Chapter 29: Resolution

The next day, the worried mother of Cream the Rabbit, a sweet lady by the name of Vanilla, was watching the news channel from the living room of her vacation home in the city of Metropolis. The anchorwoman continued her broadcast, "It's been eight days since the mass destruction which occurred in Metropolis, and still volunteers, firefighters, construction workers, and other helpful personnel are working nonstop to repair this great city. Luckily, there have been no reports of civilian death or injury during this time of reconstruction." Vanilla gave a long sigh. "In other news, local law enforcement has received another report from the Chaotix Detective Agency involving the case that many are calling, 'Eggman's Resurrection.' Apparently, Dr. Eggman's reappearance two days ago is linked to the falling of Angel Island, which occurred the day before. According to Detective Crocodile, the head of Chaotix, Dr. Eggman stole the Master Emerald from its altar on Angel Island in order to power one of his machines. Without the Emerald's power, Angel Island fell into the sea. Once Eggman obtained the power of the Master Emerald, he sent his massive airship, called the Egg Narwhal, in what many believe was intended to be an attack on Central City. Luckily, local hero Sonic the Hedgehog worked together with Detective Crocodile, an anonymous G.U.N. agent, and several of their friends to crash the Narwhal harmlessly in a field north of Central City, but Eggman's assault did not end there. Shortly after the Egg Narwhal crashed, a massive robotic dragon, which Detective Crocodile calls, 'the Silver Overlord,' rose from the debris of the airship, and attacked Sonic the Hedgehog along with his friends. However, Sonic was able to use the power of the Master Emerald along with the seven Chaos Emeralds to destroy the Silver Overlord. Although Dr. Eggman was lost in the commotion, and his whereabouts are currently unknown, Detective Crocodile assures civilians that it will be some time before the mad scientist can get back on his feet, and when he does, Sonic will be there to stop him." Vanilla turned off the television.

She wondered aloud, "Oh, Cream, where are you? I hope you're safe." Almost as Fate's response to her plea, she heard a knock on her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

She heard Cream's voice, "Mom, it's me. I'm back."

Vanilla burst through the door. She tackled Cream with a tearful, loving embrace. "Oh, Cream, you're safe! I'm so glad you're back!" Cream was slightly startled, but she smiled and hugged her mother in response. Vanilla looked up past Cream to see Cheese and Vector. She let go of Cream and stood up. Then she hugged Vector tightly. "Thank you, Vector, for bringing her home safely to me and taking care of her like you promised, I don't know what I'd do without you." Vector blushed slightly as he looked down toward Cream and Cheese. Cream merely winked as a reply.

Vector cleared his throat. "Ahem, you're quite welcome, Ms. Rabbit. I'm only doing my job."

Vanilla released Vector from her hug. Cream tugged on her mother's dress. Vanilla turned her attention toward her daughter. "Do you need something, Cream? Is there anything I can do for you after your tiresome adventure?"

Cream smiled. "No thanks, Mom, I was just wondering if we could make a small trip. You see, there's somewhere that Mr. Vector and I really have to go. You can come too if you'd like."

Vanilla inquired, "Oh really, where will we be going then?"

Meanwhile, Amy was just waking up in her hospital bed. She had taken pain medication earlier to help ease the suffering in her ribcage, and she had just finished an energizing nap. She sat up, but she was careful not to move too quickly. She looked to her right to see Big sitting in a chair next to her with Froggy on his head. She asked, "Big, how long have you been here?"

Big responded with a heartwarming smile, "I've been here the whole time you were napping to watch over you."

Amy chuckled, "You know, I didn't ask you to watch over me."

Big's smile remained. "I know, but I'm your friend, which means I have to be there for you even if you don't ask me to." Amy smiled too now.

Amy's doctor entered the room. "Ms. Rose, how are you feeling?"

Amy replied, "I feel a lot better actually."

The doctor said, "That's good because you have quite a few guests waiting to see you."

Amy wondered aloud, "Guests?" The doctor opened the door to her room. Standing in the hallway were Cream, Cheese, Vanilla, Vector, Tails, and Sonic. Amy's smile brightened as her friends entered the room.

The doctor addressed the guests with a polite nod. "I'll just leave her to you then."

Sonic smiled. "Thanks, Doc, we'll make sure she doesn't get too worked up."

Amy observed disbelievingly, "You all came to visit me at once?"

Cream chuckled, "Of course, Amy, we all couldn't wait to come visit you."

Cheese enthused, "Cho-Cho!"

Vector told her, "In case you're wondering, we still have no clue where Dr. Eggman disappeared to. Metal Sonic vanished too, and we can't find him anywhere either."

Sonic scratched the back of his head nonchalantly. "I'm sure they'll turn up before long."

Tails asked the crowd, "Do you think that Metal Sonic is still our enemy?"

Sonic patted Tails on the head. "Tails, after all of this, I'm really not sure anymore."

Vector added, "Well, he's sure to help Dr. Eggman with whatever plan he's concocting, and that includes wiping all of us out should the need arise, but I don't think he has anything personal against us, so we should be fine around him as long as he's not under direct orders to kill us."

Amy smiled. "He's good at heart. He's just a slave to Eggman's programming."

Cream asked, "Do you think that someday we'll be able to free him?"

Amy responded, "I don't know, Cream, but I'd say it's worth a shot."

Vanilla chuckled, "Enough of this morbid talk, I baked a batch of cookies especially for this occasion." Vanilla revealed a transparent, plastic container containing a few dozen chocolate chip cookies. "Let's dig in!" There were several cries of agreement as the crowd began to consume the scrumptious, homemade cookies.

When the cookies had all been eaten, the crowd said their farewells to Amy and departed. Everyone had left except for Sonic and Tails. Amy spoke to the two of them, "Oh yeah, I just thought of something. Where are Silver and Knuckles?"

Sonic said, "I was wondering when you'd ask that. Knuckles stayed up all last night collecting every last piece of the Master Emerald. After he put it back together, he headed off toward Angel Island to return it to its alter."

Tails continued, "As for Silver, well he's sort of vanished too. We're pretty sure he's not with Metal Sonic or Eggman, but we can't find him. Vector said that after he was done visiting here, he was going to regroup with the other Chaotix Agents, and they were going to search for Silver."

Sonic went on to say, "We're going to help find Silver too, and after that, we're going to see if Silver wants to help us find Eggman again and kick his fat butt!"

Amy chuckled, "Oh, that sounds like a plan to me." After that, there was an awkward silence. Amy broke the silence by saying, "Tails, would you mind if I spoke to Sonic alone for a minute?"

Tails said, "Sure thing." He turned to Sonic. "Meet me at my workshop when you're done here. Before we find Silver and Eggman, we still have to find the pieces of the Tornado in the rubble of Eggman's airship."

Sonic responded, "Find this; find that. Man, we're never going to get a break, are we?" Tails just chuckled as he left the room.

Amy looked up at Sonic. "Hey, Sonic, do you remember what happened yesterday when you first turned into Hyper Sonic?"

In truth, Sonic remembered very clearly, but he denied it. "Um, no…"

Amy twiddled her thumbs and said nervously, "Well, we kind of, sort of kissed, so…" Amy hesitated, "are we, like, a couple now or something?"

Sonic blushed, closed his eyes, and waved his hands back and forth in a panicked movement, "What? No! No-no-no-no-no! We're not a couple! We're just, um, you know, friends! Friends kiss all the time! Haven't you heard? C'mon, it's the newest trend! I hear it's all over countries like Shamar and Adabat! Anyway, I've, uh, gotta run! Nice seeing you, Amy, bye!"
Amy yelled, "Sonic, you get back here!" but Sonic had already dashed away.

And so the never-ending quest of Sonic the Hedgehog continues, and so it shall always continue. As opportunities for new adventures perpetually unfold, Sonic is constantly in motion, for he is in love with adventure, and his spirit is as free as the wind.