Chaos D’Amour De la Vie
Les Amis De la Destinée

Westopolis – 5pm local time

Sonic and his friends, Tails and Amy, were settling down for the day at Tails’ Workshop. The young, two-tailed kitsune was busy tweaking with one of his gadgets while Sonic and Amy rested on his old worn out couch, watching the local news, the only channel Tails’ cable could receive.

It had been a boring day, for Sonic, his friends and the city of Westopolis. Nothing thrilling happened, even for the reporters.

The blue hedgehog was about to call it quits and head home to go to bed early, when a special live report interrupted the commercials.

“Thank you for tuning in to Westopolis Headline News,” A young woman greeted from a news room. “We’ve recently received word of a discovery in a field just outside of Westopolis’ suburb, Central City, that has police forces and citizens both shocked and frightened. We go to John, who’s live at the scene,”

An older man appeared, standing in the field with police officers behind him focusing on something on the ground.

“Well Teresa, as you know, today was a dull day for news. But as you can see by the officers and curious by-standers, that something here in this field has caused quite a stir. Just an hour ago, a large spot of dried blood was discovered. Officers have searched the area for any signs of foul play.”

Amy gasped in shock as Sonic turned up the volume.

“Nothing has turned up, but they have located more blood spots in various areas around the city. Forensic specialists are taking samples from each spot, but there are no reports of anyone missing, which could make it difficult to determine who the blood came from and how it got here. We’ll keep you up to date on this story as we collect more information.”

“Oh my, this is terrible!” Amy stated.

Sonic turned off the television. “ Looks like we finally have something to do.” The female hedgehog and fox looked at each other confusingly.
-
“Amis”
-Friends-

That voice again!

“Dude, are you sure he’s the one? He’s…kind of scrawny…”

More voices?

“Bentley’s usually right about stuff like this Ratchet.”

“I’m just saying. I mean, why would Nefarious have interest in someone with such a weak…figure?”

Weak?! Wait…Nefarious…

“Many reasons. This guy’s stats are highly unusual. Plus this X-ray is far beyond bizarre.”

X-ray? Stats? What’s going on? Where am I?

Shadow slowly awoke to the sight of tubes and monitors. “What is this?!” He exclaimed as he jolted upwards from a bed. As he breathed heavily, attempting to calm down, his eyes drifted to several beings in the room.

A fox, a raccoon, a man with a weasel on his shoulder, a small robot, a hippo, a turtle in a wheel chair and a strange dog like creature stood in front of the shocked hedgehog. They all seemed to be startled as well.

“Seems Ratchet didn’t bash him in the head good enough.” The fox chuckled.

“It was good enough for a few hours!” The dog like creature replied.

“I was being sarcastic…”

Shadow backed up to the wall. “What am I doing here?” He stuttered. The turtle approached.

“You’re here because I believe you are a ‘key’ to some one’s devious plot.”

“Why?” He stared in confusion.

“After observing the activity of this ‘someone,’ I’ve found that he has data that he stole. Data that is valuable and dangerous.”

“Data? That still doesn’t put me in on the list of candidates. You’ve got the wrong person, sir.”

“Sure, it doesn’t put you on the list. But this does.” The turtle handed him a sheet. “This is a scan of your body. You only have four organs, the brain, heart, lungs and stomach, far too little to be considered normal. One reason you’re on the list.”

“One reason? There’s more?!” He replied in shock.

“Yes. Your heart beat and blood flow are very abnormal. It’s as if your heart continuously pumps blood at a frequent rate. Too frequent. Which may be causing reason three… blood leaks into your stomach in a way that cannot be medically explained. And lastly, where the rest of your organs should be, there’s some sort of strange energy building up. Unnatural energy.”

Shadow stared blankly at the sheet, dumbfounded by the news.

“Now, I would like for you to tell me if you’ve been experiencing any weird things happening to you…”

“Well…I…did gag up a large amount of blood earlier.”

“An effect from the blood in your stomach…anything else?”

“Only one thing…I can’t remember anything but what might possibly be my name; Shadow the Hedgehog…”

“Then it’s almost solid proof!” The turtle stated. “The data could possibly be your memory!”

“Why would someone want my memories?”

“I’m unsure, but we’re going to find out, with your help.”

Shadow gave him questioning stare.

“I’m Bentley, expert hacker and data analyst.” He turned to the others behind him. “The fox is Fox McCloud, a skilled pilot. The raccoon is Sly Cooper, master thief and my lifelong friend along with Murray, the hippo who happens to be stronger than he looks.” He pointed to the final four.

“The human is Jak, and expert gunman with high combat skills. Daxter, whom sits upon his shoulder, is an ottsel. No useful skills for the time being,”

“Hey!” The ottsel yelled furiously.

“And last we have Ratchet, a weapons specialist and space pilot. He’s a Lombax, a species from a distant galaxy. And his sidekick, Clank. A small robot with a lot of heart.” He turned back to the hedgehog.

“Shadow. We need you to join our team and help uncover this mystery. It will benefit both you and us.”

“I’m not sure I trust you. We just met. Also, you clobbered me and kidnapped me!”

“Uh, yes. Much apologies. Ratchet tends to forget the plan. But please, consider it. Dr. Nefarious is a force that shouldn’t be taken lightly. And who knows, you just might get your memory back.”

Shadow pushed himself up. “It does sound appealing, so I’ll think about it. Though I can’t make any promises. I do have a child to take ca-“ His eyes widened. “Casey and Katelyn! I was supposed to meet them back at the apartment!” He exclaimed as he dashed out of the room.

The rest were left dumbfounded. “That was awkward.” The lombax stated, breaking the silence.
-
Shadow slowly opened the door and walked in. Casey, who was sitting on the couch, greeted him.

“Where were you?” She asked. “It’s been hours.”

“Honestly I don’t know.” He replied in a stressed tone. ”I was knocked out and kidnapped because some guys thought I was a key or something. Heh, a crazy day.”

“I’ll say! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah...as far as I know.”

“Well, Katelyn’s asleep in the master bedroom and I went ahead and placed her new clothes in the dresser.” She got up and walked to the door. “I better head home, see you tomorrow. Oh, and keep safe.” Too tired to reply, Shadow smiled and closed the door as she left. He let out a big sigh and closed his eyes, trying to make sense of everything.

“Nice digs man!” Startled by the unsuspected voice, the hedgehog jolted around to meet eyes with the lombax from before, as well as his robot companion and the ottsel.

“W-what the hell?! Did you follow me?!”

“Yeah, we wanted to see how the Chosen One lives. And I must say, I’m impressed.”

“Chosen one? Wha-“

“Hey! Is that a High Definition set?” Ratchet and the ottsel seemed entranced in the television. Shadow sighed in frustration.

“Please excuse the ignorance of Ratchet and Daxter.” Shadow gazed down at the robot.

“Ignorance? You three are invading my home uninvited!”

The lombax sat on the couch. “Chill dude.”

“Chill? Chill?!” He yelled. “How can I chill? Today, in one day, I woke up with amnesia, got attacked by a woman possibly in her eighty’s, struggled to remember a mysterious face, filed papers for custody of a child, got knocked out, kidnapped, had a lot of confusing bull thrown at me and now I have strangers in my home!”

“Wow. Eventful day.” Daxter teased.

“Look, I barely know any of you and it’s late. Just please leave!”

“So that’s a no to us living here?” Ratchet asked.

“What?”

“Yeah. I mean we already brought our things along and we honestly don’t have a real home to stay at. The small home Bentley has is too crowded with tech stuff, plus there’s a shortage of beds and-“

“It’s out of the question. Today has been stressful and-“ The hedgehog stopped mid-sentence as he saw Katelyn standing near the couch.

“I heard yelling…” She said in a tired daze as she glanced at the three new faces. Her eyes widened as she spotted the ottsel. “Cute!” She squealed as she ran and hugged him. “Can I keep him?” The girl asked as she squeezed Daxter.

“And us?” The lombax smiled. “It only makes sense since we’ll be working together.”

“I never even said I would help you with this… Nefarious.”

“You never said no either. Look, just give us a try for a few weeks. I promise you’ll grow to like us.” The hedgehog sighed again, in defeat.

“Alright. What stuff of yours did you bring?”

“A small cat bed for Daxter, his RC car, Clank’s computer and my custom built gaming system. Compatible with all of today’s games, regardless the system.” Ratchet replied proudly.

“Okay, you three get the room at the end of the hall, next to the bathroom. As far as I know, there’s at least one bed in there. But if you start acting suspicious…”

“No worries, roomie!” Shadow shook his head in annoyance as the lombax brought in the items.