“Sonic, do you have any idea why they seem so angry with you?”

Giving my two-tailed buddy an amused, exasperated look, I replied:

“Sorry, Tails, no clue.”

Pausing a moment to smash the latest G.U.N. drone that had drawn close, I reflected on the bizarre turn my day had taken. It had started normally enough….I had, ah, kind of realized tomorrow was Amy’s birthday, and it might kind of look bad if I didn't have a gift for her or something.

It wasn’t like she was my girlfriend or anything, despite how clear it was she wished/thought it was the case. Dang you, Metal Sonic, what was I supposed to do, just let you kidnap her and do whatever? Still, as much as I regret the quasi-stalker tendencies/obsession my rescuing her from my metal double engendered in an otherwise extremely reasonable hedgehog (far more reasonable than me, I’ll easily admit…well, except for this), I still didn’t regret saving her and I certainly still did consider her a friend.

It would be extremely lame not to have something for her on her birthday, as much as she would probably overreact to whatever I got her. Heh, what can you do?

“Halt, terrorist!!”

I held back a sigh. This was obviously not what I expected when I came into the City to get something for my girl friend (See the space there?). I ran past the G.U.N. agent and smashed the latest drone to approach. Unfortunately, no matter how much I protested that I certainly wasn’t a terrorist or had committed any other crimes (well, other than being criminally awesome), neither the G.U.N. agents nor their drones had responded favorably.

The drones I would just smash (Hey, that’s self-defense. No crime there!), while the human agents I’d just outrun. They were only human after all, and, despite what other names I might be called (I’m thinking of you, Dr. Eggman), I’m a hedgehog. It’s not a contest.

Dang, it looks like I might have made a miscalculation though. Eh, it’s not like I’ve memorized the City’s layout or anything. Tails probably did though, but I guess it means less to him since he can, you know, fly.

Seeing the street ahead of me dead end, I was uncomfortably aware of a large number of drones and (much slower) G.U.N. soldiers begin to barricade the only escape route. Well, other than running up the side of one of the nearby buildings, which, hey, I could do, but I did have some (small) worry about being shot while doing it.

“Hey, can’t we just talk? I’m sure this is all just some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Surrender now, terrorist!!”

Well, I tried.

I considered my options. I didn’t want to end up hurting the humans, they were depressingly fragile, but I also didn’t want to end up being shot by one of the drones while I ran (slightly slower) up one of the buildings. I was just glad no one seemed to be targeting my buddy, Tails. No, for whatever reason, all their ire seemed to be focused on me.

Looking around, I began to consider that the best option might be to…when there was a sudden blur of motion and all of the drones nearby almost simultaneously burst into scrap metal.

“This is just disappointing.”

Everyone froze, and all attention turned towards a figure now standing on one of the nearby buildings’ ledges.

Yeah, okay….This was also not something I expected today.

About five foot tall, roughly my own height, and far more emo looking than I expected a hedgehog could be (well, at least far more emo looking than I imagined Amy could ever be) stood the only other female hedgehog, or hedgehog for that matter, I’d seen since I moved to the Archipelago. Hey, we’re a rare breed.

Black fur and spines with purple accents, and wearing some tactical gear that looked surprisingly similar to that worn by the G.U.N. agents, she was the most edgy looking hedgehog, or actually Mobian, I’d ever seen.

She looked at everyone, or at least the remaining G.U.N. agents, with clear disdain.

“So, I thought my expectations were already low. But, congratulations, you’ve just lowered them further.”

She looked around again clearly disgusted.

“So, let me just make this clear. The hedgehog you’re looking for, it’s me.”

Her eyes burned (honestly, they even seemed to glow) for a moment with a fierceness, and even hate, I found really disconcerting. I’m a pretty chill guy after all.

“And, by the way, the fact you could mistake him for me…that’s…I don’t know what that is. I’ll just go with insulting.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Finally, some of what had been happening this morning was beginning to become clear to me. Though, actually, the way she was speaking about me, as if I could NEVER compare to her....

Meanwhile, she continued:

“Black…Purple…Female. SERIOUSLY!!!”

Oh, okay, that made sense. Yeah, that was insulting.

In fact, the remaining G.U.N. agents began to look a bit ashamed. Serves them right. And, where was that snicker coming from? Oh, Rouge, heh, I guess you show up in the oddest places. While I was surprised to see my frenemy(?) clinging to the side of one of the buildings, the emo hog continued:

“Yeah, I don’t know why I’m surprised anymore. Anyways, if you have a problem, it’s with me.”

Wow, that’s one angry hedgehog.

“And, you.” Me?! Eh, no, actually she’s looking at Rouge.

“You might want to look a bit more into your employers. They’re far more corrupt than even you suspected.”

Rouge looked surprised suddenly seeing the angry emo hog’s attention unexpectedly on her. Usually people ignore her, well, unless she’s just stolen something from them (though, usually they notice long after she’s gone). And, oh, guess that means she’s actually been working for G.U.N., huh? Didn’t expect that, though I imagine, in the end, the only one she really works for is herself. That just seems to be the Rouge way. Not that I really think she’s a bad Mobian, really, just kind of only on her own side. Well, except when she is kind of, not really, maybe hitting on Knuckles….Go figure.

While I was thinking about Rouge’s ‘Rouge-iness’, the emo hog gave the whole scene a last disappointed scowl.

“Well, leave him alone. You’ll be seeing me…later.”

And then, to the shock and concern of everyone, she pulled out a Chaos Emerald. Seriously, in my experience, whenever I see one of those things it’s almost always bad news.

“CHAOS CONTROL!!”

Then, to the even greater shock of everyone, she…disappeared.

I think we all just tried to deal with that for a few moments before I eventually tensed up, looking at the remaining G.U.N. agents, wondering what they would do next. They gave me a few hard looks in return before one of them, apparently one of the higher ranked, gave a report into a comms device and then waved at the others. Shortly afterwards, they all withdrew. I didn’t get an apology.

“Sonic, what just happened? Who was that hedgehog?”

I sighed, looking back at my buddy with some concern.

“Don’t really know, Tails. Though, I expect that was why all the G.U.N. agents were after me. Though, I have to admit…that is a bit insulting…speciesist…eh, I don’t know…Not Cool. That they couldn’t tell the difference between….”

I mean we are, obviously, both hedgehogs, but….

“I think I like her.”

Turning to look at our new arrival, I greeted her:

“Oh, hey, Rouge, decided to fully join us now.”

My bat friend/enemy/not-always-so-clear looked at me with obvious amusement.

“Yeah, I was in town and decided to check out the excitement.”

Yeah, based on what the emo hog said, totally responding to a call from your ‘employers’, but, yeah, okay.

“Well, it was pretty ‘exciting’, huh?”

I felt I could poke her a bit about that at least. Rouge gave me a smirk.

“You got it, Blue. Glad I don’t have to take you in, though. Didn’t think you had it in you to raid Central City’s G.U.N. installation, but I suppose you never can tell. Happy I wasn’t wrong this time.”

Fine. So just admit it now, sort of. Not that you could handle this level of hedgehog awesomeness anyways if I decided to become a terrorist. Not that I would ever be an actual terrorist…as it looks like this hog must have been. That kind of sucks. There aren’t really enough of us to lose one to crime.

“Though, I think I might just be looking into things a bit more deeply. Something about what she said. Well, somehow, I get the feeling she wasn’t just saying things.”

Actually, despite also being the edgiest hog I’d ever seen, something about her anger just seemed too genuine…like G.U.N. had actually done something she wouldn’t…couldn’t forgive.

“Yeah, well, if you learn something, let us know.”

Rouge gave me a wink.

“Will do, Blue. I think this is something we’ll all need to look into. Well, later.”

And with that, she began quickly climbing back up one of the nearby buildings and was soon gliding away.

“What do you think this is all about, Sonic?”

I looked back at my fox buddy who had now landed by my side, his own concern clearly written all across his face.

“I don’t know, Tails. I don’t know. But, I think we better find out soon. Though, probably best to head out of the City for a bit, in case all the G.U.N. agents haven’t gotten the message yet.”

And, with that, we both headed back to Green Hills. Well, at least I still somehow managed to pick up that gift for Amy in spite of all of this. That’s something, right?