Chapter 1 – Baggage

The intensifying roar of a departing commercial jet all but drowned out Amy Rose's voice as she called to her husband across the crowded airport terminal.

"Sonic!" she shouted again, this time snaring his attention. "Over here!" The famous blue hedgehog weaved through the ceaseless torrent of people to her side, keeping a firm grip on their young daughter's hand. At five years old, Misty Iris was well capable of keeping up with him, but in this setting he wasn't about to take any chances. Seven year old Mercury, on the other hand, was left to fight his own way through as he trailed them.

"Ah, here we go," Sonic chirped now that the arrival listings they'd sought were in sight. He lifted a guiding finger in front of him as he scanned the information. "…Looks like it's landed already. Wonder what the holdup is."

"Mommy," Misty whined, wrenching from her father's grip to tug on Amy's dress, "I'm hungry!" The pink hedgehog placed a gentle hand on her head.

"I know, sweetheart. It shouldn't be too much longer."

At last, the passengers of flight 486 began to deboard and emerge from the designated gate. Having flown non-stop from Hong Kong, the jumbo aircraft harbored well over 300 individuals; the hedgehogs found themselves waiting several more minutes before the one they'd come to meet walked into view.

"Hey! Silver!!" Sonic yelled, briskly waving his outstretched arm overhead. Silver the hedgehog smiled wide as his golden eyes caught sight of his friend. He wasted no time trotting over and energetically greeted the family.

"Sonic, Amy, good to see you two again!" His quill-crowned head tilted aside to peek behind them as they reciprocated his sentiments. "And you brought the kids!" He took a step back to look the children over, about whom he'd heard from the media and correspondence but until now had never met. Mercury stood about as high as Sonic's chest and bore a jet black body accented with metallic red highlights on his chest and quill tips. As with all young hedgehogs, the quills still retained their thin, thorn-like appearance; they wouldn't start to gain a distinctive definition to them until he neared adolescence. Misty, who measured just past her father's hip, was a sateen shade of deep lavender. Just like her parents, the color solidly graced everything but her bare muzzle, arms, and tummy. She set her pink tourmaline eyes on Silver with a heavy scowl as her hands planted themselves on her hips.

"It's about time!" she huffed, warranting a stern glance from Amy. Silver took the gripe in good humor.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting," he leaned in and addressed the children. Misty merely pivoted away, but Mercury was privy to respond.

"It's all right, Mr. Silver," the boy stated mildly, earning a grin from the nickel-hued hedgehog.

As he reached into a plastic shopping bag in his hand, a mysterious pale blue glow emanated from Silver's body. "I brought you a present!" He withdrew an anime action figure model kit, and as his hand released its grip, it floated over into an awestruck Mercury's hands. Having turned at the mention of gifts, Misty too stood gaping.

"How'd you do that?!" Mercury stammered, eyes wide.

"I'm a psychokinetic," Silver answered, reaching into the bag again. "I can move and manipulate stuff with my mind."

A small pachirisu plush drifted over to Misty next, who received it in dumbfounded silence while Mercury spoke for her. "AWESOME!!"

Silver belted out a laugh. "Yeah, it's a lotta fun!" His body hovered in mid-air as he threw himself back and crossed his arms behind him as if lying on an invisible hammock. The boy grew all the more excited.

"Do me, do me!!"

"No!" Sonic quickly objected, not soon to forget his own experience with the powers. Silver's smile turned sheepish as he lowered himself back to his feet.

"It's kinda dangerous to use on other people," he explained, "but I can give you a better demonstration later!"

"Yeah!!" came the eager reply.

"—As long as your dad's okay with it," Silver added, glancing up at Sonic.

Mercury blinked, quiet for a second. "He's not my dad."

"Oh…!" Silver's face flushed red as his eyes traveled back to Sonic and Amy, who to his relief conveyed mild amusement. "My mistake!"

Misty peered up at Sonic as she leaned into his side. "Can we go eat now??"

"All right, you can go eat!!" he answered in exasperation, then glanced back up at his guest, chuckling. "Got any checked luggage?" At Silver's nod, he turned to Amy. "How 'bout you go ahead and take the kids to get supper and I go with Silver to get his bags?"

"Sounds good," Amy replied and promptly departed, Misty happily skipping alongside while Mercury followed, casting one more glance back.

"…Thanks for the present, Mr. Silver!" he finally remembered to say.

"Don't mention it!" Silver called over his shoulder as he and Sonic headed the other direction.

"So how's the trip been so far?" Sonic asked.

"Great!! So far I've been to Europe, Australia, and Asia. I appreciate you guys' letting me stay with you here!"

"Not a problem! I take it you intend to tour the whole country?"

"Oh yeah, definitely! I wanna see it all!"

"Any particular reason you're doing it in this time instead of your own?"

"Well," Silver held the word for a moment, "it's just that everything's so modernized in my time. It's so much more interesting in this one, and there's so much more culture!"

Sonic nodded, and then his eyebrow cocked a bit. "Meet anyone special?" The question was met with a shy cough.

"Nah, there's plenty of time for that later!"

"Heh, I was the same way," Sonic admitted, "but when it happens, it happens fast! Just don't do what I did and put it off 'til it gets messy."

Silver glanced aside. "Oh, uh, sorry about that…dad thing with, uh..."

"Mercury," Sonic provided.

"Mercury, that's it! Yeah, I wasn't…sure if he knew…."

Sonic couldn't help but chuckle. "Yeah, he knows. He mostly stays with Shadow, but he wanted to come out with us and meet you."

"Oh. And how's Shadow doing these days?"

"Pretty good, little on the grouchy side. Mercury's about to that age, you know, where they start being out on their own more, and I think it's kinda bothering him. I know I'm not looking forward to it with Iris…but at least I've got Amy…."

Silver blinked reflectively. "So he still hasn't found himself a girl?"

"Goil?" Sonic echoed his accent, breaking into laughter. Silver snorted.

"A mate!"

"Hehe! Nothin' yet," Sonic returned, "but Amy and I have set him up on a few dates. I think he's on one right now, actually!"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A strange expression was well set into Shadow's face as he glanced up from his meal at the cream-toned shrew named Clover across the table, who hadn't stopped talking for at least two minutes. A piece of sweet and sour chicken sat cold on her fork, hovering just before her mouth while she carried on.

"And it's the same way with historic structures in Egypt," Clover continued. "If you look at that star and the positions of those around it, you'll see that it matches exactly the positions of the Sphinx and the pyramids, and the Nile runs through the same place as the blue asteroid belt!" Finally she took a bite, and precious silence filled their booth at the Happy Dragon restaurant. Noting the lop-sided conversation, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I tend to go off on a tangent once I get started on astrology. So what do you like to do for fun?"

Shadow considered it for a moment. "When my son is home we usually go skating in the evenings."

"Oh, that's nice!" she expressed, then giggled. "That reminds me of a funny story! One time I was out at the park, and there was this kid on rollerblades…."

Half an hour later, as they stepped out of the restaurant, Clover touched Shadow lightly on the arm. "Look, there's a full moon tonight!" He lifted his eyes to its cold glow. "They did a wonderful job on its reconstruction! Remember back when some nutcase blew a big hole in it?" Shadow's eyes fell.

"…Yeah…."

"I was still on Mobius at the time, but it was still a mess when I first moved here. The oceans were so nasty that it was actually illegal to go to the beach! So glad they got it fixed." After a couple more minutes spent on the subject, Clover blinked at her silent date. "I'm sorry; I hope I'm not boring you."

His distant gaze snapped to her. "No…I was just thinking."

"What are you thinking about?"

"An old friend of mine. She hated the moon."

Clover flinched back, appalled. "Who in their right mind would hate the moon?!" Shadow's face darkened at the words.

"She had her reasons."

Shortly thereafter, on Clover's moonlit doorstep, she expressed her thanks for the evening and the two traded bids good night. Shadow shifted uncomfortably as she lingered there, as if waiting for something else. "…Goodbye," he finally added, at which she blinked awkwardly, looking somewhat hurt.

"Bye…." Her voice was barely heard as she turned and slowly headed inside. Shadow remained there a moment longer, sighing deeply. His gut told him the same thing it had after his last three first dates; this relationship was going nowhere.

He wandered the streets afterward, aimless. He didn't want to go home when he knew that Mercury would be absent again tonight. Being there only served to remind him that it wouldn't be much longer before the boy stopped coming back altogether. Though the process was a completely natural fact of Mobian life, the heartache that came with it was nonetheless immense, enough to render him willing to allow Sonic and Amy to set him up on these dates. Fruitless as the pairings were turning out to be, at least they'd helped get his mind off things.

The harsh tint of a neon-lighted arch turned the tuft of fur on Shadow's chest bright blue as he strode past it. He squinted at the building behind it, realizing he was at the entrance of a local mall. After a glance through its glass doors, he turned about and headed in. His blood red eyes scanned the environment as they adjusted to its unnatural brilliance. Forming a giant square, the center offered stores on both the inner and outer walls all the way around. Of the scores of shoppers, at least a fourth of them were Mobian, a surprisingly high ratio. Shadow walked by several storefronts, pausing in front of a Hot Topic but deciding against going in upon catching an irritatingly strong whiff of hemp from within. The more appealing aroma of cinnamon-roasted almonds met him next as he made his way past a small stand called The Nuthouse. Finally he reached an empty bench facing the center court, on which he quietly seated himself. He crossed his arms and watched as both human and Mobian children played in a special enclosure filled with plastic equipment themed after various kinds of fruit; the pineapple was a ramp, the banana was a slide, and the apple had a giant wormhole tunnel that could be crawled through, among others.

It seemed like only months ago that Mercury was just a toddler, playing in places just like this. Shadow frowned recalling the pain he'd caused him despite his best intentions. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice someone had sat down next to him until she spoke.

"I'm surprised to see another hedgehog here!"

Immediately Shadow turned and found himself staring into the soft apricot eyes behind the voice. Dressed in a white button-up blouse, black vest, and navy skirt, the attractive lemon yellow hedgehog smiled at him. His mind went blank as he opened his mouth to speak, struggling to even comprehend what she'd just said. Thankfully, she went on. "You got a kid here or are you just hangin' out?" Her head tilted briefly toward the play area. Blinking, Shadow returned his gaze to it.

"…No……I...I'm just resting…." In the years since his exposure to the deadly gas that had almost claimed his life, his lungs had recovered to nearly their original condition, so he hadn't really needed to rest…but it sounded better than telling her he was sitting there watching a bunch of other people's kids for no reason. He drew a deep breath, instinctively trying to pick up her scent and determine if a male had yet laid claim to her, but all he could smell was cinnamon. She began to say something else when another female's voice cut her off.

"Hey, Raye!" a milk chocolate tanuki with dark chocolate stripes hollered as she jogged up, holding bags from several different stores. "Trixie and I are going to Best Buy across the street, so just meet us there, 'kay?" Her eyes widened as they darted between her friend and Shadow. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were talking to someone!"

Raye faced Shadow and pointed an open hand in the tanuki's direction. "Sorry, this is Cocoa, and I'm Raye. And…I don't believe I've gotten your name yet."

"Shadow," he responded, casting a glance of acknowledgement to Cocoa.

"Nice to meet you," Cocoa recited the formality, then looked again to Raye. "See you when you get off!"

Once Raye had bid goodbye to her departing friend, her attention returned to Shadow. "So you new in town?" He didn't even get a word out before a sudden commotion arose in the stretch of mall behind him. Loud shouts and furious footfalls rapidly approached, carrying in them an unmistakable urgency. He twisted about and blinked at the second interruption in mounting annoyance.

"STOP!!" a large man in uniform shouted to the adolescent boy he pursued, who ran with a laptop computer tucked under his arm. Being in much better physical condition, the thief was easily increasing the distance between himself and the guard. Shadow had had enough, however. He thrust into the air straight off the bench and performed a homing dash as the boy neared, nailing him right in the face with his knee, then flipped backwards as he completed the attack with a kick. The laptop landed hard and skidded across the floor while the crook did the same. Shadow steadied himself with one hand as his feet clapped down on the tile beside them. Seconds later, the security guard caught up to the scene, panting a few moments before he could speak. "…Thanks…" he breathed, "a lot…. It would've been bad if he'd gotten away with that."

"Don't know if it survived the drop," Shadow remarked, a glance falling to the computer.

"Busted is one thing," the guard replied, "that's no biggie, but having the data stolen would have been a real problem. Thanks again. You need a job?"

Shadow blinked at the offer. "Actually I do."

"Great, great! You sure saved mine, so it's the least I could do."

Raye stepped up to the guard with the laptop in hand. "Here's the notebook." As she handed it over, Shadow was at last able to take in her pheromone scent.

…Damnit.