Disclaimer: I was so enveloped in the author's note from the first chapter that I forgot to put a disclaimer on it! Tsk, tsk. Anyway, I am going to say this once and only once. Sonic and co. belong to the righteous people at Sega. The only things that belong to me are a few original characters and the "chaos key" from the first chapter. So yeah, blah, blah, blah, I don't own blah, blah and blah, but blah owns blah, blah and blah. I think we all understand the point, yes?
Chapter 2: Where am I?
Sonic lay on the muddy black earth. He lifted his face out of the mud and pushed the grime towards him as he lifted himself onto his feet. His body was sore except for his throbbing head, mud engulfed him, and it was pouring rain. The clouds covered every inch of the sky and made Sonic's surroundings black. Grumbling, Sonic edged forward, out of a humongous crater. It was colder outside the hole and windier as well. "Where in the seven hells am I?" Sonic whispered into the wind. He was in too much pain to run. The hairs on the back of his neck were pricked up from the immense cold, and he held his body in hopes that it would protect him from the bullet raindrops. He shivered as he noticed the piles of wreckage surrounding him. Even with the darkness, Sonic could make out blood on top of glistening white cement and bricks. As he trudged forwards, Sonic came to realize that he was standing in the middle of a battlefield. His heart felt cold as he thought of the hundreds and possibly thousands of people who died here. The bleak weather was not nearly as terrible as Sonic's mood. He continued walking blindly forwards until he saw a collapsed body on the horizon.
As he quickly approached her, raindrops smashed onto his aching head. Sonic sighed in relief when he saw her chest steadily rise up and down. She was alive, but unconscious. Sonic slowly placed her arm over his shoulder so that he could carry her without too much effort, and then continued marching forward. He grew tired of gazing at the gore and grime on the floor. He glanced at the girl and noticed her drenched cargo pants and once-white, now-black tank top. Her boots and gloves were caked with mud, and her face was even dirtier than Sonic's. He placed his left hand around her waist for better leverage and he then felt blood on her side. Her shirt was black from blood, instead of dirt as he previously thought. He was not certain whether it was hers or an enemy's from battle, because someone who lost this amount of blood would be dead long ago.
He must have walked aimlessly for hours. Sonic gradually regained his strength as he left the tattered battlefield, but the rain remained steady. Growing bored of sightseeing, his mind wandered to the previous battle with Eggman. What happened? One minute he is almost vaporized and the next he awakens in the middle of a rainstorm. He hoped that Tails and Knuckles were fine, but worried that they might be here as well. Worrying about his friends made him angry. This awful place was pulling at Sonic's last nerve. He began to become extremely impatient and kicked the ground as he walked. Remembering the wounded girl, he stopped himself and tripped face first into the mud. He cursed and crept to his feet. As he lifted his head and his tired eyes began to focus, a lit house came into view. The light almost blinded him, but Sonic kept walking towards it. He was now determined to get out of this wasteland. The girl next to him mumbled as Sonic quickened his pace towards the house. "She must be coming around," He thought.
The doormat he stood on was thin as paper and as Sonic knocked on the rusted door, a wooden plank fell next to him. He jumped forward and accidentally knocked the unlocked door down. The rotted house reeked of soggy fur. While lifting the rusted door to where it used to be, Sonic inspected the tiny room with a fireplace, a couch, and a door across from him. "Excuse me? Is there anyone here?" Sonic asked, looking at several carved wooden dolls on the fireplace. The fire was burning brightly and Sonic admired the glowing sparks that escaped into the air. Despite the obvious disrepair of the hut, it seemed warm and cozy.
"Yes, yes. I'll be right there," whimpered a tired voice. A young hedgehog appeared at the door with a mixing spoon in one hand and several children tugging at the other. The lines under her eyes made her look far older than she obviously was. Wrapped around her shoulder and waist was a belt with strings of bullets on it. "Oh my! You both are covered in mud from head to toe! Let me get some water and a towel." She stated in a warm manner and then retreated through the door. "Oh, and feel free to sit anywhere," she added. Sonic remained where he was, however, for he refused to dirty up the floor with his caked shoes.
"Hey listen, my... err... friend is hurt badly. Could you help her first?" Sonic asked when he heard someone return to the door. However, it wasn't the hedgehog, but a fox. An orange muscular fox with an eye patch, guns at his sides, and one tail. "Woah, déjà vu! You look very similar to someone I know, but you're much buffer and older."
"Really." He asked with a low, uncaring voice. The children from earlier stalked behind the fox as he approached the unconscious girl on Sonic's side. It made Sonic feel uneasy. It was as though this guy was judging her of something. As the fox tried to rub some gunk off the girl's cheek, the hedgehog from earlier appeared again, but this time with supplies.
"So, what happened to the both of you?" The fox interrogated.
Sonic was about to explain the whole ordeal when the girl hedgehog replied, "Oh they have been through a lot. I don't think we need them to go into detail about how terrible the storm is." She smiled at Sonic. "Here have some food." Sonic smiled back but didn't take it. The hedgehog realized what he was thinking and gave him and the collapsed girl two chairs to sit on. "Don't worry about making this run-down place dirty." Sonic smiled at the female hedgehog's warm face again and carefully placed the wounded girl on one chair and then sat on the chair next to her.
"Thank you." Sonic replied. He took the soup out of her hands and onto his lap. It was sizzling hot and made Sonic's tongue burn. Despite his aching tongue, it filled his body with indescribable warmth. When the girl hedgehog realized that Sonic approved, she took one of the warm towels from her pocket and began to rub the mud off of the unconscious girl. The soup melted Sonic's uneasiness of the fox and hedgehog, so he let the kind woman clean the wounded girl's face.
He closed his eyes and murmured, "Mmm," as he sipped another spoonful. When he lifted his eyes, he noticed that one of the children sitting on the floor was looking deep into Sonic's eyes. He just smiled in return and was about to ask his location to the malicious looking fox when the girl hedgehog yelped.
"What?!" Both Sonic and the fox replied.
"Don't you recognize her?! I didn't get a good look at her before, but even with a fraction of the mud gone, I know that...that is Dice!" The fox jumped back and immediately took out his guns. He spat with disgust as he eyed both of the muddy vigilantes. Sonic, surprised, quickly jumped up and accidentally knocked the soup onto the floor. He raised his hands into the air and embarrassingly smiled.
"Your friend huh?" the fox exclaimed, "What kind of a person are you, anyway?" All the children ran behind the girl hedgehog, who Sonic just realized was pink. The cozy room now began to lose its appeal.
Realizing that the fox was dead serious, Sonic lifted the wounded girl up like he had before, preparing for an escape. "Listen. I don't know what your problem is, but whoever she is, I won't let you just shoot her. I mean she's unconscious!" Sonic proclaimed. However, the fox remained focused with his guns aimed at both of them. The girl hedgehog trembled and bit her lip as she pat one of the children behind her. "What did she do anyway? Stop this! All I want is a towel to wipe all the mud off my face, and a first-aid kit for her. Is that really so much to ask?" The fox did not budge. A burning hatred was emblazoned in his eyes. As the situation became serious, Dice, sensing the danger, began to wake up. She groaned and slowly reached for her head. Both the fox and pink hedgehog stepped back. Dice put more weight on Sonic and then felt her head's trickling blood. At last her aquamarine blue eyes opened. Immediately she realized her location, sprung off of Sonic, and reached for a sword on her back. Sonic gaped when he saw that the sword's sheath was wedged through one of her spikes. The fox shot twice but Dice easily reflected both of them and squatted in a pouncing position. She stopped, as though trying to regain control and then ran outside like lightning. The fox glared at Sonic with pure hatred for bringing this creature into their home and then letting it escape. He was about to make another round of shots at Sonic. Confused, Sonic ran out chasing after the girl.
"Hey what was that all about?" Sonic questioned. Dice did not reply and ran faster. "Oh, you want to race do ya?" He smirked and quickened his pace.
As Sonic approached her, Dice sped up. Water felt like bullets as they hydroplaned across the mud. Dice glanced back and angrily ran faster. Mud ricocheted of her shoes and flew at Sonic. When she realized that Sonic wouldn't let up, she slalomed around nearby rocks and leaped across several elevated pieces of wreckage. However, Dice was more injured then Sonic and thus, all the maneuvers she pulled were relatively easy for Sonic to handle. She slowed down just enough for the two of them to be head to head. "Take this speedy," She cruelly retorted. As they approached a cliff, all the grime peeled off their shoes from the wind and their incredible speed. She ran ahead of Sonic, jumped over the cliff and began running on its wall. Sonic did the same. Of course, Sonic was having a fun time. He had never run vertically in a thunderstorm before. However, after carrying Dice for some time, he knew that she was badly injured and like a good hero was concerned that she would collapse any minute. They whipped around vines and ledges as they sped faster than the falling rain. Sonic easily caught up to Dice and was about to make a comeback when he realized that she was unconscious. He grabbed her waist and ran along the side of the cliff, instead of vertically, and gradually lost speed. Dice quickly woke up, but did nothing. At last they reached the bottom of the cliff.
"I have never found anyone as fast as you!" She stammered as Sonic let her go. "What are you: Sonic the Hedgehog?"
Sonic smirked and was about to reply to that statement when she casually answered her own question. "Of course not; no one is as fast as him, and besides he's dead."
"Excuse me?" Sonic stuttered. "Did you say dead?" Dice began to walk forward, holding her bleeding arm.
"Yeah, so?" Dice replied, and then paused as Sonic caught up to her. "That was," She winced at the sting of her bloody arm, "a long time ago."
"Hey, you are hurt. Do you know of a place near here...without any old stingy maniacs?" Sonic touched her shoulder but she retracted.
"I appreciate the concern; really I do, but I need to be somewhere. Besides those 'maniacs' back there were only defending themselves," She paused, "From me." Sonic gave an awkward stare. She looked back. "You aren't from around here are you?"
A/N: Thanks for reading chapter 2! Well, please leave a review.