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The world faded to a green and blue blur as Sonic raced over another hill. Wind rushed past his ears, wrapping him in a cocoon of sound and motion that felt equal parts exhilarating and familiar. Grinning, he glanced up at the sky above him. It was a vivid, delicate blue, speckled with fluffy white clouds that crawled by above his head as he continued on his run.
In a split second, the sky was knocked out of Sonic’s vision as he went from zooming over the top of a gentle hill to tumbling gracelessly down it, entangled with whatever unfortunate individual had just stepped into his path. Muttering apologies, Sonic stumbled to his feet. As he extended his hand to help up whoever he’d just knocked over, his somewhat disoriented mind finally caught up with his eyes and he realized who he’d just run into.
“Shadow?” Sonic chuckled slightly. “I guess you need to work on your reflexes, huh?” Shadow did not respond to the insult, nor did he make any move to accept Sonic’s hand. He simply remained sitting on the ground, knees bent awkwardly from trying to catch himself, staring at Sonic with an intense expression that Sonic couldn’t quite place. “What’s the matter?” Sonic said, a little teasingly. “Embarrassed?”
Shadow remained silent as his gaze shifted from Sonic to the sky. Sonic nervously glanced upwards, then gasped as the sky flashed from clear blue to dark, impenetrable grey. A sudden gust of wind nearly knocked Sonic off his feet as a flood of ice-cold raindrops pelted his head. Squinting through the pouring rain, he got the distinct impression that, despite the clear skies he’d seen only moments earlier, the storm had been going on for a long time.
“So you can see it now?” Shadow asked, rising to his feet. “It’s about time.” Without further comment, he turned his back to Sonic and began walking.
“Wait.” Sonic took an unsteady step towards him. Why was the wind so strong? “This… isn’t just a regular storm, is it? Do you know anything about it?”
Shadow gave a bored glance over his shoulder. “You can come with me if you like, but I don’t owe you any information.”
“Come with you where?”
“To shelter.” With that, he turned away and continued walking. Stumbling against the wind, Sonic followed him.
Sonic squinted against the wind and rain, trying to keep Shadow in sight as the other hedgehog effortlessly strode through the storm. The rain seemed to be coming down harder now, if that was even possible.
After a few minutes, a particularly strong gust of wind managed to actually knock Sonic over. What little he could see of Shadow through the rain disappeared as he fell hard onto the wet grass.
“Hey!” Sonic shouted. “How about you stop being edgy and mysterious for five seconds and help me up?” Shadow did not respond.
Sonic almost managed to stand up, but quickly slipped on some mud and found himself crouching in the grass again. The rain was coming down so hard now that it hardly felt like rain at all. Even the grass seemed to fade from his perception, leaving Sonic with the impression of being trapped beneath a rushing river, unable to tell which way was up or where the water was taking him.
“Hey!” he shouted again, then paused in surprise at how desperate his voice had sounded. He had been going more for annoyance, but he supposed at this point he would take anything that would get any kind of response. Shadow was most likely out of earshot anyway, but maybe someone would be close enough to hear him. He could only hope.
Sonic tried once again to stumble to his feet, but the wind and rain kept him pinned to the slick grass. He squeezed his eyes shut against the rain and wondered how it was, exactly, that he'd met his match in the form of weather of all things. For the first time in a very, very long time, Sonic was struck by the realization that he was completely in over his head.
Suddenly, he became aware that he could no longer feel the wind or rain. Sonic opened his eyes and found himself face to face with Amy Rose. She was silent but smiling warmly, one hand reaching out to help him up and the other wrapped around the handle of an umbrella. Sonic opened his mouth to greet her, but froze when he caught sight of the umbrella itself.
Instead of a cloth or plastic canopy, Amy's umbrella seemed to be made of some sort of transparent membrane. It would have looked like there was no umbrella canopy at all, only the handle and wire frame, if not for the fact that the sky beyond the membrane was cloudless and blue. Sonic stared in amazement at the solid line between the umbrella and the open air, below which the sky was just as grey and impenetrable as it had been since he became aware of the storm. Moving his eyes to the grass in front of him, he realized he could still see raindrops landing on the ground beneath the shelter of the umbrella. He reached out a hand to catch one and found that it went right through him.
“Where did you even get this?” he asked Amy as he finally took her outstretched hand.
“That's a secret!” she said playfully. “Now, are you ready to get to shelter?” Through the umbrella, Sonic could see a castle in the distance. A few metres in front of him, Shadow stood with crossed arms, gazing out towards it.
Sonic took a deep breath and smiled. ”Let's go,“ he said, pulling Amy by the hand towards the castle. Seeing that they were finally moving, Shadow turned and began walking again.
And with that, their journey began.