#lil queue

"Yeah, I can see that. Kind of a blessing in a way. Maybe I will catch up with her while I am here. She's a good kid, reminds me of myself when I was younger, in a way."

The hedgehog would accept the cider with an appreciative nod. Taking a sip and set his glass down for the moment before briefly reflecting on the question. He had been through a lot of ups and downs, hadn't he?

"Oh this? I started a band with a few new friends of mine. Good few of us are zone hoppers, which is how we met. We've been practicing for a bit and we're looking for opportunities for our first few shows."

"What do you mean he just disappeared?!"

The fox said with disbelief. One did not just simply vanish. Surely he had just left and there was a trail they could follow. How could one just disappear into thin air. It wasn't possible, right?

But then there were the other details to consider.

Gold hadn't known of the past events until he had come over. The chills, the voices, the sights...And even being attacked by something no one could see but him. It was chilling, it was supernatural. Gold wasn't superstitious, but he knew better than to rule out anything. Not after what they had seen throughout their lifetimes. But there had been a common link that the fox picked up on. The hedgehog's quills and eyes glowed purple when something more intense seemed to had taken place. It was a sign.

"It sound like, to me at least, there was something going on related to his connection to Chaos Energy. Especially if he was glowing through some of it. I have watched a bit of his self-training to notice his quills glowing purple when he's attempting to channel Chaos Energy like that. You wouldn't happen to have the belongings that he left behind on hand, do you?"

The fox hoped those could provide some clues. Two of them had a natural connection Chaos Energy and the other had a hidden function to detect readings of it. He hoped he could examine some readings from them.

"Thank you for calling me, by the way." The fox gave the hedgehog a smile. "Sonic has a bad habit of keeping me informed of these kinds of things these days. I can't tell if he's trying to keep me not involved so I can live my own life or if he's just more attached to you than I." It was obvious the fox spoke jokingly with that last bit, attempting to lighten the mood. Although there was some truth to the statement.

Lil' did seem to go to Arrow more than to the fox himself these days.

"We'll find him, one way or another. You and I both know that for certain."

The fox was sitting as he stared at the nearby screen, taking in the information he had just discovered. This was what they had been looking for. It had taken longer than any of them had hoped, but he figured it out. After failing to get a signal to track Hooligans, the fox had decided to start looking at zones that would deter them from going there...Well his hunch was right.

It was smack dab in the middle of a zone that was nothing but ocean.

Gold was trying to figure out how to best tell Lil'...And probably Arrow for that matter. He already know this was going to be tough, but he also know they had to do something. They needed everyone they could get for this. Thankfully for the fox, he wasn't the only one in the room, working on this.

He would turn to Dr. Kintobor, motioning to the information he had just discovered. "Any ideas to break the news to them? I don't think they will take it very well."

*The smaller hedgehog had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity. Sitting, waiting...He hated it. It felt like he should be doing something to fix the mess he found himself in. Instead he had to wait...I didn't help his internal anxiety. Who knows what was going to happen next, but he knew it wouldn't be good. Lil' dreaded what he was expecting next, but it wasn't going to stop him.*

*All the meanwhile he had been trying to recover a bit from the events that previously transpired. While he wounds weren't serious, they could have been. Yet those burn marks, now dressed and covered up, weren't the only thing that was affecting him at the moment...It was this feeling that he wasn't alone. There was another presence nearby that his own sixth sense was unable to ignore. It felt powerful...Primal...Raw. He knew what they were. He only felt this around Arrow and one other thing...Chaos Emeralds. Granted as single emerald wasn't enough to make him feel...odd. But a collection of most of them? It messed with him a bit. Not enough to be serious, but enough to make him feel uncomfortable here. Still, it was better than him getting shot again.*

*Yet there was some good news. He had heard there was a good chance Gold could be reached sooner rather than later. The others were close in fact. He would have helped, but he felt he would have been stopped and told to rest. Yet the resting just made him feel more anxious. He was doing a damn good job hiding it, at least he hoped so. He was normal to hide this things while he was in stressful situations like these. Now was not the time to break.*

*Yet his thoughts would soon be directed towards the sound of footsteps heading his way. He was a bit on edge, but expected it to be Tenko, Kinbotor, or maybe one of the other Freedom Fighters that arrived. Perhaps even Arrow. For what it's worth, he was keeping himself from doing anything rash, as if he was expecting the worst. But his paranoia of the robotic duo hunting him faded when he saw who it really was.*

*The hedgehog would notice the squirrel come out. He didn't say much. While the watering can was a little cute, he couldn't help but notice how Ray seemed to have not noticed he was there...Or not act like it. Perhaps Ray was used to having the hedgehog around all the time now.*

*The hedghog would turn back to the letter in his hand before he crumbled it up with a hint of frustration behind it and just set it nearby so he could grab it later to throw away, but right now, he just didn't want to really move. It was clear something was bothering him.*

*The hedgehog hadn't expected Arrow to be there, although the Tenko's familiar face helped a little bit. He merely looked up, removing the cloth covering his face and revealing the rather fresh burn mark on his face.*

"I'm in a bit of a bind...I kinda of need a save spot to lay low for a few hours at least. I can explain more, but I would prefer to do so inside."

*He took the opportunity to look over his shoulders. It was obvious what he was looking for. He was looking to see if he was followed. Although, the "disguise" seemed to do the trick, even if it was more to just let him not be recognized as easily. He wouldn't linger long in looking away before turning back to the other.*

"I would have went elsewhere, but this is kind of the safest spot in the zone I know of and well...My other form of transportation is sort of not functioning one-hundred percent properly at the moment so my choice was pretty limited."