leave the life you knew before [pt1]

BEFORE VOID EVENT, GREEN HILL

Tails and Amy exchanged glances.

"…You've been acting different since the cave," Tails said slowly, squinting a little at his best friend. "Is something going on?"

Sonic inhaled, taking in the scene for a moment. Knuckles was watching from the rock he'd been working out on moments before; Amy stood beside Tails, a hand on her hip; Rouge stood by Big, who was sitting on the picnic blanket with Froggy in his hand. All of them were looking at him, awaiting his response. This was it. It was time to tell them.

"Okay, okay," he said quickly, bouncing a little between his heels and the tips of his toes. "The wiiiildest thing just happened. Right after the - "

A crash drew a collective gasp from the group, and Sonic spun around on the spot, still clutching his plate with its mountain of chilli dogs. A huge, vibrant blue light rippled out from behind the cliffs ringing the beach, bending over palm trees and ripping off coconuts. Sonic and his friends were thrown backwards onto the sand. The plate flipped up from Sonic's hands and the chilli dogs scattered, sending sauce flying. Sonic groaned as he got to his feet, and frowned skyward as a giant, looming shadow blotted out the sun. Around him, his friends picked themselves up and moved closer together, readying for a battle formation.

Sonic stared up at the ominous shadow for a split second and slapped his palm against his face.

"Ugh, you've gotta be kidding me." His moment of ire didn't last long. He pumped his fist and shifted his leg back as he prepared to run, a lopsided grin forming on his face. "Okay, team. We gotta go fast!"

At the last word, he took off, leading the charge towards the blue light.