Sonic the Hedgehog

Change of Course

Despite its beauty not comparing to the wonderful night sky and dazzling lights that appear when the sun goes down, Starlight still manages to look gorgeous during the day. As Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and Tails make their way down a moderately busy sidewalk, the blue hedgehog takes note of the hurrying, energetic pedestrians in the middle of rushing to their next destination. A constant flow of traffic keeps the streets busy.

I wonder if any of these people know what's going on... Sonic wonders. It's probably best that they don't. They deserve to keep living happily. Besides, it's not like they need to worry... yeah, we don't need to worry.

"Okay..." Tails starts, rubbing his chin as he walks ahead of the other three, too deep in his thoughts to watch out for the many citizens passing by whom he nearly bumps into. "I'm gonna need a gas tank, a minimum of one-thousand-and-twenty-two pounds of metal, a Craftsman eight-point-eight screwdriver, an engine- oh, and some paint too! Gotta make it look flashy! And also-"

"Would it not be easier for us to simply acquire an already built means of ariel travel?" Knuckles asks.

"We already went over this, Knuckle-head," Sonic says, getting a death glare from the echidna he's referring to. "No plane is as fast as the Tornado, meaning unless we want to be eating Robotnik's dust, we need Tails to build it."

"Couldn't he just make some modifications?" Amy suggests. "That way, he wouldn't have to build it from scratch, but he can still make it fast."

"Sure, but finding a plane for purchase might be a tad bit hard," Sonic says while stretching his arms.

"Any harder than finding all the things he just listed?"

"Fair point."

"Either option will work," Tails nods. "As long as I can get my hands on ANY plane, whether it's made by me or manufactured by someone else, I can make the necessary modifications."

"I remember there being a hardware store about three blocks from here," Sonic informs the others. "We can start there and see what there is to-"

"EVERYONE!" Knuckles barks, making the others stop in their tracks. "LOOK!"

The red echidna points to a flyer posted outside an antique shop the group stands in front of. As soon as their eyes meet its contents, each of them freezes in speechless shock. On the pink flyer is a blue, diamond-shaped outline under bold lines of black text that read: "Do you think you have what it takes? Are you sure you can handle the competition? If so, head down to Bean the Dynamite's fighting arena tonight at 8:00 PM sharp and register! The victor walks away with this gem!"

For a moment, the group just stares at the flyer, reading it again and again and double-checking the illustration to see if this could be a strange trick.

"Hey, Knuckles, was there a blue chaos emerald?" Sonic asks, turning to Knuckles who continues staring at the flyer.

"Yeah..." he answers. "In fact, it was this exact shade."

"This is just not my day," Sonic grumbles. "Anyone got a pen?"

***

On the other side of town, about several blocks away, each member of Team Dark stands on the outside of a jewelry store. Each of them catches odd stares from every Mobian who passes by, with most being directed at Omega, but this doesn't bother them. Rouge extends a hand at the store window and snatches the flyer down, eyeing it with a devious smirk.

"You sure this is legit?" Shadow asks, turning to Rouge who touches the blue outline as if it was the real thing.

"Only one way to find out," she responds.

"THIS DAY IS OFF TO A GREAT START," E-123 Omega celebrates.

...