Bygone Adventures: Episode 1 "Wild Side"

Sunrise

Disclaimer: I don't own the Sonic Boom cast or the images.

This is more of a prologue of what's to come.

Third Person POV

It was early one morning on the far side of Bygone Island, deep in the jungle. The sun rose earlier on this end of the island, meaning that life awoke much sooner than the rest. A ray of sunlight filtered in through the jungle canopy and into a fissure of a well-hidden cave, striking a black and red-striped mobian hedgehog's face.

Shadow's eyes squinted before opening slowly with the sunrise. He stifled a yawn and stretched himself out, careful not to hit any members of the pack. His ruby orbs adjusted, and he stood up to scan his home.

Large creatures, three or four times bigger than he was, slept soundly in one massive group. Their thick black and red bodies rose and fell evenly, while long claws curved idly. The mothers curled around their pups protectively, and the elders slept closer to the back of the cave. The fathers and other strong males rested closer to the entrance and along the sides of the pack as a living barrier to anyone that dared to enter the den uninvited. The young, strong females that didn't have pups created a second ring around the mothers and elders to act as a second layer of defense and also to catch any runaway pups.

Although there were several distinguishing features, there were two main differences between the resting giants. The larger, bulkier ones were built for land, while the comparatively smaller ones resembled giant bats with long wings and curved, lizard-like tails. The winged ones slept in alcoves above the pack in large nests made of straw and animal skin. And the floor of the cave was draped with the same materials for the grounded ones. They both shared the same coloring as the hedgehog, even if they dwarfed him. These were the remnants of the once great Black Arms, and Shadow was their leader, the Alpha Male.

He had slept on a ledge a few feet above the pack next to his second-in-command's family, and his lead scout. His right hand was one of the land hunters, a Black Oak named Fireclaw, due to the fact that one of his front claws was scorched by a forest fire several years ago. His mate, Moonstreak, earned her name for the white stripes along her arms and back. They had four pups, who had come to see Shadow as something close to an uncle, and although they were only a few months old, they were already half as tall as he was.

His lead scout was a Black Hawk named Redwing for obvious reasons. Like Shadow, he was still single, but he had made it clear he was looking for the right mate. He befriended the mobian hybrid before he had become Alpha, and had remained loyal to him through thick and thin. But at the moment, he was sleeping soundly with one crimson wing draped over Fireclaw's face, something the obsidian hedgehog was certain would lead to a disgruntled general later.

Shadow allowed a rare genuine smile appear on his tan muzzle as he watched over his pack. It felt like ages ago when he was first chosen as their Alpha, a role he wasn't sure he could fill at first. But over time and experience, he learned that their trust and loyalty extended both ways. Since his first time with the pack, he had come to see the Black Arms as his true family, and he was sure nothing would change that. He would do anything to ensure the safety of his pack, and they would do the same for him.

His family was more active at night, since the dark helped them camouflage while hunting, and he knew he had some time before any of them would wake up. He wasn't completely sure why he was both diurnal and nocturnal, but he assumed it was because he was a combination of two different species. How this happened he would never understand, neither did he wish to.

Shadow muttered a quiet "Chaos control" and teleported out of the cave, deciding to go on a quick run along the borders of his pack's territory. After one last check-up on his rather large family, his hoverskates fired to life as he took off in a vibrant red streak, an eager smirk gracing his features at the dawning of a new day.

As he skated, he searched the terrain for anything unusual, his typical morning routine. However, as he was about to turn back, a different but not entirely unfamiliar scent reached his nose. There was a human in the area, which was not a good sign. For both the safety of the pack and the human's, Shadow had made definite boundaries to keep them separated. He taught the Black Arms not to hunt sentient beings and how to avoid them when necessary, but he was never sure if they could resist such easy prey if they became desperate. He had also taken time and effort to keep mobians and humans away from his part of the jungle, scaring prey along the borders away so hunters wouldn't come and possibly hurt a member of his family. However, it would appear that confrontation would be inevitable if he didn't do something now. Growling under his breath, Shadow followed the scent silently, his time hunting with Fireclaw proving useful.

His ruby eyes widened when he recognised the intruder--Dr. Eggman--the laughable scientist that had tried to enlist in Shadow's help several times against Sonic, his blue counterpart and rival. The only reason the ebony hybrid had ever considered helping the mad man was for a chance to spar against the azure hedgehog and his team, at least, that's how he saw it, although it was very possible that they might have seen this as an actual threat. But he didn't mind which way they saw it. At the moment, his only concern was how close the human and his band of misfit machines were getting to the den of sleeping Black Arms.

Shadow concentrated and whispered, "Chaos Control." Instead of teleporting like last time, everything in the area , except for Shadow, seemed to freeze instantly. He knew he didn't have a moment to lose before time fixed itself, so he raced into the camp and destroyed as many frozen badniks as possible before hotwiring Eggman's "eggmobile" to go back to the base. As an added bonus, he even made it look like his cube-shaped robot was to blame. He also reset the coordinates so the doctor wouldn't be able to fins his way back into the Black Arms territory. Slowly, everything began to move again, and Shadow skated out of the area for cover. He chuckled darkly at the obvious surprise on Eggman's face and watched as he flew back to his base, all the while yelling at the contraption he called "Cubot." His amusement was interrupted when Fireclaw trotted up to him, already wide awake with a tiny cut above his eye from Redwing's arm.

Meanwhile

Unknown to the Black Arm Alpha, a lone mobian mole, dressed as a farmer, watched as a dark being flashed away from the sudden havoc, and he gasped in fright when a second much larger being trailed closer to the scene.

"What happened?" It's deep voice rumbled. The smaller creature looked up at it.

"A human and his toys decided to check out our borders. I sent him home disappointed. How is the pack?"

"Still asleep, although a few of the hunters and pups are stirring."

The smaller one laughed, a bone-chilling sound to the frightened mole, "And I'm assuming Redwing has already told you 'good morning'?"

A deep growl echoed through the clearing, "Yes, and I wanted to rip his wings off."

The shorter monster didn't seem fazed by this, but rather chuckled in amusement. "Well, you can take out your early morning rage on our next hunt tomorrow night. We're going to sweep the entire perimeter. I don't want anymore humans or mobians coming close to our territory."

The mole held in a terrified gasp and ran as far away as he could from the two predators. He had to warn everybody that there were monsters on the loose.

Back to Shadow and Fireclaw

"What was that?" Shadow asked as his ears perked upwards, an action Fireclaw still found amusing.

"Probably just a spooked deer. There are many in this area. You are very on edge today, Shadow. Is something the matter?"

The hybrid shook his head and sighed, "No. But I recognized that human, and I've got a feeling."

Fireclaw worried for his alpha. Whenever he had a "feeling" he was almost always right.

"What kind of feeling?"

"That something very bad is about to happen."

So what do you think? Good, bad, in the middle?