Light of Hope

V. Sonic the Hedgehog

When I woke up the next morning, the whole team was there. I was sore and my muscles were stiff; everything hurt. Not to mention I felt weak and longed to go outside and run. But, it was nice to see my friends all laughing and talking. It made everything Sally had told me the night before a little less terrible.

"Hey," I said, noticing that I didn't have anything in my nose anymore. That had been gross and made my throat hurt.

Everyone turned as I spoke, Amy's face lighting up as she saw me. Rotor stood back, arms folded and a smile on his face.

"Sonic!" Amy screeched. She ran to my side, and I could tell she was resisting the urge to wrap me in a hug and squeeze me to death. Tails was on the other side, looking at me with his face beaming. I couldn't help but feel better, seeing him so happy.

"Suga-hog!" Bunnie yelled. "We were startin' to think you weren't gonna wake up! Then Sally comes and tells us you spoke last night!"

I scratched my head, not sure what to say. I had no idea what had happened to me, besides that Eggman had managed to seriously screw things up.

"It's nice to see you guys," I said, forcing a smile. "I guess it's been a while."

"We knew you would wake up," Amy said. She glared at Antoine. "At least, most of us did..."

"I was just being a realistic," Antoine said seriously. "We were needing to be prepared."

"That's why we keep him around," I snickered.

I raised my left arm up, realizing that it felt heavy. I frowned, looking down at it. I quickly sat up and felt dizzy as I saw it covered in a cast. I suddenly remembered seeing it the night before, but it was still a shock. I stretched my fingers out, then formed a fist. I set my arm down in my other hand, shocked.

"Is it..." I swallowed, looking at my friends. "Is it broken?"

After a long pause, Bunnie spoke. "You were in rough shape, Suga-hog."

"If it were not for ma Cherie," Antoine said, "I am not sure you would have made it."

I didn't know what to say, really. "And we don't know what happened?" I asked.

"Nothing," Sally sighed. "All we know is that it was a trap designed for you. He wanted you to use the Chaos Emeralds and attack. He's spreading rumors that you're dead. It's slow without long distance communication, but it's too late to put a stop to it."

"I didn't hear about that," Rock frowned.

"I just heard about it this morning," Sally replied. "Rouge was able to connect to G.U.N., and they confirmed that they had gotten that news. Shadow dropped into the base and left a note, but it didn't say anything else. It doesn't mean the whole world thinks that yet, but..."

"It's only a matter of time," I said. "We have to go after him before he manages to take over the whole world, and I'm not staying behind."

"We weren't planning on making you," Sally said with a smile.

I paused. "Really?"

"We were giving you a couple of weeks to wake up before leaving," Rotor explained.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked, turning and swinging my legs over the side of the bed. They felt weaker than ever. Sally and Tails were at my side as I stood, the world spinning and my empty stomach churning. I would have fallen flat on my face if it weren't for those two. Instead, I just fell into their arms as they helped me.

"You only just woke up, Sonic," Tails stressed. "You need rest."

"But..." I said, sitting back on the bed. I suddenly felt very tired, but I didn't really want any of them to see that.