Chapter Text
POV:Sonic
"Hoodie?"
"Mutt, that's six letters. It's only five for Wordle."
I pierced my pancakes as I watched Tails furrowing his brows, trying to figure out today's word.
"Tails, Mutt eat. You can solve it later."
"OK, Uncle Chuck." they replied, Tails putting the phone down.
I downed my juice, cleared up after myself and snatched the phone.
"Sonic!"
"Learn to be fast eaters then, slowpokes!" I chuckled at my brothers as I sunk myself into the couch.
Strictly speaking, they are my adopted brothers. But why waste my breath, when they're as good as actual siblings?
I typed in 'Hound' and laughed when I got it correct.
"In your face, Tails!"
His annoyed grumble replied to me. It was great, feeling more clever than Tails for once.
I put the phone down by the side and put my hands behind my head as I looked at that house.
There was a house opposite ours which hasn't had anyone lived there for several years. Nobody has died there as far as I'm aware, so we always wondered why no one wanted it. My brothers and I had begun to fantasize about what sort of people we'd want to live there.
Tails hopes for an extremely smart engineer or scientist of some sort. He'd obviously want to start discussing intelligent things with them and try to get some career tips. Did I mention that he's already in the same year as me even though he's at primary school age? You know he's an absolute genius when even the governors allow this.
Mutt is around the same age as Tails but in primary school, much to his disappointment. I can't blame him, it makes him feel a little left out from our friend group. Antoine and Bunnie used to be classed as his best friends, until they started dating. Mutt thinks about having a friend who would understand him and would put him first instead of a girlfriend, heh.
And me? I imagine there being someone who can keep up with me! I'm so fast that everyone around me struggles to keep up with me. Dr. Robotnik complains that it's wasted potential blah, blah, blah. If only he saw me in the other subjects! It's obviously him that's the problem.
We even asked Uncle Chuck about his ideal neighbour. He stroked his moustache as he pondered the question.
"Well...I don't think I'd mind as long as they're nice. Perhaps the sort who's cheery and would smile at you everyday as they water flowers?"
We even gave our imaginary neighbours names. Dr. Omniscient, Scooter the Friend and Lux. Obviously, we made those names when we were younger so don't think we've gone crazy. Although, I sometimes still notice Mutt muttering to himself occasionally. Poor him.
The house was decent enough, no broken windows, the walls with no vandalism, the white van in front...
Wait.
I sped to the window, pressing my face up against the glass. The for sale sign was gone. We have a new neighbour!
"Tails, Mutt, Uncle Chuck! Come here, come here!"
"What's wrong, Sonny boy?" he peered next to me, my brothers rushing over as well.
"New neighbour!"
It was like Christmas, all our faces were lit up. We rushed to the door before being stopped by Uncle Chuck. What was he doing?
"Look, boys, I know it may be exciting but we don't want to overwhelm them. Moving is a long process and they'd be too tired to speak to any of you."
"We can help! It'll speed up the process, especially with me around." I shrugged, earning a light punch from Tails, "What? It's true!"
"I know Sonic, but Uncle Chuck is right. We need to give them time to settle down."
"Let's go tomorrow!" Mutt piped up.
I grinned, "Tomorrow it is, then!"
"He'll wreck the house during that time..."
"I heard that, Tails! I can be patient!"
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Today's the day! See how patient I am? I didn't break anything.
...
Alright, I may have crushed a lightbulb whilst speeding around our entire house. But that's Tails' fault for leaving it lying around. We had to stay at home because our Uncle doesn't trust us to avoid our new neighbour.
My old visions of my fast friend Lux came flooding back. I wonder how fast they'd be. Or extremely slow? Faster than me?!
"Sonic, can you give me the hamper?"
I snapped out of my thoughts and passed the hamper. We wanted to make our neighbour feel as welcome as possible so Uncle Chuck went on the mission of buying a variety of things. Tails was in charge of carrying the card and Mutt was in charge of carrying the chili dogs. Let me tell you that chili dogs made from Uncle Chuck are amazing!
We went over and I knocked on the door. I heard the sound of mumbling but the door didn't open straight away. I'll give them some time, I can wait.
I began tapping my foot rapidly against the floor.
"All you alright Sonny boy?"
"I'm fine, Uncle."
"What if they don't like us?" Mutt whispered.
"Of course they won't! They never met us before, why would they?" I laughed, even though he was voicing my exact thoughts aloud. What if they were one of those types who were rude and yelled at everyone?
The sound of the key turning allowed me to regain my composure. I threw my hands up as soon as the door open.
"Welcome to our neighbourhood! Nice to meet you-"
I paused and stared at the figure standing at the door. I blinked, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me.
"Dr. Robotnik!?" Mutt voiced the exact words in my mind.
However, his moustache was now grey, his body shape completely different and he's smiling at us. Dr. Robotnik (or Eggman, as I call the teacher behind his back) would never smile at us unless it was time to torture is with detention or work.
Well, the man was smiling. He looked a bit down at our reaction, making me feel bad. I grinned awkwardly.
"Sorry, I somehow mistook you for someone else."
He shook his head. "No, no, it's alright. I see you are all familiar with my grandchild. He has a doctorate whereas I am a professor. I'm Professor Gerald Robotnik."
He offered his hand to all of us. As we each shook his hand, I looked at my siblings with the same idea. Dr. Robotnik was already old and now there was an even older version of him! But at least he was nice.
He invited us in and led us to the living room. We sat on the couch, which creaked at our every move. I looked around, searching for anything decorative. Heck, maybe even a baby picture of Dr. Eggman? But no, the mantlepiece was bare.
"So, Sonic, you go to...Central City Secondary?" The professor asked as he handed us cups of water, before sitting in an armchair.
"Yeah, so does Tails here! He's super smart so he's in the same year as me...showing us all up." I elbowed him playfully. "And your grandson teaches us Chemistry and Physics."
"Do you enjoy yourselves there?"
"Of course! We've got lots of friends there who make the school day less dull."
"But, obviously education is really the important reason to be there." Tails cut in.
Prof. Robotnik nodded then his expression turned thoughtful. "My cre... I have someone who's going there tomorrow. I wanted to make sure that he'll feel just fine at the new school."
Mutt, Tails and my ears all perked up. So it wasn't just him in the house?
"Who?!" I immediately stood up, as if the mystery person might suddenly jump out from behind the couch. "Where is he?"
"It's...complicated. He's...adjusting to the new environment. He's a hedgehog who's...around the same age as you, Sonic."
A hedgehog as well? Same age as me? What's next, same speed as me?
"And his speed could possibly match that of yours-"
Oh, Chaos! A dream come true!
"What's his name?"
"Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."
Shadow. I repeated his name. Tails and Mutt did the same. He sounds so mysterious and...edgy.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw something at the staircase but when I faced in that direction, it was gone.