Chapter three
Sonic and Amy woke late the next morning. The air was much colder up in the mountains and there was a frost on the ground. Sonic packed everything up quickly and whizzed it back to his shack before coming back for Amy. When he returned she was gazing down at the village. He joined her by the cliff side. With a smile he noticed that she was wearing her necklace.
"Ready to go back?" He asked.
Amy nodded but Sonic could see that she was a little sad. He felt the same way. It had been so freeing last night. Up here all alone they didn't have to worry about who might be watching or listening. Now they were going back down to the village where they wouldn't even be able hold hands without giving away their secret. At least after today he and Ames could be a little more relaxed around Tails. If that went well maybe they could tell Knuckles and Sticks. And then who knows, they could go public and be a proper couple.
Sonic scooped Amy up and sped her home. He gave the pink hedgehog a sly kiss as he set her down on the doorstep and went off in search of his little bro.
To set the tone for their boys day together Sonic stopped off and got them an unhealthy breakfast of donuts and coffee. He knocked excitedly on the door which was eventually opened by a sleepy looking Tails.
"Sonic?" The fox said in a confused and sleepy voice. "What time is it?"
"Ten." Sonic replied. "You must have had a late night. Good thing I brought coffee."
Tails nodded. "Late night yeah."
The little fox brightened as he remembered what he had been up to the night before. He rushed over to his work bench and beckoned Sonic over.
"I was working on this!" He declared proudly. "Sonic, meet Dash."
Sonics face fell as he looked down at Tails latest creation. It was a small blue robot that vaguely resembled a dog. It had a square body and rounded head with pointy ears. To Sonic it looked like a child's drawing of a corgi.
"Its… great." Sonic said unenthusiastically. "What's it for?"
Tails looked a little sheepish. "Just a bit of company you know…"
"Why don't you get a real dog?" Sonic asked.
"They've never made it clear enough which animals can talk." Tails shrugged.
Sonic patted his friend on his head. "We'll you're going to have plenty of company today buddy." He grinned. "You and me. Just like the old days. We can go watch a movie, play some soccer, eat junk food. What ever you want to do, I am at your service."
"Alright!" Tails exclaimed. "Let me boot up Dash and.."
Sonic interrupted him. "Lets make it just the two of us eh?" He said quickly. The dogs coloring and speedy nickname had not been lost on Sonic. Tails didn't need 'Dash' he needed the real live Sonic. Accept no substitutes.
Tails reluctantly agreed and followed the blue hedgehog out of the workshop. Sonic handed his little bro a ring donut and a now lukewarm coffee as they walked.
"So where are we headed?" Tails asked.
"Well if were going to relive the old days there's only one place to stop of first."
x
"No fair!" Eggman wailed as Tails slammed into his newest, shiniest robot and managed to decapitate it. "How did you guys know I was cooking up a scheme?"
Tails landed next to Sonic with a smile as the heavy bear shaped robot crashed to the ground in front of them. "To be honest it was just a lucky guess." The little fox said simply. "I mean law of averages says that you're pretty much up to something once a week."
"It's still not fair." The evil doctor sulked. "The paint was barely dry on Bearbot. And I had a whole trap laid out. There was a honey stall and it was going to explode and you chumps were going to get stuck in the honey."
Eggman pouted like a toddler.
Sonic sighed. "That does sound like it would have made a good episode." He said in an attempt to placate the evil genius.
The others stared at him.
"Episode of events in our lives." Sonic clarified.
Doctor Eggman still looked a little put out. "What am I going to do with the fifty gallons of local honey?" He demanded.
"It's meant to be good for seasonal allergies." Sonic suggested.
Eggman stroked his chin. "You know there may be a way I could put it to good use." He stroked his chin and began to laugh maniacally until her realized that the two heroes were still stood in front of him.
"Now get off of my property." He yelled and stormed back inside his lair.
"See you next week." Sonic called after him.
Tails chuckled and led the way back to the plane. "What now?" He asked his friend as they headed back to the village.
x
Sonic and Tails continued to laugh and mess around the rest of the afternoon and long into the evening. Things between them seemed just as they had always been. They grabbed a burger together for lunch and went of to see the new 'Speedy the bunny' Movie. It was Speedy's first live action movie after years of dominating the gaming market. The boys agreed that the movie was a good effort though would have liked to have seen more of the supporting characters introduced.
"They did introduce Niles 'Brush' Flower in the end." Tails pointed out. "Although I do find him a little annoying at times it set the sequel up nicely."
Sonic nodded as they made their way back through the village. As much as he was having fun with Tails he had to admit that he was missing Amy a little. He found his attention slipping from Tails movie critique as they walked through the square. It was dark now and the hedgehog had to strain his eyes as they searched through the gloom for of a flash of pink. Tails noticed his friend looking around the square.
"Do you want to go and look for the others?" The fox said quietly.
"What? No." Sonic said in slightly too high pitched voice.
"It's ok." Tails said. "I know you like to keep an eye on Amy after everything that happened with the Veritas tribe."
Sonic took a deep breath. He had avoided talking about it all day in an effort to keep things as they had been but now was the time to come clean to his best friend.
"Tails, I have something to…"
A loud high pitched scream interrupted him. The boys whipped around in shock as a bucktoothed rodent ran towards them brandishing a broom.
"SNAKES!" Dave the intern screeched.
He ran past Sonic and Tails and smashed up a nearby fruit stall with the broom. Its handle broke as Dave forcefully slammed it over a watermelon. The fruits flesh and pips exploded everywhere covering him with sticky juice. The teenager barely seemed to notice. Sonic could see that the interns face seemed strange. He looked throughly terrified. Dave's eyes were wide with horror.
Sonic took a cautious step towards him and felt himself shiver as a cold wind blew past.
"Dave?" Sonic called. "What's going on buddy?"
The rodent rounded on him. In spite of the fact that Sonic could easily beat Dave in a fight the hedgehog found himself backing away. There was something about the way Dave was moving that seemed out of character.
"What's wrong with him?" Tails whispered.
Sonic had no time to answer. Dave charged towards them with the broken tip of his broom pointed forwards like a Knight in a joust. Sonic grabbed Tails by the arm and pulled them both out of harms way as Dave shot past screaming.
"I'll get you Snakes! I'm not afraid of you."
Dave continued past the point where Sonic and Tails had been stood and slammed painfully hard into the stone wall that surrounded the village. As the intern lay prone on the floor Sonic and Tails hung back a moment until they were certain that he wasn't going to get up and start attacking them again.
"What do you think that was about?" Tails asked.
Sonic shrugged. "Maybe he's been eating those funny mushrooms that grow in Meh burgers store room again." Sonic suggested.
"We should get him back to my place." Tails reasoned. " I can patch him up and run some tests."
Sonic agreed. Lifting the unconscious Dave onto his shoulder he followed Tails back to the workshop.
When they arrived back Tails instructed Sonic to put the boy in the cage by the workbench.
"Why do you have this?" Sonic asked his friend uneasily.
Tails muttered a response that Sonic couldn't quite hear. Whilst Dave was still unconscious Tails took some blood and did a quick brain scan. He was thoroughly confused when everything came back normal.
"Well there's one last thing we haven't tried." Sonic mused. "We could ask him whats going on."
Taking a long stick from the workbench Sonic jabbed Dave hard in the ribs. The rodent yelped and jumped up.
"What's the big idea?" He demanded.
"You tell us." Said Sonic, quickle discarding the poking stick. "You're the one that attacked us."
Dave looked confused and shook his head. "No." He protested
"Can you tell us what you remember?" Tails asked.
Dave concentrated hard. This was not a pleasant sight as it apparently took quite some effort on Dave's part. His face twisted and his tongue lolled out of his mouth as he searched deep within his memories for answers.
"I don't remember." He said, rather anticlimactically. Sonic and Tails sighed.
"I just remember feeling really scared." Dave supplied in an effort to be helpful.
"Scared?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Said Dave. "Like I was in real danger and I couldn't escape. I thought I was going to die."
Tails cocked his head thoughtfully. "How do you feel now?" He asked.
Dave shrugged. "Fine I guess." He answered. " I mean my head hurts. And my ribs for some reason."
"No need to look too much into that." Sonic said quickly. "So what's the plan Tails?"
Sonic turned to his two tailed friend who seemed lost in thought.
"I think you should walk Dave home?" The fox said finally.
"Are you sure it's safe?" Sonic asked. He wasn't particularly happy letting the teenager wander off unsupervised. "He might hurt someone."
"He gives people food poisoning everyday and we let that slide." Tails argued. "We have no reason to keep him here. His tests were normal and I believe him when he says he has no idea what happened."
Sonic nodded. He had to agree with his buddy on this one. Opening the cage he escorted Dave out of the workshop. As he passed the bench Sonic felt an uneasy feeling, as though he was being watched. His eyes narrowed as they fell on Dash. Was it Sonics imagination or had it moved since they left this morning?