Chapter 12 Like the Wind

Morning till sundown, Sonic and I never left each other's sides for the whole day in Apotos. We raced and ran, walked and talked…time can fly pretty quickly when you were with the blue blur. Walking back to the beginning of town, we hoped to see our friends there waiting for us, but there was no trace of them except the citizens enjoying themselves.

They can't be still sailing. It'll be dark soon…

Sonic and I looked over at the ocean, seeing the sunset's golden rays sparkle upon the now midnight-colored waves and the many seagulls reining the skies. There was no sailboat in sight.

"I bet they're on their way back." The blue hedgehog reassured me, noticing a little worry on my face. "Looks like someone forgot our promise hmm…?" Instantly my head bolted up and shook. I almost forgot of the promise between us.

"No I didn't! I just…" I paused, trying to think of a good excuse. Before I ever thought up one, Sonic laughed.

"It's alright. I won't bother you with it anymore…this time anyway." He made a smirk. I gave him a gentle shove.

We started walking back, now towards the outskirts of the town. The plains and fields around the village are just as beautiful as the ocean views. Makes me wonder why there isn't as much people or tourists around. I guess since this world is perfect as it is, everyone's used to living around with such paradise.

Eventually we walked into a plain that surrounded us in a complete twilight view, plus another beautiful view of the ocean and Apoto's islands. As I continued on walking, now in daze, I realized at the last second that Sonic wasn't walking aside me anymore. I turned around to see him standing there looking down at something on the ground.

"What is it Sonic?" I asked curious. I walked back to him to see him staring at a small shallow hole. At this, I now looked at the hedgehog in confusion.

"This is where my first world adventure began. I planted my face here on the ground after Eggman had thrown me out of space." He chuckled as it faded into a weak smile. "Also, this is the place where I met Chip."

Aside from being weak, I made a little smile myself as I remembered the little maroon flying creature from Sonic Unleashed. He and Sonic made a lot of memories together as they traveled through planetary pieces, fixing the world.

"Do you miss him?" I asked very softly, barely even a whisper. I looked at him concerned, still seeing the same smile he had before.

"Yeah…" Sonic answered sadly as his smile disappeared. He then reached for something behind him and pulled out a silver collar with a green orb. It was the necklace that Chip had worn. Sonic looked at it for a few minutes and automatically moved towards an edge of the plain, a cliff, never leaving his eyes off the object. I quickly rushed to his side.

"I wonder why he would give this to me… It was the little guy's source of power. What would he do if the world breaks again and that I'm not there?" He questioned.

"He is Light Gaia, I'm sure he's able to do much more then he has to offer without it."

"Maybe…" Sonic sighed as he placed the collar back (in his quills?). Then it led to silence, the only sounds being heard is the calling of seagulls and the crashing of waves. I closed my eyes at the time being and enjoyed the soothing sea melody. When I finally opened my eyes again, I looked at Sonic and saw he was doing the exact same thing like was, except was that he didn't look like he was calm at all. It seemed like he was more tense than relaxed.

"Sonic? You okay?"

It took the hedgehog awhile till he opened his eyes. After he did, he blinked several times and then looked at me.

"Huh? Oh. I'm fine Court."

"What were you thinking about?" I asked once more, making Sonic's eyes back to same state it was earlier when he was talking about Chip. A powerful gust of wind blew by just then, making our quills move rapidly and the many blades of grass on the fields dance wildly.

"The wind." Sonic said simply. "…Me."

The powerful gust of wind slowly transformed to a gentle breeze. I continued looking him; the dusk's orange atmosphere gave the hedgehog a darker shade of blue to him. Well, not even blue even, more like a dark purple.

"I am the wind." Sonic continued, and then he faced back to the ocean again. "Just breezing by, passing through everything to get to danger and extinguish it. Along the way, there's always something that gets caught in the wind, and it quickly befriends it as the journey goes on. But once the journey's over, it departs, starting the cycle over again."

I lowered my eyes at the hedgehog, knowing this subject was bond to pop up. I can tell by the way he wasn't cheerful or cocky for the last few minutes. It hurts to see him that way. I know some of Sonic's friends had come and go, but it wasn't like they wanted to depart. For essence, I know that Chip will be more than happy to stay with Sonic, but his job of being Light Gaia is what made them separate. Even separated, their memories remained still. Just remember the good times when they were there, their adventures together when they traveled side-by-side. I'm sure that Chip, Sally, and the others all wanted that from Sonic.

But even if some debris had fallen out of the wind, many of them stayed within. Supporting the wind till it gives its final gust.

I thought it all through. I was about the say the same things I reasoned in my head to my hedgehog hero; about being the wind wasn't as terrible as he newly thought. But before I said a word, Sonic had said something that I would never hear him say. That anyone will never ever hear him say in his entire lifetime.

"Maybe things will be better…if I remained still."

I froze in complete shock with my eyes widened at the hedgehog beside me. For at least a second, I felt nothing but only my heart pumping inside of me. However, since I wore the H.I. it demolished that feeling completely. Sonic, I know that you're upset at the moment…but I know you too well to say something like that. It's just nonsense!

"Courtney?" Sonic said my full name, his tone transformed to worry. He saw as I clenched my gloved hands into fists and my eyes closed shut. I really wanted to release my frustration, but the H.I. prevented me from doing so. I almost thought of tugging the chain of the necklace and throwing the gem somewhere nearby, just so I can release that emotion. But a part of me refused as I was turned instantly calm, back to normal again.

My eyes automatically opened as I heard a sound of a shot. It then led to a bright beam that shot Sonic's chest completely after he turned around looking for the source of it. Once he got hit, it recoiled the hedgehog to fall off the cliff, leading to the wave-filled ocean below.

"SONIC!" I screamed the blue blur's name as I ran and jumped off the cliff after him with no sudden thoughts. Before I lost sight of the field where I once stood, I looked to see the one who fired the shot. It turned out to be one of Eggman's robots. Not one of those boss-like robots, but an average Eggman robot. It just stood there, looking surprised of what just occurred just now. I growled angrily as the view disappeared as I kept on falling down, leading to feeling of me being peaceful once again. Once this is over, I'm seriously going to take a break from wearing that jewel all the time, at least for awhile. I want to feel all my emotions without something preventing it.

Sonic had crashed into the depths of the powerful waters of the ocean, as well as I seconds later. After I made contact with the water, it seemed like all my swimming skills had just disappeared. No matter much I tried to keep afloat, I always went down like a rock. Why is this? Is it because I'm a hedgehog and that I can't swim?

"No!" I cried out as I got a mouthful of seawater. I spat the salty liquid immediately as I took another breath of air before I went under willfully, looking for Sonic. Unfortunately under the water everything was almost in complete darkness, because of the sun's absence. I quickly came back up for air and searched under again, neither finding nor feeling anything underneath. This method continued repeatedly.

"CRAP!" I screamed out after going up for air, struggling as I did so before another humongous wave consumed me again. It seemed to be the sixteenth time now. "What can I do?" I questioned myself as I thought hard for a solution to this mess. "What can I do?"

It was then I thought about the Chaos Emerald that I retrieved earlier today. I quickly got it out from my jean pockets, and once I grabbed hold, it glowed a brilliant blue like I wanted. Now with hope, I went down under and searched again. Trying my best to swim around the area where he fell. It really doesn't help with me being near a rocky cliff, water was rushing in every way possible once the waves crashed into it.

I finally found him as he was slowly drifting down deeper in the water unconscious. It took all my strength and willpower to get to him. When I grabbed on a tight grip on his left arm, my lungs were begging for oxygen. On the journey back to the surface, I couldn't help but inhale some of the water. Back up, I did a series of coughs and try to get all the saltiness out of my mouth. Now I knew the reason why Sonic was aquaphobic.

Struggling through the waves I held on to Sonic as I keep us both afloat. As loud as I can possibly can, I cried for help. But only seeing nothing but more water in the distance, why do I even bother?

"We need to get to shore, just hold on Sonic." I said after I coughed up some seawater. Using one free hand, I paddled to get ourselves close to land as possible. By the pace we're going, it seemed like it will take quite a while to get to it. And it definitely doesn't help if there's a monster wave heading our way.

With powerful force, it pushed me to the rocky cliff, hitting my head as it did. Now everything was fogging and fading to me as we babbled close to the tall rock ledge, not even having much power to continue heading to land now. Far away in the waters, I saw a bright yet fuzzy light heading towards us. By the pace it was going, it was coming in fast. With the light being brighter, I couldn't help but shut my eyes. Was it help? Was it the end? I guess I'll find out after I awaken again.

Shadow's POV

It wasn't the brightest idea going sailing by ourselves. We didn't know what we were thinking. All of the sudden, the four of us just decided to rent a sailboat, and then go out into the open sea with neither one of us having the knowledge of sailing. What's even better is that now we were stuck on the boat with nothing but water that can go on for miles.

Perfect.

I just wanted to stay on the beach, enjoying my time here before all of us went to our next destination. It was my time to be alone. My time to think…

"Hey Shadow!" A voice called to me. For a second I thought it was that faker, but it was Courtney's friend, Dylan. He and that faker's personalities are almost about the same.

"What?" I said, annoyed that I wasn't alone anymore.

"Trevor, Chelsea, and I thought up of a cool idea of going sailing. Do you want to come along with us?"

I thought about it for awhile, and I couldn't help but to tag along. Yes, I wouldn't be alone anymore, but it was something I always thought about doing. What me and her thought about doing. Before the crisis, Maria and I thought of the places where we would go in the world and what we planned on doing there.

"… and in Apotos, we can go sailing and maybe get some ice cream afterwards!" I remember her saying with a cute little grin.

It didn't seem like a bad idea at the time. But now, I knew I made a mistake. I should have just said no and told the others to just stay put and continue what they're doing.

Or, at least, ask a person who knew how to sail to come with us.

Now we were just sitting ducks in the middle of a huge body of water. With wind going in every direction possible, we weren't sure how to control to sails to go back where we came from.

"Oh oh!" The short-haired brunette named Chelsea shouted out and started jumping franticly, now with another idea in her head. She went towards the sails again.

"No!" Everyone, including I shouted. Dylan quickly ran at her and stopped her immediately.

"What?" Chelsea said upset. "By the way the wind's going, it might lead us back!"

"Yeah! For now! Then the wind might change direction again." Dylan replied.

"Just trust me on this!" She yelled, now fighting with the orange hedgehog so she can change direction on the sails. Eventually she got a way around him and got control of the sails and moved them.

Surprisingly we were now moving in the right direction. Chelsea was right after all.

"See I told you!" The bubbly brunette said confidently. Dylan looked at her in awestruck.

During our way back to Apotos, the wind did not change in pattern as it continued to breeze on north. I don't know how this was possible but I was sure enjoying it as we continued on sailing back. By the time we saw Apotos again, it was near the end of sundown. I made a glance over to a ledge where lonely windmill stood with wide space plain. Two hedgehog figures stood next to each other right along the edge of the ledge, looking out towards the sea.

"Must be Courtney and Sonic." I said to myself. I continued on looking at the two hedgehogs before I heard a faint shot coming from the same spot they were, which lead to one of them falling down into the ocean, then the other following after. Oh no…

I quickly told what I just witnessed to the orange hedgehog and the two humans. Now their relaxed faces turned into shocked ones.

"What can we do? It's not like we can make the boat go faster!" Trevor panicked as he looked around the sailboat for something that can make the boat increase speed. There were paddles, but it would only have little effect.

Dylan lit his right hand on fire, thinking of something of that element that can push the sailboat in full acceleration. He looked at the sails, and then looked at the flame on his hand again. He thought of something.

Traveling back as he can on the sailboat, he now made his other hand lit with a flame and then made the fires on his hand grow enormous in size. Because of the huge amounts of heat he was giving, it then made the sails push out way more, making our destination becoming closer in reach.

"Dylan you're amazing!" Trevor screamed out, still shocked of what his friend can do. The orange hedgehog gave out a chuckle.

Five minutes later we were now by the rocky ledge, now searching for the two fallen hedgehogs that desperately need of a rescue. The sun had finally set, but luckily we had Dylan's fire ability to give us a useful source of light.

"There they are!" Chelsea shouted as she pointed at two hedgehogs close by the rock ledge. Courtney and Sonic were bobbling out on top of the rough seawaters, close together. Either of them responded as we called out their names, which meant they were unconscious.

We led the boat close to them as we reached out, grabbed, and placed them inside of the sailboat. After inspecting them both, Sonic was the one who was the most injured. He must be the one who gotten shot, seeing the medium sized wound on his chest. Fortunately both were still breathing, a while in the sea longer they would've been in a more terrible condition.

Since we were close to land, it wasn't long till we reached shore. I grabbed a hold of Sonic, while Dylan grabbed Courtney. We all fled out of the boat, not even bothering if the boat might be carried to the ocean again. I can handle the charges.

But once we rashly entered back to the white and blue filled town of Apotos, we stopped in our tracks as the peaceful town we saw was under control by the Doctor's robots.

And in the middle of this reign was the Doctor himself.