ACCELERATION by nagami cabasa
"Sonic is a professional skateboarder and Shadow is a novelist. One isn't who he says he is. What in the world could bring these two starkly different worlds together—a chao? ... Seriously? (Sonadow)"

A/N: Hello & welcome to 'acceleration'! I've had this story idea for around a year or two but it wasn't until recently did I start planning it out and drafting and all that jazz. The main pairing will be Sonadow, Sonic x Shadow, so if that's not your cup of tea... I suggest reading it! Maybe it'll convert you. ;D I know I put the genre as general, but really it has a little bit of everything, so be prepared!

This first chapter is like a prelude of sorts, hence the weird tensing everywhere... hmm...

Anyway, this story may not be what you expect, so I hope many of you stick around for the ride! And don't worry I won't talk so much in future chapters. xD

Without further ado...

acceleration +1: To Prelude

"3 weeks!?"

Sonic flinched a little at how high-pitched the surprised squeal was. He nodded back anyway. "Well, yeah—"

"Wahh! What am I supposed to do for three weeks!? I don't think you've even been gone for three days!" the white hero chao sobbed, making the hedgehog 'oof!' in pain as she tackled him to the ground and sobbed in his tan chest.

"I'm sorry, little buddy! But you haven't even heard where I'm going—Canada!"

"Canada?! Ah, I love maple syrup and moose! Take me with you!"

Sonic had to laugh at that. What a silly girl he ended up raising... he glanced down as she sat on his stomach. "Aww man Kaiba, as much as I want to, you know that's kinda not possible. I mean maybe there's a chao portal in the city we're going to, but otherwise... I'll definitely see what I can do, okay?"

"..." Kaiba hung her head. "Okay..." She punched his stomach. "At least tell me about it. Before you leave and everything."

The blue hedgehog twitched as he lost his breath a second time from her violence. He had to hand it to her though; for a little squishy thing, Kaiba was pretty freaking strong. Maybe it'd be a good idea to stop buying so much chao fruit for a little bit...

But Sonic just sighed and sat up. "Okay, well... I think this might be a really good experience for me, especially cuz of that huge tournament and all. Plus there's this really sweet park over in Alberta—and I might even get to meet some underground dudes and if I'm lucky, even shred with them! This could be my chance too, maybe some big shot will see me and I'll get to go pro...!"

"Ahh, goals are such a lovely thing," Kaiba sighed in envy. "That sounds sooo much fun."

"Yeah..." the hedgehog looked down at the chao in his lap. He smiled a little sadly and pat her head. "I'd seriously take you with me if I could."

"I know." She gave him an adorable smile. "But o'course, don't let me hold you back from becoming the next Tony Hawk."

"Wait a sec... you're okay with it?"

"Yeah, of course! You'd hafta go whether I liked it or not," Kaiba giggled and hugged his face. She looked off into the distance, dramatically extending one arm. "So go, my dear Sonikku, go to Canada! Go shred with your underground homies, rip up the streets of Toronto and come back a hero!"

"Kaiba..." Sonic had to hold back a sob, clearly touched. His beloved chao had granted him permission to leave! He suddenly stood up, making Kaiba squeak in fear as she almost fell crashing to the ground. Emerald eyes sparkled in freshly hatched enthusiasm and gazed into the heavens. "Yes! I will conquer all odds! I will battle to the death, wiping out all those in my way, and I PROMISE you, my dear Kaiba, I will come back not a hero, but a LEGEND!"

A volunteer tapped him on the shoulder.

Sonic whirled around. "Yes, beautiful maiden!?"

"Please sir, keep your voice down. It's naptime."

Sonic and Kaiba blinked as they looked around. Indeed most of the chao in the garden were sleeping... or at least they were. Now half of them were groggily sitting up and giving the two death glares.

"... Ahaha, my bad..."

- - -

After Sonic hugged his chao one last time, he was finally kicked out of the garden for being too loud. He laughed on the path home as he recalled the woman's sour expression after the fifth time she told them to shush. Sonic couldn't help it though; just being with his hyperactive little girl made him happy and hyper himself.

It was Tails and Amy's suggestion to get a chao so that he would be distracted and stop getting in trouble on the streets.

He remembered back in high school how every so often he'd get busted for doing something stupid and then show up at Knuckles' doorstep with his wrists in handcuffs. "This yours?" a cop would ask the echidna, gesturing at the scowling blue hedgehog in front of him.

"Not really, but I'll take it. Thanks a lot officer."

"Yeah, yeah." A slight shove and Sonic was in the apartment, growling at the cop's retreating footsteps until Knuckles gestured at the couch, told him to shut up and go to sleep already.

Sonic never meant to cause so much trouble for Knuckles. He actually owed the echidna a lot—while he was in middle school Sonic became one of those lost souls after his parents died in a train accident. He was the only child, so there weren't any siblings to help him out. He pushed the rest of his family away, pushed his friends away, and turned to running and skateboarding since he felt then that those were the only two things he had going for himself. School subjects other than P.E. were just a pain in the ass, and Sonic refused to join track because running was a personal hobby he wanted to keep to himself. So from then on skateboarding consumed his life, not just because he loved it, but whether he realized it or not it was to help distract him from the shattering pain of loneliness that's felt when beloved ones are lost.

Unfortunately, one day while ripping up the half pipe the wrong crowd managed to find him. They complimented his skills and offered a place in their group for him. Being an outcast, Sonic had nowhere else to go and so he more than willingly agreed. He had finally found a place where he could belong... at least temporarily.

Then one day he unknowingly ratted to a 'rival' gang about some group break-in planned for later that evening. Some kids in his group got busted, sent to juvie, and of course the blame was on the hedgehog. Twelve to one were odds that weren't anywhere near Sonic's favor, so as he lay in that dark alley practically bleeding to death but still cursing at his so-called friends, he decided that was that. Soon he'd see his mom and dad...

... When suddenly out of nowhere a red blur appeared, delivering a swift kick to the leader's jaw succeeded by quick punches at the rest of the group. One by one the goons fell. Then a barely conscious Sonic felt the strong arms of that blur pick him up, followed by a panicked voice.

"Dude, are you okay!? Holy shit, too much blood... hospital, hospital, where the hell is the hospital...!"

Next thing Sonic knew he was lying in a hospital bed, unable to see through one eye, a throbbing cut on his lip and his body wrapped in so much bandages he could have been mistaken for a mummy. Beside him was a little orange fox that sobbed upon his awakening and hugged him so hard his wounds almost reopened.

Knuckles told him later that the little fox was his friend and had always been a fan of Sonic's skateboarding.

"So how'd he end up here?"

"He showed me the way to the hospital."

"... Ah."

When Sonic was good enough to walk, the three were standing outside the hospital as Knuckles handed him back his skateboard.

"Thanks..." Sonic looked down at his board; there was black tape over the section that cracked after those three guys had first shoved him to the floor. A sad attempt to repair it... but Sonic managed a tiny smile as he ran his thumb over the tape, just to make sure it stuck well enough. "Seriously. I probably would be dead right now if it weren't for you guys."

"Heh, probably." grinned Knuckles as he gave a slight shrug. "But hey man, no problem. At all. I know what that's like; having people you thought were your friends backstab ya. Total downer."

Sonic looked up at him through his eye patch.

Knuckles laughed a little. "Our high school isn't that big, yanno. We see you around."

And when Sonic thought about it, he did remember seeing an obnoxious red echidna threatening another kid across the hall and shaking his fist, dreads flying every which way in anger. Maybe once he saw a two-tailed fox waiting outside the school for him (Tails was still in elementary or junior high). Though Knuckles had his own clique, as most people did in high school, and if Sonic thought hard enough he could remember another pink fuzzball plus a few more other kids hanging around with them too.

"So, you're gonna head home now?" Tails asked innocently.

"Well..." A quirky, lop-sided smile. "Not really."

"... Where, then?"

"Wherever the wind takes me." Sonic threw his board to the ground and almost pushed off until he heard the echidna's voice again.

"You're a runaway. Nowhere to go. Just crashed with those punks from before. Am I right, or am I right?"

The blue hedgehog stopped in his tracks. He looked over his shoulder at them, eyes narrowing. "... Yeah, so what."

Knuckles just grinned haughtily. He nudged Tails. Nodding, the twin-tailed fox went over to Sonic and held out a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"An address." The fox smiled and backed up as soon as Sonic took hold of it. "If you don't feel like sleeping out in the cold, drop on by. We're ordering pizza tonight!"

Knuckles gave a tiny salute. "O'course, it's up to you."

Sonic looked down at the paper.

Then he crumpled it in his fist, shoved it in his pocket and took off. The echidna just shrugged again; he tried, didn't he? So he just hopped on his own skateboard and pushed off as well. Meanwhile Tails wiped the grin off his face before following his red friend on his own board.

A few hours later, Knuckles and Tails found a drenched Sonic outside their apartment door. Of all days the sky chose to rain. Needless to say they just laughed and welcomed him in.

And so, Sonic's been with them ever since. He decided to get his act together. Of course he missed his parents, but his initial grief was gone and Sonic knew for sure that if they randomly came back to life one day they wouldn't be too happy seeing their only son with a bunch of goons trying to jack an electronic store. Thanks to Knuckles, Tails, and their friend Amy, Sonic was finally able to get his life together. His carefree, devil-may-care attitude had restored and he began to create goals for himself, started dreaming, and began to act upon them.

As soon as he was healthy enough, Sonic started skateboarding again. Knuckles was actually a sponsored skater already and Tails wanted to become one, so Sonic had found awesome skating partners and friendship in them as well.

It wasn't long before somebody up there in the skating scene noticed the hedgehog's talent and signed him up to be sponsored. Be paid to skate? Man, was he ready for a world like that! But Sonic for some reason tended to attract trouble, so even though he basically got it together he would still get in random messes with other punks on the street. Hence why Amy and Tails came up with the chao suggestion. So far it was working.

Now, three years after Sonic graduated high school, Tails had been signed to a sponsor too, Knuckles went pro and now Sonic was looking to do the same. The coming competition in Toronto was going to be the biggest one this season, and if he really wanted to stand out he would have to bring on his best game.

But really, other than the occasional worries, Sonic quite liked how his life was turning out.

Good life, good friends, good job, and even good ambitions to keep him going... one could say he pretty much had it all. He was finally happy.

... Yet, for some reason, unsatisfied.

'Jeez, way to be ungrateful huh,' he laughed a bit at himself, considering all he's been through. But he just couldn't help it.

There was something...

... Missing.

But he shrugged it off as he neared the stairs leading to the second floor of their apartment. Every once in a while he would get that weird empty feeling, but since Sonic was an impatient kind of guy and it seemed like he had to do some serious soul-searching, he never really bothered delving any deeper...

"What's up, guys!" Sonic greeted cheerfully as he yanked open the door. He kicked his shoes off, tossed his board and backpack aside and automatically went to the kitchen. "Food? Is there any?"

Tails looked up from his laptop on the coffee table. The little fox was always such a good student.

Sonic eyed the homework on the table and smirked. Though it's not like Tails really needed to study; kid was so smart he skipped two grades to be a senior in high school who consequently had upcoming SATs. 'His brain's probably the size of Einstein's.'

Einstein fox-version gestured to the dining table. "For lunch they were handing out chili dogs so I brought—"

"CHILI DOGS!!" Sonic cried out rabidly upon peeking into a brown paper bag. He began stuffing his face.

"... Yeah..."

"AAAGGHH!" came an exasperated scream from the doorway. Both looked over to see a steaming Knuckles coming in cursing his head off. He slammed the door behind him, the other two looking around the apartment as the walls rattled from the force. "PHYSICS! DAMN YOU, PHYSICS!"

"You failed, didn't you?" Sonic flashed a cheeky grin the echidna's direction as he passed holding a plate of his food, hopping over the couch and turning the TV on.

"G-Go to hell!"

Tails had to sweatdrop at them. "Jeez Knux, why'd you even sign up for physics in the first place when you know you're not good at math..."

"I thought... it'd help cuz I skate and snowboard and do all that... I didn't know it was practically all math! Damn, if I wanted math I would have signed up for Algebra or something!" Knuckles huffed and puffed and looked at the crumbled paper in his hand. "Freaking a... I studied six hours for that damn test...!!"

"Six hours you should have spent sleeping. I bet if Sonic didn't smack you awake you would've been late and got a zero..."

"Oh yeah, Mr. Smarty-pants?! So I should bow down to Sonic now, that what you're saying!?"

"Damn straight," the blue hedgehog grinned through another mouthful of chili dogs.

".... ARRGGHH."

Tails snickered as he watched Knuckles drag himself to his bedroom muttering something along the lines of, 'Shit I'm gonna fail this course dammit I don't wanna take another one dlgkdffdaa...' and kicking a random basketball away. Sonic laughed too and gave Tails a high five before finishing off his grub. But then Knuckles came back out because he remembered he was hungry and was now fishing around in the kitchen.

The hedgehog stared down at the empty plate, listened to Knuckles still muttering in the kitchen, and glanced at Tails dutifully finishing his homework assignment. "Hey Knux," he grinned, holding his plate up.

"Put it in the sink yourself, I ain't your damn slave."

Tails laughed.

Sonic grinned and got up, sticking his tongue out at Knuckles's back (who gave him the finger without even turning around) and placing the plate in the sink.

If something really were missing, it'd come around sooner or later.

Or maybe Sonic really was just being ungrateful. Who knew?

- - -

A car honked its horn loudly, long and continuous. A few people on the street looked at the pathfinder revving its engine impatiently as it waited outside the apartment.

"Calm the eff down! Take a pill or something..." Sonic half laughed, half grumbled as he threw a couple of more things in his bag.

Today was the big day... of his flight, at least.

"Sonic, you ass monkey!! Are you trying to miss the plane or what?!" came an angry voice from outside. Sonic sweatdropped. For some reason Knuckles sounded more stressed out than he did, which was strange since he wasn't the one who had a flight in thirty minutes...

"Sonic," came a frantic, definitely more feminine voice that also sounded closer. A pink hedgehog popped up in the doorway, searching the apartment for the blue one. "Where are you?? Tails can't hold Knuckles back for long!" she sobbed dramatically, hoping it'd get Sonic to pack faster. Would someone enlighten her as to why in the world he didn't pack the night before?

"I was practicing my kickturns on the ramp last night, okay," the male hedgehog called from his bedroom in reply, knowing what she was thinking. "And then when I got home... I knocked out. But that's not the point! And I'm almost done, I swear! Why's Knux so uptight anyway!?"

"Well you know, short temper," Amy laughed a little sheepishly. She rubbed her forehead as another long beep resounded in the air. She could imagine the echidna's rabid expression and Tails curling up in the back seat covering his ears...

"There! Done!" With one last zip Sonic finished packing, adjusting his backpack and then slinging an additional green and white duffel bag over his shoulder. He zoomed out of the bedroom he bunk-bedded in with Tails, then out the apartment door. "Okay Ames, c'mon!"

"Erm..."

He whirled around. "What now!?"

Amy sighed as she picked up the skateboard at the side of the doorway. "I think you might need this."

"Oh—OH! Oh my god," Sonic cackled sheepishly as he took it from her. "Thank you!"

The female hedgehog just giggled at his hurriedness, locking the apartment door with the keys Tails lent her. Then she started pushing him. "Hurry, before Knux runs someone over!"

A few minutes of road rage on the freeway later, the four somehow arrived at the airport with the car miraculously in one piece. Knuckles pulled up to the curb and after lugging Sonic's duffel bag out the back, they all piled out and surrounded him.

"So now, it's all up to you!" Knuckles slapped both hands on the blue hedgehog's shoulders. Thankfully his temper cooled. "Go rip it up over there in Canada, okay? Don't come back a loser! Or else we're disowning you!"

Sonic had to sweatdrop at those words. Leave it to Knuckles to "inspire" somebody... "Uh, okay Knux... thanks...?"

"You can do it, Sonic!" included Tails. "Those guys have nothing against you. I researched. I know."

"Heh, thanks buddy!" Sonic scooped up the tiny fox in a hug. And leave it to Tails to research the competition. "You keep practicin' out here, own that primo by the time I get back!"

"You know it!"

"SONIIIIIIC!" Amy sobbed, throwing herself over the hedgehog. "BEAT THEM ALL! SHOW THEM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!"

Knuckles and Tails laughed as they watched the blue male almost fall over. Backpack plus duffel bag plus hedgehog did not equal a light load. "Ack—! I definitely will, Ames, but please don't kill me before I even get there!"

Nodding, Amy sweatdropped at herself as she stepped back. "Oopsies."

The red echidna made a shoo-ing gesture with one hand. "All right already, go before the plane leaves without you." Nodding, Sonic gave his friends a final thumbs up before zooming into the building.

As the hedgehog ran through the international terminal in LAX, he couldn't help but gawk at all the diversity around him. Humans and furries of all races and ethnicities weaved in and out through the large crowd. To his left a group of Asians were following a lady waving a USA flag. To his right a family of furries speaking French were checking in their luggage.

Somehow Sonic checked in as well, reached the security threshold and even passed with no problem. But after shoving his Soap shoes on it wasn't long before he got distracted again. The sounds of all the different languages around him, the smell of fast food, the aura of panic, relief, worry, and excitement that the passengers in the terminal held. The atmosphere was invigorating, even just to watch and appreciate all the different kinds of people around him. It'd been a while since Sonic had been in an airport, much less in the international terminal so everything fascinated him beyond belief...

... So much, that he wasn't paying attention when he accidentally bumped shoulders with a dark hedgehog.

Finally Sonic snapped out of it enough to hear the 'ow' the other one had muttered. "Ah! I'm sorry!" Sonic turned and apologized. Hopefully the stranger understood English...

"It's all right," came the reply, voice deep and smooth. With that, Sonic turned back around and continued on his way.

But he had to glance over at his shoulder.

What a peculiar feeling that was; it felt like a shock of electricity coursed through his body, just from that simple bump...

Though at the same time it also jogged Sonic's memory. Indeed, his flight was about to leave in... Sonic looked at his watch.

One minute!?

He looked around, frantically asking a random person where Gate 7 was.

A few feet away, the unmoving stranger watched with ruby eyes as Sonic ran down the hallway, past his gate, curse, back up, before finally shoving the ticket in the lady's hand and laughing in relieved victory that he had made his flight.

Lips turned up in an amused smile. And the dark hedgehog turned and headed towards the exit of the terminal.

R&R? :3