Chapter 8: Hope.

A/N: NEW CHAPTER YAY. Now that's out of the way. Here's Chapter 8 this chapter will mainly focus on Sonic and Dax, Dax will talk a little about his past nothing too serious though, I'll save that for later chapters. This chapter has, quite a bit of dialogue.

Enough of me rambling on Let's get into the story

I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. I only own the characters created for the story.

"Would you just shut up!" Sonic growled.

"I haven't said anything!" Dax replied irritated.

"Seriously what is your problem!?" Dax asked annoyed.

"You're my problem this entire situation is your fault!" Sonic snapped.

"My fault?" Dax questioned, his expression becoming pained as he remembered something.

'My fault.' The words quickly flashed in his head before he shook them out and regained focus.

"Look fighting is getting us nowhere, I think we rested long enough let's continue exploring," Dax said.

The duo had been walking for hours, much to Sonic's annoyance the entire time silent. The area looked familiar to the two hedgehogs, but they couldn't figure out why.

They walked for about another hour before Dax decided to break the silence.

"Soooooo," Dax said, making Sonic give him an annoyed glance.

"About the confrontation, we had on the roof if you don't mind me asking-"

"I do mind." Sonic cut him off.

"Look I'm going to ask anyway. If it wasn't you I saw on the street then why were you so surprised to see me on the roof? We never met before then." Dax asked.

"Amy." Sonic simply said.

"What about Miss Rose?" Dax asked slightly confused.

Sonic was getting even more irritated at the hedgehog's persistence.

"Amy told me about what happened at the cafe. Even though you only talked to her once you stuck out, she even described what you looked like." Sonic said with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I'm glad I made such a good impression. So when you saw me on the roof next to the rifle, you couldn't help but lose your cool. Right?" Dax said, putting his hand up to his chin.

"Yeah..." Sonic replied.

'I still don't trust this guy, he rub's me the wrong way, but I don't, really have a choice but to work with him.' Sonic thought.

"Oh, I almost forgot even if Miss Rose told you my name I never really, introduced myself," Dax said out of nowhere.

"My name is Dax, despite our fight and you being a sourpuss, It's nice to meet you Sonic the Hedgehog, I remember hearing all about you from a-." Dax's voice caught in his throat.

"Hearing all about you from a friend of mine... S-She was a big fan of yours." Dax finished stopped in his tracks head hanging low.

Sonic stopped and looked back at the red hedgehog confused by his sudden mood change.

Dax continued walking head still low when he ran into something. Dax looked up to see what was in his path.

"Oh no. Sonic you might want to look at this!" Dax shouted.

"What is it?" He asked.

"Look." Dax simply replied, pointing to the object in front of him.

Sonic was shocked by what he saw. What Dax pointed out, was the sign for the mall in the middle of Station Square. Amy talked about going to it a lot.

"Do you have any idea what this could mean?" Dax asked.

Sonic just shook his head eye's still wide open.

Meanwhile at Tails house.

Tails retreated to his workshop to clear his head, while Sally tried getting Amy to calm down. After an hour of talking Amy finally calmed down, she looked exhausted.

Sally and Robert both urged her to lay down. Sally suggested that Amy lay down on the living room couch, Amy nodded in agreement, she was exhausted.

Almost as soon as Amy laid down, she was fast asleep.

"Is she going to be alright?" Robert asked.

"The love of her life is gone, and she watched it happen in front of her I don't know the answer," Sally stated in a sad tone.

"I see, I didn't know," Robert replied simply.

Sally feels almost the same as Amy the person she was in love with was just, vaporized right in front of her eyes. But she couldn't afford to break down, not with Amy in this state.

"It's fine. I'm going to check on Tails why don't you get some rest too." Sally Suggested.

"Ok make sure you and Tails also get rest. alright?" Robert said while walking up the stairs.

Sally nodded. She checked on Amy then walked over to Tails' workshop.

Tails would probably be affected the most by Sonic's disappearance. Sonic was his best friend and his brother.

Sally walked into the workshop to see a total wreck, tools were scattered everywhere tables were flipped on their sides, and Tails was slumped at his desk, poking a prototype communicator.

"You shouldn't give up yet." Sally encouraged Tails.

"Why shouldn't I! the communicator I gave Sonic was extremely durable, I put through a thorough stress test!" Tails yelled.

"Tails I know you're upset but even if Sonic is..." Sally had to force herself to say the words.

"Even if he's dead, we can't give up Eggman will take this opportunity to try and take over, I'm sure Sonic wouldn't want us moping around." She said putting her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm still holding out hope he's out there somewhere." She said smiling.

"How can you be so calm about this?" Tails asked.

"I'm not, all I want to do right now is curl up into a ball, but I can't right now," Sally answered.

"I see." Tails simply replied.

Tails turned back to his workstation and started typing on his computer.

'I can't give up yet! It's Sonic we're talking about.' Tails thought to give himself hope.

Meanwhile at Eggman's base in the sky.

"Orbot, Cubot, start the prep for tomorrow, now that, that nuisance of a hedgehog is gone I'm free to take over. Oh, Ho Ho!" Eggman Ordered.

"Sir, If I may, what about those freelancers can we still trust them?" Orbot wondered.

"I can see your point Orbot, but I doubt they have the gall to take on the all-powerful Eggman Empire!" Eggman stated.

"Soon nowhere on Mobius will be safe from me, Oh Ho Ho!" He declared.

Back to Sonic and Dax.

Sonic was pacing in circles, at high speeds, all his composer was gone.

Dax just sat down confused, it had mostly been too dark to make out anything, but once they saw the mall sign they looked back and realized the entire of city Station Square was in ruins.

The mall was one of many building's that became piles of rubble. Sign's were only left to show what had stood in its place.

What happened, did Eggman attack while they were knocked out? Both hedgehogs asked themselves.

'But how would that even be possible? The Freedom Fighters are more than able to take down Eggman on their own.' Sonic's thoughts spun.

Dax stood up and lowered his goggles, then walked toward Sonic.

"Hey I think we should get moving, I have a bad feeling about staying here," Dax suggested.

Sonic stopped and looked at him, wondering how he could stay so calm. Usually, he would be the one calm in these kinds of situation's, but he was exhausted, so he figured that's why he was so on edge. He had to admit he admired Dax for how he's acting.

They started moving out of the city toward the direction of the mystic ruins. Sonic still didn't trust Dax but since he decided to team up with him at least act somewhat friendly.

"So you said your friend was a big fan?" Sonic said breaking the ice.

"Yeah, she was. Whenever you showed up in the paper in my town, she would read every detail." Dax replied.

"She loved the idea of making the world a better place, and when she first heard about your adventure's to stop Doctor Eggman, she instantly became a fan, she even hid any pictures of you from me so I wouldn't get jealous, to be honest, I was a little jealous. Maybe still a little now." He said with a chuckle.

"She and another friend of hers even had a small fan club only they were in it I didn't know her friend that well, I talked to her a few time but that was it, I don't remember what she looked like." He continued.

"But I do remember she left town one day and never came back. A lot of people were worried, but my friend said that she would be fine, and something about meeting somebody, I don't really, remember." He said scratching the back of his head.

Dax began thinking about the past, getting to a particular part that made him go silent, his expression being unreadable due to his goggles.

A few hours passed in silence, they had started running because Sonic got antsy from walking. They were a quarter of the way to the mystic ruins when they saw what looked to be an outpost.

"Halt in the name of our Emperor Eggman!" A guard declared.

The guard wore red and yellow armor and wielded a black electric bo staff.

Both the hedgehogs looked at each other confused before Sonic decided to act cocky.

"What's that matter officer were we caught speeding?" Sonic joked.

"No, you are out after curfew." The guard said flatly.

Sonic had the guards attention, Dax took that moment to glace at the outpost from where he was standing and gauge the threat level.

Missle launchers, heavy turrets, and several more defensive systems, not something he wants to go against Dax looked at Sonic joking with the guard annoying him to the point that he might open fire.

"Look, Sir, my pal and I got lost on a walk, and we were heading back home right now." Dax lied hoping it would be enough.

"It's against the law, to be out after curfew. We'll have to hold you until your trial." The guard stated.

"Trial!?" The duo shouted in unison.

"Yes now come with me." The guard said.

Sonic decided he had enough of this and went on the offensive.

Knocking the guard over running toward the outpost at high speed to take out its defenses.

"More fighting fun!" Dax said sarcastically.

Dax grabbed the guards bo staff and shocked him, before running toward the outpost to try and distract the other guards.

Sonic ran up the wall destroying turrets along the way, while Dax opened the main gate and distracted the ground troops.

'He could of at least warned me this was going to happen.' Dax thought.

Sonic ran through the inside of the outpost, it was much bigger then it looked on the outside, all Sonic was looking for was the main generator, so he could smash it and render the outpost useless.

He finally reached the main generator room when he heard a loud clank.

"Huh?" Sonic said turning toward the sound.

"Intruder identified as (Sonic the Hedgehog). Orders exterminate on sight." The robotic voice of a Silver Sonic rang.

"Now this will be fun!" He said with a cocky grin.

The large silver-colored, mech curled into a ball and started spin-dashing toward Sonic with his saw blade quills.

Sonic dodged and spin-dashed into the side of the bot leaving an exposed point.

Silver Sonic continued to spin-dash, which Sonic used to his advantage, by running around the room, destroying everything in Silver Sonic's path to the blue blur.

Sonic stopped in front of the generator.

"Hey, metal head over here!" Sonic taunted.

Silver Sonic barreled toward Sonic. He dodged causing Silver Sonic to collide with the generator.

"Ha! Take that ya hunk of junk!" Sonic Cheered.

The generator exploded, which caused a chain reaction of explosions throughout the entire outpost, Sonic thought it was time to leave.

Near the outpost's main gate.

'Sonic better hurry up! I don't know how long I can keep up this chase.' Dax Thought to himself.

Dax was able to knock out a few guards but was quickly outnumbered by them, so he ended up being chased, he figured if anything this made a good enough distraction for Sonic.

He continued running until got cornered.

"Not good! What now!" Dax wondered.

Dax still holding the bo staff readied himself. Two guards ran toward him, their weapons over their heads, he raised the bo staff blocking them. Another guard to his right moved toward him, Dax jabbed to the right shocking him.

Suddenly the whole outpost started to shake. Most of the guards could be heard saying "Huh?"

The ground below the guards began to shake harder and rise then a giant silver ball burst from the ground launching all the guards in the area.

Dax took this chance and ran toward the main gate. As Sonic came dashing out, he looked around and noticed all the guards unconscious. Sonic then saw Dax running toward the exit.

"Impressive," Sonic said giving a thumbs up.

"That wasn't all me, that silver ball thing just came out of nowhere and knocked most of them out," Dax replied pointed back where he was.

Sonic turned his head to look and saw the Silver Sonic.

"Oh great, I thought I took care of him," Sonic said.

Dax turned his head and saw the Silver Sonic.

"That wasn't there before!" Dax remarked.

"We should split up," Sonic suggested.

"What why? It looks damaged we should be able to take it easy." Dax questioned.

"Last time I underestimated a Silver Sonic a friend of mine got hurt, so trust me we should split up, you go I'll take care of him," Sonic stated.

"Fine." Dax simply replied then ran.

"Alright, ya bucket of bolts lets dance," Sonic said.

"Priority 0 *static* engaged, exterminate weaker, *static* new primary target *static* (Red Hedgehog)." The damaged Silver Sonic stated.

"WHAT!" Sonic shouted in surprise.

Silver Sonic curled into a spin-dash in the direction Dax went Sonic was about to run interference when he felt a stunning pain in his back. One of the guards had regained conscious long enough to hit Sonic with a taser.

Dax continued running the direction he and Sonic had been going before getting stopped at the outpost.

"Great, I have no idea where I'm going," Dax said.

Dax stopped to catch his breath and to collect his thoughts.

'I wish this day would just end.' He thought, wanting to be back home and not dealing with a seemingly life-threatening situation.

Dax started to get moving again when he heard a tree fall nearby.

"Huh?"

Dax turned around to see Silver Sonic come speeding toward him.

"What!? I thought Sonic was taking care of him!" Dax said as he picked up his pace.

Silver Sonic was still getting closer knocking down everything in its path. Dax continued running until he reached a rock face.

'I gotta come up with something.' Dax thought, looking at the rock face.

Silver Sonic continued to speed up, Dax just stood there going over his options which he had very few. He looked around and at his hands that when he realized he still had the bo staff from the outpost guard.

Silver Sonic was about to hit Dax when he jumped out of the way causing the bot to embed itself in the rock face. Dax saw a hole in the side of the Silver Sonic and took the electric bo staff stuck it in the hole and turned the voltage up.

He pulled the bo staff out and continued on his path.

"I think I'm getting better at this." He chuckled.

Sonic could hear people talking as he started to regain consciousness.

"Area secure, looks like someone destroyed the place before we got a chance." The voice said.

Sonic opened his eyes and started to get up.

"Here." A female Mobian said with her hand out.

"T-Thanks," Sonic said.

Sonic grabbed her hand, She pulled him to his feet and gave him a warm smile.

"Did you do all this by yourself?" She asked.

"Kinda there was someone with..."

"Wait!" Sonic said, remembering Dax and the Silver Sonic.

"Someone was with me!" Sonic stated.

"The recon team did say there were two hedgehog's." One of the other Mobian's said.

Sonic dashed around the outpost looking for any sign of Dax or the Silver Sonic.

"A Silver Sonic is after him I gotta catch up with them," Sonic said getting into a running stance.

"Wait even with your speed you can still get caught and if you do it could be bad news!" The female Mobian said.

Sonic stopped and looked back at the Mobian confused. He was able to get a good look at her now that his was vision fully cleared. She was a pink and white cat, her eyes were green, and she wore combat boots a pair of blue cargo shorts and a red long sleeve shirt. She also had short hair styled similarly to Amy's.

"Come with us we can help you find your friend when it's safer." She stated.

Sonic was about to protest when an engine roared passed. A small aircraft flew by landing a few meters away from the outpost.

"That's our ride. You're probably wondering why you should trust us well we are apart of the Freedom Fighters!" The Mobian said smiling.

Sonic grinned hearing her say Freedom Fighters.

"Alright, lead the way miss leader," Sonic said with a grin.

"Oh I'm not the leader Biggs over there is." She replied pointing to a gray wolf.

"I see well, lead the way," Sonic said.

Sonic and the group of Mobian's got into the shuttle, the inside was small, so there wasn't much room to walk around.

"Cozy," Sonic said sarcastically.

"We understand its small you don't have to joke about it!" Biggs said in an irritated tone.

"Sheesh talk about touchy," Sonic said raising his hand defensively.

The aircraft took off toward where the Freedom Fighters are based.

The ride was tense and silent until the pilot called out.

"Homebase insight." The pilot reported.

The pink and white cat stood up out of her seat and looked out the nearest window.

"Come look." She said waving Sonic over.

Sonic walked over to the window and looked out.

"Angel Island!" He shouted with excitement.

"Oh, it hasn't been called that in a long time, now everyone calls it Freedom Island. Since its the only place Eggman hasn't completely demolished." She explained.

Sonic looked at her confused. The aircraft landed, in a hanger, everyone exited Sonic being last.

"Hey, do you guys have chili-dogs here? I'm starving." Sonic asked patting his stomach.

The pink and white looked at Sonic surprised.

"I was actually, going to grab some chili-dogs right now." She replied still surprised.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Sonic asked.

"I don't mind, it's rare, you know to find someone who likes chili-dogs." She answered.

"Oh, believe me, they are the best food in existence," Sonic said smiling.

The two of them walked out of the hanger talking about the best ways to prepare chili-dogs, leaving the others behind.

"You know it's funny you reminded me of something my mother talked about a lot." She said looking at the sky.

"Oh, really what?" Sonic wondered.

"It's embarrassing." She replied.

"Now you got me curious!" He said with a cocky grin.

"I don't know why I'm telling you this, but my mom told me stories about someone she knew, and you kinda remind me of those stories." She answered scratching the back of her head.

"I see." He simply replied.

"Oh gosh, I just realized I never told you my name!" She stated.

"The names Cherry the Cat, but everyone just calls me Cherry Blossom." She said giving a peace sign.

"I can understand why." Sonic chuckled.

Sonic then introduced himself.

"I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog!"

New character Cherry Blossom she was an interesting one to write, I created her while writing the chapter and thought, "That might be an interesting idea." So I decided to go with it she will be fleshed out in later chapters, I, really like the idea of her liking chili-dogs, the reason why is interesting at least it is in my head.

I Do realize that made everyone jump to conclusions, but if two people vanished right in front of me screaming, I would think the same thing.

I'm pretty sure most of you picked up on this already but the Time stone weapon sent Sonic and Dax into the future, which sounds cliché but its how I felt the story should go. Also, I know I didn't make it clear, but I referenced Amy in Dax's backstory she was the one who left town suddenly, since Amy's past before Sonic CD is vague.

Leave a review and give me your thoughts.