"Guys! In there!" He shouted, pointing to it. They all ran into it, and sat down, fighting to catch their breathes again. Manic looked around. Then, he got up and started searching the cave thoroughly with his eyes.
"Where's J?!" He asked, worried. Sonic looked around as well.
"Uh oh… Probably not in here…"
"I need to go after her! What if she's hurt… Or fallen into the river… Or… I'll go after her!" He began to run towards the exit, but Sonic sped up, and grabbed his arm, holding him back.
"Manic, are you insane?! You'd be blown away if you walked out there… We need to stay here until the hurricane's over!" He dragged his brother back. Manic shot him an icy look.
"And let J stay out there if she's hurt or somethin'?! She'll be killed in a nanno second if she can't move!" He tried to hold the panic back, "I NEED to go after her!" He tried to go once again, but Sonic still held him back.
"Manic, you can't… She'll be alright, but you won't be if you walk out there now! I wish we were able to do it too, but we can't unless we wanna kill ourselves!" Sonic pulled Manic back until he fell.
"But…"
"If she isn't dead, we'll find her afterwards." Sonic finished. Manic looked at him, and then, at Sonia and Sandy who just looked at the two. Then, he sighed, and nodded yes. Sonia walked over, and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"She'll be alright, Manic… I'm sure!" She whispered. Manic just stared out into the rain, silent.
'Hang on, J… We'll be there in a minute!' He thought as a lightening lit everything in the cave up.
-v-v-v-v-
Jennifer felt the last drips of rain hit her face, and she opened her eyes, slowly. She was in some kind of hole. It wasn't raining anymore, and everything seemed to be back to normal on the ground. She was wet, and shivering because of the cold.
"Uhh… Better get out of this hole!" She whispered to herself as she tried to get up. A pain jolted throughout her ribs, and made her fall back, trying to catch her breath, "What the heck was that?!" She asked herself as she tried to get up again, this time, more easily. She finally got to her feet. It was probably a trap she steeped in. This hole wasn't natural. Someone or something had dug it, that was for sure. She remembered Sonia saying something about lots of traps… She sighed heavily.
"Here we go again…" She rolled her eyes, and began to climb up of the hole. She made it to the top, and got up, looking around. It was almost evening, and the trees threw great shadows all around her. It was kinda creepy in her opinion. She shuddered, and looked at the river. She moaned quietly as the pain in her ribs came back when she kneeled down to wash the mud off her face. When she looked at her reflection, she noticed something red appear behind her, and flew up, shocked, but fell to her knees when the pain in her ribs came back. When it finally stopped, she looked up, and saw Knuckles standing in front of her. He looked her over, then she got up, and stepped back.
"You're an… Overlander!" He clenched his fist. Jennifer shook her head fast.
"No, listen! I'm looking for Sonic, Manic, and Sonia! All I want to do is to find them again!" She explained. Knuckles frowned.
"They haven't got any Overlanders as friends!" He walked towards her while she walked backwards, "I don't want Overlanders on my island! So prepare to be terminated!" He ran towards her, trying to hit her, but he missed when she jumped away.
"They ARE my friends! We're looking for a freedom fighter group! Robotnik is gonna destroy it if we don't… WAA!!" She was cut off when Knuckles tried to hit her. Then, he noticed her medallion.
"Where did you get that?!" He demanded, pointing to it.
"They gave it to me! I'm unofficial adopted by Queen Aleena!" Jennifer avoided Knuckles' fist again.
"Liar! You probably stole it! I'm gonna get you good!!" He shouted, and tried to hit her again. This time, he hit her. Jennifer flew back, and hit a tree. She fell to the ground, wincing in pain. Knuckles ran towards her, and hit her again. This time, she almost fell down into the river, and tried to roll away from it, but Knuckles hit her again, and she fell down in it, shrieking. Knuckles watched as the stream took her away, and she fell down the edge of the waterfall, screaming.
"So long, Overlander!" He whispered. He turned around, and disappeared into the jungle.
-v-v-v-v-
Sonic, Manic, Sonia, and Sandy were still walking through the jungle, all silent. Then, Sonia walked over to Manic's side, and patted him on the shoulder.
"Listen, Manic. We did our best to find J, but she's probably gone…"
"She's NOT dead!" Manic looked down at the ground, and kicked a stone away. Sonia bit in her lip.
"Manic… There's no way she could've survived that hurricane!" She said. Manic looked at her with a stubborn look in his eyes.
"She ISN'T dead! She can't be!" He said.
"Manic, I…"
"Hey, guys! I think we've found something!" Sonic called from a bush nearby, interrupting Sonia. Manic, Sonia, and Sandy ran over to his side, and looked in the direction he pointed. In front of them was a little village, full of people. It didn't look like it had any damage from that hurricane at all. They all looked at each other impressed.
"Oh, you escaped the hurricane?" a voice suddenly said behind them. They all turned around, and saw a female cat, wearing a pale purple dress behind them. When she noticed Sonic, Manic, and Sonia's medallions, she gasped loud. "You're… The royal family!" She exclaimed, amazed. Sonic nodded yes.
"And you are?" He asked.
"My name's Natalie… I'm the leader of this group of freedom fighters… And you?" She looked at Sandy, who just stared at her, silent. He looked away, immediately.
"Uhm… I'm… My name's Sandy… Sandy Shagwell." He cleared his throat. Natalie smiled.
"Welcome, then… Sandy." She said. Sandy blushed.
"Uh… Tha… Thanks." He stuttered.
"Well… I think the other freedom fighters would love to meet you… But WHY are you here?" Natalie turned to Sonic, Manic, and Sonia again.
"We've been looking for you for almost two days now… We're here to warn you… Robotnik will attack you in five days, you need to get away from here!" Sonia said.
"But he doesn't even know about us!" Natalie exclaimed, shocked.
"Now he does! He had great plans about this!" Sonic said, "Sandy told us he was one of your freedom fighters… He had been in Robotropolis for months until he stole a pod from Robotnik… And Robotnik didn't even follow him… So he really HAS great plans!"
Natalie looked to Sandy again.
"You're one of our freedom fighters?" She asked. Sandy nodded yes, hesitating.
"Oh, maybe we lost you before Petey was taken away… I guess that's why I don't remember you." Natalie looked him over again, and smiled. Sonic and Sonia looked at each other.
"Who's Petey?" Sonic asked. Natalie sighed.
"Petey was my cousin… He was the leader of this group, but Robotnik took him away, and I needed to take over." She explained, "Oh… Back to business… You've searched for us for two days now; I think you should rest a bit! We have some guest huts, so, please, follow me!" She stepped out of the bushes. Sonic, Manic, Sonia, and Sandy followed her into the village, and they all stopped in front of a line of huts.
"I hope this is ok… By the way, I've heard you had a human as friend… I haven't met her yet." Natalie looked at all of them. Manic turned away from them, and walked into one of the huts, closing the door behind him. Natalie looked after him, "What's with him?" She asked. Sonia sighed.
"We had a human as friend, yes… Jennifer Scott… We lost her a few hours ago, in the hurricane. She's probably dead, but Manic doesn't wanna believe that. He almost hasn't been saying anything since we lost Jennifer… She was his best friend." She said. Natalie held a hand up in front of her mouth.
"Oh no… Oh, I'm so sorry… I didn't know!" She said.
