"This is Sigma-Alpha 2, heading due south over Central City. We're en route, everything's-a-go," the man in the front of the helicopter reported. Sonic sat there in the back of the helicopter with his head down, handcuffed and a smirk stuck on his face. Two expressionless men faced him, armed with little more than the idea that they were ready for whatever would happen if Sonic moved.
"Report cargo status of captured hedgehog aboard, over," the man on the other end of the call ordered. Sonic gazed out the window, at the view of a huge United Federation city below him.
"So this is your 'Golden Bay Zone', right?" Sonic asked the men in front of him, startling them. They prepared their batons.
"Don't try anything funny, ya f—" one of the men stuttered, holding his baton towards Sonic.
"Relax, it's a nice view. Shame about the actual piss-yellow sea, but I'd still like to run around down on the streets," Sonic interrupted. He laughed loudly in excitement. The men winced in fear. "Aw, don't be like that. Can't you just IMAGINE rolling down those hills?!"
"That's a 10-4. Cargo is secured on board, and—" the pilot answered.
"So, thanks for the lift. Hear traffic's ugly down there," Sonic chuckled from the back. "See ya!" The pilot quaked and sweated nervously as he heard Sonic Spin Dashing out of his shackles, then knocking out the two men.
"WHAT?!" The pilot exclaimed.
"Didn't copy that, over!"
"The hedgehog is gone. He's taken out everyone on board, and…!" The pilot yelled. He then looked at Sonic, who kicked through the door, waved at him, and jumped right out. "What in the world?! Freeze! What do you think you're doing? Get that hedgehog!"
Sonic held onto the side of the wing, and climbed his way up onto somewhat solid footing. He looked down to the city below, as he tore a piece of metal from the wing. "Talk about low budget flights… no food or movies? I'm outta here!" Sonic quipped, hopping up and down. "I like running better." With a deep breath and a smile, Sonic stood atop the piece of metal and slid off of the wing, into the city below. He grinned wide.
"Yeahhhhh!" He exclaimed, spinning down into the city streets.
Sonic landed without a hitch on one of the steep hills that Golden Bay was infamous for, snowboarding down the busy streets with his makeshift snowboard. Sparks flew out from the bottom of the piece of metal as he drifted between cars and roadblocks. "Attention all units. Suspect seen heading south. Block all major roads, capture the suspect," a woman's voice ordered over one of the nearby intercoms littering the city, feeding lies and propaganda to the citizens. Suddenly, a bunch of cop cars blocked the streets ahead. Sonic kept on snowboarding down the hill, towards an orange-striped ramp. He slid towards the ramp, and launched off into the sky, right over the cop cars.
Sonic ditched the snowboard, and ran through a park. People screamed and jumped for cover as he dashed through at a brisk pace. Fast enough to escape the police as they chased him down on foot, fast enough to gain a sense of adrenaline and the feeling of wind in his quills, but not fast enough to seriously injure anyone if they were too slow to make way. Suddenly, a large GUN Trooper jumped in front of him. "Wow! You're bigger than the average cannon-fodder Motobug!" Sonic exclaimed, Spin Dashing right between its legs. "But are you faster too? Let's see if you can keep up." Sonic dashed around a half-pipe into a loop, leaving the bot in the dust. He ran down a condo into a Spring, and bounced off into the distance. "WOOO-HOOO!"
…
Shadow the Hedgehog sat atop the Golden Gate Bridge, staring off into the sunset as the sky was dotted with stars. He was playing a strange guitar-like instrument. Singing along with the lyrics to the best of his ability. Some of the notes… were missing. A voice was moving through his mind, a shiver was slipping down his spine. It was like there was somebody else faintly singing along with him atop the bridge, looking down upon Erius from above. He was just playing his song. And then…
"Come down here! You are completely surrounded!" A voice shouted. Shadow looked down to the street below. Looked like local PD. "Follow my orders, you subhuman monster!" Shadow's head began to hurt. His mind conjured up a vision. A memory, even.
"MARIA!" Shadow wailed helplessly in his memory, watching from inside a capsule as a bleeding human girl inputted a command in some kind of console. From the corner of his vision, he could see Erius through a window. He was in space. This was not new information to him. He never forgot this moment, he never forgave this moment. He had been dreaming this exact scene over and over for the 50 years he was in stasis within that facility. "Let me out! NOW!" He cried helplessly. Maria looked back at him, in worry yet also in resolution. Shadow was crying uncontrollably, tears blurring his vision along with a sense of panic invading his brain. "Maria, please! I don't want to go down there! Not without you!"
"It's too late for me, Shadow…" Maria stated, looking away. Shadow immediately shut his mouth, although he wanted to keep talking. He wanted to say something to her once more. "When you get to Erius, please… make them pay. Make them pay for killing me. It's all I want." Shadow nodded.
"I… I promise you I will make them pay, Hope!" Shadow exclaimed, referring to Maria by the nickname he made up for her. Just like how she had made up his name. "I will burn them all to the ground for you! I will do anything it takes to avenge you!" Hope smiled at him weakly through her tears, before falling limp. She pressed the button that would send Shadow rocketing down to Erius. The last thing Shadow saw in the flashback was her lifeless body as she continued to bleed onto the floor.
BANG!
A bullet rushed at him. He dodged just in the nick of time. Just like that, he turned his orange crackling eyes over to the officer. "Do you hear me?! You are under arrest for stealing the United Federation's Mutual Mandolin!" The same officer shouted. He turned to one of his men. Shadow gritted his teeth. "What is that thing, anyway? It looks like an anthropomorphic hedgehog AND one of those Dark Gaia monsters that come out at night."
"Perhaps he's possessed, sir? Or maybe the monsters are beginning to shapeshift…" Another cop asked. "But then again… isn't it a little too early for them to take form?" Shadow then grinded down the rail of the Golden Gate Bridge and took out the entire squad in an instant. Only one remained conscious, and Shadow was quickly making his way over to him.
"H-hey! Stay back, mutant!" The man shouted. He rose his gun to Shadow. Shadow released an EMP that made the gun blow up in the officer's hand. The cop held his charred hand and screamed.
"I know your kind," Shadow growled, putting his foot down on the man's head. "I once lost someone very important because of someone just like you. That filth was a soldier, I believe. He fought selfishly and took the lives of powerless innocents under the belief he was doing something good for this country. He used these cowardly firearms to feel a sense of power in his bleak little world. And now I shall give you the fate I should have given him long ago. How's this for 'justice'?" Shadow's Rocket Skate that wasn't on the man's head sparked with fire. The man let out a sound of pure agony and fear. Shadow squinted mercilessly, before hearing something peculiar. A truck? Shadow shielded his eyes from the headlights as the mad semi crashed through the police barricades. It had the Guardian Units of Nation symbol on its bumper. It appeared to be chasing a blue blur. Shadow suddenly remembered something else. He remembered GUN. He blasted off in hot pursuit of the semi truck, leaving the cop to pass out.
"Ha! Not a bad race, big guy!" Sonic called, running backwards while still managing to jump over, spin under, and parkour around obstacles. "Still, how about you focus on hitting the easily distinguishable supersonic blue hedgehog and not…" Sonic yawned. "... Literally everything else? C'mon, bring out the big guns!" Sonic dodged as a fighter jet dropped a bomb on the highway. "WHOA!" Just then, an orange blur tore through the truck from the side. Sonic kept running until he reached a tunnel, and the destroyed truck turned over. Its remains crashed against the roof of the tunnel. Sonic took a deep breath as his heart continued to race.
Sonic ran around to the back of the truck and examined it. "Okay… GUN should have some sort of device in here, I can hack into their servers and see if my friends are okay," Sonic thought. "Nobody was hurt initially when GUN stormed Professor Pickle's lab yesterday, but I couldn't stick around long enough to see if they took the World Instruments. I wonder if they were all kidnapped like I was."
"It all starts with this…" Shadow stated, holding the Mutual Mandolin safe in his hands. Sonic snapped back to the present. "A mighty truck containing a paragon of hope for this country… reduced to rubble."
"Hey!" Sonic exclaimed, looking up towards Shadow. Shadow focused on Sonic, who stood right at the foot of the truck. "Thanks for the save, just now. I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"Sonic…" Shadow murmured. "Of course… Sonic. Presumably the same hedgehog that Eggman was talking about."
"Huh?! Eggman?!" Sonic asked. "Ah, figures he's back so soon." Sonic felt a sweat go down his face.
"I did not come here to save you, Sonic," Shadow grumbled. "My name is Shadow the Hedgehog, and I am the world's Ultimate Lifeform."
"Mind telling me why you look like me?" Sonic asked. "Are you working with Eggman? Fancy new Metallix model? Or…?"
"Hmph… there's no time to talk. Farewell!" Shadow proclaimed, sparkling with electricity and then simply disappearing in a flash of orange light.
"Kyuu!" Sonic exclaimed, shielding his eyes from the light. "Shadow… what is he…?"
"Hands in the air, Sonic! We have you surrounded!" A familiar voice exclaimed. Sonic spun around, to see that there was a long knife held dangerously close to him. It stretched all the way back to what appeared to be a swiss army knife handle, attached to the torso of…
"Blade?! The Japanese Marten?!" Sonic asked, shocked. She was backed up by a whole squad of GUN Soldiers, and behind Sonic was a large purple squid who also had his own GUN squad. Sonic threw his arms into the air. "Okay! I surrender." Sonic kept his head down. He was grabbed by the squid. It made a violent blubbering vocalization like it was drowning. Sonic cried out in shock. His entire appearance unsettled Sonic. His head was full of orange veins and he had an appendage that grew into a mouth protruding from his stomach area. Sonic supposed it helped when his entire face was taken up by one giant goggled eye.
"Slinger, take him onto the helicopter. Destination Prison Island," Blade ordered. Slinger the Squid blubbered and choked in response. Sonic looked up at a bright light coming from another helicopter. It was blowing his spines back as it lowered from the sky. He was loaded onto the helicopter with Slinger, and it flew away into the night sky.