Your support is awesome as always, it's been great writing this story and you all make it even better.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog or any of the characters, they are owned by Sega and Sonic Team.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Dreamcast, Dreamcast is owned and trademarked by Sega.
April 1997.
A few months had passed, Sonic now keeping in contact with his family.
But in the meantime, while Sonic had managed to get his act together, Sega as a whole, was a different story.
With the combined streak of unfortunate outcomes, the loss of their biggest star, the remaining projects they had released receiving mixed to negative reviews, other franchises they were trying to start up and the fact that they had spread themselves too thin, with budgets reaching bigger heights resulting in more failures, Sega were on the fast track to closing their doors.
While Sega had fallen by the wayside, a new rival had arrived.
Another company had stepped up, easily trouncing over them to the point where it was almost like it wasn't even a competition anymore.
Sega had fallen to a distant third place, they needed a miracle, and they needed it fast.
Rouge walked down the halls, watching on, saddened as she saw another person packing their belongings into a small cardboard box.
"That's the twentieth one this week." Rouge thought.
Many of their employees were being fired to account for the studio's losses, an unfortunate result.
Rouge sighed, only to smile a second later as a pair of arms wrapped around her.
"Hey." Knuckles said.
"Hey." She said back, kissing him.
"Well, I called them up and the date for the venue is set." Knuckles told her.
"Great, by the way I have a dress fitting at the house tomorrow, so no coming home until after." Rouge said, still a bit superstitious.
"Come on, I don't get to see my beautiful fiancé in her dress?" Knuckles said.
Yes, after a few years together, Knuckles had proposed and now, the two were set to be married that Spring.
Rouge was a bit taken aback by his proposal at first, she wasn't the type to settle down with just anyone, but her relationship with Knuckles was great, she did care for him more than anyone else, plus, the diamond on the ring wasn't exactly easy to pass up.
She may not have felt she was ready, but she was willing to give it a try for him.
"Well, I gotta get going, the guys are throwing my bachelor party tonight." Knuckles said with a smirk.
As Knuckles walked away, Rouge kept the smile on her face.
"If you try anything stupid, I'll make sure you regret it." She thought, sinisterly as she still smiled and waved.
After Knuckles was out of sight, Rouge proceeded down the hall further, reaching the main office.
Opening the door, she saw a lone rabbit, sitting at a large desk, her head in her hands as she felt regret.
"Ms. Rabbot?" Rouge said.
"Yes, Rouge?" Bunnie addressed her.
"Here are the reports you asked for." Rouge said, handing her some files.
Bunnie just looked down, staring at them for a moment before turning her sight back to Rouge.
"Rouge, to tell you the truth, I didn't call you in for just these files, I called you in here for your opinion." Bunnie said.
"On what?" Rouge asked.
"Sega's been going downhill since we left Sonic behind, do you think…do you think we were a bit too hasty in letting him go?" Bunnie asked for her opinion.
"In all honesty, no, you weren't." Rouge said.
"He was causing too much trouble, his antics were unforgivable and the constant pressure and endless work was driving him crazy, it was all for the best." Rouge said.
Bunnie nodded in agreement.
"However." Rouge spoke up again.
Bunnie looked at her, curious as to where this was going.
"Things have changed and in such a short time, he's cleaned up his act, the studio's back to being a core group and the public's taste has changed, which is why, I have a plan." Rouge said.
"What plan?" Bunnie asked.
"I've been working on a complete new image for our company, an overhaul of our brand." Rouge said.
Rouge pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Bunnie.
"Here are a list of new projects we can put into production, bigger movies, better quality, but lower budget." Rouge said.
Bunnie looked over the list, intrigued by a few of them, one being an action movie where the main character drives a cab, another where people would compete in a huge boating race and finally, one more title caught her attention, one simply titled, Chaos.
"What's this Chaos movie?" Bunnie asked.
"W-well, it's the project I've been working on the most." Rouge stuttered.
"It's one I wish to direct, the script however, isn't finished." Rouge told her.
"Well, that's a shame." Bunnie said.
"But, I am working on it and I want to start production by the beginning of next year." Rouge revealed her intention.
"Rouge, you know that will be difficult." Bunnie said.
"What other choice do we have?" Rouge pointed out.
Bunnie weighed her options before Rouge spoke up one more time.
"It's the prototype script for a new Sonic movie, if we're going to get back in the game, I think it would be best if we brought him back in." Rouge told her.
Bunnie thought about it.
"But he." She started to speak up, only for Rouge to interrupt her.
"Has cleaned up his act, just like I said, and he's come out better for it, I really think a new take on Sonic for a newer audience as well as the old fans could work and start the help in saving us." Rouge said with more determination than ever.
Bunnie folded her arms and smiled.
"So…where do we start?" Bunnie said, ready to give Sonic one more chance.
"Getting everyone back together and of course, recruiting some new faces." Rouge said.
"What about Knuckles?" Bunnie asked.
"He's still mad at Sonic, but I'm sure I can convince him to at least talk to him, Sonic and Amy, I'll have to convince and as for Tails, I'm not sure if he'll come back." Rouge said.
After making a fair amount of cash and receiving some moderate praise for his works, Tails took a break from stardom, focusing on his relationship with Mina Mongoose, pursuing his education and working as a part time mechanic.
"So, looks like we have our work cut out for us." Bunnie said.
"That we do." Rouge agreed.
As Rouge went to make a call, Bunnie asked one more thing.
"Rouge, what do you call this new brand?" Bunnie asked.
Rouge smirked and said only one word.
"Dreamcast."