The large round sphere of the moon rose high in the night, illuminating the land with the light it had. It was a full coloration of white, but the glow was faint, like a candle in the middle of a dark room. Stars sparkled around the moon, giving the night sky a beautiful view from up above the heads of the living. Down below in Emerald City, adults and children of many species were on their way for their homes. The stores were closing, and the streets were becoming vacant. One creature in particular was in a rush. A blue blur flashed down the sidewalk, and leapt up onto a lamppost. He appeared as the famous blue hedgehog, Sonic!

His hand was over his eyes as he glanced around the area, checking the scene. “Everything seems to be in tiptop shape,” he said with a smile. He placed his clenched hands on his hips and exhaled softly. “So peaceful…”

Just then, a group of screams broke the silence, and an explosion had erupted at the corner of the block. People scrambled out on the streets, away from the flying debris which built up in the smolder. Laughter filled the cool air, an evil chuckle. No doubt, it was Eggman…

Sonic turned his head toward the direction where Eggman was, watching him linger in the air with his hovercraft. Sonic growled. “Oh great… Bad timing as usual!” He hopped from street light to street light, charging straight for his enemy.

Eggman glanced at Sonic, a dark grin stretched on his face. “Where have you’ve been?”

“Eggman, enough playing around!” Sonic came to a halt on top of a post, and pointed at Eggman. “People are heading for bed. Shouldn’t you get some shut-eye yourself?”

“Bah, villians never sleep. Their brains are always operating… Now if you excuse me-” He turned his hovercraft away from Sonic to leave, when Sonic spun into a ball and spiraled around to ram into the front bumper of the craft. “Gah!” His hovercraft vibrated, making his teeth chatter.

“Not a smart move, Egghead.” Sonic growled. He landed in the middle of the road, looking up at Eggman. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Eggman shook his fist. “How dare you… My minions! Attack this blue rat! He’s getting in my way again!” He forced his finger again the red button, and it flickered, sending a warning signal. A few seconds later, robots crawled out of the shadows, surrounding around Sonic.

Sonic smirked. “Awww you brought me some toys to play with. You never cease to amuse me.” His eyes narrowed. “Like they’ll stop me.”

“ATTACK!” Eggman ordered. Without hesitation, the robots rocketed toward Sonic with raised laser weapons.

Sonic yawned, then used his homing attack, bouncing and crushing one robot to the next in a circle. He landed back in the center of the road, the robots in crumbled metal scraps.  His eyes flattened. “Okay, this is starting to get boring… Is that all you got?”

Eggman snarled. “We’ll see about that, hedgehog!” He called more of his robot army to appear. Now these guys were flying with jet engines on their backs and the bottom of their feet.

Sonic flailed his arms as he gazed up at the robots. “Come and get meeee!” A chill suddenly passed his legs, and he froze. “What the….” He looked down and around him. “A breeze?”

There was no sign of a breeze anywhere. The air was still… Sonic was stumped. He itched his head. “Hmm, could have sworn I felt something…” He was then flown into the air by the outburst of the missiles hitting ground level. “Waaaaaaaaah!”

Eggman laughed loudly. “How’s that?”

Sonic waved his arms out. “Hey! I was distracted!” The robots ignored his complaint, and fired their lasers at Sonic. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he motioned himself around in the air to dodge the lasers. He then spun into a ball as the last laser targeted him, and it disintegrated. Sonic yelped and unfolded out of his ball. The peak of his tail was burnt, a small flow of smoke coming out.

Eggman cringed, and then mocked Sonic. “Ooooh, that’s gotta hurt.”

Sonic’s teeth grinded, and he slammed his feet against the ground in frustration. He looked back at his tail, making it twitch a bit. “Owwie… Nice shot…” He glared up at the robots, who acted like they were laughing along with their Master. He growled, “Hm, playing violent, aren’t we… Well then…” His frown turned into a smirk, and he sprang into the air, spinning into a spiked ball once again.

The robots readied themselves for battle, expecting what would happen. Instead of crashing into them, Sonic unfolded and bang his twined fists against the first robot’s head, making a huge dent into the skeleton. The robot stammered, and it plunged into the ground, exploding to pieces. The other robots jerked in fear.

“Cheap stuff,” Sonic grumbled. He landed on top of another robot, who did nothing but float. “What are they made of? Aluminum?”

Eggman’s face steamed. “Arg… Yes, but for a reason…” He smirked. “Self-destruct!”

Sonic’s eyes widened. “Wh-what?”

The hovering robots became still like statues, and beeping sounded. Sonic acted quickly and leapt off the robot’s head to get away, but shockingly, he was not fast enough to escape the blast. Fire and forcing winds gushed out from the crowd of robots, creating a heavy explosion. Sonic wailed as he fell facedown to the ground. He groaned, and pushed himself up. He held one arm. “Heh…”

“They may look useless, but they sure are useful for something.” Eggman’s glasses reflected. “Don’t let their looks fool your eyes.”

Sonic coughed a puff of smoke from the result of the blow, and looked up. “You’re not bad, Egghead. But you still won’t beat me.” A cocky smile revealed on his face.

Eggman swayed his head to the side, showing that he rolled his eyes behind his thick blue goggles. “I’m not through yet. I’ll wipe that smirk off your face!” He pushed a couple buttons on his controls, and more fancy-looking robots approached the scene. They were slightly larger, and had more armor than the last ones. “This time, they’re efficient for fighting, not sacrifice.” He cleared his throat, then pointed at Sonic. “Destroy him!” He then hovered away in the clear.

Sonic’s jaw dropped. “No way are you getting away!” He leapt to catch Eggman, but was pulled back, a cold metal claw gripping his ankle, and he was tossed into an alley. He groaned as he rolled across the alley, and soon slowed to a stop, and he got himself to stand up. The center of his eyebrows was furrowed as he glared at the group of robots. The robots lifted their arms, a loaded gun attached to their limbs, and they shot at him.

Luckily, Sonic avoided the bullets, flipping into the air. “Geez, they don’t goof around. But they sure are making a mess!” He glared down at the cement, which showed caved in bullets holes. “They’re gonna make a wreck in the city! I can’t let this happen, especially when it’s nighttime, bedtime…” He stumbled as he landed, and looked forth at the robots. “Catch me if you can, numskulls!” He dashed off in the other direction across the road into another alley. The robots looked at each other and nodded, as if communicating a plan, and they all separated into different parts of the city.

Sonic looked back to see that they’d all vanished. “Crap…” He leapt up onto a ladder on the side of an apartment building and climbed up. He then held still and waited. “They could be anywhere… What was I thinking?” His ear flicked as he heard a motor go, a rumble of a robot’s main engine. One was close by. Jackpot…

Just as he thought, one of the robots strode over into the alley he took and stopped. The robot seemed to focus on something far out infront of him. Sonic blinked his eyes, and he turned his head in the direction the robot was looking. There, standing very still, was a dark figure at the end of the alley. His back was turned. He acted as if he had no idea what was going on around him, or even behind him. Did he not notice?

Sonic bit his lip. He had a feeling that guy was gonna get into danger. He had to do something… As the robot cautiously stepped up to the figure, a red laser light aimed at the head, Sonic silently landed on the ground. He tiptoed after the robot, about ready to bound. He gave the figure a heads-up. “Look out! Behind you!” He rushed forth toward the robot with a clenched fist.

The robot was about to fire until the ground below it disappeared into nothingness, and the robot fell into the bottomless pit. Just as it fell, the warning siren went off, crying out for backup. Sonic’s eyes went wide in shock, and he tried to stop himself. He ended up balancing just at the edge of the hole where the robot fell through. He gulped as he looked down at the pit, watching the robot tumble. The robot’s cries died as the hole reattached itself by shadows, and solidified. It was just in time for Sonic to collapse to his knees.

He panted heavily, beads of sweat formed all over his face. He curled his fingers, and gazed up at the figure. “What the heck…” As he examined the figure, he realized the appearance was familiar. His body form was of a hedgehog, a black hedgehog, his quills reaching upward. Sonic pushed himself up. “Shadow? Is that you?”

The figure didn’t move a muscle for a complete minute, until he finally turned his head to glance over his shoulder. His eyes shimmered a cold white glow as he glared right at Sonic. It struck chills right through Sonic’s flesh, making him shiver visibly.

“You’re not Shadow, my mistake…” He stepped back.

The figure turned extra slowly on one heel to face Sonic, his eyes slowly churning into an orange hue. His quills were stripped with dark green from one end to the other, also going along his arms and his legs. His chest was covered by a long patch of white fur. His eyes squinted as he just stood there motionlessly, eyeing Sonic like he was food. Sonic lifted his hands up innocently, taking another step back. “L-look, I didn’t mean to offend you. You just… looked like someone I knew…”

“Behind you…” The figure answered soothingly in a tone too low to hear. He had a tint of a British accent.

Sonic froze, lowering his arms. “Huh?” He then heard metals clanking together from behind him. He spun around to see the rest of the robot crew, gathering around him with reddened eyes. They were not happy…