Says Who?

By KMD

Chapter 1 – The Start of it All

Says who – quite a popular term, usually used amongst those who are doubting themselves or others. When someone says something big about themselves or someone else, the other will come back with the exact saying. Lots of people will say it, mainly the people who are doubtful of themselves. And that's where the whole thing started.

A doubt.

Chip grunted in frustration every time he jumped up into the air. He jumped and reached for his necklace again, but just missed it as they moved it away from him. They had been doing this for a while now, each time just missing it. As frustrated as he was growing, Chip was also confused – what had he done to deserve this? All he did was wait for Sonic to return with his chocolate chipped cream sundae supreme. But then they showed up – the Apotos kid, Alexis, and his friends. Actually, Alexis stayed in the background while his friends did everything. They teased Chip, calling him small and weird, and snatched his necklace from his neck, believing it had some value. The insults didn't really bother him – it was the truth – the fact that they took the only key to his past was the real problem.

Chip didn't remember anything from his past. Ever since Sonic fell on him about a day ago. His home, his life, his age, even his real name – he couldn't recall any of it. Upon first meeting him, Sonic openly offered to help him recover his lost memories, which Chip happily accepted. They had wandered through the town of Apotos, asking any villager they came across if they knew the flying dog. Though, they all replied with the same thing – 'nope, never even seen him before'. It dampened his spirits, the fact that they were having such luck. He tried not to worry about it, just like Sonic had advised, but he couldn't help but trouble himself.

And now Chip was on his own, without Sonic, trying desperately to get his life possession back with no success. All while Sonic was just buying ice cream for him. Where was he? Why was he taking so long? In reality, it had only been three to five minutes since he left, but it felt like an eternity. Chip jumped for the necklace again, but they yanked it away from him just before he could grasp the string. He landed on the ground, just about to give up. Unfortunately for him, his 'rival' apparently seemed to take notice.

"What's the matter? Got nothing left?" The one holding his necklace taunted. A few of the others chuckled a little, while Alexis just looked around nervously. Chip grunted lowly and picked himself off the ground. He jumped for it a few more times, each time just missing it. Each time he grew more and more frustrated. But at the same time, he was getting a bit worried. What if he didn't get it back? What if they kept it and sold it to a far away place, a place where he couldn't even begin to imagine going to? He shook those thoughts from his head – he had to get it back, no matter what. Getting up, he leaped off the ground and tried to grab hold of the string of his necklace. Just missing, he decided to stay afloat using his small wings to fly. He grabbed hold the kid's arm, surprising him, and swung off. Chip reached for it again, missing it as the the guy yanked it away just in the nick of time. He followed the guy's hand wherever it went, usually flying a little bit higher each time, as the kid usually raised the necklace higher. He reached his palm as high as he could, standing on his toes, trying everything to keep the chihuahua away from the green gemstone. As quickly as he could, he swung his arm downward and held the necklace out as far as he could. Just as Chip began to fly over there, though, the kid blocked his way by putting his hand over the fairy's face. He squirmed and tried to get out of his grip, but he couldn't get his hand away from his face.

"Guys, stop! Sonic's coming!" He could hear Alexis yell. The guy's grip noticeably got looser, but not enough to pull himself out. He could hear the small group scurry around a bit, including the one who was grabbing hold of him, as if to form a small welcoming committee for him. Suddenly, a force came from the guy's hand, strong enough to throw the small dog back. Chip fell to the ground with a thud, and just laid there for a while, rubbing his cheek.

"H-hey Sonic," One of the boys greeted, as if nothing ever happened. 'That's mean,' Chip thought to himself.

"Hey guys," Sonic started. "Whatcha doing?"

"Just... talking, hanging out..." 'And stealing my necklace.' Chip thought long and hard about calling them out on that. That necklace was rightfully his. They had no right just to take it from him like that. But... those guys were bigger and stronger than him – a lot bigger and a lot stronger. They could easily pummel him to the ground, causing him to have a lot more than amnesia. But Sonic would protect him – he was almost sure of it... unless he took their side.

Chip tried not to pay attention to the conversation, because all it really was was retellings and lies. But what caught his attention was his necklace – the green jewel was hanging by the string out of the kid's hand. It was free for anyone to grab. Even him. The boys would probably knock him out.. but... it was right there! Right in front of him, dangling by the string. Chip slowly got up off the ground and placed his hand on the gem. Grasping it, he took a deep breath and yanked the necklace right out of his hand. It wasn't long before the kid noticed and shouted 'Hey!' in surprise. Before anyone could turn around, Chip clutched the necklace in his hand and flew high up into the sky.

Sonic watched Chip fly up to the bell tower with curious eyes. What had just happened? "He stole it!" One of the boys shouted. 'Chip?' Sonic thought to himself. 'Steal what?' It wasn't like Chip to steal things. He didn't even know the fairy for that long, and he knew he wouldn't do something like that. Something wasn't right. He broke into a fast jog, then leaped off the ground, landing on a low rooftop. Running to the top of it, he jumped onto the tip of a flagpole. He ran and jumped on a lot more surfaces until he reached the bell tower. Finally, he reached the top level of the tall bell tower. The level was high up, and quite an open space. Despite the white marble the tower was made of, it was pretty dark inside. A perfect place to hide, really. Though Sonic knew he wasn't the only one who was aware of that. Calmly and slowly, he walked through the small room, calling out his friend's name softly.

"Chip?" His voice carried out a small echo. "Chip, are you here? Where are you?"

There was a brief moment of silence where nothing was making a sound except for the scuffing of Sonic's shoes. Suddenly a small sound, almost an inaudible whimper, echoed through the room, stopping the hedgehog in his tracks. Looking around again, he started walking slowly towards the small noise. "Chip?" he called out softly. He stopped walking for a second and looked ahead. There, he let out a small sigh – Chip was there, barely visible because the darkness inside the tower, sitting in the corner with his knees to his chest. The small dog was fiddling with something in his hands uneventfully – it was too dark to decipher what – and his head hung down with sadness of some sort. It didn't really seem like him, not the amnesiac, yet optimistic fairy Sonic had just met the day before. Something was bothering him.

"Chip." Sonic's voice echoed again. "Are you ok?" Chip glanced up for a small moment, then went back to fiddling with the thing in his hand, saying nothing except for a small grunt. "They boys down there said that you stole something from them... is that true?"

Chip seemed to cringe at the statement, but still said nothing. Sonic frowned. "C'mon Chip, what'd you take?" The fairy cringed again, but then let out a small sigh. He put his hands over his knees and opened them slowly, revealing the green gem necklace he had been wearing ever since Sonic had met him. The hedgehog gasped – that wasn't exactly what he was expecting. "Chip... did you steal-"

"I didn't steal anything, Sonic!" Chip finally shouted, sitting up. "They took it from me! I tried to get it back, but I couldn't. So when you came over and distracted them, I took it." Sonic pondered for a bit, then got down on one knee to level himself with the small dog.

"That's still kinda considered taking from someone," He informed. Chip stood up.

"Well I can't exactly just go up to them and say, 'hey, you've had my necklace for quite a while now – can I have it back now?' if that's where you're going," He pointed out, doing a small reenactment of what he just said in the air. Sonic wanted to chuckle at the gesturing, but he feared that would ruin the moment severely. He pondered again, and found himself a bit speechless.

"...You got a good point there, I'll give you that."

Chip gave a small grunt in agreement, slumping back to the ground. He looked down at the necklace in his hands with disappointment tinged in his eyes. Sonic also stared at it, trying to figure out the situation. "Just curious, but why is that so important to you?" Chip looked up. "I mean, it doesn't look all that special. It'd probably appeal greatly to my friend Rouge, but other than that, it doesn't look all that valuable."

"Because... because its the only thing I have," he answered reluctantly. "The only thing that I can actually call mine. And because its the only key I have to finding anything about my past. I mean, it may not help much, but without it, I'm next to hopeless."

Sonic wanted to say something, but nothing was really going through his head. "...Yeah, but.." was all he could really manage.

Chip scoffed, then got up onto his feet again. "Don't you get it? Without this," he held up his necklace, "I'm nothing! I have no chance of finding my memories! And without my memories, I really am nothing! I'll be walking around everywhere, not knowing who I am, or where I'm supposed to go, o-or anything!" He started to stutter a bit. He slowly dropped down to the ground, a sigh escaping his lips. Chip breathed heavily, slumping back to the marble ground.

"...Why do I even bother?" he questioned himself with disappointment in his voice. He clutched the necklace's lace tightly in his hand, dangling it lowly in front of himself. "I'm not gonna find out anything with this. It's pointless... I'm never gonna get my memories back."

Sonic gasped silently, random things flying through his head. Doubt – that was what was going through the fairy's mind and shoving out his happiness. He had seen doubt in his friends before – Tails, Amy, Cream, even Shadow on one certain occasion. But he wasn't expecting to see any signs of doubt in Chip. Especially not this early in their journey.

"Don't say that, Chip," he started. "You'll find your memories."

The fairy gave him an eye. "Oh yeah? Says who?" Sonic stayed silent. That two word phrase always was a rock in his path. He didn't even know what it was about it that stumped him.

"Says..." he didn't really know what to say. "...Says me." It probably wasn't the best thing to say, but it was the only thing that was really coming to his head. "I believe in you. You can find your memories, and you will too. And trust me, that's big coming from a world famous figure." Sonic pointed to himself and gave a small smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

"..Really?"

"Well, yeah, of course."

Chip looked up to him with sympathetic eyes, and managed a small smile. "Thanks, Sonic," he finally said, the disappointment clearly out of his voice. Sonic looked at him and smiled sincerely. Suddenly, he felt something cold drip down his finger. He raised his hand up a bit, and realized he was still holding the ice cream he had gotten Chip a while ago. He gasped at his ignorance towards it.

"Want some ice cream?" he asked. Chip gasped in surprise also – apparently, he had forgotten about the huge desert too.

"That'd be nice," he answered. Sonic handed the ice cream to him, and Chip grabbed the cone with both hands and pulled off on of the cherries. Sonic watched as the fairy pulled off the other cherries and put them into his mouth. He sometimes wondered how he was able to even eat the whole thing. It was about the same size as him, and yet he manages to finish it off without a problem.

"You're not gonna make me go back down there with those guys, are you?"

Chip's voice snapped Sonic out of his thoughts.

"Not if you don't want to," He answered, taking a seat on the marble floor. He heard the fairy sigh in relief.

"Thanks, Sonic," he smiled.

"Anytime, buddy."

that's just first chapter, don't worry - it'll get better, trust me. wow, first chapter story on ! lets see if i can figure this chapter thing out