The Mate

Chapter 2

THE SEARCH OF THE SPECIES

After the demand Sonic and Silver made two days ago, Annie had not stop researching for places that would possibly have Cross Hedgehogs inhabiting the area.

"Um...Annie?" One of her co-worker visited her in her office.

"What?" She groaned.

"Aren't you trying a little too hard to find them? There's no way there exist other Cross Hedgehogs out there. You rescued the last of them."

"Yeah but Sonic and Silver won't give us their blood if I don't find them a mate." She facepalmed with both hands, "what am I supposed to do?"

"Well where DID you first found them?"

"Uhh..." Annie pulled her hands away from her face, "at Mavani Jungle."

"And what's near the jungle?"

"Uhh...well there's the villa- MAVANI VILLAGE YOU'RE RIGHT! I can get information from the people there!"

"There you go." Her co-worker laughed.

"God, why haven't I thought of that sooner. Dani you're coming with me."

"Wh- why do I have to-"

"Shut up, pack your stuff. We're leaving now." Annie demanded.

Eventually they took off with a private jet, obviously the business of selling rare blood gave them a lot money to have one.

The trip took almost an hour before the pilot landed the jet safely. After settling in at a hotel at the city, they continued their trip by car to visit Mavani Village. Once they have arrived, they got out of the car to meet up with someone in the village.

"Annie, welcome! What brings you here?" One of the villager greeted.

"Hey, it's been a while." Annie smiled and greeted back, "I have...something very important to discuss. Is Roy here?"

"Yes, I can set a meet up with you right now. Come, follow me."

Annie thanked the villager and followed them into the village, Dani followed from behind.

The villager set a room for Annie and her co-worker to sit and wait. The village itself wasn't too 'primitive'. It was like a small neat modern town with a small population of people near the jungle.

The person that Annie had been waiting finally came and they began to discuss the situation between her and the Cross Hedgehogs back at the facility. Roy was the village's animal rescuer who worked with Annie before, they both rescued Sonic and Silver before they moved them to the facility.

"So they want a mate....well, Annie, you're gonna be so surprised about this." Roy chuckled.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Around five years ago, one of our villagers actually rescued two Cross Hedgehogs and she kept them as her own. The hedgehogs are twins."

"What? And you never contacted me about this?" Annie complained.

"Well I feel like I didn't need to because two Cross Hedgehogs at your facility was already enough to supply the blood stock." Roy shrugged, "so we kept the other two safe in here."

"You think we could borrow them for a few weeks to mate with Sonic and Silver? We'll return them after that." Dani asked.

"I don't have the rights to decide that, you should go visit the true owner if you wanna borrow them." Roy stood up from the sofa, "I'll gladly take you there." He smiled.

Annie and Dani agreed, so Roy took them to the house of the other Cross Hedgehogs' owner. It wasn't too far so they could just walk there.

They finally made it to the small house, Roy knocked on the door and the one that opened it was a young teen girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, Mr. Roy! Hello." She smiled sweetly.

"Hello Maria." Roy smiled back, "say...are Shadow and Mephiles at home?"

"Yeah, they're taking a break from hunting right now. Wanna see them?" She offered and opened the door wider.

"Yeah. Is it okay if I bring these two along? They're my work partners."

Maria blinked confusingly but still smiled, "sure. Please come in." She said and let her guests come inside her house.

Annie and Dani gasped at what they saw, there were two Cross Hedgehogs lounging at the carpet in the living room.

They had beautiful black quills, rather large horns on their foreheads, long tails and sharp claws. The other had red streaks on the tip of the quills while the other had grey-ish green. The streaks matched with the color of their eyes.

These hedgehogs were clearly built larger than the hedgehogs Annie had back at the facility, clearly showing that Shadow and Mephiles were more on the Dominant side of the species and was pure male.

For some reason, the other hedgehog was covering his muzzle with a mask.

"Shadow, Mephiles, say hello to our guests." Maria called and instantly caught their attention.

The two young adult hedgehogs stood up and stared at the guests. They recognized Roy so they smiled at him, but when they both saw the two people in the back that they have never met before they started to look upset.

"Uh- hello there." Annie smiled, trying to make friends with the rare creatures.

"Maria, may we talk for a bit?" Roy asked and Maria agreed.

Annie carefully told Maria and the two hedgehogs that there were another two just like them in her place. Of course this news shocked them, they always thought that Shadow and Mephiles were the last two in their species.

"These two hedgehogs have helped us develop a medicine that can accurately cure a certain disease, and as thanks I would always give them anything they want." Annie smiled.

"But right now, one of their request is a bit...difficult for us." Dani smiled awkwardly.

"And we need your help. We would be extremely thankful of you if you could come with us to the facility." Annie stated.

Shadow and Mephiles stared at each other with an unpleasent expression. Of course it wouldn't be easy for them to just leave their house which was their habitat at that point.

"What do they need us for?" Shadow asked.

"They want to mate." Annie replied and the two hedgehogs blushed.

"Aww they're looking for loving partners." Maria giggled, "isn't that great for you two? Looks like you guys aren't alone now." She smiled.

"Maria, do you really trust them?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah, we don't wanna leave." Mephiles added.

"They're Roy's work partner, I'm sure they're very trustworthy!" Maria reasoned.

"I promise the facility is the safest place you'll ever visit, we protect you guys because you're a special creature." Annie smiled.

Shadow and Mephiles still wasn't sure wether to trust her or not, but they seemed to have no choice because Maria wanted them to go with Annie. In defeat of their loving owner, they decided to come with Annie to the facility.

"Wow thank you so much! We will leave tomorrow morning, is that okay?" Annie asked with eyes full of hope.

"Yeah..." Shadow sighed.

"Alright that settles that. Maria, we promise to bring them back once the mating process is done." Roy stood up and smiled at Maria.

"Alright." Maria nodded.

Annie and Dani head back to the car to return to their hotel which was located at the city, while Shadow and Mephiles had to think about their life-changing decision of meeting Sonic and Silver soon.