“He’s been acting really weird the past few days, and I can’t take any time away from my workshop right now with Knuckles needing help putting the Master Emerald back together again. Do you think you could stop by, Amy? It would mean a lot to me if you did.” read the letter that Tails had sent for Amy.

She wasn’t sure what to think of it. After all, Sonic does get moody sometimes, but it’s never been sour enough to warrant her checking in on him. She wouldn’t miss a chance to say hi and try to spend time with her ‘Darling Sonic,’ though. Maybe today would be the day she could finally cheer him up, and he would confess his undying love! “Oh, who am I kidding…?” Amy thought to herself, “If I keep on with that childish attitude, he’ll never see me as anything more than an annoying kid!”

Truth be told, she was an adult now. While, yes, she loves to embrace her childlike nature quite often, today just felt different to her. She nodded her head in an attempt to pep herself up, “That’s it! Today’s the day I show Sonic what being a mature woman is all about!” she gleefully shouted to herself before running off to go meet Sonic.

It was midday by the time Amy made it to Tails’ workshop. The first thing she noticed was the bright green glow from the windows followed by Knuckles gliding into the hangar with his hands full of emerald green shards. Her eyes quickly fixated up towards the roof, where she could faintly see Sonic’s bright red shoe bouncing to an unheard rhythm. “Sonic! Hey, down here!” Amy shouted joyfully, watching the shoe stop and pull away from the roof’s edge.

She waited a while, but Sonic didn’t jump down like he normally would on days like this. Instead, the Blue Blur decided to climb just a bit higher onto Tails’ workshop roof. “Sonic! I know you’re up there! I can climb up there too you know! Come on, I just want to talk!” she continued to shout, readying herself for the jump to begin climbing on top of the building herself.

“Okay, Sonic. If that’s how you’re going to be. Here I co--” she was cut off by the brush of wind as Sonic landed beside her.

“The answer is no, Amy. I don’t want to go on whatever date you’ve cooked up for us.” Sonic said, coldly, as he walked down the path away from the workshop.

“How are you so sure it was a date?” she quipped back, giving her usual rascal smirk, “I was thinking more of an adventure together!”

Sonic gave her a cautious, yet curious look before he fully turned to her to listen. “See, after that last battle with Eggman,” she started, “he left his base deserted. We left following him before it could be destroyed too. Maybe we could pull some data off his machine to give to Tails to try and figure out what he’s planning next?” Amy said, trying not to lose focus due to Sonic’s attentive gaze.

The blue hedgehog only gave a confirming nod and thumbs up in return, before he turned around and started towards the plains outside Central City. Amy quickly followed, excited that for what seemed the first time in years, Sonic for once actually kept a pace she could keep up with.

Meanwhile, Tails was analyzing the pieces of the Master Emerald before giving them Knuckles to piece back into place. “This is incredible! Each of these pieces could probably power all seven of the Chaos Emeralds ten times over!” Tails said, excitedly before a troubling worry set in, “Something about it seems off though…”

“What do you mean?” Knuckles asked, trying to set the Emerald back in order.

“The Master Emerald is supposed to nullify and redirect the power of the Chaos Emeralds, right? But instead, since it broke this time the one I usually keep in my workshop’s been doing nothing but giving off excess energy.” Tails said, as he then opened his desk to reveal the emerald he usually keeps in the Tornado III, it was glowing brightly, giving off a slight hum.

“Huh? They’re only supposed to do that if they’re seated with the Master Emerald at its altar, and only when all seven of them are together.” Knuckles said, scratching his head.

“Or when you, Sonic, or Shadow have them together to use your Super Forms.” Tails added. “I had to take this one out, I was worried the excess energy it was giving off would short the Tornado.”

“You could probably go Super too if you tried, Tails.” Knuckles said as he held the glowing emerald up to his face. “You’re probably old enough to not need these super-sized anymore. Too bad the headache after all the excess Chaos energy keeps me from joining in on the fun half the times.”

“Same here, I don’t know how those hedgehogs do it, it’s like the energy just resonates with them on a deeper level. Almost as if they were born for it.” The fox said as he put his goggles back down to tinker with his latest gadget, while Knuckles put the rest of the pieces they had collected with the massive emerald, slowly returning to its normal shape.eigh

“Gah! -- We’re a few short!” Knuckles growled, slamming one fist into the other. “I couldn’t tell if it was more pieces or one of the Chaos Emeralds acting weird, but I felt a large amount of energy coming from my Island. Maybe the rest of the pieces are in that underground Hydro City. Want to come with me to find out?”

“It has been a while since I’ve gotten out and stretched. Seeing as how Amy is keeping Sonic company, I guess it wouldn’t hurt. I was meaning to ask if you’d take me down there to do some research anyway.” Tails replied as he hopped off his seat and gave his twin tails a rotary stretch before starting his workshops’ lockdown system.

The two headed off on their way to Angel Island, albeit taking the slow route with the Tornado being out of commission. Tails still didn’t want to risk damaging his latest plane if the Emeralds were acting up again. They both could use the exercise anyway. Things have been a bit dull the past four months since Eggman disappeared. Tails couldn’t help but feel as though that was a bad thing, usually, the longer Eggman is gone for, the larger a threat he would cook up to try and take over the world again.

They were halfway to the Island when Knuckles snapped Tails out of his thoughts. “Do you think Sonic’s mad at me?” Knuckles asked.

“He didn’t seem mad, what makes you think that?” Tails questioned in return as the two flew on.

“Well after I asked if he’d help dive for some Emerald Shards he kinda just zoned off and jumped on your roof today,” Knux said, catching a trailing wind to get extra height.

“What did you say to him?” Tails pressed with slight concern.

“I asked if he felt he was man enough to head to the bottom of the ocean to help get shards from the Master Emerald. I didn’t expect a no or to make him upset. I didn’t even know Sonic could get upset, now that I think about it.” Knuckles said, shaking his head in confusion.

“You know he’s afraid of the water, Knuckles. He’s been working really hard lately to handle himself in water better, but as deep as those shards were he’d have panicked. I wasn’t expecting him to be so down today either, he’s been really strange lately.” Tails explained, also confused.

“Maybe he’s bored with Eggman still not around? We haven’t even seen any robots to kick around since then. No world-ending crisis, or interdimensional invasions? I’ve been bored too.” Knux said, hoping to find a point that stuck.

“That’s kinda why I asked Amy to help. She’s a really good empath, maybe she’ll be able to figure out what’s been bothering him so we can all help.” Tails said with a bit of happiness in his voice.

Sonic was his big brother, he didn’t like seeing him shuffle like he was defeated all the time as he had been in the recent days. It’d been years since Sonic caught the little fox repainting his plane, for a good lot of those years Sonic’s smile gave everyone, including Tails hope. Lately, Sonic hasn’t been smiling, and the few times he does Tails doesn’t see the same spark anymore. He’d do anything to make sure his best friend was happy.

As Sonic and Amy were on their way to Eggman’s base outside of Central City, Amy noticed the entire time that Sonic wasn’t exactly paying attention during their run. She didn’t want to comment about it, but there were more than enough times where Sonic’s usual finesse was completely gone. While he never outright tripped up anywhere, the occasional jump, which should be second nature to the both of them by this point, required more rolls to recover from. The split second of hesitation with each hop down from a cliff, all the small little things he never would’ve had issues with. Amy had spent the trip thinking about how odd Sonic was acting, she hardly noticed neither of them had stopped to rest and her mind was quickly brought back to reality with an extremely audible growl from her stomach. The two came to a rapid halt with Amy holding her stomach as it continued to growl. “You too?” Sonic said chuckling, the first words he had said all day. “C’mon. We’re not too far from Central, and it’s getting late. We can stop by your place to stay for the night.”

“Yeah… Sure that sounds like a good I-- Wait-” It had just clicked in her head what Sonic had suggested.

At that point she couldn’t tell what was making her flushed with red more, the embarrassment of her stomach being the most vocal between the three of them, or Sonic, for the first time in the over eight years they’ve known each other, being the one to suggest they stay at her home. She didn’t have much time to think about why when her stomach again growled, which led to Sonic breaking out laughing while her face began to glow a crimson red. “Y-yeah l-let’s go! I don’t have my hammer a-anyway! We might need it at Eh-Eggman’s base.” she stuttered, grabbing Sonic’s wrist and making way for her home in Central City.

“Wha-- Hey! Not so hard, Amy!” Sonic yelped, caught off guard. Struggling to regain his footing, he let Amy take the lead.

Truth be told, Sonic wasn’t hungry. He’d been struggling to even muster an appetite for the past few days. Not like he’d ever mention that to Amy. As the two of them walked into her home, Sonic’s eyes fixated on Amy’s coffee table. On it was a collage of various newspaper clippings of everyone’s adventures over the years. “Oh! You weren’t supposed to see that! Darn it!” Amy quickly ran to the table to pick up the collage board, “This was supposed to be a surprise for your next birthday!” she said, as she quickly put it in her coat closet.

“It’s okay, I hardly got a look at it,” Sonic said, rubbing his nose, trying to act like he wasn’t looking. He spent the next while looking around her apartment.

She had done a complete redesign, it was a bit more rustic than he has remembered. A whole lot less pink. By the window were a few slightly overgrown plants, which Amy then started to water after closing her coat closet. “Alright, it’s been a little bit since I’ve been home, but I should have plenty of food I can make between the two of us. Anything in mind you’d like?” she asked, moving from her window to her kitchen.

“Oh uh, I wouldn’t mind anything, Amy. I’m--”

“Not hungry? Amy said, cutting him off, “I know you haven’t eaten at all today, so I’m going to make sure that you do. Got it?”

“How did you--?” Sonic tried to speak again and was immediately cut off.

“You hardly eat when you’re pensive as it is, I’ve seen you go days without when the world is in crisis. I think by now I can tell when you haven’t eaten. This is the first conversation we’ve had all day, and the sun is setting!” Amy said, sounding exhausted, “Look, I’m sorry. I’m really hungry. I’m not meaning to snap like that, forgive me please?”

“It’s no big deal, Amy. Really. I’ve just got a lot on my mind I guess.” Sonic replied, sitting down on her couch.

The pink hedgehog then began to open her fridge and pull out some leftover bao dumplings and rice and split it up between the two of them before heating them. “Tails wouldn’t shut up about you two’s visit to Chun-Nan the other day and it got me wanting Xiao Long,” she chuckled, putting their plates down on her coffee table, “that was some time ago now, wasn’t it? You were so big and strong and fuzzy! Sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to be wrapped up in those manly arms you had…”

Sonic couldn’t help but chuckle weakly to that, “You probably wouldn’t have liked it...” he managed to speak out, slowly starting to eat.

“Probably not, them being so stretchy might’ve made things awkward,” she replied, deflecting after noticing Sonic’s shift in demeanor.

Why wouldn’t he have one? That whole endeavor turning into that werehog thing must have been horrifying to live through. Amy couldn’t imagine turning into something like that, she’d have to hide away every night. But Sonic, as he usually does, pressed through it. That is part of why she did develop feelings for him beyond that crush when they first met, he’s always been a beacon of strength and perseverance. But from her even mentioning his transformation, that seems to fade away for a moment.

The two sat in silence for a few moments. Sonic, after having a few bites was feeling hungry for the first time that day. Amy, finally fed, could focus on more than just her hunger pains. Naturally, as an empath the moment she could feel around her she noticed the emotional pit Sonic was. She’d never felt him so low. “I -- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you so upset…” she muttered.

“Huh?” she had caught Sonic by surprise with that, then he realized she probably noticed just how deep his funk was. “Oh -- It’s not you, Amy. It’s okay,” he said finishing his plate.

“I just wasn’t thinking, I know all that werehog business wasn’t a fun time for you. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be stuck like that. A body that’s not your own. I’m just happy you were able to fix the Chaos Emeralds so you weren’t stuck feeling like that anymore.” she said, grabbing their plates and taking them to be washed.

“Y-Yeah. I’m happy about that too…” Sonic said, obviously feeling down.

Truth be told, Sonic didn’t expect Amy to pull his mask off so quickly. He’s really good at hiding when things are bothering him, or at least he thought he was? He’d been battling his thoughts the past few weeks and they’ve just gotten worse and worse with the Chaos Emeralds behaving weird. Sonic knew that the Emeralds resonated with him more than anyone else, though nobody could ever explain or figure it out. He was scared of how the gems were acting, they would affect him and change him in some unknown way again. But that wasn’t even his worst fear. Even worse, he couldn’t even conceptualize those fears fully. For some reason, he felt foreign to himself, and he couldn’t explain why.

He was immediately snapped out of his thoughts when Amy put her hand on his shoulder, “Hey, I know you have your favorite spots to sleep here in the city. But it would mean a lot to me if you stayed here tonight. I don’t think you’re wanting to be alone as it is.” She said, giving him a warm smile. “I still mean what I said then, y’know? No matter what package you come in, you’re still my Sonic. So whatever is bothering you, feel free to tell me when you’re ready.”

That settled the hedgehog’s mind if only a little bit. Amy stood up, gave a good stretch and a deep yawn. “I don’t know how you boys run for so long all the time. Even with all the exercise, I do to keep up with you, I still end up drained at the end of days like this.”

“You get used to it.” Sonic started with a quick chuckle before himself yawning.

The two hedgehogs gave each other a knowing nod before Amy went into her bedroom. Sonic got comfortable on the couch and the two of them drifted off for the night. However, Sonic’s night was restless. Other than tossing and turning, mulling over his thoughts, there was not much else Sonic could do to fall asleep, except wait and hope that it happened.

As dawn was approaching, Tails awoke to Knuckles still keeping watch by their campfire. They managed to get to Angel Island before nightfall but figured getting an early day was best. They were just at the edge of the cliff leading down into Hydro City. “Are you sure about this, Tails? The place is flooded with the island stuck in the ocean.” Knuckles said concerned, “I can just go down there myself. I can always just bring you back when the water levels are normal.”

“If my research is correct, what’s going wrong with the Chaos Emeralds has something to do with here. I’m not sure what we’ll find, but I’m hoping there might be some answers.” Tails explained, “I’m kinda glad Sonic isn’t here. It seems even more flooded than the last time we were here.”

“Yeah, when Eggman left taking all the junk he set up here, he basically destroyed half the city. Hopefully, he didn’t destroy what we’re looking for, and hopefully, the shards of the Master Emerald aren’t stuck somewhere we can’t dig through easily.” Knuckles said, getting ready to climb down.

There wasn’t much that had changed since all those years ago, maybe a few rusted Badniks left behind, other than that the ruins were still mostly intact aside from the recent water damage. Tails instantly focused on the statues of hedgehogs ladened on the walls. “Hey, these look like Sonic! And they’re everywhere!”

“Yeah, my people seemed to have an obsession with hedgehogs. They’re depicted all over the island.” Knuckles said.

“I know, but these are the spitting image of Sonic. At least how he looked when he was younger. There’s so many of them!” Tails said, scanning them with his tablet. “We should follow them, we might figure something out.”

The two continued to traverse the ruins, opting to stay above the water the best they could, Knuckles doing his best to sense the pieces of the Master Emerald as they went. Tails was trying to use his tablet to not only map the ruins but also decipher the text across the walls while keeping disciplined notes across every neck and turn that they went to.

When they reached a large sealed door at the end of the statues, Tails noticed the mural on the wall was similar to the Master Emerald’s shrine. “I can feel it, the pieces have to be behind here.” Knuckles said, placing his hand against the door.

He tried to give it a good push, but it wouldn’t budge. He had started putting on his shovel claws to see if I could knock the door down. It was at that point that Tails started to feel a slight burning from where he was keeping the Chaos Emerald. He took it out and lifted it to the door, which then prompted it to open. Upon opening, a tidal wave of water flushed out from the room, obviously being flooded for much longer than anyone could guess. Nearly washing both of them away from the force, consuming them in a torrent of water.

Knuckles, seeing Tails losing his footing jabbed his fist into the hallway’s wall and grabbed Tail’s arm as the water continued to flush outwards into the abandoned city. Once the water had subsided after what seemed like an eternity, the two of them collapsed to the wet floor gasping for air. “Thanks, Knuckles…” Tails managed to say between gasps for air.

“You’re welcome. I’m not about to just let you wash away and drown, Tails.” Knuckles said, standing up regaining his composure.

He began walking into the next room, it was a massive chamber, almost too dark for the two of them to see in. It wasn’t until they stepped foot in the room for the first time that torches flickered on magically illuminating the room. All the walls were anointed with mosaics depicting many of the various battles between Super Sonic and Eggman, and the various gods and monsters. Centered in the room was, as Tails suspected, another Altar for the Master Emerald.

Knuckles could instantly feel the shards of the Master Emerald in the room, and began to run in deeper to find them before the two of them were stopped by a blinding ball of light. Tikal manifested herself before them. “Please! You don’t understand what you’ve done! You have to leave!”

“Tikal? What are you talking about? How are you here? I thought you were with Chaos in the Master Emerald?” Knuckles asked, slightly panicked.

“Yes, we still are. The pieces where we lay are in this room. But it’s by no accident we’re here,” the Echidna began to explain. “As you know, the Master Emerald has shattered again, the last times were by accident. This time it’s by fate. Chaos has felt a great evil within this chamber and sought to come here in order to keep it at bay from destroying the world. We can’t let you take our pieces back. We’re the only ones containing this evil.”

“What do you mean?” Tails asked with concern growing in his posture as he started to take a few steps back.

“Please, there’s hardly any time to explain. Chaos can only hold it back for so long. Take the Chaos Emerald you have with you and leave! Before it senses it and tries to take it from you!” Tikal continued to speak frantically, terror rising in her voice.

“Oh, please. Tikal there’s nothing we haven’t seen and handled. It can’t be that bad.” Knuckles braggartly said.

It was at that point a large wave of some dark energy erupted from the altar, it began to alter shape into a narrow spear, hurling itself towards Tails. Just before it hit the in-shock fox, Chaos emerged from the water. Holding back the wave as the god’s steps began to stagger, Tails fell backward in fear.

“Hurry! Leave! Now!” Tikal screamed, escaping back to her piece of the Master Emerald.

“Right! Tails, come on!” Knuckles yelled, grabbing Tails and helping him up.

As they were running out of the altar room, the dark force recollected itself and manifested into a strange creature. With deep glowing crimson eyes and cascades of shadows falling from its body, it once again charged towards Tails. Chaos again trying to halt it from escaping, this time failing, as the dark creature almost instantly dashed forward, blasting through the god’s body and hitting Tails. Knocking the Chaos Emerald loose from Tails’ possession.

“Why you!” Knuckles screamed, trying to attack the creature, but his punch just phased through.

In retaliation the monster sent Knuckles flying into the altar room, it then collected the Chaos Emerald and flew off and out of the ancient city. Knuckles and Tails laid unconscious as Chaos reformed with Tikal once again appearing.

“Oh no! What are we going to do?” Tikal asked the god, still trying to stay somewhat composed from the whole ordeal.

Chaos struggling to remain fully formed, only silently pointed towards the mural of yet another battle between a hedgehog and the strange creature behind the altar. “You’re right! We have to hope the Emeralds will guide the way.”

Tikal then walked over to Tails and Knuckles and did her best to heal them with what energy she had left. She then looked towards Chaos and gave a confirming nod. The god, using the power of the Master Emerald’s Chaos Control brought the two back to Tails’ workshop. Tikal and Chaos once again rejoining and completing the Master Emerald as the two unconscious friends lay peacefully there.

Sonic awoke that morning to the smell of candles burning, with Amy puzzlingly looking over her Tarot cards. “I just don’t know what to make of this! The Knight, The Maiden, The Mirror, and The Wolf?”

“Oh no… I’m stuck in a book again aren’t I?” Sonic said dazed and half awake, dragging his hand across his face. “Wait no, that wasn’t a book. I think.”

“Goodmorning, and no, you’re still in the real world as far as I know. I’m just doing a quick tarot reading before we head out.” Amy said, sipping on a small cup of tea. “I just have no clue what to make of it.”

“Are you sure there’s anything to make of it? This tarot stuff has always seemed kinda goofy to me.” Sonic said, rubbing his eyes.

“You expect me to believe that after all the literal gods you’ve dealt with, and all the magic books and portals you’ve fallen through. Me reading cards is the line for what you don’t believe in?” Amy said, somewhat offended.

“No? I guess I just don’t get what you’re supposed to get out of reading cards, Amy.” Sonic replied.

“Well, I could spend a long time going into it, but I have the sinking feeling we’re going to have a long day. I’ll try to keep it simple,” she said, as she started pointing to the cards.

“The Knight. A protector, who often comes just in time when needed. Strong and resilient, yet soft and kind.” she started fawning over her thoughts “Reminds me of you.” She said, giving a subtle sigh.

“The Maiden. A pillar of beauty and reason, who is often protected by The Knight. They’re often pulled from the deck together if one is about to go through trials where they’ll need assistance or protection. What I’m getting from that is we should keep our guard up.”

Sonic was somewhat understanding, but he decided to sit quietly while Amy continued.

“The Mirror. This is the one that’s really throwing me off. It usually tells of one finding their true self through their reflection. But I don’t see how that has anything to do with the other three?”

“huh?...” Sonic muttered, joining in Amy’s confusion.

“Lastly, The Wolf. Internal struggle and great fear, or it could be an outward force set on the hunt. This one especially worries me.” Amy said, finally picking the cards up and placing them back in her deck. “I’d draw more, but if I kept going to find answers this would turn into a solo trip for you.”

“So I guess that means we’re going to have to be on our toes today and look after each other? Is that what I got from that?” Sonic asked, hopping up and giving a final stretch before walking to the door.

The two quickly set off westward towards the plains. As they arrived, everywhere they looked was still littered with the debris from their last battle with Eggman. Between taking down the straggling rusted out badnik and dodging the assorted false spring and death trap. It was almost completely void of any substance of movement that wasn’t given by the two hedgehogs. It was starting to freak Amy out how eerie it all was.

“Jeeze, I guess this does mean Eggman’s completely abandoned this place. There’s not even a single clean up robot he usually sends. I’m surprised G.U.N. hasn’t tried to come through and salvage any of this.” Amy said, trying to keep calm.

“They already tried,” Sonic said, coming to a stop just outside the entrance to the hillside base.

Littering the entrance for about a hundred yards, were dozens of destroyed G.U.N. warbots intermixed with Eggman’s badniks. Most common among them were scavenge drones. “Amy. Don’t let yourself fall too far behind in there.” Sonic said sternly.

Amy, of course, knew that tone in his voice. It’s the one that Sonic uses when he knows things are about to get beyond dangerous. She, enjoying how far acting more mature had gotten her on an adventure with Sonic, let the mask slip just a little. She was afraid, and he especially could tell. His voice, now resonating with focus, was the prime example of that. She wanted to reach for his hand because suddenly their roles for the past day were reversed. It was she who needed emotional help. Before she could, Sonic geared up into a tight spinball and with full force slammed into the door, causing it to bust down. Within was a moderately long hallway, almost pitch black if it weren’t for the slowly pulsating dimmed lights that stretched into the base.

“That’s a promising start,” Sonic said, lightly rubbing his head after hitting the door a touch harder than he expected.

It was at that moment she realized, yeah Sonic went into his full serious mode, but he still was having trouble staying in control. If anything he seemed even more unsure of his footing than he did the day before. But he still looked towards her to see if she was ready, all she could do was ready herself for whatever was to come. She decided the most mature thing to do in that situation was to try and push her fears down and focus.

The two made their way into Eggman’s deserted base, Sonic having to go off memory from his last run through from months ago. Despite the layout being the same, the overwhelming feeling of dread and the silence of the corridors gave off didn’t help either of them in finding their way. Almost every door was locked, and the ones that weren’t were just dusty storage closets. After what seemed like many runs in circles, Amy started to slam her hammer into the side of the walls to try to mark where they’ve been. All she managed to do was start causing bits of the ceiling to collapse. Sonic managed to grab her hammer before it caused the corridor they were in to fall in on itself.

It was at that moment they both heard the whirl up of something mechanical down the hallway. Following therein was the quickly approaching clanking cascade of noise, they both turned to see a bunch of Egg Pawns running down the hallways. Amy readied for a fight, but Sonic extended his arm and pulled the two of them towards the wall, letting the robot army pass. The two hedgehogs then realized something even worse was coming, Amy watching Sonic’s fists tighten gripped her hammer tighter in return as anxiety washed over her.

The terrible sound of metal shredding soon filled their ears, and the already dimmed lights began to flicker uncontrollably. Once the Egg Pawns had cleared the two of them, Sonic stepped out into the middle of the tight corridor, waiting for whatever was coming. Sure enough, a few seconds passed before a massive snake-like robot began to shred its way through the hallway, destroying everything behind it as it crawled on. Amy couldn’t even respond before Sonic charged ahead at the machine, however it managed to counter his dash and grab him, pulling him through a nearby door.

“Sonic!” Amy screamed frantically, watching Sonic being pulled through the now twisted and shredded metal.

“I’m -- Ow… -- Fine!” Sonic replied, taking a brisk look around to see the robot managed to drag him into a server room of some kind.

Around the room were stacks of harddrive cases and a central console, in the center was a glass embossed enclosure which was clearly designed to hold a Chaos Emerald. “I don’t think we should let this thing destroy whatever’s in here! We won’t be able to find what Tails needs to --” he continued before being cut off, and sent careening against a wall.

Amy quickly jumped into the fray, readying her hammer for a fierce slam downwards. She let out a hefty scream as she hit the creature with full force, damaging the machine and crushing one of its many sections. Getting her hammer stuck in the process. Sonic, seeing that part of the machine exposed, would try to take advantage of the newly given weak spot. Curling up into a ball, and preparing to finish the job. However, the snake would then turn its attention to Amy as she aggressively tried to remove her hammer from the damaged shell, tearing it further.

The machine swung its tail to force Amy off, sending her flying straight into the computer. She screamed out for Sonic’s help, unable to regain control, hurling towards the large screen. Instantly answered by the near-instant course correction of Sonic’s dash, catching her and setting her down in front of the screen.

“Here, take this and start seeing if you can get the data we came here for, I’ll take care of this thing,” Sonic said handing Amy the Chaos Emerald he kept with him, then turning around and jumping again at the monstrous snake.

Recollecting her thoughts, and shaking away the daze from the hit she took, Amy began to work by putting the Chaos Emerald into the computer’s main console. This was the first time she had seen, and felt, the excess energy the emeralds were giving off. Trying to ignore the clamor of everything behind her, she pushed the emerald into its designed slot, and immediately the entire room began to flush with light.

“I think this belongs to you!” Sonic said, gently placing her hammer next to her while she scrambled to collect data for Tails on the small device he had given her.

“Oh! Thanks!” Amy half-mindedly said as she continued to siphon data from Eggman’s terminal.

The blue hedgehog then took to finishing off the massive robot by using a massive dash ball to drill through the exposed areas of the snake. It collapsed almost instantly, its powerless body tearing through the walls of the room as it fell. With the power to the room restored, the robot was clear in full view. It was rippled with countless bullet holes, and energy burns, and scrapes from what seemed like an endless battle. It barely had any resemblance to anything Eggman or GUN could have made, instead, it looked older.

Sonic casually walked back towards Amy brushing dust off his hands. “So, any luck finding what Eggman’s planning next?”

“No, there’s just…” Amy started, “Nothing. Old mechs, prototypes, but nothing about what he could be doing next. There’s nothing to decrypt and there’s just... Nothing! It’s like...”

All Sonic could do was stare confused into the screen, as file after file was opened and closed as it moved from the terminal to Tails’ device. “It’s like?” he asked.

“It’s like he had to leave before cooking something else up. Or if he did, we’re not going to figure it out from here.” Amy replied, removing the data device and the Chaos Emerald from the machine, and handing them both to Sonic.

The light that filled the room began to fade from the room as the two of them began to walk out of the base, luckily still intact from the rampage that just occurred. Upon leaving they saw the long line of Egg Pawns’ footsteps leading away from the base and out into the plains. Their eyes adjusted to the midday sun and Sonic took the opportunity to stretch. “I guess Knuckles is gonna be happy having something to do here again. He’s been aching for a fight.” Sonic said, chuckling as he juggled both the Chaos Emerald and the data they had just collected in one hand.

He jumped when Amy let out a loud, almost shriek of a gasp. “Sonic! You’re hurt!” she said, pointing to the fairly large gash on Sonic’s arm.

Despite the fact it was still bleeding, Sonic just shrugged and shook his arm, “Must’ve happened when I got dragged through that door. It’s not like it hurts or any --”

He was cut off by Amy quickly grabbing his arm and pulling out a handkerchief to make a quick bandage, which caused him to wince in pain.

“See? It does hurt!” Amy said, sounding slightly frustrated, “What is with you boys and acting so nonchalant about being hurt? You act so dumb sometimes…” her tone changed to a soft, and gingerly one, “Dumb boys, doing dumb things. But saving the world. I guess it’s not so bad.”

“Look, I said it’s fine, Amy!” Sonic said coldly, pulling his arm away from her.

“Hey! What’s gotten into you! I’m trying to help!” Amy said, slightly raising her voice.

“Nothing, I’m okay. Let’s just get this back to Tails.” Sonic replied, turning his back to her.

“Do you -- Do you really hate me that much?” Amy said, trying to hold back whimpering.

“Huh? Amy I --” Sonic muttered, turning around to see Amy slumped over with her eyes locked toward the ground.

“Knuckles just treats me like a dumb kid, and never listens to me. He ignores me and never lets me help.” She started, tears beginning to leave her cheeks. “Shadow always treats me like I’m pitiful and weak. Those Chaotix jerks always push me out of their way like a bother.”

She rubbed her face before looking Sonic in the eyes and continuing. “Tails at least tries to include me, and make me feel like I don’t get in the way. But then he just runs off with you the second you decide it’s time for another adventure! He’s younger than me and you all still treat him better than you do me!” She said, her tears drying and her voice shifting to anger.

“But you… You treat me the worst out of everyone, Sonic!” she shouted, stepping forwards toward Sonic, putting her finger to his chest.

“Amy… please I --” Sonic tried to say, attempting to gently place his hand on hers.

“No! Not today! I’ve had it!” She continued to shout as more tears then began to fall from her face as she pushed Sonic’s hand away.

“For years, I’ve tried and tried! All these years I’ve spent following you! Just for what? For you to constantly run away from me? To push me away?” she tried her best to calm herself, but that only intensified her crying.

“Yes, I have feelings for you. Yes, I’m probably too clingy for my own good. But you don’t even give me the time of day.” she started, struggling to keep her mouth from quivering shut with each word, “You don’t even treat me like a friend… You treat me like all I do is slow you down…”

“Amy… You don’t slow me down… I --” Sonic tried to calmly say, again trying to put his hand on her shoulder.

“Then why? Why does it feel like you don’t even care about me?” she said, once again pushing his hand away, “Why does every time I try to show the slightest bit of concern for you have to end with you running away from me? Why did the one time I try to show you I can be mature and not constantly chase my feelings for you, you still push me away?”

“Maybe I just don’t want you getting hurt, Amy! Look what happened back there!” Sonic yelled, matching her raised voice.

“You really think I’m going to buy that?!” She said, feeling far more deeply offended than she expected to be. “You really think I can’t handle myself after all these years? What I can’t handle is standing by and watching you almost dying every other week!”

“I --” Sonic started to look down, defeated.

“I can accept that you won’t ever love me, I think I have for a while now. But I won’t accept you constantly pushing me away with this super macho ‘protect the girl’ crap!”

“…dumb boy…?” Sonic muttered, “…macho…? Is that all I am to you?…”

“I try to hug you so much every time I meet you again because I’m scared it might be the last time I ever get to. Every time I see you run off, I’m scared that’s the last time I’m ever going to see you.” she finally started to calm down, having gotten all of her anger out and continued, “That’s the type of girl I am. I know you’d never understand what goes through a girl’s mind…”

“…never understand?” Sonic continued to mutter silently, beginning to clutch the Chaos Emerald in his hand harder as he did.

“…But that’s what goes through mine. You’re my hero, Sonic. You don’t have to prove yourself to me, you don’t have to be that perfect boyfriend or that perfect g -- that perf -- ” Amy couldn’t finish her sentence, it felt like all the air around her was being pulled down a sink drain.

She watched in horror as Sonic’s blood dripped down his arm and onto the Chaos Emerald, once it touched, it began to float around rhythmically to the sporadic chaos energy the emerald was giving off. It began to glow brighter, and underneath Sonic’s feet, a growing pool of energy started to form.

Amy felt cut off. She couldn’t feel Sonic anymore. She couldn’t feel anyone anymore. It was like all connections she’s ever made as an empath were being completely severed. All she could feel was what seemed like an emotional pit deeper than the sea. It was full of anguish, and fear. She started to panic as that feeling started to consume her.

“Then am I supposed to be? The world’s savior? The good big brother? The perfect lover to be chased around? Man of the Hour: Sonic The Hedgehog! All I am is what everyone else expects me to be! I’m always running from it!”

The energy started to encompass Sonic, it started to appear as a dark shadowy mist as it covered his body. “Sonic? Please!” Amy managed to shout, but she felt as though she was being drowned out by the sheer force of the energy being released.

She tried her best to move forward, every step feeling like a massive weight was put onto each foot. Watching as Sonic started to clutch his head and scream in pain she pressed further, the energy beginning to feel more and more familiar as she got closer.

“Why can’t I just be -- Why can’t I --” Sonic screamed out in pain as he collapsed to the floor.

The world seemed to stop once Amy was finally able to grab a hold of Sonic and hold him tight. “Sonic! Please listen to me!” she said, pulling him closer. It wasn’t until she tried to adjust to being able to look him in the eyes did she notice he was crying. It was the first time she had ever seen Sonic cry in her recent memory.

“If all you do is run away from being the person everyone expects you to be… Who do you want to be?”

Those words rang through Sonic’s ears and suddenly all the energy surrounding him collapsed off. There was a brief moment of clarity as they looked into each other’s eyes. Sonic looked down to see one of his deepest fears confirmed: The Chaos Emeralds were acting up, they would change him again, and he couldn’t control it.

He threw the emerald away in fear, causing all the negative energy released to return to the emerald. Not soon after the energy repulsed outward sending the two of them flying into a nearby crashed battleship knocking Amy immediately out. Sonic stayed lucid enough to watch a walking mist of darkness approach the emerald and take it before returning to the ground and skittering away.

“Hey… Wait!…” He tried to force himself to get up, but he quickly fell back to the ground, into a deep unconsciousness.