Princess

Rabid Animal

“He went this way! Come on, hurry!” Sonic called to his friends as they all ran after Scourge. 

“Poor guy. I’ve never seen him so frightened.” Amy commented.

“What do you think could’ve scared him?” Knuckles asked the blue hedgehog.

“I don’t know, Knuckles.” Sonic shook his head. “He mentioned a demon, but when that dog started barking it was like he’s seen a ghost.”

“You don’t think he’s scared of a useless mutt, do you?” Shadow frowned.

Sonic shook his head. “No, there must be something more to it. Scourge doesn’t scare easily. And an ordinary domestic dog definitely wouldn’t scare him. Besides, there’s still the mystery of the silent forest. A demon could cause that.”

“But what would a demon want with Scourge?” Tails asked.

That was a good question. A question Sonic didn’t have an answer for. But before he could think of a proper answer, an ear splittingly loud scream filled with terror suddenly resonated through the dense forest, scaring the birds, who were once silent, out of their nests, cawing together in panic.

“SCOURGE!” Sonic gasped, recognizing the voice almost immediately.

“It came from the cliff face!” Knuckles informed. As soon as he said it, he covered his face with his arms, protecting himself from the harsh wind Sonic’s sudden dash of speed created. “Sonic!”

“Let him go,” Rouge ordered. “He’ll get there faster than us.”

“In that case I’ll go with him.” Shadow decided. “Sounds like trouble ahead.”

Before anyone could voice their opinions, the black and red hedgehog dashed after Sonic, speeding up to catch up to him.

Sonic ignored the fact that he had left his friends behind and continued to run, straining his ears to hear Scourge’s voice. He heard the screams again, clearer this time, filled with pain and terror. He growled and sped up, hoping to get to the other before he got seriously hurt, almost missing the added noise of growling and snarling.

“Scourge!” He shouted as he finally burst through the shrubbery and reached the cliff face, looking around to see where exactly he was. His ear twitched when he heard more snarling and he turned to the corner, gasping in horror as his eyes widened at what he saw.

A snow white German Shepherd caked in red ruset blood had its jaws wrapped around the green hedgehog's throat, shaking him around as if he was a rag doll. Scourge was screaming, crying, and kicking, doing everything he could to get the dog off him, but it refused to let go, only biting down harder as it growled viciously.

Sonic was frozen in shock. He’s never had to deal with a situation like this before, and he had no idea what to do.

“GET HER OFF ME!!! GET HER OFF ME!!!” Scourge pleaded in terror, tears streaming down his face as he finally caught sight of his doppelganger’s frozen form.

“Don’t just stand there, hedgehog! Help him!”

Sonic shook his head, snapping back into reality as Shadow rushed forward and slammed into the dog with a spindash.

A loud yelp came from the animal as it was suddenly knocked off of its prey, its body flying through the air before it slammed against a boulder with a sickening thud. It slid back down to the ground, dust flying around it as it hit the dirt. Both hedgehogs thought that was the end of it, but they were surprised as the dog stood back up, shaking its fur as if it were just shaking off a bunch of irritating flies.