[DC] Sonic Forces: Dark Future Legacy

Chapter 8 ~ Search

"HEY! WHERE'S THE ROOKIE!?"

Vector shouted, waking Tails from his sleep. The crocodile stormed down the hall, searching every nook and cranny for the missing wolf, worried about his friend. Tails, who was exhausted, perked up and immediately rushed out of bed upon hearing Vector's question. Navigating his way through the base, Tails thought about how his friend was completely forgotten about and how bad he felt for forgetting him. Arriving at the control room, he furiously typed on the computer to try to locate Gadget. After a desperate search that lasted a while... nothing.

The rookie was no-where to be found.

- - -

Everyone rushed into the main room, either woken from their sleep or having their activities interrupted.
"So the rookie is just... gone!?" Knuckles asked, bewildered. He couldn't believe the Resistance's friend could have just disappeared without a trace or a hint to where he had gone. "There has to be a signal of some sort that indicates where he went..."
"There's nothing, unfortunately. I tried searching everywhere, but he just doesn't come up. Either his communicator is off, broken, or in an area where the signal can't get out." Tails said, head down in sadness. He felt guilty he hadn't kept an eye on him, he felt guilty he battled him at the Empire Fortress, he felt guilty- wait... he battled Gadget at the fortress? But... why would he do that? That had to have been a false memory. His anger was getting pretty powerful back then, but... it couldn't have been enough to make him battle his own friend just to kill Infinite... could it? No, there was no way. That had to have been a fake memory, one that was conjured up in his mind when he faced off against Infinite. Disregarding that, Tails went back to his gloomy self.
Knuckles, on the other hand, was filled with determination. Putting his hand on Tails's shoulder with a face of confidence, he said:
"Don't worry, Tails. We'll find the rookie. It may take a while, but we will find him. I promise."
And he meant it. He wasn't going to give up the search until Gadget was found, and no-one was going to tell him otherwise.
Everyone else, hearing what Knuckles said, agreed with him. Espio spoke up, saying:
"I'm sure we can find the Rookie. Us Chaotix excel in the detective business, so this should be fairly easy."
Shadow also spoke up, saying:
"You can count me in. The Rookie was a pretty good partner to work along in the war, almost as good as Sonic, so it's best we don't let that talent go to waste."
And, being the optimist he was, Silver spoke up with a reassuring grin on his face, saying:
"I'm sure we can find him! He couldn't have gone too far, right?"
Tails, perking up somewhat from hearing his friends' comments, lifted his head, looked to everyone and said:
"Thanks, you guys, I honestly don't know what I'd do without you. Really."
Raising his fist into the air, he then shouted:
"Alright, guys! Let's get to work, then! With Sonic... gone..." Tails's mood changed from confident to sad once again. His voice starting to break, he continued: "... the world needs a new hero. The rookie was the closest match, and without a hero..."
Tails was so close to finishing his speech. But the constant reminder that Sonic wasn't there... it was too much for Tails. In a wave of sadness, Tails broke into tears. Damn it, why was it Sonic that had to go!? Why him!? Why couldn't it have been someone else!? Slamming his fist on the center table, Tails continued to cry in pain. In agony. In guilt. In just about every negative emotion he could feel.
Knuckles watched as his friend grieved the loss of Sonic. He felt horrible that the Hedgehog was gone, but there wasn't really anything he could do to help relieve the pain other than offer some words of condolences, which he felt wasn't enough.
"Hey, it's okay..." He said, bending over so he could be at eye level with Tails. "I know it's hard, losing Sonic, but I don't think this is what he would want, right?"
Tails slowed down his crying and managed to sputter:
"I... I guess. It's just hard not to think about him, though..."
"Hey, we're all in the same boat." Charmy said flying to Tails with a reassuring grin. "We're all grieving, too, you're not the only one."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"It may be hard, but try to stay strong." Knuckles said, looking to Tails. "Let's find the rookie. For Sonic."
Tails, who had stopped crying, looked to Knuckles and then to the rest of his friends and said:
"Yeah... you're right. Let's do this. For Sonic."
Hearing Tails agree, everyone cheered in determination, ready to search for their friend.

A confident aura resonated throughout the room as everyone began planning strategies to search Mobius for their friend, unknown of his current predicament...

- - -

Meanwhile, Gadget headed back to his room in the base, coming back from the party thrown by his friends. He was confused. Throughout the party, he was constantly thanked for taking down Infinite at the fortress, yet he did not remember said battle. Maybe it was such an intense battle that, when he was potentially knocked out, it made him forget said battle. He wasn't sure. Either way, Gadget opened the door to his room to find...

... a black void!?

Gadget stepped back in fear and confusion. First the party, now this!? What was happening? Was he going crazy? Surely he wasn't, right?
Suddenly, breaking Gadget out of his fit of fear, Knuckles put his hand on his shoulder.
"You okay, rookie?" Knuckles asked, worried. "It looks like you saw a ghost or something..."
Gadget turned to Knuckles and stepped back a bit, not expecting him to appear there. Taking a deep breath to calm down, he looked back to his room to see it as it should've been. Wha- what was happening? Maybe... maybe he was going crazy, maybe he was still stressed from the war. Taking a deep breath and nodding his head yes, Gadget entered his room and closed the door behind him, locking it so no-one could enter without permission.
Flopping back onto his bed, Gadget felt somewhat uneasy, unsure of what would happen next that would drive him even more crazy. He wanted answers, but no-one would give them to him... Maybe things weren't as they seemed, perhaps... No, that couldn't be a possibility. Maybe he just needed to calm down a bit. Yeah, that was it. Curling into a ball, Gadget fell back asleep, tired from the party.
And, with a devilish grin on his face, Infinite watched from the corner of the room as the wolf was sent to dream land.

Things were going perfectly according to plan.

- - -

To be continued in "Crazed".