LITO: Infinity Rising

Chapter 7: A Wounded Gazelle (Part 2)

The minutes that it took for Gazelle, Tails, Bogo and the rest of Sonic's friends to get to the

hospital Sonic was in seemed to flash by in a matter of seconds to them. Gazelle, in particular.

She saw friends come and go to the hospital before, and even sufficiently comforted them from

time to time. But why did it even feel so much more painful than all those other times? Because

she was in love with Sonic, of course. Why would someone like Sonic, for all that he had and all

that he was worth, keep throwing himself out in the bright, burning and evil fires that kept roaring

at him. Why, when the howling, gnashing winds of evil seemed to taunt and call him out for a

"game" called war, he seemed to accept the challenge head-on with a smirk and speed on?

Deep down, Gazelle knew the answer; because she experienced the answer first-hand.

Because that's who Sonic the Hedgehog was. Someone who was always willing to run towards

the thing most would run away from. Someone who would always run the extra mile or take on

the extra battle so that everyone around him, whether they deserved it or not, lived peacefully

for another day. Someone who would run towards evil and snuff it, no matter what it took. In a

way, she knew why Sonic would do what he felt like he would have to do; but this did not ease

her breaking heart any further. So after waiting quietly in an isolated area of the waiting room for

a bit, Gazelle decided to check up on her friends to see how they were doing.

With all of Zootopia shaken up by the news of Sonic's world being destroyed by a mysterious

creature, there weren't as much animals surrounding Gazelle today at the hospital. And even if

there were, their minds were preoccupied with what could potentially happen to this world. She

quietly walked to where they were all at. Judy, Silver, Tails, Nick, Mayor Richard Talon and a few

other Mobians she had never seen before were all sitting together in the hospital's waiting room

together. Not wanting to disturb their conversation, Gazelle leaned into the doorway to hear

what they were all saying. Unfortunately for her, they all noticed anyway and politely motioned

her to come in and join the conversation. She found a spot in the circle of chairs between Silver

and the red Mobian wolf she saw earlier. "So, should I be getting to know everyone first?"

Gazelle asked, motioning to all the new faces around her. "Oh of course Gazelle," Tails said,

politely, but rather rushed. She stood up and turned to all the new faces, starting with the purple

cat with white gloves and what looked like a pink gem on her forehead. She extended her hoof

towards the cat, who politely looked her in the eye and shook it with her hand. "A pleasure to

meet you, I'm Blaze." Gazelle did likewise and then introduced herself to Shadow (the black and

red EDGELORD), Amy Rose (a kindly yet energetic pink hedgehog), Knuckles (who unlike

Sonic, doesn't chuckle. LOL :-D And is also a red, muscular echidna), Vector (a big, strong

crocodile who is the spearhead of a three-member detective group known as The Chaotix),

Espio (a purple chameleon who was skilled in the art of the ninja, who is also one of the

members of The Chaotix), Charmy (a friendly, optimistic wasp who is the final member of The

Chaotix), Rouge (a white bat who is an expert field agent from her training as a G.U.N./Guardian

Unit of Nations agent and a friend/ally of Shadow) and E-123 Omega (a former Eggman robot

who went rogue against his master and has joined Team Sonic.) "Wait, should I be worried

about him after what Sonic has told me about the robots on His World?" Gazelle asked the

group. "He was an Eggman robot, but then he turned against him once and now he's served as

a friend and ally ever since." Amy responded. Omega then turned to Amy and said, "I have

found and seen you all as my allies too." then turned to Gazelle. It scanned her for any

identification and association with Sonic or his friends, then turned to Tails and asked, "Inquiry:

Anthropomorphic Thomson's Gazelle? Does not appear in alliance database." Tails quickly went

up to the robot who was just sitting there idly looking at a nervous Gazelle and keeping its arm

raised up to its chest in a fighting position, turning its hand into a gun, just in case it needed to

strike. "Omega; this is Gazelle. He's one of Sonic's closest friends from Zootopia. I'm sure you'll

find her to be ok." Omega then turned its gun back into a hand and then turned it into a fist, but

didn't punch Gazelle. "Gazelle confirmed as an ally of Team Sonic. Starting Gazelle Memory

Database. Sorting into 'Sonic's Friends' memory bank in 'Friends From Zootopia' section. There

are currently 6 Members in this database." Gazelle was intrigued with the creation. Although

Zootopia had a great supply of technological resources, she never quite seen anything like

Omega before. "Then again," Gazelle thought to herself, "Maybe it's because I've never been to

Mobius that I'm thinking like that." Tails smiled at Gazelle and Omega; something told him those

two would get along just fine. "Waiting for the Gazelle to initiate the universal greeting

procedure." Omega said, still holding his fist towards Gazelle. She then turned to Tails again,

confused at what the robot meant. "I think he wants you to give him a fist bump." Gazelle then

turned to Omega, who she then noticed had its fist in that position for a friendly (and not a

fighting) reason. She laughed in embarrassment "Oh, silly me. Of course." she replied, then

proceeded to give Omega a fist bump with her right hoof. After the bump, Omega opened his

hand, pulled his arm back, waved his fingers simultaneously and said, "Ba-la-la-la-la-la."

Shadow then facepalmed at Omega's reaction. "Rouge, that's the last time we're letting Amy

selecting the movie when she comes over to visit." He said, turning towards Amy. "Come on

Shadow, you gotta admit that movie was pretty cool. Especially when the robot saved Hiro and

Abigail from that portal." Amy said, obviously still teared up from that part of the movie.

"Hmph!" Shadow said, clearly unimpressed. "I'd rather have a tough, formidable aggressive

ally like Omega by my side than a walking, talking marshmallow." Tails then quieted everything

down so that the previous conversation would commence. "So, do one of you guys wanna catch

Gazelle up on anything?" Tails asked. Shadow then raised his hand. "For your information Tails,

that little distraction by the pronghorn hasn't changed my opinion one bit. Sonic has proved once

and for all by failing to save our planet, that we don't need him to be the leader of the Freedom

Fighters." Shadow said, with a tone of contempt at Sonic's obvious failure. "Shadow's right."

Espio calmly noted. "Since this unknown adversary has shown to be capable of godlike powers,

I'm afraid we have no choice. Sonic is no longer capable of leading us." "Yeah," Vector chimed

in. "Not to notice that even before Sonic's little adventure here in Zooland, the people haven't

shown much interest in Sonic and Eggman or any of what he does anymore." Judy hopped in to

correct him. "That's Zootopia, Vector." Judy corrected him politely. "But what proof do you guys

have that Mobius actually has lost interest in Sonic?" she said, questioning her new detective

friend. "Well ever since we've started Team Chaotix, we've been keeping up with the trends of

Mobius and also been taking our own analytics of what people have been noticing these days."

Vector said.

You know what, I think another format is gonna be better for this conversation for a while…

Espio: "Ever since Sonic has consistently stopped Dr. Eggman in his schemes, the public of

Mobius has been in an increasing period of peace."

Vector: "Ergo, the more peaceful and prosperous Mobius has been; the less people even think

about what Sonic and Eggman and all of it."

Espio: "Crimes have been getting solved by us at a higher rate because if there's anything

wrong in Mobius, it's usually something simple and more small-scale."

Charmy: "And even if Eggman did attack, the people are so used to Sonic beating him that it's

basically constant. Why care about something that's pretty much always going to happen?"

Silver: "Now hold up guys. That doesn't mean Sonic is completely useless to us."

Judy: "Yeah, I mean, he brought you guys altogether; hasn't he? Not to mention he's making the

universe a better place for everyone."

Knuckles: "That may be true Judy, but you can't deny that when people experience peace for so

long; they often see the big thing as something small; and the small stuff as miniscule. As if it's

no big deal at all and life is very comfortable."

Nick: "You know Carrots, I'm with Knuckles on this one."

Ok, back to the regular format…

Judy slapped Nick on the wrist which caused him to painfully wince and turn to her. "Nick," she

shouted at surprise. Nick put his paws up in nervousness. "Look, I don't agree with him about

Sonic no longer being a relevant friend to us, ok?" Nick said, attempting to defend himself, "I'm

with you when it comes to Sonic making the world a better place and I would lay my life on the

line for him. My friendship to him is that valued." "Then where do you agree with Knuckles?!"

Gazelle asked angrily. "If you truly think that Sonic is still relevant in our lives, how can you still

even imagine that he is only a miniscule deal in our lives?!" Gazelle was clearly ticked off at

Nick, as she was stamping closer and closer to Nick, infuriated at anyone for demoralizing her

best friend any more than he already was today in City Central, when he was fallen.

It was clearly obvious how mad she was, with the smoke coming out of her ears and nostrils,

with a passionate fire burning in her eyes and everyone she was screaming at almost falling

back (with a few of them actually falling back in their chairs). Whatever other Zootopians were

there were either minding their own business and ignoring it or trying to quickly walk away. In

the past, she would've been slightly embarrassed if she caught herself making such overly

zealous outbursts in public; but not this time. She was done with losing herself to the pressures

and conformities of expectations put around her. "You see here Nick Wilde…"

The scene was abruptly interrupted by a doctor who walked out of the medical room, surprising

everyone, which forced the scene to go back to everyone sitting in their chairs, except for

Gazelle who remained standing, but who calmed down as the doctor walked down towards her.

"I'll bet that you all will be happy to know that Sonic has just woken up and will be looking

forward to seeing you all." Gazelle, excited at the news, jumped up and hugged the doctor. The

doctor was taken aback, but once he remembered who Gazelle was and that she was in love

with him, he relaxed and then returned the embrace. "Where is he? Where is he?!" Gazelle

asked, after letting go of the embrace, jumping up and down like an excited teenage girl

awaiting her date to the prom. The doctor looked at her and calmly said, "He's in Room A6.

Sonic told me he wanted to see you all now." Gazelle then turned to motion her friends to come

and follow her and the doctor to Sonic's hospital room. As everyone started walking single-file

into Sonic's room; Gazelle realized something. While she was glad Sonic was now awake and

alright, she still couldn't help but feel very cross at what his friends were saying about him. All

except for the red wolf. For some reason, he didn't say anything at all. Maybe he was just

processing the situation, maybe he was afraid to say something, or it could just be that he just

needed to think about how to get into everyone's good graces and was just thinking that

through. She decided that she would talk to the wolf later; but for right now, her mind was

focused on only one priority. Supporting Sonic, and remaining there for him, no matter what. As

a true friend should.

Alright everyone, that is it for this chapter of LITO: Infinity Rising, special shoutout to everyone

who has been enjoying this story thus far. And, to answer Zachary cutter, well, you just got

finished reading the "next chapter." ;-D Hope everyone enjoyed it. Honestly, I'm a bit

disappointed in what I've been doing in this story and how few views it's received. I know I still

have a TON of story left to go, so let's hope and pray for the best coming forward.

Next time in this story, we get to focus in on some SonZelle; as well as the beginning of Team

Sonic's quest to find the clues to ultimately defeat Dark Foxen.

Also, what does Nick mean? How does this seemingly contradiction of opinion make sense?

What about Gazelle and the wolf? What are his/her reasoning for staying silent?

Find out in the next, to be sure, exciting chapter of "LITO: Infinity Rising"

Next story I'm going to update is

the next two chapters of "Determination of the Strong", so if any of you are interested in that; go

to my profile and read up on that.

Until next time; Keep Loving, Keep Edifying, Keep LoveandEdifying. :-D :-D :-D

See ya!