Chapter Text
“Well, what did they say?” Amy ran up to Tails the moment the fox walked into the workshop, Knuckles leaned against the wall, turning his attention towards Tails.
“They said there isn’t much to work with because the shoes and gloves were buried, but they will keep an eye out for him and let us know if they find anything that could lead to his whereabouts.” Tails sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Vector also reassured me by saying that Sonic does disappear from time to time and he always turns up eventually. I’m just worried because his stuff was buried, and even Vector said Sonic would never do something like that.”
“Of course he wouldn’t, he hardly takes off the damn things.” Knuckles huffed, his muzzle twitching. He’s lucky it wasn’t broken, just severely bruised.
Amy sent a glare towards the echidna before looking back at the kit. “Did you tell them about what Metal said?”
Tails slowly shook his head, mindful of his concussion. He walked over to the couch near his tools, taking a seat on the sofa. “It slipped my mind. I feel like it’s a bit too late to tell them now.”
“I’m still worried about what Egghead said.” Knuckles moved away from the wall and took a seat on the couch next to the fox. “Do you think Sonic is injured?”
“I asked about blood, but I was told it would be near impossible to look for any bloodstains with the condition of his shoes and gloves. If there’s no blood, I’m not sure where he would’ve gone since that island is so remote and far away from any of the mainlands.” Tails furrowed his brows. His head was pounding and it only became worse if he were to think.
Amy remained silent in thought. She sat on the other side of Tails, her gaze to the floor as numerous thoughts ran through her mind. She knows Sonic well enough to know that he tends to have his moments where he disappears for the day and comes back the next. The only times where he’s gone for multiple days at a time is if there are circumstances that prevent him from coming home; Such as the time when the planet broke apart or when he was held hostage for 6 months. Even then, Sonic always showed up one way or another. She found it ridiculous that they were so worked up by him going missing for 5 days despite some other instances, but she suspects it’s the fact that he went to an island that was thought to be a myth. Amy closed her eyes and sighed heavily. There was one other person who might know where Sonic is, but she highly doubts he’ll answer the phone. It wouldn’t hurt to contact him.
“Hey Knuckles?” Amy began, the echidna looking over at her when she called his name. “Do you happen to have Rouge’s number?”
Knuckles raised a brow in suspicion, eyeing Amy. “Why?”
“Do you?”
“So what if I do? You have her number, why don’t you just call her yourself.”
“Because I know she’ll immediately answer if it’s you who’s calling.”
Knuckles’ choked on air, a light blush dusting his cheeks. He turned his head away and folded his arms over his chest. “She wouldn’t.”
Tails and Amy shared a knowing look, chuckling softly. “Please Knuckles?” Amy pleaded, giving him her doe eyes.
Knuckles glanced over at the pink hedgehog. He closed his eyes with a grumble and took out his communicator, handing it to Amy. She thanked him and opened up his device, scrolling through his contacts, clicking on Rouge’s number. The communicator rang once before someone answered.
“Hey Knuckie~” Rouge’s voice echoed from the speaker.
“H-hey Rouge.” Knuckles felt like he was about to die from embarrassment, the looks his friends were giving him not helping in the slightest.
“What’s up? Or were you just wanting to hear my pretty voice~” Rouge teased, causing the echidna to grumble under his breath, sending a look towards Amy.
Amy chuckled and spoke up. “Hey Rouge, we were wondering if you or Shadow have heard anything from Sonic recently.”
“Sonic? Nope, haven’t heard anything from Blue in a while.”
“What about Shadow?”
“Lemme check.” Shuffling could be heard as Rouge got up from wherever she was, the sound of her heels clicking against the ground as she headed over to where Shadow was. It was silent for a moment before her voice was heard again, talking to another person. Her conversation was quick as she began to talk into the communicator once more. “He says he hasn’t heard anything. Why?”
“Well, he’s been..missing for 5, almost 6 days, and his last known location was Christmas Island.” Tails piped in, ears twitching as he heard Rouge mumble to herself, too muffled for him to understand.
“I see, and you haven’t tried to contact him?”
“He left his communicator here. And we also went to the location to look for him, but we only found his shoes and gloves…buried.”
Rouge fell silent again, seeming to be processing the words Tails just spoke. It took a moment before she spoke up again. “You said Christmas Island, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. We’ll keep a look out for him and let you know if we find anything.”
“Okay. Thank you.” Rouge gave a hum in response before hanging up. Amy sighed and handed the device back to Knuckles. “Well, at least they know. Hopefully with their help we’ll be able to find him.”
“I hope so…” Tails fiddled with the cuff of his glove, leaning back against the couch.
“Okay. Thank you.”
Rouge hummed before hanging up the call. She had turned up the volume of the call the moment she went over to Shadow to ask him about Sonic. Of course this had been a good choice since what was said after made the bat and hybrid share a look of concern. Sonic missing for 5 days? Not super concerning. The hero tends to have his random moments where he decides to disappear for a few days before coming back like nothing happened. His last known location being an island thought to be a myth and his belongings buried? That raises some red flags.
“You heard all that, right?” Rouge put away her communicator and looked over at the black hedgehog, who was currently leaning against the wall, a stack of papers in his arm.
“Of course I did. They do know that he disappears from time to time, don’t they?” Shadow scoffed.
“Well- yeah, but I’m more concerned about the fact that his last known location was on Christmas Island.”
“What of it? Isn’t that just some bedtime story parents tell their kids?” Shadow raised a brow. He’s heard Sonic mention the island’s name once but he just brushed it off as just another one of Sonic’s ramblings. He didn’t realize it was a real place.
“No, it isn’t. I’ve found a file on it from decades ago. Sounds like they went to explore it but abandoned whatever plans they had for it as the expedition crew never came back.” Rouge placed a hand on her hip, her free hand coming up to her chin. “I thought it was just a myth until I found that file. It didn’t go into much detail other than “don’t go into the jungle”, which just sounds odd.”
Shadow sighed, pulling away from the wall and continued on his path to go drop off the documents in his arm. “Are you asking me to go scout this island?”
Rouge walked beside her partner, shrugging. “I mean, it wouldn’t hurt for you to go double check the location in case they missed anything. I’m sure you’d love it.”
Shadow tsked, placing the stack of papers in a labeled basket, his hands going to his hips as he turned back to Rouge. “So you want me to go to this island to see if I can find anything else to help find that blue idiot.”
“Yes, but after that I want you to go talk to Tails.”
“Why me? You could go do that while I’m searching the island.” Shadow began walking back to their shared office, Rouge walking beside him.
“Because he might feel better if he hears it from you. I know you picked up on the worry in his voice.”
Shadow fell silent, stopping in his tracks. He did hear the worry in Tails' voice when he explained Sonic’s last known location and the condition they found his clothes in. The fox was worried for his brother, like any sibling would be. Shadow understood Tails’ concern, and while he wouldn’t admit it, he also became concerned when he heard that Sonic’s stuff was found buried. The hybrid sighed, looking over at the bat.
“Fine, I’ll go check out the island and go talk to the fox afterwards. I still don’t understand why I have to do it.”
“I’ll go with you to talk to them, but you should still be the one to talk to him.” Rouge took a breath, looking to the side as she spoke. “Because you might be able to break it to him if you found Sonic…” She trailed off.
The word went unspoken but Shadow knew all too well what she was referring to. He wasn’t sure how he would be able to explain to the kit if he were to find Sonic’s body. He shook his head. Sonic was way too stubborn to die outside of a fight. Hell, the damn hedgehog was too stubborn to die in general, fight or not.
“He’s alive, and when I find him, I’m going to kill him.” Shadow began walking again, now going to prepare for his unplanned mission.