A Winter's Tale

A Year Later

It was the anniversary of an important event.

Everyone in Mobius was celebrating the day on which the resistance stopped Eggman on his plans from taking over the world. Unlike his past attempts, in which Sonic didn't have much issues going against the mustached man, thanks to the legion of robots he created, not only did he defeat the blue blur, but also stole the Chaos Emeralds. Those were some arduous months and while it looked like the doctor and his army were invincible, in the end, thanks to their combined efforts, the heroes did what they believed was impossible and put an end to Eggman's reign of terror.

During the week in which all the main members of the resistance discussed their plans to reconstruct Mobius and see how to make it a safer place, Sonic and Amy had the idea of turning the day of Eggman's defeat into a celebration. They explained that while some of them were still affected by those difficult months, with the blue blur revealing that he did a big effort by not being overwhelmed by his fears, they wanted to find a way to make everyone think more about their triumph and not the bad times. Naturally, as all understood the intentions of the two hedgehogs, and with some like Silver, Blaze, Espio and Sticks mentioning that they related to how Sonic felt, all agreed on going forward with the idea.

Lots of changed happened between their last reunion and now: Sonic and Amy finally became a couple, the detective group known as The Chaotix invited Sticks to become a member of their group and Metal Sonic decided to stay on the side of the heroes and cut all ties he had with Eggman, but the change that stood out the most was Rouge herself. Not only did the alluring bat got a new hairstyle, sporting a lock of hair, but she also had a change of attitude. She remained flirty, loving to tease everyone that was close to her with her beauty, but she had a nicer attitude, no longer belittling or making others feel down. Rouge also got rid of her jewel obsession, keeping the true reasons for doing that a mystery even after a year. Seeing her like that made everyone have a hard time believing this was the same bat gal they knew yet, as she looked happy and became someone very helpful, they dropped the idea of this being an act she was doing to get something from them.

Rouge was also looking forward to the celebration, being a topic, she talked about non-stop with Shadow and Omega and after they finished seeing an important issue with the defense organization known as G.U.N, the three heroes went to meet with their friends, with the bat gal happy to see that they arrived in time to help everyone with the preparations. "Glad you could make it!" Amy said in a cheerful tone. In the past, the pretty bat might have shown her discomfort with the positive attitude of the pink hedgehog, but as the two finally got past their differences and became friends, Rouge smiled before asking if she and the other two members of Team Dark could help them.

While Omega went to help The Chaotix and Shadow followed Sonic and Knuckles with bringing the stuff Vanilla and Cream prepared for the night, the alluring bat stayed with the cheerful girl and as she helped her with the tables, she asked who still hadn't arrived. Tangle and Whisper were still with the trip around the world, so while they couldn't come, they still were sending their best regards. Fang, Bark and Jet were in another city and while it would be difficult for them to come, they told them they were going to have their own celebration there. Surge and Kit told Sonic and Amy in advance that the two were taking some time off to take care of an issue they had and would come back after it was solved. As for the rest, while Metal Sonic was busy helping Breezie and the other robots that used to work for Eggman, he decided to accept the invitation, being one of the first ones to arrive. As for the Babylon Rogues, they were preparing for the next Gear Cup, but Wave made a surprise appearance. Rouge was glad to see the bird girl as apart from the two becoming best friends, she was the one who not only knew about her true reasons to change, but also why she was so excited about the celebration.