Kids Again by Artist VS Poet.
We are your friends by Justice and Simian.
~~~

Act Two

Seven years later....

The gentle grip of a familiar hand made the hedgehog stir, his blue frontal tuft of fur draping loosely over his shut eyes. He groaned, his name being called sounding ever so far away. He could feel the sweat coating his grimacing face and made a complaint as he was requested by the voice again.

"I know you're awake." The voice huffed.

"Dunno what you're talkin' 'bout...." He slurred, rolling onto his side only to feel a hand gently comb his forehead cluster of fur.

"The fact you're talking speaks volumes in of itself."

"There's sleep talkin' ya know."

"You don't sleep talk. You snore."

He frowned, feeling his companions grin digging into the back of his head. With a mumble, he shifted awkwardly onto his back and wiggled his head so his quills could spread around him. He kept his eyes covered however, with an arm splayed lazily over them. His left ear twitched once and he crossed a leg over his other.

"However, I did come in to hear you muttering." His partner continued.

He smirked, "Is that why you waltzed in? 'Cause I ruined your beauty sleep?"

There came an indignant huff. "I was worried, besides you're the one who clearly needs it."

He lifted his arm to wiggle his eye ridges at the frowning chipmunk knelt beside him, his brilliant green eyes glimmering in the dull light. He smirked and lightly lifted the others large cluster of red hair with his hand. "Well now you're just being insulting."

The chipmunk giggled but quickly hid it by clearing her throat. "I retract my statement, for I get to see your eyes again."

The blue hedgehog propped himself up by the elbows, "That's more like it."

The former rolled her eyes. "Are you okay, though? Bad dream?"

"Nothin' out the ordinary, Sal'."

She frowned. "Sonic."

He glanced at his surroundings. At rocky walls, vines covering an arch, doodles propped up on the vertical surfaces and a red guitar balanced beside a wooden makeshift desk (which held some paper, golden coloured rings, a silver and green bracelet, glasses and most importantly- a folded brown puffer vest).

He frowned. "Did you fold it?"

Sally turned to where he scowled and nodded, "Thought that was better than it being on the floor."

Sonic unravelled himself from cloth blankets and slid off his wooden board for a bed (there was a sheet of fur between him and the hard surface though). He carefully acquired the clothing piece and rubbed a thumb over one of it's stitches, not noticing Sally had approached until her hand was on his shoulder.

"Thanks." He pulled the vest on over his arms and shoulders, then began to equip himself with the other items scattered across his desk.

Sally fiddled with a loose thread on her blue jacket, "Like I said, better than the floor."

"You insinuatin' you don't like sleepin' on the floor?" Sonic grinned, guiding his companion out the room by her shoulders.

Under flickering lights and away from the humming generator, the pair passed another arch with vines that marked the chipmunks room. On their other side stood a rickety fence marking the edge of this upper floor, where it then overlooked a few sewed beanbags, a radio sat atop a small tree log which all neighboured an inadequately put together kitchenette. It had a log bench utilised to hold a large bowl and camping style cooking equipment.

Sally grabbed the poles of the ladder and rolled her eyes as Sonic chose to zoom over the balconies edge in a ball. Thus, she made her way down and found the quick-footed hedgehog comfortably perched on one of the beanbags, fiddling with the radio. She made her way to the kitchenette and leaned down to view the inexpertly crafted fridge.

"We need more ice." She called, removing the empty tray used to chill the furniture.

"Gotcha. We can get Nicole to whip up some for us."

The chipmunk looked down at her left boot upon the mention, closing the fridge to see the small pouch N-I-C-O-L-E was settled within. Seemingly satisfied, she hummed and plopped down on the second beanbag, watching her companion with a protruding tongue deep in concentration.

"Nicole can fix the connection if you like." She offered, masking her amusement.

Sonic grunted, put the radio down and stood to stretch out his legs. "Better get 'em to call Vanilla whilst you're at it. How long's it been since we last spoke to her?"

The chipmunk frowned. "You mean how long since I spoke to her. You barely have since you suggested we go separate ways."

The blue speedster paused. "Still on about that huh? Even though it was-."

"Almost seven years ago, gee Sal ya gotta get over that. You're too worked up over it." The former stood, arms crossed.

Sonic sheepishly smiled, pausing mid shrug. "Took the words right from me?"

"You've said hi to her in passing. But-."

"She has a kid. I'm sure Vanilla's happy to not be involved with us so much. Besides, you let her know we're still kicking."

"I'm sure she'd like to hear from you. Properly I mean."

"Then I'll-." Sonic's ears sprung up, his quills tensed and he crouched with eyes darting around their now rumbling surroundings.

Sally watched pieces of rubble dance down to them and kept her ears on the whirring and thuds beyond their hideout. She looked to Sonic but he was already creeping over to the ladder, thus she followed. The lights shook and upon arrival, the chipmunk had to take a moment before climbing due to the loud whoosh of something flying overhead- which caused the radio to topple to the floor.

"Must be Robuttnik carrying out a search." Sonic whispered, holding out a hand for her at the top of the ladder.

"Let's make sure he doesn't get what he's looking for then." Sally accepted the assistance and allowed the other to guide them to their hideouts exit.

It was a narrow tunnel, fit for Sonic to travel through as a ball. "I'll lead his goons away from here then?"

"You know the gist. I'll see if Nicole can help me redirect them."

The pair stumbled from another harsh rumble and thundering gush travel rapidly above.

"Won't be able to if he's up there."

"Unlikely, but I'll keep it in mind. I don't think he'd bother travelling all the way out here. Still, be careful."

Sonic squeezed his friends hand and offered a thumbs up, smiling. "Where's the fun in that?"

He was up, over and gone before she could even open her mouth to reply.

—————

A small blue flicky settled on a short tree stump covered in moss and pecked at it's feathers. Upon hearing stomps, buzzing and scraping it lifted it's head to find a vast swarm of red wheeled robots and slender yellow and black machines rapidly emerging from the forests thick trees. Behind, robots with chainsaws for right hands skimmed across the forestry, cyan eyes scanning their surroundings. They had black frames with heavy red plating and two fingered pincers for their left hand.

The flicky tweeted and flapped it's wings before it's movements were confined to panicked struggling from a pincer snapping itself around the birds middle. It cried as it was lifted and watched bee and ladybug like machines continue on. Then, the tall robot that held it began stomping after the crowd.

The tree trunk shook, doing so again before it shifted to create the smallest opening. Green eyes scanned what they could, not finding any immediate enemies. He frowned, still able to hear the thuds and damaged trees but chose to swiftly and expertly slip out the trunk anyhow. He quickly diverted to a wide tree nearby and held his breath, waiting to see if he had been spotted.

'They're close. Too close.'

With no sign of him being seen, he stepped out and caught the shriek of a bird. With ears and quills raised in alert, he took off towards the noise. Aware of the risks, he chose to swerve and wind between trees- making his route difficult to navigate. Still, Sonic soon discovered what was causing the unwanted noise when he found himself following a swarm of Badniks.

He grinned. "Moto-bugs and Bee-bots. My favourite."

He leaped up onto a branch when one of these taller, less familiar machines spun around- although in doing so it did reveal a crying flicky in it's hold. Sonic frowned at the scene and only when the Badnik continued moving did he choose to leap from branch to branch. His ears lowered, instinctively attempting to block out the chainsaws distressing noise.

The Bee-bots and Moto-Bugs that led the swarm came to an abrupt stop when they collectively heard the light twang of a branch above and positioned themselves in defence from a blue hedgehog elegantly landing before them. He rested his hands on hips and gave a greeting smirk.

"Well, ain't this quite the party?" He rubbed his nose, quickly summing up an estimate of how many he faced.

"Not talkative types huh? Fine by me." He readied himself to run, tips of his fingers touching the grass.

"Why don't we dance instead?"

In a blue whirlwind and thunderous boom, earth was thrown off the ground and in mere seconds almost a dozen Moto-Bugs were left in heaps of scrap. Bee-Bots attempted to compensate for the damage but were quickly torn apart by a ferocious blue spiky ball that bounced between them. Sonic then moved to a gathering of both types of Badniks, circling them with a laugh prior to picking them up in a grande tornado- promptly ripping them to pieces. He landed in a 'T' position and dusted himself off, turning to face the frozen new Badniks.

"Now that the main attraction is over, mind giving me your title?"

Most merely raised their upper limbs, optics darkening as a collective whir was shared between them.

"Figured as much. What about...Saw-nators? Ya know, chainsaw and terminators together?"

In a flash he slipped under the legs of one Chainsaw wielding machine and reached up to grab another's arm, driving it's pincer straight into it's optics. Promptly, it short-circuited and released the little flicky it held, allowing it to flap it's wings in apparent gratitude prior to flying past the trees- Sonic saluted in return.

"Yeah, I didn't like that'n much either." He shrugged, letting one on each side of him barrel towards his location before leaping up to sit on a branch, thus the two collided and dropped to the ground.

"Robotnik wouldn't be with you lot by any chance ay?" He flipped to be on his hands, held his position and then dropped onto the shoulders of a tall Badnik.

He drummed his fingers on it's head, ducking to avoid it's flailing arms. "Don't appreciate my music huh? Eh, I was never made to play the drums."

He pushed his foot into it's back, pushing himself away as both it's arms crashed into it's head. His laughter was short lived when a large pincer wrapped itself around his arms and waist, squeezing him far too tightly.

"B-bit cosy?" He gasped, kicking his legs, glancing off to a thin standing tree.

The Chainsaw-Wielder followed his gaze only to spasm as small green cubes exploded off it like fireworks, it's cyan optics dying out as it collapsed. Sonic rolled his shoulder as he backed up and fiddled with his ear as the other Badniks followed in pursuit, one by one collapsing in a similar manner. When all were fallen, he looked to where he did before and waved at a minuscule green blinking light.

"Ack-!" He yelped upon a finger tapping his shoulder, thus he whirled to see a lynx like no other.

He saluted. "Hey, Nicole."

The holo-lynx only crossed their arms, most of them appearing in a green slightly glitchy hologram. Their purple dress hung entirely still as if they wore stone and their hair didn't wave in the wind like Sonic's quills.

"That was reckless." They replied.

"Well hey to you too." Sonic returned to fiddling with his ear.

"You're too close to our location to be causing this sort of chaos."

"I made sure they couldn't track me." He shrugged.

"That's not-."

"It's not like we're super hidden anyways." With a frown, he gestured to his left where past a few rows of trees came a clearing.

N-I-C-O-L-E slowly followed and took in the vines and greenery that laced itself around mouldy wooden shapes. Sharp pointed poles stood angled in between these damaged walls and grass was sparse, mostly replaced with wet mud and sludge. Beyond that a green-less bump of ground marked the abandoned sites end.

"You know why we picked here. Robotnik's very unlikely to return to this area." They spoke gently, turning to face their friend who's foot tapped the ground with arms crossed.

"You're on edge." They noted, then softly chuckled. "More so than usual."

"I'm just waitin'. But that's all I seem to be doin' lately."

"Sally's just being cautious."

"...I don't like being here." Sonic sighed and tensed when the holo-lynx squeezed his shoulder.

"I understand. But why-."

"Because I didn't think we'd be here for so long. It was fine for a while because I kept tellin' myself we'd leave but now...." He pinched his nose, shook his head, then laughed.

N-I-C-O-L-E faltered before stepping in line after the jogging hedgehog, feeling slightly unnerved from the abrupt switch.

"I'm not being fair, forget what I said." He continued.

"Sonic-."

"Hey." He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "I'm fine. 'Sides, I get to bash all these Badniks to keep me distracted. What're we gonna do about the mess though?"

"I'll take care of it."

Satisfied what that response, Sonic edged their conversation to a different direction. "Thanks for the save, by the way."

"Of course. But don't take this as a sign you can go around causing havoc."

The blue speedster brought his hands together and somehow made his eyes larger, sparkling with tears at the corners. He topped it off with his ears folding back and bottom lip quivering.

N-I-C-O-L-E pinched their nose. "Fine. But please do so farther from our hideout."

They passed a bush that neither noticed rustle unnaturally, nor the pale green eyes that peaked between it's leaves. They watched the incredibly quick hedgehog jump triumphantly at something before the unique looking lynx vanished in a burst of green cubes, thus the hedgehog zoomed off.

The mystery green-eyed individual exhaled, then left the bush behind in a run, barely noticing his yellow cap fall from his head.