Bound by Music

An Uncomfortable Topic

The next morning, the group of heroes ate a light breakfast with Uncle Chuck. The older hedgehog listened to their plan on taking back Robotropolis, and Sonic asked if his uncle would like to join them.

"I don't know, sonny boy," Chuck hesitated and brushed his mustache, "I'm a lot older than I was back then..."

"Come on, Unc! The Resistance needs you," the blue blur replied.

"He's right," Sonia agreed, "We need someone that can help strategize and work at headquarters. We're spread too thin."

"What do ya say, Unc? One more time for Mom and Dad?" Sonic pleaded. Uncle Chuck stared at his shoes in deep thought. It had been a long time since he was in the Resistance, and he wasn't sure how he could be of any help to them. Shadow glared; they had a job to do. They didn't have time for his indecisiveness.

"Regardless of your decision, we need to leave now. So you are either with us or not," the ebony splashed hedgehog stated as he stood, not looking anyone but Chuck in the eye, "You have until we leave to choose, but we will not be coming back this way until Robotnik is defeated once and for all. He has damaged my family for too long."

The room was silent as Shadow walked out. Several heartbeats passed before Uncle Chuck sighed.

"He's gotta point, I reckon. I'd be a coward if I stayed here while my brother's youngins do all the work."

"You mean you'll come with us?" Tails asked, and the gray-blue hedgehog nodded with a small smile.

"Somebody's gotta keep you kids in order."

"All right!" Sonic and Manic cheered and high-fived.

"Getting the fam back together again."

Meanwhile

Shadow wandered through the woods surrounding the cabin, his own mind lost in thought. That was the first time he had openly acknowledged them as his family, and he felt a sense of pride in that. For as long as he could remember, he had seen the Robotniks as his family...

The familiar whoosh of a high-speed hedgehog snapped him out of his thoughts, and he turned around to find Sonic grinning from ear to ear as he leaned against a tree.

"You done being dramatic, Shads?"

"Is he with us?" he asked and rolled his eyes. I am not that dramatic.

"Yep," the blue blur replied, popping the 'p' like he was chewing gum.

"Then yes. When do we leave?"

"As soon as we're all packed. You coming back to the house or are ya gonna stay out here like a drama king?"

"Shut up, already," he snapped and made his way back to the cabin. Sonic chuckled and followed his older brother. It didn't take long for the two to start a race, and they became nothing but blurs as they circled the small home.

Chuck stepped out on to the porch just in time for them to rocket past, knocking the older hedgehog backwards. He barely caught himself and darted his head in all directions.

"I knew Sonny boy was fast, but that's something else entirely!"

"That's Sonic and Shadow," Tails piped up casually, "They give it everything they got when they race."

"Shadow can run as fast as Sonic?"

"Well, he skates instead of runs. Same speed, different technique. But both of them would tell you they were faster than the other," the yellow fox cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "GUYS!!!"

Two streaks suddenly appeared in front of them. Neither hedgehog looked tired but rather energized and ready to start leaving.

"Yeah, lil buddy?" Sonic asked while using his pinky to scratch the inside of his ear.

'We're ready to go. Only one more stop and then we'll be in Robotropolis."

"Another stop?" Sonia piped up as the group joined in the conversation. Tails glanced at the blue blur with a knowing look, and emerald eyes widened.

"No. No way, man. Uh uh. No, sir. Absolutely not!" he began to argue and shake his head fiercely.

"Where's this next stop?" Amy asked.

"Knothole."

Uncle Chuck began to laugh as he put the pieces together, "Sonny boy, is there a certain someone in Knothole you don't wanna see?"

"Uh..., no?" he replied in a questioning tone and a nervous laugh.

"Come on Big Blue, you can tell us," Rouge purred and wrapped a silky wing around his shoulder.

"No way."

"Sonic, who's in Knothole that you're so scared of?" Shadow demanded.

"Hey, I ain't scared of her!" he shot back. The black wind smirked.

"So it's a girl?"

Manic and Cyrus 'oooohed' and laughed, "Busted, man."

Sonic grumbled under his breath, doing his best to ignore Amy's death glare, "It's not that big a deal. I was in Knothole for about two and a half years, and I made some connections."

Knuckles smirked and crossed his arms, "Is that what you call it?"

Sonic's face grew red, "Shut up, Knux."

"All right now, youngin's," Uncle Chuck interrupted and patted his grandson on the back, "we can hear more about this interesting conversation later. If we're gonna get going, we better do it to it."

"You got it, Unc!" Sonic replied and fired an imaginary gun. He disappeared into the house with a flash of blue, almost tripping over Muttski in the process. He vanished up into the loft and started getting his sparse belongings together. She's gonna kill me if Amy doesn't beat her to it, he thought, Maybe I'll be lucky, and she moved back to the castle. I kept Robotnik's attention away from them long enough.

A few minutes later, the rest of the group joined him in the loft, and they helped get everything straightened up before packing whatever they had back into Tails' plane.

"And you built this all by yourself, lad?" Uncle Chuck asked in amazement. Tails nodded proudly.

  "Yep, she's my pride and joy," he answered and patted the blue bi-plane fondly as everyone loaded on. After debating where the older hedgehog could fit on board, they agreed to let Knuckles stand with Sonic on the wing since he was the only other one with experience. And Rouge didn't want to waste all of her energy flying.

"Lazy bat," Knuckles muttered under his breath. Violet eyes locked with crimson as he climbed on to the wing, and a shiver ran up the echidna's spine. He had forgotten Shadow was close to the jewel thief. Thankfully, the sound of engines starting up made it too loud for any words to be spoken for the next few minutes as the growing troupe started off. But just as the plane started to roll down the field-turned-runway, a small metallic figure charged out of the forest.

"Muttski!" Sonic called, "Come on boy! You can do it!" he cheered. The robot dog barked and ran faster, until it was side by side with the plane. With one last bound of effort, he leaped into the group of passengers and plowed through them till he was sitting happily on Uncle Chuck's lap.

"Ho ho, good boy," the older hedgehog chuckled and rubbed his head as the plane left the ground.

"ETA to Knothole approximately two hours," Cy yelled over the engines, "So get comfortable, everybody!"

Knothole, Sonic thought, knowing there would be no running away from his past this time, and he decided to do something to take his mind off it.

"Rolling around at the speed of sound--"

"SHUT UP, SONIC!"

Oh, yeah, he laughed to himself, This is gonna be a fun trip.

And there you have it! Sorry it took so long to write this! Please let me know what you think of it so far!!! :)