Unleashing Sonic: Story Mode
Chip hadn't been assured by me telling him I was perfectly fine, but even I knew I was slowly slipping into that state where you go a bit nuts when you're overly tired. There still was no turning back though; we were almost done, as I had said.
Down the path was a large area that surprisingly had no enemies to it- just a single door that was begging me to throw it open. Shrugging, I walked over, wedged my fingers under the bottom, then tossed it upwards. Chip poked his head through the doorway, then ushered me to follow.
"Easy Chip, what could possibly be up ahead?" I said in a chilled tone.
Apparently doors.
Six doors, to be exact. Chip's jaw dropped while I wanted to know just which one was the way out. I didn't want to throw all of them open, that was for sure. They were made out of ancient stone or something!
Slightly reluctantly, I started on the doors to the left. The first door had nothing in it, but the second one gave me the shock of my life- two Deep Nightmares jumped out from behind it and a force field blocked off all the doors.
"Wasn't…expecting…that," I panted after instinctively beating the Nightmares to a pulp. Just as quick as they had jumped out, the force fields went down.
"Well…we know the consequences of choosing the wrong door…" announced Chip.
Unfortunately for, it was the last door I picked- the upper right one. Slightly peeved, I opened it and stormed on through, ready to get out of that ambushing area. A whole mess of rings were behind that door, which I was in dire need of at that point.
Too bad I lost several when I ran into a jet stream of fire.
"Heh, this place certainly has a lot of surprises!" I grumbled, my voice dripping with acid as I backed away from the fire.
"That's why you don't go charging around corners- they aren't kidding when they say danger lurks around every one!" Chip exclaimed.
I didn't reply to that. I kept heading on once I got by. There was a fork in the path now- one led to an area blocked off by a fire wall, while the other led to a water barrel that could probably douse out the fire wall. I headed down the smaller path, lifted up the barrel, then trotted back to the area with the fire wall. Four Dark Bat Snipers were waiting for me as well, rapidly firing their projectiles in an attempt to break my barrel. By a stroke of luck, I avoid them all and tossed the barrel at the flames. Afterwards, though, I wasn't as lucky.
"OW! Grrr…you are way fortunate that I don't have to take you out!" I grunted, continuing on since there was no force field that was keeping me back this time. I collapsed to all fours and dashed down the path, leaping over fallen logs and collecting rings five at a time. Chip watched curiously, flying aways above me as I tore down the trail, seeing me jump over anything that got in my way while making sharp turns around corner and darting on.
It was a little way before I ran into any more actually threats, and when I did, I knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Two Flame Masters and several Killer Bees were my next round of rivals, and I was ready for them.
"Bring it on!" I shouted, though I sounded slightly distorted.
Physically ready? Yes. Mentally ready? Eh…not so much…
Chip blinked. "Man, at this rate, you're going to start sleeping during the day and running around during the night!" he gasped. "You're gonna become nocturnal!"
"I'm not going to become nocturnal," I scoffed, throwing a bee at a wall while grabbing a barrel of water at the same time.
"But- it's all so- I can't believe- this is crazy!" he stammered. I shot him a quick glance before dodging some flames (which luckily burned two bees instead of me) before I hurled the barrel at the closer Flame Master. It froze, obviously stunned from having its power suddenly drained. The bonus to this situation was that I had struck the other Flame Master with water as well.
"All right!" I cried, bringing my fists down on both their heads. They spun around in a daze while I added to the pain by throwing another duo of bees at them. After that attack, they alit with flames again and combined a double-fire attack. I hardly had time to avoid- within seconds, I was on the ground rolling around, trying to put the flames out.
"Cowards!" I heard Chip yell, followed by a heavy splash afterwards. "Hurry and get up, Sonic!"
Turning over, I looked up and saw that all the bees had been washed out by the barrel Chip managed to push over, while the Flame Masters were doused out again. I hopped to my feet and swung my claws within the same move, knocking the witches into each other and bringing them to the ground. Chip kept them stunned with him camera while I dished out a finishing move.
Maybe I should upgrade him to a digital camera.
Once I finished with the Flame Masters, I was suddenly pelted in the arm by a burning projectile. There was one more enemy I had missed- a Dark Bat Sniper.
"Snipe this!" I squalled, running straight at it, knocking it out of the air, then giving it a kick. The fields still didn't go down, and Chip pointed to two more Snipers on a fallen balcony- one that lead to higher ground that was current blocked off by the barrier.
I was up there in a flash, intercepting the first and killing it instantly. The moment I took out the second Sniper, the force field went down and I grinned crazily to myself.
"See Chip?" I said confidently, jumping onto the next cliff. "There were no problems whatsoever!"
"Yet," Chip pointed out.
"Nothing's going to happen, promise…"
"I dunno," Chip protested again, flying in front and staring me in the eyes. "The last battle proved to me that you need to go to bed-"
"Well we're in the middle of the desert, and a bed of sand doesn't seem to agree with my sleeping requirements."
"What requirements do you have? You usually just fall asleep in the tornado!"
"Then we return I'm camping out on the wing, which I can't do until we get out of here."
"But Sonic," Chip continued, trying to drag the debate for as long as possible. "If you keep going like this, who knows what could happen! You could have just gone to bed like Amy did, wake up and enjoy tomorrow morning, and then tackle the night again? Do you really think you get two continents out of the way in one night?"
I folded my arms and kept walking. "I don't see what the big deal is. I'm fine."
"I'm just looking out for you…you can give me as many excuses as you want, but the excuses can't make up for the consequences."
Wow, how profound.
My stern look quickly dissolved as I sighed. "Well, we can't be too far from finding the tablet now, and its pointless to go back. We grab it and go. Simple!"
"But-"
"I promised that nothing's going to happen didn't I?" I interrupted, managing a small smile and a wink. "Have I ever broken a promise?"
"Not from what I've seen…" Chip replied, the edges of his mouth perking up a bit.
"So there's nothing to worry about, m'kay? Not while I'm around."
Chip took a long breath and floated over to sit on my head. It was silent for a little bit before he piped up with, "How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Defuse situations like that."
I shrugged. "Natural talent."
Before Chip could confirm whether or not that was an acceptable answer or not, I sensed a barrier go up. Apparently we had walked a little farther than I had thought, because I was stuck in another battle again. Chip jumped off my head as I struck a battle stance.
"All right, what trash am I taking out this time?"
"Let's see, you can dispose of the two Flame Masters and you can recycle the four Deep Nightmares!" Chip announced.
I don't think I'd wanna recycle the Deep Nightmares though.
"Then let's start with a splash!" I called, tossing a barrel of water at the foes. Both witches were doused out, and I ran at them, clawing them both as I ran by. Now they were doubly dizzy, and the snapshot from Chip didn't help their cause either. I grabbed them both and flung them at two of the Nightmares. All four of the creatures went stumbling into a pile, and they were all defeated with a devastating finish by me.
I spun around on my heels, stretching my arm out and taking the remaining two monsters down with it. They then winced when I ran over and plowed my fists into them, then picked them up and tossed them into a fire- which was honestly unintentional; I was aiming for the wall.
"C'mon! You're making this way too easy!" I scoffed.
"Well, they do have back up…" Chip trailed, gesturing to another two Flame Masters slowing up. I groaned, launched another water barrel, then struck them while they were weak. One managed to regain its flame rather quickly and charged at me in a blaze. I was plowed away from its partner in crime, and said partner regained its power as well and hit me with it.
"Ow! Okay, from your point of view, I probably deserved that!" I grumbled, picking myself up off the ground and luring them closer to another barrel of water. When they got close enough, I ducked under their attack and rolled it at them. Chip jumped in the air and threw up his hands.
"Yeah!"
"It was nice playing with you," I began, pounding them both to the ground. "But I think I'd like to go to bed tonight."
When they were defeated, I started to walk toward the way out, only to see that the barrier still didn't go down yet.
"Oh, come on…seriously?"
Disappointed, I glanced over my shoulder. A red Titan came to play with two Dark Bat Snipers at backup. The Snipers were no problem- I took them out almost as fast as they had arrived.
If only I could do the same with the Titan.
I literally dove out of the way of a club smash, then attempted to retaliate by aiming a punch at its back. It must've sensed me getting ready to strike, because it grabbed my wrist while it was half way there, spun me over its head like I was rag doll, then acquainted my face with a rock-hard wall.
"Isn't he quite the playground bully…" I muttered under my breath while Chip was doing his usual routine checks. I turned around instantly and bolted at the red Titan, hoping to knock it over like I had done in one of my many previous battles.
The Titan didn't even budge.
"…that's just beautifu-UUUUUUU!"
Chip ducked as I soared over his head and hooked up with the blasted wall once again.
I think I'm starting to know how all those monsters feel now.
"Dow…"
"Dow?" Chip asked, staring at me as I slowly slid down the side of the wall. I pulled my face away and rubbed my forehead.
"Grr…"
I was wondering if I had even made a dent in the Titan's health, and by the massive headache I suddenly had, I was going to guess that the answer was no. As it approached with its thunderous footsteps, I noticed the flames spouting up from random spots in the ground, and I suddenly had an idea.
"If you want to pound me so bad, then come and get me!" I called, slowly inching toward the flames. The Titan apparently understood me, because he changed direction and started stomping over. I crouched slightly, ready to spring when necessary.
"I have to time this perfectly…"
It took awhile, but the Titan finally got close enough to hit me. Chip frantically shouted for me to either move or bite his arm, but I stayed put. It raised its mallet up over its head, and Chip started shouting even louder. The brute brought the club down and I thought Chip was going to go deaf.
"Nrrgh!"
In a split-second, I flipped backward, performing a bicycle kick that I was usually very adept at doing. The only flaw with me doing it now was that I didn't know how effective it would be, since this was the first real time I tried as a beast.
Chip shrieked and look away, as I noticed out of the corner of my eye, But everything went just as I planned- my foot made contact with the wrist of the Titan, and also effectively managed to kicked it up off the ground with my other foot. It growled at me in the brief moment it was right above me, before I flipped it right into the flames.
"I can't believe I pull it off!" I squeaked, looking back and watching the Titan roast like a chestnut. It screamed for several moments, until nearly all of its health was gone. Eventually it saw that death was on the horizon and tried to escape at the last moment.
"Oh no you don't!" I shouted, running at it with a water barrel in my hands. I tossed it at the Titan, knocking it down to the ground with it and putting out the flames.
Which left me open to attack it at will.
"YAH!"
The final strikes were brilliantly executed; the beast was finally felled. I felt myself panting as Chip floated over to me, seeming to be exhausted just from watching.
"honestly Sonic…how can you keep topping yourself with all these moves you pull out of nowhere!" he gaped.
"They just come to me, I guess…but trust me, that's not the most impressive thing I've ever done."
"Well…" Chip continued, returning to rest on my head. "The way forward is clear at last…"
"Now that is some great news…" I sighed in relief, carrying Chip over to the rest of the path. I trekked over a small hill of sand, which lead up to the Goal Ring at the end. Chip and I simultaneous heaved a sigh of exhausting, me picking up a tablet adorned with a blue jewel before heading back to the village.
. . .
"Well that was certainly an adventure…" Chip said sleepily, still lying on my head. "Let's go tell the professor and Tails about it! They won't believe it!"
"I'm pretty sure they will," I chuckled with a yawn.
Maybe if I was lucky, Amy would have woken up, but I didn't count on it considering that it was really late now. When we entered the lab again, we found Pickle and Tails sitting at the table once again, but Tails looked like he was getting ready to hit the hay as well. Both of them perked up upon my return, as always.
"Ah, Sonic! Thank goodness you made it back!" Pickle rejoiced, rising from his chair and walking over to me. "How are you feeling?"
Chip answered for me. "He's absolutely exhausted! Poor guy…"
Pickle was thoughtful as he looked me over. "Hmm, maybe running around is starting to take its toll. You look a little under the weather…"
"That's what I said!" Chip cried.
"Your journey is still far from complete as well, I'm afraid. You must be sure to rest now and then!"
"I'm fine," I assured, slightly taking a step forward as if it would help me prove my point. Pickle continued to smile at me and gestured toward the table.
"What say you to a nice, relaxing meal?"
I was starving, and I hadn't even realized it until he mentioned it.
"Meal…" Chip moaned, eyeing the food on the table. I could heard his stomach suddenly growl by my ear.
"Won't you pull up a chair and join Tails and I?"
"I think Sonic has some news for us, Professor," Tails stated, not leaving the table, but still looking at me with a warm smile.
"Oh, does he, now? My apologizes."
"Well…" I trailed, pulling out the two halves of Shamar's Plant Tablet. "Chip and I located these-"
"You found the tablet fragments! That's welcome news indeed!" Pickle exclaimed. "Now you must bring them to the guardian of the temple you'll find somewhere! I'm afraid our meal will have to wait…"
I sighed and hung my head. "Okay…"
I heard Chip whimper slightly, staring at the table with longing eyes, plus I could tell he was tired, if not more tired than me. I thought it over for a while, before glancing up until Chip was slightly in the line of sight.
"Hey Chip?"
"yeah…" he winced lightly.
"You can stay here if you'd like while I go restore Shamar once and for all…"
Chip flew off my head in a flash and gaped at me. "Are you crazy Sonic? ! I'm with you 'til the end! I mean, what if there's a giant monster that you have to fight and something happens and I'm not there-"
"Must I remind you? I promised nothing will go wrong!" I then glanced at the table and smirked. "besides, I doubt you can last much longer without a decent snack."
Chip gazed at the table again, then shook off his trance and turned back to me. "I…I dunno Sonic, I've been with you through every adventure and I-"
"Please, Chip? I…want you to stay here. Not because I don't want you around or any thing, but I just want you to stay safe."
"But then who'll be with you to see if you're safe?" Chip asked innocently.
"It's not like I've never been alone before, and look where I am now!"
Looking past the whole "transformed into a beast" factor, of course.
"It's true, I'm sure Sonic can handle himself…" Tails said in my defense. "…but still, it's not like there's anything wrong with doing this tomorrow night-"
"that's what I said too!" Chip threw in.
"But I'd rather get it done now and get it out of the way!" I protested. Chip and Tails starred at me as I slightly turned away.
"And…I think tomorrow might be a really good day. I dunno why I think that, but I'll do everything in my power to make it happen. And would you wanna end a day by fighting some sort of brute?"
Chip and Tails shook their heads. "Well, no, but-"
"I've been through enough already this night alone," I shrugged, turning back to them. "What's another little nighttime trouble gonna do to me?"
"Make you go crazy with insomnia," stated Tails.
"Make you nocturnal," replied Chip.
"Potentially send you into the state of hyper activeness you experience with lack of sleep," the Professor pointed out.
They were certainly encouraging.
"Well, I still want Chip to- oh wait, never mind…"
Chip tilted his head. "Never mind what?"
"You'll have to come with me," I explained. "Your necklace is the only thing that can open the doors in the shrine, and I have a feeling it'll be the Star Door I'll be heading through…"
Chip looked increasingly hesitant, and I glanced back at him.
"I'd still prefer you to stay here. A decent meal and rest is what you need, and if I have to work just a little bit harder to get the world back together, then I'll do it. But I don't know if I can if I'm hurting you as well, even if its something as simple as suffering from tiredness or hunger…"
Chip glanced down at the floor for the longest time, then slowly reached up and gripped the band that kept his jade strapped around his neck. He pulled it over his head and held it out to me.
"This is what you really need, not necessarily me…" he said, smiling slightly. "If you really want me to stay here, then I will. I want to do my part to help too, and if it'll get you to do your best, then okay."
It was my turn to gape at Chip. "You're letting me hang onto your jade?"
Chip nodded. "I trust you, Sonic. I know you won't let anything happen to it. When you come back, you can just give it back to me and we'll carry on tomorrow."
I continue to gape, slowly accepting what was probably Chip's most prized possession and slipping it around my wrist for safe keeping.
It took a bit of doing, considering my wrist was five times as fluffy than it usually was.
"…Thanks Chip…"
"No problem Sonic! Now…" Chip zoomed over to the table and instantly stuffed a cucumber sandwich into mouth. "Time to dig in!"
Tails giggled slightly as he turned a page in the new book he was looking over. "Well, I was getting ready for bed myself, but what's another half hour?" he turned to Chip. "Can you tell me a bit about what you've seen in Shamar, if you'd like to?"
Chip nodded, mouth still full of sandwich. He muffled, "Okay!" and Tails grinned.
I smiled as well, gradually making my way to the door. "Well…see you guys later, then!"
"Bye, Sonic!" "Good luck Sonic!" "Do be careful, Sonic!"
I gave them all a thumbs up and headed on out.
It was easy to assure other people, but not as easy to assure myself.
. . .
I ventured out into Shamar, instantly making my way to Ehsan. He might've been old and sneezy, but he seemed like guardian material after all my previous experiences. When I approached him, he seemed overjoyed to see me.
After all, I was apparently like a grandkid to him.
"Very impressive indeed!" he exclaimed after I explained the situation to him. "So, you've gathered all the tablet fragments, have you? Of course, you'll need a Plant Tablet to get any deeper into the temple…Well, leave that to me! You may be surprised to know that I am a Temple Guardian!"
…no, not really.
"Let's see…I'll just take these tablet fragments and- ACHOO! There we are! It's done!"
He handed me the completed Planet Tablet and sent me on my way, and I thanked him for his help. However, as I held the Planet Tablet in my hand, I couldn't help but notice that Chip's necklace started glowing once again.
. . .
I returned to the shrine, this time without Chip. We've been at it for so long, it was sort of odd not having his presence there. Nevertheless, I was still glad I didn't take Chip, because I had no idea what to expect for what I was about to be up against, and I didn't know what to expect from myself either…
"Okay…" I trailed, walking up to the now glowing Star Door. I stared at my wrist, wondering how I was going to get it to work. I held my hand out toward to the door, and wouldn't you know? It was like having a secret pass to an exclusive club! The door rumbled open like it would have for Chip, and I took a deep breath and strolled in.
. . .
I knew I had walked into a battle arena- not only did it look like one, but it felt like one. I was even slightly hesitant to enter, but there wasn't any other choice.
Still sort of wish I hadn't.
A huge ball of electricity crackled above my head, and the very moment I went to look at it, it turned into a red ball of energy before a thing came leaping down. I jumped back- as soon as it landed it nearly crushed me with a huge hammer!
"Oh jeez…" I huffed, not sure where to start with this guy. He was in the way of me restoring the continent of Shamar though, so down the Dark Guardian was going to go.
I barely had time to think- the Guardian swept its hammer around and caused a shockwave that gave me a jolt. I shook it off and got serious.
"Okay, there's no room for carelessness here."
When the Guardian stopped for a brief moment, that was my chance to attack. I drove in right down the middle, going crazy with my fist punches and actually doing a decent amount of damage. My barrage stop when he knocked me away with a single punch- with the metal covered hand that didn't possess his hammer.
"Oh joy. He has a hammer and packs a punch!"
I swooped under another punch, then hurried to plan my next attack. I didn't think it over very much, however, because the Guardian aimed a fist at me and missed, leaving his back wide open.
"And I thought you were going to be tough," I snickered while delivering a punch. He proved me wrong by shaking me off his back, then whacking me away with his hammer in the same move. Before I could retaliate to that, he suddenly started to hover in the air, surrounding himself in purple, and teleporting to an area farther away from me. I turned to see what he was doing- at first, it looked like some sort of yoga move, but then I got a closer look.
"He's charging up power!" I yelped, not sure of what to do. I found out what he did, though. His little song and dance numbers had caused lightning to rain down from above, striking random spots on the ground that I certainly couldn't predict. I wove my way through the bolts, trying to get to the Guardian again, but he surrounding himself in a shield and punched me away.
"ACK!"
I flipped out of the way of the massive hammer he tried to smite me with, and it became very clear to me- beat this guy as fast as possible! That close shave with a hammering death left me frazzled, that was for sure. The guardian then snarled at me, and suddenly he was propelling himself forward with some sort of magic.
Metal arm held in front of him, he was aiming right for me.
"ARRRRrrrghhh…"
I don't know what took control of me at that moment, because my mind literally shut down when it tried to imagine the pain the Guardian was about to deal on me. At some point I had put my hands up to block, and it was also somewhat successful. We were both now skidding across the floor, with me doing my best to subconsciously keep him at bay.
Within another moment, my hand practically started to glow as I tightened my fist, risking letting go of the Guardian with one hand to smite him in the face.
It worked.
I let out a deep sigh of gratitude as the Guardian went flying away from me, giving me a bit of time to breathe. He landed harshly on the ground, and I landed back on my feet- which struck me as odd, because I didn't even remember jumping into the air.
"Perhaps I had more power in my punch than I tho-"
A hammer swept my legs from under me, and my reaction was to roll away from being mashed to bits. I was so close to being crushed that a few pieces of fur had been claimed by my foe's hammer, taken right off of my arm.
Seeing that he had missed his original target, the Dark Guardian charged up his hammer with a frightening pink electrifying shock, and he slowly marched back toward me. He had reached me faster than I'd anticipated- I found myself leaping over his hammer swing and deadly punch a few mere seconds later. He was off guard again, so I seized that chance to dish out a few more attacks. He turned around, blocked most of them, then swatted me away again. I toppled in the air, skidding across the ground very painfully.
The pain went away quickly though, and I glanced down.
"Chip's necklace…" I whispered, pushing myself up off the ground.
Just in time to see the glowing idiot come charging at me again.
"Not this time," I gritted through my teeth, grabbing the handle right before he laid a smack down on me. During the Guardian's confusion, I thought fast and started to swing the hammer and its owner around. If Chip were around, I would've blown his mind once again. The Guardian let out a pretty loud roar, indicating that he didn't have a clue as to what was happening until I let go of the hammer.
When he landed, it wasn't very pretty either.
Unlike me, the Guardian had been a lot quicker to jump to his feet, but the good news was that his health was two-thirds gone at this point, I could tell. Unfortunately, this meant he was able to charge at me because he feared defeat like any other Boss.
I was actually ready this time, and pushed against him with much more of a firmer stance. When I had him struggling, I reeled my hand back again and punched him in the face once more. He toppled backwards, and I panted in success.
"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to take me down!" I roared, running at him again. He was still a bit discombobulated, so it allowed me a few decent hits. He eventually pulled himself together, however, and smacked me away with his mallet.
This time, however, I didn't dodge.
The wind was crushed out of me rather than just knocked out, and for a few precious moments I couldn't breathe. When he finally removed the hammer, I was gasping for air, and if he was planning any sort of double attack, then I was just going to have to suck it up and bear it- nothing could've been worse than that hammer strike.
"Nrrrrgh…"
I lost control of my senses for what seemed like forever, and what happened in that relatively short amount of time was that the Guardian grabbed me by the neck, then putted me into the air with that blasted hammer. I wanted to scream, but I had no air in my lungs to make that possible. My vision went blurry from the intense pain vibrating through my body, and I was wondering why Chip's orb wasn't give me a small boost of healing, and through my blurry sight I noticed something twinkling toppling toward the ground.
Oh no.
In an instant, it was as if nothing had happened- I wasn't fighting a dark monster, I could actually breathe, and my mind was only focusing on saving Chip's orb before it shattered against the ground and I'd never be able to forgive myself.
Reality then struck, and my mind processed that I was still in midair. Common sense kicked in next, and I sent my hand shooting toward the ground, hoping my swift stretchy arms would be able to bring the necklace back to safety. Nothing at that moment mattered more than that, and it sent a shiver up my spine.
"Please make it…"
I closed my eyes as soon as my hand brushed against cold metal and clutched instantly. Time seemed to speed up as I opened my eyes again- another second longer, and Chip's orb would've been nothing.
Once I pulled myself together, placing the necklace back safely on my wrist again, I faced the demon responsible for me nearly losing it. He was doing his yoga-stance again, surrounded by lighting striking down. We had an intense stare down for quite a long time, until he ceased his dance and charged at me. I grinned snarkily back, staying where I was.
"Heh heh heh…you're screwed, you know that, right?"
I then charged forward as well, the two of us running at each other, and a huge crash was destined. His metal armor on his arm scraped against my unprotected one, but I didn't care. I shoved against him with every bit of strength my Werehog body gave me, then when the moment was right, I revved up my fist and struck him for the final time.
"You know now to never mess with me again."
He landed on his feet, despite having run out of energy. The Dark Guardian threw his head back and let out a warrior cry, showing that he had been defeated in battle by a very worthy opponent- yours truly. I had to smirk as he fell to his knees and dropped his prized tool.
"I know little girls who are better with a hammer than you," I snickered. "Well, one anyway."
And what more could I say? She was.
. . .
So, let's see. I had entered the temple of Gaia, used Chip's necklace to reveal the Chaos Emerald pedestal, restored the yellow Chaos Emerald, and restored Shamar as well. Not to mention ventured through two continent during the dark the of night. I thought it all turned out pretty swell, over all…
Except that I was beat.
By the time I had trudged back to the lab, the lights were all out, and Pickle was starting to carry a book to bed. I had no clue of what time it was, but it seriously must have been late- so late, I wouldn't be surprised if it counted as morning.
"Professor?" I whispered quietly, stopping him before he turned to head to his room. Pickle turned to me and greeted me with a smile, though it was a tired one.
"I'm sorry Sonic, but you've seemed to return when I have nothing to share…and I was just off to bed, which you should be doing as well."
I scratched the back of my head. "Yeah, I guess…it's been a long day."
"If you come back after daybreak tomorrow, I'm sure I'll have something to share with you. I expect that you have a lot to report tomorrow."
I nodded. "understood, Professor. I'll head to bed right after I give Chip back his necklace…"
"All right then. See you in the morning, Sonic."
I gave the Professor a two-fingered salute before making my way up the stairs. Chip's necklace was glow-in the-dark too, so I could see where I was going when I went down the hallway. Amy was definitely sleeping now, and I smiled a little bit when I passed by. Tails was in the next guest room, an arm dangling over the side of the bed still attached to a book. I hid a chuckle under my breath.
"Only Tails…" I sighed to myself.
I found where Chip was sleeping- on the windowsill at the end of the hall. A bit of a weird place to camp out at, but the view out the window was nice, so I wasn't surprised that he had chosen that spot. I quietly walked over, removing the bracelet off of my wrist and attempting to slip it over his head without disturbing him.
I think I failed at doing that.
"You did it Sonic," Chip whispered, adjusting the necklace so it was back in its original position. He was only half awake. "You're a hero!"
"I just do what I have to do, Chip. Nothing more."
"I, on the other hand, still can't remember a thing…but it won't do any good to fret over it…"
I pressed my mouth into a thin line and patted Chip's head. "They'll come back. I know they will."
"I know they will too. I guess I just can't wait…" he turned over, now facing away from me. "Hey Sonic?"
"Yeah?"
"Sorry you missed dinner. It was really good."
I broke out into a light laugh. "Well, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, at least. I'd better get some sleep myself now after the suffering I've had to deal with tonight…g'night, Chip."
"Night Sonic…"
He yawned, and he was out like a light again.
. . .
I walked outside, now lounging on the wind of the Tornado. The stars were certainly pretty that night, along with the large, round, bright full moon…it complimented the desert scene nightly. I kicked back, smiling to myself just by thinking about tomorrow.
"It'll be a great day," I whispered to myself, closing my eyes that were well-deserving of a rest. "I'm positive it will."
After the long, perilous night that had drained me of most of my energy, after all the mindless fighting, after making it back in one piece at long last …
I finally fell asleep.
Meant to post this at least five days ago, but circumstances didn't permit that... Oh well, better late than never! ;)