The Albion Prophecy (A Sonic Fanfic)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

There were humans everywhere.

That was the first thing that Kay noticed as she set foot on a concrete sidewalk in Station Square, the capital of the United Federation. Of course, she thought to herself. It’s a human settlement. But even the few humans that were walking around in the early afternoon sunlight came as a shock to her system, which had grown rather used to seeing nothing but Mobians for the past two weeks.

And the buildings were huge. Kay had never really been to a city before. Though New Mobotropolis was technically a city, it was still mostly built from natural housing materials and not metal like this city. In the Mobian city it had felt very natural, almost as if the tall buildings were just another part of the forest. Here, though, the buildings were invading the natural landscape. And there was pollution here. Typical.

“Impressive,” Kay muttered as she craned her neck to see how many floors were in the building directly in front of them. Behind her she heard Espio laugh once.

“I’ll say. I’ve never seen so many humans in one place before.” There was a pause. “Actually, I’ve never seen so many humans before.”

Kay recalled her life before Mobius and winced. “I have.”

“What?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly. She looked around the area for a few moments longer, still slightly uncomfortable by the presence of so many humans. It was then that the hedges caught her eye. Right behind two buildings and slightly in an alley was a cave covered in vegetation. It was roped off, but Kay instantly remembered where she had seen it before and knew exactly where it lead, too.

This is going to be an interesting visit.

“So...where to?” Espio asked slowly, wrecking her train of thought. Kay frowned and looked to her upper right, where dark grey rocks were embedded in the hills of Station Square. Thanks to the Emerald, she knew the area despite never having been there.

“That way,” she said, nodding towards the hills, but she didn’t move.

As soon as Espio was in her line of sight again she began walking with him. All the while she stared at the enormous city, trying to guess what the tallest building was and avoiding contact with the humans on the streets if possible. She almost got hit by a car a couple of times – she would have to learn to re-adjust to human life if she was going to stay here. There were no cars in New Mobotropolis. Everyone just walked to wherever they needed to go.

Then it happened. As she was passing by a window in a clothing shop Kay saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks. Where there was supposed to be the reflection of a hedgehog girl was that of a human female with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. Kay’s mouth dropped open and she stared in horror at the familiar (but almost forgotten) reflection.

It’s not possible…I’m a hedgehog, not a human!

Kay was so panicked at the situation that she finally shrieked and bolted out of sight of the window. Espio, who had been walking a little ways in front of her, whirled around suddenly, his knives already drawn. To his surprise, however, all he saw was Kay with her back to the building, looking as though she’d just seen a ghost. Espio blinked.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Kay’s eyes darted to him. She was terrified, Espio realized, but of what?

“Did you see that?” she asked him in a wavering voice, pointing weakly at the window she’d just passed. Espio frowned.

“See what?”

Kay closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and then slowly moved so that she stood in front of the window again. This time when she looked she saw a copper-quilled hedgehog girl staring back at her. Kay shook her head. “I must be going crazy,” she mumbled, already beginning to walk – quicker this time – towards the hills.

Espio watched her walk past him, staring after her in total confusion. It took him a minute or so to realize that she was leaving him behind, so he jogged to catch up to her and grabbed her shoulder to stop her. He stood in front of her and said, “Kay, what is going on? You’ve been acting weird ever since you left Angel Island.”

Kay threw her hands into the air. “Hey, you try knowing everything about everyone on this planet without becoming a little stressed.”

He took his hand away. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” They stood in silence for a bit, each trying to clear their heads of two completely different things. After a couple of minutes Espio spoke again, more softly this time. “Maybe we should worry about one thing at a time, starting with G.U.N.”

“Excuse me.” A deep voice came from a nearby alley and a man in a grey uniform stepped into the sunshine. Kay knew this was a G.U.N. agent before she saw the symbol on the arm of his uniform. “Are you the Mobians from New Mobotropolis?”

Espio frowned, wary of this newcomer. “Yes, we are. Who are you?”

The man saluted. “Agent Oliver, sir. Commander Tower sent out a handful of us to watch for your arrival. I will be escorting you to our headquarters.”

Kay and Espio looked at each other. Then Espio looked back at the man and said, “Lead the way.”

The agent led on in silence until they actually stepped inside the base, which was as exciting on the inside as it looked on the outside. Humans were everywhere – all in a similar uniform to Agent Oliver’s – and each with a serious game-face on. It reminded Kay somewhat of the military she had known before her arrival on Mobius.

At last, after they had gone through security and were walking through the halls of the HQ, Oliver spoke again. “Commander Tower is busy right now, so he will be unable to introduce himself until later. In the meantime, I’ve been told to introduce you to our two Mobian agents, who will be your trainers, if I understand correctly.”

This is it, Kay thought nervously.

“Are they expecting us?” Espio asked.

“Yes, sir. They should be training in this next room.” Agent Oliver led them through a doorway into a pitch-black area. No sound came from inside. Kay noticed Oliver frown in confusion. “Why are the lights off?” he muttered as he reached for the switch and snapped it upwards.

Shadow the Hedgehog whirled around and stared at the trio in the doorway, seeming to be caught off-guard for a moment. Suddenly Rouge was diving for Sonic’s dark twin from behind. Shadow spun back around and blocked her just in time, lashing out a series of his own attacks. The next thing Kay knew, the two were fighting so hard and so fast she could barely register one move before the next three came along. This went on for a few minutes, during which time Kay looked at her companions in confusion. Both Oliver and Espio were standing and watching the scene calmly, as if this sort of thing happened every day which, in their case, could very well be true.

Finally Shadow let out a yell and vanished into thin air, only to instantly reappear directly behind Rouge. He roundhouse kicked her to the floor, but before she could sit up, he had snatched her arms and pinned her down, glaring daggers at her as though he wanted to kill her.

Kay stared in shock.

Rouge growled  up at him, but after a few moments she rolled her eyes and said, “All right, all right, you win. Again.”

Shadow released her and stood up, his glare replaced by his normal stoic expression as he offered his hand to his fallen opponent. Once they were both standing upright Shadow smirked and nodded once at her. “Well done, Rouge,” he said. His voice was deep and dark, just as it should have been.

Kay’s heartbeat sped up.

Rouge brushed herself off and smirked back. “You weren’t too bad yourself, handsome.” She punched his chest playfully. He grunted and gave her what was almost a smile before turning his full attention to the newcomers in the doorway.

Kay suddenly found herself face-to-face with the ultimate life-form.