Hello! I've got another chapter so let's get going!

TheGameNguyener: Thanks for the two reviews! I think I'm going to start responding to multiple reviews separately! I've tried to make it noticeable as to who is who. Firstly, their names tend to be synonyms for their respective colors, and secondly, I've tried to get them to be similar to their "normal" selves. Tails and his incarnations tend to just have the personality to make it easy to take punishment. I still love the character, but he's generally the most emotionally vulnerable of the group.

Thanks for the extra help in locating the typo in chapter 3! It's been fixed to better flow together! I've tried to make action scenes and dialogue to better flow naturally in all my stories! So it's good to know you liked it!

That's it for now!

Sonic Boom: The Ancients

Looking to the Future

Ruby took his time questioning Root about exactly what she knew and had seen. The badger was just as confused as to his questions, she seemingly had no control over her own powers and it was showing. Thankfully enough, however, she did still seem to remember how to tap into Chaos Energy, meaning their spell caster wasn't completely gone.

"Anything?" Rose asked as he stepped out of the small room the two had been in.

"She doesn't have a clue. If I didn't know better, I'd say Bolt wiped her mind."

"What does she remember?"

"Not much, she still knows the basics, like who the four of us are. Along with her own identity. There's also the ability to use Chaos Energy."

"Anything about Lyric?"

"Vague memories, not much more…"

Rose sighed. "Well, at least she's alive."

"That's a relief."

Ruby went to leave, only to be stopped by Rose. "Ruby, there's something I've been wondering…"

"What?"

"What do you think you'll do once we're done with Lyric? I mean, we've spent so much time working on fighting Lyric, I'm not even sure what I would do…"

Ruby thought about this for a second, it was something he had asked himself before, but had never really found a good answer for.

"Well," He began. "I haven't really found something, I figure I'll probably head off and try to find out more about where the Primal Crystal came from. Because right now, there's nothing stopping us from having to deal with another Lyric…"

The stone itself had always been a mystery to them all. They knew that it contained presumably infinite amounts of Chaos Energy, similarly to the seven Chaos Emeralds that were in their possession. They had been told to guard it with their lives, if it fell into Lyric's or any of his servants hands, it would be the end of the world.

"How about you?" Ruby asked, "You have any thoughts?"

"I've given it some, Blues I know had ideas of trying to just live a normal life."

"Him? I always assumed that he'd be the one to keep doing the whole adventuring thing."

"It is a bit odd," Rose responded. "But I think it's something we could both enjoy…"

"Together? You still trying to get him to like you?"

"He does like me, it's, complicated…"

"You could say that again." Ruby teased.

"At least it's not as bad as Bolt, I don't think he's ever had a relationship with somebody."

"Maybe he has, he doesn't like sharing where he came from with me at least…" Ruby commented, sighing afterward.

"Well, just keep an eye on Root for me, alright?" Rose asked. Ruby nodded as she stepped out she figured that she might as well go and ask Blues and Bolt about their plans Post-Lyric. She eventually found the two of them in Bolt's workshop, the hedgehog and fox were busy working on another invention. By both of them working, Rose assumed Bolt was doing most of the building, while Blues 'supervised' to ensure he didn't hurt himself again.

"Hey guys!" She exclaimed as she walked in. "What you up to?"

"Not much, Bolt's working on something again." Blues replied. The fox in question removed his goggles and waved. "Hey Rose, what you doing?"

"I'm just here to ask you two a question real quick."

"Alright," Blues responded. "What is it?"

"Well," Rose continued. "I'm just wondering what you guys both think you're going to do after we're done with Lyric?"

Blues quickly answered before Bolt could say a thing. "Come on Rose, you already know this! I'm just going to be myself, live a… Normal life, you know."

"Alright, well, I suppose you've already got all that figured out. How about you Bolt?"

"Nothing planned, and I don't intend to have one any time soon."

"Why not?"

"I just need to focus, I'm not going to let myself get, distracted." He responded, letting out a short sigh afterward.

Rose and Blues exchanged glances at the comment, the azure hedgehog stepped over and gave her an explanation.

"He's been irritable today." Blues explained, "It's probably because I asked him about if he's ever had a love interest, it seemed to set him off."

"Well, what'd he say?"

"That's the thing, nothing."

Rose was a bit concerned with the lack of response. But decided to press it later, figuring that she already had the answer to her main question. As she walked back to her quarters. However, she was stopped by Ruby.

"Well, she's awake."

"How is she?"

"Ask her yourself, she wanted to see you."

Rose eagerly followed behind the echidna as they traveled over to the infirmary, she removed her hood and adjusted the hem, she wanted to make a good impression after she had just woken up, hopefully for good this time.

The badger was wide awake and greeted her the moment the hedgehog walked through the door. Rose threw her arms around her mentor. "You doing ok?"

"I'm fine, how about you?"

"I'm just happy to hear you're alright!" Rose responded, "For a bit there we thought we had-"

"I'm just fine, no need to get your cloak all tangled up about it!"

The two of them talked deep into the night, trying to enjoy each others company as best they could.

-X-

Bolt sighed to himself. It was late, the others had almost certainly gone to bed already and he should probably join them. Something stopped him, some seemingly insignificant question presented by Blues to him.

"Have I, been in a relationship?"

While normally this could be an easy question, for the fox, it wasn't quite so black and white. His confusion was compounded by his fear at sharing what had happened with his fellow Ancients.

"It's alright Bolt, just tell them the truth!"

"You can't do that, they'll never know how much that meant to you!"

"What if they do?"

"What if they don't?"

A constant barrage of questions hammered his thoughts until eventually they were interrupted by a voice.

"Bolt?"

The fox in question looked up from his work for the first time in a few hours and acknowledged the voice's owner. Rose had come to see him.

"It's late, you need sleep." She continued.

"Sorry, I just, have a lot going on…"

"Also, earlier today, I'm sorry for trying to pry into your life, it's none of my business…"

"No, you…" The fox hesitated. He was afraid of what she, of all people would think. Still, he acknowledged, it would have to be known sooner or later.

"You deserve a answer…" Bolt continued. "I was in a relationship, it was even with somebody you know…"

Rose looked intrigued and sat down next to the fox. "Who is it?"

He took a deep breath before answering. "You actually have thought this whole time, we were just friends. For a long time, we were… Lyric was just a friend…"

Rose's eyes widened as she fully comprehended what exactly the statement meant. "Bolt.. Are you-"

"I'm not even sure anymore, I don't know when it happened, but we just locked eyes at one point while we were working and… I don't know what came over me…" The fox paused, "It felt wrong and right at the same time, I cant describe it…"

"Have you felt that way before?"

"No, Lyric was special… We'd done so much together that when it happened, it just felt natural. He meant a lot to me, it physically hurt me to have to fight him…"

Rose recalled Bolt had entered into a deep depression once they had fully contained Lyric. The true cause had just never occurred in her mind. "What did you like about him?"

"He was always so caring, he made me this ribbon you know…" The fox gestured to the purple accessory on the hem of his cloak. "Its something I've always had to remember him by."

"Did you two ever, kiss?"

The fox hesitated, but then slowly nodded.

"What was it like?" Rose responded, "If you don't mind me asking…"

"Time slowed down, it felt amazing. From then on, I couldn't even been in the same room as him without getting butterflies in my stomach. I'd never felt anything like it before…"

Rose didn't respond to his statement for a bit. She simply ran through her thoughts before continuing. "Bolt, this- this is something I hadn't ever thought about… But, if that's how you feel, then I'm not going to hate you for it."

"Just, don't tell the others, ok? I don't want them to know yet…"

"Your secret's safe with me."

"Thanks Rose."

The hedgehog gave Bolt a pat on the back and the two returned to their own quarters for the night.

-X-

Ruby yawned and stretched out his back as he woke up. He retrieved his cloak and pulled it around his torso, rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stepped out of his room.

None of the others were awake yet, which was good, it meant that he could have some time to himself. While he didn't mind his position as leader of the Ancients, it was taxing sometimes. He put himself in charge of the well being of not only himself, but the other members of the…

"Family?" He thought, "That, actually sounds about right."

He continued on his own way, he was going to check once again on Lyric's statue, which they kept in just outside of the temple to keep watch. The snake was still completely frozen in stone, just as he had hoped. Root's injuries had gone nothing to lessen the hold on Lyric. He knew it wouldn't hold forever, but the seal still seemed to be going strong. Hopefully once he finally broke free, they would have a cure for his illness and corruption. If they had to, they could attempt to reseal him again for another decade or so.

The fight to get him trapped the first time was very difficult, several of them had almost lost their lives. It was only through cooperation between all five of them that they could take him down. It would be difficult, if not impossible to take him on a second time. That's why he was out here.

If Lyric broke free where he was at currently, he would be able to escape without much difficulty, so the possibility of moving him to somewhere to more secure was pressing on the echinda's mind. Where exactly though was the question, he decided to ask the other Ancients later. For now he decided he might as well stay up for the day and head out for a short walk.

Alright everybody, that's everything! I wanted something more fluffy this time around! Let me know what you thought in a review, and follow if you want to be updated whenever I post! Until next time!