— Tᕼᗴ - ᑎᗴ᙭T - ᗰOᖇᑎIᑎᘜ —
It was early in the morning, so most people of Bygone island were still asleep.
Including the speedster Sonic The Hedgehog.
He was lying on his hammock, arms folded under his head as a makeshift pillow and lost in deep, tranquil sleep.
The tranquility lasted until. . .
"SONIC!!!"
Amy barged in like a hedgehog who had just been robbed.
Sonic was startled. He jumped off the hammock and landed on his feet, composing himself.
"Why are you here, Amy? It's like six in the morning." said Sonic with a yawn while scratching his back.
"My hammer, Sonic! My hammer!"
She screamed, shaking him by his shoulders.
"I knew I was forgetting something! It was my hammer!"
Sonic's eyes slowly widened. "...Ohhh. Your hammer..."
He raised a hand to halt the forceful shaking, "One moment."
ᗯᕼOOՏᕼ—!
He disappeared.
Within seconds, he finished his morning routine in a blur and stopped in front of Amy at attention. "Alrighty, so how'd you lose your hammer?"
She held her fists in front of her as she spoke, frustrated and earnest, "That stupid metal junk had thrown it across the forest!"
"You mean, Hexa-TitanBot? Ugh, what a name." He asked, muttering the last part.
"Yes!" Amy exclaimed, sighing in frustration and impatience, "We have to find it!"
Sonic tapped on his communicator, "Guys, we have a situation. Amy's hammer—"
He cut himself off as he got sleepy hums and yawns in response.
"WAKE UP!!!" He yelled into the device.
Tails, Knuckles, Sticks were startled.
"Good morning, Sonic, Amy!"
"Knuckles The Echidna reporting!"
"Is it an apocalypse?!"
Sonic took a deep breath and pinched the bridge between his eyes.
"Amy lost her hammer. Meet us at the bottom of the hill in 10 minutes!"
"Wait—"
He hung up, annoyed.
"I hope my hammer is okay," Amy said worriedly with a frown.
"Don't worry, Amy. We will find it." He reassured her and started walking. "But do keep back up weapons in mind."
Amy blinked a few times and with a huff, followed him.
---
"We should call Sonica too," said Amy as they were a few steps away from Sonica's shack.
Sonic stared at the void for a few seconds.
"Sonic?"
"Sonic!"
Sonic snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Amy. "Right. We should...n't."
The two walked up to her doorstep and knocked.
Surprisingly, Sonica answered right away.
"Good morning, Sonica!" exclaimed Amy with open arms then cried, "My hammer is missing! We are going to look for it!"
Sonica was surprised, "Oh, uh.. Good luck...?"
"Come with us, won't you?" Amy requested.
Sonic stared at Sonica then slowly looked away, lips twitching.
While Amy was trying to convince Sonica in the background, Sonic drifted back to his thoughts.
The thing was... he saw Sonica in his dream.
## It was a weird dream; Sonic was teaching her how to eat chilli dogs properly and she was crying due to the spice. ##
// "Really weird. And hilarious." //
Amy somehow succeeded in dragging Sonica along. And Sonica also didn't really put up a fight.
Sonic sighed and grabbed Amy by the wrist, "Let's go."
He took off at his usual speed, pulling Amy along with him. Glancing back from the corner of his eye, he noticed Sonica following behind.
// "Are they are holding hands?" // Sonica thought, shipping them in her head.
— TIᗰᗴ - ՏKIᑭ —
Tails, Knuckles, Sticks, Amy and Sonic were all glaring up at the hill they had recently camped on.
"Let's go! The robot had thrown my hammer somewhere around!" stated Amy as she marched forward.
The rest followed.
Sonic slowed down his steps to linger around Sonica.
"So..." He smirked, walking alongside her. He murmured only audible to her ears, "What's your secret superpower? You can tell me."
Sonica sighed through her nose, "It's nothing. Stop bothering me."
Sonic's smirk widened, but he didn't push further for now.
A while later. . .
"We are here!" Amy declared, looking around her. "We battled here with Eggman. The hammer must have landed somewhere near!"
"Everyone, search!"
---
Sticks immediately pounced on a bush.
Amy, still a little anxious, searched at a further radius.
Knuckles checked in the bushes as well as under the rocks.
Tails checked on the trees, flying.
Sonic then noticed that—
Sonica was staring at a tree, tightly tapping the trunk. Her head was slightly tilted.
// "What is she doing?" //
He blinked and shrugged it off, dashing away towards the north of the forest.
// "Weird." //
Actually Sonica was wondering if the tree was also like Vin or not.
---
After a long duration of searching, they were still in square one.
"I CAN'T FIND IT!!!" Amy screamed in frustration, fighting against an innocent tree trunk.
"Neither can we." said Knuckles and Tails in unison with leaves and small twigs on their heads.
And just then Sticks' head popped out of the bush with some bugs in her grasp, "No hammer here."
"Where could it beee?!" Amy stomped her foot and looked around, worried.
"I don't even think it's lost! Maybe you kept it somewhere and forgot!" Sticks accused, pointing at Amy with her bug-holding fist.
"No, I am telling you! The robot had swung my hammer away!" Amy argued, her voice rising in pitch due to anger and frustration.
With a sigh, Sonic patted her shoulder. "We will find it, Amy. We should search deeper into the woods."
"Or... you could get an alternative weapon—"
"NO!"
"No need to yell!" Sonic sighed and rubbed his ear before walking further into the forest; the part the villagers always avoided.
The rest followed.
Sonica looked between Amy and Sonic.
// "They look cute together..." //
Just then—
ՏᗯIՏᕼ—!
She froze. Her ears perked up, twitching towards the direction of the sound.
"I was thinking maybe you should get used to some nunchucks instead."
"No, I only want my hammer!"
Sonica frowned, unable to focus. She had stopped walking, so she was left behind.
(But Sonic has noticed. He was watching her.)
ՏՏՏᕼᕼK...
ᑕᖇᗴᗩK—
Her head snapped towards the sound.
"It's probably a wild animal or something," muttered Sonic, walking over to her.
She glanced at him and tsked. But then— she caught a glimpse of shadow run past the trees. The silhouette was unmistakably of a person. Not a wild animal.
Sonic had noticed it too.
// "Someone was spying on us!" //
Both hedgehogs' eyes locked for a moment of silent agreement. Then they both sprinted—
"Whoever they are, they couldn't have gone far!"
Branches whipped past them as the figure fled deeper into the forest.
The two hedgehogs shot forward, leaving nothing but a blur behind. Gone before the rest could finally notice.
Amy looked over her shoulder and froze.
"Where're Sonic and Sonica?"
"They were just behind us."
---
Meanwhile the figure was too flexible, too quick. It was as if they knew every corner, every bush and every tree of the forest by heart.
"Stop running! We just have some questions, buddy!" said Sonic as he sped up. A hand reaching out with the intention to grab the unknown figure.
But smartly enough, the figure leaped onto another tree and disappeared.
Sonic, too late to fight inertia, slammed against the initial tree he was running towards.
Sonica stopped a second to check on him. It wasn't intentional. "You okay?"
He rubbed his scalp and shook his head to shake the leaves off his quills. "I'm good."
She sighed and looked around. "Damn it."
// "Who were they? Where did they go?" //
ՏᑕᖇITᑕᕼᕼᕼ—!
Their heads snapped towards the direction of the sound and Sonica once again took off, this time leaving Sonic behind.
// "Come on, Sonica—!" //
It was like chasing a mole who had access to countless holes in the ground!
// "Use your powers!" //
She thought to herself and immediately concentrated; aiming to either create spikes or bend trees to block the path.
"Agh—!" Her head ached from the intensity but it didn't work.
// "Damn it!" //
Then as the figure swung from one branch to another, the light revealed them for a moment.
Brown fur.
Wooden mask covering their face.
And a strange tribal attire.
// "A tribe member?" //
Surprised and distracted, she bumped into a rock and— slammed down on the grass. Hard.
// "Ouch..." //
"You okay?" —it was Sonic. He hesitated before offering his hand.
She didn't take his help and got up, "Fine. But we lost them. It was a tribe—"
"Tribe member, I know." Sonic finished for her and sighed, crossing his arms. "This forest is like a damn maze."
"...yeah," she mumbled, looking at the woods where the figure had disappeared.
"Why were we chasing them again?" Sonic muttered, leaning against the nearest tree.
Sonica's head snapped towards him in surprise and annoyance.
// "Is he serious ?!" //
"If you had no idea, then why were you chasing them too?!"
"Because you ran after them, duh!"
"I— well—"
"SONIIIIIC!!!"
"SONICAAA!!!"
Their heads snapped towards the north as they heard the collective familiar voices.
But it was actually a cry for help—
They were tied up.
Amy, Sticks and Tails had their backs pressed against eachother's while Knuckles stood alongside the tied-up trio, blinking.
The ropes were tight around their torso, ankles and wrists.
Tied up like peg-tops.
Knuckles had the most amount of ropes.
"What in the—! Why is everyone tied up?!" Sonic asked as he ran over to them and stared at the amount of ropes while scratching his head.
"When you both disappeared, we tried following the footprints and then we were ambushed!" Tails replied, looking up at Sonic.
"I JUST WANT MY HAMMER!" yelled Amy, frustrated.
"I think we are being taken as a sacrifice to please their leader!" yelled Sticks, thrashing against the ropes.
Sonica didn't walk over right away, she watched.
// "Who tied them up? Could it be—" //
Sonic sighed and turned to Sonica. But then he froze, eyes wide. "Sonica..."
Suspicious, Sonica turned around immediately and she was right—!
There were more people wearing that similar wooden mask and attire. More tribe members. With spears.
And the tallest one had their spear pointed at her, the sharp tip was just an inch away from her face.
// "Oh crap." //