Metamorphosis

It all starts in Emerald Coast. A beautiful city, with tall buildings and busy streets. But now, we are focusing on a swimming pool on Aqua Road Street. And on this duo made of two teen hedgehogs.

'Beep!' the timer stopped as soon as the ivory hedgehog raised his head out of the water. The blue one smiled and crouched to show him the time.

"Great! It's two seconds less than my last best timer!"

"Silver, you are really rocking this!" the cobalt blue teen said in enthusiasm.

"And it will be even better tomorrow, Sonic. Just give me two weeks and I'll be in regionals!" Silver replied and dived back in the water.

"So cool" Sonic mumbled for himself.

X. X. X. X. X. X.

Some time later, Sonic was walking through the harbor, when a voice echoed.

"Sonic!"

'Ugh. Not now!' he thought.

It was Rouge the Bat. That girl was like a pain in the side, with all her fancy gadgets and shiny make-up. She likes wearing skinny motorcycling suits, in black and with a pink heart on her chest, long white gloves and pointy white boots with heart shaped ends. And she always had a mild sent of perfume. So Sonic didn't like her all that much.

"Hey sugar." Rouge said. "Would you mind helping me? My boat isn't starting."

"I'm not good at boats." Sonic lied, hoping to get away.

"Aw, come on, it's not like you have to fix it. All you have to do is hand me the tools."

Sonic frowned and climbed into the boat.

"I don't know..." he mumbled as he looked through the tool box. "What is the problem exactly?"

"Well..." Without his knowledge, Rouge was untying the motor boat from the harbor. "It took me a while to figure out that someone stole my spark plug and..." She pushed the boat with her boot and Sonic looked back in shock. "Without a spark plug, there's no spark." she finished with a smirk.

Sonic frowned in anger and shouted : "ROUGE!"

"Your floating. She shouted back. If you can start the boat you can keep it! Anyway, daddy is going to buy me a new one. I was getting tired of that thing anyways. Right, Nikki?" she said to her annoying friend that appeared out of nowhere. Nikki was an orange-brown cat with pistachio eyes and annoying smile. She ussualy wears a leather jacket, a white top and a denim skirt, with white gloves and light blue shoes. They started laughing.

"Why me? I didn't take your spark plug! " Sonic yelled.

"Because you are here, Sonic!" came her answer. "It looks like you will have to swim for it. Ta-ta!"

Sonic sat down with a sight. He could use a spindash to get back to the harbor, but he wasn't going to risk falling in the water. He could sink or even drown.

He was pretty far away when someone jumped in the boat. Sonic let out a surprised yelp and looked up at the person next to him.

A jet black hedgehog, with red stripes along his spikes and ruby eyes. He knew him.

"What are you doing? He snapped. Is this supposed to be some sort of rescue? Cause now, we're flowing to the middle of the sea. Both of us."

The dark hedgehog gave him a small, superior smile, and showed him a spark plug. Rouge's spark plug.

"You took that." Sonic stated.

Shadow kept his expression and walked to the back of the boat

"Hmph. Rouge is a jerk. If I can get under her skin sometimes it can't be a bad thing." he said and started to install the spark plug.

"Cool! Thanks Shadow!" Sonic smiled.

Shadow looked up at him in a slight surprise.

"You know my name." he remarked.

"Yeah! Well, I've seen you around school since you arrived."

Shadow just stared at him quietly.

"I-I meant to say 'hello' and everything!"

Sonic was now in an awkward situation but the black pitch hedgehog only looked at him a last time before finishing his work on the engine. He started the boat and said: "Hang on!"

They past Rouge and Nikki that looked at them with eyes wide. Not before splashing Rouge with water, causing her to scream and her makeup to melt on her face.

After a while, Sonic spotted Silver walking down the stairs to a bridge.

"Hey Silver! Wanna ride?"

Silver yelled to Shadow that was driving the boat.

"Are you licensed?"

"Are you my mother?" Shadow asked casually.

Silver looked at the boat sceptically, but joined them.

They kept enjoying the ride, when Shadow proposed.

"We should go out to sea."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Silver asked.

"Chill out." He said, pushing the laver and increasing the speed.

X. X. X. X. X. X.

It was about sunset, when the boat stopped. Shadow tried to start it again, but it didn't start. He pouted.

"Are we chilled out yet?" Silver asked ironically.

"We're floating, it's not like we're sinking." Shadow answered.

"Not yet." Silver completed.

"I think we're out of fuel. A pause. I guess we could paddle towards that island."

"Mako Island?" Silver asked. "Forget it."

"No one goes there. Sonic clarified. It's surrounded by sharks and reefs."

"Well, we have nothing else." Shadow said, handing over a paddle to Silver.

Silver sighted and starting paddling towards Mako Island.

They pulled the boat at shore. And Sonic asked :

"So how are supposed to get back?"

"Good question. Silver answered. Ask your friend. It was his ideea to take the boat miles off shore."

Shadow just shrugged in response.

"I could use my chaos control, but it doesn't seem to work here." he said thoughtfully.

"Your what?" Sonic tilted his head on the side.

"I can teleport ok?" Shadow said annoyed. "But for some odd reason, it doesn't seem to work here. Or we wouldn't have been here."

Silver growled :

"Your lucky I got this." Silver pulled out his cellphone.

"Silver is always very prepared" Sonic smiled.

"I am soooo happy for him."

"Guys, I don't have any signal. Silver said. We need to get to higher ground. Come on."

They started climbing up, arguing with each other, until they got to a river between two rock formations. Silver used his kinesis and flew to the other. Shadow just jumped. Sonic stood there, staring dumbfounded at the deep water below his feet.

"Come on Sonic, jump!" Silver called out.

"I-I can't! What if I fall down?"

"Don't worry! I'll catch you if you fall." Silver ashured.

"Ok." Sonic gulped, took a deep breath, but as he was about to jump, he slipped screaming into a small tunnel wich they failed to notice before.

"Are you ok, Sonic? Sonic!"

"I'm ok! Just... My ankle hurts." came echoing his response.

"Don't worry, I'll come down there to get you." With that, Silver let himself go through the tunnel, down to Sonic. Only for Shadow to come tumbling down too.

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay up there and throw us a rope or something!" Silver snapped.

Shadow looked intrigued.

"What am I? A mind reader? And what rope?"

Silver sighed and looked around.

"I can't fly up back, it's too winding. We'll have to find another way out."

X. X. X. X. X. X.

They kept walking in a straight line for awhile.

"We can't go like this forever. Let's try this way." Silver said, climbing a few stair like rocks. Sonic and Shadow followed him.

It led to a small moon pool in something that appeared to be a volcano cone.

"Wow." It was all they could say.

Silver looked at the moon pool and crouched smiling.

"Look, waves, the water level is raising and dropping. It's connected to the ocean." he spoke out, taking off his boots.

"So?" Shadow asked.

"There might be a way out." Silver noted and jumped into the water.

"I'm not going to like this." Sonic though out loud.

They waited for Silver to come back. He did in a few minutes.

"I was right. He said happily. There is an exit about a 20 seconds swim from here through the reef and it's plenty of room for us to fit in."

"Great." Shadow replayed.

"What? No, I can't do it." Sonic cried.

"Why not? Are you scared?"

"No! I just can't! And, besides, I can't swim."

The full moon started rising over the island. Shadow and Silver were trying to convince Sonic to follow them.

"You want to stay here? There is no other way out!" Shadow vocalized like he was talking to a toddler. He stretched his hand towards him.

"Ok." Sonic said and slowly walked into the moon pool. Right as they reached the middle of the it, the full moon reached its peak right above the volcano cone. The water started to boil and bubble and tiny fragments of light raised up. The three teens looked up in surprise.

"Wow!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Come on. Take a deep breath. See you on the other side." Silver instructed them.

They swam out and into the ocean. They took a gasp for air and looked around to see a water police ship blinding them with it's light. Sonic turned his back for one more time to Mako Island to then swim towards the ship.

X. X. X. X. X. X. X.

The next morning, Silver packed his bag and went to the beach. He smiled at the smell of salt water and the memory of last night.

He dropped his bag, ran to the water and started swimming. A day like every other. Except it's not.

After ten seconds of delight, the ivory hedgehog raised his head above the water, only for it to boil, just like it did in the moon pool. Silver found himself with a totally different look. He had a silvery tail, like his fur but at his waist he had like a golden belt with an amber like stone in the front. His gloves were gone, and he only had his gold and cyan bracelets on his wrists. His dorsal fins were golden, but his main fin was starting off with a golden color, to continue with dark cyan blue. On each of his back quills he had a navy blue bandage like stripe, and on one of his front quills. He touched them, only to notice that they were accessories. Panicked, he started to swim to the shore and get dried.

Elsewhere, in Sonic's house, his little sister Lilly was insistently knocking at the bathroom door. Lilly was a hedgehog with light blue fur, back swept spikes and orange eyes, bu mostly, a really curious child.

"C'mon Sonic! You can't stay there forever! Come out! Sonic?"

Meanwhile, in the bath tub, Sonic was staring dumbfounded at the blue fish tail that has appeared out of nowhere, with white dorsal fins, white and red main fin and at his waist, the same golden belt as Silver, but with a sapphire like gem in front. His gloves were gone, and on his head, there was a sea weed crown and a blue ring on one of his fingers.

X. X. X. X. X. X.

Shadow was walking casually by the park, thinking of everything that happened last night.

'There is nobody around. All peace and qu...'

A water sprinkler suddenly burst to life, splashing Shadow from head to toe. Irritated, he shaked his hands in an attempt to dry them. In ten seconds though, he felt a warm pulse traveling trough his body, and found himself laying on the grass. He had enough time to look at himself while the water sprinkler died. He had a long black fish tail with crimson dorsal fins and stripes of the same color on his main fin, wich was black. A golden ring was placed on his ear and fin, and his gloves were nowhere to be seen, as well as his clothes, leaving behind his golden wrist rings. At his waist, he had some sort of belt, with a ruby red stone in the front.

X. X. X. X. X. X. X.

"It was blue and covered with scales!" "The minute I hit water..." "I was wet for a second" "What's going on?" "That's what I want to know." They we're talking about what happened, constantly interrupting each other. They sat down on the couch and Shadow looked around.

"Is there anyone else here?"

"No, Sonic responded. Dad is at work and my mom and sister are shopping."

"Ok, so technically, what is going on is that when we touch water we grow..." Silver started.

"But they disappear as soon as we dry." Sonic finished.

"Don't you guys think we look a little like..." Shadow mouthed.

"Mermaids? Silver laughed. Mermaids don't exist for real silly."

"I was going to say Merhogs smart face!" Shadow snarled.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted the three teens.

"Oh, no, Sonic face palmed. It's Tails, Knuckles and Amy. We were going to study for biology together."

Sonic walked to the door and opened it. A group of three teens entered the house, chatting. A red echidna with grape purple eyes and spiky knuckles on his gloves. A pink girl hedgehog with green eyes and red boots and dress. And at last a two tailed yellow kitsune with sky blue eyes.

All three of them stopped. The fox, wich Shadow remembered as Tails asked :

"Are we early or something?"

"No... But... something came up."

"Like what?" Amy asked curiously.

"Well, something important... Sonic looked behind him at the other two hedgehogs on the couch that nodded slightly 'no'. But... Not important enough for you to know."

"What is so important that I don't have the right to know?" Knuckles pouted.

"It's personal. Sonic replied. Sorry guys but, I gotta cancel. Maybe another time?"

"Ok..." Amy sighted and walked to the door. The other boys followed her, but Sonic stopped Tails for a second.

"Tails... Your smart. Do you know anything about mermaids?"

Back on the couch, Shadow and Silver silently face palmed.

"Mmmmmm, no not really..." Came the kits confused reply.

"Ok, sorry, bye!" Sonic voiced and closed the door behind him.

His two companions stood up from where they were sitting and looked at Sonic in disapproval, crossing their arms.

"What.?" Sonic asked.

"Do YoU kNoW aNyThInG aBoT mErMaIdS? Shadow mimicked. Are you crazy? What were you thinking!?"

"Look, Tails could..." the blue teen tried to talk things out.

"No, Sonic. Silver interrupted. Something really weird is happening to us. He took a breath. We don't know how and we certainly don't know why, but we have to keep this a secret."

"Well we could find out more..." Shadow began.

"How?" Sonic asked.

He shrugged. "Go back?"

"No. Sonic frowned. Not me."

"I'm going. But, I can't go there alone. Right Silver?"

X. X. X. X. X. X. X.

Shadow and Silver were sitting on a rock formation near the sea.

"Are you shure about this?" Silver asked. "I'm not."

"Well, I am. That's enough." Shadow huffed.

"That gives me no confidence whatsoever." Silver sighted.

They walked side by side to the water, until the waves were touching their feet. In a few seconds, they felt a warm pulse traveling up and down until they found themselves lying in the water, fully transformed.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing around the reefs and fish. And they really had fun swimming with the dolphins. They realized how amazing it was and how fast they could swim with their tails than they could with their feet.

Meanwhile, Sonic decided that, now that he was alone, he could head to Marble café and buy a juice or something. Instead, as soon as he entered, Sonic saw his friends, Tails, Knuckles and Amy at one of the computers in the café. Curious, he approached them.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, startling them.

"Oh, hi Sonic. Tails greeted him. Well, you asked about mermaids so I thought I would do some research."

"Oh, you really didn't had to."

"Don't worry. The kit replied. I still have to much time in hand."

"But there is some really interesting stuff." Amy replied.

A while after they left the café, Tails was telling them what he has found.

"Miths about mermaids have been around for about 3000 years."

"And people really believe this stuff?" Knuckles asked.

"Seems like it. But the mermaids can either do good or cause trouble." Tails continued.

"What kind of troubles?" Sonic asked, a bit worried.

But Tails didn't had time to answer because he was cut of by the sound of a motorcycle. It was Rouge.

"Oh no." Sonic's eyes widened.

"Ignore her." Knuckles said with his teeth gritted.

"Let's go back." Amy proposed.

But Rouge didn't let them get away so easily. She kicked in full speed and cut through them, cutting their way. She took off her helmet. Sat imposingly in front of them.

"Hey, Sonic." she started off. "Nervous?"

"What do you want, bat girl?" Knuckles asked, gritting his teeth once again.

"Me? She laughed, but then she became serious. Dad wasn't to pleased to have the water police knocking at his door."

"You shouldn't have told me that I can keep the boat." Sonic argued.

"I don't like people making me look bad Sonic." she said angrily.

"Looking bad in front of your daddy?" Amy asked with a fake simphaty "I think you are afraid of him." she finished with a smirk.

"Silence!" she yelled.

Sonic felt really nervous. He was moving his right hand in a semicircular pattern until he felt the tips of his fingers itching and he realized the water hydrant next to him was starting to shake, like it was going to explode. He concentrated his mind on it. Rouge continued putting her hand on her hip.

"Tough squad huh, Sonic?" The blue teen looked at her once, only then to return his attention on the water hydrant. "Well anyways..." Sonic could now feel the water pressure rising more and more and the metal lid won't last anymore. "One of these days, with or without your squad..."

'Just a little more!' he roared in his mind, frowning. Sonic's focus was now to a maximum.

"Something really bad might happen to you."

Sonic's eyes suddenly widened and his friends could only assist in shock as the hydrant literally exploded in Rouge's face and sent her flying and screaming into the pond next to them.

Sonic, shocked himself, slowly turned around and ran at the speed of sound back to his home, leaving his friends stunned behind.

X. X. X. X. X. X. X.

"This was the best experience ever!" Silver smiled, stretching his arms.

Shadow remained thoughtful.

"Are there even words for this?"

"Not quite." Silver answered, entering Sonic's yard.

"Wait!" someone screamed behind them.

Shadow and Silver turned around to see Sonic.

"You will never believe what just happened."

X. X. X. X. X. X.

"And it keeps growing."

The dark and ivory hedgehogs were watching in an amazed state how Sonic used his hands to make water rise from a glass in some sort of tentacle.

"Where is this water even coming from?" Shadow asked

"I don't know." Sonic replied, dropping the tentacle.

Silver put his hands up in a defensive manner and the water freezed immediately. Slowly, he retreated his hands.

"D... Did I do that?"

"Wasn't me." Sonic admitted.

"All I did was..." Silver stretched his hand, his palm in a "stop" and the water in a plant jar freezed could. Silver chuckled.

"I knew I could move stuff around but freeze it? That's new."

Shadow bit his bottom lip and tried different hand poses but nothing worked.

"Not fair. Why don't I get to do the cool stuff?"

"Cool? I don't think the word 'cool' is the proper word for this. More like, 'extremely unusual'." Sonic decided.

"Anyway, we have to keep this a secret. Our secret. Our responsibility. We could end up dissected or in a circus. We've got to be careful." Silver said.

"That's right. We've got to stick together." Sonic approved.

"It's not like we're married, is it?" Shadow innocently asked.

The three hedgehogs burst into laughter, feeling that their secret should be safe. But they didn't knew that it won't be.

For long.

X. X. X. X. X. X. X.

Authors note :

Hey everyone! It's Mallory here. It took a while to write this chapter, but I surely had fun. Four things :1. Shadow can only use chaos control, without a Chaos Emerald, because I don't really know how to implement them into the story.2. NO Sonadow, Sonilver or Shadilver will be implied in this story.3. I was in kind of a pickle deciding wich character would fit for Ricky, because both Shadow and Sonic are pretty rebellious, but I decided to use Shadow in the end because a) I could use Rouge as Zein and b) Sonic can't swim, just like Cleo (that's why I used him for that role).4. Again, art by me, hope you appreciate.The next chapter is going to be out in about a week so till then, stay safe! :)