PoC: PenfullofChaos819 doesn't own anything besides the story. And with that said, PoC out.
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Metal: Where are you? Show yourself!
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Metal: You have to come back sometime to update. Until you do, I'll be waiting…
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Piece of the Puzzle
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He was happy to have dreamless sleep. At least something good had come out of his abrupt loss of consciousness. Considering his current track record, it was dumb luck that his 'friends' hadn't started to suspect something. Then again, was that such a bad thing? He couldn't just keep up the whole memory loss act up forever. That aside, he knew his first priority hadn't changed.
"Whoever I 'met' before I passed out, is the one I have to get my answers from. I can't wait any longer." he promised himself. Feeling himself coming to, he steeled his mind for the big moment.
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*Later that evening*
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"I can't wait any longer. I have to ask now."
Rouge sat up. After giving the situation some thought, she decided it was time to ask Sonic about his off behavior. She had hoped that Tails would have stopped by to give her some support. However, she realized Sonic would be awake before he arrived, and she couldn't just ignore him until then.
"Alright, here I go." one more deep breath was all the respite she would get now. She knew he was probably still asleep, but it was worth a shot. Still a little apprehensive, Rouge made her way to the living room.
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*Living room*
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Giving his drowsy eyes a chance to adjust, Sonic pushed off his thin blanket. Looking around, it was clear that whoever found him was eager to help him out. Touching his wounds, Sonic noticed they had all been stitched up and disinfected. Sonic made a mental note to thank this person, before he bombarded them with his questions.
"I bet whoever's living here probably thinks I'm either crazy or homeless." Sonic sat up. He laughed a little as another thought struck him "Come to think of it, both of those are kinda accurate, so I can't blame them. Now, where could they be?" Sonic wondered, whilst searching the nearest room.
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*Seconds later*
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"Oh crap! Where did he go?" Rouge asked, slightly disturbed by the vacant couch.
"Calm down." she told herself "He probably just went for a walk or something. But what if he passes out again? Oh I knew I shouldn't have left him alone for so long!" she debated calling out for him, but after recalling his reaction last time, she decided against it. Settling on a quite search, the concerned bat made her way to the nearby dining room.
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*Dining room*
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"Why would anyone be up at this hour anyway?" Sonic questioned his search. Considering how late it was, his host was likely asleep in one of the rooms.
"I can't go prowling around like this. It's way too creepy." checking the empty room one last time, the blue-hog gave up "I'll just wait 'til tomorrow. Not like I've got anywhere to go."
Making a 180 degree turn for his 'bed', the hedgehog wasn't expecting a sudden face-to-face encounter. The room was so dimly lit, that he could only make out the figure's long pure-white hair.
Likewise, the figure could only make out long, frilled upright, spines of blue. This, along with Sonic's jagged teeth, comprised all that the figure could see.
Both decided to have perfectly sane reactions, given the situation.
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They looked straight into each other's eyes…
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…and screamed.
"Hag!" Sonic shouted, making swift dive under the table cloth.
"Were-hog!" Rouge screamed simultaneously, while seeking cover behind a wall.
Shivering uncontrollably, Rouge took a peek around the corner. She could barely make out a pair of eyes from under the table.
Sonic meanwhile, convinced that he was dreaming again, saw the person staring at him from behind the wall.
"Now why would a hag scream and run when I saw her? I know! I found her out and scared her off. Now she wants to lure me out of hiding so she can get me!" the 'brave' hero convinced himself.
"D-d-does he want to e-eat me?" the bat said, still staring at the 'were-hog'.
"Is he waiting to pounce? Maybe he thinks I can't see him? How was I supposed to know Sonic was going to transform?" she only unnerved herself more as she thought about it. Sucking up what little courage she had left, she decided to call out "S-Sonic?"
His ears jumped up at that voice. Although her tone wasn't as deep, Sonic was sure he recognized it. Anyway, what hag sounded like that?
"Rouge?" he risked asking.
"Y-yeah it's me…" still shaken up, Rouge made her presence known.
"Oh man, oh man! How stupid am I!" Sonic cursed himself "I not only scared the tar out of her, but I called her a hag! Smooth Sonic, real smooth." he groaned while crawling his way out from under the table.
Upon seeing Sonic in slightly better light, the bat hung her head in shame "So much for not upsetting him." she kicked herself mentally over and over "A were-hog? Really Rouge, really?"
The two shyly approached each other. Both were quite sure the other hated them for their mistake. After a minute or so of awkwardness had passed, they finally spoke up.
"Sonic-Rouge-sorry-just-about-check-that-see-if you were ok." is unfortunately how their words came out.
"What?" they once again spoke in unison. Embarrassed, Sonic spoke up.
"Uhh…you first." he offered.
"O-okay…um…sorry for scaring you, now and earlier." her face turned a bright red in humiliation "I was just wondering if you wanted to explain why you were passed out on my front porch." she groaned at her poor wording. She didn't mean to sound as blunt as she did.
It finally struck Sonic how foolish he had been. The precious gems, the décor, and the overall signs should've given it away. This wasn't Tails' place, it was Rouge's! He had thought that since Vanilla still had the same home, Tails would follow suit. It was clear now that he was going to need help if he hoped to find his bro.
"Sorry about that." Sonic apologized genuinely. He wondered if he could trust this Rouge with his secret. It was a heck of a gamble, especially since he never really trusted his world's Rouge to begin with.
"No no don't apologize! I-I was just worried about you…" her voice was quite distant; as if there was a lot more she wasn't saying "I mean if you don't want to talk, I understand."
Something told Sonic that he could trust this Rouge, but he still couldn't fight his deep suspicion "It's not that, I just…I just need some answers."
"You and me both." Rouge thought but said aloud "Well then sit down. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do my best to answer any questions you've got."
"Thanks." Sonic said gratefully "I don't want to keep you up."
Rouge just shrugged "I don't think I'll be able to sleep right now anyway. Besides, I've got a few questions myself."
"Okay…" Sonic sighed deeply "Here goes nothing." he mused silently. Throwing caution to the wind was becoming an everyday thing, so why worry? What's the worst that could happen?
"Rouge…first of all, would you believe me if I said that I didn't remember almost anything about anyone?"
Rouge smiled reassuringly "You remembered me, didn't you?"
"Look, I know it's hard to understand but…" Sonic knew he was going to have a heck of a time explaining "Let's just say I know everyone's name, but nothing else besides that."
Rouge seemed slightly relieved at his words "So that's why…" she said more to herself than to him.
"That's why what?" Sonic asked puzzled.
"That's why you acted so strangely around Amy! I thought it was something a lot worse, not that memory loss is good or anything." Rouge revealed.
Now three people thought he had amnesia! Before Sonic could refute her claim he realized something.
"You saw that?" Sonic gulped. He never expected her to see his reaction to Amy.
"I'm sorry; I wasn't trying to spy on you. But when I heard rumors that you were still alive, I had to see it for myself." Rouge admitted. Sonic was struck by her words 'still alive'. Was he supposed to be dead?
"What do you mean 'still alive'? Why shouldn't I be?" Sonic couldn't hide his curiosity.
"You probably don't remember, but about three weeks ago, you, Shadow, Tails, Amethyst, and I were all investigating Chaos Control." Rouge explained.
"So Shadow exists in this world too, but who is Amethyst?" Sonic wondered, but only said "Chaos Control? You mean the chaos power?"
"Hmm? As far as I know, there was only the former factory called Chaos Control." Rouge clarified "I've never heard of 'chaos powers' before."
Now that was odd. Sonic wondered what differences there were between the two.
"Anyway, while you and Shadow were investigating the core, the rest of the crew was gathering data about the facility. Not ten minutes after we lost contact with you and Shadow, a huge energy chain reaction took place. It took all we had to get clear of the blast." Rouge continued.
Sonic tried to process her story slowly. Not everything was clicking, but it was interesting none the less.
"After the explosion dissipated, everything was gone; the factory, Shadow, and you as well. We searched for weeks, but found nothing. Yesterday morning, I got a call from Vanilla saying that she had seen you, and that she had sent you to Evergreen City. That's how I stumbled upon you and Amy. From there, I think you know the rest."
It seemed the more he learned, the more confused he got. Sonic still couldn't figure out what happened, but he was certain that it had a lot to do with that Chaos Control place.
"Okay that clears things up (not), so would it bother you if I learned bit more about this wor-I mean my life up 'til now? I hope you don't mind." Sonic said, worried that it sounded too contrived.
"Of course not Sonic, why would I mind? I'm just glad to see you alive." Rouge admitted.
"Hmm…I wonder when Rouge became so understanding. Lucky for me I guess." Sonic was relieved to finally be getting somewhere. Although it worried him, he decided to throw out his worst question first.
"Bear with me now, but can you tell everything you know about Knuckles?"
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*Apartment Complex*
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"I'm going to kill him…I going to kill that smart-assed, two-tailed, puppy-dog eyed klutz!" a mobian vixen shouted, while clenching a phone in her right hand.
"Sure you remember to bring your equipment, but never once considered staying in contact did you? If he had just brought it with him and turned it off, I could've traced his location but noooo!" the girl sat down fuming. Hearing a knock at the door caused her fur to stand on end.
"You better be bloody and beaten, or you're not getting an ounce of sympathy." she growled while opening the door. She was greeted by the sickening smile of a seventeen year-old vulpine.
"Hi!" he had the gall to say in his cheery voice. Poking him right in his fluffy chest, the girl began her rant.
"Don't you try that 'hi' stuff on me Tails! Where on Mobius have you been? And how did you magically forget bring your phone for the ninetieth time?" she snarled.
"W-whoa! Calm down and give me chance to explain!" Tails held up his arms in defense, while T-Pup cowered behind him .
"Grr…All I ask is that you remember this one tiny thing." she held the phone in front of his face "And what do you do? You leave it behind without a second thought! Do you care that some people have been trying to reach you?"
"Look I'm really sorry. I had no idea." he apologized, but she just turned her back on him "Oh come on Ame, you know didn't mean to." he looked down at his messages to reveal nine total; two from Vanilla, two from Amy, and five from Rouge. The vulpine slapped his forehead in disgrace. High I.Q. didn't keep him from botching the small stuff.
The girl walked off with a huff. Closing his phone, Tails decided to check the messages later.
"Wait Amethyst!" he said, causing her to stop "Come on, don't be angry." he said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Hmph! Just go off and do another dangerous mission while you're at it! It's not like you have people that worry about you!" Amethyst said, shoving his hand off.
"So that's what this is about." Tails thought, remembering his narrow shave at the Chaos Control incident. Listening carefully, he could hear soft sniffles. Placing his whole arm around her, Tails whispered gently.
"It's okay, I'm not going anywhere. And I really am sorry for worrying you." not fighting him anymore Amethyst spoke.
"Just because you sometimes take a job from G.U.N.," she began "That doesn't mean you should risk going without support! I mean, what if you really needed help and couldn't reach us? I couldn't live with that Tails, you know that!"
"Aw, come on. It was just the bungling trio again, what's the worst that could've happened?" Amethyst turned to face him with a stern look.
"Its talk like that that lost us Shadow, remember? Don't you dare leave us like he did…" she said resolutely.
"I promise you, I'll never let that happen." he said planting a kiss on her forehead.
"It's not just me…" Amethyst said "Everyone needs you. Vanilla, Cream, Amy, Rouge and-oh cripes! Rouge!"
"Huh? What about her?" Tails asked, a little thrown off by her sudden change of topic.
"I just remembered! Rouge called yesterday telling me she had seen Sonic!" Amethyst proclaimed.
Tails blinked, made a face, and ultimately tripped over T-Pup upon hearing the news.
"Tails! Are you ok?" Amethyst asked, picking up the fallen fox. T-Pup was busily whimpering over his master.
"I'm…fine." he grumbled at his pet's bad habit of always being underfoot "You say…she saw him yesterday?"
"Yeah! And not just her either! The news had a headline all about it!" vixen exclaimed excitedly.
"Hmm…really…" Tails said, placing hand on his chin.
"What's wrong? Aren't you excited?" she wasn't expecting the overly sober reaction Tails was having.
"Yeah…" he said unconvincingly "Ame, do you know where…Sonic is now?" he said his name as though he didn't like the taste it left in his mouth.
"Oh that's right! Rouge called again today saying she found him passed out on her porch last night. Then later, she said he blacked out when she tried talking to him this morning." Amethyst told the vulpine.
"I see…" Tails said cryptically.
"What's with the tone? Wait, don't tell me…" the vixen keenly knew what that tone meant "You're suspicious, aren't you?"
"I find it hard to believe that he would just show up out of nowhere, and suddenly forget to tell me that he's okay." Tails stated.
"Well you are a hard guy to reach." she pointed out "Now that I think about, Rouge did say he was acting funny; but really, don't tell me you don't trust your best buddy!" Amethyst could tell by the look on his face that he didn't.
"We'll talk about this tomorrow. Right now, I've got to get some rest at my place. See you in the morning ok?" Tails made for the door, with T-Pup not far behind.
"TAILS!" Amethyst roared.
"What did I do now?" the fox sweat-dropped. The vixen scowled while handing him the cell phone that he'd conveniently set down.
"Oh! Ha-ha! Almost forgot, I-I mean I didn't forget! I just figured I'd be by tomorrow anyway so…Yup see you then!" Tails hurried out the door, cell in hand.
"Men…" Amethyst sighed.
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End of Chapter Seven
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Fastest, update, by far. Spent part of my only free day working on this (which isn't saying much, considering it was already half-written to begin with).
Note: Ah yes, for those of you wondering why I have a "clichéd" OC as Tails' partner, let's just say that while Tails is still Tails, he fills his counterpart's role in this world (Hint: Ame in Latin is very similar to Amy). Although unrelated, I'm well aware that "were" in "were-hog" idiotically means "man-hog" (good one Sega), so no error, on my part, was made. Keep reading to find out the rest. I don't like revealing too much in these notes.
Above all, please continue to review! I am especially interested in hearing how you guys took this chapter.
And on one final note, do you really think Shadow is dead? Heh-heh…
Until next time.