Fangs & Blueberries

>•Prologue•<

Warning:
Mild violence and mention of blood

The October nights became colder the closer they were getting to the winter season and a certain royal blue-furred male hedgehog felt that to the fullest. None other but the adventurer himself, Maurice the Hedgehog - prefering rather his nickname Sonic - who was currently sitting in front of a small campfire, covered by a long coat, comfortable pants and trekking boots.

His body was slightly shivering due to the coldness biting deep to his skin even through the clothes and the warming flame of the campfire. His emerald irises travelled all around the area before locking on the night sky massively blocked out by the tall trees, so he could barely notice any star shining up there, which accompanied the moon crescent, that now resembled of a letter 'D'. It only meant, that in a few days it will reach its full moon phase.

Letting out a tired sigh, Sonic moved his gaze towards the flame and got lost in thoughts for a moment while hugging himself to hopefully warm up his shivering body.
"Hehe... not so bad, huh? Great challenge...," he murmured under his breath and noticed the little steam escaping his lips with each exhale.

He and his best friend Tails made up a bet, that he will be able to camp outside for two weeks during the cold October days. Now it's been one week, one more to go in order to get this challenge successfully done. Else he will lose a big amount of rings.

Sonic's brooding has been shortly cut off by a sudden snap of a stick nearby, which caused the hedgehog quickly rise onto his feet, his ears twitching in all directions and his eyes moving rapidly all around the dark place. He instinctively grabbed his switchblade and with struggles managed to open it. Holding it tightly in his right hand he made a careful step backwards in hopes of getting farther from the potential danger lurking in the shadows right now.

Of course, he is in a deep forest, what else could he expect, right? The hedgehog tried his hardest to remain as calm as it was possible in such situation, but his pounding heart kept hitting his rib cage in rapid speed and high intensity. Several moments later, after the silence filled with uncomfortable anticipation, his ears detected a low growl, which made him gulp while he widened his eyes.

'This isn't good.. this isn't good-' his thoughts of panic got cut off by something big and dark lunging forward straight towards his side and since he didn't expect such attack, he got the full blow, unprepared. Yelling out in shock he found himself laying on his side, his switchblade got knocked out of his hand and landed several inches out of his reach.

"No!" Sonic tried to get up and reach out for it, but his hand got harshly grabbed by something strong and sharp. Many pointy canines of a big wolf surrounded his wrist and dug deep into his skin through the sleeve of his long coat. The hedgehog released a loud scream and tried to desperately shake the beast off, his instincts were fully in survival mode and made him do about anything, so he would save his own blue butt.

"LET ME GO!!" he yelled at the animal and kicked its neck multiple times, which finally made it let go of his wrist. However, the momentum sent Sonic to the leaves-covered ground again, as he gripped his aching wrist and held it close to his chest. Tears even prickled the corners of his eyes and he instantly regretted his agreement with the stupid bet.

The knocked out wolf wasn't the only one here, as another one - this time a little smaller, of a brown color - approached the hedgehog and gripping Sonic's coat collar it started making a sharp movements, trying to tear the cloth into pieces. Sonic panicked once again, desperately kicking all around himself he only got attacked by another member of the wolf pack. That one caught Sonic's foot and made a terrible holes into his trekking boot with its sharp canines.

The hedgehog was completely helpless, all he could do was just screaming loudly for help - even though he was far from any civilization - kicking all around himself and clawing at the wolves with the tiny claws of his fingerless gloves-covered hands. However, compared to the wolves they were too tiny and weak for a self-defense.

The first wolf - an alpha male - finally woke up from the stun, joining the other two he dug his canines into the side of Sonic's chest, making him cry out the loudest possible. The hedgehog's clothes were soon soaking in his own hot blood streaming out of his injuries and Sonic started slowly losing consciousness along with hope of surviving this fateful night.

The alpha male was preparing to apply the very final blow and kill the hedgehog in spot, but instead of causing pain, he rather felt pain shooting through his entire jaw and already bruised neck. The same force suddenly attacked the other two wolves as well and managed to scare the whole pack away, back into the shadows, where they came from.

Sonic peeked through his half closed eyelids and saw only a dark blur approaching him. His ears barely detected anything through the loud whistling noise in them and he assumed, that the blur was actually talking to him, for he registered some sort of a calm humming. The very last thing he saw, before losing his surroundings completely, was a pair of fiercing crimson irises staring at him with unreadable expression.