Sonic strode ahead, Amy Rose at his side, her arm around him for support. On her other shoulder was the hammer with her bundle of cooking goods wrapped up in the blanket and hanging from the handle. Tails was once again on Sonic's back, his eyes closed.
"Sonic, slow down!" Amy Rose barked, tugging him back.
"Ya know, I'm feeling better every minute, Ames, you can't expect a guy to go this slow when there are rings on the loose—" Sonic tried, shooting her a sheepish grin.
Amy smiled, as if ignoring him.
They walked an hour before Amy made them stop. Sonic huddled on the ground, tapping his shoes hard. Tails pitched over into a miserable ball.
Sonic looked over at the fox, his ears cocked forward. He glanced back at Amy, who was marching in a circle around them, on the lookout for combots.
"HeyAmesberightback-!" Sonic blurted.
He blurred into the woods.
Amy spun around, her eyes flaring. "Sonic, no! Sonic!" She began charging after him. "Come back right now or I'll tie you up when I catch you!"
Sonic darted up into the trees, whipping across the branches. He jumped from the strongest ones, rebounding off of the trunks and onto the roots below. The hedgehog bowled into a clearing, landed in a spin dash, and came up face to face with a tower of rings.
"Bout time!" He snapped. His ears pricked backwards, catching Amy's enraged screams.
He shot back against the tree, shooting up to the highest ring and catching the rest as he fell.
He landed in a crouch, spun himself around, and bolted back into the thick of the trees. He made it several feet before stopping dead still.
Someone was crying in the woods. More than someone—several people, and they definitely weren't Amy Rose and Tails…
Sonic held still, listening to the voices. They were young—Mobian.
He crept forward, stringing the rings onto his belt, towards the sounds—
"Sonic!" Amy Rose screamed, smashing straight down onto him with her hammer.
Sonic thudded face first into the dirt, the girl straddling his back.
"Why do you always run away from me, Sonic?" Amy whined.
Sonic spun, flipping onto his back and twisting Amy to the ground. He slapped his hand over her mouth, now on top of her. "Shush, Ames, there's someone in the woods."
Amy stopped screaming through his hand. She held still, her green eyes wide.
Sonic rose to his feet, wincing as he touching the back of his head and shoulders where the hammer had hit him. "Ah, man…"
He pulled Amy up, and sniffed. Smoke. Sonic crept forward, his nose twitching.
Amy Rose followed, hands clasped behind her back, dragging her hammer in the dirt behind her.
Sonic pulled back several branches. He stared past them into a small clearing.
Out in the open, several charred wagons lay on their sides, smoke rising from their remains. The crying sounds had stopped. Sonic's gaze darted to a small head peeping over the side of one of the wagons. The face of a child.
The still bodies of adult and child Mobians lay around the cart. Most still had color in their fur.
Amy Rose gasped, her eyes growing wide. She covered her mouth, her hammer disappearing.
Sonic's eyes flashed and he straightened. "These your friends, Amy?"
She nodded hard.
"Okay," Sonic said. "Go bring Tails here."
"Wait, Sonic-!" Amy started.
Sonic stepped out into the clearing, one hand poised at his ring belt, his legs bent to run. From behind him, the bush shook, Amy still hissing out warnings.
The eyes behind the wagon blinked. The head raised up higher to reveal a little Mobian cat girl, her green colored fur and dark hair glistening in the light.
Sonic extended his free hand. "It's okay, kiddo-"
All of a sudden, one of the bodies nearest him rolled over. "Stand back!—What do you want?-Don't come any closer!"
Sonic turned to the body at once, all his muscles taut. "It's okay, it's okay—no one's gonna hurt ya-"
The body was a Mobian groundhog, pale with age. He stared at Sonic as if he couldn't fully see him. "They came from the sky…something like a great bird—a ship like a bird—it shot fire from the sky…" he paused and panted as if out of breath. His voice strained into the beginnings of a wail. "We should have left Cloven Drew sooner, I said—the minute the message started—I knew they'd come for us—"
"Shh, shh…big guy, we can talk about all that later," Sonic hushed, his eyes bright and ears pricked forward. He began to run his fingers along the rings at his belt, counting the healing rings and counting the bodies that still had color at the same time. He looked back down at the rings and his torn, bloodied gloves.
"Are you…are you…that little girl's Ringweilder?" the groundhog suddenly asked.
Sonic paused, glancing up. "Yeah. I guess so."
The groundhog smiled.
