Blue Star

Note: Lance and Brindle are Forgotten Muse's characters, not mine, I'm using them with permission ^_^

Part 13: Welcome to the Emerald Hill

"Oh come on! This isn't funny! What kind of inconsiderate idiot sets up traps in a public forest?"

Sonic was not impressed, dangling from a tree by a rope that had looped around his ankles was definitely not his idea of fun. He swore loudly and profusely, before curling upwards, grabbing hold of the rope with one hand until he looked like a pendulum. Plucking a sharp quill from between the two large bladed spikes on his back with his free hand, he growled, then started to pick at the thick rope with it to cut it.

It was taking too long, but he couldn't work up the strength to simply spin himself free while the blood was rushing to his head. Plucking the rope's strands apart one by one, he managed to get about a quarter of the way through it, before it suddenly went slack above him, dropping him to the floor with a thump and a yelp.

"ARGH! Okay, who did that?" Sonic flipped back to his feet, kicking the rope off, and bristled, whirling on the spot and looking around in all directions. "Where are you? Come out here and face me!"

Silence was all that answered him, but he stilled, flicking his ears as he listened for any signs of movement in the forest. The remainder of the rope crashed to the floor next to him, scattering leaves into the air with a rustle. He grabbed hold of it, and found the end. It had been cut neatly. Hissing, he gathered it up, looping it over his shoulder, then looked around some more.

"Who are you?"

When nobody answered, Sonic snarled, and started walking past the trees again, slightly more cautiously this time. He was sure the rope trap was a one off, but he wasn't going to take any chances now. Or as many, at any rate, as he leaped across a small tree root that protruded from the ground. As the floor started crumbling on the other side, he sprung back into the air and grabbed hold of a hanging vine, watching the small area of soft soil collapse into a large pitfall trap.

"Okay, that definitely isn't natural." Sonic scowled at the smooth sides of the pit. If he fell into that it'd have been difficult to climb back out of it. "Who the heck's trapped the Emerald Forest? Some people have places to be and all these do is cause delays!"

Swinging his feet, he used the vine to throw himself across the pit and land neatly on the other side. Taking a moment to get his bearings, he started running towards the Emerald Hill Zone again. This time he sped up, opting to go as fast as he could to get past traps before they had a chance to catch him out. Several snapping noises sounded as rope traps were triggered behind his feet, and he went faster, increasing the distance between himself and the traps. He weaved between the trees, jumping up to run across the branches as another pitfall trap made its presence known. He took the rope from his shoulder as he bounced from branch to branch, forming a loop in it and swinging it around above his head. Sonic threw the rope forwards, and swung down on it once it caught onto another tree's limb, swinging over a thorned bush, before letting go and starting to run again as soon as his feet hit the ground.

He grinned as the edge of the trap laden forest came into sight as he darted between the trees. It'd be good to be past the Emerald Forest and on his way to the village to get help to fix his bi-plane. He stepped sideways around another pitfall, and crashed into something quite solid. His momentum wasn't fast enough due to dodging around trees, so when he hit it he bounced backwards from it, landing on his butt in the leaf litter.

"ARGH what the-?"

"You're not supposed to be here, mister hedgehog."

"Huh? Who's there?"

The voice sounded like that of a child, and the teenage hedgehog did not approve of being spoken to like that. Especially after a set of planks had been pulled up in his path. Sonic looked at the rope leading up into the trees from the top of the makeshift wall, and frowned. The rope vanished into the leaves, and he was unable to see who was holding the other end. He got to his feet, brushing the leaves from his quills.

"Well, whoever you are, oh hiding kid, you're not gonna stop me. I need to talk to some folks in Emerald Hill, and you're holding me up."

"You were told not to come back to Emerald Hill when you made a big crater in it three years ago."

"Ahah, so you're from around the Zone. Well that narrows who you are down a bit. But I'm in a hurry, I'll play with you later, kid."

Before the anonymous voice could reply, Sonic had jumped over the planks and started running towards the edge of the trees. There was a fwwp fwwp fwwp noise, from the trees above, and Sonic jumped as a spiked barrier sprung from below the leaves in front of him. As his feet touched the ground, a rope loop snapped around his ankles and he once again found himself hanging from the trees upside down. He growled, annoyed now.

"Okay, get the bloody hell out of the trees and tell me who you are!"

"You gotta get outta my forest."

"Your forest? This is public property kid! Now cut me down!"

There was a moments silence as the stranger contemplated it, then Sonic hit the floor with a thud as the rope went slack. He swore loudly, then jumped to his feet again, glaring up into the trees. His quills stuck on end, some with leaves still attached to them, indicating that he wasn't impressed in the least.

"Come on then, who're you?"

"You're pretty cool. I like the way you run."

Sonic couldn't help but smirk a little at that. "Well, yes, I'm awesome. But everyone knows that and it's not what I asked. I'm not gonna stand here and keep talking to shadows in trees y'know. If you don't come down I'm leaving."

"Ah! N-no, don't go, I was just playing with you." There was a rustle, followed by the sound of claws scratching on bark. "Please, I'm really lonely out here, I didn't mean to upset you, you looked like you'd play with me..."

"I play better when some anonymous kid isn't out to kill me."

"S-sorry... I set up the traps to keep people away when they want to pick on me..."

"So were you trying to play or scare me off?"

"Umm..." A little yellow fox peered out from behind the nearest tree, looking a bit sheepish. "A little bit of both... Maybe?"

Sonic blinked at the cub, who couldn't have been more than seven. "... You set up those traps?"

"... Yes?"

"All of them?" Sonic couldn't believe it.

"Uh huh..." the fox held a hand out, showing its crude bandaging out of something that looked like a stolen sock. "That spiky one's my favourite, but it hurt to set up."

"What the... What kind of bandage is that?" Sonic stepped towards the kid, who backed away back behind the tree. "Oh, come on, even though you tried killing me I'm not gonna hurt ya, y'know."

"Uh uh. I want to play, I don't want you staring at me!"

"Staring? Why would I stare? You're just a fox."

"Nuh-uh."

"You're staring at me pretty hard, do you see me complaining?"

"Uhhh..."

"Come here. We'll go to the village and get you some proper bandages... Oh now where are you off to?"

"Not the village, they'll pick on me." the fox had started climbing back up the tree, only seen from Sonic's position by the little paws clutching onto the sides of the trunk.

"Hey, come back down, I won't let them hurt you."

"No." A small whine, and the fox's hands vanished. "You just go, if you don't wanna play with me. I won't set off any more traps."

"Listen, kid, I-"

"Just go away mister hedgehog!"

Sonic growled lightly, then shook his head. "Kid, will you listen to me?" When there was no response, Sonic continued. "Do you think people haven't picked on me before either? I know how it feels, so it's not like I'll let them pick on you."

"Yeah but you're fast and can run away if they do. All that's weird about you is you're blue!"

"Huh, well that's the first time I've heard that." Sonic cracked his knuckles, and looked into the trees. "You look normal to me kid. Now come down or I'll come up there and get you."

"No."

"I will, I mean it."

"No! You'll pick on me too!"

"No I won't. Listen kid, you're starting to get on my nerves. So come down or I'll cut the tree down."

"That won't work, you don't know which one I'm in!"

"I bet I can find you." Sonic perked his ears up, hearing the fwwp fwwp noise again, but then he remembered what he was doing. "Ah, fine, have it your way kid. I need to fix my plane which is upside down on the beach, so can you point me towards the village?"

"... Plane? ... Umm... Turn a bit to your left." Sonic turned until the fox yelped "Stop, that's it. Just go that way. It goes right to the village."

"Cheers. Well, later kid. Have a nice, paranoid life."

Sonic jogged on the spot, taking each step faster and faster until his legs blurred, and then he was gone in a cloud of leaves and dirt. The fox cub peered after him as he ran off almost faster than he could see, then dug his claws into the sides of the tree, sliding down the trunk. As soon as he felt safe enough, he ran in the direction that the strange hedgehog had entered the forest from. He wanted to see this aircraft.

Sonic made his way out of the forest, and charged up an embankment of semi-transparent green grass that gave the zone its name. Flowers kicked up behind his speeding feet and small Terra animals watched the blue blur streak past them. Sonic chuckled, revelling in the wide open space ahead of him, and accelerated onwards over the lightly rolling hills and stone pathways, log bridges over deep rivers, and towards the small cluster of towering tree trunks ahead that was the Emerald village. A large lake was ahead of him, and he ran around the perimeter, not wishing to slide into it. He knew what had created the crater that now housed that lake, and really did not want the Emerald Hill folk to see him loitering around it.

Skidding into the centre of the village, he chipped a few loose stones from the floor into the air, and found himself apologising far earlier than he'd intended to. The Zone leader; an old raccoon; scowled down at the teen hedgehog, as he stood sheepishly tugging at one of his ears. He shuffled a foot, trying to knock the stones back into the places they'd come from, as other villagers gathered around. Before long, quite a large crowd had gathered, and Sonic wished he had brought Johnny with him. There was an awkward silence as the villagers waited for him to stop apologising and start talking.

"Umm... Hi...?" Sonic found himself at a complete loss for words as he tried to remember what he'd actually come to the village to say.

"What do you want, Sonic?" the Zone leader said, maintaining his scowl.

"Ah.." Sonic took half a step backwards, before remembering that if there was any trouble, he could easily run. "Oh, um, sorry to like, show up without warning you, it was Johnny's idea, but... Oh you won't believe this, eheh, I had a little plane crash on the beach, just a minor thing, and I need to put it back the right way up and well..."

Sonic had strung the words together so quickly in his hurry to explain, that the villagers simply stared at him, trying to register his meaning, before someone behind the taller Mobians in the front row spoke up.

"Slow down wouldya?" a young girl's voice. Sonic tried to see who'd spoken, but while the front row of Mobians turned their head over their shoulders, they didn't clear a gap for him to look through. "No one can hear a thing you're saying through all the neener-neener-neener!"

Sonic scowled into the crowd. He didn't appreciate being spoken to like an idiot, and was about to charge into it to find the person he assumed was pulling faces, when the Zone leader turned back to face him. He quickly threw on a smile, and nervously played with his ear.

"Well?"

Sonic took a breath, and repeated what he'd said already, but slower. Then followed it with, "and I need someone to help me put my plane back the right way up. Me and Johnny can't do it by ourselves, it's heavy."

"Who's this?"

"Johnny Lightfoot? He's from around here. He's waiting by my plane."

"Ahh, Jonathan. I know him." The woodpecker standing next to the raccoon nodded. "Nice guy."

"Yeah, he's my friend, and he's waiting for me to bring back help to flip my plane! C'mon guys, I'm not causing any trouble..."

"Hmph, and how do we know you're not going to either?" The Zone leader still wasn't convinced.

Sonic bristled. "I just wanna put the Tornado back on its wheels! The sooner people help me, the sooner I can get on my way!"

"Why, pray tell, is your plane upside down anyway?"

"Had a run in with a pretty nasty dolphin, and it chased us onto the beach. Plane hits sand awkwardly, wheels stop, plane keeps going, plane ends up upside down." Sonic snorted. "Simple physics."

"A dolphin?" There was a murmur of chuckling from the crowd, and Sonic fumed.

"A big dolphin, black and white, very very big. Bigger than my plane?" the hedgehog looked around at the confused faces in front of him, and gave an exasperated sigh. "It was a giant orca! You know, the flipping HUGE one that lives in the Emerald Coast?"

"Ah, that one. Well, what did you do to upset it? It migrates past South Island every year without any trouble."

"I didn't do nothing to it!"

Sonic fumed, he was clearly not getting through to anyone except that one woodpecker. So he turned his back on the crowd, and darted towards the nearest building, jumping up to sit on the roof with ease. He looked down, emerald eyes piercing the crowd below, looking for any helpful faces amongst it.

"Look, dudes, you can either believe me or not, but I ain't going anywhere without someone righting my plane." He stretched, before adjusting his position to lay on his side, propping his head up with an elbow as he yawned dramatically. "And I'm in no rush."

The woodpecker glanced at the raccoon, who was scowling. Sonic had chosen his roof to sit on, and he wasn't amused. "Thomas?"

"What, Peter?" Thomas turned his glare onto the woodpecker instead, while Sonic flicked bits of dirt off the roof.

"You're a great Zone leader, but don't you think you're being a bit mean for no reason? He is still a kid after all."

"Hmph. A kid who blew a bloody great hole in the Zone."

"That was years ago Tom."

"Your point being?"

"It doesn't matter any more. It's a lake now, which is a little more useful than a blank hill."

"It's the Emerald Hill Zone, not the Emerald Lake Zone."

"One lake isn't gonna change the whole Zone, Tom. Just leave the kid alone, he's a person too."

"Hmph."

"Just leave it to me, Tom. I'll get Sonic sorted out, and he won't cause any trouble. Will you Sonic?"

"No way. Trouble ain't me."

The argument went on for a little longer, before Thomas finally conceded to leave Sonic alone. As the hedgehog jumped down from the roof, the raccoon glared at him again for good measure, before disappearing inside the building. The crowd started to disperse, leaving Sonic standing with Peter, a tall white rabbit with a black patch on one ear who looked like Johnny, a greyhound and a badger, and a large brown bear that Sonic was surprised to see, since he hadn't noticed him standing in the crowd. He smiled up at them all, pleased that they'd decided to give him a hand. The greyhound, who was probably about Sonic's age, didn't look too happy about it, but the others seemed fine with helping out.

Sonic had a foot raised and was about to run to the Tornado, before the woodpecker raised an eyebrow at him. The little hedgehog remembered that no one else could keep up when he ran, so he started to walk instead, with the small group following him. The greyhound jogged up beside him, sneering down the end of his long snout. Sonic ignored him. Well, at least until the dog kicked a stone right in front of his foot and caused him to stumble. With quills stuck on end, Sonic turned a glare at him.

"What's your problem?"

"Nothin'."

"Good, because if it were something I'd have to do something about it." Sonic hissed at the dog, who grinned, clearly not worried.

As Sonic turned his head back to the path through the forest, he found himself tripping over a long canine leg. He spun back to his feet before he hit the ground, and whirled to face the greyhound, darting in front of him so he had to stop.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Did not."

"That's it! Take this!"

Sonic pounced at the dog, who stepped aside from the angry hedgehog, and laughed as Sonic crashed into the tree behind him. By now the others in the group had noticed the boys squabbling, and had stopped to watch. The badger watched them with ears raised curiously, and the rabbit and bear stood shaking their heads. Peter was not happy, and stood with his arms folded, frowning disapprovingly at the boys as they argued.

Sonic growled as the dog sidestepped another charge, then followed it up with a lunge, catching the hedgehog in the centre of his back. He punched Sonic to the ground, and was rewarded with a leg sweeping him to the ground too. Sonic continued the motion until he was back on his own feet, and bristled at the downed greyhound.

"What the heck did I do to you?"

"Freak!" the dog barked at him, and Sonic would've jumped on him again, if the bear hadn't scooped them both up by the scruffs of their necks. "Lemme go!"

"Put me down!" Sonic yelled at the same time as him.

"Not until you both behave." the bear answered bluntly.

"Sonic! Lance!" Peter lost his temper finally. This was exactly why he had no children of his own. "If you two do not get along, we won't help you, Sonic." As Lance stuck his tongue out, the woodpecker continued. "And you, Lance, will be in trouble with your parents once I tell them and Thomas."

Sonic sniggered at Lance. "You still live with your parents?"

Lance sneered back. "At least I have them."

Sonic's laugh stopped immediately, and he bristled so much that the bear had to let go of him. It was a well known fact on South Island that Genocide had decimated the Green Hill Zone, and Sonic, being the only known survivor of that particular attack, tended to receive all of the blame. It wasn't fair, and he hated everyone who did blame him, especially so openly. The hedgehog glared at the dog with an intensity that made his green eyes seem to glow.

"Shut up."

Lance folded his arms defiantly. "Make me, shrimp."

Peter intervened before Sonic could 'make him', and the woodpecker smacked both teens on top of their heads. "What did I just say to you?"

"But mister..." Sonic began, not taking his eyes from Lance's sneer.

"No buts." Peter turned to Lance. "You. Go home."

"But tiny here wanted help!"

"And all you're doing is aggravating matters. Go home."

"No." the dog pouted, and along with the folded arms and being suspended off the ground by the scruff of his neck, he was starting to look silly. Sonic had to scowl just a little less.

"Then stop causing trouble."

When the boys were quiet for a while, the bear put Lance down. The greyhound darted over to the badger, and Sonic assumed they were friends. There was a short, tense moment when no one did anything, waiting to see what the boys would do, before Sonic started to walk again. Only this time he kept an ear flicked backwards to listen to the Emerald Hill folk, and to make sure Lance wasn't trying to sneak up on him.

The walk back through the forest was far less eventful than Sonic's trip to the village. The hedgehog was glad the fox had kept his word, he didn't really want to be blamed for any traps that could have sprung up. He ran ahead slightly, trying to remember the exact route he'd taken. That rope from that tree was a good clue, so he led the others around the pitfall below it, with only a brief moment of considering pushing that arrogant greyhound into it. He glanced over his shoulder to look at them. Lance was sulking, glaring at Sonic, but looking away when the hedgehog locked eyes with him, and his badger friend seemed to be trying to cheer him up. Sonic couldn't hear what was being said exactly, they were trailing right at the back of the group. The bear and the rabbit were engaged in quite a one sided conversation, with the hulking bear doing all the talking while the rabbit was concentrating on where his feet were stepping. Peter was quiet too, twitching his head every now and again to look around the forest warily. Seemed that he might have had some run ins with the fox cub before too. Sonic turned his head back to the path ahead of him, and tripped over a tree root he hadn't noticed while looking backwards.

Standing up and spitting out a mouthful of leaf litter, he flattened his ears as he heard Lance burst out laughing. Sonic bristled, wiping his mouth on the back of his glove, and stubbornly refused to look back and glare at the dog again. He started walking again, only flicking one ear backwards to make sure that the others continued to follow. It didn't sound like they'd dropped out, in fact they were hurrying along to catch up with the hedgehog's brisk walk. Remembering the fox's traps, he didn't blame them. The woods seemed quiet though, which puzzled Sonic. The fox had promised not to launch traps on him, but had made no such promises about the others. But if it meant he wouldn't have to save them from any, he certainly wasn't going to complain. He did make up his mind to hunt the child down later and get him cleaned up, however.

The journey continued without any more mishaps, though with plenty of blatantly flung insults from the dog. Sonic managed to ignore them, barely, as they reached the end of the forest and the top of the beach's embankment of sand. The white grains and palm trees created a picturesque image from where they stood, and he could just make out the shape of the Gold Star in the distance, roughly above Station Square. The long coastline of the mainland stretched out along most of the horizon that Sonic could see, miles away, but a wide expanse of water lurked to one side to the south west, opening into broad ocean. The little hedgehog took a moment to imagine what was further than the mainland, but the Gold Star wasn't yet ready for long distance travel, and the Tornado couldn't manage it full stop. Giving a little, dreamy sigh, he looked up and down the coast, a hand above his eyes to shield them from the sunlight, searching for the bi-plane. He caught a glimpse of sunlight glinting off metal a little further along to the south, and darted closer to look, once more feeling a pang of distress at seeing his favourite vehicle on its head. Sonic dashed back to meet the others as they stumbled out of the trees onto the bank, and pointed in the direction of the Tornado.

"It's just over there, I'll go tell Johnny you're coming, see you in a flash guys!"

Without waiting for a response, Sonic charged along the beach in a cloud of sand, and skidded to a stop at the wings of his plane, waking Johnny up when a seashell kicked up by his sudden stop hit the rabbit in the face. The ruffled rabbit sat up in a hurry, brushing the loose sand from his grey fur. He glanced at Sonic out of one, half open eye.

"Hey Tumble, you're late!"

"Am not." Sonic pouted. "Besides, had a little trouble with the Zone Leader."

"What did you do this time?"

"Nothing, I swear! I just accidentally chipped a few stones loose from the path when I stopped! One... Might have... Scratched someone's window..." Sonic threw his hands up defensively as the rabbit put his face in his hand. "Hey! It's not like I did it on purpose!"

Johnny sighed and looked down at Sonic as he stood up. "You've got to get the hang of stopping. So who did you manage to get to help?"

"Umm. A woodpecker, Peter I think his name is. Some bear, a rabbit like you, and some bratty jerk mongrel and his badger friend."

"... We also need to work on your people skills."

"Well it's true!"

"And they're just getting here now."

"Pah, like I care what they think." Sonic pouted and started digging into the sand around the plane, in an effort to get into the cockpit and get a rope, leaving Johnny to deal with the approaching group.

The tall rabbit watched the little blue hedgehog vanish beneath the aircraft in a puff of sand, and shook his head, before turning his attention to the group of Mobians approaching along the beach. Peter strode up to him, still in the lead, and had to look up at Johnny. He smiled and held out a hand, which Johnny shook gladly.

"Young Lightfoot, how nice it is to see you."

"Hey sir." Johnny looked around the group, until he saw the other rabbit. And was quickly hugged by them. "Ah! Melissa! I didn't think you were still around here!"

"Course I am cuz!"

Sonic stuck his head out from under the plane, looking thoroughly confused. "You're a girl?" He'd thought the rabbit was a guy, she'd looked pretty boyish to him with her short fur and wiry figure.

"Yup!"

"Oh, well, hi then ma'am, sorry I didn't say hi before." Sonic shook his head and dived back under the plane, muttering about where the heck that rope went.

"Cute kid, likes to bicker though don' he?" Melissa grinned at Johnny. "Him and that little doggie there went a'rollin' in that jungle."

"Really?" Johnny sighed. "Sorry about that."

"Eh, 'tween you and me Lance mighta deserved it a little." Melissa leaned past Johnny to look at the Tornado. "Whoa, your little hedgie weren' a'jokin' was he?"

"Nope, it was a bit of an interesting accident..." Johnny looked at Peter. "Reckon you guys can help us right it?"

"HER."

The woodpecker chuckled as Sonic put his head out from underneath the aircraft again, and reprimanded Johnny. "The Tornado is a HER."

"Oh, right, I forgot, sorry Tumble."

"Yeah well don't forget again." Sonic disappeared again for a moment, before yelling, "Where the heck has that rope gone?" at the top of his lungs, which sounded odd being screamed through sand, before he burst out from under the Tornado and jumped onto the upturned bi-plane's wings and looked around the sand below, ignoring everyone else.

"Told you we should have brought rope." the bear had to lean down to make his quiet comment heard to Peter, who simply nodded.

Lance and the badger were being quite quiet, the greyhound was still annoyed at having been told off for tormenting Sonic. They stood back a bit, watching the others deciding what to do. The dog had no intention of helping Sonic, the hedgehog was a freak as far as he was concerned. No one should be that strange shade of blue, and no one should be faster than a greyhound, except maybe the cheetahs. He was jealous and he knew it, which made him more annoyed still. Lance snorted as the badger tugged his arm.

"What, Brindle?"

"Shouldn't we be helping?"

"Nope." Lance shrugged Brindle's hand from his arm. "Besides, ain't any way we're getting that lump of scrap the right way up, it's gotta weigh a lot."

"Not if it flies, it's probably lighter than-" Brindle flinched at a glance from the dog, and shut up.

"It's a lump of scrap." Lance repeated. "And besides, why should we help him, huh? Everyone knows he's cursed."

Brindle just responded with a grunt.

"So, we're just gonna watch them and not help."

"Then... Why did we come with them?"

"So we CAN watch, duh."

"Oh... Well, won't we get in trouble if we just watch?"

This time it was Lance's turn to grunt. The badger had a point, and Chaos knew Lance was in enough trouble as it was. Not that he looked for or caused it, of course, it wasn't his fault no one saw things his way. The dog turned his face back to watch the others by the plane, frowning. It didn't matter right that moment anyway, as no one could locate any rope and Sonic was laying on the wings, either looking at something on the far side of the plane, or asleep. Lance thought it was probably the latter, and that the little freak was letting everyone else work it out for him. That's probably what he'd have done anyway. The greyhound yelped as a stone bounced off the back of his head, and whirled around to look for who threw it. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the tree line, but didn't see anything.

"C'mon Brindle."

"Huh? Oh, okay..."

They walked over to the group by the Tornado, further away from the trees. Lance didn't particularly want another stone hitting him. They arrived as Sonic stood up on the aircraft's underside, holding up two thick coils of rope triumphantly. Okay, thought Lance, so maybe he hadn't been asleep. Not that it mattered, they wouldn't get the plane righted anyway. Sonic cast Lance a quick scowl, then darted to the end of the plane's tail to start trying the rope to it. He threw the other coil at Johnny on the way, and the rabbit climbed up to tie it onto the wheel frame. Lance pouted as Johnny tossed the rope at him.

Johnny looked at the others for a moment, before pointing at Lance and Peter. "You two can help me on the wheel rope," he glanced over at Melissa and the bear. "and you two and the badger can help Sonic with the tail rope. We'll get the Tornado the right way up in no time!"

Sonic laughed as he jumped off the plane, holding the rope out to his assigned helpers. Brindle took a moment to look across at Lance, but took his own part of the rope anyway. "Cheers!" Sonic grinned.

"Brindle..." Lanced hissed, but had Peter throwing a length of the rope into his hands too before he could say anything else.

"You're here, you can do your fair share too, Lance."

"But-"

Peter cocked his head sideways and glared at the greyhound, who flinched backwards slightly, flattening his ears. Sonic sniggered, finding the dog's submissive attitude amusing, especially after Lance had picked on him for no reason whatsoever. Sonic nodded, and strolled towards the propeller end of the plane, while Johnny led his group towards the tail end. They explained that Sonic's group was to pull the plane over, and Johnny's was to stop it from falling too fast. Sonic was worried Lance would let go, but Johnny pointed out that the dog would be standing in front of him and he'd stop him from bolting. So they carried on with the plan.

Sonic's group, with Sonic at the closest to the plane, followed by Brindle, then Melissa, then the bear, started to pull. It was hard to get the aircraft to start moving, so they stopped while Sonic dug a ditch for it to tilt into, then started again. This time, the Tornado's nose slid into the ditch, and wedged there, allowing them to up end the plane. Sonic visibly cringed as the aircraft stood vertically for a moment, and Johnny called out, his team tugging the opposing rope tight. Together, the two groups started to lower the aircraft back the right way up, with the bear running across to help Johnny's group instead as it ended up taking most of the weight. The Tornado started falling quicker than they could keep up with, so Sonic's group ran around with their rope to slow it more. Soon the bi-plane was the right orientation once more, albeit a little full of sand, and they all dropped the ropes.

Sonic grinned around at everyone. "Cheers for the help guys, she's a small plane but she'd have been too heavy to move on our own..." He held a hand out towards Peter, who was the most senior of the group. "I hope the Emerald Hill folk won't keep blaming me, I don't wanna stay on bad terms or anything."

"You won't, Sonic. I'll have a word with Thomas, but you'll just have to..." Peter looked over the blue hedgehog, but took his hand anyway. "... Reign in your skills a little when around the Zone. He won't take kindly to any more accidents."

"Gotcha, thank you!" Sonic laughed lightly and scrambled up onto the top of the plane, to start digging the remaining sand from the cockpit. "Um, do you want me to guide you guys back? I got a bit of cleaning to do before the Tornado's ready to fly, but I'll be happy to escort you back-"

"I know the way!" Lance barked indignantly.

"What's his problem?" Sonic muttered quietly to Peter, who shrugged.

"He's like that to everyone, don't worry about it."

"C'mon, I'll lead the way!" the greyhound pointed towards the forest, clearly ignoring the conversation.

"Ah don' ya worry any abou' him, I know the way." Melissa chuckled as the dog and his friend started walking back. She ruffled Sonic's spikes, "y' be good, m'kay kid?" then she grabbed Johnny into an immense hug. "I'll see ya at dinna, righ' cuz?"

"Mhmm, I'll see you later Melissa." Johnny nodded, and pried himself free from her grip. "Please be careful going back, okay?"

"Will do!"

Peter clicked his tongue and the bear leaned down to hear him. "Go fetch the boys, or at least, keep them from going any further unsupervised."

"Okay!"

The bear ran off after the dog, and Melissa started to follow him. Peter nodded at Johnny and Sonic, "I presume I shall see you both later on. Take care meanwhile, boys." With that, he left.

Once the group had disappeared into the Emerald Forest, Johnny looked at Sonic, before starting to untie the ropes from the Tornado. Sonic climbed onto the top of the plane and started digging the sand from the cockpit as his friend untied the ropes. Sonic could tell Johnny was thinking about something, and could hazard a guess at what it was. He leaned over the edge of the plane to watch the rabbit's feet sticking out from beneath it as Johnny freed the underside from the ropes.

"Yeah, those ropes weren't the one I had on the plane."

"Where did you find them, Sonic?"

"On the wings, but I can think of where they may have come from..." Sonic trailed off.

"Can you now?" Johnny stuck his head back out from underneath the Tornado. "Mind sharing this information?"

Sonic looked thoughtful for a moment, before he shook his head. "Naa, I better not, not yet anyway. Sorry Johnny."

Johnny gave an exasperated sigh, and pulled himself out from the bottom of the aircraft. He dusted the sand from his grey fur, and started to roll the rope back up. He'd known what Sonic's answer would be, but it didn't make it any less irritating that Sonic decided when he wanted or needed to share information with him, regardless of its importance. However, the rabbit did not expect Sonic to ask where the first aid kid went, so he directed his friend to it with a bewildered expression on his furry face.

"Sonic? Why do you need-?"

"Oh, um, for stuff! I'll bring it back in a few seconds Johnny!"

"Wait, where are you running off to now?"

"The forest!"

"But what about the Tornado?"

"I've got something else to take care of first-"

"We can't," interrupted Johnny, "leave the plane on the beach." He waited for Sonic to interrupt again, but the hedgehog stood on top of the wings, tapping a foot impatiently. "How about, we take her over to the Village, so I can pay my cousin that visit while you go gallivanting off into the trees to play doctor with the local wildlife?"

"Um." Sonic frowned, before he dropped to a sitting position. "Well, I guess it can wait." Not to mention the fact that he had no idea where the fox cub would be, and it probably wouldn't have been fair to leave Johnny sitting on the beach for hours. "How're we gonna get the sand out of here though?"

"As long as there's nothing stopping the controls working-"

"There isn't, I checked."

"Then we should be able to fly it to the Village, and get a broom or something to i-" Johnny smiled as Sonic shot a glare at him, "I mean, 'her', and get the rest out."

"Hmm, okay, let's do that then."

Sonic grinned, watching Johnny put the rope coils into the cockpit before climbing in himself. Well, at least the villagers weren't going to chase him off again. Though he hoped that the group had got back first to explain, but it'd only be a matter of going into the forest and looking for them himself if they'd got lost. Johnny'd be able to keep the Zone Leader at bay, while Sonic could hunt down signs of that fox again. Triumphantly, he jumped to his feet as Johnny clicked his harness into place, and pointed onwards. The sand was mostly smooth, if all went well the Tornado would be able to get airborne again, if not, they could taxi to an embankment. Either way, they'd been in one spot too long. The hedgehog grinned.

"Let's go! Emerald Hill, ready or not, here I come!"

-TBC