UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

Maria had informed Shadow and Mephiles that Roy had contacted his friend who could bring a helicopter, but they needed to wait for two more days because Roy's friend was on duty in a far location. Like it or not they have to wait, it was their only hope and transportation to reach Annie's facility.

The twins were anxious and kept walking around in the house, their tails were low but they were rapidly wagging due to stress. They wanted to meet their mates and eggs as soon as they could.

"Shadow, Mephiles." Maria called from the living room when she noticed that they both couldn't keep themselves calm.

"Yes, Maria?" Shadow answered.

"Why don't you both take a stroll out in the woods? Might as well fetch a rabbit to snack on." She suggested. "Calm down, okay? We'll travel to Annie's place as soon as Roy's friend is here." She smiled.

Shadow and Mephiles nodded and followed her idea by going out of the house. Mephiles closed the door behind him and they both left to go to the woods. They entered the dim forest with the sound of leaves crunching on their feet as they stroll.

"I'm so nervous...two days is so long." Shadow sighed.

"Me too...but we have no other choice. We must wait." Mephiles said.

"I swear when I get my hands on Annie I'm going to do what I didn't get to do...stab her." Shadow growled lowly. His twin nodded approvingly.

"I wanna suffocate her but hey stabbing works too." He said.

They got deeper into the woods and they kept talking about how much they despise Annie and the ways they want to torture her. They weren't afraid of getting lost because their sense of smell was sharp, they could smell their way back home to the village easily.

"I'm going to...uh..." Shadow trailed off as he stared ahead. "Me-Mephiles, don't make any sudden move. Look." He whispered.

Mephiles turned his gaze to where Shadow was pointing and he was so shocked. There was a small and colorful flower bed, small sunlights hitting the ground through the thick leaves of the trees and it shoned down to a very familiar creature resting on the flower bed. It had green spikes, small horns on the forehead, long tail and claws, and a very visible scar on the body.

It was another Cross Hedgehog. From its appearance, it was another non-Dominant Cross Hedgehog.

The green hedgehog was sleeping soundly, his head was resting on his arm and his legs were tucked in.

The twins were so shocked that they kept standing there for a while. Scared that there could possibly be another Dominant Hedgehog somewhere being its mate, watching them. Heck, they're just shocked to found another one of their species in the forest near their village.

Shadow and Mephiles perked their ears when the green hedgehog flinched. The hedgehog's ears twitched and he slowly opened his eyes, revealing his beautiful blue eyes.

"U-Um..." Shadow stuttered.

The new hedgehog lifted his head up and yawned. He stared at the two hedgehogs in front of him and got confused.

"Who are you?" He spoke.

"W-We didn't mean to wake-"

"GET AWAY FROM MY MATE." A scream was heard from above and, to their surprise, was another Dominant Cross Hedgehog.

He slammed his feet to the ground, wanting to hit the twins but he missed because they both dodged just in time.

Shadow and Mephiles were both scared when the other hedgehog had bright yellow spikes and swirly red eyes.

"Wait wait! We didn't want to-" Shadow tried to speak but the yellow hedgehog kept attacking them.

"We're not taking your mate! Trust us!" Mephiles shouted while dodging the attacks. "Stop it!" He yelled and turned his hand into a tentacle-like arm and pushed the other hedgehog down.

"GET OFF!" The yellow hedgehog raged and easily escaped from Mephiles' grip by exposing his overflowing energy and burnt his hand.

"Ow!" Mephiles retracted his hand and hissed in pain.

"Hey that's my brother you're hurting! We're not here to take your mate!" Shadow leaped and tackled the yellow hedgehog down to the ground. "Listen to me!"

The yellow hedgehog used his strength and flipped their position. His hands were wrapped around Shadow's neck.

"You are not going to steal my mate. Find one on your own." He growled lowly.

"We have one but they're trapped in a building! My brother and I have been the only two for so long, you guys are our very first encounter of wild Cross Hedgehogs!" Shadow finally spoke out.

The swirly-eyed hedgehog widen his eyes in surprise after he finally listened to him. He let go of Shadow's neck and stood up, still looking down on him.

"You're serious?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes in annoyance. "Yes, we weren't trying to steal your mate, we just happened to stumble on you guys. We swear." He explained.

The yellow hedgehog turned his head to look at his mate who was still sitting on the flower bed, but he looked concerned for the twins. The Dominant hedgehog groaned and facepalmed. He then offered his hand to help the other up.

Shadow was still scared but he took the offer just so they know that they were on good terms after the misunderstanding.

"Uh...thank you." Shadow lowered his head and returned to Mephiles.

The yellow hedgehog, still annoyed, flew toward his mate and helped him to stand up.

"He can fly?" Mephiles whispered to his brother.

The green hedgehog stood out of the flowers and onto the grass, his mate flew behind him and hugged him tightly while he rested his chin on the green hedgehog's shoulder.

"So...um...we're sorry if we stepped into your territory..." Mephiles mumbled. "I'm Mephiles, this is my twin brother, Shadow."

"I'm Scourge." The green hedgehog smiled. "This is Fleetway, my mate." He said while brushing his mate's quills.

"So you two were lost? Since when?" Scourge suddenly asked. "Who took you?"

Shadow and Mephiles stared at each other in surprise. Then they both stared at him again.

"We were rescued by a human when we were hoglets...and the only other two hedgehogs we know of just recently are kept in a building far away from us." Shadow explained.

"Human?" Fleetway's face showed disgust. "Why? They're the reason we're decreasing in population." He scoffed. "They have a history of drying up our blood."

"Not with the human that saved us, she takes care of us." Mephiles stated.

"But the human in this far building is doing just that to our mates!" Shadow said loudly, "so it is true that we've been hunted for our blood for years?!"

"Yes." Scourge said. "They love our blood." He sighed.

Fleetway flew away from his mate and stood on the ground. He approached the twin and smirked, which made them scared again.

"Need a hand with killing a human? I can definitely help you save your mates." He leaned down a bit since he was much taller than them.

"And we can take them to our home with the other Cross Species." Scourge smiled.

Shadow and Mephiles' eyes widen. What did he mean by that? There were actually more of them just hiding somewhere? In a secret place where it became their home? For a moment there, they forgot about the humans and the village...including Maria.