After the mayoral elections, Shadow was diligently working on his new job as mayor with Tails was serving as his assistant and advisor. They were both engaged full-time with their new job. The Kowareta Yume ward was in much worse shape than it seemed on the outside. They had their hands full with many problems that needed fixing. Even though there was a large workload they were highly motivated to tackle the issues.
Sonic on the other hand was very static during this period. He was out of the job with SEGA and he spent most of his time home. To keep himself busy he took it upon himself to do housework in the apartment. It was the only thing he could do while he waited for Vector to come back from the Netherlands. Sonic was curious to hear about what would come out of that mysterious investigation and what was it for.
For now Sonic was doing the dishes, vacuuming, and grocery shopping. In his free time, he kept up with jogging and he was getting more and more in shape as well as becoming faster. Sonic also took on the responsibility of preparing lunch for the Shadow and Tails. All of this made him feel kind of like a housewife but as a temporary situation, he enjoyed living a bit slower after stressing out so much during these past few months.
The three of them still spent their mornings together watching ‘Good Morning Tokyo’ and watching movies in the evenings. Shadow was particularly happy with himself knowing that he was finally making a small difference in his part of the world. Tails was also happy to assist Shadow, who listened to Tails’ advice closely.
Most of these days blurred together in Sonic’s mind, they were fairly mundane and uneventful. However, there was one day that would leave a mark.
It was noon and Sonic went grocery shopping. He went to a shopping mall in Kowareta Yume, apart from the groceries he wanted to do a bit of window shopping. The mall was an old one but it had a very cheerful atmosphere and the place was in good shape. Despite being outdated it was a popular and welcoming place.
As Sonic walked through the mall, looking at the various shops he ran into a familiar face. In front of him stood Amy. Sonic hadn’t seen her in over a decade. It was surreal seeing her in person after so long. They both awkwardly waved at each other and said hello.
“Hey, long time no see,” Sonic said trying to sound carefree.
“Long time indeed,” Amy said.
“How are you doing?”
“Alright, I guess. You?”
“Good.”
“If you’re not in a hurry would you like to go for a cup of coffee?” Sonic said. “Maybe we could catch up.”
Sonic hopes that this is a chance to start over with Amy. He felt like he had changed so much since then. He was able to start over with Tails after breaking off with him for so long. Maybe they could start talking and repair their relationship. Sonic felt like he had redeemed himself since the old days. All he had to do was show her. If they got close again, maybe they could even be together again.
Amy took a moment to respond and said: “I have a little bit of time. I can’t stay for too long but we could sit down for a coffee.”
Sonic and Amy sat down at a café in the mall. It was on the third floor and was next to large windows that had a view of the outside. It was a sunny day outside. They both ordered coffee.
“So what are you doing these days?” Sonic said.
“I am a photographer now,” Amy said.
“Oh cool. I didn’t know you were interested in photography.”
“Well, it’s my job now.”
“I don’t know anything about photography honestly.”
Awkward silence.
“What about you? What do you do?” Amy said.
“Right now I’m unemployed,” Sonic said and immediately corrected himself realizing how bad this sounds, “but I’m not doing nothing! I’ve been quite busy these past few months. I have had a new game recently out. ‘Sonic Revelations’ it’s called, have you seen it?”
Amy shook her head, “No, I haven’t seen it or played it. I don’t play video games anymore. I haven’t played them in a long time.”
“Okay.”
Another awkward silence.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“There was also this,” Sonic said excitedly, “I live in Kowareta Yume now. You’ve probably seen this on the news, Shadow becoming the new mayor of Kowareta Yume.”
“Shadow the hedgehog?” Amy raised an eyebrow.
“Yes! That Shadow. We are close friends now, I actually helped him win this election!” Sonic said feeling proud of himself.
“Since when are you interested in politics?”
“I wouldn’t say I’m interested but this was an important change in ou-“
“Whatever, I don’t follow politics at all and I don’t want to know anything about it.”
Is this how looked to Tails when I would cut him off, Sonic thought to himself. He felt very annoyed that Amy wasn't willing to hear him out.
Awkward silence.
Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t go as Sonic envisioned. Any topic they would start ended in an awkward silence after only a few sentences. They have known each other their whole lives but more than 10 years have passed since they last saw each other. People change a lot over the course of 10 years. Both had experiences that the other couldn’t relate to.
They were different people now, strangers to one another. The sense of familiarity they shared was gone. Sonic was lucky that he and Tails were able to click again after their separation. The ways the two of them had changed hadn’t impacted their reconnection. Now Sonic was faced with a situation where there was no going back, no chance for a restart.
After about half an hour of awkward silences, Amy called the waiter and left saying she needed to go. “Maybe we can talk again some other time,” she said. Amy had regretted accepting the offer to sit with him and she had no desire to speak with him again. She had hoped for a fun catching up but instead, she got an agonizingly unpleasant conversation. She wasn’t putting herself in this situation again.
Sonic sat for a little bit longer feeling disappointed. While Sonic didn’t spend his days agonizing or obsessing over encountering Amy, in the back of his mind he had always hoped for a random encounter with her. An encounter that would be a jumping-off point for them to start something new.
Was there anything he could have done differently? Maybe if he said this or that this encounter, which he had hoped for would have turned out differently. Unfortunately, that wasn’t true. He had to accept that some people drift apart and they drift apart forever.
*
Sonic arrived back home. Shadow and Tails were there too. The three of them talked, bantered, and laughed. While Sonic had been physically present his mind was absent. He looked at Tails and realized how grateful and appreciative he was that everything worked out between them and that they were best friends again. How supportive Tails was and all the little moments of mundanity they shared together. The moments that seemed inconsequential but that looking back made him smile.
He looked over at Shadow and wondered what outrageous circumstances had brought them together. Shadow was someone Sonic used to despise during the 2000s and someone he could never have imagined he would ever be friends with. Life’s journey is always unpredictable and mysterious. It didn’t go as Sonic planned but he was genuinely happy that he was surrounded by two wonderful friends.
Sonic’s mind turned towards Knuckles. He wondered if Knuckles had also changed to a point of no return? Had he missed his chance long ago? Maybe there was a point where he could have talked to him before he had left SEGA to stop the path Knuckles was moving towards. Sonic felt angry at himself for not seizing any of the opportunities in the SEGA lounge.
Tails had once told Sonic that the most painful memories to go back to aren’t all the times you said something wrong, it’s when you chose to say nothing at all. Those words kept ringing over and over to Sonic. If only he wasn’t so self-absorbed and more honest he could have told Knuckles how similar he had become to Sonic during his worst years. Maybe Knuckles would have brushed off those words but he can’t know because he never tried.
Sonic made a resolution to himself, the next time he encounters Knuckles and they have a chance to talk he is going to attempt to say what he should have always said. Maybe it is too late now but he decided that he was still going to try.
As for Amy, Sonic wondered if he even wanted to reconnect with Amy at this point. There wasn’t anything to go back to.
The time they spent was only a distant memory. Someone he used to know, for the Amy he talked to today was a complete stranger. Sonic decided to move on and try to forget about Amy.
*
After some time had passed, Sonic was finally contacted by Vector the crocodile. During the afternoon Sonic’s phone started ringing and he responded:
“Hello?”
“It’s me, Vector. We’re finally back from the Netherlands. We had a lot of work to do but we are finally done with our investigation.”
“So what’s next?”
“I am going to have to ask for your help again.”
“I don’t work with SEGA anymore,” Sonic chuckled. “You’re going to have to find someone else if you want corporate secrets.”
“I can’t give you the details over the phone we should-“
“Let me guess, meet at café Alps, part of the code?”
“Yes, it would be great for us to meet there. However, it would be good for you to ask all of your friends to join us. We are going to need all the help we can get with this one. Invite Kiryu too!”
“Alright, can I know at least what the job is about?”
“I will tell you everything once we meet. I have permission from our employer to finally disclose to you the nature of our investigation into Polanzo and SEGA.”
“See you later this evening!”
Sonic asked Tails and Shadow to join him and they both, of course, agreed to help. After which he called Kiryu and he also accepted the invitation. They arranged for Tails to drive them to the café, while on the way he picks up Kiryu. The passenger door was fixed in the meantime and the red Saab could now comfortably fit 4 people inside.
When the evening rolled around it was time to head out and the drive to the café went according to plan. The group arrived in front of the café Alps. They were standing in the busy streets of Kamurocho. What confused them was that the café from the outside looked like it was closed.
“You sure you got the meeting time and place right?” Tails said.
“We spoke hours ago. I wouldn’t mess this up. He said to come here. I will call him now and see what’s up?” Sonic said. He pulled out his phone and just as he started dialing Vector’s phone number, the door of the café opened and Vector appeared in front of them. He made a gesture with his hand for all of them to enter.
Inside, the café was empty. Inside the only people there were team Chaotix.
“I paid the owner to give us some privacy so we can discuss things,” Vector said feeling proud of himself.
“We could have just met at my place,” Tails rolled his eyes.
“That’s against the code, it has to be café Alps,” Vector said. “I didn’t make up the code” (he did make up the code). “Anyways, let’s get down to business. Everyone, get yourself a seat and get comfortable.”
Everyone grabbed a chair and they formed a circle around Vector to hear what he had to say.
“Sonic said to bring help, why do you need us?” Kiryu said.
“Okay this is going to be a long story so I hope you are all ready for it,” Vector took a deep breath. “Team Chaotix was hired by the ICC(International Criminal Court) in the Hague, Netherlands to investigate Marchiano Polanzo.”
“The International Criminal Court?!” Tails jumped out of his seat.
“Oh so that’s why you kept saying the investigation of Polanzo was of international importance,” Sonic said connecting the dots.
“What could have Polanzo done to warrant an investigation by them.”
“As you all may know,” Vector cleared his throat. “Polanzo’s history before the president has been quite elusive. In fact, Polanzo isn’t even his real name, it’s an alias he has been using. He has had many fake names throughout his life. Our investigation was to find the truth about his past and to assemble a clear picture of the man.”
“Was your investigation successful?” Kiryu said.
“Yes,” Vector nodded. “The key files we needed were given to us by Sonic and we have enough for the court to make a formal indictment.”
“So why do you need our help?” Kiryu said.
“You still haven’t told us what is he guilty of?” Tails jumped in.
“One at a time,” Vector raised his arms. “I will first tell you who exactly he is. Who his parents were and why is he being investigated by the ICC. However, this is a long story, and I want all of you to save your questions after I tell you all of the information. I don’t want anyone to interrupt me while I speak. Everything will be clear once I’m done.”
The group nodded and leaned in closer to Vector.
Vector began telling them the life story of Marchiano Polanzo.