Chapter Text
Shshshshsh.
Rain pattered down against the windshield of the van, thick droplets that splattered and deafened all noise inside and out. A cacophony of natural music, a sound that the girl had yearned for and still couldn’t believe she was hearing. It was almost nearing the type of storm that was dangerous to drive in, and she knew that if she voiced her opinion then the driver would absolutely pull over and force them to camp out in the van, but they were just on the outskirts of the town—surely, it would be fine to continue until they got to their new house.
Squinting past the obscuring raindrops, Maria Robotnik tried looking for the rising moon she knew was hidden behind the dark storm clouds. The only thing she could see was the rain, the dark street lit up by the van’s headlights, and a blue sign in the distance that said: HEDGEHOG TOWN 4KM with an arrow pointing straight. She sat back and drummed a little on her thighs in anticipation.
“Aren’t you excited, Shadow?” she asked, turning to look at the driver. “We’re nearly there! I just can’t wait to check out the house. Abe said that it was close to the harbour, right? Oh, watching the ships come in and out of the harbour could be fun, don’t you agree?”
Shadow the Hedgehog grumbled in agreement, his eyes never once leaving the road. He had been extremely careful since driving off the ship onto the island. If she had to guess, it was because this was the longest time he’d had to drive since completing his test, going for six hours each day. Today, however, they were seated for a ten-hour drive.
Shshshshsh.
The final stretch was the longest, but since Maria wasn’t able to apply for her licence, she couldn’t share the burden with him.
“It’s fine,” Shadow abruptly said. “I enjoy driving.”
Maria blinked. “Did you just read my mind? I didn’t say anything!”
“I… saw the look on your face,” he admitted, quietly. “And you have been complaining about not being able to drive since we got off the ship.”
“You?” she gasped, hand dramatically splayed over her heart. “You took your eyes off the road? Shadow… I can’t believe you… how irresponsible of you to take your eyes away…. What if a young child ran out in the middle of the road?”
It wasn’t common to see Shadow smile, but it wasn’t rare, either. Even before It, he wasn’t a very cheery person who would smile at everyone and everything. Maria always loved seeing Shadow smile, to know that he was happy despite… everything. They were always small, barely noticeable, unless he was being a smartass—then those smile were large, always showing off his pointed canines in such a manner that, if Maria didn’t know what a softie he was, she may have found intimidating. Now that she was older (and because Abe indirectly told her) she knew that when he was a child, Abe had certainly found Shadow intimidating because of his smartass smiles.
One of those rare genuine smiles of Shadow was barely visible in the dashboard’s blue light. He said, “There’s no one else on the road.”
“That is true,” she said, thinking. “And, well, since you’ve been driving for so long, why don’t I—”
“No.”
“Aw, don’t be like that, Shadow. We’re only a few kilometres outside the city. We’ll be fine. And I’ll have you know,” she said, “that I do know how to drive. In theory. Especially since I helped you study for your licence.” Something that took an arm and a leg for Abe to give permission for.
Shadow quickly glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “…I don’t want you overexerting yourself… you only just gotten better. And I don’t want you getting caught by the police.”
“Shadow…” she said, softly. It warmed her heart to know how much he cared about her, even though it irked her that he wouldn’t let him drive.
But Shadow was correct. For years, Maria had been chronically ill with N.I.D.S., neuro-immuno deficiency syndrome, a (previously) incurable condition that her grandfather sought to alleviate her from. Shadow had been created for that very reason: to cure Maria. After years suffering from the condition, her grandfather and Shadow had been able to cure her slowly through various blood transfusions, medicines, and miracles. However, because of It, she hadn’t been able to go and see the world like she wanted, and had to recuperate for even longer than she would have from just recovering from her condition.
Now, though, nearly two years since waking up, she was finally allowed to go and live a normal life. It only took a little persuasion (and a lot of guilt-tripping) for Shadow to be allowed to live a normal life with her. But because of unnecessary worry about Maria’s condition somehow returning (and because of G.U.N.’s claim of ‘owning’ Shadow, which she really hated thinking about), not only were they to live with an agent chaperone because they were—technically—minors, but G.U.N. had picked where they were to live.
Hedgehog Town. A quaint town on South Island right on the edge of Resort Lake, which was named for the infamous island sat right in the lake’s centre. She had seen pictures of the town and thought that it looked pretty, especially with the beautiful mountain to the north, but Maria didn’t really appreciate being forced to live somewhere she couldn’t choose. Unlike with the ARK where she needed to live in its lower gravity to help mitigate that awful pain from her condition, there was no reason to live in Hedgehog Town.
But Shadow had seemed very pleased that they were finally leaving the base, and living somewhere that was so, so, so much like how she remembered the planet to be—beautiful, lush, and green, it was like everyplace she describe to him. Maria decided that she would keep her complaints to herself.
Shshshshsh.
“Once we get to the house,” Shadow said, his voice nearly drowned out by the rain, “I’ll unpack the van. Commander Tower said that it will be furbished when we get there, so you should go inside and get some sleep. You should be resting now, too.”
“When we get there, you should get some sleep, too,” Maria said, adamantly. “We can unpack the van in the morning. It might stop raining by then, so we don’t have to get soaked when we do so. I don’t want you getting sick from the cold and rain.”
Shadow frowned. “I can’t get sick.”
“We don’t know that!” Maria pointed out. “And it’s always better to be cautious. Besides, I’m sure that you can’t wait to get inside and take a look around. I sure can’t….”
She caught her reflection in the window and, not for the first time, was surprised at how she looked. On the ARK, when her illness was at its worse, she always saw herself as a skeleton; with gaunt cheeks and a sickly pale face, she thought her comparison was spot on. But now her cheeks had rounded out slightly, and her had some colour back. Her eyes, though, never changed; always a light, peaceful blue. She had her grandfather, and Shadow, to thank for her return to health. But….
Maria leaned her head against the cold glass, staring out at the dark trees in the night. “I… I just wished grandfather was here…”
Shshshshsh.
Shadow said nothing. There was nothing to say. Gerald Robotnik, PhD, had been dead for multiple decades by the time Maria woke up, executed in cold blood by G.U.N. The thought of it made her blood boil and her eyes sting. For the thousandth time, she thought, how could they do that?! How could they just—
“Maria,” Shadow said, breaking her train of thought. He stopped the van. “We’re here.”
She looked up from the window to see the van’s headlights illuminate a quaint two-storey house with a white-pillared carport. Even with the light, it was a bit too dark to clearly see if the house matched the photograph she had, but the 190601 on both the mailbox and by the white front door matched the numbers Abe had given them.
This must be it.
After letting Maria observe the house for a moment, Shadow drove forward until the van was parked neatly under the carport. The all-encompassing sound of the rain disappeared as the van was given a much needed reprieve. As soon as Shadow turn off the ignition, Maria pulled off her seatbelt and nearly jumped out of the vehicle, much to Shadow’s surprise.
“Maria!” he called, quickly exiting the van after her.
She stretched her arms well above her head, reveling in the true freedom she still hadn’t gotten used to. No pain, no discomfort, no fatigue… all thanks to the people she loved; her family. Maria shot Shadow a wide smile, saying, “Come on, let’s go check out the inside!”
“Let me go first,” Shadow said, already grabbing the single housekey Abe had given them. It was supposed to be in Maria’s bag (since Abe instructed her to not let Shadow get hold of it), but she practically tossed it at him as soon as they were off U.F. soil. “Stay outside by the van until I get back. Don’t forget your cane.”
Maria humoured him, knowing that—although she thought this was a little silly—it would make him feel better. She watched as he carefully unlocked the front door, stalling for a second after hearing the click! of the lock, before he pushed it open and entered. As he went to do his check for whatever threats he thought lurked in the house, she took the time to open the back doors of the van to search for her go bag and the bag that held her pajamas and her clean clothes for tomorrow (which she made sure to pack together for right now). She grabbed her cane from where it was laid on the floor of the van, and leaned it against the van’s side.
Admittedly, there weren’t many bags in the van. So little, in fact, that all of them fit in the back seats. Only her wheelchair, folded up, and essential car things Shadow said were important, sat in the trunk of the van. She hadn’t wanted to bring her wheelchair, having not needed it for months now—her cane being all she thought she needed when phantom pain flared up—but Shadow’s puppy dog eyes and worry won her over. She rarely needed her wheelchair even with her condition, but when she did… it was bad. Hopefully, all of those times would be a distant memory, now.
Ah! There was her go bag, pilled right on top of the nearly empty duffle bag that held everything Shadow owned (which was practically nothing, except what Maria forced him to buy). She piled it under her arm as she searched for her pajama bag. She found her two other bags fallen on the floor of the van, and thought that maybe that’s where her pajama bag was, too.
“Maria.”
At Shadow’s sudden appearance, she nearly jumped out of her skin and banged her head against the roof of the car. “Sh—Shadow!” she yelped, censuring herself. She turned to see him standing behind her, unimpressed and slightly worried.
He asked, “Are you okay?”
“I am,” she said. “How’s the house?”
“Safe enough.”
“Great! Let’s grab the bags and head inside!”
“I told you that I would—”
Maria passed out his duffle bag, grabbed her two other bags and her pajama bag (which had fallen onto the floor), and said, “Well, I’ve already finished grabbing the bags. So we might as well head inside and get some rest! We can throw out the travel garbage in the morning.”
Although he took his bag without complaint, he was still unimpressed. Shadow eventually lamented with (read: said), “Fine. But let me take your bags.”
“Okay.” Maria easily handed over the two other bags, which he slung over his shoulder with the two other bags. “I’m taking my pajamas with me, though.”
Shadow waited until Maria had grabbed her cane, and was using it, before he closed the van’s door and locked it. He turned and led the way inside the house.
Shadow had turned on the lights when he searched through the house—all of the lights, even those in the rooms upstairs—so Maria didn’t need to when she stepped inside. Once she took off her shoes in the mudroom and stepped out onto the dark hardwood floors, Maria took her time looking around.
Abe had been right, the whole house was furbished. There was a small living room that faced out towards the harbour, the dark night not letting her know if she could see much when she peered out the windows. There were blue couches already there, each with grey blankets and pillows, a grey rug covering the floor, and a white stone wood-burning fireplace. By the living room was a small dining room with a dark wood table with three chairs. The kitchen was nice, with dark wood cabinets and marble counters; a small island sat in the middle, and Shadow had placed her two bags there, which she decided to ignore until morning. He was searching through the cabinets and drawers when she passed through. Right by the kitchen’s entrance to the backyard—which she’d check out in the morning—was a white wall phone. By the kitchen was a half-bath with a white rug and toilet cover already in place, as well as a white towel and a generic brand bar of soap.
Shadow appeared from the kitchen, and watched her as Maria carefully made her way upstairs. She felt fine, but if she didn’t use her cane, he would complain. On the stairs, she had noticed, was a wheelchair lift—which, while nice, was something she hoped she wouldn’t need.
Upstairs, there were three bedrooms (the one closest to the stairs was taken by the agent chaperone as it was locked), a washroom, and a closet. Both bedrooms were identical, each with a closet, a dark wood dresser, and a full-sized bed with white blankets and sheets. The linen closet was across from the rooms, and was filled with more white towels and a washing machine and dryer. Finally, the washroom had a tub and shower, and two dark wood vanities with sinks. It was stocked with toilet paper and generic brand soap bars, shampoo, and conditioner, but nothing else. She put her go bag on the vanity closest to the door, already choosing that one as hers.
The whole house made Maria feel like she was in a hotel. That was to say, there was no life in this house. No personality. No colour, either, besides from the blue in the living room. Even her room on the ARK had colour and life, and it was on a space station orbiting the planet!
But, well, it was a free house, so she couldn’t exactly find it in her heart to complain.
“Hey, Shadow!” Maria called from the top of the stairs. She peered over the white railing and saw him emerge from whatever he was doing in the direction of the living room. “Which room do you want?”
“I don’t care.”
“Hmm… okay, then!” She glanced back at the two rooms. “I’ll take the far one across from the washroom, you get the one in the middle.”
“That’s fine.”
“Great!” Maria yawned, surprising herself. She hadn’t thought she was very tired, but as she rested against the top rails of the stairs, she realized that she felt like she could sleep for days. “I’m going to strip my bed of its sheet and blankets to wash tomorrow, then head to bed. Sweet dreams, Shadow!”
He smiled at her—another one of those small, honest smiles. “Good night, Maria.”
Maria had wanted to greet the neighbours first thing in the morning as the storm had passed, however Shadow managed to convince her that they should go and see the town before the agent chaperone arrived. He didn’t really want to see the town, rather being quite fine staying inside their ‘house,’ but not only did he know that it would kill Maria to stay locked up, he also wanted scope around the surrounding area.
She had woken up late, so they both decided to go and grab lunch in the town since they didn’t have any groceries with them. Shadow wanted to drive, but Maria managed to convince him that they should walk since they weren’t so far away, and she wanted to feel the bright sunshine on her skin.
One of the strangest things about Hedgehog Town was the mass population of mobians everywhere. Maria thought it was delightful that Shadow could be around people like him, though he vehemently disagreed since it was… strange. He grew up only around humans, having never seen another mobian (if… he could even be called that) before meeting that bat at the G.U.N. base who thought the best use of her time was trying to get to know (read: interrogate) him. Of course, he knew about mobians, if not from their classes then from whenever Maria would mention them when she spoke of the planet. But seeing and knowing are two completely separate things.
Somehow the two ended up at a Spagonian restaurant. The meal was nice, although the two didn’t eat much food, but Maria adored her minestrone and even Shadow had to admit that his gnocchi soup was good. They ate their meal, paid with rings Maria inherited from the Professor, and left the restaurant so that they could do some more sight seeing.
It was there that Shadow met him—that annoying creature—right at the crossroads of Harine Rd. and Zumi Cres. ‘Met,’ however, was putting it nicely, as ‘rammed into’ was more truthful.
“Sonic—wait!” a young voice yelled from down the street. Shadow’s ears flicked in its direction. “Wait!!!”
As both Maria and him turned to see what the commotion was about, something hard and blue slammed right into him, throwing both of them backwards in the air. The blue creature that slammed right into him held him tightly as they tumbled in the air. Shadow growled, ears pressed low to his head, as he harshly elbowed the thing that attacked him. The thing let out a short, “Oof!” and let go.
Shadow kicked off the blue thing and used two quick propulsions from his air shoes to safely land back on the ground without a single quill out of place. Whatever attacked him wasn’t nearly as lucky as it hit the ground, bounced twice, and then rolled to a stop.
“SONIC!” the young voice from earlier shouted, and a small yellow fox ran past Shadow, his twin tails nearly propelling him forward as they spun. “Sonic! Are you okay!?”
“Shadow!” Maria called, rushing over to his side. She was much slower than the fox, who crossed twice the same distance at the same time. “Thank goodness, you’re alright!”
“I’m fine, Maria,” he said, eying the blue lump, which simply raised a thumbs-up at the fox. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
Maria shook her head. “Oh, no, I’m perfectly fine.” She looked towards the blue and yellow duo. “Is he okay?” she asked. “He’s not hurt, is he?”
The blue thing jumped up to his feet and shook his head, letting his tangled and messy quills cascade like a waterfall. It was a hedgehog, a blue hedgehog wearing a weird mechanical device over his torso. He flashed them a sparkling smile. “Pfft. That was nothing!” However, he did rub his torso where Shadow harshly elbowed him. “Although, you should tell your friend to keep his boney elbows to himself.”
“I would’ve,” Shadow said, frowning, “if you had watched where you were going.”
“I did!” the blue thing said. “I watched as I ran right into you. Not everyday you see another hedgehog in Hedgehog Town! Took me by surprise, y’know.”
Maria gasped. “Shadow, he’s right! He’s also a hedgehog!” She shot him a smile that he recognized and dreaded. It would always appear right before she would suggest something he didn’t want to do, but would anyway. “Maybe you should become friends! It might be nice having some hedgehog friends. Plus, he’s fast—just like you! Think of the races you could have!”
“So, your name’s Shadow,” said the blue hedgehog, who had zoomed over and slid to a stop before the two. “I’m Sonic. Nice to meet you!”
“You can’t call me Shadow,” he snapped. “Only Maria can.”
Sonic blinked. “Ooookay…? What do I call you then?”
“Ideally, nothing. And,” he added, “you’re not a hedgehog. You’re blue. Hedgehog’s are brown.”
“That’s not cool, dude!” Sonic tsked. “I’m a hedgehog cause I’m a hedgehog—just like you! Besides, from your logic, you’re also not a hedgehog. You’d be a fake hedgehog!”
Shadow saw red. He clenched his fist, very much ready to bloody them with this blue hedgehog’s blood, but Maria’s soft, “Oh, Shadow….” stopped him. This blue hedgehog was just messing around, he wasn’t worth it.
Taking a (not so) calming breath, he said, “Think whatever you’d like, faker—”
“Faker? Excuse me?!”
“—you’re not worth my time. Come on, Maria,” he said, turning away from Sonic, “I want to go back to the house.”
The fox had migrated over to stand beside Maria. “I think we should go, too, Sonic. Let’s just try to relax. Sorry for the trouble,” he said to her.
“Aw, c’mon, Tails. Let me have this,” Sonic whined. He ran to a stop in front of Shadow. “What’d she mean when she said I was fast ‘like you?’ Can you keep up with me?” He ran a circle around Shadow far longer than anyone sane would, leaving a streak of blue behind. “I bet you can’t do that!”
Shadow crossed his arms, his heart awkwardly thumping away in his chest. “What?” he asked. “Run in a circle? Fool, anyone can do that.”
“Oh, yeah? Why don’t you prove it to me!” Sonic smirked, excitement and fire burning in his eyes.
“I don’t have to prove anything to you.”
“Sounds to me like you’re scared!”
“Of, what? You? Pfft. Don’t make me laugh.”
In the background, ignored by both their siblings, the fox said, “My name’s Miles, but you can call me Tails. He’s Sonic.”
“Nice to meet you, Tails. I’m Maria. Shadow and I just moved into town yesterday.”
Sonic loudly laughed. “Then race me! If you’re not scared, then let’s see who’s faster! The first one to the… hmm….” He took a look around the area, trying to see the perfect landmark for the race. “I got it! First one to the train station and back to this street sign is the winner!”
“You’re a fool,” Shadow huffed. “I don’t know where the train station is. Besides, why would I want to race you? You’re not worth my time.”
Sonic ignored his last comment. “Hah! I guess you gotta be extra fast in order to win, if you gotta run all over town to find it. Guess if you’re too slow, then I guess I win by default! 1-Sonic, 0-Ideally, nothing!”
Tails awkwardly chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “I… actually have a map of the town. It’s in my backpack….”
“Oh! Oh!” Maria happily clapped. “I know you’ve been wanting to really stretch your legs, Shadow. This gives you the chance to. Plus, this sounds like a fun idea!”
Shadow sighed, “Maria, they’re complete strangers. Let’s just leave them to their antics.”
“Aw, but Shadow, strangers are just friends you don’t know yet. Besides, they seem nice!”
“That’s not necessarily a good mindset.”
Sonic, who had begun stretching, paused. He jumped up. “Well, I wouldn’t mind being friends! C’mon, Shadow, be a team player.” He slung an arm around the hedgehog, who elbowed him again. Sonic doubled over, wheezing. “That counts as cheating, y’know.”
“You don’t get to call me Shadow,” he growled, again. “I’m not your friend.”
“Yet!” Sonic smirked. “Why don’t you want to get to know me? I want to get to know you. C’mon, hedgehog-to-hedgehog, let’s be friends. How many hedgehogs do you even?”
Shadow didn’t want to dignify his question with an answer (which was zero), instead saying, “You’re annoying, self-centred, and a fool.”
“You’ll also find that I’m kind, handsome, and thoughtful,” Sonic added. “I love running and can be very competitive! So, let’s race! Tails, you got your map?”
“…Here it is.” Tails held out the folded map of Hedgehog Town towards Shadow, gingerly, as if he was afraid he would bite. That would be humiliating for him if he did so, but the fox didn’t know that.
Shadow glanced at Maria, and suddenly regretted doing so. She looked so happy, so careful, and so excited about this stupid race that he took the map from the fox. Shadow glanced down at it, easily finding the station and the crossroads they stood at. It wasn’t a hard route, literally just seven blocks north and then four blocks east.
Easy enough. He’d be done in under three minutes, then he and Maria would never have to speak to those two ever again. It’d make her day, he’d get to actually use his speed for the first time in about a month (G.U.N. regulations were very nearly criminal), and he could pulverize that blue fool. But….
“I’m not going to leave Maria, alone,” Shadow said. “Especially not with a stranger in a strange city.”
Maria sighed, “It’s okay, Shadow… I’ll be fine. Besides, I won’t be alone, Tails will be with me.”
“He’s still a stranger.”
“Well, he’s not, anymore, since I know his name!”
The unamused look Shadow shot Maria made her laugh.
“I’m serious,” Shadow said. “What if something happens when I’m not here?”
She sincerely asked, “Like what?”
Shoes running against grated metal floors. Alarms blaring. Emergency lights flashing, painting the world red.
Cold glass against leather gloves. A brave young girl holding back tears.
Shouting. Slamming. Betrayal. Fear.
Horror.
A whisper.
“I’m not letting anything happen to you,” he said. Not again.
Sonic said, “Nothing’s gonna happen. It’s broad daylight in the middle of town. There’s a restaurant right over there. Besides, Tails’ll be with her. She’ll be fine.” He shot Shadow a smirk. “And if you’re fast enough, then it’d be like you never left!”
“Shadow,” Maria softly said, “I’ll be right here when you get back.” She tapped her cane on the ground where she stood as emphasis. “We’ve been cooped up in a car for the past few days, and then cooped up on a ship for over a month before that. If I could, I’d be running marathons now. I think it’d do you good to stretch your legs. Please, if not for yourself then for me? Plus, you might just have fun! And you might win!”
Shadow looked at Maria for a good long while. Her light blue eyes shimmered with anticipation, and he nearly forgot how competitive she could be. There weren’t many competitive games she could participate in, especially on the ARK, that whenever she was able to compete, she put her full heart and soul into everything. Many a chess game got very heated, loud, and physically taxing for Maria to the point that the Professor actually banned chess for three weeks.
(Technically, it was still banned.)
If Maria was truly asking him to win for her… how could he say no? It was as the Professor said, Maria was everything.
Shadow sighed, “One race.”
Sonic hollered something excitedly in the background, but Shadow ignored him. He passed the map to Maria to look at and walked over to where Sonic was stretching and preparing himself for a race that would take Shadow, probably, not even two minutes. If he were to allow himself to cheat (which he wouldn’t, there was no honour in cheating to decimate your opponent), he could probably get there and back in under ten seconds using what Maria dubbed as Chaos Snap.
“Winner gets bragging rights.” Sonic smirked. “Which, trust me, I’ll completely indulge in.”
Shadow scoffed, “You’re wrong to assume you’ll win.”
Tails stepped forward as both racers lined by the unofficial start line at the crossroad’s sign. Maria stood by said sign, eagerly bouncing in the spot as the two hedgehogs got into position to take off.
“I want a clean race,” Tails said. A couple of lemurs walking by the group stopped to stare before continuing on, not wanting to involve themselves. Shadow couldn’t blame them. “No cheating, no fighting, no cheap tricks. The goal is to run to the train station and back here. The finish line is the starting line. On your marks, get set—”
“Wait!” Maria called. “How can we prove that they went to the train station?”
“You think I need to cheat to win this?” Sonic scoffed. “As if!”
“For once, I have to agree with the hedgehog.”
Tails mused, “She does has a point…. Okay! The goal is to run to the train station, pick up a travel brochure from the entrance, and then race back here. The finish line hasn’t changed. Whoever returns here first with a brochure wins bragging rights! Got it? On your marks, get set… GO!” He flicked his tails and flew into the air so that neither hedgehog bodied him as they shot off in streaks of blue and orange.
“Go, Shadow!”
“You got this, Sonic!” Tails did a somersault in the air, chuckling, before flying over and landed right beside Maria.
Maria stared at Tails, her eyes sparkling as she squealed, “You can fly?! That’s so cool!”
Blushing, Tails rubbed the back of his neck. “Aw, thanks. I can’t fly for long, though.”
“I still think it’s cool,” she said. “You must be able to see amazing sights, up high in the sky.”
Tails cleared his throat, embarrassed. “I don’t normally look around when I fly; I’m normally looking for something on the ground when I do. But my brother and I will sometimes use his dad’s plane to fly high in the sky… the sunrise from those altitudes are beautiful….” The young fox looked downcast. “We… haven’t done that in a long time, though.”
“Why not?” Maria asked, gently.
“Ah, things have just been… different, lately,” he said. “He started dating his girlfriend, Amy, and then—” Tails cleared his throat. “Enough about that. Wow! Your friend is much faster than I thought. I thought no one could keep up with Sonic—nevertheless, match him! How is he so fast?”
Maria caught his change of topic, but simply smiled. “Well, Shadow’s always been fast,” she said, “but his air shoes help.”
“Air shoes?”
She proudly nodded. “Yup. I actually designed them for him, and my grandfather… he built them for him. Shadow can go extremely fast using them. But how can Sonic run so fast? He’s not using any special shoes, is he?”
Tails sighed. “I would give anything to know the answer to that question…. I’ve been trying to figure out the secret to Sonic, but it’s not been very productive…. How is he so fast? How did he come to be? How does Nick—uh, I mean, maybe you should ask Sonic when they return?”
Sonic skidded to a stop in front of the two as Shadow glided to a finish. “Ask me what?”
“You’re back already!?” Tails gasped. “That was barely even a minute!”
“Astute, my good friend” Sonic said, bowing as he held out his brochure. “And I barely even broke a sweat.”
Tails took his brochure and opened it. “This is from the train station!”
“So is mine,” Shadow said, throwing his brochure at the fox. It landed on his face before fluttering to the ground. Tails picked it up to see that it was the same brochure as Sonic’s. Shadow had one of his smartass smiles on his face as he smirked at the other hedgehog. “And I won.”
“What! No, I won!”
“You tripped on a rock by the finish line, so I won.”
“I didn’t trip,” Sonic muttered. “I kicked it out of the way. Besides, I won.”
Shadow crossed his arms. “I passed the finish line first. I won.”
“Tails!” Sonic whipped his head towards his friend. “Who won? You saw, right?”
Looking up from the brochures, Tails stuttered, “Ah, well, you know… you guys were going so fast that I… don’t actually know who won?”
Both hedgehogs groaned.
“I think it was a tie!” Maria said, clapping. “Way to go, Shadow!”
Shadow nodded once. “I’ll accept the tie.”
“Yeah…” Sonic sighed. “I guess I have to as well.” He stuck a hand out towards Shadow. “Well, here’s to a good race!”
Shadow stared at his hand. Instead of shaking it, he turned to Maria. “Come on. I had my one race. Let’s head back to the house.”
“What!” Sonic exclaimed. “C’mon, what about one more? Just to break the tie?”
“No.”
“C’mon man, you’re killing me here.”
Maria chuckled. “Alright, I suppose one race is just enough.” She turned to Sonic and Tails. “It was a pleasure meeting you two. I hope we can hang out again soon! Oh, and Tails, I hope you find the answers to your questions. And I hope you can see the sunrise from up high soon.”
“Thanks, Maria,” he said. “It was nice meeting you, as well. Oh, and if no one else has said this yet: Welcome to Hedgehog Town!”
“Thank you, Tails!”
Sonic lazily waved at the two. “If you ever want to race again, you know where to find me!”
“No, we don’t,” Maria said. Shadow gestured for her to stop talking. “But I’m sure we’ll find you. We’ll keep an eye out for any blue blurs running around.”
“Exactly! Don’t be a stranger.”
Maria ignored Shadow’s huff about technically still being strangers. She waved at the pair once more before walking back towards where their house awaited, Shadow by her side. It had been a good day after all; they got Spagonian food for lunch, made some new friends, and Shadow even go to skate freely like she knew he enjoyed doing.
She didn’t even mind returning to the house this early, her right knee was starting to act up, and she knew that Shadow would notice and fret over any limp—regardless of how insignificant.
“So,” she said, already knowing the answer, “how was the race? Did you have fun?”
His “hmph” was confirmation enough.
Of course, he thought, of course, they’d take the ungodly van. Did no one tell them that the streets are very narrow here? They won’t be able to drive it downtown, that’s for sure.
Pulling up the house, bag of groceries neatly packed into his storage container, he parked his motorcycle. It looked the same as did when he arrived there yesterday morning, hours before his charges were tracked to arrive. That gave him enough time to search for bugs and cameras (twenty-seven in total), and to lock the door to the room he decided to claim for his own. It was purely strategic to take the room by the stairs, being both the agent and the adult of the house.
I’ll have to get a sidecar, he begrudgingly thought, then realized that was practically a death sentence. Actually, it’s probably better to just exchange it for a car. I’ll do that tomorrow morning. If he took Maria Robotnik on a motorcycle, then not only would Commander Tower have him locked behind a desk doing paperwork until he died, but Terios Robotnik would probably just kill him.
It wouldn’t do him any good to get killed before he found the doctor, after all. Getting onto the young Robotniks’ good sides were crucial for his mission, and for his objectives.
And, speak of the Devil…. Appearing over the bend in the distance, right at the edge of the where harbourside area began, were the Robotniks. There was no possible chance of misrecognizing them with Maria Robotnik’s blonde hair and cane, and Terios Robotnik’s black fur and striking red highlights. Even from the distance, he saw the hedgehog’s eyes narrow before telling the human something she shook her head at.
Agent Stone, obligatory chaperone, sighed. He removed his helmet, got off his bike, and went to greet his charges.