New Beginnings

Chapter 19 - Confrontation

Usually Sonic prided himself on being fast, but even the speedster knew he and his friends had arrived at Cream's village in absolute record time following the tiny rabbit's frantic phone call. His grim mood got intensified only more when he saw that Knuckles of all people had gathered at the grassy field in front of Vanilla's house, joined by Amy and Vanilla as the three of them quietly conversed and gestured at a map laying on one of a few picnic tables. Tails was silently working on the Miles Electric, a deep frown on his face that was visible even from the other side of the small town, whereas Cream's sobs had been audible from much further away as the hedgehog raced towards Floral Forest Village with the Chaotix and a rather startled Silver in tow. The little rabbit hung onto Amy's dress like her life depended on it as the pink hedgehog gently stroked her over her ears, with not a Chao in sight. Just what had happened here?

"Guys," Sonic shortly greeted his friends as he skidded to a halt in the clearing before crouching down in front of Cream, holding out his arms for a hug as the tiny rabbit flung herself against him with another flood of tears streaming over her face.

"Mister Sonic...! They're gone, they're gone, we can't find them...!" the girl sobbed desperately into his shoulder, whole body trembling.

Murmuring quiet shushes the speedster picked her up in full, holding her close as he turned his attention to Vanilla. "Mister Sonic, thank you for being here also," the motherly rabbit spoke, her usual kind smile overtaken by a worried frown of her own. Though she was more composed than her daughter she had been pacing around too, Sonic could tell, her usually-impeccable dress wrinkled at the hem and hands clutching each other tightly. "I- I must admit we don't know... We just have no idea where they are..."

"It's gonna be okay, ma'am. We'll do whatever we can to bring Cheese and Chocola back," Sonic assured her, handing over the sobbing little rabbit as Vector quickly stepped closer with Charmy buzzing around him. Espio wasn't with them, but Sonic figured he hung in the back like usual and would join them with the investigation with his usual quiet drive and withdrawnness. The chameleon didn't tend to be very sociable, especially with so many people around.

"Have no fear, miss!" the head detective grinned, proudly jabbing his thumb against his chest. "With the Chaotix on the case, they will be found in no time! How about we just sit down an' discuss what you know over a nice cuppa tea, or somethin'? We gotta get witness reports and gather clues to start the investigation, after all!"

Rolling his eyes at the crocodile who was definitely showing off just how detective-y he was (or trying to glean a free meal from the kind rabbits, whichever came first) Sonic instead turned his attention to Tails, who quickly came over from where he had been fiddling with the Miles Electric once he noticed his brother had arrived. Vanilla and Cream would be in good company with the Chaotix, and it gave the speedster the opportunity to hear out his other friends also and see if he could gather some more info from them at the same time. "Heya, li'l bro. So what's happening here?"

"To get straight to the point, Cheese and Chocola have disappeared," the fox explained, a worried frown on his face and his tails twitching behind him. "From what Miss Vanilla and Cream told me they went outside to play early in the morning, as they usually do, but when it was time for breakfast they were nowhere to be found. Miss Vanilla called me first to ask if I could send you this way to help out, just in case it was necessary. They figured the Chao would come back on their own after a while, but a few hours have passed by now and there's still no trace of them. I didn't know where you were and I couldn't reach you, but I rung up Amy and Knuckles so we have enough people around to set up a few search parties. Miss Vanilla suggested asking the Chaotix also, so Cream called them." More quietly the fox looked down, staring at his screen. "Um... after everything that happened a few days ago with the Chao disappearances and that fire monster I thought it would be better to come in prepared, just in case Eggman hadn't given up yet. Maybe I overreacted a little, but..."