Friendship Is Not An Illusion (Sonic Forgives Infinite)

Chapter 14: We Finally Meet Again

Zero was really confused of where the kids were taking him with his eyes blindfolded. They didn't say anything about it and just lead him to where they were taking him. Soon, Zero could feel the ground started to feel like he is walking on sand, he could smell saltwater from the gentle breeze, and that he could hear the waves washing onto the shore.

'We're probably at the beach. But, why did they take me here?....', Zero though to himself. Then, they suddenly came to a stop.

"Okay, here we are!", Tails exclaimed as he started undoing the knot of the blindfold. The next thing Zero saw was the whole gang was in front of him with a huge party set up behind them.

"SURPRISE!!!", they all yelled in unison as everyone applauded. Sonic walked up to Zero and pulled him towards a table, who is currently confused.

"What is this all about? It's not even my birthday today.", the jackal asked. Sonic chuckled lightly as the rest takes their seats.

"Well, we just wanted to surprise you and this is just the beginning. ", Sonic answered as he smiled knowingly. Zero then noticed a robot sitting right next to Sonic.

"Sonic, who is that robot?", Zero asked.

"Oh, this robot is my friend Emerl. I met him a few years ago at this very beach. ", Sonic said as he gestures at Emerl.

" Hello, how do you do? My name's Emerl.", Emerl said in introduction as he held his hand out to the jackal. Zero smiled as he took the robot's hand and shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Emerl. I'm Zero the Jackal.", He said in return. Sonic started to tell him the story how he met Emerl and trained him to fight along with Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Amy Cream and Shadow and other things. Sonic then excused himself and went somewhere else. Zero wondered what the blue speedster is planning.

Elsewhere, Sonic went to check on Kaira and found humming softly to herself, fixing her quills with a hairbrush.

"Hey Kaira, are you ready? ", Sonic asked as he walks up to her.

"Yup, I'm all set.", she answered as Kaira put away her hairbrush.

~Later~

"Hey Zero, the kids told us you can sing. Is true? ", Rouge asked.

"Uh, yeah. By, I'm not that good.", Zero answered.

"Don't listen to him, Zero's just being modest. He is really good at it", Tails said with Cream, Cheese, Charmy, and Marine nodding in agreement.

Sonic then went on stage with a guitar in his hands. Tails took his place at the music equipments that Shadow and Omega set up.

"Z, why don't we play a song together? You can even sing a song that you made.", Sonic said as he tried to get Zero to climb on top stage.

"C'mon Zero, sing!", Charmy cheered, which caused almost everyone to chant the word 'sing', repeatedly.

Zero sighs heavily before saying.

"Okay, okay. I'll sing if that's what you want.".

Zero then climbs onto stage, feeling really nervous. Sonic gave him a microphone, smiling at him encouragingly. The jackal smiles back and took a deep breath.

"This first song is what me and Sonic have been working on together. I hope you guys like it, We call it, Higher Ground", Zero said and Tails started to play some additional music while Sonic played his guitar.