The forest was dark, quiet, and misty. The trees were crowded together, so tightly that anything attempting to get through would need a flexible body. Branches, dead leaves, and fallen trees laid out in far and few spaces in the forest, making clearings that were easy to navigate.

Speedix made his way through the trees, squeezing past the tight spaces easily with his small body. His eyes were red, no longer their normal blue color. The impression he felt, was hate, greed, and the hunger for power. He ruthlessly killed any small creature that got in his way, to release his anger, but it wasn't enough.

He was on a hunt for his half-brother, Firon. He was sure that the gray hedgehog and his companions weren't dead yet, and intended to finish them off himself. He knew without guessing, for his chaos emerald went missing days ago. He used his senses to detect any chaos energy nearby, but not even a speck of it came to his mind. His continuous hatred and anger fueled him, making him more vicious with power and more aggressive towards anything that moved.

He acted like a wild animal on two legs, sniffing the air for his prey, killing all creatures he found and felt their blood drip along his hands and arms. The smell of blood made him react like a shark, driving him to insanity as he bit the creatures he killed, only to spit them out after realizing they weren't his prey. Before madness overtook him, he felt the sense of power in his mind, the detection of chaos energy nearby.

He hurried off with his lighting-fast speed towards the source, not looking back, dodging all trees, squeezing through each tight space, and using all fours to run even faster. He was mad with murder in mind, blood like his reward, and the screaming pain like music.

Soon he came stomping out of a nearby bush, into a clearing. He looked around, walking slowly as he spun his view from every corner, knowing a chaos emerald or more were nearby. It wasn't too long until his eyes came upon a mission pack lying on the ground. However, he wasn't nowhere happy as he thought he would be, he saw something else lying next to it. His father, Fists the Echidna. The sleeping yellow echidna was snoozing quietly, and the red hedgehog could see wounds on his father's body, burning wounds covered with bandages.

"I knew it...they aren't dead...well, they'll be dead soon..." he said to himself silently, walking up to the sleeping echidna with his fist raised, radiating with chaos energy. But before he could get any closer, he heard a noise nearby and turned quickly. His view came upon two hedgehogs near a bush, Firon and Violet. They all glanced at each other, as everything had happened quickly. Speedix grinned, changing his target, walking towards them.

Firon immediately saw the red hedgehog coming, a look of hate between the both of them. He and Violet walked back a bit as the red hedgehog came closer to them.

"Why are you here, Speedix?" Firon asked in curiosity, then in suspension "Haven't you done enough already?" The red hedgehog simply smiled. Not in happiness nor joy, but in twisted amusement. He literally disappeared, then reappeared right in front of the gray hedgehog, kicking him in the stomach, forcing him to gasp and lose his strength.

"I've come to finish the job...to kill you all and get back what's mine..." Speedix answered in a dark tone, picking Firon off the ground and throwing him against a tree, letting Firon lie against the bark. He looked at Violet, seeing her trying to back away towards Fists to wake the echidna up. However, she wasn't fast enough as the vicious hedgehog teleported right in front of her, grabbing her throat and lifting her off the ground. The purple hedgehog immediately tried kicking Speedix to make him let go, but he seemed to not know pain as he felt nothing and held firmly.

"First up, Violet Chaohog!" he said in cruel amusement, holding back his energy-infested fist as he prepared his attack. Violet closed her eyes as she felt her life was over. It was a time of silence and all that heard was the purple hedgehog's whimpering, and Speedix's heavy and darkened breathing. Nothing happened, until the red hedgehog was ready.

"Firon, help!" Violet finally managed to yell before Speedix threw his fist. It almost hit her, but something had stopped the hedgehog all of the sudden. He dropped Violet, the purple hedgehog hitting the ground hard, and laid his hands against his chest, feeling blood drip out.

He looked down, with shocked eyes, to see a huge gaping hole in his chest. He turned around slowly to see Firon, the hedgehog's eyes glowing green and his right hand covered in blood, a beating heart held in the fingers and palm. The heart was Speedix's, and it was colored black and red, more black then anything.

It beat slowly, with little bits of blood popping out like air from a balloon. Speedix stared at his heart for a while, then back at his half-brother, seeing the gray hedgehog's expression of hate and anger. Before anything else happened, Firon gripped and crushed Speedix's heart with a lot of force, making it splatter and sending its blood everywhere. Speedix immediately fainted, falling to the ground quickly, then died with one last breath.

Firon stared at his dead brother, not knowing what he had done. His hand was still covered in blood, with it dripping to the ground. The smashed remains of Speedix's heart, laid on the ground. He made a look of disgust and fell to the ground, sitting against a tree. Violet walked over to him, worry in her eyes.

"Are you okay, Firon?" she asked, sitting close to him, looking for any wounds. He looked back at her, trying to find an answer. He wasn't damaged in anyway, but felt painfully hurt inside of him, for killing his own brother. He sighed.

"Yeah, I guess...I feel cold..."

"Cold, what do you mean?"

"Cold-hearted...I don't feel like myself for killing someone like that...it's just not me..."

"You had no choice...he was going to kill us all anyway..."

'Yes...I know..." Firon closed his eyes and tried to get rid of the thoughts. He was interrupted by loud groaning. He reopened his eyes and looked towards the source of the sound, seeing his uncle waking up finally. The yellow echidna rose to his feet, rubbing his eyes, then looking down at the two hedgehogs. After noticing the blood, he nearly had a heart attack.

"What the hell happened here?" Fists asked in irritation and fear, looking around a lot, seeing the blood everywhere. On the bark of the trees, the grass on the dirt ground, blood stained everything, it was as if he was having a nightmare. Fists was beginning to lose it until Firon got up, walked behind him and put his hand on the old echidna's shoulder, calming him down.

"Don't lose your cool, uncle...something bad just happened is all..." Firon paused, waiting for Fists' response.

"What happened then?" he asked again, glancing back at the blood under him. Firon turned around and looked away from his two companions, sighing once again.

"I killed Speedix...ripped his heart out and smashed it with my own hand...thats where the blood came from..." Firon finished, turning back. He saw Fists looking around hurriedly again, then staring back at the gray hedgehog with confusion.

"I don't see any dead body..." the yellow echidna replied. Firon, along with Violet, looked at the ground in shock. No red hedgehog was found dead on the grass. Everyone was shaken with fear and confusion, but tried to calm down to avoid madness. Firon, before turning back around after searching, saw one blink of a glowing red eye in the darkness of the forest. Before he could say anything, the eye disappeared and nothing was there.

Firon was full of fear, and the darkness of the night made him feel uneasy. His green eyes still remained, and he felt power coursing through him. He let go of his power, closing his eyes, and letting it all disappear. Soon, he felt nothing, and the green eye color had also disappeared, along with the fear. He opened his eyes and glanced at Fists, then Violet.

"We better get moving...I get the feeling that Speedix isn't the only hunter here..." Firon ordered them, picking his mission pack off the ground and strapping it to his shoulder. Violet and Fists nodded, picking up their own mission packs and tagging along with the gray hedgehog.

Soon, with no other choice, they quickly walked into the forest, into the darkness, hoping to find a new place where safety could be found.