Sonic's Point of View

        My teeth were chattering and body was shaking when I entered the village. Even with the sealskin parka fitted tightly against my form that the villagers had given me, after only a couple hours of being outside, the cold had seeped deep into my bones. My toes were all but frostbitten, but that was my fault as I hadn't traded in my red and white sneakers for a pair of handmade mukluks. They would have slowed me down, and while I was out there I needed to go fast.

        Because I was searching for my friend (Name).

        It had already been three days since she had gone missing—three days since we had abandoned her. Me, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver...we had walked away in her time of need, left her to withstand the freezing elements alone. Only when we had settled down for our first night in a Holoskan village did we look back on our actions and see the wrongness in them. Most of us, anyway. Silver, by no doubt, still believed (Name) to be a monster that had used us to gain access to the Chaos Emeralds in order to release Mephiles with their power. I wasn't sure what Knuckles and Shadow felt on the matter. They chose not to speak of what had happened.

        I nodded in polite greeting as I passed by the busy men and women of the village working hard to keep their people fed and warm. The men were splitting spruce logs used for firewood and tossing them onto sleds to easily carter them around while the women gutted fish from the afternoon harvest. A few older children helped with the laborious activities, though most of the younger children were running around, screaming and playing. No one had a clue about the danger looming overhead; we had failed to warn them upon first entering the village as the knowledge would only have brought fear to this peaceful community. If luck was on our side, Mephiles would be gone before anyone had time to realize he had been here at all.

        I desperately hope it turns out that way, I thought with a shiver, skirting around an igloo to find a couple of my friends gathered around a small fire rotating fish on spits. "I'm back," I sighed, taking my place beside Amy and helping to distribute portions of the fully-cooked fish that were set to the side to a few awaiting villagers. Here in this village, everyone helped out—even the guests. Anyone who stood by while there was work to be done was eventually thrown out. It was a harsh punishment, but it made sense. To survive, everyone had to work together and slacking off only caused harm to the entire community. Life was very simple here, but it obviously worked out for the people of Holoska.

        "Any sign of her?" asked Tails from across the fire, who was tending to his own spit of Arctic char. Like me, he was worried about (Name). He, Amy, and Blaze believed that what had happened with Mephiles wasn't her fault. She had to have been tricked. Unfortunately, we couldn't get Silver to see the same.

        With a frown, I stared into the fire and shook my head. "Nothing."

        Amy looked over at me with concern in her eyes. She knew how long and hard I had been searching for (Name), and how every time I returned to the village alone I would fall deeper into despair. I blamed myself for leaving the girl out there with nobody to depend on. "Sooner or later we'll find her, Sonic. Holoska is only so big."

        But what if Mephiles finds her first? I didn't say it, but we all knew that horrible, dark entity was on the prowl and looking to recruit (Name) for his evil schemes. If we didn't get to her in time, hopefully she would be strong enough to not be influenced by Mephiles' manipulative power. It was hard to forget what he had persuaded Silver to do when the time-traveling hedgehog and cat had first arrived in our time.

        After playing back the memories of the Solaris incident, I realized I hadn't seen the rest of my friends since returning to the village. "Where is everyone?" I glanced between Tails and Amy.

        "Blaze and Knuckles are on the other side of the village helping out with the firewood," said Tails, "and I'm pretty sure Shadow and Silver are still looking for the Chaos Emerald. They aren't going to find it anytime soon what with the magnetic pull and everything." The fox boy shrugged.

        "They're still looking for it? Are we sure there's even an emerald in Holoska?" I shook my head in exasperation. Shadow and Silver could have been using this time to search for (Name). If it wasn't only me setting out to find the (animal) girl, she probably would have been found already.

        "Shadow says there's one that landed somewhere around here after the emeralds had scattered, but he can't pinpoint the location with his natural Chaos-tracking ability. It's the pole—the North Pole that we're practically standing on—it's magnetic attraction is interfering with his senses and making it seem like the missing emerald is in multiple places at once or moving by itself."

        I groaned into a hand, unknowingly waving a plate of fish around while a hungry villager tried to take it from me. "Sorry, here," I apologized while giving away the plate. Beside me, Amy let go of her spit and grimaced as she stretched her muscles and rubbed the aching joints in her wrists. She must have been at the fire for a while. "Why don't I take over for you, Amy? Tails, too. I can manage both cooking and handing out food."

        "Are you sure?" asked the pink hedgehog. "I don't want you to get overwhelmed."

        "Nah, it's fine. Take a look around—the rush won't start until an hour from now. Most of the villagers will be working for a while. These people are really dedicated." Laughing, I playfully pushed the girl away from her work and toward the milling crowd of those who had finished for the day. They seemed to be enjoying their time chatting and amusing the children. Amy looked back at me with a grateful smile and went to join them. With a nod, I turned back to the fire and reached over to pull Tails' spit closer.

        "Thanks, Sonic, we really needed a break," the boy sighed and cracked his neck. "I'm going to work on reassembling the Tornado II. If Shadow and Silver don't find the Chaos Emerald, we will need a way to get off of this continent. Also," his sky blue eyes brightened, "I might be able to reprogram the Chaos tracker in the plane to bypass the magnetic interference of the poles and detect only the energy given off by the emeralds. It would take some major brainpower, but I think I just might be able to pull it off."

        A dazzling smile stretched across my face. "That would be great! And hey, d'you think your Chaos tracker would be able to detect (Name)? The emeralds glow around her, so she must have the same energy inside her, right?" I tilted my head slightly in confusion when Tails furrowed his brows.

        "I'm actually not too sure if that energy had been (Name)'s. Mephiles had been in her all that time, and he certainly uses Chaos energy, but now that he's out...it might've just been him. I don't know for sure, though!" he waved his hands in front of him upon seeing my appalled expression. "We'll have to wait and see, Sonic. But I assure you, I'm not leaving Holoska until we've found her. I can't say the same for the others."

        "Alright, buddy," I said with a slow nod. "I trust you. Now go and get that dang plane fixed! Honestly, this has to be the third time it's been wrecked—maybe you should name it the 'Tornado III.'"

        "Huh, I think I will," hummed Tails in agreement. Then he twirled around with a wave of goodbye and padded off in the direction of the pile of broken parts that he had gathered from the plane wreck in the past few days.

        Letting out a long sigh, I focused my attention to my duty—cooking fish over a spit. It was very slow, boring work, but it had to be done. Villagers waited patiently by with wooden plates in hand, some even putting these plates down to add a spit of their own to the fire and wrap a fillet of raw fish to it. My emerald eyes sparkled in appreciation. These were good people. No matter what happened, I would do what I could to ensure their safety.

        When late evening came, there was plenty of food to go around. I could finally take my rest for the day and settle down to replenish the energy I had lost. Grabbing a plate from a precariously balanced stack, I took my rations of fish and freeze-dried berries and joined my friends by the center village fire. This was where most of the villagers gathered to eat and stay warm.

        My friends greeted me when I sat down on a thick log, the bags beneath their eyes telling of the hard work they had endured today. Everyone was here except Shadow and Silver. I knew Silver would return soon, as he didn't fare any better than I did in the cold, so I would need to finish my meal quickly if I were to avoid him. I didn't want there to be any arguing between us when already my emotional state was spiraling downhill.

        "What were you up to, Sonic?" asked Knuckles as he took a large bite of filleted char. "Looking for that girl, I'll bet. Just face it, she doesn't want to be found. She's probably better off on her own."

        I stayed silent while the others turned to the red echidna with glaring expressions. "What Sonic is doing is honorable," Blaze spoke out in a bold tone. "He's going out there, by himself, to search for a friend we had driven away while we stand back and distract ourselves with village tasks."

        A glint of anger started to appear in Knuckles eyes, but the male attempted to hide it with a humorless snort. "If he hadn't involved the girl in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess. We'd have the emeralds by now, and she'd be back at home going to school like any other high school kid. So, really," he growled in my direction, getting himself worked up, "this is all Sonic's fault!"

        And, of course, at that exact moment, Silver had to arrive.

        The white hedgehog's fur shone with the light of the flames, making him appear as a ghostly figure against the darkness of the Holoskan night. His golden eyes retained their intensity despite his sickly appearance. Silver hadn't spared a single day in searching for the missing Chaos Emerald, and it showed. The only time we ever saw him was when he returned to the village late at night to rest up for a few hours before setting out on the hunt again. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was going insane with obsession. That wasn't much worse than what was going on with me, I supposed.

        "Silver, you look awful!" quietly shrieked Amy. "Please tell me you're going to actually get some sleep tonight?" Her question was left in silence.

        Looking down at my scarcely touched meal, I was even less hungry now that Silver was here. I felt his eyes burning at my temple, daring me to meet them. Defiantly, I met the challenge. In an instant, the white hedgehog's face creased in anger as he took this opportunity to shout accusations at me. "You didn't find a Chaos Emerald! You weren't even trying, even though you'd been out of the village since morning!"

        I quickly stood up, my meal slipping from my lap to land on the dirty ground. "Well, no, because I was—"

        "That's because you were looking for that were(animal)!" shouted Silver with a finger pointing at my face.

        A muscle in my eyebrow twitched. I was tired of how (Name) was constantly referred to as something other than a person, someone with feelings. Listening to Knuckles' opinion on the matter had already raised my irritation, but now that Silver was practically yelling to my face, disrespecting me and my friend who I had gotten involved on this horrible journey, I was only an inch away from snapping.

        "That were(animal) is my friend—our friend. She didn't deserve what we had done to her, she should be here with us. So, I'm going to keep searching until I find her, with or without your help!" Nearly livid, I kicked out at my wooden plate lying on the ground and it flew straight into the fire, scattering burning embers when it heavily connected with a chunk of firewood. The villagers around us yelled out in surprise and shielded their faces from being burnt.

        Usually, I would have cared, would have apologized, but I was so furious I stomped away, leaving my friends aghast. Though I hadn't eaten throughout the entire day, I was going to look for (Name) again. I didn't care if my energy wouldn't last long. I needed to find her, and tell her I was sorry.

        Behind me, their voices growing quieter with distance, Blaze and Silver were arguing. The cat had some mighty strong words to use against her friend. But with Silver being Silver, he wasn't one to be put down. He was too stubborn. Though, against Blaze, he surely must have been feeling the humiliation. Soon, their shouts had diminished, and my ears swiveled at the sound of footsteps following me.

        "I'm coming with you," Blaze said when she came to a stop by my side. Before I could dispute, she raised a gloved hand in the air to stop me. "It's going to be a long night, and you'll need a way to keep warm." In her hand, a tiny flame appeared, and she looked at me sternly in the eye. "I want to help find (Name), too, and together we will stand a better chance. I'm finished idling around, waiting for the emerald to be found. Action needs to be taken now. We don't know how far Mephiles has gotten in his plan to take over the world..."

        I nodded, taking her hand in an appreciative gesture before releasing it. "Think you can keep up?" a small smirk was at my lips. The violet feline uttered a humored chuckle, her eyes sparkling in determination.

        The two of us took off into the night.