Hairy Situation

(Ch. 1) What are you hiding?

Leafless trees sway back and forth in the late Winter wind. The setting sun lights up the horison, giving the illusion that the land has been set aflame. A blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog, who was sat on the roof of his shared home with his two-tailed companion, lets out an uneasy sigh.

The speedster ran and ran alongside his buddy's plane, smiling and throwing his thumb up. He thought about all that had happened: the world separating, meeting Chip, finding out he was in fact Light Gaia and fighting against Dark Gaia with him.

Looking at the small necklace on his wrist, he realised just how much he was going to miss that little guy. At least he didn't have to transform into that thing anymore.

But, that night...

He gets up and jumps on a nearby tree so he can climb down to the ground below. Sonic takes one more glance at the sun before speeding away into the forestation.

Baby-blue eyes stare out of the window, watching their spiked friend run off into the accumulation of trees.

Tails furrows his brows. "Every night he does this," he says to the two hedgehogs sitting down on the kitchen table. "Every night he goes out and he won't tell me why. Last night, he even came back drenched in blood."

The yellow fox's eyes glaze over at the memory of his best friend returning home, covered head-to-toe in the sickly, crimson liquid. There were no signs of him being injured or receiving any wounds so it was obvious that it wasn't his own. Tails still has no clue who that blood belonged to, though he isn't sure if he wants to know.

A gloved hand tears him away from his thoughts and he turns to his side to see Amy smiling at him sympathetically. The young genius places his hand atop her own and smiles back, silently appreciating her attempts in cheering him up.

Shadow sits quietly, deep in thought. He looks to the two, Tails mainly. "How long has this been going on for?"

"I'd say... two months almost?" he replies, a little unsure of himself.

An acknowledging hum sounds from the dark hedgehog. 'If Tails doesn't even know what's up with that faker then how is anyone supposed to know?' he thinks to himself. Aware of what was needed to be done, Shadow gets up from his seat and makes his way to the door.

"Shadow," Amy calls out, going to follow him. "Where are you going?"

"To look for Faker," is the only response he gives, leaving no more than a second after.

The sky nears dark with only a slither of pinky-orange as any kind of light. Apart from the fireflies that begin to appear within the depths of the neighbouring woodland, waltzing along to the whistling wind. With a quick survey of his surroundings, Shadow skates into the tree-ridden land.

Little time passes by before the kingdom of the birds is completely engulfed in a bleak, midnight blue; no moon, no stars, just an on-going abyss into the unknown. If Shadow didn't know better, he'd think that the stars had transformed into those fireflies to escape the loneliness of space. He can't help but sympathise with the stars. They all seem so close to each other - there are so many up there - but, in reality, they're thousands of miles apart.

The striped hedgehog continues on, keeping a look out for any signs of his blue counterpart. He slows down to a steady speed when he notices claw marks embedded deep within many of the trees he comes across. It isn't until he catches sight of a familiar, torn, white fabric does he take a complete stop. Shadow kneels down to take a closer look and sees that it's from a glove, confirming his suspicions.

"You better not have gotten yourself killed, Faker," he mutters under his breath.

Just then, a rustling sounds off in some nearby bushes, putting the hedgehog into high alert. His ears twitch and turn - he picks up on a low growling. Steadily, he inches closer to the shrubbery. Two emerald eyes peer out from behind the leaves, staring intently at Shadow, unmoving, unblinking. The ultimate lifeform glares back. He takes a slow step towards the bush, careful not to alarm the creature, but it pulls back and runs off. With a scowl, the dark hedgehog follows after it, convinced that it has some sort of connection to his speedy rival. Shadow skates faster to stay on the creature's tail. 'Damn,' he thinks, 'this thing is fast.'

When he corners the... whatever-it-is by the foot of a mountain, he's able to get a better look at it: its fur, as dark as the sky, dances with the light breeze, the fur surrounding its wrists and decorating the tips of its quills are a snow white, and it bares its deadly fangs. This beast's muzzle and paws have a distinct similarity to its fur, only much, much paler. Shadow takes note that this thing isn't any ordinary wolf from the resemblance to a hedgehog's quills protruding from its head and back. Another item of interest that stands out are the small pieces of blood-stained fabric sticking out from its claws.

It takes a while but once the black and red hedgehog puts two and two together, he loses all self control and goes in for the first attack. Charging chaos energy, he creates a series of small lightning bolts and shoots them at the beast but misses his target completely and merely grazes it. In response, the wolf-like creature growls threateningly and jumps towards the hedgehog, claws out. Shadow of course jumps out of the way, snarling back at wolf-hedgehog abomination.

"You killed him, didn't you?" he shouts, throwing another chaos spear. "You killed Sonic!"

This time, the chaos spear hits its target, slicing through its hind leg. Howling in pain, it sprints towards Shadow and pins him down to the ground, baring its terrifying canines. With his arms immobilised, the dark hedgehog is unable to gather another attack. He struggles beneath the monsters grip but it's no use.

"I'm sorry, Sonic... I've failed you..." Shadow mutters as he closes his eyes.

He doesn't know why he suddenly feels so remorseful for his rival; must be something to do with that saying, 'you don't know what you've lost 'till it's gone.' Not to mention, the promise he made to Maria...

A sudden jolt of recognition sparks inside the beast's brain - his rich green eyes widening. He looks at the Mobian below him, identifying him as his acquaintance, Shadow the hedgehog. 'Crap! He must've followed me here!' he panics.

When the hedgehog realises that the creature's grip has loosened, he kicks it off and jumps back up on his feet, getting ready for his next attack. A bright, red-white aura surrounds him as he is lifted off from the ground before a wave of energy flairs off from his body. Eventually, when everything clears, Shadow inspects the area, seeing no signs of that animal. Fortunately for the hedgehog, a trail of red is seen dotted on the ground.

He smirks. "Nice try, but you're not getting away that easily." Once again, he chases after it.

The creature... no... Sonic sprints as fast as he can to create as much distance as possible between him and the dark hedgehog. Any other time, he wouldn't mind a little hand to hand combat, but he can't risk having Shadow find out about his... condition. He turns into a clearing, where a frozen lake is sat. It may have been frozen, but there's no way it'd be strong enough to travel across.

"Great, water," he quietly grumbles to himself.

"What's wrong?" Shadow's voice is heard behind him. "Not a strong swimmer?"

His tone is cold and bitter, like ice water running down Sonic's back. Speaking of water, the striped hedgehog leisurely walks towards the werehog, pushing him closer to the lake. Sonic glances back at the glistening reservoir, wondering if risking breaking the ice is worth it, and turns back to Shadow. His eyes are practically glowing a dangerous red.

He summons several more chaos spears, chuckling. "You know, I've tried many times to kill that faker but I guess I never could've done such a thing, not after getting to know him. And even with the amount of shit he's dealt with, he's always come out victorious. Yet, somehow, you managed killed him - some wild animal!" He clenches one of the spears and grits his teeth. "I've already lost one friend... now this?!"

Shadow fires the bolts towards the werehog, injuring him badly. He howls and cringes in pain but doesn't fight back. The hedgehog notices this; he smirks, thinking that the beast has now realised that he's no match for the ultimate lifeform. Sonic lies on the ground, clearly struggling to get back up.

"This is for you... Sonic," Shadow whispers, preparing to administor the final blow.

Before he can, however, the sun's beams peak through the trees, shining against the frost covered grass, and a bright light emanating from the beast blinds the dark hedgehog. When the light fades, Shadow looks back to the werehog only to find that it's been replaced with none other than his blue rival, Sonic.