CHAPTER 1: Aftermath

Scene 1: The past

Nighttime soon struck in the world. The stores in downtown start to close for the day. Gates are raised down at the front entrance once everyone has left the stores. In the meantime, it's starts to drizzle a bit, and soon a downpour starts as clouds formed in the clear sky, and fused together to bring rain to the ground.

One was leaving the store after getting some items from a shop, and started heading home as fast as he could. He stomped with his feet hard on the puddles in the street while getting home. Downtown wasn't such a long way from their house, so he didn't have to go too far. Quickly, he made his feet go faster, until they've seemed to turn into a spinning circle, and then the speed demon zoomed to his house.

Shortly after arriving to the front of the house, the rain had stopped, and the drenched hedgehog, Sonic started to twist the knob on his door, while letting out a soft sigh. Sonic then started to shake some of the water off of his fur and quills, and entered his house.

When Sonic got into his house, he ran upstairs and locked himself in his own room. Tails heard Sonic coming back, so he opened his door to examine things. He saw that Sonic had kept the door open, and there was a small trail of things such as dust and a few outdated fliers that he picked up when running in some pretty high speeds back to the neighborhood. Tails looked on the counter of the living room, and saw a picture of a young hedgehog. Tails remembered now.

He had a feeling that Sonic was still upset about what happened on their last mission. He picked up the picture of the green hedgehog portrayed in the frame. It was one of their friends, Ginkgo, who had joined in to help Sonic and his crew.

Sonic was resting on his bed, and hugging his Sonic Plushie by his chest. He looked at the ceiling, and sighed. He had thoughts about not going on missions for quite a while. Since the events that happened on his last mission, he felt that he could be putting his friends in danger. He thought that he was the cause for what happened to Ginkgo. In the previous adventure, Sonic and his friends were out to bring light back to the world after Eggman robbed the light from the residents. During process though, Ginkgo couldn't keep up with Sonic, and got left behind.

"Could it be?" Sonic whispered to himself. "Could I be the cause of my friends getting into trouble all the time?" He grasped on his Sonic Plushie harder, and squinted a bit. "Perhaps if I wasn't on missions all the time, Ginkgo might still be here. His brother is more annoying than ever, Shadow has just been the jerk he's always been, and Knuckles just hasn't been doing anything other than guarding the Master Emerald at Angel Island." Sonic sighed again, and tried to go to sleep. "Maybe I should just stop going on adventures. Maybe then, my friends can be safe, and Eggman can't do harm to them." He thought, and he closed his eyes, and tried to get some rest.

Tails entered the room to check on Sonic. He saw that Sonic had fallen asleep pretty quickly, and he found it wise not to disturb him. So Tails slowly closed the door, trying to avoid sudden creaks on the door. Tails returned to his room to sleep.

Nighttime remains in the sky for quite a while, but it eventually goes away. In a couple of hours, the stars and moon started to disappear, and the sun was slowly rising. The light from the sun shined and touched the ground on the street Sonic lived on.

Amy was up, and in the kitchen preparing food for the boys upstairs. Tails woke up shortly, and ran towards the bathroom to wash his face. When in the bathroom, he soaked a small towel, and drenched his face a few times with it. He soon grew a bit more alert when he caught the scent of the food that Amy was preparing with his sensitive nose. Tails smiled a bit, and started following the aroma downstairs.

"Wow!" he said to himself "Amy seems to be a really good cook. Breakfast smells delicious" he continued to say in his mind as he licked his lips. "I wonder what kind of stuff she's making today. Sonic had better wake up soon or I'll probably eat everything before he's up" he said in a jokingly matter. Tails continued walking downstairs and into the kitchen, where Amy was preparing the food. Tails smiled at Amy, and Amy smiled back.

"Well, I see that you're up, Tails" said Amy "So you caught the scent of breakfast?" she asked. Tails giggled a bit and blushed

"Yeah, foxes kind of have a keen sense of smell, so what exactly are you cooking?" he asked "I bet it'll be luscious" said Tails as he licked his lips

"Yeah, I'm making pancakes today" Amy giggled "I sure hope Sonic will love it." Amy paused for a while and looked towards Tails, seeing her blue hero missing. "Speaking of which, where is Sonic? He's usually up before all of us" Amy pointed out

Tails listened to Amy, and wondered for a bit

"I wonder why he hasn't got up yet?" he said to Amy "I'll check in his room then" he said as he started flying upstairs towards Sonic's room. Amy remained downstairs and watched Tails enter Sonic's room

"Hey Sonic!" Tails cried out as he flew towards Sonic and tugged his shoulder. "Rise and shine buddy!" Tails spoke in an energetic tone

"Leave me be" Sonic moaned softly, and he pulled the sheets above his head

"Sonic, what's wrong?" asked Tails. Sonic rolled over on his back and stared at Tails with a bit of watery eyes. Tails twisted his head a bit, confused. "Have you been crying again last night?" he asked. "You're still upset about the previous mission we went on, huh?" Sonic nodded and sighed

"Why did it have to happen? Things like this have never happened before on my missions" Sonic squealed "Why did this happen to Ginkgo? I should have protected him along the journey, but in the end he sacrificed himself in order to save the two of us" Sonic moaned a bit more and took a few breaths. Tails slanted his eyes a bit, feeling sorrow in him too. He also missed Ginkgo just as much as Sonic.

"Poor Ginkgo" whispered Tails

"Yeah, he was with us here one day, and now he's just gone" Sonic said as he started picking up a flashback.

FLASHBACK:

Ginkgo was sitting on a plain next to Sonic and he smiled at Sonic. The next scene Sonic picked up was when the whole world went almost pitch black. Tails and Ginkgo stood behind Sonic, and he could feel a reassured hug given by Ginkgo. Ginkgo started creating some light energy around him and smiled at Sonic as always.

"Don't worry, Sonic!" Ginkgo reassured "We'll be able to stop the evil guy's plans. After all, you're our hero and you've always been there to help us out" he continued. Sonic smiled and agreed.

"You're right! These problems will always be fixed up. Because heroes triumph the dark" Ginkgo nodded and agreed with Sonic. Tails agreed too, and they started heading for the next scene. This time, the three of them stood near the entrance of a base.

"I guess we have to go in now" Tails cued as he slowly walked in with Sonic and Ginkgo.

PAUSE

"At that very moment, Ginkgo was with us, but at the next, he just pretty much vanished" Sonic said still a bit downhearted.

END PAUSE:

"Guys!" called Ginkgo "We got to hurry! This place is gonna blow up in less than 30 seconds." With that quote, Sonic and Tails found a rocket very much like the ones in the Adventure Series, and the three of them rode on it. 15 seconds passed and they were halfway through the gate, but Ginkgo instantly fell off the rocket. However, Sonic and Tails knew that he let go on purpose. They knew that he was thinking that he was slowing them down and that they couldn't get out of the base in time, so he jumped off and the rocket continued to soar out of the base, where as it exploded right when Sonic and Tails got out, taking Ginkgo along with it.

END FLASHBACK

"It's a horrible scene" Sonic whined and pressed his hands against his head while shaking it "And I can't drown that very scene out of my head. It just hurts me so. The fact that Ginkgo was killed! It's got to be my fault for what's happened!" he screamed

"Sonic!" cried Tails

"It's my fault that happened to Ginkgo. It's probably been my fault from the very start. All I ever do when we're on a new adventure is bring my friends into trouble!" he paused to take a breath "I decided, that I will no longer go on another adventure or mission!"

"Sonic!" Tails cried again