Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sonic Adventures: "On the road" ❯ Tomorrow for Chicago ( Chapter 22 )

Chapter 22: Tomorrow for Chicago

The city of Chicago in Illinois was dark with a touch of fog when the bright headlights of the RV entered the area. Sonic the Hedgehog, who was the driver of that home on wheels, made a safe stop to avoid the dangerous fog, which seemed to become thicker. He gripped the steering wheel after he stopped the RV, and then his eyes looked outside from the windshield. It was dark and quiet where he parked at a rest area for cars and trucks. The rest of the crew was asleep, all except for Shadow who sat in the passenger side chair to help navigate the driver.

"Do you see anything?" Shadow asked in a whisper.

"No, there's nothing but midnight as far as I can see. But we made it." Sonic whispered.

"Yeah," Shadow yawned, sleepily. "Well, since we're here and parked, I'll settled down. Goodnight, and don't let anything bite." Then he pulled a blanket over himself to sleep.

"Goodnight, Shadow." Sonic said in return and then he removed his red sneakers.

Sonic quietly turned and saw Shadow lay back on the passenger seat with his eyes closed. The blue hedgehog found his green blanket and covered himself after closing the RV's curtain. He rested his head against a pillow on the driver's seat, which was laid back for him to sleep. He turned left and right and left again, but he could not sleep. He felt cold all the sudden and kept the warm blanket over him, but for some strange reason, he could not go to sleep.

"Shadow? Are you still awake?" Sonic asked him, whispering quietly.

"I'm awake now." The sleepy voice of Shadow answered. "What is it, Sonic?" He asked.

"I can't sleep." Sonic whispered, slightly sitting up to look at the black hedgehog.

"Well, quit quacking like a duck and you may just go to sleep." Shadow yawned.

"I'm not quacking and I'm not a duck." Sonic said, "I only told you the truth."

"Whatever. Goodnight again." Shadow closed his eyes, letting out a weak sigh.

"Shadow?" Sonic was heard again, whispering. "You think the fog will leave in the morning?"

"It'll leave right now, if you keep this applesauce up." Shadow replied, sleepily.

"Shadow, is the propane tank empty?"

"No, Sonic. I looked just this afternoon and we're doing fine on propane."

"Shadow, since we're in Chicago, you want to see the city?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Shadow, are we out of milk again?"

"Yeah, Freeway had her last drop for dinner. But we'll get more tomorrow."

"Shadow, how many stars are out there in the sky?"

Finally, Shadow sat up with his eyes opened. "Sonic, that's enough talking. You must have a million questions swirling around in that head of yours. It's nighttime, bedtime, dark and time to sleep. The day is over, gone and finished, but tomorrow will come in the morning, as always. It's now a time to be quiet, close your eyes and dream of something. Everyone in here is asleep and everyone out there is asleep. As the Ultimate Life Form, I need my ultimate sleep. The sun has gone to bed, and so must I." He stopped talking when he saw Sonic, sound asleep.

"Finally." Shadow sighed quietly and he soon fell asleep also.

= = = = =

Location: Chicago…

The next day, in the morning when the sun finally shined again to bring a new day, Sonic and his friends awoke from a peaceful night of sleep and they were all rested, ready for another day on the road, and they were excited to be in Chicago. There was so much to see and so they did not waste time. When everyone was ready, Sonic began to drive the trusty RV again, entering the large city of Chicago and it was beautiful to see. Sonic stopped the RV, amazed at the sight.

"Look at that!" Sonic said as he pointed toward the tall skyscrapers.

Everyone came to the front of the RV, looking at the city with surprise. It was a nice day with a clear sky, so the clouds or fog could not corrupt the city's appearance.

"This calls for a little celebration, now that we're here." Rouge the bat said, and she gave everyone a piece of her favorite bubblegum, fruit flavored, of course.

"This makes us look American." Sonic said with a smile, and he began chewing it. [Well, he is a SEGA character from Japan]

Into the city of Chicago the RV went, wheels turning around and around, adventuring further and further. It was soon after their arrival when they reached the Sears Tower, which is so high, your very eyes would believe it is touching the sky. They stopped and visited the tower and of course, an adventure always seems to follow our blue blur heroic hedgehog. If not, he finds it. Sonic and his friends stopped to look outside a window, and the view was truly stunning. Sonic felt as if he was on top of the world. He stood on the tip of his toes to look further out.

"Hey, hold still, everyone and I'll take a picture." Amy said with her camera ready.

The team stood together, everyone in a pose with the window behind them for a good picture. Amy aimed her camera toward them and took a photo. She noticed that Shadow held two fingers up behind the head of Sonic, but Sonic was doing the same to him. Amy fought a giggle. Then suddenly, the lights inside the building shut off and everything became dark inside.

"Heads up, guys! There's trouble boiling." Sonic warned them.

"Maybe it's already cooked." Knuckles said, wondering.

"Your goose is cooked." The voice of Metal Sonic said, in the darkness.

"Metal!" Sonic growled and he took a step forward. "Everybody stand back! Nobody try to help me! I have to destroy this imposter!" Sonic ran and then he stopped in front of the robot.

"Let's take this outside, road-hog!" Metal hissed, and he firmly gripped the arm of Sonic, dragging him outside a window before the others could reach them.

"SONIC!" The team called out to him, but they heard no answer.

"He's gone… Oh, he's gone." Tikal whispered, sadly.

Shadow ran to reach the broken window where the glass was shattered on the floor, but then a strange puddle of water blocked his path and Chaos appeared in front of him.

"It's you!" Shadow said, pointing toward the enemy.

"Oh, yeah, it's me Chaos Zero the great, and now, while Metal finishes your friend out there, I have the honor to beat you up!" Chaos laughed, sinisterly and the team gathered to fight.

"Time to rumble!" Rouge said, and she attacked first, kicking Chaos on the head. But she fell down backward when Chaos quickly placed a hardhat on his head for protection.

"Smart. Brains." Chaos said, pointing up to his shielded head. Then from behind, Amy tried to hit him on the head with her hammer, but Chaos stretched out his arm and snatched it away, which suddenly flew toward a certain red echidna and it hit Knuckles on the head.

"Goodnight." Knuckles mumbled and then he fell down on his back with his eyes closed.

"Knuckles!" Tikal screamed and she ran to his side to help him.

"What's the idea, you joker?" Shadow asked Chaos, angrily.

"The idea is to defeat you and I'm not a joker. The joke is on you, black buster."

"That's the last strawberry!" Shadow said, and then he attacked him with a hard punch.

Chaos took a hit but he blocked the next punch with his hand. "It's a good thing I had Emerald Oats cereal for breakfast this morning. It makes me strong." Chaos chuckled.

"No more Miss Nice Bat!" Rouge said, furious as she kicked him down from behind.

Shadow backed away slightly, very surprised. "Oh, I'm so glad that's not me." He whispered.

"Oh no! Oh, my!" Chaos cried in terror. "The white vampire bat returns!"

"And there's no turning back!" Rouge said, "Take that, and this and that!" The bat fought hard and Chaos could not fight back because of one serious, very important reason, which was…

"I can't hit a lady! I'm helpless!" Chaos whined, falling to the floor and he vanished in a puddle. Chaos escaped for his life, but Rouge followed him, very angry as you can imagine.

"Come back here so I can finish you off, you-Oh!" Rouge was stopped when Tikal and Amy grabbed her and pulled her back to Shadow. "Let me at him!" Rouge said, kicking.

"Calm down, Rouge. He's gone now, and we must find--" Before Shadow could finish speaking, Metal came crashing into a nearby window with Sonic struggling under his deadly grip.

"…Sonic?" Shadow gasped, and then Knuckles sat up, very dizzy.

"Hawaiian Punch, I think a hammer knocked me out." He murmured, holding his head.

"Sonic, I'm coming!" Tails called and he reached him first but Metal stood up, choking the blue hedgehog with his strong hand. Tails stopped, gasping at the dangerous sight.

"One more step, fox, and he's history!" Metal said, and he gripped Sonic by the neck tighter. He held Sonic up against the wall, and Sonic was desperately gasping for air.

Then very suddenly and most assuredly not expected, Amy attacked the robot with her hammer, hitting him hard on the head, damaging him enough to free Sonic. The blue hedgehog fell to the floor, wounded and tried to breathe while Metal backed away, slightly damaged in the head.

"Get him now, Shadow!" Tails pointed toward the robot, which was near the window.

Shadow attacked, doing his best and the robot was sent down and out of the window, far, far, far below and he never came back up the shattered window. Shadow turned from the window and he came to the others who were helping Sonic sit up and breathe. He was always quick to recover.

"Sonic, are you okay?" Tails asked, very concerned and Sonic coughed, leaning against the wall.

"I've been better." Sonic replied; weak in his voice and Tails saw a wound on his shoulder.

"Did you let him have it?" Shadow asked him, kneeling down.

"Yeah, I punched his lights out, but I took a beat with it." Sonic groaned.

"We're so glad to have you again, Sonic!" Amy said, happily and everyone nodded.

"Thanks, you guys. I'm really moved… but…" Sonic felt behind his back, but something was missing. He turned to his friends, pale in his face. "My backpack has been--"

"Stolen?" A voice asked from the broken window.

The team turned and saw what they did not want to see. "Dr. Eggman!" They gulped all at once.

"HA! HA! I now finally have the Emerald and I'm off to concur the world! If you desire your prize, you must come to Detroit, if you dare!" The scientist laughed, leaving in his ship.

"Sonic, the Emerald is not in there." Knuckles said, remembering.

"But Freeway is!" Sonic cried, and he ran out of the tower with the team following close behind.

= = = = =

The villain felt a sense of triumph at last, finally to have what he wanted, but you can only imagine his disappointment to see the wrong thing. Metal Sonic opened the green backpack and Chaos stood by when the robot hedgehog lifted not the Emerald, but a little baby deer.

"What is this?!" Eggman asked, pointing with a finger when he saw Freeway.

"Well, either it's a bad joke, or they're big-time Bambi fans." Chaos replied.

"It must be a dirty trick!" Metal said, very disappointed.

Freeway screamed and then she kicked Metal on the head. The robot held her still while Chaos tied up her legs to hold her captive, but then suddenly, the baby deer bit his hand.

"Ouch!" Chaos yelled and he fell backwards to the floor with shock.

"You two can't even handle an infant deer?!" Eggman asked them, surprised.

"Muzzle her!" Metal commanded and Chaos tied the deer's mouth, keeping it closed. Freeway struggled and did not make things easy for her kidnappers. Metal locked her inside a cage and so then she could not escape. "You little beast!" Metal growled, turning away from her.

"This could be very good…" Eggman thought of an evil plan, as always. "This long legged pest will be quite useful to us. The hedgehog will come back for it, mark my words!"

Then Chaos held a yellow highlighter marker, looking up for any words. "Where are they?"

"You stupid drool pit!" Metal hit Chaos on the head, and then he dropped the marker.

"Ouch! Boy, I need a Aspirin." Chaos whined, holding his head.

"I need a vacation, FAR away from you!" Metal said, still angry with him.

"Enough! Both of you, stop it!" Eggman ended the war between them. "That miserable rodent will be forced to surrender the Emerald to me, or else…" He laughed out loud.

It was quite a hopeless sight and the situation seemed to be fatal. But with a fast blue hedgehog like Sonic who loves adventure will without any doubt make the storm become a rainbow. Sonic, the world's fastest hedgehog had a goal to reach and he was determined to reach Detroit. There were obstacles he and his friends must overcome before they reach their goal.