Chapter 2 - Making my way...

Cody and I got reunited not long after that. Some blue hedgehog saw me wondering around and started talking to me. He introduced himself as Sonic. And at some point, I saw Cody’s head popping out of a window and then he ran outside. He literally jumped in my arms as we both hugged each other. A rather touching moment back then…



From the day we ran away from home ‘till the day we arrived in the village,, was a journey that took us about two months… A lot of stuff happened within those two months, and I rather want to forget about it. It’s not easy, but I told myself that it never happened. That’s why I swore not to tell anyone what happened. And if they did asked where I came from, I just told the shipwreck part. Cody knew all too well that he need to keep his mouth shut about what happened, and he realized that.



Cody and I got our own home. It wasn’t much, just 2 rooms and a bathroom, but it was way better then living on the streets. The night I left Blain, we could stay over at Sonic’s place, who shared it with Tails. Sonic and I talked for hours about anything, and he was a really nice guy. Unlike Blain, he didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. Tails was an adorable little fox with two tails that went out with Cody a lot. The next day, Sonic introduced us to the others, and Shadow and Rouge became my best friends. But what surprised me the most was that Blain was friends with them as well… So having an argument with Blain was inevitable whenever we hang out together… But besides that, most of the time I’m just ignoring him. Cody and I were very happy and tried to forget everything that happened to us. It was like we started a whole new life…

Only time will tell if Blain would ever be a part of it. And the way it goes right now, it doesn’t look it’s gonna happen soon. But, something happened that changed everything…



Surely, there were jobs to be done. Like gathering wood, bringing in supplies that were delivered and all sorts of stuff. It was a small community looking after itself and everyone had his or her own speciality. Tails for example, supplied every home with electricity and water by building generators. Cody often helped him a lot with the simple things, but he loved it.



Some of the combat veterans patrolled the forest and guard the village at night. Like Blain said, it was dangerous to go out on your own. Every time we needed to go outside the village, one or two armed veterans came along with us. I didn’t liked the idea of someone with a weapon walking next to me, but soon, it proved that it had is advantages, followed with every gruesome consequences that you can possibly think of…



It’s been 2 weeks since I arrived in the village… And one day, we were out in the woods to collect firewood for that evening… Blain was amongst the armed men guarding us, as well as another one. A wolf, about my age. The two of them had radio headsets and all sorts of high tech crap and weapons, which was a bit redundant if you asked me. Sonic was the only one I knew that went along gathering… At some point, I lost sight of the others, and as soon as I called out their names, I got pulled along in a bush and saw a small group of guys aiming there weapons at me. As soon as they pulled me up, shots rang through the air and 3 of them fell dead on the ground. I was petrified after witnessing that… I didn’t moved an inch and I had a feeling my heart could burst out of my chest any second… At that same point, I saw Blain getting up from behind a bush, aiming his weapon at the 2 remaining guys. The one that held me placed a knife against my throat. For some reason, they both knew they weren’t getting out alive…



Blain: Silas, get over here, we got a situation.
Radio: On my way.

Guy: Let us go and I’ll give her back…
Blain: We’re not some political group… We don’t negotiate…

At that same point, that wolf came in too, aiming his weapon on the other guy…



Silas: Oooh, a hostage situation… I hate that…
Blain: Yup… Five bucks that it’s all bluff…
Silas: You’re on.

… Are they starting to bet?! Hello!! My life is at stake here! I’m being threatened with a bloody knife!! They moved in closer, but the two of them backed off. The guy who held me was getting nervous…



Blain: Well this isn’t getting us anywhere…
Silas: You got three seconds to release her, or we’ll open fire.

They can’t be serious… What did I do to deserve this…?



Guy: Get out of the way!!
Blain: You got nowhere to go, give it up.
Guy: I’m warning you!!

And at that point, the guy next to me dropped down and tried to get his hands on a weapon. Blain and the wolf immediately shot him…



Silas: Give us the girl, you’re free to go

The guy walked past Blain and that wolf, and pushed me towards them. Then he ran away. Blain took his aim and shot him in the leg. He fell down and yelled… And after that, the 3 of us walked back to him. The wolf bends over him…



Silas: You didn’t think you got rid of us that easy did you?
Blain: You owe me five bucks…

And the wolf aimed his weapon on his head as Blain kicked him in the stomach while he was on the ground. Then they pulled him up, and dragged him towards the village… As we arrived there, I was still shaking a bit… I never saw anyone being shot, let alone 5 people… Then Blain took me apart…



Blain: What did I say about wondering around?
Nicole: I wasn’t-
Blain: If something like that happens again, you’re on your own. Got that?
Nicole: Right…


Then I looked at him and he turned away…



Nicole: What’s gonna happen to him now?
Blain: Find out who they were, hand him over and he might not get executed.

Then he just walked away… How the hell can he do something like that…? He doesn’t care if anyone could be shot… He just pulled the trigger without thinking! Then I noticed Sonic standing next to me…



Sonic: It takes a while before you get used to him.
Nicole: How can he do something like that?
Sonic: Well… Blain grew up in a total different environment then us. It’s either kill or be killed.

Nicole: Yeah but, that’s all over right…?
Sonic: Not really… If you see what those groups are capable of… They got nothing to loose, nor are they afraid to die. We heard stories of complete villages being murdered out for there supplies, and that’s why they’re all on high alert, because they don’t want to happen that again.

Nicole: But… Why killing them…?
Sonic: Because if they don’t get killed, they’re gonna find something else to put there mitts on. And well, no one cant really use that now that everything is gonna be rebuild. It’s something that I don’t agree on either, but, we have to if we want to make it. And seeing as we’re almost there, I’m not intending to loose it all again by some figures who can’t get used to a normal life…

Nicole: Well you’re right about that…
Sonic: It’s not easy for Blain too, but at least he’s trying…
Nicole: But that doesn’t mean it rectifies everything he ever did…

And that’s basically why I loathed Blain… At first, I was a little afraid of him… But over the weeks, it disappeared and I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. Instead, I stood up to him every time we had an argument.. What seem relatively harmless became teasing and nagging and it got worse over the weeks. But, as time went by, we forgot why we were nagging each other in the first place… And the loathing kept on growing…


Blain wasn’t the only one though… There were more people in the village and as far as I know, some of them were combat veterans. But they were not like Blain at all. Instead, I heard stories that they helped saving people and all sorts of heroic acts during the war.



I was rather baffled the first time I saw a human. I saw them on television and all, but humans didn’t live where I came from... I never imagined they were so tall… We only had few humans though, and they were really friendly…



A few weeks passed by without much trouble. My house was on a hill a few hundred meters away from the lake. At night, when the stars lighted up the night sky, you could see the reflection of the night sky and the forest in the clear, bright water. Sometimes at night, I could see Blain sitting outside in the grass. Then I saw him getting out a pencil and paper, and another piece of paper that was all fold up and wrinkled… It even looked like it had blood on it… And it looked like Blain was writing it down on that new piece of paper. And every time he stared at the night sky... At times like that I often wondered what was on his mind. It was actually kinda sad to see him all alone like that…



Sometimes I sat down there near the lake as well when I was alone, in the grass, staring at the heavens and thought about everything, especially our stay in Reventon…. I was wondering how my dad was doing, or where my mom was… But as soon as I realized they both abandoned us, I quickly recovered and forgot about them. But for some reason, it didn’t let me go. Because, after all, their still your parents… I guess I needed some distraction of all the things that happened. The first few weeks, I didn’t eat, sleep, drink or talked much… It took me a long time to be accepted where as Cody didn’t had trouble at all to be accepted. Why that ever was, I will never know. And quite frankly, I don’t even wanna know…



It’s been half a year now since I got here. Most of the things here are rather beautiful but sometimes I couldn’t help but to think that I want to go home. Back to where I came from. And every time I thought that, I realized that there was nothing there… It’s a forgotten memory that will be cherished and hated for the rest of my life…



One day, we were out by the lake with the usual group. Sonic, Shadow, Rouge, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Cody, me and Blain… This was something that changed all of our lives…



Sonic: Did you heard?
Shadow: Heard what?
Sonic: There’s a school opening in Deberan.
Nicole: Deberan?
Sonic: Yeah, it’s a small town located near by.
Blain: Some dickhead is trying to force us going to school…?
Sonic: Yup…
Blain: Me too…?
Sonic: Everyone by the age of 18 or below…
Rouge: Can they do that…?
Sonic: Yup… Its part of the Civil Rights, that everyone has the right to go to school. I wouldn’t mind really…

Shadow: Well I would…
Sonic: Why?!
Shadow: Ever seen a fifty year old hedgehog sharing classes with 15 year olds?
Nicole: Fifty?!
Shadow: Yup…
Nicole: But, you look so young…
Shadow: I take a lot of beauty sleeps…

Then everyone else chuckled… I didn’t get it really, how could Shadow be 50 years old and still look so young?



Nicole: No I’m serious!
All: …
Nicole: How’s that possible!?

Then Shadow looked at me and smiled. There was no way he was gonna tell me, so I just dropped it…



Shadow: It’s all part of where I grew up…
Sonic: Well… I grew up on the Green Hill Zone… But you don’t hear me complaining…

Knuckles: Angel Island…
Amy: Station Square…
Shadow: Space Colony Ark…
Tails: South Island…
Rouge: … Isla Muira…

And as soon as Rouge said that, everyone looked a bit baffled…



Shadow: You came all the way from there…?
Rouge: Yup…
Shadow: … I never knew that…
Sonic: Neither did us…

Then they all looked at Blain…



Blain: What?
Cody: Where are you from?
Blain: Robotropolis…
Sonic: How about you?

Cody and I looked at each other and we both said it together…



Nicole/Cody: Buthainah…
All: …
Knuckles: Isn’t that on the other side of the planet…?
Nicole: Well… Yeah…
Rouge: So, how did you end up here?
Nicole: Long story I rather want to forget… The point is, I’m here now and that’s all that matters.

Sonic: I thought you had a rather funny accent…
Nicole: Funny accent? Why’s that?
Sonic: Well, you just got a funny accent…

Then it stayed silent… I heard chewing sounds getting louder and all of a sudden, heard a soft “pop’ sound. Then we all looked at Blain who was eating bubblegum… He kept looking at us while he kept on chewing. After he noticed no one stopped staring, he passed some bubblegum around.



Blain: Now stop staring at me. It freaks me out.
Sonic: Wilco, sergeant-major Blockhead.
Blain: Damn right.

Nicole: So… What’s with the whole school stuff again…?
Sonic: It’s in Deberan… You’re not forced to go, but it would be better then just sit around every day and do nothing…

Shadow: Whadda ya mean? We got lots of stuff to do around here…
Sonic: Don’t you ever get tired of that? I mean, I don’t mind working, but to collect firewood for the rest of my life… That’s not really something I want to do…

Shadow: True…
Rouge: But how’s that gonna work out? I mean, how are they planning to get everyone in classes?

Sonic: I don’t know, probably by age or something. We can always check it out, and if we don’t like it, we’re going… The school opens tomorrow, and is opened for the rest of the day to give information and everything.

Nicole: So who’s going…?

Everyone except for Shadow and Blain agreed to go…



Sonic: … Well, have fun gathering wood and cleaning roof tiles tomorrow then.
Shadow: Since you put it that way…
Blain: Yup…

So we agreed on a time and place where we would meet up. And after a while, we went home.



After Cody and I got home, we ate something. Then Cody sat down on my bed and stared at me. I smiled and sat next to him…



Nicole: What’s up?
Cody: Oh nothing, it’s just that… That…

Nicole: What is it?
Cody: I… I think I’m in love…

He whispered it out that I could barely hear it…



Nicole: In love…? With whom?
Cody: Mina…
Nicole: Ooooooh… Wait, who’s Mina?
Cody: That mongoose…
Nicole: What mongoose, I never saw a mongoose here…
Cody: Come on, you’ve have seen her around… Purple hair, 4 piercings, wears a black tank top, purple hair…

Nicole: I think I saw her once…
Cody: Yeah… But, I think she has a boyfriend…
Nicole: So…? That doesn’t mean you can’t be friends with her…
Cody: Well maybe…

Then it stayed silent for a while…



Cody: I also talked to Blain today.

Now that was something that surprised me…



Nicole: Oh…?
Cody: Yeah…
Nicole: About what?
Cody: I couldn’t resist asking him about the scars he has.
Nicole: And what did he say?
Cody: Well, he said he got shot. He lost his left arm and was replaced by a bionic one.

Nicole: He lost his arm…
Cody: Yeah! I didn’t believe it at first too, but he stretched out his arm and I felt it. It’s cool though. I mean the whole bionic arm thing.

Nicole: Right…
Cody: You don’t like him very much do you?
Nicole: Why should I?
Cody: Well I like him…
Nicole: I’m not stopping you if you wanna hang out with him, but…

Cody: But what? What could he do to me?
Nicole: Just… Be careful with him.
Cody: Ok, ok… Geez…

I gave him a hug and he went to bed. I took a hot shower first. After I was done and dried myself with a towel, the hot steamy damp began to cover up the mirror. As I wiped away the damp, I saw myself standing there. The patch of dark skin coloured fur on my chest was a mess… And after I got dressed, I went to bed…

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