Chapter 3: Friends?

Chapter 3! Hope you like it so far, here we go!

*Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Tails, or any of them. They are owned by SEGA. I only own: Max/Zero, and Sammy!*

Zero's eyes blinked open. He saw he was in a different bedroom, which confused him at first but then he remembered.

'Oh yeah!' he thought happily, 'I'm at Sonic's house!'

He leapt up out of bed and saw that Sammy was still sleeping. He crept up to his bed, and jumped on him.

"Attack!" Sammy yelled, but his eyes blinked open and saw his friend on him, "Dude! I was in the middle of an awesome dream!" He looked around, bewildered. Then smiled and nodded when he remembered where he was.

"We should adventure around the My-st-ic Ruins," Zero said. He was starting to learn syllables in words. (Hope I got that right).

"Yeah, but first I'm starving!" Sammy insisted. Zero nodded and rubbed his stomach, "Ninja time!"

"What?" Zero was confused.

"You know that thing you do when you teleport?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Zero had this teleportation power, where when he walks into a dark part of a room and he can end up anywhere he wants. He walked to the closet with Sammy; it was dark in there.

Zero closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were black. He grabbed Sammy's hand and disappeared. Zero could see all the shadows in the house through his eyes. He found one behind the couch, and appeared there. He blinked and his eyes turned back to its normal colors. Sammy never seen it before, so he was wide eyed.

"It actually worked," he whispered.

"Of course it did," Zero said. They peeked over and saw nobody, so the jumped over.

"How'd you guys get there?" a voice said. They yelped and their tails bushed out, they whipped around and saw Tails.

Zero smirked, "A magician never tells his secrets!" He loved saying that, because it got the person mad or they'd start begging. But Tails just had a deflated look.

"Oh. So are you going to see our friends today?" he asked.

Sammy had doubtful look, "I don't know, Zero and I are a solo group." Zero nodded, his eyes wide. He didn't like meeting new people… Sammy doesn't count, Zero would say.

"One person you might get scared of is Amy," Tails laughed, "or Knuckles. Either of them, they have temper problems!"

"I wasn't really liking yesterday with all the people," Zero said, "So probably not." Sammy leaned on him.

"I agree!" he exclaimed. They didn't even hear Sonic behind them, but Zero did. His ear only twitched when he spoke.

"Well, you have to anyways," Sonic said, making the other 2 jump, "We're going to the lake!"

"What." Zero said in disbelief.

"Aren't you scared of water, Sonic?" Sammy smirked.

"I didn't say I was going to go in the water," he frowned, "Probably just chillax."

"Who's all coming?" Tails squeaked.

"Let's see," Sonic pulled a list out, "Amy, Ms. Vanilla, Cream and Cheese, Knuckles, Big and the Chaotix." (To be honest, I had to look that up! I couldn't remember).

"Yes!" Tails squealed.

"No!" Sammy and Zero sighed out loud.

"Why don't you want to go?" Tails asked.

"We don't like big groups," Zero muttered. Sonic walked over, knelt down and put his arm around his neck.

"Well, you're going to see this group," he smiled, pulling Sammy into it too, "All I have to say is, they are something." The 3 kids' stomachs growled. Zero looked down at his stomach and shushed it.

"I'll make pancakes!" Sonic said. Zero looked at Sammy. All Sammy did was face palm his face and mouthed, 'seriously?' Zero shrugged and smiled innocently. Sammy walked over and told him what it was.

"It's a flat… pancake, I guess," he confused himself, "its flat food." Zero nodded slowly.

'I'm so dumb,' he thought, 'I'll teach myself stuff, which will be hard.' He sighed with boredom.

"I'm going outside," he told Sammy. Sammy shook his head.

"I'm coming with you," he said. So they walked out the door and saw it was sunny and cloudless.

"Good day for adventuring, huh?" Sammy chuckled. Zero just nodded. He was already sweating, "Maybe a little too hot out," Sammy started panting. Zero smirked. He had an idea! So Zero created a snowball behind his back. And swift as a… cat, he threw it at Sammy.

It, again, hit him in the face. "Are you kidding me? Again?" he grumbled. He looked mad but he was laughing, "Let's go!" He sprinted off, but Zero was waiting there, thinking.

'I think I'll fly,' he thought. He spun his tails and floated up! He smiled and took off. He caught up instantly, and when Sammy turned around, he was shocked. He was thinking he'd fall behind, but nope! He was wrong!

Zero saw his shocked face; and he just smiled even more. They got to a big flowery meadow, it had daisies everywhere!

"Wow!" Zero exclaimed when he landed. He bent down and sniffed the flowers.

Sammy smirked. Zero was smelling the flowers, still standing up. So he decided to push him in. Sammy walked up and pushed him in.

Zero felt someone push him. He did a somersault. His nose twitched…

'Uh-oh,' then he sneezed. "Achoo!"

He heard Sammy laughing his tail off. He concentrated hard and made ice go through the ground and form around the bottom of his shoe.

Sammy felt a cold feeling in his shoe, when he tried to lift it he couldn't.

"What the?" Then Zero turned around grabbed his arm and yanked him down. The ice broke, and he fell in. Now it was Zero's turn to laugh.

"Very funny!" he faked laugh. Zero picked up a flower, and tried something. He concentrated really hard on it.

'Freeze, please!' he thought. (That rhymes!). To his luck, it started to crystalize.

"Yes!" he whispered.

Sammy was playing with a ball of light, but when he heard his friend, he looked up. The flower was frozen.

"Neat!" he exclaimed.

Zero knocked on the ice; it was frozen, and unbreakable. He sighed and laid back.

"We should get back," he said.

Sammy thought about it, "Yeah, we should. Just because I'm hungry!" Zero laughed at that statement.

"Beat you there!" Zero chuckled, flying away.

"Hey! You got a head-start!" Sammy complained, while laughing.

Once they got back and smelled a sweet aroma coming from the house. They bolted in and saw Sonic just getting done.

"Just in time!" Sonic said. There was a plate full of pancakes, "Well, let's eat!"

After eating, they had to get ready.

Sammy had to wash his pants, so he did it during the night. It was dry, so he put that on, and put on his red/white shoes and grey/red gloves. He decided to put his headphones on to look cool. And he put his stone around his neck.

Sonic and Tails put on the regular stuff they wear.

Zero didn't wear clothes, so he put on his ripped up brown gloves and boots. He also put on the broken flight glasses and the bandana that Sammy gave him. He also put his stone around his neck, it glowed for a second and then back to normal. He smiled.

They met back up in the living room.

"Are you ready to go?" Sonic asked.

"Not really," Zero muttered. Sonic rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Ok, how about you two?" he asked. Tails nodded fast, and Sammy nodded slowly. "Alright! Let's go!"

They got near to the lake, (The name of it is: Mystic Lake. Random name), Zero was growing more nervous by the second.

He walked beside Sammy, and Sonic and Tails were in front. He leaned in, "Are you sure about this?"

"We should meet them," he began, "but it doesn't mean we have to be friends."

"Sounds good to me," Zero sighed. They got to the lake, and there were many, many people there. There was a red echidna (Zero doesn't know what that is), a pink hedgehog, an adult rabbit, with what looked like a 3 year old bunny, a blue chao, a purple cat, a crocodile, a chameleon, and a bee. Then other families farther away.

"Yup! I'm not doing this!" Zero said, walking away. Sammy grabbed the back of his bandana and whispered something in his ear.

"Remember, you don't have to be friends with them," he warned.

"That isn't the reason!" his eyes were bulging with fear, "You don't know if they're nice or not!"

Sonic walked up to them, "They're nice… well, some of them at times."

"Yeah! Ms. Vanilla is very nice!" Tails peeped in.

"That's one person!" Zero said, rolling his eyes a bit.

"Did I mention were swimming?" Sonic asked.

"I. Can't. Swim." He said breathing hard.

Tails bounded up and down, "I'll show you! I'll show you!"

Zero's tails went between his legs but nodded.

"Also I've been with Sonic for 8ish months, and he doesn't want to learn," Tails said, pointing to Sonic.

Zero smirked, "I'm going to learn before you! Beat you to the lake, Tails!" And dashed off. But before he could Sonic stopped him.

"You have to meet everyone first," Sonic said, still smiling from what he did just a few moments ago.

"But…"

"No 'Buts'"

Zero sighed but smirked. They walked out and Zero whispered to Tails, "I'm going to beat you to the lake!"

"No you won't," he ran off. Zero laughed and dashed passed Sonic.

"Hey! What did I just say?" Sonic called to the brothers. Zero started running backwards now.

He just shrugged, but he didn't watch where he was going and ran into Tails.

"Hey, watch out!" Tails yelped. Zero was still laughing.

"Buddy Pile!" Sammy shouted and landed on them.

"You big oaf!" Zero laughed. He got up and tackled his best friend.

(Before the Whole Thing: w/ Sonic)

Sonic walked out of the forest and went to where his friends were. He could hear Zero whispering something, and then Tails shouting, "No you won't!"

Tails bolt past him, with his brother hot on his heels.

"Hey! What did I just say?" he called. He watched as Zero started running backwards.

'Wow, that's impressive,' he thought, 'He still has the same speed!'

He watched as Zero shrugged. Sonic rolled his eyes.

'Keep your eyes on the road, kid,' he thought, happily. He watched as Zero run into Tails and they started rolling. When they came to a stop, Tails was at the bottom, and Zero was on him. It looked like he was out of breath. Then another gust of wind ran past him, it was Sammy!

"Buddy Pile!" he shouted and landed on him. Sonic chuckled.

"You big oaf!" Zero laughed, out of breath. Zero got up and tackled his friend.

"You have a lot on your hands now, Sonic," a red echidna came up to him.

"These two?" Sonic pointed at Sammy and Zero wrestling, "They're thieves, Knucklehead!"

"I don't believe that," the pink hedgehog said.

"It's true!" Sammy was right beside the pink hedgehog, "Are you 'Amy'?"

"Yes! Has Sonic been talking about me?" she gave an affectionate look at the nervous hedgehog.

"No," he smirked, "Tails did though!"

"Ok, you can quite talking now," Sonic told the toddler.

"I'm going to go back for a rematch," he said. He ran and leapt on top of Zero, who was trying to get dirt out of his ear.

(Back with Zero!)

"Stupid dirt," he muttered. Something hit him from behind and knocked him in the water. He leapt out because it was cold.

"Cold! Cold!" he shook himself. He saw a dock and ran to it, "Look, Sammy!" But Sammy ran passed him and leapt into the water. His ears flattened in fear, but luckily, Sammy's head came to surface.

"Come in!" he called. Zero casted a doubtful glance at Sammy.

"Um, later," Zero muttered. But he felt something grab his tails, "Hey! Let go!"

When he turned around, a baby rabbit was grabbing them.

"Uh…" he hasn't seen a baby since… himself, "Could you let go, please?"

"Ok," and she let go. Zero started walking on the deck, but when he didn't see his friend in the water, he got scared.

"Sammy?" he called, "Sam!" But nothing. He turned around and he was there. Zero yelped and fell back, into the water. But when Sammy saw him topple over, his eyes went wide and his ears bent back in horror.

Before he fell in, he heard his brother yell, "Sam! No!" And he went underwater. It was deep, he kept going down and down… and down. You get it. When he felt the bottom, he saw Sammy dive in, out of his shock. Sammy had his hand out, so Zero did the same. He tried going up but couldn't, and he lost more breath and strength because of struggling. But he left his hand up, and Sammy's hand grabbed his, and for some reason, his eyes were closed.

'Propel your tails!' Sammy's voice went through his head. Mind-reading? But he started twisting his tails. He also saw a frog with a tail. Then he realized he was going up, but by himself. He smiled, but grabbed the frog before he broke the surface.

"Froggy!" the purple cat exclaimed. Zero looked at the frog and threw it, not in a harsh way though.

Sam got out of the water when Zero landed, "Sorry, dude."

"Nah, it was actually fun!" he exclaimed, "I learned how to swim! But I have to get payback."

"What kind of payback?" he laughed nervously.

"This," Zero pushed Sammy into the water again. He smiled and walked proudly back to safe ground. Sammy came out of the water, and punched him playfully in the arm.

"Are you guys finished?" the red echidna asked.

"Whatever," Sammy snorted.

"Do you guys want to meet my friends?" Tails asked.

"S-Sure," Zero stammered.

"Ok," Sonic started, taking a deep breath, "Actually, you guys introduce yourselves."

The crocodile came up, "I'm Vector, that's Espio," he pointed to the chameleon, "and that's Charmy," pointing to the bee, "We're the Chaotix!"

"I'm Knuckles," the red echidna said.

"And I'm-" the pink hedgehog started.

"Yes, you're Amy," Sammy said, snottily. Amy had fumes coming out of her ears.

"I'm Big," the purple cat said, "And this is Froggy!" He held up his frog friend.

"Hello," the rabbit replied, "I'm Ms. Vanilla, and this is Cream, my daughter, and Cheese, or Chao!"

"Hi!" Sammy and Zero, more hesitant, said.

He leaned over to Tails, "Can we go now?" He was shivering.

"No," he responded. Zero just sighed grumpily.

Sammy leaned over to Zero, "Wanna sneak out?"

"Yeah!"

"When I say go, GO. Ok?" Sammy instructed. Zero nodded.

"You won't be doing that," a voice said. They heard something land behind them, and when they turned around, a huge robot was behind them.

"Wh-What's that?" Zero asked, scared, backing away.

"It's the E-999, or Destructionator!" the voice said, when he noticed Sammy and he yelled, "It's you!"

Sammy smiled.

"New friend?" he said, annoyed, pointing at Zero.

"Beat it, Egghead," Sonic said, impatiently, "We don't need your nonsense."

"Oh, ok," he said, unsympathetically, "I will not leave! E-999! ATTACK!"

Sonic sped over, "Zero, get Ms. Vanilla and Cream to safety!" Zero was about to object, but thought about it and nodded. He ran over to them and led them away. He got to her house.

"Oh thank you," she said, politely, "Now go! And hurry!" He ran all the way there, but stopped and climbed a tree. He scouted the area. Sonic was spin-dashing, Tails was using some type of gun, Knuckles was punching the robot with his fists, Amy had this big hammer, Big and Froggy ran off, and the Chaotix were doing whatever they could. He saw Sammy using his light powers; he was doing good damage to the… whatever the fat man called it. (Remember, we're in Zero's POV). He could see that the evil guy was getting annoyed and shot a laser at Sammy. He didn't see it, but Zero did.

"NO!" he yelled. He leapt out of the tree, and his stone started to glow and his eyes turned completely blue, and he teleported. To everyone, it was a cloud of snow being carried quickly by the breeze. It looked like slow motion for a second for Zero; he reached Sammy just in time. He turned to his physical self and tackled Sammy. The laser hit solid ground. The whole war stopped and looked over to where the two kids fell.

"What was that?" Charmy squeaked, finally. Zero's eyes turned from blue to black and then created a shadow (power) blast behind his back, and at the right time, when it finished charging, he threw it. Everyone, except for Sammy, Sonic, and Tails, had their mouths wide open, even Egghead (Eggman, but Zero doesn't know that's his name).

"Um, I'm going to go," Zero said quickly and ran off. Eggman deployed a couple other robots.

"Get him and bring him back alive!" he yelled. The robots left and flew after the dog.

Sonic faced Sammy and Tails, "Go!" They nodded.

(With Zero)

Zero was running with all his might, not because of the robots (because he doesn't know about them), but because of what he has done. When he'd do that in public or his 'black eyes' thing, people called him a 'demon' or 'monster.' Zero just kept running, and he stumbled a few times. Finally, near the Wisdom Tree, he stopped, still oblivious of the robots. Zero panted, and sniffled.

"I hate my life," he whispered, "I… I…" he just wanted to scream. But that would warn others. So he mentally screamed, but it didn't help either. That's when he heard a buzzing noise; he looked behind him and saw 4 robots.

"Not now," he sniffed. There was a little burrow that he hid in from the bullies that ruined his life. He crawled in and sat there, while whispering, "Don't find me, don't find me, don't find me!"

He could hear the robots saying, 'Scanning. Scan Complete,' his heart skipped a beat (not in a love way), 'Target, not here,'

"Phew!" He thought they went away and crawled out. He looked around and breathed a sigh of relief. But that didn't last, because somebody grabbed the scruff of his neck. Zero squealed.

'Scanning: Max 'Zero' Prower. Species: Dog Age: 4 ½ uses: Frigoketicy,' it said, in the low, monotone voice.

"Creep," Zero muttered. He kicked it.

'Target Confirmed. Bring back to Base,' the robot said, 'Can't move. ERROR! ERROR!'

While the robot was talking, Zero concentrated on freezing his robotic limbs, which worked successfully.

'Hm, what if I said 'Destroy'?' he thought. Then the robot broke down.

"Huh. Well that works," he laughed, but then he fell, "Oof!" Zero turned around and saw 3 more robots.

"C'mon!" Zero whined. He really wanted alone. This got him annoyed, so he just sat down, relaxing.

"Attack," the leading robot said. But before they could move, they were destroyed by a light blade, and a laser gun. They stood there, in their same position, but then fell to pieces.

"You guys finally got here," Zero retorted. Sammy, with Tails flying farther behind him, ran up to him.

"Was that you?" Sammy asked pointing to the rusted up robot. Zero's ear twitched in response.

Tails landed and couldn't look his own brother in the eye.

"You guys can go back," Zero muttered, "I'm fine now. Sonic will need you, Tails." Tails nodded, and ran off. Sammy stood there, with his arm crossed.

"Yeah, you need me," Sammy said, "I'm not leaving my brother behind!" Zero's ears perked up when he said that word.

"I… I want to go home," he sighed. Sammy nodded and they walked back to Mystic Ruins. But mostly they raced.

The 2 kids got back to 'their' house, and nobody was there, thankfully. Zero yawned and went to bed.

He wanted to just… disappear…

So… how'd you like it? So far no reviews, but I'm going to keep updating! But if you review or want to review, leave what I should change and all that! Thanks! PEACE!

Oh yeah…

*Disclaimer: I don't own Amy, Knuckles, etc. And… anything else other than my 2 characters!*