𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗔'𝗦 𝗣𝗢𝗩
Of course the one to launch a missile in the middle of the forest would be—
"Eggman!"
"Muahahahaha!" He leaned forward in his egg mobile, menacingly, "Did anyone miss me?"
"Miss you? Who do you think you are?" said Sonic with a smirk while the rest of the team got in their stance to fight Eggman.
"Oh, whatever-" Eggman grumbled and pressed a button on his egg mobile and then a big robot started to come closer, shoving the trees away. The robot was like last time but way bigger! It had missiles on its shoulder, six claws!! and hidden guns as well!
"Everyone get ready!" Sonic placed me down on the grass and got up, glancing down at me. "Stay here."
"StAy hEre" I mimicked, quoting with my fingers.
I swear I noticed that he rolled his eyes. Then I looked at my cuts and groaned.
They will be healed after 24 hours. Same as before.
"Ha! This time I will get rid of you and your friends once and for all. Muahahahahaha!" Eggman pressed a ton of buttons continuously, launching missiles and firing bullets mindlessly.
Everyone managed to dodge them but the Sivay wasn't too quick to save the trees this time.
"Destroy that blue pineapple and his friends!" Eggman ordered the robot, pointing towards us.
Then the robot turned towards Sonic and the rest. And it started to move closer, holding it's six claws out.
"Oh no, no, no-" I got up as fast as I could but then the cuts stretched open and I ended up hissing.
But before I could react more, one of the metal claws immediately grabbed me! And I groaned in pain as all my cuts and wounds got squeezed. "Eggman!!"
"Ohh~ If this isn't the blue pest who had ignored me that day." Eggman chuckled and pressed a button that made the bot tighten its claw.
I bit my lip hard enough to stay quiet, but inside I felt like screaming.
"Sonica—!"
"No! No! No!" Sonic used his spin attack and quickly grabbed onto one of the bot's forearm, trying to get the claw to open up. "Let her go!!"
"Oo, looks like I have found a weak spot~" Eggman leaned back in his egg mobile and pressed another button before taking a sip of his tea.
Seriously, Eggman?!
The button made the bot quickly grab Sonic with his other claw. And yet it still had 4 more claws left!
"Sonic!!" yelled the others before jumping into bushes to avoid the missile.
"..thanks for the help." I muttered to him, clearly annoyed.
"Hey, at least I 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 to help! Unlike someone who was just leaning against a tree last time!" He snapped at me.
I groaned and look away. "..Fine.. Sorry—"
"We can't fight with it like this! We can barely get near it!" Amy shouted while still dodging the bullets.
"Wait- where is Sivay?!" I moved my head around in hope of seeing her.
"Seriously?!" Sonic grumbled, struggling against the bot's grip. "Even in this dangerous moment! You care about him?!"
"She can help us, Sonic!" I barked back at him.
And he froze. "Whoa whoa whoa— 'she'?"
I sigh and continued to look for Sivay. "Yeah. Sivay is a girl- Oh there she is!"
She was trying to save her people! And.. help them escape from all this chaos.
"..wait, so Sivay is a girl.." He blinked and looked at me with wide eyes. "Are you interested in girls?!"
"What—?! No! Shut up! I am full 180°! Straight! Straight! Straight!" I snapped at him, that ended me up with heavy breathing.
"So why didn't you tell me that Si—"
"W I L L Y O U T W O J U S T S H U T U P ? !"
" . . . "
We cleared our throats and looked away from eachother.
"Can't believe it was a girl all along.."
"Can't believe everyone yelled like that..."
"Yeah, even Eggman..."
"..yeah." We murmured amongst eachother, loud enough for only us to hear.
But then the bot caught Tails too.
"Tails! Buddy!" Sonic called, squirming against the bot's claw.
BE SERIOUS, SONICA!
I quickly looked around and seeing the destruction.. I froze.
Wait- 'froze'!
"S I V A Y ! !" I yelled out loud.
She turned quickly and was about to run when the leader grabbed her arm while shaking her own head.
"Redael! Esaelp! Ew deen reh pleh!" I shouted.
(Leader! Please! We need her help!)
But the leader shook her head and yelled back. "Thgif no ruoy nwo!"
(Fight on your own!)
"Why do you do this to me, fate?!" I shouted to the universe while closing my eyes tightly.
Come on, Sonica!
Think!
Think! Think! Think!
Freeze this bot!
Make it stop! Make it stop!
"Sonica!"
My eyes snapped opened and I looked at Sonic who yelled with wide eyes.
"You are freezing!"
"What—?" I looked down at myself and my body was indeed freezing, literally getting covered in ice!
Now was my chance!
Without thinking anything else, I closed my eyes and imagined ice and coldness. Cold crust. Frozen objects.
Then the ice spread from my body to the bot's claw that was holding me.
Come on, come on, come on.
"F R E E Z E !" I yelled while my eyes glowed light cyan as I opened them. My quills slightly floated for a second.
And the next second—
The entire robot got covered in ice!
"What the— How did you—?!" Eggman spit his tea in shock.
"Sonic! Oh no—"
I froze him and Tails along with the bot!
"We got you—!" Amy immediately took a leap and smashed the robot's frozen claws.
Then Knuckles smashed the remaining parts of the bot. And as soon as Sonic and Tails were free, Knuckles quickly caught them in each hand. "Gotcha."
He then steadied them on the ground and scratched his head. "Uh.. guys, how do we unfreeze them?"
I got down on my feet as well, trying to steady my breathing. "We will figure something out—"
"Sonica! Uoy did ti!" (Sonica! You did it!!) Pounced someone on my back and I instinctively held her while trying to keep myself from stumbling. "Y-yeah, Siv."
"I ma yrros I t'ndluoc pleh.." (I am sorry I couldn't help..) She whispered while landing back down on her feet.
That made me chuckle and I lightly punched her arm. "Ti t'nsaw ruoy eciohc ot ton pleh. S'ti thgirla."
(It wasn't your choice to not help. It's alright.)
I hope she smiled underneath her mask.
"Sonica! How do we unfreeze them?!" Amy shook me by my shoulders and I looked at Sonic and Tails who were now ice sculptures. "Uh.."
"S'tel taeh meht pu." (Let's heat them up.) Sivay suggested, tilting her head.
I chuckled and nodded before turning to Amy. "Let's heat them up.."
Amy blinked and then looked around. "But where is Sticks?"
"Here—" She raised her hand out of a bush and quickly jumped out while grabbing Cubot. "I caught the imposter!"
"Noo, let me go! I wasn't even part of Eggman's plan!!" Cubot panicked and jumped up, hitting Sticks' jaw with his cubical metal head and ran off as soon as Sticks let him go.
"Uh.. where's Eggman?" We looked around and he was gone without a trace.
Then the leader walked over to us and I looked up at her, firmly holding Sivay's wrist.
"Y O U ! Why didn't you let Sivay help us?!" Sticks pointed her boomerang at the leader.
The leader sighed and spoke, "Siht saw ruoy elttab. Eht eron uoy tel sretho evas uoy, eht rekaew uoy teg dna eht ssel uoy nrael." (This was your battle. The more you let others save you, the weaker you get and the less you learn."
My expression softened slightly. Was that her reason..?
Then she leaned down to my ear and slightly lifted her mask upto her nose to whisper. "I wanted you to unleash your power and learn to tame it when the risks were high. I was there last night.."
My eyes widened while she leaned back straight and adjusted her mask. She could speak English all along?!
"Speak English! Why didn't you let your son help us—!" Sticks threw her boomerang at the leader which she easily caught with her right hand.
"Nos?" (Son?) She tilted her head and looked at Sivay.
"Yeah, you are always talking to him." Sticks gestured towards Sivay and crossed her arms.
Sivay and I glanced at eachother and chuckled.
"Llew, ti s'taht tahw uoy ees, neht yrev llew." (Well, it that's what you see, then very well.) The leader nodded her head and turned around.
"Why don't you speak English?!!" Sticks was about to throw a tantrum.
Then the leader gestured us to follow her and said, "Gnirb eht owt nezorf seno oot." (Bring the two frozen ones too.)
"Alright. Knuckles, carry them and, everyone, follow the leader!" I said as everyone did as they were told.
I glanced at Sonic and Tails' frozen state and whispered. "Sorry, guys.."
"Wait, Sonica-" Amy caught up to me and walked beside while saying, "How did you freeze that bot?"
"Um.." I looked down at my hands, wondering if this was the right time to reveal the truth.
Sivay nodded her head at me.
So I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to spea—
"Do you have ice powers?!" Sticks said from behind, making me startled.
"Well.." I cleared my throat, "kinda—"
"Whoa! C you make a snowman with a snap of your fingers?! Summon sharp ice spears and levitate them?!" Sticks shook my shoulders, making me feel dizzy on top of my injuries.
But I felt a hope that maybe they would accept m—
"Well, good thing it's ice power. If it were fire or rock or something, that would be SUPER dangerous." Amy said while holding her hammer over her shoulder.
Nevermind.
"Still! Can you do that or not, Sonica?!" Sticks leaned in super close that I had to stumble a few steps back.
"No, it's not a power!! I just used magic, okay?! The one I used last night to form the fire! Yes, that magic!" I yelled on top of my lungs and ended up panting.
Sivay quickly patted down the fire that was shoulder—
Oh no. Anger develops the fire element.
I hope no one noticed it.
But hearing me yell, Amy and Sticks stared at me for a few seconds. Then they blinked. "Ohh, that magic. We understand now.." and they continued to walk behind the leader.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
This was exhausting.
Forget being accepted. First I have to know myself more.
— ᗩᑎ - ᕼOᑌᖇ - ᒪᗩTᗴᖇ —
We were sitting around the bonfire, feeling the warmth and contentment of having 'non-stressful' conversations.
Sonic and Tails were placed closer to the fire so the ice would melt sooner.
And Sivay's people also some herbal paste on my cuts and injuries, even my eye looks like I've put on a green eye-patch.
As soon as the frozen particles melted off Sonic and Tails' bodies, they quickly shook their bodies and started to shiver. "W-whoa.."
Then Tails turned his head around and saw that his tails were still frozen and he facepalmed.
Everyone else shared a laugh.
After a while we got to enjoy lunch! There were varieties of things which looked really fresh and organic.
"I am sorry for your forest.. uh.." I rubbed the back of my neck, glancing at the disaster that Eggman left.
Sivay shook her head and said it was fine and that they will plant even more baby trees.
I nodded with a soft smile and focused on eating.
Then she scooted a little closer to me and whispered, "Taht yug si nettims." (That blue guy is smitten)
"Tahw?" (What?) I whispered back, glancing at Sonic.
Whoa, we made eye contact!
Sivay chuckled and whispered again, "Eh saw gnicnalg ta uoy lla eht emit, neve gnirud eht 'Raeps Hsad' elttab. Neve own." (He was glancing at you all the time, even during the "Spear Dash' battle. Even now.)
I swallowed thr slice of fruit and glanced at him again.
Agh- we made eye contact again!
"Ees? I dlot uoy." (See? I told you.) She chuckled and slightly lifted her mask to eat a slice of the pineapple.
I lightly punched my chest as I choked on the piece of fruit I was having.
Stop making those scenarios in your head, Sonica!
Sivay just chuckled more and whispered, "Uoy ekil mih oot, t'nod uoy?" (You like him too, don't you?)
I hissed and glanced at her before looking down, whispering. "I kniht I ma gnitrats ot.." (I think I am starting to..)
She patted my back gently and plucked the rose that had bloomed beside me, holding in her laughter. "Doog kcul, ym dneirf." (Good luck, my friend.)
I hid my half face with my quills in embarrassment. My face's other half was wounded and herbal-pasted.
She then leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Tsuj os uoy wonk.. I tup a enicidem ni ruoy doof taht yliraropmet sezylarap ruoy sgel."
(Just so you know.. I put a medicine in your food that temporarily paralyzes your legs.)
"Tahw?!" (What?!) I looked at her in shock. "Yhw dluow uoy—" (Why would you—)
"Sonica, what's wrong?" Sonic asked, tossing a piece of fruit in Knuckles' wide open mouth.
"..nothing." I sighed and closed my eyes.
Sivay laughed while rolling on the grass and saying, "Uoy'er emoclew!" (You're welcome!)
Dear fate, just one question..
W. H. Y ? !
— TIᗰᗴ - ՏKIᑭ —
It was now time to head home…
"Thank you for everything and sorry for the trouble.." They all bowed their heads as I translated it to Sivay's people.
The leader just nodded her head.
Sivay was definitely smirking behind her mask which made me gulp.
"Sonica, get up. We have to go." Sonic said while Amy, Sticks, Tails and Knuckles stopped on their tracks.
"Right.." I took a deep breath and glanced at Sivay. Then I digged my hand on the tree trunk as I slowly tried to get up.
"Sonica..?"
"No, I am fine—"
No, I am not fine!
I felt my legs wobble as I tried to stand. But as soon as I was able to balance I bit, I immediately fell down but used my hands to keep myself from hitting my face on rhe ground. "Ugh.."
Sivay coughed to suppress her laughter.
I shot her a small glare.
"Sonica, you are still injured. Let me carry you." Sonic held his hand out.
Sivay gave a thumbs up, probably grinning behind her mask.
I sighed in defeat and took his hand. "I guess there was more than just cuts and scratches.."
"Sonic, let Knuckles help. You will get tired easily." said Amy, gesturing at Knuckles who just shrugged with 'I am fine with anything.'
". . ."
I swear I noticed his facial expression twitch and he turned to Knuckles, tilting his head as he spoke.
"Knux. . . How about a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors? Loser carries Sonica."