Merry Christmas everybody! And I hope you have a great one ^_^, this story is a collaboration between me and XoxoSonamy4440oxoX. I get to take the first chapter so I hope you guys enjoy it!
Amy – 16, Sonic – 18, Tails – 15, Cream – 14, Knuckles – 20, Rouge – 18
Different Paths
It was one of those rare, peaceful spring afternoons and a young rose hedgehog was taking advantage of it the best she could. She was sat quietly in the middle of a small clearing in the park, legs crossed and eyes closed. She listened to the soft chirping of the birds in the trees and smiled a little.
One thing she loved about the park was that it reminded her of home. It had been almost a year since Amy Rose had left the comfort of her friends to move to the bustling and beautiful Paris, the city of love.
The name had been one of the things that had entranced the girl the most, the city of love. But that wasn't the only reason she had moved. Her main reason for leaving behind her friends and self-proclaimed boyfriend was that she was sick and tired of being used as bait by Eggman. Moving to Paris, Amy thought that she could hone her skills and increase her agility, making her less of a target for notorious villains, and impressing the guy she loved at the same time.
An especially loud squawk snapped Amy out of her thoughts and her eyes flew open instinctively. A nearby bird had fallen out of its tree and was struggling to get back up. Amy leapt up gracefully and scooped the feathery bundle into her hands. She stroked the bird's silky feathers soothingly to calm it down before hoisting herself onto the lowest tree branch.
Climbing higher and higher, ignoring any scrapes she had gotten from the rough bark, she gently nestled the young bird back into its nest where its brothers and sisters were waiting for it. Amy smiled as the young birds tweeted in delight at having their sibling back. Looking at the small family, Amy couldn't help but remind herself of her own special family.
'I wonder how much longer I'll have to be out here...it's a beautiful place and all but... I just find it difficult to be without my close friends. Sonic, Cream, Tails, Knuckles...even Rouge' Amy laughed half-heartedly and slid down the tree, making herself comfortable on a branch halfway from the top.
'I remember when Sonic used to love sleeping on trees...he found the tree in the park so comfortable that once we had to push him off it to get him up'
Amy sighed and closed her eyes, thinking yet again of her friends, and what life with them was like. She remained like this for half an hour before deciding it was time to get back to her apartment.
Amy strolled out of the park and through the unusually quiet streets to her apartment. She walked along silently but stopped abruptly as a TV in a shop window showed her lifelong hero on the news, once again kicking Eggman's sorry butt.
"Le héros de renommée mondiale, Sonic the Hedgehog a de nouveau battu le mal méchant Dr Eggman dans son plus récent plan de reprise dans le monde, à commencer par la Station Square"
Having lived in Paris for nearly a year, Amy had picked up the French language pretty quickly for a girl of sixteen. "The world renowned hero, Sonic the Hedgehog has once again beaten the evil villain Dr Eggman in his most recent plan to take-over the world, starting with Station Square." She whispered, as a proud smile crept its way onto her face.
...xxx...
Station Square was unusually empty for mid-day, but this might have something to do with the fact that it was currently the temporary battle field for the latest face-off between an old scientist and a cocky blue hedgehog.
"Take that you stupid bot!" Sonic shouted as he landed a hard kick on the nearest robots head. This action caused the robot to get confused and instead of attacking the blue blur it ended up attacking its own team of robots.
"NO! You stupid minion, they are on your team. GET THAT BLUE HEDGEHOG!" Eggman's voice boomed around Station Square as he hovered from one place to another shouting encouragement to his failing robots.
The robot snapped back into its senses and turned to find the blue hedgehog his master was talking about, unfortunately he had destroyed all his teammates and was said hedgehogs final target. Before the bot knew what was happening, Sonic spin dashed straight through it, leaving behind a mess of metal and wires.
Sonic pumped the air triumphantly with a shout of 'Alright!' before addressing his nemesis. "Hey Eggy. You might wanna build some robots that can last for longer than a minute in my company. At least then I wouldn't have to hand you your butt on a silver platter every single battle" Sonic taunted.
"I will get you next time Sonic. Mark my words!" Eggman shouted before retreating back to his base to grieve over yet another defeat.
Flashes of bright lights blinded Sonic for a moment before he realised what was going on. The reporters had all come flocking back in to the square to get some pictures of their saviour.
'Urgh, not them again. Better ditch them as fast as I can' Sonic revved up and raced off, leaving the reporters with nothing but a blue streak. Having no particular destination in mind, Sonic let his feet guide him.
The highlight of his day had been the face-off with Eggman. That was one of the only things he looked forward to these days. Most of his friends had gone their own separate ways, but he kept in contact with most of them. All of them in fact, except one. His pink counter-part, Amy Rose.
She had disappeared eleven months and twenty two days ago, and to this day Sonic had heard nothing from her. Her location was what had eluded him the most, the only thing he had to go by was the letter that she had written before leaving. But no matter how many times he read it through, the young hero could not find a single clue as to where she could have gone.
He knew that she phoned Cream every now and again, but when asking her if she said anything about where she was, Cream would always say that she didn't say much about where she was staying. It was these phone calls that would give him reassurance that his friend was okay.
Often, when Sonic was sure that Eggman wouldn't attack, he would visit all the places she had mentioned to him, hoping to bump into her someplace or other. Even now, months later, he still hadn't given up hope that he would find the girl sooner or later.
Sonic felt his communicator buzz on his wrist and he skid to a halt, pressing the answer button.
...xxx...
A light clunking could be heard from within Tail's workshop as he tinkered with yet another one of his unique inventions. This particular one was a pair of sneakers exactly like Sonic's, the only difference was that these had hover pads that would float on water.
Tails had gotten lots of publicity for his inventions and was now well recognised as one of the cleverest people around, and only at the young age of fifteen. But being the level-headed fox he was, Tails let none of his fame go to his head. He knew that he had a gift and it should be used for good.
The young kitsune spent most of his time designing his own planes and gadgets that would help him and his brother fight Eggman. But every so often, he would make inventions for others on the account that they would only be used in emergencies.
The fox swivelled his namesakes and wiped his brow subconsciously. Leaving the unfinished shoes in the workshop, Tails headed towards the living room.
Tails flicked on the telly and sat down on the couch. He didn't pay much attention to the news though as his mind was preoccupied with the list of things he had yet to complete.
'I still have to go to parts shop to pick up the peices I ordered for the shoes. I won't be able to finish them until then. And I have to visit Cream today too. I haven't seen her in weeks, and she's always so busy at the shop.' Tails let out a long breath and let himself collapse on the sofa before continuing with his mental list.
After recalling everything yet to be done the fox sat upright and tapped some buttons on his wrist comm.
"Hey Sonic, do you think you could go to parts shop and pick up some stuff for me. I ordered them under Tails and Sonic, so they should let you take them."
"Sure lil buddy. I just have to get past those stupid reporters, they crowding the whole of the square. Catch you in a flash"
Tails mentally crossed off parts from his list and headed to the front door. 'If I go to Cream first, then I'll be in a less tired mood. She always manages to cheer me up somehow'
Before leaving, Tails left a note for Sonic telling him that to leave the parts in the workshop and that he had left some chilli dogs in the fridge. Leaving the note on the side table, Tails headed over to visit Cream.
...xxx...
"Hey Knucky...heads up!" Rouge shouted as she threw a file at the solemn faced echidna. He caught it with ease and proceeded to flick through the details.
"That's our next mission..." Rouge breathed whilst taking a seat behind a desk. "What do you think?" she asked as she tapped the desk impatiently.
Knuckles looked up at the girl in front of him and huffed loudly. "I thought joining up would be easy...yet now I work even more than I did with the Sonic Team."
"Hey, I never said it would be easy!" Rouge shouted back defensively. She could remember the day she had convinced him to join GUN.
That was the same day that the Sonic Team had decided to go their own separate ways. Sonic was now the only full time member, with Tails occasionally helping out. But even he had found success as an inventor. Knuckles had joined her and the spy agency and military organisation GUN, while the little rabbit had started her own little shop. No one knew much about the pink hedgehog, just that she had moved away and was not coming back for a while. And her, well, she never considered herself an actual member to start with, just an occasional ally.
Although they didn't know it, both bat and echidna were thinking back to the day that had got them where they were today.
Knuckles sat leaning against the Master Emerald stand as he gazed up at the twinkling stars above him. A soft flapping of wings rang throughout the shrine as a familiar bat flew down towards the echidna, determination etched on her features.
Knuckles looked up at the girl and stood up, looking slightly annoyed by her arrival. Rouge ignored the motion and continued approaching him.
"Hey Knucky...I heard about the break up. Why did you leave the Sonic Team?" Rouge asked, genuinely concerned for the guy.
Knuckles grunted before facing away from her, "What do care. It's none of your business anyway. And if this is just another scheme to get the emerald, then you might as well just leave right now!" Knuckles shouted angrily.
"Hey relax would you! Anyway...I came here to give you an offer, not take your precious emerald." Rouge cut back.
Knuckles turned around to face the bat, a questioning look creeping upon his face. "What offer?"
Rouge bit her lip, "I came to offer you a place on GUN. We need a new recruit, and now that you're not with Sonic you won't have much to do."
"Me? Join GUN? With you? You have got to be kidding me!" Knuckles immediately regretted saying that as he saw Rouges eyes glaze over a little.
The look passed just as quickly as it had come, and Rouge fired back at the hot headed echidna."Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you were too scared to join. Is it too hard for you?" She taunted, hoping her plan would get her somewhere.
Knuckles clenched his namesakes. "I can join that stupid agency, and I'm not scared about it!" Both bat and echidna were now face to face, glaring daggers at the other.
"Fine then, if what you say is true. Join up... right now!" Rouge smiled curiously as she awaited an answer.
"FINE! I WILL JOIN!" Knuckles shouted, aggravated by the bat in front of him who was now practically beaming.
"That was exactly what I came here for...see you tomorrow sweetheart" Rouge whispered flirtatiously. The echidna's cheeks glowed immensely as the bat drifted off into the night sky.
That very night Knuckles had gone to Tails to see if there was anything he could do to make the Master Emerald smaller and easier to carry. Tails had somehow managed to shrink it to the size of a large grape, and it now hung on some string around the guardian's neck.
The last year had brought the bat and echidna much closer together. They still argued, but now it was more friendly fighting rather than 'I really want to kill you' fighting, and they both regarded the other as their closest friend.
"Hey Knux, you ready to go" Rouge asked inquisitively. She received a nod and a rare smile from her team-mate and they both headed for the door. Both ready to take on their next mission together.
...xxx...
Cream walked around her store, humming to herself as she awaited the arrival of her mum and step-dad. A lot had changed for the young rabbit in the past year, her mother had married her lover Vector the Crocodile, her best friend had moved away, and she had been gifted with a store to sell whatever she wanted.
Cream had always loved baking, and decided that she would turn it into her own little bakery, selling cakes, pies, breads and everything else she had learnt to make with her mother and best friend. This bakery took up half of the space in the shop; Cream had dedicated the other to selling flowers as a reminder of her best friend.
She would often get phone calls from Amy, but she would never phone with the number showing just in case Tails knew how to track where the call had come from. These phone calls were rare, but whenever Amy would phone, the pair would talk for hours.
Amy would always ask about every one of her friends, asking how everyone was doing. At one point she even agreed to say a quick hello to Tails when he visited Cream. However whenever Cream said that Sonic was there, the rose hedgehog would make up some sort of excuse and say she'd ring again soon.
This particular morning had been really quiet for the rabbit; with Eggman in Station Square almost everyone had fled the area. Even now, it was mostly reporters making their way back in.
The wind chimes tinkled musically as Vanilla and Vector stumbled in, the latter carrying a box of supplies for the kitchen. The rabbit ran over to her mother and gave her a quick hug before saying a polite hello to her new dad.
Vector beamed down at the girl and ruffled her soft fur before heading for the kitchen so he could set down all the supplies.
Cream giggled as she saw Tails making his way towards the shop and pulled him into a friendly hug as soon as he entered through the door.
"Hey Tails. It's been ages since I saw you. How is everything?" The two continued to chat for the next hour, before Tails announced that he had to go and finish some stuff off.
As Tails walked out the door, Cream's smile fell a little. Something about that fox had always fascinated her, and she always felt a tinge of sadness whenever he left. Shaking the feeling off, Cream continued arranging things perfectly around the shop.
...xxx...
Thanks for reading guys.
XoxoSonamy4440oxoX will be taking the next chapter, so until then au revoir. ^_^ And enjoy 2010 while it lasts...xx