Chapter Text
Chapter One: His World
The sun was almost unbearably hot and the air was heavy with humidity and moisture, making his own clothes feel too thick in comparison. Knuckles reached up with a gloved hand and pulled his cloth mask from his mouth and nose, coughing slightly in the heat. “Here?” he asked to someone unseen. He tapped his ear. “Are you sure?”
A female voice spoke to him through his earpiece. “Yes. We traced the spike to this planet.”
He sighed and wiped his face with the hem of the poncho covering his body. “If he’s here…”
“He is here.”
He shook his head, finishing the thought in his head. If he is here, I actually feel bad for him. The planet was uninhabited and full of mushrooms. As far as they knew, there was no fauna living on this rock, but they had traced an anomaly to this exact location. Years of dead silence from the power source had led them to believe that their little blue friend hadn’t been able to survive on his own. “If you say so,” he grumbled, shouldering his bow. He wasn’t the best with the weapon, preferring to use his fists instead of projectiles, but they had insisted. It seemed like a waste of time. An arrow would be no match for the hedgehog and, as far as they were concerned, there was nothing dangerous on this planet unless you were allergic to fungus.
“Just find him.”
“Sure.” He disconnected the device and started through the mushrooms, pushing his way deeper into the forest. He was just sent there as a scout. He was supposed to see if they had truly found the Blue Blur or if they had picked up something else on their radar.
Movement caught his attention to his left and he started in that direction, jogging and vaulting himself over fallen mushroom stalks. As he landed on the other side of the stalk, he almost landed right on top of a sunken in footprint. Looking around, he knelt beside the mark, reaching a gloved hand towards the print and the water that had pooled inside of it. Odd… this place was supposed to be uninhabited. Sure, they had traced something here, but there had been many false positives in the years since the kid had disappeared from Mobius. He placed his fingertips on the outline of what looked like a shoe print and then brought the slightly muddied tips to his nose.
Something made him jump back. It wasn’t an organic smell, which was odd given the planet that they were on. There didn’t seem to be anything on this planet that wasn’t organic. The metallic scent was so far out of place that he almost didn’t trust his own senses. He reached up to turn his communicator back on, but all he got was static. Too far from the source, most likely. He hated scouting. Frustrated, he stood up and started following the tracks. Whatever had made them walked in an unnaturally uniform stride, never veering off the singular path it was following.
When he was just about to give up on this fruitless mission, he froze as he landed from jumping over another stalk. His breath caught and suddenly the air felt heavier and wetter. The thing in front of him was a white and black machine with a red heart in the center. It’s eyes glowed as it stood there, watching the organic lifeform following it. Before he could find the words to question this… thing… something else moved to his right. He grabbed his weapon and notched an arrow just in time for another life form to step around a mushroom.
He didn’t recognize this creature. The man, he assumed, was a tall animal with fur only under his nose, and large goggles covering his eyes. “Who… what are you?” Knuckles asked.
The man looked down at him. “I… could ask you the same thing.” He stood up straighter. Knuckles kept the tip of the arrow on where he assumed the man’s heart was. “What are you?”
“What’s that?” He motioned to the white and black machine that stood motionless.
The man chuckled. “It’s poor form to answer a question with a question!” The volume was a bit too high for what he was reacting to. “It’s a prototype,” he said after a moment; calmer this time.
Knuckles didn’t move the arrow from where it was trained. “I come from the planet Mobius,” he said. “I traced a signal here.” He motioned to the metal creature with his head. “I’m looking for a creature that looks like this soulless thing you have here.”
The man smirked and took a step forward. “He wouldn’t happen to be blue, would he?”
He pulled the bowstring tighter, the muscles in his arms tensing. “Yes,” he said cautiously.
“That creature banished me to this planet,” the man said. “And I’m trying to get home.” His smile grew wider. “Why do you want this little blue devil?”
He wasn’t sure he should tell this strange creature and his metal animal about what the echidna wanted. However, perhaps a bit of mutual understanding was what was needed. Knuckles wasn’t in the position to make any deals or alliances, but if anything, this creature had been in contact with the hedgehog; recently. “Probably the same reason you do,” he said, hoping his answer was so vague that it wouldn’t raise any suspicion.
The man’s smile became so wide that he wasn’t aware the someone’s face could stretch so much. “So, you and I seem to have the same goal.” He stepped closer, ignoring the arrow trained directly at his heart. “I think you and I can help one another.” He thrusted out his hand, still unconcerned.
Knuckles eyed the outstretched hand without lowering the arrow. What was he supposed to do with that?
“It’s the bottom of the ninth and the scores are tied.” Sonic rotated the baseball behind his back, leaning forward and eying the empty Homeplate. “One more strike and this game goes into overtime.” He leaned back and threw the pitch. Instead of running to meet the ball, he let it fly uselessly over the plate, smiling as it did. Most of the kids were at school and Maddie and Tom were at work, leaving him to wander around by himself. He sighed and before he could take off after the ball, it came rolling back to him.
“Out here alone?”
Sonic shrugged as he picked up the baseball. He tossed it back to Tom, who caught it. “I thought you were on shift.”
He smiled. “I was, but I was in the area and I thought I’d look to see if you were here.” Sonic frowned, and then laughed as the ball came flying back at him. He jumped an impressive vertical leap, catching it. “What are you doing out here?”
Sonic shrugged. “Just playing,” he said, kicking the dirt on the pitcher’s mound. It felt weird being out there alone after everything that had happened, but even being part of a family didn’t mean that he was never alone. He threw the ball back. It was good that he didn’t have to hide anymore, as most people in the area seemed relatively okay with Green Hills mascot roaming their sleepy little town.
“Playing?” He tossed the ball in the air, catching it as it fell before throwing it back. Sonic caught it with a little less enthusiasm. Tom sighed. “Something wrong, kiddo?”
“Not really?” He was uncertain. Tom lifted an eyebrow. “Nothing’s wrong. I was just thinking.”
“That’s dangerous.”
He threw the ball. “Funny.” He didn’t know how to express his feelings with his two caretakers. There was a fear that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Every time they left for work, it was almost like he felt they wouldn’t come back. He didn’t want to tell them that, though, because what if they thought of him as ungrateful?
“I thought so.” Tom opened his mouth to question further, but his cellphone ringing in his car took their attention away from the awkward silence between them. Sonic ran to the car, jumping into the window and running out to hand Tom the phone all within a second. Tom seemed to have gotten used to the speedy antics of his little friend because he didn’t even bat an eye as he took the offered phone and answered it on speaker. “Hey, Maddie,” he said, his tone moving to a happier one.
“Hey sheriff,” she said. Sonic frowned. She sounded out of breath. “Where are you right now?”
“The baseball field,” he answered, shrugging at Sonic. “What’s up?”
“Something… Something got brought into the vet.” She paused and the let out a long sigh. “Is Sonic with you.”
“Yes…”
“Bring him. You two need to see this.”
Sonic cocked his head and his muscles coiled, but Tom held out his hand. “Slow down there, speedy. Just get in the car, please.” Sonic didn’t want to get there slowly, but he decided it would be best to humor Tom instead of annoying him by running off. He jogged to the police car, hopping inside as Tom came up behind him, turning on the lights and pulling out of the parking lot.
“What do you think it is?”
Tom shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. “I don’t know. Maybe someone brought in some weird animal that you haven’t seen before,” he suggested.
Sonic laughed. “I’ve seen every animal you guys have out here. Remember, I lived in these woods for ten years.” Alone, he added silently. Tom let that hang between them for a moment before shrugging.
“Maybe they got a real hedgehog and she wants to show you.”
He turned to Tom sharply. “Excuse you? I am a real hedgehog! That spiny rat you showed me a picture of is not a hedgehog.”
Tom laughed. “It is, though.”
It felt good to have the back and forth and as much as he wanted to be at the vet’s office figuring out what Maddie wanted to show them, he was happy to be in a familiar situation. He looked out the car window as they drove into the town.
“You’re unusually quiet,” Tom said, startling him a little. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to be this quiet.” Sonic shrugged, ignoring Tom’s attempts to goad him. “Look, if something’s bothering you…”
“It’s nothing,” he insisted. Tom coughed. “Nothing important.”
“Right.” The two lapsed into silence and Sonic smiled. He couldn’t believe that he was still here and still in this town when, not six months ago, he thought he’d be leaving this planet forever.
As Tom pulled into the vet’s office, Sonic jumped out of the car before it stopped and ran into the office. Luckily, it was rather empty except for Maddie pacing the front office. She didn’t notice him at first. She was wearing her pink scrubs. He liked those. “Hey!”
She flinched and turned to him just in time for Tom to hurry inside the office as well. Despite his jovial attitude in the car, he seemed rather worried as he came inside. “Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Depends on what you mean by ‘wrong’,” Maddie said. “Come on.” She motioned them to the back room and he froze at what he saw there. A kid… not a human kid, but a child none the less. He was Mobian. A fox, maybe? Sonic hasn’t seen too many of them on the island. The kid’s shoulder was covered in blood.
Sonic stepped up to the table. “What happened?”
“A hunter brought him in,” Maddie explained. “Is he… from where you’re from?”
“I think so.” He put his hands on the table, watching the little fox with a frown. “He’s just a kid.” He knew that they wouldn’t know that. They wouldn’t be able to tell a kit from a todd. “Will he be okay?”
“He should be,” Maddie assured him.
Sonic stared down at the little fox on the table, his eyes wide. He hadn’t thought that he would ever see anyone from his home world again. He had always had the ability to go back, but he was under the impression that there was nothing left for him to return home to. Nothing except people hunting him. Was that what this kid was doing here? Was this another person coming for his powers? And would he put the people of Green Hills in danger again if this was what he thought it was?
He turned to Tom. “He’s a fox.”
“I got that,” Tom said. “Friend of yours?”
“No.” He hadn’t really talked to them about his home world. There was nothing really to tell them about it, and they hadn’t asked. It was probably enough for them to handle that other planets had life, let alone to gather vast knowledge about that life. Maddie was working on the kid’s shoulder.
“Sonic?”
He flinched and looked up.
“Do you know anything about his anatomy? Anything at all?”
He shook his head. “No… Nothing that would help.” He stepped back from the table, keeping his eyes locked on the kit lying there. He shook his head and left the room, trying to process all of this. He was just settling down and now someone from his home world was here? For what purpose?
He noticed a man in hunter’s gear standing in the lobby, pacing slowly. He was probably the culprit of the shooting. Sonic didn’t confront him, but Tom stepped out and pulled the man aside. “What happened?”
“I thought I was shooting a rabbit,” the man explained. “But that scream… it was almost human. I thought I had hit a child!”
You did, Sonic thought, but he knew better than to get involved in official police business.
“When I got there, it was muttering something and then it passed out. I didn’t know where to go; here or the hospital, but I remembered your wife works here and since you two have the Blue Devil, I figured she’d know more about what to do with him than the hospital would.”
Tom sighed. “You did fine. We’ll take it from here.” He ushered the man out of the room, leaving them alone in the lobby. Tom let out a weighted groan. “So… you haven’t talked about your home world much.”
He shrugged. “Not much to write home about.”
“It’s an alien planet.”
Sonic motioned around them. “No, this is an alien planet.”
He crossed his arms. “Haven’t you spent more time here than there?”
Sonic scowled. “I didn’t ask your opinion,” he said, but then smiled and leaned back against the chair. “I don’t talk about it because there’s not much to talk about. I had to leave it because some people wanted my powers.”
“And this kid…?”
“I don’t know.” He turned to look at the back door. “I hope not, but…” He trailed off with a sigh.
Tom nodded. “…why else would he be here?”