of the darkness and into the over saturated light.

“Ah, if it isn’t my devoted servant.” Walking out into the main workshop area, the hedgehog glanced up to see the man the entire world feared standing there on a high podium waiting for him. An aid walking down a connecting catwalk towards a doorway.

This man clearly had clearly not looked after his physique. His stomach stood out so much it passed his chest and gave his entire torso the appearance of an egg. A pair of spectacles hid the eyes from view with most of the face concealed by a large chestnut brown shaggy moustache. His skin was pale, showing he had spent far too much time in a laboratory than with natural sunlight.

Despite his obesity, his limbs were strangely thin and lacked either fat or muscle; as if his entire bulk had been concentrated on his torso.

His pants were leather and jet black, engraved with silver along the zipper where they met at the stomach line. His boots were silver and the zipper along the side showed that despite being an utter genius, the Doctor still didn’t like to fiddle with shoelaces.
Above his waist the Doctor’s jacket was blood red and curved up to form a thick cuff that cupped his head.
An almost regal red like drape curved over one shoulder and over the chest, clipping onto a golden broach along the beltline before curving up along the other shoulder. A long cape flowed out behind him to reach his ankles.
His right arm was glad in golden armour, a thick shoulder pad underneath the drape going down to a beautifully engraved armoured plate that protected his upper arm and connected onto a thick gauntlet.

“Tell me Shadow.” Doctor Ivo Robotnik asked; gesturing out to his right towards a raised platform. As he did so a beam of light lanced down from the ceiling and illuminated what was being constructed by mutable robotic arms there. “What do you think of these masterpieces?” Shadow said nothing; he simply glanced along the row of mechanical puppets laid out.
They all had egg shaped bodies and long articulated limbs; their right hands ending in large sniper rifles. They all had different coloured armour plating and a serial number painted in white on the chest. “These are the new E100 series robots I intend to make my elite during the scavenger hunt. I’ve been working on their design for months now.”

“More robots?” Shadow asked looking unimpressed. “The fleet’s entire crew list has already been drawn up; we don’t have room for more.” The Doctor smiled, the side of his face pushing his large moustache up above eye level.
“Oh these won’t be going with me. They’ll be going with you. They’re hunters, target finders I have developed especially to be your companions.” Shadow chuckled once, finding even the notion humorous.

“I have no need for mechanized dolls.” He stated with some degree of venom, his superior tone thick with arrogance.
“No I don’t suppose you do. But you’ll be able to cover more ground with them and that will be essential in the coming times.” The Doctor remarked. “Besides, even you could us a little backup now and then.” The black and red hedgehog crossed his arms and hissed out through his nose.
“Not likely.” He muttered under his breath.

“But anyway, for the reason I called you.” Robotnik began again and clapped once. The light dimmed to nothing and the platform with the robots faded into the shadows. “My spy satellites have been monitoring various Federation transmissions and they’ve turned up something rather interesting.” The large monitor screen behind him lit up; buzzed with static for a moment before showing the recorded footage from a G.U.N mech that had been transmitted back to their headquarters but was intercepted by one of the Doctor’s virus data hunters. It showed their target, a fast moving object hurtling down a street with their own robots following close behind.

“Apparently someone’s been giving ‘their’ newest robotics systems a run for their money.” Shadow watched the fast moving object on screen dart and slid through streams of bullets, moving with agility that rivalled his own. It was moving too fast for the camera to pick up clearly and the only thing it managed to get was that the object itself was blue. “At first I thought it was you doing some work after hours.” The Doctor continued on as he adjusted his glasses, pushing them up his nose so the light shone off their surface. “But you’re not known for your chivalry.” Finally the object came to a stop, slowing to stand in defence of a pink hedgehog girl who was in the line of fire of one of the robots.

“He… he looks just like me.”  Shadow muttered. The image was furry at best by he saw a blue hedgehog with a body shape similar to that of the dark hedgehog. A pair of emerald green eyes glared out, as deep and penetrating as his eyes.
“Relative of yours?” Robotnik asked with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s not funny.” Shadow replied, snapping angrily. “Where is he?”
“That’s what G.U.N itself would like to know. My guess is they’ve been chasing this specimen thinking he’s you.” The Doctor put his hands behind his back and tried to puff out his chest, only succeeding in bloating his already defined stomach. “I can’t tell you that this is most interesting, especially to me.
A hedgehog that can move and fight just as well as you...” Without a word Shadow arched his fingers and fired a bolt of golden energy from his palm, lancing through the air until it struck the wall just above Robotnik’s head.

“Nothing compares to me Doctor.” The black and red hedgehog emphasized angrily, waving his hand to waft away the smoke. “This impostor will be dead before the day is out.”

“Oh Shadow really boy, there’s nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.” The Doctor replied apparently unfazed. “But if you’re impatient to put this challenger to the test, why don’t you head into G.U.N territory to track him down? I’ll be watching to see how well he performs.” The smile on his face widened. “It should prove most amusing.” Shadow lowered his hand and a sneer parted his lips.
“I will return here in the morning with the impostor’s head.” He turned and walked back towards the exit.
-
The life of Amy Rose was pretty average. A young woman of 20, she had moved to Central City from Westopalis after her mother died to carry on her education at University. To meet the demands of both study needs and the rent on her apartment she got a job at a convenience store. Up until yesterday her life had been pretty normal; the story of probably half the students in the city.

That day was the only time in her life anything out of the ordinary had happened. When the stuff had happened, it happened with a bang.
She could still picture that face in her minds eye. Those emerald green eyes haunted her the most, refusing to leave her for a moment. As if she could loose herself in their intense stare.

“Who was that guy?” She asked herself out load as she walked through the crowds. When those military robots had surrounded her she’d been more terrified than anything in her entire life, convinced for a single moment when they raised their guns towards her that that was that; then he arrived, coming to her rescue like some prince charming from a fairy tale. She couldn’t believe someone like that could have anything to do with the Doctor, but he way he moved; so fast and agile; how could he be anyone else than the Empire’s high speed agent?

For the rest of the day she walked around in a daze. Even as she attended lectures her thoughts couldn’t handle her chosen subjects. Yesterday was far too fresh in her mind for that.
She shook her head, silently confirming to herself that no one who looked that handsome could possibly be working for the bad guys.
“Hey are you in there Amy?” A voice asked bringing her out of her wonderful dream of those emerald eyes. Blinking, the pink hedgehog looked up to see face of her friend; an older Student staring down at her.

“Yeah, sure Vanilla.” She replied straightened up, remembering for the first time today where she was. Vanilla was a furry like her, only a rabbit. Her short fur was light orange, darker in various places such as the end of her long ears. Her eyes were a dark shade of amber. Vanilla had been a student for another year when Amy started attending classes and lectures. They both had advanced literature as a course subject.
“Ok spill it.” Vanilla began giving Amy a sly stare.

“Spill what?” The pink hedgehog began trying to look innocent.
“Who’s the boy, what’s his name and what’s he look like?” Amy blushed a near blood red and looked away.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Amy tried to protest but Vanilla was having none of it.

“Oh please, I’ve seen that look a thousand times. It’s the look that screams ‘I’ve just met a gorgeous boy’.” Amy turned even redder and tried to hide it. Vanilla however saw this as a sign of coming victory and widened her sly smile. “So come on, what’s his name?” Realizing she’d been found out, Amy admitted defeat and sighed slumping her shoulders.
“I don’t know.” She replied.

“Oh its one of those crushes is it?” The rabbit asked with a raised eyebrow, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “What’s he like?” Amy hesitated, unsure if she could call forth the necessary descriptive words from the English language. She didn’t know any worth words or phrases to describe his shimmering blue quills or those intense green eyes. “Oh…” Vanilla continued picking that much up just by looking at the hedgehog. “Girl you got it bad.” Amy tried not to turn any more red than she already was. “If he’s the kind of guy to leave that kind of impression than I guess I can’t really blame you.”

“Nothing’s going to really come of it.” Amy said. “I only met him yesterday and I doubt he’s the kind of guy to stick around in one place for very long.” She glanced off to the side. “Especially with all those military robots after him.”
“Pardon?” Vanilla asked looking puzzled.
“Nothing.” Amy quickly added, pretending to look down at the report she had to hand in by the end of the week. “When did you get such an expert on relationships? Last I checked you were still single.” Vanilla managed a sour face.

“Ok fine, I’m lackin’ a man in my life.” She admitted flopping down on the desk in front of her. “But you don’t have to have one to see the signs. And if you got drawn in that badly by meeting him once, I can only guess what he’s like.” Amy decided at this point that she didn’t like the way this conversation was progressing.
“Just how do they expect us to get this in by the end of the week?” She held up her measly three pages, a clearly indication she was in trouble as it was a seven page minimum essay. “I mean, how much can you write about the history of eastern poetry? The Monarchy of Kuche is a barbarian culture. They’ve never once composed so much as a ballad.”

“You think this is bad?” Vanilla asked with her ears falling back lifelessly over her shoulders. “I heard for the exam final we have to take, we only have only a single morning to write up a ten page essay on Federation history.” Amy cringed. The mere thought of that made her skin crawl.

When the lecture was over, most of the students went to have something to eat before the late night sessions. As Amy hadn’t anything scheduled for tonight she headed off grounds. First she was going to dump her things back at her apartment and then…well. She didn’t known what then. Yesterday had still screwed up her system and left her a little vacant; as if unable to remember what she usually occupied herself with on Wednesday afternoons.

“Today only, in the Central Racing stadium.” She glanced up towards the screen overlooking the plaza she was passing through. “Babylon Rogues performing for the exhibition match for the start of the annual Extreme Gear Tournament.” Dozens of people were gathered below the screen staring up, dozens of fan girls calling out the name of their favourite racer.
Most of them were cheering for ‘Jet’, the legendary air master of the Babylon Rogues.
“So Jet, what have you got to say to your rivals you’re do to face in the finals this weekend?” The rouge’s leader, a hawk with long green feathers faced the camera.
“I say bring it on. The Babylon rogues accept any challenge from any joker who thinks himself hot stuff.”
“What a hunk!” Some of the girls called.
“Is he single?”
Amy ignored the pathetic display and carried on.

She knew what she wanted to do. Meet that guy for a date. As those on the run rarely had time for such things it was unlikely she was going to find him at the door to her apartment with flowers waiting to take her out for a night on the town.

What she found instead was that the door to her apartment had been forced open. The door lay off its scorched hinges just inside her apartment, still quietly smouldering. She stood there staring at it in mute amazement, before slowly she walked inside. In retrospect it was probably a stupid thing to do as whoever had done this could still very well be here. Her apartment lay in an utter mess, furniture overturned; books and magazines throw across the floor. Every room was the same, everything overturned or torn out.

Several windows were smashed, the glass falling on the fire escape outside.
The cops were called and quickly a squad car was parked outside her apartment building.
“Sure nothing was taken? Money, personal affects; stuff like that?” One of them asked as when the two out of shape officers finally made it up the two flights of stairs. Quite a lot of people had gathered outside her apartment out of curiosity.
“I don’t think so.” Amy replied. Most of her stuff was amongst the rubble. “Just the place is a mess.”

“I can see that.” The officer replied putting his notebook back into his pocket. “Well Jean?” He asked turning to his fellow officer who was studying the door.
“Forced entry alright.” The man replied stating the obvious. “But it looks like they used a blow torch to get in.” He added, gesturing to the scorched hinges. They had melted at the edges from extreme heat, or an energy burn.

“Strange.” The other went putting a fore finger and thumb to his chin. “What I don’t get is why they went to the trouble of literally blowing the door off its hinges and then didn’t take anything. They only wrecked the place.” Amy didn’t hear them. A foreboding sense of dread began to creep over her, an unexplainable feeling of looming terror; as if she was being scrutinized by the eyes of death itself.

She tried to shake the feeling off but it just would not go away. “I know this is a personal question but do you have any enemies Miss Rose? Anyone who might want to scare you?” She shook her head. “Alright, we’ll see what we can do.” The officer reached for his portable radio and as soon as his hand was on it, chaos erupted.

The wall cracked, lines snaking down its surface and brick dust flying out at regular intervals before finally it fell apart.
“What the hell is this?!” One of the cops demanded. Amy just stared into the gloom and then staggered back as a pair of blood red eye, glowing like street lamps snapped open and locked directly onto her.

-
With the back of his head throbbing as if it had been struck by the hammer of Thor itself, Chuck felt his consciousness returning bit by bit. Groaning loudly he reached up and rubbed the back of his skull, soon wishing he hadn’t as it was as it was incredibly sore.

“Easy there Chuck, you took a nasty blow.” A familiar voice told him as he slowly sat back up. Someone offered him a cup of coffee but was too groggy to see who it was. Accepting it, he let it pass his lips. It helped and he found his vision start to clear. The first thing he saw when he looked up as a blue hedgehog standing over him with his arms crossed. Memory came flooding back at the sight.
Crying out, he backed up sharply and ended up slamming his head into the wall behind. The blue hedgehog cocked an eyebrow and managed a humoured smile.
“Now that wasn’t smart.” He remarked calmly.

“Take it easy, he’s not going to hurt you.”  Tails remarked kneeling at Chuck’s side with an ice pack.
“Tails just what are you doing?” Chuck demanded despite the throbbing at the back of his brain. “This is the Robotnik’s agent, the one the army’s been after!”
“Is that true?” Hare asked standing in the doorway of the office looking confused. Most of the mechanics were there as well looking over the furry’s shoulder. “I stopped the old geezer from running, but if I did it to aid a bunch of traitors…”
“Working for the Doctor…” The blue hedgehog commented dryly. “Yeah right.” He fell back and slumped in a chair, putting his feet up.

“Chuck, all of you; you’ve got it all wrong.” Tails began to explain. “This is Sonic. He’s not the one going around blowing up G.U.N stuff.”
“Just the one they’re accusing.” The hedgehog continued on, whipping the sun glasses off his nose to reveal his emerald green eyes. “I’m legit; If I wasn’t Tails wouldn’t let me in the front door.” The mechanics glanced amongst each other as if begging the others for a better explanation.

“But I heard you plotting terrorism.” Chuck carried on, pointing to the purple rock sitting on the table behind them. “You were going to use the energy inside that thing to blow something up.” Sonic and Tails glanced behind them at the cut jewel, then at each other.
There was a brief moment of silence before the both of them burst out laughing. “What?” Chuck asked unable to find the joke.

“Old man, if you were really ease-dropping then you’d know we weren’t talking about that.” The hedgehog continued once he’d gotten his chuckling under control. Chuck was about to say something else when Tails cut him off.
“All we said was this stone had high energy content. No one said anything about using that to blow something up.” The fox explained. “You jumped to conclusions.” Chuck was about to argue when he realized that Tails was right. During that conversation he hadn’t heard either of them say anything about causing destruction.  
He’d jumped to that conclusion when he assumed the hedgehog was the Robotnik agent. If that was a mistake as Tails claimed then it threw his entire theory out the window.

“Alright, if this wasn’t a bomb-making-class then what was it?” Hare asked sounding impatient, tapping one of his large feet against the floor.
“Just a little collection I’ve started. Tails remarked picking up the jewel on the table and studying it in the light. It was perfectly cut to the shape of a diamond but was clearly not the same material. The surface was a dark violet and within the depths of the stone there was a soft glowing.

“I heard what you call that.” Chuck started making his way to his feet. He was unsteady and his head was still hurting. Sonic handed him he ice pack, which he placed against the side of his skull. “So… a Chaos Emerald huh?”
“A what?” Hare asked looking amazed. The other mechanics buzzed with whispers as Tails held the stone aloft for them to see.

“You were obsessed with finding at least one; so you picked up the shiniest rock you could find and started calling it a Chaos Emerald.” Chuck continued. “Before I thought it was simply childish infatuation with folk lore, but if you’re actually willing to believe they exist…”
“This IS a Chaos Emerald Chuck.” Tails emphasized gazing deep into the stone. “This isn’t some game I’m playing. These are real.” Chuck leaned back against the wall, pausing for a moment to let the ice pack do its work.
“Prove it.” He stated simply.

Sonic shot the young fox a glance, hesitation passing through his eyes. Tails looked indecisive for a moment; before he nodded.
“Show him.” He stated simply. He blue hedgehog sighed and pulled off his jacket. Then he removed his shirt to show a toned upper body. The markings on the left shoulder attracted Chuck’s attention more than the muscle.

“That…that tattoo.” Chuck began slowly staring at the mark on the hedgehog’s arm. It was an image of a seven stars, drawn in a circle around a larger eighth. “I’ve seen that mark before.” The memory ran through him, almost as fresh as the day it was made.  That temple in the south, hidden in the rainforest and the markings on the walls and the murals spread out across the walls of the inner sanctum. That same icon had been there.

The mark of the Devil’s Trigger.

“It’s not a tattoo Chuck.” Tails replied with a grim smile. “It’s a birthmark.” Chuck shot him a glance, then stared back at the image. He wasn’t an expert on the subject, but when he looked more closely he could see that the image hadn’t been etched into the skin as normal tattoos were. It actually looked as if it was part of the skin itself and had always been.

“That’s impossible.” He stated in denial. “That well defined an image can’t be a birthmark; and the odds of it being a match for those at the temple…”
“I know the odds, but it’s the same thing. I’ve compared it with the photos.” Tails replied. Chuck shook his head as if trying not to listen.

“If it was…that would make this hedgehog…” He paused to look Tails right in the face. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in his eyes and it suddenly dawned on the old man. “You actually believe this is…” Tails nodded once.
“Can I put my shirt back on?” Sonic asked. “I like showing off as much as the next guy, but it’s kinda chilly.”

“Tails this is insanity.” Chuck whispered quietly while the blue hedgehog put his shirt and jacket back on. “That’s nothing but a myth!”
“All myths have a basis in reality.” The fox replied throwing it off. “You’re the one that told me that. Besides, it’s already been proven.”

“You mean by that?” The old man asked glancing in the direction of the purple gem stone that lay on the desk. “As a man of science, you can’t possibly expect me to believe that that is an ACTUAL Chaos Emerald.”

“I know, it doesn’t look like the kind of thing you’d expect from the legend dose it?” Tails asked tossing it through the air. Chuck caught it and studied it more closely himself. It was larger than his small hand and he couldn’t get his fingers around it completely. “Looks like something you could pick up from a pawn shop. But this thing’s got enough ambient energy inside it to rival the output of a PowerStation.”
“Just as ambient?”
“You got it. Think of what kind of power could be unleashed when it’s fully energised?”
“Sorry to interrupt boyo’s.” Hare started holding his metal wrench in his hands, tapping it occasionally against the side of the table to get over his impatience. “But just what is this… Chaos Emerald nonsense. That’s just a myth.”
“It’s a long story.” Tails said scratching the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
“And just do you know this ‘ain’t’ the Robotnik agent?” One of the other mechanics asked giving Sonic a glance.

“We interrupt this program for this special news bulletin.” An unfamiliar voice started from the small television set sitting on the able. The emergency news broadcast was being quickly rerouted and the image of the presenter was a little garbled. “Central city is uproar tonight as the infamous agent of the Robotnik Empire has taken a hostage while being chased by the authorities.”
“Gee that was good timing. See?” Sonic asked, jabbing his finger at the screen over enthusiastically. “If I was really the bad guy I’d be over at Central.” Chuck just muttered something and continued watching.

“We now go live to our reporter in Central for the full story; Howard? Are you there?” A reporter, running down a busy street with a microphone in his hand appeared on screen. Sirens were blaring in the background and past him were hurrying Gun soldiers all armed to the teeth.

“The military arrived on the outskirts of the city around half an hour ago.” He began, quite out of breath. “Police had blockaded most of the roads. Our news group is current tagging along with a group of SWAT tracking the agent. He has a hostage and they are keeping a good distance…what the hell! There he goes!” The camera angled upwards towards the roof tops just in time to catch the image of a hedgehog leaping across to the rooftops of the far side. Sonic paused, startled at how much this one looked like himself. It was like looking into a mirror. Suddenly that became the least of his concerns.

Slung over the dark hedgehog’s shoulder was a collection of pink he recognised. It was the girl he had saved from the robots yesterday. The memory was still fresh. That was her alright.
“Sonic, you there?”
“Tails I’m going out for a while.” He remarked. Before anyone could say anything more, the hedgehog vanished in a streak of blue darting out the door and down the stairs, disappearing down the open garage entrance.

-
Amy was dumped down onto the roof of an office building. Her kidnapper loomed over her, a pair of blood red eyes staring down. She backed off, face twisting in terror.
“Save your energy.” The dark hedgehog stated. “You’re not the one I want.” She backed up against the side and glanced over it, seeing a fatal drop to the street below. The wind was tearing her quills out of their usual places, but her kidnappers were rigid and didn’t even budge in the howling currents.

“Then why did you bring me here?” She began huddling back as he watched her.
“Bait.” He replied walking forward slowly. “I could have taken you without anyone noticing if I wanted. Now the entire city knows I’m here and I have you as a hostage. Your little boyfriend should be arriving to come to the rescue any minute now.”
“Boyfriend?” Amy started. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”
“Sure you don’t.” The hedgehog began sarcastically. “Well let’s just wait for your ‘ex’ to turn up shall we?”

Central City was not that far away from Station Square and Sonic reached it in little under an hour, travelling at fast speed around the roadblocks and traffic. Flying into the area he’d seen on TV, he found the streets full of crowds come to see if they could catch a glimpse of the legendary Robotnik agent.
Riot control police were trying to force them back with a wall of bullet proof shields.
Racing up the side of a building to the rooftops, the blue hedgehogs carried on around the obstructions until he came to a large flat surface above an office building. Something told him to stop and he came to a screeching half.

A presence made itself known. Slowly he turned to face the shadows of a chimney and leaning against it, watching him intently was another hedgehog. It was the same one was on the news.
“Right on schedule.” He stated. Sonic was silent, before he turned to face it completely.

“You’ve been waiting for me?” He asked. The darker hedgehog nodded once and unfolded his arms, standing up straight. Its features were still concealed by the darkness and the blue hedgehog couldn’t make them out. “What for?”
“You’ve been ruining my reputation.” The hedgehog replied, before with a brief gesture of his hand sent a spark of golden energy flying forward; the stream screaming through the air and arching like a bolt of lightning.

“Holy shit!” Sonic cried out before hitting the deck, the energy stream passing over him and crashing into the wall of the stairs leading down into the building opposite, the wall breaking apart in a spray of brick dust and stone fragments. The blue hedgehog stared at the wreckage in amazement.  
“I don’t like that.” The other hedgehog kept on, firing another blast that Sonic had to back away from; the ground exploding near his feet. “You see, I want those lumps of barely sentient flesh quaking in fear when I come for them. To that end I built up my reputation as a destroyer.
Yet you’ve been going around with skills and an appearance just like mine; being a cliché little ‘super-hero’.

For me that’s just not acceptable.” Sonic looked down at the charred hole in the ground, then slowly up towards his opponent.
“I take it you’re the Robotnik agent they’re all mistaking me for?” Stepping out of the darkness and into the illumination of the moonlight, the new hedgehog revealed himself completely. He was so much like Sonic himself the resemblance was almost staggering, same species, same sex, same height and from the look of him probably the same age. But his fur was raven black instead of royal blue and his quills didn’t sway like Sonic’s did. There were jagged and each fused clump had a red streak along the top edge. His shirt was torn along the outer edges of the chest, revealing that his chest fur was long and snow white, jagged over the shoulders. His jacket hid his arms and chest but in torn places Sonic could see that his fur covered his entire body; while Sonic had his stomach and arms bare.

“I am Shadow.” He replied staring at Sonic with a pair of blood red eyes. “That is all you need to know.” Sonic growled between clenched teeth.