Notes: All aboard the Sonic hype train! Couldn't resist updating now, especially since the Sonic 2017 trailer reminded me so much of this story... ;)

We have a cover now! Very very very special thanks to my daughter TheBlurredLine23 for the beautiful cover of this story! Please go show her some love!

Now we go forward!

Survivors

Chapter 3: Spelunking

The navigator took them right to the cave opening, but only after leading them down a few dead-ends and swooping them up and far too close to the perimeter for comfort. For one second, Sonic could feel the invisible webbing hum against his fur and he had to lunge to grab Tails, who had his little head stuck in the navigator, to keep him from walking right into the fence. After that, they backed very slowly away from it and continued on, moving as fast as they dared.

The city was surrounded by two sheer cliffs on either side, an ocean on the other, and the only way in and out was dense forest. There were small roads running through the forest for supplies, but other than that, it was untamed.

At least, that's what Robotnik wanted them to think.

Tails very easily identified cameras and motion sensors as they went, barely glancing up from his navigator and pointing them out with a gesture of his hand. Sonic wanted to smash the cameras, but Tails very gently (and squeakily, in Sonic's opinion) reminded him that it would do no good. Leaving a trail of dark cameras would only allow Robotnik to track them more easily, and they could probably just rush past. However, it became quickly apparent that there were sensors everywhere, so they were better off just moving.

They tumbled into the cave exhausted and drained. They had been on the street for hours with only a bit of sleep to call their own and Tails looked ready to pass out. The terror that had plagued him in the city had worn off, only to be replaced with crusty annoyance and vague fright, and he was constantly hissing at the navigator and punching the touch screen with his gloved fingers.

"We can't stay here," Sonic huffed as he leaned over and tried to catch his breath. The last stretch through the trees had been particularly harrowing as their bounty hunters had finally pulled flying bots from the perimeter to track them. It had taken their combined four eyes to keep themselves from being spotted, and Sonic never wanted to swing from a tree limb again for as long as he lived.

"The 'bots are right behind us," Tails finished for him, still looking down at his navigator. "I can hear them."

That was true enough. With the trees and the foliage, it was easy to tell where Robotnik's SWATbots were. They were loud and clumsy, and with their small sizes, Sonic and Tails were able to easily stay ahead of them. That didn't mean they were able to lose them completely.

Sonic stood completely and started to bounce on his toes, glancing into the dark of the cave. "Which way?"

"That way..." Tails trailed off, pointing vaguely deeper into the cave. "I think."

"You think? Tails, we need positives right now."

"There's only one way to go, Sonic!"

"Whoa, snippy," Sonic muttered, swinging around to pin his friend with a look. "What's wrong?"

"This—" Tails slammed his small fist into the navigator, "piece of junk won't work! I can't get it to track us accurately! I— It's the only thing keeping us safe and it's not working!"

"Whoa, whoa." Sonic slid down so he was kneeling in front of his friend. "It's okay. We can get through this without it. We've gotten this far pretty much on our own, right?"

"You've gotten us here," Tails muttered, still staring down at this little wrist device. "I've only slowed you down."

"Hey, hey, no. We're not doing this now. You've saved my life plenty times!"

Tails sighed, a tired thing that belied his age, and Sonic wished more than anything that he could bring back the happy-go-lucky fox that he saw at the market on Cocoa on the weekends. That fox was long gone now, replaced with a hardened, terrified, battle worn Survivor. It was amazing that the only thing that survived of Cocoa Tails was his ability to doubt himself.

Tails opened his mouth to snap back at Sonic, but there was the sound of crashing, stumbling robots a few yards away from the entrance of the cave and Sonic wrapped an arm around Tails's bicep to heave the two of them to their feet. "Gotta go," he muttered as he towed his friend into the darkness, already beginning to jog.

"Sonic!" Tails tried to get his arm free, the navigator beeping at him. "We can't get through this cave without the navigation! It's dark!"

"Just use your gut, Tails! We just need to get away for now!"

Tails didn't say anything back, just grimly began to run with Sonic. The hedgehog released his arm and plowed forward, being very careful not to go too fast, especially when he glanced back and caught sight of Tails trying to use the navigator while he ran. He wanted to tell him to forget it, but that little wrist computer was the only thing helping Tails focus and not melt into a pile of panic right now, so he just let him.

"Wall!" Tails called as Sonic looked forward again, and the hedgehog slammed his heels into the ground, skidding to a stop so fast that he probably left ruts in the stone. He threw his hands out in front of him and they smashed into the wall, snapping his wrists almost in half. He hissed as his body followed his arms and Tails smacked into him right after, squashing him further.

They crashed to the ground, heaving for air, Sonic's wrists screaming at him, hearts hammering, the navigator chirping away. Sonic could feel his lungs straining against his bruised ribs, head spinning from the collision, could hear himself groaning and moaning. Tails was silent next to him and he had to roll over to see his friend sitting up, glaring at the tiny computer strapped to his arm.

"I'm sorry, Sonic!" the fox yelled when he heard Sonic roll over. "I didn't know it was there until we were already too close and—"

"Are you okay?" Sonic broke in, trying to push himself up to a sitting position. His wrists gave out and he landed back on his stomach. He groaned.

"I'm fine! What about you?"

"Little winded. What happened?"

"The navigator showed the wall when we were a few feet away from it. I think we were going too fast."

Sonic heard that ring through his ears, he did, but his brain didn't take it in. "Huh?"

"We were running too fast. The navigator has to have time to calculate. It's old."

"Huh," Sonic repeated, this time with a tone of bewildered acceptance. "Can you fix it?"

It was Tails's turn to be confused. "Huh?"

"Make it run faster."

"Oh, um..." There was a pause wherein Sonic heard Tails shuffle around. He made a small a-ha noise and then there was a crack. "I got the back open. Let me see if I can... Oh." He trailed off.

"Oh what?"

"Sonic... It's dark."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a few moments, Tails fiddling with the thing even though he couldn't see it. Sonic managed to successfully sit up this time, and he began to rub his wrists, hissing quietly into the pitch black.

"I had to take my gloves off, but I can feel the wiring. I might be able to speed it up." Tails was speaking lowly, so lowly that Sonic had to scoot closer to hear him.

The hedgehog peered over his friend's shoulder, squinting to try to see what he was doing, but it was useless. "You can just speed it up by messing with the wires?"

"Maybe..." Tails yanked a wire and flipped the navigator over. The screen blinked at them, illuminating their faces, and a small loading circle spun right before their eyes. "No good. I gotta try agai—"

There was a rumble up the cavern, back the way they had come. Sonic jerked around, almost hitting Tails in the head with his arm, and spotted two small pinpricks of light staring at them—the very same pinpricks from the diner.

The world slowed down. Sonic shoved Tails down as he rose, spinning around on his heel. He kicked off, sending shockwaves through the stone floor, and smashed his body into the robot. It crumbled under his quills with a whine, almost like a puppy, and he jerked away from it as it went up in flames with a pop.

Tails made a half-worried half-surprised sound and Sonic held up a hand to keep him from moving from his spot. The fox didn't budge, blinking at Sonic with large eyes, pupils slowly narrowing now that there was light. Then, he looked back down at the navigator and started plucking at the wires again, much to Sonic's panicked chagrin.

"Tails, we have to go. That robot means more robots."

"But..." Tails didn't look up. "I almost have it!"

"Tails..." Sonic padded up to the fox and offered him his hand. "We gotta keep moving. You can work on it later."

Tails, ears folded against his head, nodded and wrapped his fingers around Sonic's palm. Sonic towed him up and turned to lead Tails back into the main part of the cave system, but then a laser sliced toward them from the darkness, carving a cut into the rock.

Tails yelped and jumped away from Sonic and the laser. The hedgehog, moving far faster than Tails ever could, jumped toward the source leg-first. He felt his foot connect with metal and he twisted his ankle, driving his heel in, and heard the metal twist and warp. His other foot kicked off the robot's chest, sending him flipping backwards and away, but not before he caught sight of the fleet of at least 50 SWATbots behind it. The cave was narrow so they were forced to shuffled forward two-by-two, but they were coming.

Sonic landed and jerked around, eyes wide, heart hammering in his throat. Tails, illuminated by the flames of the scout bot, looked to be made of more eyes than face he was so terrified. His expression made the stone of fear in Sonic's stomach roll over, igniting something in him. He turned back towards the incoming army, hands curled into fists, teeth gritting.

The next few minutes went by in a blur. Sonic probably destroyed at least twenty robots without stopping, pin-balling from one to the next with barely a chance to make sure he was still on target. They disintegrated under his quills and feet, landing in heaps on the floor, but there were always two more to replace each robot he destroyed. They swarmed over their dead brethren and Sonic could barely keep up.

In a moment of lax attention, a robot got off a lucky shot, nailing Sonic right in the center of the chest with a stun laser. Sonic went down at its feet, air whooshing out of his lungs, chest and arms numb and unresponsive. His legs, however, were fine, and he kicked at the robots looming over him, sending them spinning backwards. Once he was free, he used his legs to kick himself back towards Tails, already yelling for the fox to stay back.

Tails didn't listen. He ran forward and grabbed Sonic under the arms, dragging him back towards the wall. They were pinned in then, stuck between the mounting robot forces and a dead-end. Tails deposited Sonic against the curved rock of the wall, pushing him up so he could sit, and then stood.

"Tails!" Sonic practically screamed. The fox still wasn't listening. He darted away from Sonic, tugging at one of the straps in his gloves, and planted himself in front of the robots in a triangle pose. Sonic felt the world go silent as the robot in front leveled its laser weapon right at Tails's forehead, the fox like stone before him.

Tails reared back like a baseball player and threw something dark, flashing, and beeping over the robot.

Sonic felt his heart sink. Tails missed—

The cave exploded.

...

Begin Again

The only thing Sonic can hear is his own breath. The forest of Cocoa is on fire, licking at his legs as he darts through the blazing plants. The heat should bother him, but he can't feel much beyond the swelling panic and terror in his chest. He's got tears streaming down his face, both from fear and the smoke and dirt, and he wants to scream, can feel it bubbling up his throat from the pit of his stomach. He's been hiding in the woods for days now, unable to do much beyond hide in trees and lick sap from the bark for food. He both wants to die and wants to live, and the fight inside him won't let him rest.

The village is decimated. The screaming stopped about a day ago, and he had only allowed himself one run through of his old home. The people were missing, but there was blood, and Sonic didn't like the smell in the air—the half acrid, half sweet scent of death and danger. He got out of there fast.

He doesn't know what to do. He's practically surrounded by Battle Kukkus and it's only a matter of time before he gets smoked out of the forest. He can't very well jump into the ocean either, considering his rock-like physique will just drag him to a watery grave, so all he can do right now is keep moving and hope and pray that something will open up for him. Otherwise, he's deader than dead.

He's robotisized.

The forest is shrinking by the minute, the smoke getting thicker as he goes. Eventually, Sonic has to drop to his knees and start to crawl, ripping his knees and gloves open in the process. Above him, he hears an airship getting closer and he knows that there's only so much time. The last supply ship will leave at sunset and then the airship will bomb the island.

He's so distracted by the sky that he doesn't notice the patrol ahead of him. He crawls right into its line of sight and it blares at him as it swivels a gun toward him. He freezes, considers his options—fire at his back, robot ahead of him, thick foliage on either side. He can escape through the plants if he sacrifices his skin, but he'd rather be scratched to all hell than dead.

The gun clicks and Sonic plants his feet to throw himself to right, the world narrowing to just this moment. His heels dig in and his muscles flex.

"Duck!" someone screams from the right, voice cracking in desperation, just as the gun fires. Sonic jerks to the left, tossing himself into some thistles and ferns.

The robot fires, bullets sending up sprays of dirt where Sonic used to be. Then, everything goes up in a flash of light and sound.

Sonic wakes up to a small golden face hovering over his. The forest is still on fire, he can see it in the halo of light surrounding the head, but he still can't really hear anything. His limbs and back are also on fire—with pain, but what's the difference really—and he wants to go back to sleep.

Then, he feels something shaking him and the world comes back into focus, sound zooming right back into his ears.

"Sonic!" He barely recognizes the voice. "You're alive! Thank Chaos! I thought everyone was dead!"

Small arms wrap around his middle, towing him up to a sitting position, and Sonic can't do anything except hug back because damn it feels great to have a hug right now, even if the world is falling down around him—them.

His small friend pulls back and Sonic is hit with the full force of two bright blue eyes and a dirt smudged, excited face. It takes him a few seconds to piece together a name, and when he does, he can't help but blurt it out.

"Miles! How did you—!"

"That's not important!" the tiny fox cuts in, pushing himself to his feet. "We probably shouldn't stay here, right?"

Sonic nods, trying to find some sort of direction now that he has a companion. "We need to move and keep moving. C'mon Miles, we're getting out of here."

Hang on to that cliff! I'll see you soon!

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I'm sorry I couldn't reply this month. I'm crazy busy.

Here's to a great year of (non-Boom) games!

Reviews are cherished!