STH © SEGA

Sarah belongs to me, BlackPetals23. Alicia belongs to aliciathewolf45.

Enjoy!

Chapter Thirteen:

Lost In the Mountains

"Jump on the count of three! Three!"

Knuckles hit the ground with Silver and Tails as Shadow had to push Sonic. Shadow sailed overhead and grabbed a branch and swung on it like a gymnastic before he hit the ground expertly.

"I wasn't ready," Silver muttered, brushing away twigs.

"You can worry about booboos later," Sonic waved him off and hid in the trees with them.

"What now?" Knuckles asked.

"We follow them from the trees," Shadow remarked and started walking.

"Shouldn't we stay on the road?" Silver whimpered.

Sonic shrugged back at him before disappearing into the trees. "If you want to meet his buddies that might come along."

Silver gulped. "C-Coming!"

The fox and echidna of the group left the last hedgehog to stand at the borderline of the road and the trees. He yelped at the thunder before running after his friends.

Tails glared at him. "Wimp."

~~~.~~~

"Shadow! Are we there yet?" Silver called from the back of the group.

Shadow sniffed the air and growled. "I'm all mixed up," he murmured.

Sonic looked around and coughed. "You know where we are, right?"

"He better," Knuckles came up behind them. "Or somebody's gonna be cranky!"

The rain had started ten minutes ago but it hadn't let down. Shadow squinted. "I lost the road. We need to find shelter."

"There!" Tails pointed at the small rock pile. "There's a cave in there."

Knuckles nodded. "It's big enough."

The opening of the rock pile was big enough. So they squeezed in without any trouble and complaints. Silver got dry as quickly as he could before staring out at the rain and lightning. Tails jumped everytime the thunder was louder. Knuckles wrapped his arm around the eighteen-year-old and sighed. "It'll pass."

"Hopefully soon," Sonic muttered and kicked a rock in the dark, deep cave.

Shadow nodded. Silver moaned and leaned his head against the rock, "Guys? Are we lost?"

"….."

They were silent but the hedgehog already knew his answer. Tails shrugged and smiled weakly. "Well, you know what they say, 'If you're lost—hug a tree and somebody will find you'."

Outside, it was still raining and miles away was their cabin. Silver's voice echoed in the cave. "I've never heard that in my life."

"Slow down," the police officer said. "We can barely understand you."

The girls all sat down on the couch with Manic who had been sleeping. The Chaotix came out and was told the story of the missing Mobians.

The officer was female, a red fox with bright yellow eyes. Her partner was a bull dog who was white and brown with dark blue eyes. Amy was seated on the couch as she told the story again, slower this time.

She only told the officers that the men were there one minute then they were gone. No detail about how they fought or what they fought about.

The fox nodded, "Alright. So you think they're outside?"

"Well, where else would they be if they aren't inside?" Rouge muttered.

The bull dog gave her another warning glare. Amy cried onto the fox. "I WANT MY BABY!"

"Whoa, whoa," the fox sat her down. "Now there's a baby involved?"

Rouge was about to say "no" when Amy wailed, "I WANT MY SHADOW!"

The bull dog cocked his head to the side. "She wants her shadow?"

Sonia shook her head. "No. I mean, yes. Well, he's a guy, her boyfriend. They were actually fighting and she told him to take a hike."

"And so you're afraid that he actually did…take a hike?" the fox inquired.

Amy nodded with shaking shoulders. The fox wrote something down before closing the tiny notebook. "Alright. Well…we can't actually help you look for him since they aren't missing unless they're gone within a twenty-four hour period."

"WHAT!?" Sarah barked, standing up. "You'd use that even when we're by the mountains!?"

The bull dog raised his hand. "Yes. They might be-"

"-lost in the mountains!" Rouge gasped.

The fox sighed at her partner while the group went into frenzy. They quietly walked out after saying goodbye to Manic and the Chaotix. Vector glanced down at Manic. "Why didn't you go?"

"I was listening to music on the couch and I fell asleep before I heard a door even open."

"He falls asleep quite fast," Charmy smirked. "Like you, Vector."

"Charmy," Espio warned. "Now is not the time to tease Vector. Shadow and the others are missing."

"What about Scourge?" Manic asked.

Sonia stared at him. "You dare go up to his room where he's sleeping and then make him yelling all night and I'll chop off your ba-"

"Okay!" Rouge clamped her hand around Sonia's mouth. "Let's think positive and try to help our idiot of boyfriends."

Sonia got out of her grasp. "My boyfriend is back at his house wondering how I am or partying with his friends."

"Fine, your brother."

"Why would I care about Sonic?" Sonia put her hands on her hips.

"Because if Mom hears about this," Manic started, "then she'll ground all of us for a year."

Fiona looked at him weird. "You really need a job."

Amy started pacing the carpet floor. "If our guys are outside in the rain-"

"Tails!" Cream screamed. "He's scared of lightning!"

Amy put her fist and hand together with a frown. "Damn! We need a plan and we need it now!"

"Why?" Blaze shrugged. "Silver told me to basically get out just like you did with Shadow. I'm not going to help him. Serves him right."

Rouge stared at her. "What if he doesn't come back?"

"…"

The silence lingered longer than anyone wanted it to. They didn't need false hope but they didn't really want true disaster either.

Blaze sighed. "Fine. I'll go save his butt again."

Amy grinned at them and nodded. Rouge's shoulders slumped. "We don't know where they are, though."

"So? We don't need to," Sonia shrugged.

"Why?" Manic raised an eyebrow. "This is a rescue mission. Isn't the point to know where they are?"

"No," Sonia continued. "Because their lost. They could be anywhere."

"They might have tracks," Rouge said.

"The rain," Cream whined, staring out the window.

Rouge sighed. "So much for that idea."

Manic frowned. "No. I'll go with these guys. We'll take Silver's phone with us. Rouge; keep yours on you at all times. We'll call if we get anything."

"Like what?"

"Like if we find tracks or find them."

"What if you guys get lost?" Amy said as Manic put on a coat with the Chaotix.

"Then we'll call and give you every direction we remember taking that ended up causing us to get lost."

"What?" Sonia tilted her head in confusion as Blaze nodded in agreement.

Manic rolled his eyes. "You'll get it."

Blaze ran up to get her boyfriend's phone to give it to Manic. "If you lose this, he'll sue you and then kill you."

"That's if he can find me," Manic grinned and put it in a pocket, wrapping it in a glove first to keep it as dry as possible.

The Chaotix were ready and when they got their hoods up, they walked outside. Rouge locked the door. "Just in case they think they can run home like babies."

"Charmy hates water," Cream said. "What if he realizes that when he gets out there?"

"Then he'll have to get the balls and man up," Rouge said which made Cream's eyes widen just a tad.

"Come on," Sarah said. "We should get some sleep."

"I'm sleeping out here," Amy said, grabbing a blanket pillow from her room.

The girls followed her idea and soon it seemed like a sleep over but only in dread and worry. Fiona was the only one not too worried. Scourge was still asleep upstairs, but sooner or later he'd have to wake up.

~~~.~~~

Thunder boomed and Amy awoke. She stared out at the sky, curling up and whispering to herself.

"Please let him be okay. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it."

She fell asleep like that. It wasn't long before she was being shaken awake.

"Amy! Wake up!"

"I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" she yelled as she sat up.

Rouge and Fiona stared at each other. Sarah got in her view. "Amy? Wake up! Manic and the guys haven't called and they aren't back. We checked to make sure they didn't fall asleep at the door."

"Nothing?" Amy looked down as the girls shook their heads.

"Scourge called some reinforcements though," Fiona comforted. "I don't know who but they'll be here later. We can look in the meantime."

Amy nodded and crawled off the couch. The girls were already dressed. Fiona followed her to the room with Rouge and Sarah. Sarah leaned against the doorway while Fiona sat on the edge of the bed with Rouge.

"Scourge went out to check up on things. Seeing if he can find Manic and the Chaotix."

Amy nodded but ignored half of what the fox was saying. Rouge interrupted though. "Amy? You okay?"

Amy shook her head. "No, Rouge. I want him. I'd give anything…but to know he's missing…." Amy sniffled while Rouge hugged her.

Fiona leaned back on the bed. "We can report them missing later tonight. It hasn't been exactly twenty-four hours."

"She's right," Sarah nodded. "We'll have to tell the police officers later."

Amy agreed reluctantly before sitting down on the bed with Rouge. The ivory bat kept an arm around her neck. "Sonia and Cream are making breakfast for us. We told Scourge to go alert Alicia. She might know other people or Ginger might so they can help us search for the guys."

Sarah watched something from her pink friend that she hadn't seen in awhile—only in fight's with Eggman when it looked like Sonic or Shadow wouldn't get there fast enough for her. A sparkle hit her eyes and she stood up.

"You're right! We'll talk to anyone who might know everyone! I'll look every millimeter on Mobius for Shadow and I won't give up until I find him!" she marched downstairs.

The girls followed closely behind while the rose hedgehog held a hand in the air.

"He can't stay away from me forever! I will find him, even if it's the last thing I ever do!"