- Tᕼᗴ - Տᗩᗰᗴ - ᗪᗩY - ᗷᑌT - ᒪᗩTᗴᖇ -
The atmosphere was quite intense.
The silence was as heavy as a thousand tons of tungsten.
The air thickened with that unnoticeably tense tension.
The sun was shining more fiercely for some reason.
The trees swayed along the wind stronger than usual.
Then... came the self-reflection; "What have I done?"
---
Amy walked up to Sonic and shook him by the shoulders, "Sonic! What have I done?! I was too mean to her!"
Sonic blinked once and carefully pried her hands away, saying, "Mean? No, Ams. You just gave her a reality check."
Amy clenched her fists at her sides, ears flattened against her skull, "No! I spoke too much without trying to understand her point of view..."
Sonic tsked and looked at the side.
// "Amy's not completely wrong. But what was Sonica's deal? And did she look sad for a split second or was I hallucinating because she barely expresses herself? Tch." //
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Then Tails nodded, stepping closer, "We indeed should have tried to have a calm table-talk first regarding her choice to delay the help."
Knuckles raised a finger, mouth opening to speak. Then he shut it again.
Sticks jumped in front of Amy, waving her handa frantically over her head as she exclaimed, "Let her be, Amy! We can't trust her! I am telling you! That girl is full of secrets!"
Amy looked at Sticks and said with her hands on her hips, "Sticks, one has no right to lash out and judge someone without knowing their full story. Yes, I admit I was furious because she didn't seem like she wanted to help us, but! Those were my selfish reasons! I can't justify myself with that!"
The others fell silent again.
Amy looked between them before turning toward Sonic. Her eyes were earnest, ears still lowered as she pleaded, clasping her hands together, "We should apologise to her."
Sonic let out a frustrated (and conflicted) through his nose.
"There is no 'we', Amy. I bet she's fine. And I am not apologising-" said Sonic as he got dragged away by Amy by the arm.
ᗩ ᖴᗴᗯ ᗰOᗰᗴᑎTՏ ᒪᗩTᗴᖇ. . .
While Sonica was busy with her new friend, Amy, Sonic, Tails, Sticks and Knuckles arrived at her shack.
Yes, they wrapped up/ended the camping.
Knuckles set the heavy bags down while Amy went up and knocked three times, gently.
No response.
"She must be busy," Amy tried reassuring herself and knocked again.
"Sonica?"
"Sonica, it's me, Amy. And there's everyone else too."
"Um.. we, well... 𝘐 wanted to apologise for earlier. I shouldn't have said those things."
Amy waited for a response, at least a small rustling sound or movement from inside the shack.
But she got nothing.
She tried contacting through the communicator but Sonica obviously didn't answer.
"Well, I'm outta (out of) here! Good luck apologizing to someone who never wants to forgive!" said Sticks as she turned on her heel and stormed to her own destination.
Amy sighed and leaned against the door, "Sonica, please... Let's talk once. You are testing my patience, Sonica. Hahah..." She trailed off with a forced, trying-to-stay-patient chuckle.
Sonica, meanwhile, was still in the forest. Seated under the shade of her green companion, leaning against the trunk while watching the clouds. Lost in her thoughts of self reflection, future-plans, and self doubts.
Mostly self doubts.
And a microscopic pinch of optimism.
"Did that really happen because of me, Vin?" She asked the unspeakable tree.
She had named her new friend "Vin" aka "Vinnie"
Do not ask why. Her mind does not work the same way as yours.
"Like... I know it happened because of my powers and origin and all, because Ray wouldn't have any evil plans if he hadn't found out about me. But still,"
"And then there was this guy. He too had to run and hide because people couldn't stand anyone supporting a... cursed one like me."
"You understand what I mean?" She asked, looking up at the tree and a branch swayed up and down, nodding.
Back at her shack, Knuckles and Tails also started to leave, claiming Tails had to work on his new device and could not waste more further time. Knuckles had to do his own stuff as well.
Sonic had already ran through Meh-Burger, back to Sonica's shack, Dr. Eggman's lair (just in case the evil scientist had kidnapped Sonica), then back to Sonica's shack.
He tapped his foot impatiently against the ground, hands on his hips, "Amy, I think we should-"
"No! I will not let impatience be an excuse! I will wait right here, either together or alone." She declared and sat on the doorstep, folding her legs and crossing her arms over her chest.
Sonic scratched his head and ran back to Meh-Burger.
---
Meanwhile Sonica was checking her powers.
She was hesitant at first. Her hands trembling as she tried to focus on a small portion of the elements one by one.
// " If I can't control them..." //
// "Then everyone around me is going to keep getting hurt." //
// "I must learn." //
She was scared of destroying anything more.
ᗩᑎ ᕼOᑌᖇ & ᕼᗩᒪᖴ ᒪᗩTᗴᖇ :
She succeeded in summoning a small flame on her palm, as big as the flame of fire on a matchstick. It lasted mere 3 seconds and consumed half of her energy.
She succeeded in summoning a small, wobbly, imperfectly spherical water ball that broke into water drops after just 5 seconds. It consumed a quarter of her energy.
Her breath took many forms during the time: steady, heavy, uneven, slow, hitched.
She succeeded in summoning barely visible electric sparks that danced over her fingers.
It felt... electric.
(Hah. Satire.)
The sparks lasted mere 2 seconds before disappearing.
She only failed at the element Earth.
She tried once. Aiming to create either the baby plant/sprout as earlier or a tiny movement of the soil.
Nothing happened-
She tried again.
Still nothing-
Again.
Still nothing-
Sonica frowned and pressed her palm against the soil again. "Come on..."
Nothing happened.
Vin's leaves rustled above her despite the complete lack of wind.
Sonica looked up, exhausted and panting.
"How does it work..."
Meanwhile...
Being Sonica's neighbour, Sonic was watching TV in his own shack, munching on some chilli-dogs.
Amy, who had waited at Sonica's house's doorstep for like an hour, had also sat with Sonic to watch the show, a burger in her hands.
Sonic's eyes were fixed on the television but he wasn't really watching it. His mind kept drifting back to the forest.
// "Why did she looked sad?" //
He frowned.
// "And like a little caught off-guard." //
He shook his head and shoved another bite into his mouth.
// "Nah. I'm overthinking it." //
- At the same time but different place -
Sonica, exhausted, lay on the grass under the shade of her companion.
"That's a good start, I suppose," she panted.
A small radius around her had been reduced to a chaotic mess of flattened grass and battered bushes, though it could have been much worse.