Chapter 44

Sonic, Tails, Sonja, and Pico Quadruple Boosted through the forest. Their energy had been replenished in the adrenaline that they felt and the extra energy Tails and Pico lent to them. Pico was enjoying the raw thrill, closing his eyes, making happy trumpet sounds for the whole world to hear and know he was purely joyous, as the wind blew through his fur, despite Sonic and Sonja's attempts to quiet him softly so that nobody would hear them. Tails seemed more and more apathetic as this all went on. Sonic was really considering asking him about it, but couldn't in the heat of the moment.

They had seen blurry images of the figures through the treeline, but they didn't notice them until they were long gone. Thankfully, the man inside the walls and the head honcho masked figure were nowhere in sight. But Sonic heard strange jet sounds in the distance. He decided to ignore it and keep running. Thinking too much would distract his own Sonic Boost.

"Where exactly are we going?" Sonja asked. Pico trumpeted once, looking to Sonic as if to say ditto.

"Somewhere. Away from these masked clowns," Sonic replied. "This forest has to end somewhere, right?" Sonja nodded.

Eventually, even the Quadruple Boost ran out of energy. They were left in the path with no more Boost energy. So they just ran normally. Sonic had to slow down so his friends could catch up.

They ran far, until they heard something. A horn had been sounded. Somebody had spotted them! They quickly ran behind the treeline and into the forest. But in the darkness, wooden masks danced about in front of the trees, coming in and out of sight.

The team looked all around them, as brief instances of torchlight revealed the masks. Grotesque, ugly wooden masks. They looked like something Sonic would see in his nightmares. Sonic tried to Homing Attack a masked figure, but the figure hit him away. Sonic was thrust into the arms of Sonja and Tails, who tried to support the momentum and weight of Sonic.

Sonic looked up at the figure angrily. He wanted to make a snarky remark about the freak's fashion sense, but he didn't. Doing so would attract more of these weirdos. He wouldn't have to worry about that however, since the squirrel blew into a long wooden horn, making another awful sound. Pico trumpeted back in what he thought was some sort of musical face-off.

"Nice Infinite cosplay, asshole!" Sonic shouted in the frenzy of noise.

More of them came soon after. They knocked down trees with their combined strength and charged towards the team. Sonic and the others turned tail and ran, knowing they were no match for these guys altogether.

The figures blew into horns of their own, forming some sort of twisted orchestra. Sonic and the others ran faster. Through the trees and branches, no one cared about being cut or scraped. Sonja kept Pico low to avoid him getting injured. But then masked, underdeveloped Mobian gophers and moles started popping out of the ground. One snatched Pico by the legs and pulled him out of Sonja's grasp.

"Pico!" Sonja screamed. Sonic and Tails looked back to see the mole go back into his little hole.

"Oh no, not today!" Sonic cried. He jumped into the air in a spinball, and dropped down into the ground, burrowing into it. Sonic could only see glimpses of where he was going, but he knew it would be okay. He would find Pico, and bring him back.

Sonic, suddenly, did not feel dirt under him anymore. He was falling. He got out of spinball form and landed on his feet.

Looking around him, he had stumbled upon an underground cave. It was cold. And dark. But luckily, there were torches with which he could light his way. Grabbing one, he slid down a downward slope, dust kicking up from underneath him. He then fell down another drop. It was a short fall, and he landed safely.

As he walked around by the walls, Sonic saw roots of trees and stems of mushrooms embedded in the dirt and stone walls through the dim torchlight. The air was damp and moist as he breathed it in.

Sonic continued to walk, but then, a drip of water streaming in through a crack in the cave ceiling dropped onto his torch. It extinguished the already small fire. Sonic was left alone in the dark. He then realized. Sonja and Tails had probably kept running. That or the monsters had caught up with them.

Sonic was alone. What were the chances of him getting back to them? All these thoughts swirled around in Sonic's head. But he was determined to find Pico. He'd worry about the rest later. Like always.

This is what had gotten him stuck aboard the Death Egg all those months ago, right? His willingness to do the right thing at his own detriment. He had placed the whole world in danger because he felt he didn't need a plan. It was chronic. Sonic didn't know how to stop his way of thinking. He's tried.

Sonic felt like there were two sides of him fighting each other. One side told him he was doing the right thing, while the other told him he was stupid and careless. But he continued on in the darkness, feeling around the walls. He felt like he was going in circles in the same room.

He kept walking. It felt colder the further he went down. He had to huddle his arms together and shake to keep the heat coming. That is when he heard digging.

Sonic jumped, and then began to run. He ran forward. There were more of those things after him. They would be here soon. He heard them in the walls as he ran. There must be more than he thought. He ran into a wall and stumbled back a little. A large, star-nosed mole with a mask with horns, that Sonic couldn't help but see Zavok in, popped out of the wall and jumped onto Sonic, knocking him to the ground.

The star-nosed mole clawed away at Sonic, scratching his skin. But before it could completely break the skin, Sonic kicked it off and it knocked into the wall. It fell down onto the ground. Sonic could hear it roll down.

Sonic used this sound to get a feel for his surroundings without looking. It was a spiral downwards deeper into the cave. The further he went down, the further he went into his own head. Sonic felt like at any moment, something terrible could pop out of nowhere just like the mole. As much as he wanted to talk to drive away the maddening silence, he didn't want to attract the people digging towards him. They seemed to have dug away, at least for now.

Sonic began running. He felt like he had nailed a pattern. Drifting through the spiraling hall, he eventually found an entrance to an open room of the cave. Storm light pierced through the open holes, revealing elephant skeletons embedded in the walls. Sonic looked up, and saw he was pretty deep down in this cavern. He heard a desperate squeal. Looking forward, he saw a mole. It was dancing around in circles.

Sonic stepped back, but then realized. The squeal. It could be Pico! He dashed forward, but skidded to a top when the figure turned to him. It indeed held Pico in her hands, who was shaking his legs around. Sonic noticed little white nubs poking through around his open lip. Could he be forming tusks? When Pico saw Sonic, he trumpeted loudly and reached out his hand. Sonic stepped forward, reaching out his hand, but then the mole began to chant something.

"Mine! Mine! He is all mine!" The mole sang, jumping up and down. She too, wore a mask. She had another mask tucked away in her other hand. This one wasn't wooden like the others. It was made of the skull of a small baby elephant with some sort of red streamy liquid covering it in what was supposed to be a pattern. Pico was ogling it like the curious tot he was.

Sonic ran forward as the mole stopped jumping, noticing him. The mole burrowed down with Pico. "Hey, where'd you... Ouch!" Sonic exclaimed. Something had hit him across the back of the head, and hard. He held the back of his head where it hurt.

"You won't take my baby!" The mole screamed.

"YOUR baby?" Sonic asked. The mole dug up from the ground and stood its ground.

"Yes, my baby!" The mole laughed, no cadence in its voice. "The one who dug down one day and never came back up!" The mole paused and looked at Pico. "Hmm... but he's missing his mask! Here! Mommy found something for you..."

Pico sniffed the mask and gagged violently. He squealed and cried, shaking in disgust. The mole didn't care as it tried to slip on the mask. "Soon, he'll be like all of us," the mole giggled.

Sonic's blood boiled. Pico didn't want that stupid thing on him. Forcing small, defenseless living beings into things they didn't want... sounds like what Sonic has been fighting against his whole life. Clenching his teeth, Sonic formed a tornado with his Sonic Wind ability, and sent it the mole's way. The mole and Pico alike were swept up in Sonic Wind, sucking them into the air. Then, they were thrown out of the vortex. Pico screamed as he fell, as did the mole. The difference between them was that Sonic caught Pico in his arms safely, while the ugly mole was caught by cold hard stone.

The two masks cracked upon impact with the ground, and the mole hid away its face. Pico said no to the urge to vomit as he saw the elephant skull mask break. "Ah!" The mole gasped. Sonic took this opportunity to run up the wall.

The mole, hiding its face in its hand, dug up the wall with the other. Sonic was quickly losing momentum, and, when he saw the mole, he decided to use it as leverage. He jumped off the wall and landed on the mole. Pico clapped his hands together. He rocketed upwards. The mole went back into the ground, and sounded to be digging from all around him. Sonic couldn't predict where the mole would go next. He looked all around him, but then, the mole came out of the ground behind him and knocked Sonic into the wall.

Sonic was pinned as the mole scratched at him and tried to grab Pico. But Sonic kept Pico away. Now he was in trouble. He was completely out of momentum, and this mole was scratching him. Pico was scared, as was Sonic. But Sonic wouldn't let it show, while Pico just whined for help.

"SOOOONIIIIC!" A voice cried. Sonja! Sonic looked above him. Sonja was coming down the narrow hole. Sonic reached out the hand that wasn't holding Pico. Then, he was pulled up and out of the hole by Sonja. She placed him on the ground.

But then, the mole dug up. Its arm was still in front of its face, meaning it couldn't see. But it could smell Sonic. But not his foot as he stomped it down into the mole's skull. The mole fell down, back into its tunnel. Sonic, Sonja, and Pico breathed heavily.

Looking around, they were on a cliffside. The drop looked like it went down for hours, but its true height was obscured by clouds. Pico looked into Sonic's eyes with his own big, round, deep eyes. He cuddled up to Sonic tightly.

To cuddle Pico, go to Chapter 45

To put him on the ground, go to Chapter 46