Chapter 2:
As Sonic left the cafe, he heard a shout, "Sonic!" which happens to be Tails, who was running towards him. The two hugged upon meeting.
"What's up little buddy?" asked Sonic.
"It's Ross! He went into the woods and he hasn't come back!" Said Tails in a panic.
"Now what caused that to happen?" asked Sonic.
"I heard fighting and when I came over to check them out, Ross said he was going into the forest to prove something." Tails answers.
"Well then!" Said Sonic, "We gotta juice!"
Tails and Sonic stopped at the border of the forest.
Tails gasps, "Oh no! Riff and Airoma are not here. I hope they didn't go after him!"
"Then we gotta," Sonic paused, hesitating to finish.
"Should we get some Freedom Fighters after them?" asked Tails.
"We can't wait now for them to come by, someone might be hurt now. Tails, we are the ones to help now."
"But Sonic I'm scared," Tails shivers.
"It's alright lil' buddy, would I let you get hurt or taken away?"
"No, but how are you going to get them?" asked Tails.
"With speed, keed!" Said Sonic, "You know what I can do."
"You got control of it?"
"Yes," he answers, "Tails, I need you to fly above and help look. Come find me when you find something."
"Roger that!" Tails said, and his tails started to twist and turn. The next thing Sonic saw Tails airborne and flew into the Wild Green forest.
"Gotta juice!" Sonic said as he readies his sneakers and off he went after Tails.
The Wild Green went dark as fast as Sonic. The tops of the trees were so thick with leaves, it's hard to tell the time of day. On top of that, the forest is dead quiet. Sonic looked around for any signs of life but all he saw was trees and the darkness behind them. He stopped running when he realized that he was so far from the village that he couldn't even see it's light.
"Ross? Ross?" He shouted out, "Riff?... Airoma?... Tails?" But he heard no answer back. His inner feelings was scolding him for being lost but he ignored it. He's got to find his friends. He hated to walk but the forest was too dark to run through and the trees were so thick, he was afraid of running into one.
...
Meanwhile, Tails landed on a branch, losing sight of the village as well. "Well I thought Ross went in this direction, now I'm now so sure." Tails panted, rested his weight on the tree trunk. When he regained some energy, he shouted, "Sonic! Where are you?" but he heard no answer. He started to whip his tails again and flew around some more. He continued to shout "Sonic?" as he flew.
Something caught Tails' eye by a big tree. It looked like a boulder but it's shape wasn't natural. He flew over and landed on top. Just the sound it made wasn't even rock but hollow like metal. Tails ripped off some vegetation that covered it up revealing that it wasn't a boulder. It was too dark to tell exactly but the unknown shape was beginning to frighten the poor fox. He twirls his tails and hovers back up into the trees and hopes to find someone friendly again. He shouted out names into the darkness, "Sonic! Ross! Riff! Airoma! HELP!"
...
"Well I don't feel like I'm going anywhere, " Sonic complained, and he sat down by a tree. "Let's see, what would a Freedom Fighter do in this situation? What would teach, do?" He looks around, "I've got to find a source of light." he gets up and looks for a big log. Something big enough to sit on but be able to carry. It wasn't too long as he found one about a few trees away. He dragged it over by where he sat. He moves away some flammable tree refuge and places the log in the middle. To secure it further, he gathers some baseball sized rocks and formed a ring. He was ready to make a camp fire. He peeled the bark off of one side of the log. He rolls the log to the tree and hangs onto the tree and started running on the log. The log was getting hot from friction and quickly smoked. A little fire sparks in the middle. "Yes!" he cheers and he jumps off and takes off his shoes and places them near the rocks. He takes the log and places it back in the circle. Now he has a campfire.
The fire eventually got big and lit up a area around it revealing thick trees and a limitless darkness behind them.
"Guess I'll wait a bit, maybe someone will find this light." mumbles Sonic. "I hate waiting..."
It seemed forever but finally got a break. He caught a glimpse of another light. It was weak and moving. Sonic got his shoes back on and rushed over towards the dim light.
It was a candle being held by none other then Princess Airoma.
"Airoma! Are you ok?" asked Sonic.
"I'm okay, glad to see someone friendly for a change." She said, "The darkness has been my company and I don't feel welcome. Plus..." She paused as if waiting.
"What's up?"
"I think I had something follow me," She replied, "I thought maybe it was Riff or Ross but the foot steps didn't answer. I don't hear it now. You probably scared it away seeing how fast you run."
"I have a fire going why don't you stay by it and I'll going find Tails and the others." Said Sonic.
"I'm fine with that. I'll go into a tree and watch below then I could be safe." She said.
Sonic and Airoma went back to the fire. Airoma quickly went up the tree. She's climbed trees for a long time so this wasn't even a challenge to her.
"Be safe." Sonic said quietly. Then he took off. Just as soon as he sped through the forest, he heard a distant voice. The voice was calling out for help. It sounded like Tails. He felt overjoyed to hear it and he sped towards the voice of Tails. "Keep shouting buddy! I'm coming!"
"Sonic!" Shouted Tails, overjoyed to see Sonic zipping towards him. "Gosh! I was getting scared!"
"Tails! Have you found anything?" he asked.
"I haven't seen anyone since we seperated." Tails replied, "But I did find something unusual. I don't know what it was but it wasn't anything natural." He lands next to Sonic.
"Was it a badnik?"
"No, I don't know, it felt hollow." Tails scratched his head.
"Well, I found Airoma."
"You did?"
"Yeah, let's go."
The two went off and back to the camp.
"Sonic, you didn't leave a fire unoccupied, that's dangerous!" Said Tails.
"She's watching it." Said Sonic, "Airoma? Are you still here?"
Airoma climbed down from the tree, "It's really scary here. I want to go home!" She frowned looking like she's about to cry.
"I can try to fly passed the canopy and see how far we are from the village." Said Tails. "It'll be much easier to find it since we live in a clearing."
"Great idea, lil buddy!" Sonic cheered, "Go for it!"
Tails hovered and vertically flew up. He lands on a branch and jumps through the leaves. He shaded his eyes as he nearly forgot what daylight was. He looked soon as he adjusted. The sight was beautiful, breezy and peaceful. "Wow!" He admired the beauty of nature itself. How something like this could be seen near a creepy forest. In despite of the pleasant change of scenery, his eyes could see only bad news. The clearing wasn't in sight. But rather then fret, he wanted to see if he could shine light on the mysterious unnatural object. To look for it above would just be the dumbest thing to do, he thought. So he went back down below to his friends. "Hey guys!"
"Tails!" Sonic said joyfully, "Is it good news?"
"I..." Tails hesitated, "I couldn't find it. but..."
"Well that's just great..." Airoma pouted.
"Hold on, what else did you find?" asked Sonic.
"I found something weird in the forest somewhere. It wasn't natural like made of metal maybe." Answered Tails, "But I think I can help find it. I could fly up and bend a few branches for light."
"That sounds great Tails, I'll follow you." Said Sonic.
"What about me? I don't want to stay and wait for whatever's following me. I'm a lady, you should escort me!" Airoma complained.
"I'll carry you, princess." Sonic sighed.
"Follow me!" Tails ordered. He flew up and disturbed some branches which gave way to some strong day light. The light gave off enough to lit the entire camp area. He flew forward about several feet from Sonic and every light shining through allowed Sonic to be able to follow Tails. In time, the trio felt a bit doubtful in finding it again. Tails was getting too tired to stay afloat. "Darn it..." He panted.
"It's ok little buddy," Sonic said to Tails with encouragement.
"Well we're still stuck." Airoma complained, "We're probably in the middle of the Wild Green or maybe we're running into an ambush of badniks for all we know! Slypher would've gotten us out of this!"
"Me and Sonic are trying to save you guys!" Tails scolded, "Besides, who would be stupid enough to enter the forest alone?"
"ARRRUUUGH!" Airoma growled.
Sonic stood between them, "People please! No more fighting! We can't get anything done if we argue all night... or day. We need to stick together!"
"I'm with you Sonic," Tails sighed, "I want to get out as much as everyone here."
"Hmph! I'll tell Slypher of all this happening in the forest!" She pouted, "After all it's all Ross's fault!"
Sonic wipes his eyes, "We need to worry about getting out of here."
"I'm all tuckered Sonic, I can't even feel my tails." Said Tails.
"Can't wait any longer," Said Sonic, "A hungry hedgehog is a discombobulated hedgehog. I got to do some running, this forest doesn't end forever. You two should look after one another." Without waiting for a word from Tails or Airoma, he takes off into the darkness.
"Great we're stuck here, " Airoma complained some more, "I should've stayed in the village. It's not worth breaking beauty claws over you guys."
Tails face-palmed, "Sonic, hurry..."
