Scavengers urged their spears further at him, which caused him to gasp.

"What are you doing here? The last time we saw you, you were with the monster, betraying us." Gnarly glared at him.

"You got it backwards, bud. We didn't betray you. We went to get the Shard, the thing you were supposed to help us get?" He explained pushing his spear away.

"So... you're not after our bark?" Hangry asked.

"No one wants your bark!" Sonic exclaimed.

"What's your point?" Prim asked.

"My point is, she's on her way here! Whatever your beef is, you gotta squash it, pronto!" Sonic spoke, speeding to the top.

"What's all this about beef?" Hangry asked.

"What I'm saying is, you need to find some common ground." He spoke trying not to lose his patience with them.

" 'Common ground'?! We live in the trees!" Gnarly spoke before nudging Hangry, "This guy is paranoid."

"Are you kidding me?!" Sonic spoke in disbelief.

"You don't understand. There is no common ground. Not anymore." Prim spoke, looking down, upset, along with others. Gnarly shakes his head unapproved.

𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲

Thorn's bird flies through the sky and swoops down over Mangey, Prim, Hangry, and Gnarly as they could be seen gathering the food from the batches, trees, and more.

"We used to be... friends."

Thorn smiles as the bird lands behind her.

"Now I can barely remember a time when we all got along."

Thorn watches Prim pick the berries and tosses them into the full basket as some drop to the ground.

"Sharing the spoils of the jungle."

She watches Hangry picking up apples from the tree and tossing them into the basket.

"Taking only what we needed to survive."

Gnarly shakes the tree as fruits are dropped down. Apples rolled towards Thorn as they picked a lot.

Thorn screams in anger. Prim and the others halted to a stop and turned to her shocked.

Thorn sprints at them with her hammer raised, yelling as she hits Gnarly, who tries to run away from her. She then hits Mangey and Prim.

"Then, one day..."

She then chases Hangry last and hits him, sending him flying.

"Ahh!"

Prim and others start climbing up the tree as Thorn and birdie watch them.

"...She chose the jungle over us, chasing us up into the canopy, where we've been ever since..."

𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲 𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺

"You can't find common ground with a monster." Prim spoke obstinately.

Sonic was silent after hearing that story, upset.

"I can't believe that. Amy has to be in there... Somewhere." Sonic spoke in denial.

Sonic turned to the group, "Listen. You have to make peace with Thorn."

They glance at each other.

"No. We're done with her." Prim spoke firmly.

"Look, we talk to her as friends and we try to get her to listen to reason. Right?" Sonic spoke, and tried to make them understand.

"Yeah? Are you with us- Wait-" He stuttered, noticing someone is missing, "Where is Mangey? Most importantly WHERE IS Y/N?" He gasped.

A loud rumble jolted them, a tree shot up through a bridge. They run towards the middle of the canopy under the handmade leaves of the bigger tree. The Scavengers raise their weapons.

"Uh..." Gnarly spoke nervously.

"Uh, you should've listened to us- listened to me!" Sonic exclaimed.

Trees start to shoot through the decks as one is about to shoot up and hit someone, Sonic speeds over and gathers everyone in another place before it could hit them.

"We gotta go now!!"

"Do we have a choice?" Gnarly asked halfheartedly.

"Nope." Prim spoke, seeing more trees shooting out.

"Finally!!" Sonic sighed in relief.

"Okay, here's the plan. We go in gently-"

Sonic was cut off by the Scavengers battle cries, running off the deck and jumping down.

Sonic groans in frustration and looks down as their falling cries are heard.

"Attack!!" Prim shouted.

He winces after hearing a loud thud. He quickly dodge a tree coming his way, dragging the Scavengers back as they land on the deck roughly.

"Maybe follow my lead this time?" Sonic raised a brow.

Gnarly grunts from the ground, "I vote yes."

"Yes." Prim and others agree, raising their hands.

"Alright! Follow me!" Sonic grinned.

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪

You were still laying on the ground trying to get your breathing to normal. All drained up.

Why do I always fall apart from Sonic? Or Sonic leaving me. That guy, I'm going to kill him myself.

"Damn... I'm missing everything again." You groaned.

You long give it up when Thorn starts to shoot trees everywhere. It was getting impossible for you to move along them.

You sighed, leaning on the tree hearing distant rumbles, other than that the forest was very quiet. Not a peaceful one, it was eery.

You flutter your eyes open when you hear abnormal shaking of leaves on nearby bushes. You couldn't see anything because of how dark it became.

Before you can even react you find yourself under something heavy.

You grunt, falling on your back. Something wet surrounding your cheeks. Wait--

"Mangey! Stop licking me!" You huffed out, can't help but chuckle.

He stopped licking, you wheezed in his strong grip.

"Hahaha Oh... wow okay..."

You gently pushed him with a playful grin, "How did you find me?"

He bumped your nose.

You blushed muttering, "Figures..." You are never going to be able to forget about how strong his sense of smell is... Or how is your scent to him. When he once... tried to... explain.

"Can you... get off of me? You are... oddly really heavy wow..."

He quickly listened and got off of you. He made that guttural sound in the back of his throat again.

Feeling his presence next to you, his knees brushing slightly on your arm, he must have sat next to you. Hearing his tails stroke on the ground in a quick motion shows how happy he finally found you.

You thanked him and straightened up. You try to make out his figure by squinting your eyes in vain.

Quickly taking notice something is odd with you he innocently tilted his head watching you attentively.

You slowly get up to your feet, needing the lead of a tree next to you. You struggle to move on. Searching with your hands and feet, to find out if something is in your way.

Mangey carefully avoided your blind moves. His ear twitched with your soft curses. It was clear that you didn't like this situation. Is something wrong with you?

He decided to do something to end your struggles, he didn't understand why you couldn't see while he was clearly okay sensing everything.

He whimpered holding your hands to stop them aimlessly moving in the air.

He watches you perk up and turn your head in his way.

"Heeyyy! I thought you ditched me for a sec there-" You chuchkled nervously.

When hearing another whine you frowned, "What's wrong?"

You hesitantly go for his head, he leads your hands on his fluffy cheeks, "Are you hurt?" You asked worriedly.

He shook his head, you silently sighed in relief.

"What's wrong then?"

He pressed a hand on your chest, above your heart.

You hummed, "You are worried about... me?"

He nodded.

"Why?"

Standing on his feet, he reaches for your shoulder tilting you down a little with his strength, he covers your eye with his palm.

"My eye..? You are worried about my eyes-? OHH!" Finally understanding you chuckled smiling, "Don't worry about it. Nothing wrong with my eyes. It's just... the forest becomes too dark for me to see around properly."

You cleared your throat, getting more serious, sliding your hands on his shoulders to create a firm atmosphere, "I need a favor, can you do that for me?"

He held your arms giving a little squeeze for an answer that he was listening carefully.

"Can you lead me to Sonic?" And like that he starts to drag you between the bushes and trees. Quick and careful steps, not wanting you to bump into something. You yelped not expecting this sudden move and speed.

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 SONIC

They long landed on the ground in the Boscage Maze.

"It's dark." Prim spoke, seeing all the jungle is completely black.

"Too dark." Hangry added nervously, holding the big leaf close to him.

"Or... she's making us think it's too dark!" Gnarly sneered.

"Yeah, no, it's definitely dark." Sonic pointed out unamused.

His shoes get brighter, getting his attention. He looks up when Thorn rides the bird onto the root.

"Well, well, well, look what the hedgehog dragged in." Thorn spoke with a mocking smile.

"Okay, be cool. Act natural." Sonic warned them carefully.

Sonic steps forward and smiles nervously.

"Hey, Thorn. We just want to have a friendly chit-chat. Remember those?"

Sonic starts imitating Prim and Thorn with his hands as he talks, mimicking their voices.

Hand Prim, "Hi, Thorn, I love the bird you are riding!"

Hand Thorn, "Thanks, Prim. Birdie is one of a kind."

Thorn was weirded out and confused by this.

Hand Thorn, "That's an excellent treetop village you built."

Hand Prim, "Thanks! It does the job."

Prim rolled her eyes at this.

Hand Prim, "Why are we arguing again?"

Hand Thorn, "I have no idea. Hugs?"

Hand Prim, "Huggsies!"

Once he's done, he connects his fingers like giving a hug, smiling.

"We start there, then move on to a constructive conversational volley about our issues."

Thorn jumps down from the thick branch watching him carefully.

Sonic quickly continues, "Uh, Minus the-" He demonstrates by making a fighting noise with stomps and spin dashing, "Oh, I'll get you!" He clenches his fists with his angry face before turning back to normal, "Okay, look, despite the last several >oh, I don't know how long< We're all really good friends here. Yeah? Right?"

"So let's talk this through, come to a peaceful agreement, and who knows? Maybe by the end of it, we'll all be laughing."

Thorn jumps down from the bird.

"What is there to talk about?" She holds her hammer tightly.

"See? We're talking! Now, Amy would probably say we should talk about our feelings."

"Our 'feelings'?" Thorn questioned.

"Feelings..." Prim repeated with confusion.

"Feelings..." Hangry repeated.

"Feelings like a trap to me." Gnarly glared.

"Ugh. Okay look, I'll go first. I feel like, um..." Sonic started.

"Like you don't know what you're doing?" Prim stated.

"I'm trying! I feel like this would be easier if you didn't interrupt me all the time!"

Prim rolled her eyes.

He tapped his chin, "And feel like this is harder than it looks, even though Amy makes it look so easy. Now you go."

"Me?" Thorn asked in surprise.

"Sure. Go ahead. Remember, there's no wrong way to feel." Sonic spoke with a smile.

Thorn looks down, upset, calmly thinks until Gnarly abruptly ruins the moment, "She's distracted! Now!"

He and the Scavengers charge towards Thorn bumping into Sonic in the way.

"Hey! You voted to follow my lead? Remember?" Sonic shouted.

Thorn takes a sharp breath, "I feel... angry!! Yahh!"

Thorn hammers the ground and trees shoot up under Hangry and Prim while more trees push up Gnarly. She then hammers a tree and a shooting branch misses Sonic.

Thorn jumps and runs. Sonic runs and jumps after her. Thorn hammers Sonic as he hits the ground.

"Okay, I get it, you're angry. But what happened to the not-fighting part?" Sonic asked.

"They've proven they can't be trusted. And now at last, it ends!"

Thorn jumps down and raises her hammer towards him as he dodges the hammer blow. A tree shoots up and fills the last hole of the canopy. Causing it to be darker.

Thorn looks up at it as Sonic stands and looks up as well.

"What did you do?" Sonic asked, upset.

"I... I did what I had to. This should keep the Scavengers above the canopy. Where they belong!"

"Thorn, you destroyed their home. They'll starve!" Sonic said.

Thorn hops back onto the bird, "If that's what it takes to save the jungle..." She takes a deep breath, "So be it."

She goes to ride away when Sonic blocks their way.

"No, no, no!"

"Ugh, why are none of you getting this? You need to figure out a way to live, all of you, together!" He connects his hands again.

"You can't force someone to understand something Sonic."

His ears perk up, turning towards your way, "Y/n! Where were you!? Are you alright? Why... are you covering your eyes?"

You feel nervous feelimg the fleece fabric covering your eyes, "Ah, it's better this way. And a branch might get in my eye--"

"Wait what--"

"I've been watching--! listening actually. Didn't want to disturb your talk. I know you can get to her... You just need to... thought this through." You tapped your head, "No adventure is fun if it's too easy now, right?" You smiled on a thick branch next to Mangey, who is glaring towards the pink hedgehog for what she did to his friends.

"But he is right, Thorn. You need to understand fighting isn't the only option you guys have."

"What do you two know about togetherness?"

Sonic's eyes widen, he looks down on his hands, opening them, upset.

He murmured, "It's the tree that binds us all together."

"Thorn, everything is connected- you, me, Y/n, the Green, even the Scavengers."

Mangey glanced behind, making sure his friends were still watching carefully. This time without interrupting them.

"We're all a part of something bigger than ourselves." Sonic spoke.

Thorn scoffs.

"What a bunch of sentimental garbage!"

"But you told me that."

"This is going to sound cheesy but... Some things are really hard to understand. Even if the answer is right in front of your eyes." You muttered.

Sitting on the bird, Thorn glanced at her hammer for a moment before shaking her head.

"No matter. With the Heart of the Jungle. I have the power to make sure the Green never gets hurt again."

" 'Hurt'?" Sonic questioned.

"I'm done with you."

"You're done with me?" Sonic asked, offended.

"Fine! I'm going to talk with the Great Green!

"You stay away from the Great Green!!"

Thorn rides after Sonic.

You muttered after it became silent again, "All around me familiar darknesses- Okay, that's enough. Let's go!"

Sonic, eventually made it to the palm tree. He frowns to see the leafs drops in dead without light.

He approaches it.

"Ugh, not getting much light are you?"

"Man, it's gotten so dark even Thorn has lost her way. But don't worry, I've got a plan."

He fondly pressed his hand on one of the roots, "You're in it."

He shrugged patting it, like it just talked to him, "I know. Just trust me."

Sonic'e ear twitched hearing Thorn's arrival.

She jumps down and glares at him, "Get... away."

"From my... tree!" She growled.

Sonic sprint at the top of the tree, "Make me!"

"Birdie!"

Birdie runs and flies up.

"Whoa, that thing can fly?!" He worded with genuine shock.

He jumps away from it. Spindashing towards the upper trees' leaves, Birdie couldn't act and bumped into them, falling on the ground with a harsh thud.

"Face it, Thorny! You know I'm right!" Sonic spoke, jumping down on the palm tree.

"How dare you disrespect the Great Green!"

Sonic's lips curled upwards, seeing her gripping the hammer tightly.

"There it is. Don't worry, tree, I got this." He gently shooted the giant palm tree.

He shouted out to her, "Here I am, Thorny! Take your best shot!"

Thorn lets out a battle cry and spins her hammer, stretching its head up.

"I think... We'll see!" Sonic spindash down and leaps at the hammer's handle, breaking and kicking it through the canopy, creating a big hole.

Thorn covers herself from the dust and looks up after it dies down.

Golden sunlight shines beautifully down over the tree. Thorn frowns, glancing at the holw in disbelief, "What have I done?"

A falling leaf lands on her hand as she grips onto it before dropping down.

"How did this happen? All I ever wanted was to protect the green... and now I've ruined it."

Birdie walks toward her while Prim and others come along the scene. You walked in smiling at the warm sunlight already taking the cloth off from your eyes. You approach Thorn with others.

Sonic quickly gets down, stopping next to Thorn.

"We used to be... friends."

𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲

Birdie flies down and lands beside Thorn.

"There used to be balance."

Thorn watch Prim yank a berry plant from the ground.

"But after a while, all I saw was the constant taking, taking."

Hangry shakes an apple tree.

Gnarly punches the tree as Thorn runs over and blocks him, trying to reason with him.

"Finally realizing that they were depleting our resources."

Hangry pushes the leaves to find the berry patches, scaring the yellow Flickies away. Thorn runs over and blocks him.

"They take but never give back."

Gnarly pulls the tree off the ground and throws it off.

"Never giving it rest."

Mangey digs a hole.

"They were killing the jungle." She squeezed her hands.

"I couldn't take it any longer," She held her hammer tightly, "I snapped and became a monster..."

Thorn holds up her hammer and lets out a battle cry, charging at the Scavengers as she hits each of them away.

"I couldn't sit back and let it happen."

She pants holding her hammer close.

"But I could never get back to who I used to be."

Thorn turns around and drops down to her knees, sobbing.

𝑭𝑳𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲 𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑺

Birdie steps closer to Thorn and nuzzles the back of her head while she cries.

"I... I didn't see it like that." Prim frowned, grasping her arm.

"I'm sorry, Thorn. I didn't know. I..." Gnarly spoke, frowning.

Mangey steps forward and whimpers.

You walk past them and close your eyes feeling the warmth all over your skin. You raise your hands and look at them under the light again. Feeling the one thing keeps you moving forward even when you are blind, vigore. Everything and everyone have one.

Sonic notices a small drooping plant reviving from the sunlight, just in front of Thorn. He glanced up seeing the fronds of the palm tree rise. Birdie also takes notice of the small plant and the palm tree.

Sonic glances towards you worriedly, "Y/n?"

You blinked your eyes open, feeling really light, glancing at him, "Yeah..?"

He slowly walks towards you with a weak chuckle, "You okay? Uh you look... kind of transparent-ish? Your gloves- They're not with you--"

You fully turned to him with a shurg, "I feel serenity, I'll be fine..."

Sonic's gets worried, "What do you mean?"

You look down on your slowly disappearing hand, "Oh..." Sonic catches your figure before you can fall on your back.

"Y/n! I don't understand!" He panicked, noticing nearly half of your figure disappearing.

You chuckled, "Oh... Sorry. Didn't mean to make a scene-"

"Don't speak like that! You are not leaving me!"

Everyone stares at your disappearing figure worriedly, Mangey sprint next to Sonic whimpering.

"I don't quite understand either. But when I do.