Sonic, Tails and Zomom all marched along to the beat of the Cacophonic Compass under the setting sun. On the summit of the sand dunes, they spotted a Sandworm feasting ground far below. Keeping a safe distance, they watched and marveled as the giant majestic beasts fed upon sharp ball-shaped cactus monsters. The sight was made more beautiful with the last dying flicker of the desert sun that had caused them so much pain that day, as the red sky was covered with stars and distant planets. It was unlike anything Sonic had ever seen. Zomom, no longer having to worry about being controlled by Robotnik, shared some explanations of the surrounding environment she had grown up in with Sonic and Tails. "Nobody really knew where these Sandworm or Cactus Ball guys came from. All we do know is that they were here long before us Hexis," she explained. "Some even say they lived amongst our primitive ancestors."
Sonic, nearly falling asleep multiple times, was barely able to keep his eyes open as they continued to trudge slowly through the arid lands. Instead of running around the rare intact loop-de-loops, they lied down on the slopes to rest their legs and stargaze. Rather than avoiding the cactuses at high speeds, they had Sonic split them apart in spinball form so that they could all quench their thirst. It was at one of these pit stops that Sonic accidentally slashed a sentient, sleeping Cactus Ball mother overlooking a nest full of her young. They all had to run away as the Cactus Ball mother rolled after them. Sonic was obviously slowing down for everyone to keep up, even if that ended with him having a few more spikes in his head. As everyone plucked out the cactus spikes after they escaped and the Cactus Ball went bouncing away, they laughed through it all. The pain was bittersweet as tears ran down their faces, born from a bizarre cocktail of emotions that none of them had ever felt before.
They marched, and they marched, and they shared old life stories as the desert was left behind and the land flourished into a world of ranches and woods. They had been marching for hours by then, Tails periodically stopping to cough and hack. Zomom had stopped a few times as well to catch her breath, and Sonic stopped in wait for them to continue, tapping his foot to the rhythm of a country song he had loved as a child that was stuck in his head given his environment. He had abandoned his phone and other current-day luxuries very long ago, so he had to play this song from nothing but his memory. A few notes were missing… But it didn't feel so empty anymore when he offered everybody to join hands and sing together.
Sonic had been on this long, twisted road for a while now. It was harder than the life he left behind, sure, but that challenge and tedium was a fair price for true freedom. When his legs and feet started to ache, and his stomach began to growl louder, desiring that food be put into Sonic's dry mouth, Sonic had to wonder…
… Wasn't this feeling, in essence, the one constant in the life of a runaway?
They all tiredly wandered near a palm tree-covered cliff overlooking the Lost Hex's ocean. It was an oddly nostalgic sight after the hardships of the desert. Almost like seeing someone who reminds you of an old friend. Sonic knew this wasn't his ocean, but perhaps this sea was just as beautiful as the one that now only existed in his memories. Sonic saw the sun rising in the distance. That was definitely the same sun, and that brought him comfort beyond the feeling of a new morning. For some reason, there was fresh cooked fish over a dead fire.
Hours later, well after Sonic, Tails and Zomom had left to continue their adventure, a big purple cat approached the cliff that he had left his fish at earlier that night. He looked down at the makeshift grill, blankly. There was no fish, only bones. A little frog poked out from under his straw hat. "Oh…" Big sighed, disappointed at the loss of his breakfast.
"Ribbit," his best friend Froggy croaked, as they sat down and rekindled the fire.