Last chance to enjoy fluff! Next chapter starts things in earnest.
By the way, I'm probably going to be updating on Tuesdays, Fridays, or both, depending on how far ahead the content is staying.
And a big thank you to everyone who's been reviewing, following, or faving so far!
For a few days, then a few weeks, Sonic and the others waited for something to happen. Nothing did. Eggman seemed to still be peacefully mining away back at Merkel Peak. Eventually, an event came up that distracted the crew from hypothetical threats: Tails's birthday.
The little fox's last birthday had been something of a disaster, as one of Eggman's more dramatically proportioned plots had been in full swing at the time. This year, Sonic and the others wanted to make up for it. Since Tails loved camping, they set up a hiking trip into the hills nearby, ending at a remote little campsite that only Sonic knew the location of. Tails was over the moon; he had instantly agreed to give up on hard-to-transport birthday cake and presents in exchange for the trip.
Some of the others weren't quite so ecstatic, though.
"Remind me again why I came along for this lunacy, which does not even involve cake as compensation," Shadow growled under his breath from the end of the line.
"Chaos Emerald," murmured Rouge tersely, glancing around to see if anyone was in earshot. "Don't tell me you forgot, wise guy? Judging from the direction we're heading, it's going to be pretty near the campsite."
"And why could you not get the Chaos Emerald yourself?"
"Because Omega can't hike, and I'm not leaving you alone with him for two days," retorted Rouge. "I'd kind of prefer HQ to still be standing when I get back."
"So we should have all stayed behind."
"And let them get the next Chaos Emerald?" Rouge snorted. "Besides, I kinda fancy a nice camping trip. Relaxing."
"Right," said Shadow drily.
"Let's sing a song!" hollered Marine abruptly. "A campin' song!"
"Yeah, let's sing the Never-Ending Song!" called Charmy. "This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends! Some people started singing it! They didn't know what it was! And they're gonna keep on singing it, forever just because—This is the song that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends! . . . "
By now most of the Mobians who were of the singing inclination had joined in, creating a rousing and frankly rather discordant chorus of exuberant voices. Silver alone accounted for a full ninety percent of the wrong notes. Shadow glanced at Rouge meaningfully.
"I am not to be held accountable if I return from this camping trip with blood on my hands," he warned. "Or my teeth."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry," said Rouge absent-mindedly. "You're not that clumsy."
Luckily they reached the campsite without significant injury, intentional or otherwise. The site was a lovely little clearing in the woods, with a thick coating of pine needles on the ground and a brook burbling nearby. For a while there was bustle and commotion as everyone helped set up the campfire and pitch the tents.
Tails insisted he wanted to set up a tent all by himself, and set busily to work stretching the canvas into shape and pinning down the corners. The last corner gave him some trouble, so Shadow stepped over to help him drive the stake into the ground.
"Thanks," said Tails, wiping his forehead and smiling cautiously up at Shadow. "And thanks for coming."
"It makes a difference?" said Shadow coolly.
"Well, yeah." Tails started picking up the packaging and tools from the tent. "The more the merrier, you know?" He smiled ruefully. "I wish Maria could have come, though."
Shadow studied him for a moment. He had seen the way Tails looked at Maria sometimes, and he wasn't quite as dim about such matters as you'd think. He had yet to make up his mind what he thought about the situation—let alone find out what Maria thought.
"I'm sure she wishes the same thing," he said at last.
"And I bet you do too, huh?" ventured Tails, starting to unpack cooking utensils from his backpack.
"Perhaps. But it couldn't be helped," shrugged Shadow. "The doctor is unwilling to let Maria so far out of his sight, especially out in the wilderness. He probably suspects that we would try to hide her from him."
"We would though, wouldn't we?" said Tails wryly. Shadow shrugged again and stalked away.
After all the bustle of setup had finally finished, everyone settled down around the campfire and relaxed for a bit. Knuckles knew how to cook over a fire, and Amy knew how to cook actually edible food, so between the two of them it looked like there would be a very palatable stew for dinner.
"Don't forget to save room for hotdogs and s'mores!" said Tails, busily sharpening fresh green sticks to roast hotdogs and marshmallows on. Silver pulled out a small harmonica and began to play a cheerful tune.
"It's so different out here," sighed Amy contentedly, sitting down and leaning back on her hands to gaze upwards. Scraps of twilight filtered here and there through the trees, and small rustling sounds all around hinted at forest creatures beginning or ending their cycles of activity.
"You live like this all the time, don't you Sonic?" Amy continued thoughtfully. "When you're running around the world, sleeping out under the stars . . . "
"Kind of, I guess," shrugged Sonic, scratching his ear. "I usually don't run through the woods, though, so I'm more used to sleepin' in haystacks or on park benches or something."
"Same here," said Knuckles, looking up from poking the fire. "I don't really get what you guys see in sleeping outside. Heck, I do it every night. But on Angel Island there's the shrine, and it's out in the open—at least here we're deep in the woods. It's a nice to get a change of scenery, I guess."
The stew did indeed turn out deliciously, and it disappeared within half an hour. Some of the Mobians started to roast hotdogs, but of course the kids headed straight for the marshmallows.
"Marine, there is such as concept as 'too much of a good thing'," sighed Blaze good-naturedly, as the little raccoon attempted to skewer at least a dozen marshmallows on one stick.
"Not where I come from, mate!" replied Marine firmly, and proceeded to shove the entire mass of sugar fluff into the campfire.
"You come from the same place I . . . " Blaze shook her head and dropped the subject.
"Don't hold your stick so close, it'll catch on fire!" called Charmy.
"I know what I'm doin', thankyuh," retorted Marine loftily.
The marshmallows did indeed catch fire, much to Charmy's amusement. Marine, looking grumpy, waved the stick around until the flames went out, then stubbornly tried to eat the charred marshmallows anyway to make it look like she'd meant to do that. As soon as she took a bite, her eyes lit up.
"Croiky, these are good!" she exclaimed, and began scarfing the entire stick's worth. "They're all soft and gooey on the inside, and the outside's like caramel!"
Pretty soon everyone was deliberately lighting their marshmallows on fire, until there was a threat someone's fur would catch alight from all the burning sticks being waved about.
"So," smirked Rouge, nibbling at a dripping melted marshmallow. "Does this make up for no cake?"
Shadow rolled his eyes stubbornly, but it didn't stop him from going through several more charbroiled marshmallows.
They all stayed up later than their usual bedtimes. The kids kept begging for more scary stories, but at last the older Mobians agreed firmly that they should all go to bed.
"Can we all share a tent?" asked Charmy hopefully. "We'll go right to sleep, we promise!"
"If even two of you are in the same tent, you will not sleep until the wee hours of morning," retorted Silver. "Vector told me about that sleepover you had, Charmy. Something about taking apart a sofa and using the parts to build a tugboat?"
"Awww, he made that up," scoffed Charmy, feeling secure in the fact that Vector had stayed behind to keep an eye on the agency.
"Pleeeeeease let us?" begged Marine. "We wouldn't fight, or talk, or throw pillows or anythin'! Just go roight to sleep, promise, honest!"
"And it's Tails's birthday!" added Charmy pleadingly.
"Heyyyy, that's my call," joked Tails, but glanced hopefully to Sonic. The older Mobians all exchanged dubious looks; they knew that the kids would be whispering and giggling all night if allowed to, or sneaking out of the tent to explore the woods at two in the morning.
"I have a suggestion," said Blaze at length. "I'll stay in the tent as well, and stay up to keep an eye on them."
"All night?!" said Amy, disbelieving.
"Yes, of course." Blaze waved a hand. "It is one of the responsibilities of a princess to learn to fight sleep; the duties of ruling a kingdom often require long hours of vigilance. This will be excellent practice. Besides, even if I do drift off, I sleep very lightly. The slightest motion will wake me."
The kids looked a little disappointed, apparently having been planning some late-night pillow fights after all. However, having Blaze baby-sitting them was still better than having to be split among various tents, so they agreed.
Everyone crept off to bed eventually. The kids unrolled their sleeping bags in one tent, everyone else spread out their own in other tents, Knuckles stretched out by the dying campfire. He swore he'd never be able to sleep in an enclosed space like that.
Silver was one of the last to go to bed. Poking idly at the sizzling campfire embers with a stick, he listened to Knuckles snoring and the occasional firm murmur from the direction of the kids' tent. Blaze was evidently quelling any attempts by the young ones to start a conversation.
It was too bad, reflected Silver glumly. He'd been hoping he could sneak out on a moonlit walk with Blaze himself, maybe take her to climb the nearest mountain or to see the waterfall he heard rushing ever so faintly, far away. The woods were so beautiful at night . . . all the little chirps and rustles and sighs of the forest creatures, melting into a peaceful hum and twining with the sound of breezes in the pine needles. Oh, it would have been so great . . . ahh, well. Perhaps he could still take her to see the sunrise.
Silver at last did crawl off to bed himself. He slept either very lightly or very quickly, because when he awoke it was still dark. Yawning, he squinted blearily at the watch he had brought for the trip, but found it was too dark to see the dial. A quick flash of blue energy from his other hand quickly fixed that. Huh, five AM. Still a good while until the sun rose.
Hoisting himself upright, Silver wiggled out of his sleeping bag and slipped out of the tent, carefully stepping over Sonic and Espio. Outside, last night's campfire was nothing more than cold gray ashes, and the hum of the forest creatures had changed slightly. It was still pitch-dark, but there was somehow already a breathless anticipation of dawn. There was still time to go on a little hike, perhaps find a place to watch the sun rising over the valley . . .
Silver tiptoed past Knuckles, who was huddled back against one of the logs surrounding the campfire, his head pillowed on one of his large mitts. Creeping closer to the kids' tent, Silver halted and called out softly.
"Blaze?"
No reply. Straining his ears, Silver made out the sound of soft breathing. So, she had fallen asleep after all? He tried again.
"Bla-aze . . . "
Still no reply. Silver chuckled silently—apparently Blaze still needed more practice staying awake all night. A mischievous notion struck him: he would slip into the tent very quietly and pounce on her to wake her. Sure, she might singe his nose a little if sufficiently surprised, but it'd be worth it . . .
Biting back a grin, Silver moved to ever so slowly open the tent flap.
Minutes later, everyone leaped awake at a terrified cry that pierced the night and sent them all scrambling out of the tents. Silver was standing by the campfire ring, his eyes wild.
"Wake up! Everyone wake up! Something's wrong!"