Chapter Text
2:42 AM
The blue hedgehog swayed his hips to the music, spurred on by every squeeze of Shadow’s hands gripping just beneath the cut of his leather concho belt.
Sonic was barely aware of the party around him. His senses had blurred and softened at the edges until his whole world was the dark hedgehog with the simmering crimson eyes dancing with him.
He’d hardly noticed when Rouge and Knuckles had joined them on the dance floor many songs ago or that Tangle had pulled Surge into a spinning half-step with her and Whisper.
The green tenrec, done up in her witch outfit, clashed with the bright red of Whisper’s cape and the woven balsa wood strips of Tangle’s ‘picnic basket’ mini dress. She’d made it herself, with Amy’s help of course, and so far the hand crafted dress was holding up over the long party night.
With each fast-paced song, Silver and Blaze had drawn closer to each other. Under the dazzling lights and constant motion, no one caught their lingering looks or familiar touches in the thick of the party’s crowd.
Even Metal had been swept up into the high spirits although he could hardly be described as dancing. Amy hopped and shimmied with Jet, then Silver and Blaze, once with Rouge, and then back to the chrome hedgehog while Metal stood stiffly. His arms were crossed but he tapped one foot to his own beat, technically dancing.
Omega had even left his post watching over the vault he and Rouge had stolen, making his way to the DJ set up where Storm and Wave where mixing R&B and pop in tandem.
Friends and almost foes were set on dancing the night away, not ready to leave the airship and the good times behind just yet.
Sonic curled a hand into black and red striped quills, close enough to the hybrid that their noses bumped against each other as they rocked to the music. He breathed in the dark coffee scent of his boyfriend, foolishly romantic ideas swimming low in the pit of his stomach along with the party punch.
Would he say yes? Sonic wondered, his mind syrupy from the long night and sugar high he was riding.
Not tonight, He gave a slight shake of his quills, flinging the thought to the back of his mind, Don’t need anything but here and now with Shadow. I’ll leave thinking about the future for tomorrow.
The blue hedgehog grinned teasingly then, emerald eyes lighting up with enduring chaos energy as he whispered a different thought out loud, just quiet enough that only Shadow could hear him beneath the music.
Ebony-furred ears perked behind the wide brim of his captain’s hat and Shadow let out a rumbling chuckle for the impudence of his boyfriend.
That hot apple cider feeling from early in the night now filled up Shadow’s lungs with a heady need for this blue hedgehog and all the delicious things that fell from his mouth.
Shadow dragged his hands up from Sonic’s hips to peach forearms thrown over the broad shoulders of his carmine jacket. Pulling Sonic’s fingers loose from his quills, Shadow spun the azure hedgehog out from their swaying dance in a smooth and quick turn.
A bright laugh burst from Sonic as he spun, holding tighter to Shadow’s hand and the dark hedgehog rolled his shoulder, pulling him back into his arms for a deeper sway on the beat.
“Again,” Sonic bit his lower lip, cobalt tail flitting with excitement.
Rolling his eyes, the hybrid slung his arm harder, spinning Sonic out of his hold in a dizzying twist a second time.
The blue hedgehog, leaning full-bodied into the motion, was not as accustomed to his cowboy boots as he thought and on the final spinning step of the move, he tripped on his own spur.
Sonic’s fingers slipped from Shadow’s as he toppled backwards, his own momentum taking him down on a surprised gasp.
The blue hedgehog’s breath snagged in his chest, eyes going wide when he didn’t hit the ground.
Instead, Sonic found himself held just shy of falling on his quills by flannel covered arms, caught in a swing-dance dip by another party guest.
“Well isn’t this a treat,” Jet crowed, smirking down at Sonic.
The cobalt hedgehog rolled his eyes, a sarcastic response on his tongue when Jet kept talking, loud now for the surrounding ring of dancing guests to overhear.
“Guess I was right, Shadow’s not enough rival for you.”
Sonic’s mouth fell open, astounded at the brashness of Jet as the hawk pulled him back up to standing. He let the hedgehog go with a push of momentum, spinning him back towards the dark hedgehog.
Shadow didn’t catch Sonic, letting his boyfriend whirl past to smack hard into Knuckles’ back where he bounced off hulking muscle, ears ringing from the impact.
“What was that?” Shadow growled at the hawk, quills bristling in warning as Jet flicked an openly goading look up and down the hybrid.
The crowd around them shifted, sensing rising tension and greedily making room for potential drama.
Jet lifted his chin, holding Shadow’s storming glare. The green flight feathers of the hawk were rather deceiving, giving him the appearance at first glance that he was taller than he was, but in truth he stood to the same full height as Shadow.
“You heard me,” Jet’s voice was a record scratch, “Second Best.”
Shadow’s lip curled, rising to the hawk’s obvious bait.
“Not again,” Amy whined, no longer hopping to the music. Beside her, Metal tilted his head a precise degree as he listened intently.
Sonic shook out his quills, his cowboy hat slipping to an odd angle on his head, but the ringing in his ears was gone as quickly as it came. He stepped back from Knuckles, giving his friend a grateful smack on the shoulder for breaking his spin out of that unexpected dip.
The echidna grunted in his throat, brow furrowed as he watched the scene unfolding behind the unaware hedgehog.
“Hey Blue,” Rouge smiled devilishly from her spot tucked under her husband’s arm, “Been a few hours, how’d your prank go?”
“Results aren’t in yet, Rouge, but I like the odds,” Sonic chuckled.
He had found the armoire empty when he broke back into Jet’s room and had only located Silver and Blaze on his return trip to the main deck and Shadow. The princess and telekinetic hadn’t said a thing about the seven-minutes-in-heaven prank and Sonic wouldn’t push them. He’d given them the opportunity to do something about their obvious feelings and they could have taken it if they wanted.
“I’m sure you do, Sonic. But that’s the least of your worries. Are you gonna handle all that?” The bat asked with a flick of her wing and Sonic followed the gesture to look over his shoulder. “Your Ultimate Pirate Captain is going to make target practice out of that scarecrow.”
Sonic’s brows drew up at the sight that met him. Lined by their close friends, an open ring of space had formed on the dance floor, giving Shadow and Jet needed room.
Knuckles and Rouge stood just behind Sonic while the ring of familiar faces included Silver, Blaze, Amy, and Metal on the other half behind Jet. Tangle and Whisper had stilled their dancing as well and now exchanged concerned looks for the tension in the air.
It was not just those they’d been dancing so close to that had slowed or turned to listen, but seemingly the whole of the party. The music had also quieted, the volume turned slightly down as if Storm and Wave wanted to hear what was going on from their spot at the DJ booth.
In the center of the hastily made ring, Shadow and Jet stood no more than a meter apart, both daring the other to cross the space and really start something party ruining.
“What’s with the stand-off guys? Thought we were dancing,” Sonic chuffed as he moved back to Shadow’s side. The blue hedgehog paused close enough to his boyfriend that he could practically feel the reserved chaos energy coming off him in waves.
It was Amy who answered on a sigh, “Jet’s been in a mood all night.”
“I have not,” The hawk snapped, breaking the staring contest with Shadow to throw a betrayed look towards the pink hedgehog. Amy gave sheepish but unapologetic smile in return.
“There’s no reason to deny it, Hawk,” Blaze countered from the Rogue’s other side. She and Silver had taken a deliberate small step away from each other when the dancing had faded. “You have been spoiling for some kind of trouble all evening long.”
“Been more like a few weeks,” Amy muttered under her breath and Blaze exhaled a soft laugh at her dry tone.
“Sonic has been fairly busy with Shadow these days,” Rouge mused, leaning heavily into Knuckles’ side as she gladly stirred the brewing cauldron before her. “He doesn’t have a lot of time for playing with his other rivals.”
“Playing?” Sonic and Jet both scoffed incredulously at the bat.
Rouge rolled her eyes, “Yes you two, racing for fun is play time. If you don’t want your rivals chomping at the bit Sonic, you shouldn’t be so neglectful of them.”
“Neglectful?”
The bat shrugged, “When was the last time you sparred with my husband? Or went Super Form against Burning Blaze?”
“Or raced that poor excuse for extreme gear against my type-J?” The hawk grumbled.
Realization was a too-bright lightbulb flipping on inside Sonic’s head.
After the first month he and Shadow had been together they had gotten better at coming up for air. They hadn’t become any less intertwined, but they’d balanced their new relationship with their time and attention in rivalries and friendships.
Still… there never seemed to be enough time.
All the adventures and laid-back hours Sonic enjoyed — those days could run almost as fast as him. And he’d found himself, more and more, holding onto the moments he cherished before they slipped from his grasp.
In those instants, when determination spurred on his freedom, Sonic hoped for more time.
More days treasure hunting with Knuckles and Rouge, crash testing Tails’ latest invention, and flicky birdwatching with Amy. He wanted every evening, night, and morning he could have with Shadow. And yeah — he wanted more afternoons racing this loud-mouth hawk just for the fun of it.
An impulsive smile quirked at the corner of Sonic’s mouth then, Not gonna let time pass me by.
“So picking a fight with Shadow is just your way of saying that you’ve missed me, Jet?”
Green feathers ruffled in agitation, “Not on your life, hedgehog.”
“It’s no big deal if you did,” the blue hedgehog grinned, eagerly running that line between sincerity and taunting that he knew provoked Jet like nothing else. “I missed you too. It’s been a minute since we raced but I haven’t forgotten you for a second.”
The hawk swore, “Of course you couldn’t, I’m your greatest rival!”
As easily as Sonic could goad the Babylon Rogue, Jet could turn that energy right back around on him, pulling out the hedgehog’s impulsive and competitive sides.
“Yeah yeah, so you gonna be all squawk tonight, Jet?” Sonic cut off the hawk, his own nerves itching to run, “Or are we gonna jump down to Angel Island, make it three times around the outer edge, for old time’s sake?”
Sky blue eyes stormed with potential thrill as Jet considered the offer.
Jet had wanted some action all night, something fun and fast and a little bit dangerous to take the edge off. And while future opportunity for good sporting competition had been laid out by Team Dark’s resident spy and thief, he needed time to plan with his new found accomplices.
He wouldn’t miss an opportunity to get a little attention from the cobalt menace.
“You’re so on,” Jet grinned victoriously, although he hadn’t won yet.
Beneath the hawk’s boasting, Sonic picked up a low growl emanating from the dark hedgehog beside him.
He flicked a questioning look in Shadow’s direction. The hybrid was glaring at the hawk, his muzzle scrunched in an unamused sneer.
So I’m not the only one who gets a bit jealous, Sonic realized, recalling his own possessive streak when Metal had made advances towards Shadow a few months ago. He’d played it far less cool than the hybrid was now and Sonic pushed the memory away. Just like then, neither hedgehog had any reason to feel threatened in their relationship, but that didn’t stop the edge of territorial instinct from showing itself.
“Wait a minute, Jet,” Silver spoke up, genuine curiosity in his voice, “Aren’t we the greatest rivals, Sonic?”
“What?” Sonic laughed, “Dude, you’re my friend!”
Silver shrugged, “Yes, but not all the time. I did body slam you into a courtyard ground a lot.”
“If anyone should have the title of greatest rival, would it not be me?” Blaze reasoned, “As protector of the Sol Emeralds I am a greater balance to Sonic than any one else he calls a rival.”
A booming laugh came from Knuckles then, and the feline princess narrowed her gaze on the echidna.
“You are all wrong.” Sonic breathed a short sigh of relief, “Thanks Knux, I—”
“None of you are Sonic’s greatest rival. That is my legacy. We’ve fought glorious battles and we shall again.”
The blue hedgehog smacked an open palm to his forehead, dragging the hand down his eyes and muzzle. They had to be messing with him right? This had to be a prank!
Beside him, Shadow gave no indication this was anything but real, growling vehemently, “Better the echidna than this squawking magpie.”
Viridian feathers puffed at the insult, and Jet took a step forward, hand raised to jab a finger at Shadow’s chest when another rival broke into the circle and the conversation.
“You’re only saying that Shadow because you think you’re his greatest rival,” Surge huffed, shouldering her way between Tangle and Whisper to join in. Electric sparks zapped along the tips of her quills and the lemur and wolf gave her plenty of room to avoid being electrocuted.
Tangle and Whisper snuck a silent conversation, not sure if they should try and cool down the fight brewing or let the old friends handle it.
Surge sneered dismissively at the dark hedgehog who glowered right back, “But you and Sonic haven’t been proper rivals in, what, a year?”
“What?” Sonic scoffed, “Shadow’s my rival. Just because we’re together doesn’t mean he stopped being anything else to me.”
A smirk, there and gone in an instant, tugged at a dark honey mouth.
Blaze shook her head, “The question is not who is a rival, but which of us is Sonic’s greatest opponent.”
“Oh, well then me, obviously,” Surge deadpanned, entirely serious.
Jet recoiled, an offended look twisting up his beak.
“Well since I’m right here, I’ll just tell you,” Sonic said, raising him voice to be heard around the circle of familiar (and not always friendly) faces, “I actually think all my rivals are equally great.”
Every set of brightly colored eyes, including the red optical scanners of Metal and Omega, rolled.
“Boo! Just pick one pansy!” A voice called out from the crowd. A few ears flicked and turned, trying to find the source of the shout while Vanilla attempted to look innocent.
“You can’t be serious,” Jet scoffed at the blue hedgehog, “All of us? Even him?”
The Rogue hooked a thumb at Metal standing rigidly-still and entirely silent on the edge of the circle.
The chrome and steel hedgehog didn’t react beyond a mechanical flick of his ears to indicate he’d heard and was intentionally ignoring the hawk.
Sonic glanced at the version of himself, answering without hesitation, “Well yeah, of course. Metal can be a great rival, never said he wasn’t.”
“So he’s a better rival than Shadow?” Tails called out, his question falling onto the stand-off from up above.
It took Sonic a second, spinning in a quick twist before catching Knuckles line of sight and he chanced a look up.
On the scaffolding a few meters above was Tails, Cream, Charmy, Kit, and Sage all leaning over the railing. They had been distracted from pumpkin carving when the voices of their older siblings and friends were raised and the music volume was lowered. Now they gathered on the catwalk to watch the fight unfolding below.
“What are you—?”
“Front row seat,” the fox grinned, the tips of his twin tails flicking with amusement.
“We should have made popcorn,” Cream giggled, “I think Silver should be your favorite rival, Mr. Sonic.”
The grey-white hedgehog made a chirping noise of surprise and nudged Blaze’s arm with his elbow, golden eyes flashing in amusement when he caught her attention. The princess scrunched up her nose playfully at the hedgehog in response.
“Okay, wow,” Sonic threw up his hands in exasperation, “Who said anything about ‘favorite’?”
“Yeah, we already know that’s Shadow,” Surge said with another roll of her eyes. “Obviously.”
“The green not-hedgehog is right,” Knuckles said definitively.
Around the open circle of rivals, all the gathered guests agreed, a few muttering that it was the obvious truth. From the DJ booth, the music having been dropped to a low background noise, Storm and Wave murmured their agreement as well.
Even Jet conceded that point, going so far as to give a respectful nod to Shadow.
“Greatest? Favorite?” Sonic sputtered, “Guys, this ridiculous!”
The dark hedgehog shifted then. Moving his weight from one striped leg to the other, arms crossed over his chest, Shadow cocked a single brow ridge at Sonic.
A chagrined flush tinted the tips of blue ears to a shade of violet as Sonic tried out a smile that usually charmed his boyfriend.
Crimson eyes narrowed, unamused by Sonic’s skirting of the question at hand.
“By my calculations,” Sage called down from the catwalk, the red gems of her slippers twinkled in the speckled light reflecting off the disco ball above, “Blaze is in fact Sonic’s greatest rival.”
The princess mewed in approval, flicking her tail to whiff across Silver’s cheek as she smirked triumphantly up at him.
A shrill tone that only lasted a second pulsed from Metal and Sage gasped loudly, “Language brother!”
“Would you all can it?” Jet snapped, “This isn’t up for argument!”
The debate broke loose then, every rival and friendly raising their voice to be heard over each other. Amy had taken Metal’s side but when Tangle dismissed Jet’s claim she jumped to his defense. Whisper murmured her opinion which only Surge over heard as Silver and Blaze were bickering across the open circle to Knuckles and Rouge.
The party had all but come to a halt, everyone wanting a say or piece of the action.
Sonic had the strong urge to yank off his hat and throw it to the ground.
They’d all been cooped up with each other in this airship for too long. The hours had slipped by without any of them realizing, party punch and sugary treats were all any of them had to eat all night. It was foolish to think they could get through a holiday in a powder keg without it sparking and setting off a chain reaction.
And frankly, Sonic wasn’t fully convinced this wasn’t an elaborate prank with serious commitment to the bit.
Leaning into Shadow’s side, seeking and giving a little support, Sonic stage whispered, “Just so we’re clear, you are my favorite, Shads. Rival, partner, alien-hedgehog-hybrid, all of it.”
“I know,” Shadow rumbled low, and he did in every corner of his heart, “Tell them that, Sonic.”
“I think they already know,” he quirked a smile, this time the charm in it worked a little better on Shadow.
“Good,” the dark hedgehog leaned closer, warm breath tickling the shell of Sonic’s ear as he growled low, “Then you can admit that I am also your greatest rival.”
Cobalt shoulders slumped and Sonic groaned, “Seriously! You too?”
Shadow smirked, the charged look in his eyes giving just enough to keep Sonic guessing if he was actually being sincere or messing with him again. Sonic suspected he would find out sooner rather than later. When the cowboy boots and the captain’s jacket came off, Shadow would kiss and bite his meaning across peach and cobalt, making sure he was clearly understood.
Neither hedgehog, so rapt in the other, noticed the blocking out of moonlight through port side windows. One moment Shadow was growling a teasing remark into Sonic’s ear and the next they were both thrown to the ground along with everyone else as the Rogue’s airship was rammed.
Steel ground against iron, grating harshly on Mobian ears, and the entire airship rocked to starboard, tilting dangerously towards capsizing which would have sent them crashing down onto Angel Island below.
In its many cruising loops around the floating island, the blimp had clear airspace the whole night. That was until another ship, an ironclad carrier loaded down with badniks, had crested the horizon. With full steam ahead, the carrier had scraped against the blimp’s side hull, breaking both ships to a standstill above the island and the ocean a mile down.
The impact had been abrupt and sent feathers, quills, wings, and all manner of Halloween costumes down to the floor as their balance was taken. Only a steel hedgehog remained standing, having known what was coming.
After a long teetering beat, the Rogue’s airship canted back to center, jumbling all the guests again as it settled back on its axis.
With a kick-up, Sonic was on his feet in an instant, whipping around to check on his friends.
Most guests were dazed and stunned by the sudden crash and Sonic was relieved to see Tails alright and helping others already.
Silver pulled Blaze and Jet back to standing, the three having fallen into a pile when the ship was hit. And Rouge, who’d caught herself with a flap of her wings, had turned to check on the vault she’d stolen. The safe had skidded a few feet towards starboard, leaving scuff marks on the floor, but was still roughly where she’d left it.
Shadow was up and moving as quickly as Sonic. His pirate coat snapped behind him when he strode across the ship’s main deck towards the port side windows.
In a quick burst of speed, Sonic was at his side, tipping up his cowboy hat to get a good view out the window.
Sonic let out a low whistle, shaking his head disappointedly, and called over his shoulder, “Party’s over everyone!”
Groans and boo’s sounded off and Sonic was assured no one had been seriously injured.
Outside the port facing windows, the night sky and broken moon above had been blotted out by the hulking mass of an Egg Carrier.
One of Ivo Robotnik’s designs, it was easily three times the size of the Babylon Rogue’s airship. Having rammed into the side of the blimp, the Egg Carrier showed no damage at all but now a long scratch mark ruined the outer paint job of the blimp’s hull.
From the Egg Carrier, flying badniks were taking off and hovering in formation, ready to board and pillage the Rogue’s blimp at their maker’s command.
“We’re not abandoning ship,” Shadow said, glowering at the enemy forces.
“Those Captain’s orders?” Sonic coyly asked, looking over at the stern profile of Shadow in his Halloween costume.
Sonic felt a wave of hubris for his own choice in dressing the hybrid up, he looked damn good under that pirate hat, carmine jacket, and leather belt.
The dark hedgehog turned smoldering eyes on his cowboy.
“Focus, Sonic. After party hasn’t started yet.”
“That’s at our place right? I remember some treats were promised, Captain.”
“Hold your horses cowboy. After this it’s a race to the apartment, winner chooses the dress code. For the first round.”
If Sonic hadn’t known beyond doubt before, he would have then.
Chaos, I love him.
Around them, the rest of the party came back into focus as the ship righted itself and guests picked themselves up from the floor.
“Why didn’t the radar go off?” Wave called out.
Omega answered before Jet as he crossed the dance floor to the port side, his weaponized arms dropping their safety measures, “ROUGE AND I REMOVED IT EARLIER THIS EVENING.”
“You removed— what!” The swallow screeched.
“Oh, that’s what that was?” Rouge said, tapping a finger to her lips as she thought back on the night, “I was trying to disable Hawk’s silent alarms. The whole ship is loaded with them.”
“Whole lotta good that did me,” Jet snapped, pushing through the crowd of guests to port , making space for himself between Sonic and Blaze.
“The safe’s still on the ship, don’t get your feathers in a twist,” Rouge rolled her eyes and flicked a wing towards the Rogue’s vault by the starboard windows. “The dial lock is surprisingly sophisticated. Well played Hawk.”
Jet lifted his chin with a nod of pride, his mood slightly improved knowing that his safe was still close by. Maybe he could hold onto those favors from Silver and Blaze for a little longer.
Outside the blimp, on the bridge of the Egg Carrier, a bulkhead door slid open with a thunk to release a half-shell hovercraft carrying Robotnik.
He only flew a few meters from his ship, hovering in the airspace before the blimp’s windows as he messed with various buttons and settings on the hoveregg’s main console.
Unlike everyone on the Rogue’s airship, Eggman wasn’t wearing a Halloween costume. But he also wasn’t suited in his usual battle attire either. To the gathered guests, he looked like an old man coming outside to yell at his neighbors overly loud house party.
They weren’t wrong.
“Metal!” Eggman yelled, his voice carried enough across the empty air between the two ships to sound through the opened gondola windows. “Metal I know you’re in there! You were supposed to take Sage for trick or treating. What’s the meaning of this?”
The steel hedgehog tried to ignore the direct commands from his maker, but his movements were stiff as he helped Amy back to her feet. When the pink hedgehog was steady again and fixing her costume tiara back into place, Metal turned to the Robotnik, raising his head in a silent signal he was cooperating as coded, but he did not answer.
Internally Metal’s countdown timer went off, his estimation for how long he and Sage could evade Eggman’s tracking had been shy by just seconds.
“Hello father!” Sage chimed at full volume as she floated down from the catwalk to hover at Metal’s byzantine blue shoulder. “Brother was invited to a most wonderful Halloween Party by a very loud hawk. He said I could come too as long as I didn’t tell you! Is this not a great trick, father?”
Metal sent a silent ping to Sage, a flurry of exclamation points made up the message trying to get her to stop fessing up.
Eggman’s bald head had turned a bright shade of licorice red, proud of his daughter and furious with Metal all at once.
Sonic snorted, “Siblings huh, Metal?”
The steel hedgehog made a harsh dial-tone noise that the hero chuckled at, “Yeah, been there.”
Tails let out a yip of complaint for his older brother’s kidding and Cream giggled softly.
Shifting his stance to look back out the window, Sonic tapped the toe of his cowboy boot rapidly on the floor, impatient to get this over with. He had an after party he didn’t want to be a minute late for.
“Alright Egghead, can we do this another time?” Sonic called through the cracked open blimp windows, his voice carried back to him by a strong breeze.
Robotnik shook his head, and holding up a hand to his ear, yelled back, “What did you say rodent? Repeat that!”
“We’re in the middle of something!” Jet shouted.
“What?”
“We’re fighting over who’s Sonic’s one great rival is!” Silver tried.
“Monica’s on arrival?”
“We’re — for fucks sake—,” Surge snapped, and she elbowed Knuckles in the meat of his upper arm.
Grumbling at the jab, Knuckles lifted his mitted hands to cup around his muzzle, shouting louder than the rest.
“We’re busy. Come back later.”
Eggman heard that time, shaking his head hard as he responded, “No!”
“We’re tabling this right?” Jet said, turning away from the window and dropping his voice somewhat, “We can settle our rankings later?”
“Yes,” Shadow growled, “I’m not finished with you, Hawk.”
Jet’s feathers fluffed up, whether from fear or excitement for a fight, no one including himself could tell.
From the catwalk above, Kit frowned as he counted something out on his fingers, seeming to come up short, “Wait, is Eggman not a rival?”
“Gross,” Sonic grimaced, his whole face creasing with disgust, “He’s a nemesis.”
“The greatest nemesis in the world!” Eggman hollered.
“That you heard?”
Robotnik ignored the continued shouts of the party guests as he turned to the console before him, smacking at buttons and pulling levers on the hover-egg.
“It’s time to go home Sage sweetie, you shouldn’t be hanging around these bad influences. Metal! Stop dragging your feet and stand up straighter. What’s with that paint on your face?”
The algorithmic girl blipped out of existence, reappearing by her father’s hovercraft. She waved good-bye to Cream who held up her hands in a heart shape, already missing her best friend.
Metal’s joints had locked, trying to fight the direct commands but he was clearly failing.
“You know, rodents,” Robotnik called out, not noticing or possibly caring that Metal had yet to fly across to the carrier, “A classic prank is egging a house on Halloween night.”
Cobalt and striped quills bristled, nerves set on edge.
Eggman grinned impishly beneath his mustache, “I suppose this will have to do!” And he slammed a fist on the largest of the console’s red buttons.
A shrieking alarm sounded from the carrier’s hull and was followed by a flash of orange lights along the bridge, the only warning before two massive torpedo styled missiles were launched.
Sonic and Shadow moved on reflex. No sooner had the dark hedgehog shattered the half open blimp window with a chaos spear then Sonic was spin dashing through the raining glass.
He threw himself at the closest missile, ricocheting it upwards, off the targeting path of Jet’s ship.
The hawk had been a heartbeat behind Sonic, summoning his J-type with a smack of the side button on his communicator. The extreme gear flew like a bullet from its storage rack against the far wall beside Wave’s and Storm’s rides.
Jet took a leaping run for the board, landing with ease and diving for the other missile. Following Sonic’s lead, Jet hit the bomb with the tail end of his board, forcing it up into the open sky above.
A second later and he had to scramble back on his board, making room for Sonic to land after his spin dash.
The blue hedgehog hadn’t exactly thought it through when he’d launched himself out into the open air a mile above the ocean with nowhere to land.
In a snap of chaos energy, Shadow appeared on the extreme gear too, elbowing Jet out of his way so he could get a clear shot at the missiles. The hawk screeched at the hedgehogs for weighing down his board but with both on the gear they kept it balanced.
Rolling his wrist and summoning bolts of hard chaos energy, Shadow sent the twin spears flying up to hit the missiles before their targeting systems re-aimed on the hawk’s blimp.
“Wait—!” Blaze shouted, golden eyes flying wide, a second too late to properly warn the dark hedgehog.
The chaos spears pierced the missile shells, exploding them on impact.
Fire rained down, setting both airship and egg-carrier balloons ablaze, but only one was filled with hydrogen.
The shell of the Egg Carrier blasted open when the chemical reaction inside ignited. Combustable hydrogen set off a chain of fiery explosions, tearing open the steel frame and glass hull windows.
Silver and Blaze moved in tandem, rushing to the blimp’s window and leaping into the night sky.
Firelight burned on the corners the princess’ eyes and she threw her arms outwards, channeling her pyrokinesis to force the explosion of fire and smoke back and away.
The Rogue’s ship, true to Hawk’s word, was filled with non-flammable helium and didn’t combust when fire licked at the canvas balloon. Blaze lashed her tail, snuffing out those flames with a hiss of effort from her clenched teeth.
Back-to-back with his princess, Silver glowed in a halo of cyan power.
The telekinetic took a centering breath, and with a flex of his arms, psychically shoved the Rogue’s airship across the night sky and out of danger.
The motion rolled the blimp, sending the guests inside tumbling again. Sliding and slipping across the angled floor, Tangle, Whisper, Surge, and the rest of the non-flying guests hit the starboard windows hard. The impact of Knuckles landing on the glass sent spidering cracks outwards.
But it was the safe the shattered the windows.
Left by Omega, the vault wasn’t bolted to anything and scrapped on the floor when the ship rolled. Inside the priceless gems and jewels of Jet’s private stash tumbled about and with a crash the safe tipped forward, slid the length of the floor, and broke through the starboard side window to fall into the ocean below.
The ship couldn’t rebalance itself this time, thrown too harshly away from the explosion in an effort to save it. The ship would survive but if the guests inside were not pulled from the wreck it would only spell disaster.
Calling out a hashed plan, Tails led Charmy and Cream to move quickly and rescue the party guests. Each able to carry two Mobians at a time, they flew down to Angel Island, dropping the guests on a reasonably grassy patch before returning for more partiers.
Beak hanging open is disbelief as the controlled explosion blasted off behind him, Jet was paralyzed to watch as his ship teetered and rolled. Silver did his best to manage, keeping it from being utterly ruined.
A flash of movement streaking from the gondola, the hawk was snapped to action when he spotted his safe dropping towards the deep salt waters.
“No!” Jet shouted, and with a well placed shove and a kick, pushed both of the hedgehogs off his board. He death-spiraled forward, trying to reach his safe with no plan on how to catch the heavy thing. But Rouge was there first, shouting to Omega to grab the vault as she flew quickly for the safety of her floating island home.
Lifting the nose of his board before he crashed into the waves, Jet followed her path back up to Angel Island. Wherever the bat landed, he was sure to get his safe.
Sonic and Shadow were falling.
Jet had pushed them unceremoniously from his board, leaving them to crash in the deep ocean roiling far below for all he cared.
There was a moment, with the span of stars above and the inky dark beneath, where Sonic felt completely untethered. He rolled mid-air, reaching for Shadow, needing that single thread of connection.
The dark hedgehog, quills blowing about his face and holding his captain’s hat hard to his head, reached back for his blue hedgehog.
If they were to fall, it would be together.
Knuckles crashed into Shadow, grabbing him by the wrist and incidentally yanking his arm out of his socket. Shadow snarled furiously and Knuckles ignored him, gliding the dark hedgehog safely down to land on Angel Island instead of being swallowed by the ocean waves with Sonic.
A half dozen yards above the island and Knuckles released Shadow, letting him drop the remaining distance to safety.
The hybrid had a far kinder rescue than Sonic. It was Metal, turbines firing, that had rammed into the blue blur’s side to hit him towards the island.
Metal reasoned that he couldn’t be the one to defeat Sonic is the ocean did all the work.
Sonic crash landed on the island, rolling quills over cowboy boots across the cobblestone ruins before skidding to a halt by Shadow’s prone form.
The only hedgehog caught with any measure of softness was Amy.
Falling out of the blimp, Amy flipped over in the air, searching for one of her flight capable friends to come for her.
A green tenrec, boosted through the air on an electric current, collided with Rose instead and caught her around the waist in a princess carry.
Surge landed on the island with a summersault forward, crushing Amy close to her chest to keep her head and heart safe, before tripping up to a stop.
Pink quills flared out with static electricity and gasp shocked on her lips as Amy stared wide-eyed up at the tenrec that saved her.
Breathing heavy, Surge mumbled under her breath, asking if Amy was alright. The pink hedgehog could only manage a nod, blinking owlishly as Surge set her back on her feet.
The tenrec turned, looking for her little brother and spotted the fennec by Tails and Charmy. The rest of the guests had made it safely to the ground and were all staring up at the burning inferno off Eggman’s ship above.
The Robotnik had been spared the implosion of his hydrogen fueled ship when Sage had taken control of his egg-hovercraft, driving the mini ship out of danger. Now she floated at her father’s side, listening intently as he railed over the loss of his third favorite egg-carrier.
Amy darted glances from the lit-up sky to the electric girl beside her, trying to come to terms with the zapping-giddy feeling in her chest.
From the other side of the scattered party, Sonic let out another low whistle.
“Well that got out of hand.”
“You think?” Jet snapped, brushing off Sonic’s hand from his shoulder as he stood up.
Blaze landed delicately beside the hawk and hedgehog. Still suspended in the air, Silver gave a shake of his head, confirming that he hadn’t been able to catch the safe before it fell into the ocean. Omega hadn’t resurfaced with it either. The princess brushed a comforting flick of her tail against Jet’s rectrice feathers, the most comfort she could express for the thief’s lost treasure.
Spotting the brief moment between hawk and feline, green eyes widened dramatically, and Amy had to bite her tongue to keep any cries of ‘I knew it!’ at bay.
After a moment, the party guests all drew together on the cobblestone ruins to watch as Eggman’s ship was completely destroyed. Hunks of metal and glass fell into the ocean below while most of it burned to ash that was blown away by the wind.
It would take a while from the whole ship to be entirely finished, and with Eggman’s distanced yelling in the sky, he wasn’t going to be much of a problem now.
“So who is the greatest rival?” Silver mused, lifting a cyan glowing hand to wave away a larger burning chunk of metal from landing on the island.
Almost as one, each self-proclaimed rival turned towards the blue hedgehog in their midst.
Sonic threw his arms up in exasperation, After all that, they were still on this?
“Do we really need to have this conversation when I’m dressed like a cowboy?” Sonic groaned, gesturing to the cattleman’s hat that was miraculously still on his head.
“Just answer the question, Sonic,” Blaze mewed, “Then we can all get on with our Halloween Night.”
“Who can say?” The blue hedgehog shrugged, dodging any answer again, “I really like rivaling you all equally!”
“No, you have to chose,” Jet said, both Metal and Knuckles nodded in agreement while Silver added.
“Just be honest, you know the truth in your heart.”
Sonic looked from face to face, friend and foe alike. These people who meant the world to him even if he couldn’t explain all the little ways they managed that. This was his family, for better or worse, the ones he wanted to spend his lifetime running beside.
Emerald eyes caught on Shadow, the one rival who had become infinitely more to him. The warmth in those eyes, desirous, affectionate, and combative all at once, set Sonic’s soul on fire.
A small flicker of a smile lifted honey lips on Shadow’s dark muzzle. He knew, of course he knew, there was only one true answer.
Taking a deep breath, Sonic held Shadow’s gaze, “Well, I—“
And then he was running, tearing off down the cliff edge of Angel Island, leaving nothing but dust and his cowboy hat behind.
A beat of shock rippled through the gathered friends and it was Shadow, with his endeared smile hardening into a fired-up smirk, that spoke first.
“Get him.”
There was a crackle of Chaos energy as Shadow gave chase, followed a split second later by Jet, Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Surge, and Metal hot on the Blue Blur’s trail.
Sonic would run faster than all the rest, circle and circle around the island without ever tiring. But there was only one rival who could near match his speed, who could reach out and take his hand, urging them both faster and further together.
More than a favorite or the greatest—
There was only one that Sonic would call home.
💙🧡🖤