Chapter 10

After leaving the G.U.N. HQ, Sonic, Knuckles and Amy hit the streets of Spagonia's capital city to ensure that all of the refuges and shelters were as prepared as possible for an attack. After visiting several smaller places, the group went to Spagonia University. The University was massive, so massive in fact, that it was converted into a hotel-like refuge and at the moment held 200, 000 Mobians and humans. The smallest of the countless classrooms housed a maximum of four people while the lecture halls could hold several dozen. A rainbow of nationalities co-existed and helped each other through this dark, and difficult time. When the heroes arrived, they were greeted by Professor Pickle. The jovial, old man had been promoted to head of the university mere days before the world fell into chaos and took it upon himself to open the doors to the fleeing, now homeless refugees.

"Ah, Sonic! So good to see you!" exclaimed Professor Pickle happily as he shook the speedy hero's hand, "Amy, Knuckles, how wonderful of you all to visit. How goes the fight against that awful tyrant Eggman?"

Sonic replied confidently, "It's not great, but we're not giving up yet."

"Good, good! Heaven knows that this world needs its heroes more than ever. If anyone can save us, it's you and your friends Sonic. Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, what brings you here?"

"We're here to help in any way we can. We don't know what Eggman's next move will be so all of the refuges need to be prepared!" said Amy as she looked around, "With so many people here, surely you need help with something?"

"That we do my dear Amy! In fact, your timing couldn't be better! Its meal time and I'm a little shorthanded at the moment. Could you be so kind as to assist in handing out these cucumber sandwiches?" asked Professor Pickles as he held up a plate of perfectly made sandwiches.

Knuckles took the plate and with one sniff he wrinkled his nose, "Gross. We'll help but I don't know how many people will want these things."

The Professor laughed as he picked up another plate from a near-by table, "Nonsense! Everyone loves my cucumber sandwiches!" He took a bite of one and laughed once more, "Mmmm and what's not to love?"

"I'll get the far side of the University. See you guys in a bit!" said Sonic as he grabbed two plates and dashed off. In no time, the group had given out the sandwiches and every mouth was full. After that. They handed out water, blankets and double checked the University's basement was fully stocked and prepared if all the refugees had to bunker down there. Once that was done, Sonic, Knuckles and Amy bid Professor Pickle good-bye and set off for the next shelter.

Many shopkeepers and homeowners had opened their homes and businesses to the refugees and functioned as mini shelters. After checking and helping out at several of these, the heroes stopped to rest.

"Hey, since we have a moment, we should try and follow that lead of yours Amy." Suggested Sonic as he stretched his legs.

Amy jumped up from the bench she was seated on, "Yeah, that's a great idea! I have a really good feeling about this! Follow me!"

As they followed her through the streets of Spagonia's capital city, Knuckles asked, "Where are we going? And where did you get this lead from?"

"Well, whenever I have free time I've been going to the check-in center at the capital hall to see if I could find Cream or at least find some sort of clue. I kept running into this G.U.N. solider named Dexter and he offered to spread the word to all of his buddies to keep a look out. I got word from him the other day that he had a lead! So we're headed to where he's stationed to find out what he discovered!"

"Are you sure we can trust him?" questioned Sonic warily "He is G.U.N. after all…"

Amy looked over her shoulder with a frown, "Not all G.U.N. agents are bad you know. This one happens to be very nice; he's helping us find Cream and Vanilla."

"Sorry…"

"I should think so!" Amy entered a building with a crudely made sign that read, 'Food Rations'. Inside was a long line of people, most of them refugees, waiting to reach a counter where a volunteer was handing out small bags of food. Amy scanned the room for a minute before calling out, "Dexter!" she ran over a G.U.N. solider standing guard in the corner.

"Hey there Amy! Did you get my message?" asked Dexter. Even though he was in full uniform, it was clear Dexter was a bobcat. By Mobian standards he was tall, he had thick whiskers, pointy ears with scruffy ends, and he possessed a stubby tail poking out the back of his uniform. He noticed Sonic and Knuckles and nodded politely, "Oh, hello there. Nice to make your acquaintance; my name is Dexter."

After a nudge from Amy both Sonic and Knuckles replied, "Likewise."

"So Dexter, what's this lead you found?" asked Amy excitedly. "Do you know where they are?"

"I do in fact. One of my pals who patrols the hospital says he saw a little rabbit with her pet going from room to room cheering up patients, bring them food and being generally helpful."

"That sure sounds like Cream," said Knuckles "She always did like to help people."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get over there and find her!" proclaimed Sonic as he prepared to speed off.

Amy grabbed him by the arm, "Wait!" she turned back to Dexter, "Was she with her mother?"

Dexter shrugged sadly, "Sorry, he didn't say anything about that. My friend only saw the little one."

"Oh…"

Sonic tugged gently on Amy's hand, "Come on, and cheer up Amy. I'm sure they're together."

"If Cream and Cheese made it here ok, than I'm sure Vanilla did too." Pointed out Knuckles, "There's only one way to be sure though."

With a deep breath Amy nodded, "You guys are right. Let's go to that hospital and find them. I really do hope they're together…" Luckily, the group didn't have to wait long for the hospital was just down the street from the ration building. Once inside, Amy ran straight up to the reception desk and began asking the woman working there about Cream and Vanilla as Sonic and Knuckles hung back.

As the two waited for Amy to come back, a nearby set of double doors opened up and a familiar, sweet little voice rang out, "I'll be right back! Cheese is thirsty and he can't use the water fountain by himself."

Amy looked over and a huge smile burst onto her face, "CREAM!"

"AMY!" squeaked Cream as she practically tackled Amy in a hug. Cheese bounced on the female hedgehog's head happily, even snuggling her bangs. Cream gasped as she saw Sonic and Knuckles run over, "MR. SONIC, MR. KNUCKLES! You're here too?! Oh this is wonderful!"

Sonic gave the little rabbit a hug, "We're pretty glad to see you to Cream! Oh and uh, it just Sonic, remember?"

"Te he! How could I forget?"

"With everything that's happened, we were starting to think we'd never find you." Said Knuckles as he pet Cheese and the chao chattered happily.

Cream nodded and began to reply, "Mother and I were beginning- OH! Mother will want to see you too! Stay right here, I'll be right back!" Cream dashed back through the doors and a not a minute later reemerged with her mother, Vanilla, in tow.

"Oh my goodness! What a pleasant surprise!" exclaimed Vanilla, "It's so good to see all of you again! What about Tails, Espio, Charmy, and Vector? Are they alright as well?"

Amy looked at her fellow heroes before replying sadly, "Let's sit down. We'll… fill you in…" Cream and Vanilla listened in shock as they learned that their house back home had been destroyed and that Vector and Charmy had died fighting in the massive war that now engulfed the planet.

"Oh no… Charmy… he was so young and Vector… oh gracious…" said Vanilla quietly as she dabbed at her tearing eyes with a handkerchief.

"How did you escape the destruction back home? When we found the wreckage we thought the two of you were goners." asked Knuckles gently.

"A week or so before this whole mess started, Cream and I decided to take a little trip to Apotos. We were all set to return home when news about Doctor Eggman's attacks reached the inn we were staying at. His dropships appeared on the horizon and everyone was evacuated to Spagonia. We've been staying with a family that kind enough to share their home with us ever since, trying to help in any way we can." explained Vanilla as she continued to dab at her eyes.

Sonic sighed, "Well it's a good thing you made it here safely… We don't need any more bad news…"

Amy looked over at Cream who was sitting silently, "Cream? You're awful quiet, are you ok?"

"Is our house really gone? My daisy garden, Mother's vegetable garden, and Cheese's playhouse… Their all gone?" the light furred rabbit asked quietly, her voice shaking. Amy nodded. "And Mr. Vector and Charmy… they're gone?" Amy nodded once more she gave Cream a hug.

"Don't worry Cream, we're gonna make Eggman pay. They won't have died in vain." Assured Knuckles as he cracked his namesakes.

"Why is there fighting anyways?" sobbed Cream suddenly. Everyone jumped back slightly as she continued loudly, "Why did Doctor Eggman blow up our homes?! We didn't do anything! All this violence and fighting is, is, so RUDE! I don't like it and I want to go home!"

Vanilla hugged her daughter tightly, calmly saying, "That's why Dr. Eggman is evil. You're right Cream; it is quite rude of him to start this awful war. But, where there's evil, good isn't far behind. Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, and G.U.N. will defeat Dr. Eggman and set everything right again."

"You can count on us. We're gonna fix this mess and serve Eggman some serious justice. He won't get away with it Cream, I promise you." Said sonic as he knelt and put a hand on Cream's shoulder. "But in the meantime you gotta promise me that you'll stay strong and don't lose hope…" Sonic paused before adding, "Promise that no matter how hard things may seem… you'll never give up."

Cream sniffed and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, "I promise."

"Good. Besides, if you give up, whose gonna help out here at the hospital?"

"I do like helping here. There lots of sad people here who've lost hope. But, I'm going to cheer them up! Every single one! Come on Cheese!" Cream jumped up and ran back through the double doors.

Vanilla watched her go with a small smile, "Thank you, all of you. I think the most important thing in a time like this is to keep hope alive." She turned back to the heroes, "I know you can defeat Dr. Eggman. Everyone here believes you can too."

"Thank you Vanilla. We won't stop fighting until this war is won." Said Amy confidently.

"I can see the world is in good hands. I should get back as well. Take care, and good luck." Vanilla got up and went back through the double doors as well, offering the group of heroes a final wave goodbye.

As they exited the building, Sonic thought to himself, 'I've never seen Cream that upset… Dammit Eggman, this damn war you started just keeps hurting more and more people. Well, I'm going to make sure that you don't get away with it…'

"-we do Sonic?" asked Knuckles suddenly.

"Wha-? Sorry I wasn't listening. What did you say Knux?"

"Its Knuckles and I said, now what do we do?" Before Sonic could answer, all of their communicators buzzed urgently. Knuckles looked and immediately his tone was serious, "Looks like the leaders and the G.U.N. Commander have come to a decision…"

Amy wrung her hands slightly, "What if they kick us out of the war?"

"They can't win this war by themselves. If they could, they wouldn't have come to us in the first place. They have to let us stay in, they have to. Now come on, let's go." Ordered Sonic as he held out his hands. Knuckles and Amy each took one and in a gust of wind, they were speeding back towards the G.U.N. Main HQ.

Author's Note: Horray, Cream and her mother are alive and well! But what will the world leaders decide? Can they really afford to kick Team Heroes out of the war? Guess I'll have to keep typing so you guys cab find out! As always, please read, review, and most of all, enjoy!