Silver the Hedgehog Story; Children of Power (OLD AND BAD) Completed

Chapter 22: Getting To Know You Is AMAZING!

Rouge, Blaze, Silver, Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Tails and Espio continued deeper into the cave. Blaze led the group, she had a fireball in her hand to light the way. "If we don't make it out of here, Shadow, just remember it was your idea." Rouge said. "Yeah, yeah." Shadow mumbled.

Rouge looked around the dark cave and sighed sadly. "Am... I the only one missing my parents right now?" she asked. "I'm not." Blaze replied in a firm tone. Knuckles sighed. "I've been missing mine forever." he said sadly. Sonic didn't reply. He didn't want to even think about his parents.

Silver remained silent as well. He didn't know what to think about his parents anymore. In fact, it's been awhile since the hedgehog has thought about his parents again. Tails spoke up. "I never knew my parents, but as long as I have Espio I don't need them." he said happily as he gripped Espio's hand.

Espio himself was panicky on the inside, but he tried not to show it. Silver was in deep thought. He wondered if his parents ever cared. They abandoned him once, and then they wouldn't even believe him when he confronted them about Sonic's abusive parents. Why should he miss them?

He didn't need them. He had his friends. His friends were his family. Without them he would still be trapped in the Power Hour building. There was no way he would ever give them up, not even for his parents. Now he has two more Mobians to try and add to his list.

Tails was easy to befriend. He worried that that little incident he had with Espio earlier probably messed up his chance at being close friends with the chameleon. He was close with all his friends and he didn't want the reptile to feel left out in anyway. Then he had an idea.

He would simply start over with Espio and hope he isn't mad at him. So he turned around expecting to see the purple one behind him. "Hey, Espio, I-" When he looked no one was there. He turned around again to look in front of himself, no one was there. Silver then started to panic.

"Guys! Where are you?!" he called. "I'm here!" came Rouge's voice in the distance. "Where?!" Silver asked. "What happened to you guys?!" he heard Sonic ask from far away. "Silver, where are you?!" came Blaze's voice. "I'm right- uh, I don't know!" Silver replied.

"Espio! Espio!!" he heard Tails cry. "How did we separate?!?!" he heard Knuckles ask. "This is all Shadow's fault!" Rouge shouted. "Shut up!!" Shadow yelled. All their voices were so distant. Silver could hear his friends all around, but couldn't see them. He decided to start running.

"Guys! Guys, I need to follow your voices! Or, I don't know, try following mine!" he called. "Silver!" Blaze called, she sounded even further. Silver was running away from her voice, so he turned around and ran back. "Blaze!" he called. No answer. He stopped running and tried again. "Blaze!!" Still no answer.

"Anyone!!" he called once again. Nothing. "Okay, Silver, don't panic. Just follow the path and you'll find your friends." he told himself. He felt along the narrow cave's walls as he walked through the darkness, feeling rough stone and spider webs. "Everything's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be fine." he kept telling himself.

He had no idea how they all got separated, nor where everyone went off to. The cave in this mountain was like a maze. Silver tried his best to keep himself calm and hold on to hope. Hope that he could find his friends and leave this mountain. But with every dead end he found, that line of hope became thinner and thinner.

Minutes had gone by, Silver didn't know how long exactly. Ten minutes? Twenty? Thirty? It didn't matter. All the boy wanted were his friends back. If he were to never make it out the mountain he hoped that his friends would at least. He perked his ears up when he suddenly heard what sounded like whimpering.

Slowly he followed the sound until he found another dead end. The whimpering was coming from whoever was in the corner of said dead end. Silver couldn't see anything in the almost pitch black darkness, but he tried to get their attention. "H-hello?" he called quietly. He got a gasp in response.

He didn't recognize the voice just from the whimpers and gasp, but he knew it was a teenage male, or at least that's what it sounded like. He took a step closer. "Are you okay?" he asked. There was a four-second pause before the other voice responded. "S-Silver...?" he asked.

Then it came to Silver's mind. Now he knew exactly who the voice belonged to. "Espio?! What happened? Are you alright?" he asked as he went over to the chameleon. Silver could faintly see Espio's silhouette sitting on the cave floor with his knees to his chest.

"I just-, I can't-, I... Gosh, this is so embarrassing..." he said in a muffled voice. Silver guessed he was covering his face with his hands. He knelt beside him. "What's the problem?" he asked. It took awhile for Espio to respond, but finally Silver got an answer. "I... I'm c-claustrophobic. There, I said it." he mumbled.

Silver put a hand on Espio's shoulder and could feel how shaky the reptile was. "Aw, don't worry, buddy. We have a few phobes in our group you know. Sonic is aquaphobic, Rouge and I both have arachnophobia. So you're not alone in that." he said with a smile, although Espio couldn't see it.

Espio just groaned sadly, obviously not proud of his fear of closed spaces. "Since we're together I think we should try and find the others. I'd feel much better if someone else were with me, and I'm sure you would too." Silver said. Espio could faintly see the hedgehog's hand out for him.

"Don't worry, I'll stick with you. I promise." albino said. Espio hesitated, but grabbed the light one's hand and was pulled up. When he stood up he could feel the wobbliness in his legs. He also started to panic as he looked around, feeling like the darkness was closing in on him and nearly started hyperventilating.

"Hey, don't worry. It's okay, I'm right here." Silver said trying to sooth him. Espio gripped Silver's arm and started to calm down. His scales had turned a bright red from embarrassment, but it was too dark to see. So he and Silver left the dead end and tried to find their friends. Espio stuck to Silver like a scared kitten.

Silver decided he'd try and start a conversation to get Espio's mind off the darkness. "Hey, Espio?" he said. "Hm?" The hedgehog wasn't sure what to say. "Um, do you like... water?" he asked awkwardly. Espio's never known anyone to ask such a random question like that, but he answered anyway.

"Y-yeah. I l-love water in fact, but I can't swim very well." he said. Silver snickered. "I'm not much of a swimmer myself. I have quite a lot of fur for a hedgehog and when it gets wet it becomes super heavy. So I'd just sink like a stone." he said. Espio sighed a little.

"I hope Tails is alright. He's afraid of the dark." he said. "Maybe he found one of the others. I'm sure he's okay." Silver said. Then he thought about earlier that morning. "Hey, Espio, a-again I'm sorry for getting so mad earlier. I didn't mean what I said."

"Stop apologizing, okay? I was being rude. I should've been nicer to you, especially after you saved Tails and your girlfriend saved me." Silver blushed. "Uh, heh, Blaze isn't my girlfriend." "What? Really? Well, it's obvious you two like each other."

Silver blushed even more. "Is it really that obvious?" he asked. "Neither of you do a good job at hiding it." Espio told him. "I'll admit I really do like her. She was my first friend. We met at Power Hour on my first day." Silver lightly chuckled to himself upon remembering that day.

"Is there anyone you like?" he then asked. "No." Espio simply replied. "I think your leader likes me though." he said. "Rouge? She likes you? Already?" Silver asked. "I can see it in the way she looks at me. It must be that love at first sight thing." fuchsia said.

"Maybe you should give her a chance. It doesn't seem like a bad match to me." Silver said. Espio thought about it. "Maybe." he said. There was a moment of silence between the two before Espio spoke again. "Uh, Silver?" he said. "Yeah?" "Thanks for comforting me and sorry for acting like such a wuss."

"No problem and don't apologize. We all have our weaknesses."

To be continued...

Silver is really good at cheering people up. Looks like him and Espio are building their friendship.

Stay tuned for more. Check out my other stories if you like. Buh-bye!